Ever stumbled across a weird, half-finished version of a classic? That’s basically the Nick Arcade prototype of Sonic 2—it’s got all the speed and loops you remember, but with some rough edges and differences that make it feel like an alternate universe. The level layouts are familiar but just… off, like someone rearranged Green Hill Zone while you weren’t looking. Tails is there, but he moves differently, and some of the sound effects sound like placeholder noises.

It’s not the polished final game, but that’s what makes it interesting—you can spot scrapped ideas and early versions of zones that changed later. If you’ve played the retail version to death, this is like digging up a weird time capsule. Just don’t expect everything to work perfectly.