Sonic Adventure 2: Preview, also formatted Sonic Adventure 2: [Preview], is a prototype version of Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast. It was sent to the press in North America and Europe as a sneak preview, with the build date being 18 March 2001. One of the most notable differences from the final version is the menu screen, which allows the player to choose between the Hero or Dark side. Upon selecting a side, the player can choose to play with any of the side's corresponding characters.
Characters[]
Playable characters[]
- Dr. Eggman
- Knuckles the Echidna
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Rouge the Bat
- Shadow the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog
Stages[]
- Hero
- Dark
- 2P V.S.
Modes[]
Hero[]
Hero mode has four stages available: Sonic in City Escape and Green Forest, Tails in Prison Lane, and Knuckles in Wild Canyon.
Dark[]
Dark mode only features three stages: Shadow in Radical Highway, Eggman in Sand Ocean, and Rouge in Dry Lagoon.
2P V.S.[]
The 2P V.S. mode is where the player can choose between three battles: Sonic vs. Shadow in Green Forest, Tails vs. Eggman on Prison Island, or Knuckles vs. Rouge in Wild Canyon. The special attacks' names do not show up in 2P mode. The player can still use them, but the only way to tell is if the character grunts. There are some other differences from the final version, such as different sound effects, music tracks and voices.
This version seems to lack proper sound programming, with various sounds and voice clips from both English and Japanese tracks sporadically playing in random order, overlapping each other.
Differences[]
General[]
- The title screen is very close to the one used in the final version, although [PREVIEW] has been added underneath and there is a glow effect behind it.
- Big the Cat does not make any cameos here.
- There are no icons displayed on the VMU.
- The font from Sonic Adventure is used for text, rather than the final's Comic Sans.
- Every Level Up Item is included in the game files, but only a handful of them are actually used.
- The Mystic Melody is called the "Ancient Melody".
Cutscenes[]
- The flashback scenes with Maria are cut from the preview in Shadow's Radical Highway cutscene, leaving the scene much shorter.
- Sonic's Light Speed Shoes use the earlier model from Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial in his cutscenes.
- Knuckles' upgrades cannot be seen normally in the game, but his Sunglasses have a different cutscene model. His Hammer Gloves were also removed from cutscenes in the final version.
Stages[]
- After completing any stage, the player will go back to the title screen. The only exception to this is City Escape, which will send the player to Green Forest.
- The area where Sonic obtains the Ancient Light is completely empty, but the path to it still exists.
- When jumping off a ramp at the beginning of City Escape at slow speed, Sonic does a backflip instead of a 180 rotation.
- There are no pipes at the end of City Escape.
- The platforms before the first Point Marker in City Escape are the same as those in Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial.
- The posters in City Escape use the same textures as in the final version of the game, with the exception of the Chao in Space and Pizza posters, which use the textures from Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial.
- When the Flame Ring Level Up Item in Radical Highway is collected, it does not lock the player into place and describe the item. Instead, gameplay continued as normal, while the text explaining the item being displayed on the bottom of the screen.
- Shadow's aura when jumping is quite different.
- The Hint Boxes for Rouge and Knuckles are functional, but there is no text programmed in them at this point.
- The Warp Walls in the hunting stages looks slightly different in this version.
- The Warp Walls are mostly not present in this version. The only one that can be found is located behind the Steel Containers in Dry Lagoon.
- The rooms accessed by the Warp Walls in Wild Canyon are completely empty. The objects for these rooms are actually floating out of bounds near the start of the stage.
The empty rooms in Wild Canyon.
- The indoor section of Wild Canyon does not have the correct lighting.
- The area with the second and third pillars in Sand Ocean has a different object layout compared to that of the final game. This includes an extra fence, a Wooden Container, and some springs.
- In the area just after the fourth pillar, there are even more changes.
- Some enemies are in different positions compared to the final version of the game.
- Springs are more of a bright pink, rather than the final red.
- Objects, such as containers, are lit differently.
- The rockets are placed too high on their platforms, and can be seen even when the platform is inactive.
- The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th missions are in the game, but the 5th mission (Hard mode) does not yet have a unique layout.
- There are no Extra Life Item Boxes in the lost Chao locations.
Audio[]
- All in-action voices are in English, except for Sonic's jumping noises, which are in Japanese.
- The option for Japanese text and voices is in the game, but English is the default.
- The music played while using Speed Up has some different notes.
- City Escape has no vocals, and while the general tune remains pretty much the same, many of the notes and riffs are completely different. Overall, it is quite different sounding than its final counterpart.
- This is the same instrumental featured in Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial.
- Dry Lagoon's music is muted, and there are crickets prominently chirping during gameplay, different sounding ones that are louder than in the final.
- Knuckles and Rouge's climbing noises are very loud and incredibly different.
- Different sounds are played for the snowboarding in City Escape, G.U.N. robots activating and being deployed, connecting with Grind Rails, Tails and [[Doctor Eggman|Eggman]'s Lock-on, whistling, swinging on vines, and finding Animals.
- When the rank is displayed at the end of a stage, it plays the same sound as when getting an emblem.
Unused content[]
Cutscene subtitles[]
A scrapped conversation is found in the game files, which was mostly going to be used in the cutscene where Sonic first meets Shadow. It has no voice clips or English equivalent. None of this exists in the final version of the game, but Shadow's first line and Sonic's response do make it into the Green Forest confrontation scene. Oddly enough, Shadow's second and last comments were partially used in the episode "Shadow Knows" of the Sonic X anime series.
| Character | Transcript | |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | English translation | |
| Sonic | で、そのエメラルド！どーするつもりだ。このニセモノが！ | So, what are you planning to do with that Emerald? You impostor! |
| Shadow | ニセモノ? フッ、フェイクは君のほうじゃないのか？いや...フェイクと呼ぶには...レベルが違いすぎるか | Impostor? Heh, aren't you the fake one here? No... aren't you on a completely different level... to be called a fake? |
| Sonic | いわせておけば!! | That's the last straw!! |
| Sonic | 消えた!?どこだ... | He disappeared?! Where is he... |
| Shadow | なるほど確かに...姿形は似ているようだ。鏡に映る...影のようにな...。 | I see... We really do seem to look alike. A reflection in a mirror... you're like my shadow... |
| Sonic | チッ! なんてスピードだ!!いや、スピードじゃないな...。ワープ!? | Tch! That speed!! No, that doesn't seem to be his speed... Warp?! |
| Sonic | カオスエメラルドの力を使って、時空をコントロールしているのか!?何者だコイツ...!! | Is he controlling time and space by using the Chaos Emerald's power?! Who is he, anyway...!! |
| Shadow | 僕の名はシャドウ。Ｐｒ.ジェラルドからカオスコントロールの力を与えられた唯一にして究極の存在。今は先を急ぐ。遊びは終わりだ。 | My name is Shadow. The greatest ultimate life form who was given the power of Chaos Control from Pr. Gerald. I'm in a hurry right now. Playtime is over. |
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