Pyramid Cave Holds More Secrets Than Your Browsing History 

Yes I forgot about the Eggman's badniks in the other pyramid levels holding animals inside of them, but I'll still believe in my heart those robots having animals was a reference to Gamma

The spring on that pole that's impossible to hit is there because originally it was possible. In the DC version, the poles' collision type (the invisible shape surrounding the object that sonic collides with) was cylinder (flat top). The spring could be hit there. I guess the devs didn't like how Sonic could also walk on top of these things that shot fire, so they changed the collision type to capsule. The rounded top of this capsule collision covers the spring entirely, making it impossible to hit by any means.

*ZoomZike:* "Pyramid Cave Holds More Secrets Than Your Internet Search History" *Me:* "Impossible. Perhaps the archives are incomplete."

I’m pretty sure the reason the robots have animals and not chaos drives is because they’re eggman robots as opposed to the GUN robots which are found throughout the majority of the game. iirc the monkeys in hidden base also dropped animals.

You're doing your part in helping people realize that SA2 has aged a lot better than people give it credit for and is a shitload better than most games that came out after it

1:00 "If you can't make this jump then you'll suffer from crazier gadgets ahead." This scriptwriting gets an S-Rank from me.

The thing about the robot with the animal inside is that more or less all Badniks contain animals, be they in the classic series or those of the Adventure duology; that said, the DESIGN of the robot certainly seems to be a nod to Gamma and his brothers - they're even called E-1000

I think it's really cool how even in the parts of SA2 that are meant to be easy and have basically no stakes there are little added challenges that reward players for experimenting with and mastering the mechanics. It's like a customizable difficulty-level was baked into the game itself rather than something you set in the "OPTIONS" menu.

I love SA2's ranking system so much because it really lets the skill floor be kept low while incentivizing crazy stunts if you want a better rank. If you suck at the game, you absolutely _can_ just dash forward mindlessly in hopes of getting from point A to point B, but the ranking system encourages more skillful players to play stages in the way that's most fun, which in Pyramid Cave's case is doing stuff like jumping through as many hoops as possible while on a strict time limit!

i love these videos cause it really shows how good this game has aged, people act like the adventure games are overrated but i still think these titles really understood how to take sonic into 3d with great level design, and a sense of exploration and options in terms of movement thanks to the homming attack and spin dash, i really wish future sonic games bring back this type of gameplay and freedom to play the level how you please, instead of just boost to win

Weird how it's only the Sonic and Shadow stages you're speaking highly about. Wanna tell us about what it's like to take a dive in Aquatic Mine next?

12:30 evil fake spring REAL???? 😲

Bruh the song for this level SLAPS, wait no, ALL OF THE SONGS IN THIS GAME SLAPS

These titles just get weirder and funnier. I don’t think I ever actually got to Pyramid Cave when I first had SA2, I really need to replay this game…

I am so glad someone else knows about the impossible spring. My guess is that it's so obscure no game tester ever found it to tell them it's impossible

Continuing with the whole: "Sonic ends the stage at the same exact lenght of the video" I see

Pyramid Cave appreciation is always welcome. The stage theming and theme itself is pretty great.

I just want to see the process of Eggman planting his likeness over appropriated territory. What does that even look like?

Can't believe the game makes you jump through all those hoops just to get a high score. Complicated much?

"you'll suffer from crazier gadgets ahead" 👁️ 👁️

Really enjoying this look at some great levels in SA2 and the detailed mechanics, it's basically a tips/tricks guide + analysis + opportunity to geek out, all in one video. I think Sonic Team needs to revisit this stuff, along with having a bigger budget and more time.

It would've been cool if the little pyramids did something extremely absurd that doesn't happen in any other scenario (Like letting you play as Amy for the rest of the level, for example).

