News/Happy Holidays (2020)!

Sonic Adventure 2 (May 7, 2001 prototype)
Sonic Spinball (Sep 17, 1993 prototype)
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Prototype B)
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Happy Holidays everyone!

Last year, we held the very successful Sonic Month where we released a couple prototypes that, for the first time since they were shown in magazines, were finally available again for everyone to enjoy. Of course, we (and quite a few others!) had a few other things on their Christmas list for Santa, and were disappointed when they didn't get what they had in mind. Well, there was always next year, right?

As luck would have it, Santa came in the middle of the night and dropped off a few goodies under the Christmas tree. To keep within the holiday spirit, we decided to share our holiday load with you!

First up, we have a newly discovered late prototype of Sonic Adventure 2. Earlier last year, we discovered the very first prototype of Sonic Adventure 2 that was representative of the full game. However, that prototype was just a week away from final, and wasn't very exciting as a result. However, this newly discovered prototype is now officially the earliest build of the game that has nothing cut from it. For being such a big game it has quite a number of differences that were remedied in time just before release. Can you find them all?

Next, we have a late prototype of Sonic Spinball for the Sega Mega Drive! This is the first time a prototype of Sonic Spinball has resurfaced in a complete form in almost 20 years, and so it was quite a surprise to finally find one again. This prototype is a bit later than the prototype scene release from PREMIERE, but still contains a few differences in comparison to the final release. Most notably, unlike the PREMIERE prototype, this version of the game can actually be beaten and has a fully operational options screen. Ironically, this prototype is actually the same prototype we had in our collection in the form of an incomplete set of loose EPROMs from almost over a decade ago. What a lucky find!

Finally, we have a late prototype of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. This prototype is unfortunately a bit later in comparison to the other prototype, which was also released by PREMIERE. Again however, it's nice to finally see another prototype resurface again after all of these years.

If you were able to catch the stream we had, you might have seen a quick glimpse of yet another exciting find. This find comes in the form of a VHS tape which has sadly degraded over time. Before the pandemic this past year, we made an effort to digitally convert the tape for an eventual release. However, we are currently unhappy with the transfer and are still actively looking for someone who can properly transfer the tape. We'll keep you posted as soon as we are able to find someone who can transfer the tape for us.

There's one more present left to unwrap that we found under the tree this year...I wonder what it could be? Only one way to find out! 🎄

Stay tuned on our tomorrow on our Twitch channel, 12/31, at 2PM PST (5PM EST, 10PM GMT) for the unveiling!

Until next time folks! And Happy Holidays from your friends here at Hidden Palace!

<img src="https://hiddenpalace.org/w/images/7/7c/Holiday_2020-1.gif">