[	I am	|	curious	]
[	Listening	|	Gardenia | Malice Mizer	]

Last week, out of boredom, I decided to have a go at playing Sonic the Hedgehog again. To cut a long story short, I found out about a Sonic the Hedgehog 2 beta - and was pretty much intrigued. But what fascinates me the most is the inclusion of a level called "Hidden Palace". ( Read on? )Everyone knows that the Hidden Palace first reared it's head in Sonic & Knuckles. Unlike the Sonic 2 version, it served merely as a cutscene or gateway of sorts to the Sky Sanctuary level, where Knuckles would fight Metal Sonic, or Sonic would get to the Death Egg. The two don't seem to be related, however, Knuckles was able to access Sonic 2 levels with the lock-on technology. Perhaps Knuckles was created a lot earlier than people think? Anyway... here's a few screenshots I took of the Hidden Palace level;

 
Sonic & Tails at the beginning of the level. 

 
One of those sucky tubey things that..

  
.. doesn't work. (Sonic is standing up in the tube)

  
"Excuse me, I believe I've left my friend up there... small? Orange? Two tails?" 

 
Glowing bridges? Holy smokes, Batman!

  
And here we are at some sort of deathtrap. You miss the jump, you fall to your watery grave. 

 
It took me three tries to get that exactly right.

  
An uber-steep hill. Which means the level can't be completed. Great. 
 
No use pushing it, it won't move or break! 

 
What you get in the second part of the level. A huge wall. Nice.