I have to admit, all of the good design in this level was completely lost on me unlike the previous sonic levels. Perhaps the only thing that I understood about this level before is where to use bounce bracelet. I recall running up the sides and seeing the hoops but not seeing much point in trying to jump through them. I honestly didn't even know certain things increased your score until I started watching your videos. So I never understood how to get high ranks in sonic levels despite completing it as fast as possible. Learning a lot about a game over a decade after playing it. Great videos!

I disagree on the key section being that bad. It does add a challenge needing to move around with it and either dodging the robots. As a kid it threw me off at first but then I was relieved I was able to work within the limitations(and had the surprising abillity to trigger the hourglasses with jumps and throw the thing at enemies). It has a strangely endearing design and sound effects too, so I guess the intent is feeling satified to savely escort it. Depends on tastes though. It's something like Zelda games or slower platformers like mario 64 like to do a lot(the infamous mario 64 baby penguin). This kind of slower puzzle setpiece(adventure 1 also has oddly slow bits) seem to have been mostly dropped in games after this though.

You don't want to see my history... You will see things like "how to spell Wedensday" smh 😢

sonic: hey. you know what i like most about eggman? amy: what? sonic: his subtlety

Definitely one of my favorite stages and themes in the game! Fave part is when the grind rails give you a view of outside and the other pyramids that Tails passed in the previous stage.

You *cannot hit that spring* 🤯 it's an exclusive bug/coding mistake of the battle version of the game... This means you can hit the spring on the dreamcast version only

This is the single best sonic stage in every way in my opinion. The immense rewards for exploration paired with the single coolest level to speedrun makes for an incredible stage all around. Also, your theory about the spring is correct; it works fine in the dreamcast version and ONLY the dreamcast version.

I'm so excited to look at another sa2 analysis. You've really opened my eyes to how these levels are constructed. I'm too busy racing to the end to notice anything. I'm definitely going to take my time the next time I decide to play

I just thought of something. What if someone modified SA2 with the suggestions Zoomzike makes in these videos. Like the suggestion of the switch floating around you like omochao sounds really cool, and I would live to see that

In order to hit that spring, you have to unhook your GameCube, send it to me, then hook up your Dreamcast and a copy of SA2 for it. Then the spring will work just fine.

I remember playing SA2 and being able to touch that spring, I'm pretty sure the Dreamcast version works fine, devs probably changed the collision for that pillar in later ports and didn't realize the mistake. Try testing on an emulator. I remember perfectly that I was able to touch that spring, trust me. Also the level after this one is Death Chamber, I would really love if you review that level, I personally think It's one of the best ones!

Sonic levels are intentionally designed to be easy to make it through but hard to make it through like a BADASS. The old games did this by making the player feel lame and move slowly if they were bad, but Adventure 2 had the best solution which was the ranking system. You CAN just walk through the first room of pyramid cave, but you might not get a cool A rank and be a cool guy. Also I said S rank the first time because I remembered wrong.

They really made a whole gimmick item and function for this stage and only used it twice in said stage. Pretty much back to back as well.

This isn't mario

I mean you're technically correct.... cause I make no secret of my browsing history ;3

3:35 Aw yes! One of the unwritten rules in video gaming. Will jumping into a fire damage me?

I see the ridiculous line of video title claims continues, this is the best kind of clickbait LMAO

Very intriguing and funny video. I really miss and adore the way adventure tied the level design with the mythology of Sonic. The echidnas and Chao hieroglyphics in Pyramid cave is another testament to the creativity of the original Sonic Team Level Designers

I'm sorry, but this level has nothing on my browsing history.

thanks zoomzike for consistently reminding me how much i love sonic :^)

god i love these videos so much. you do this game so much justice. is SA2 level design just hallway simulators? yeah, but only if you want them to be. there's so much to seek out if youre just creative and observant enough.

This course has one of the best songs from my GameCube memories. But to be fair: the entire soundtrack for this game is a bop

10:45 "safely onto the main path" sonic hanging onto the ledge "ah yes. safe"

8:40 I think the key mechanic was just a fun throwback for the devs reminiscing of the Temple Keys in the Adventure Hub areas of Sonic Adventure 1.

If a browser's search history is like a good Sonic level, does that make Incognito mode a Forces level?

The music is one of my favourites For some reason I always thought that the lyrics had something to do with eggman for some reason due to the guitar rift or what ever it’s called

Bold of you to assume the ancient pyramids have more secrets than MY browser history

The pit at 4:20 I believe is a reference to how Egyption Pyramids had pits that graverobbers would fall down and be trapped. They'd spend the rest of their days with their stolen treasure unable to escape... Quite a dark reference actually Xd

I mean, I always use incog mode, but even on that note I don't care who knows I like macro stuff. It's perhaps the most secret thing I could mention. I also like Yugioh Duel Links. I'm not that interesting I guess.

damn that's alot of secrets

Interestingly, the mysterious spring in the Dreamcast version of the game is actually accessible. Subsequent versions of SA2 would actually make dozens of changes like this from the original, including changes to lighting, textures, sounds and music, levels, objects, geometry, etc. Some of these changes are for worse and it’s hard to say if they were done intentionally during the conversion (although this is clearly unintentional), a lot of them might come from oversights during play testing and QA, but it’s just my guess.

before discovering your channel i hated sonic adventure 2, but i now realised how much of its brilliance i have skipped

1:36 You're right. Sonic floating to the side adds a whole new layer of atmosphere to the level.

I thought the robots with drives were solely GUN robots, and the ones with animals were eggman robots

I will say that while I do love the continuity of Eggman's robots in this game being powered by animals, while G.U.N. robots are powered by Chaos Drives, it really was a missed opportunity to not have the mass produced E-100 robots be powered specifically by bird animals.

5:26 "Only Villains do that" Is this a reference to Shadow not having the bounce bracelet?

i would argue that not only is the key foreshadowed, with items such as the tires in City Escape, but also references how you can hold Chao in the garden

11:34 I wonder what he says in the original Japanese script. Even if you set the English game to Japanese, it still uses the incorrectly translated script for English subtitles. Granted there are no subtitles for player character dialogue in levels, but still.

The impossible spring reminds me of the numerous impossible rings the game has to offer, such as at the end of Eggman's Sand Ocean where there's just a ring floating behind an invisible wall to the left of the goal ring. Likely the same reasoning lies in its existence: either mistakenly placed or it was initially attainable but later on in development they made changes that made it impossible and no one noticed.

The robots in pyramid cave are Eggmans robots thats why they are powered by little animals. The rest of the robots you fight are GUN robots and they are powered by chaos drives.

Zike: "Pyramid Cave Holds More Secrets Than Your Browsing History" Me: "Are you sure about that?

*looks at title* you underestimated my browsing history and my bookmarks

3:00 Those are depictions of Thoth, the Egyptian God of Wisdom, who has the head of an Ibis (a species of Bird native to Africa).

Oh hey cool i was just watching the other videos u have like this

You actually CAN hit the spring, but you have to be holding the small pyramid.

One thing I learned recently is that the pyramid section of the game takes place in Sandopolis, both start by the outside and then go on the inside and enemies such as the ghosts and golems. This would answer a huge continuity error of how there is a desert in San Fransisco and why does Eggman have a rocket in a pyramid. It’s because the real life Angel island was the inspiration for Sonic’s Angel island and (only confirmed in the Japanese version) Angel island permanently came back to Earth since chaos was neutralized which would also answer how rouge was able to steal the master emerald at the beginning of the game. Also I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned the hieroglyphs that show what looks like Sonic-esque people and Knuckles-esque people. In other levels the same sonic looking people are seen praising the master emerald in wild canyon and praising a chao in the secret area of death chamber. Following the Sonic is an alien theory (must watch imo) this implies that Sonic’s race gave the knuckles’ clan the master emerald and chao. Also in the king boom boo fight we see Sonic’s exact face on the wall in a very similar way to how sonic statues appear in hydrocity (they’re even in Sonic Mania). I love this theory since there’s a ton of evidence and hidden details for it that makes me appreciate the games up to SA2 than I did before

My internet search history? Oh God, does ZoomZike know that I had to look up the name of White Jungle?? Noooooo!!!

I think the purpose of the key sections (or any section in a game that takes away your abilities) is to get the player to think outside the box and force them to be creative and use their relatively limited resources to succeed. Personally, I enjoy chucking the key at the robots and throwing it in the slot at the apex of the ramp. But I will admit, it's the worst section of the level. (Also, I'm pretty sure Sonic's speed and acceleration are identical whether he's holding the key or not)

the music in this level is honestly one of my favorites in this game. that and crazy gadget's theme.

13:11 the invisible wall was actually added in the ports of sa2, in the original dreamcast version the invisible wall wasn't there, there's a really good video about this here (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3NWAbtnfy2Y.html if the timestamp in the link to the part where it shows this doesn't work just go to 34:22 into the video) my guess is that maybe the spring just didn't work in the ports so they added an invisible wall to it and never got back to it

5:10 I think a little context helps here: Most of the robots you destroy up to this point in the game are from GUN themselves, and last time I checked, the military in this universe wouldn't weaponize animals like Robotnik/Eggman would. So having this one along with some GUN machines is to show not only is GUN combating you in the levels, but also Eggman, who by this point in the story would have already infiltrated the pyramid and made his base of operations here. You can also see that from some of the surrounding decorations with Eggman-like faces on them, even over ancient ruins. If Sonic Adventure 1 is to have bearing on Sonic Adventure 2 (as some plot points carry over, like Eggman reading about Tails being awarded a Chaos Emerald by saving Station Square), then this Gamma robot is probably a clone of the one we played as in Sonic Adventure 1, in much the same way Eggman made clones of Shadow in Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog.

ok but can sonic write his name in heiroglyphs now

I too keep an eye on my *seach* history.

6:16 I get a reference to Sonic Adventure 1's keys to Windy Valley and Ice Cap. Am I the only one who noticed it?

5:17 as far as I know, it is not a reference to Gamma, no matter how cool it would be, but because they are made by Eggman. Eggman, as known from ealier games, makes his robots by imprisoning animals. This "lore" isn't abandent, just pushed to the background. As far as I know all of eggman's robots drop enemies when defeated. (The balls throwing spikes/fire, the monkeys, and the Gamma recplicats) Edit: I agree that the key section is a bit boring but it gives a feeling of a pyramide maze, in which you don't just follow a linear way, but have to look around, so I am fine with that.

This level is probably the most fun to watch speedruns for. You get a ton of chances to exploit the super bounce and the best part is there's a skip that allows you to bypass doing that stupid key section. Unfortunately, I can't figure out exactly how to do it cause it looks like you just place yourself in a certain spot and spin dash your way to clip through a door.

In the pit with the first Chao Box, there's a bat inside the giant torch. Why is there a bat inside the giant torch? Because the giant torch was not there in the Dreamcast version. It's possible to collect the bat by glitching, but there are so many animal in SA2 that were made impossible to collect in every port because they simply _do not spawn._ EDIT: Ok, so I should probably elaborate on this. You know those pyramid things you can pick up? Most speed and hunting stages have things like that. Purple mushrooms in White Jungle, red mushrooms in Green Forest, black boxes with red Xs on them in Crazy Gadget, tires in City Escape, weird diamond box things in Mad Space... and in several stages, picking up specific instances of these items is supposed to spawn an animal. You can get a BUNCH of Phoenixes in Metal Harbor this way. The only problem is that most of these animals simply fail to spawn in the Steam and North American Gamecube versions of the game, making it impossible to collect every animal in several stages. I've asked around, and no one knows why this happens.

Dang someone beat me on comments

My favorite level, played it and the song a lot but i didn't know about all those extra pathways! Thanks!

It's not Eggman who desecrated the pyramid with his symbols and faces plastered everywhere, it's actually Gerald Robotnik, his grandfather who left the Earth 50 years ago (along with Maria) to live and conduct researches in his space colony ARK. Before the ARK was built this pyramid used to be his main base of operations so he made some modifications in it, including all those mustached faces and heads. They're clearly far too old and weathered to be Eggman's.

So I'm sure you noticed the Eggman faces on the key doors too right? Of course you did, you glanced right over them when talking about Eggman putting his face on everything. But did you notice that none of the hourglass doors have Eggman faces on them, just the key doors, and every single key door has one. Usually an Eggman face represents something that's gonna hinder you when it's something you can interact with. Robotnik monitors in Classic styled games kill you immediately, getting 3 Robotnik/Eggmans on a slot machine takes all your rings away, and springs with Eggman's face on them in modern games either send you onto a slower path, bounce you backwards to kill your momentum, or bounce you into a hazard/bottomless pit. You harped on this key door mechanic as being the worst part of the stage and actively hinders you by slowing you down and giving you no reward, so isn't it interesting that every single one of those doors that require those dumb keys have Eggman's face on them? As if they were meant to hinder you like every other interactable item with Eggman's face on it? Food for thought.

Boy i'm part of that crowd that argues SA2 is not as linear as people say and like 80% of what i saw was entirely new I already love this stage for making the most with the running-in-walls tunnels and even the key section i like (in hard mode they got really creative with that section) but ZoomZike just made me love this stage even more And Keys the Ruin still slaps 20 years later

I watched this expecting an ad for a VPN to pop up... unfortunately, a VPN can't protect you from Shadow and Team Chaotix finding the computer room and chaos control alt-deleting their way into your system

11:17 it can’t be that accurate cus he’s traveled through a pyramid in Sonic 3, which Adventure 1 said was cannon. So he already knows what a pyramids insides looks like

Sweet, I was practically begging for a reason to respect this level after how much fucking grief those godless ghosts gave me while I was going for an A rank. Seriously that one hallway is the single worst section of any sonic/shadow stage. Edit: in case it wasn't obvious, I typed that before you said what you found to be the worst section lol. I feel that that section, while a bit tedious, wasn't that bad or annoying to get through. At least it only had that ONE ghost.

FUN FACT Sonic Adventure 2 actually has a pretty bad translation! So many of the lines don't make sense/main plot elements were ommitted, so if a piece of idle dialogue doesn't make sense, checking out its Japanese counterpart might be a good option. Windii Gitlord has made a TON of more accurate translations for Sonic games, and has the SA2 idle dialogue on his channel.

Those item slot doors are the most annoying parts of the level. Good thing the first can be skipped with a high bounce since the wall isn't solid all the way up, and the second one can be clipped through with the right angle on a spin dash.

All this stuff I never noticed/didn't think about, this is very informative

dude,that thing was not a button if it has a,read its name,KEY,then it is not a button that's why it does not open with the piramid thing and the key being heavy is because if it has no change at all then 1. the people who made it back then were really dumb and/or 2. the section would be VERY easy,if you ask me

Oh my god I love these thumbnails

8:19 Honestly I think thats just nit picking. Those small sections where never difficult and don't take much thinking to get through.

The original Dreamcast version had even more Eggman neon lights. Also the key isn't entirely useless. Sonic can throw it at enemies!

also i love that swich puzzle you hate so much, sonics accelaration is a lot of fun whern holding it, and the challenge of avoiding multiples of easy enemies and challenges in a new context, its just awesome

One of the best levels in SA2 Top 5 for me

My head canon is that Sonic pressed a button which opened a pitfall under him leading to him falling into the hallway at the beginning.

I don't know if it means anything but I was playing on the dc version and I jumped on the spring just fine

Ive been playing Sa2 for years and never noticed that spring in pyramid cave. But I've gone to all the places with the mystic melody.

5:00 a example of over thinking I believe, as I think it's to differentiate eggman's robots from gun