The Evolution of Hill Zones in Sonic Games 

Can’t forget the classic “Hill” stage where Tails runs down a flat pathway with absolutely nothing strange going on.

Making sure to have exactly 420 coins to maximize the level of Green Hill Zone appreciation is exactly the kind of attention to detail I subscribe for

For some context on pluralizing "Hills", in Japanese there is no distinction between single and plural inanimate objects. "Green Hill" and "Green Hills" are both valid translations of the original Japanese name. Why they didn't sync up on the translation I don't know, but this is early 90's Sega we're talking about here.

Mystic Cave Zone was never called Dust Hill Zone, Mystic was just a replacement for its scrapped "sibling".

Great video! My favourite "Hill" zone is Seaside Hill, because it was actually my first time going through a "Hill" zone, also Sonic Heroes was my first Sonic Game. (Also thanks for the likes guys! 😊)

Sunset Hill is gorgeous, I love the melancholic twist that bids farewell to the classic games. There was definitely a shift in style after Advance 3.

Dust Hill wasn't the original name for Mystic Cave, It was a whole zone that got scrapped. The Idea was reused for Mirage Saloon in Sonic Mania.

Ive got a feeling the "New Green Hill" name could mean that Aquatic Ruin is some ancient city area, similar to how when some areas were hit by earthquakes or destroyed new areas were made, using the same name but usually with new.

Now I want an evolution of polis levels in sonic games

Pumpkin Hill was so great. With "ceeepy" elements and secrets, hidden treasures and all. And living in a country where we don't have Halloween makes it even more appealing.

Hill…Hill…Hill…Are You Done Yet? SEGA:NO! Hill,Hill,Hill,Hi-Wait Is Everything Hills? SEGA:Yep.

Regarding "the pit," if you play Sonic Jam's version of Sonic 2 on anything other than "Original" difficulty, there will be a yellow spring on one side of the pit so you can get out of it if you fall in. Sonic Jam made a lot of little tweaks to some of the more infamous level elements across these games, such as removing "the barrel" from Carnival Night Act 2.

We need a hill hill zone Who agrees

Dude, in the movies it’s called Green Hills

I love how Mushroom Hill's colours transition from like, 'summer' to 'autumn' (the colours I prefer), and I also think the act 2 boss is really good.

Kiro talks is great. I wish you nothing but success with this channel. Keep the good stuff coming bro

This is great and hilarious! Really fun stuff.

"and the worst part is, it's not even using the original Green Hill Zone music!" That's actually the best part lmao. Also might as well call Sonic 2 "Sonic the Hillhog" with all those "Hill" zones lmao. My favorites are Seaside Hill and Sunset Hill, the former is an amazing tutorial type stage (if you don't play Sea Gates first you still perfectly understand most of the game by going through Seaside Hill) and is aesthetically distinct, and the latter is just a big blast of nostalgia for me as Advance 3 was one of my first Sonic games (and this is also my first encounter with the iconic Green Hill Zone theme; except here it's actually used accordingly and given a remix that matches the ambiance!). I halfway expected this video to go over all the different versions of the ACTUAL Green Hill though. You would've had more than enough material between 8bit Sonic 1, the Adventure games, Generations, and ESPECIALLY Forces. XD

You can do anything is actually a remix of Green Hills Zone, rather than the other way around

I get that this is for the zones that have "Hill" on the name, but Lost World's Frozen Factory is actually just Windy Hill but snow and some factory stuff. Also, for Speed Battle, the name of the stages are basically just Act names on an area, kinda similar to Forces where the stage names are always different even on the same area like Lost Valley or Guardian Rock takes place in Green Hill.

This is Sonic CD's birthday, maybe tomorrow for hill appreciation day?

4:14 THE PIT

Honorable mention: Sonic Blast's Green Hill

Bruh your content is the Best Can't Wait for more👍

You gotta love it when kiro uploaded a commentary video

Windmill Isle Act 1 being re-skinned as Green Hill Cyberspace in Sonic Frontiers means that Windmill Isle is officially a Hill Zone and no, I won't elaborate further.

This was one hill of a video!

2:06 character assassination at its finest Great video!

Who’s here before this turns 1 hour?

Green Hill is looking a lot more like Green Hill right now.

I really liked this video style, hey kiro, how about make another video in this style but talking about the final stages from each game? It could be splitted in 2 parts (or more if needed)

lmao the silence when he needed to say "The Pit" and "didj" and showed an image of those words

Green HillS came out before CD so you can do anything is a remix of that. The mecha green hill is a remix of both

Have you heard of Faded Hills from Forces ?

You were happy about them using the melody of You Can Do Anything for Mecha Green Hill in Chaos, but not using the full song in Green Hiils Zone in Sonic 2?

the pit.... the flashbacks

mushroom hill zone was originally called mushroom valley zone and in sonic 2 dust hill was indeed mystic cave zone's early name thats what we see in the simon wai prototype the zone that people think that it was unused is not dust hill rather its called sand shower zone which was a cut zone that became an easter egg in sonic cd it was a screenshot with the zone assets and it was called desert dazzle which was a cut stage from sonic cd that got its assets reused in sonic mania's mirage saloon zone

You forgot Faded Hills from Sonic Forces, but awesome video!

"Alright. Next is Walmart Brand Green Hi- oh- i mean- Emerald Hill Zone." bro holdin back anger

Here's my hottest take: Seaside Hill > Green Hill Zone I will not explain my reasoning

5:28 I think they initially called it "Neo Green Hill Zone" as an allusion to the cultural and artistic movement of Neoclassicism from the XVIII and XIX centuries, which drew heavy inspiration from the Classical Period (aka the Greco-Roman period). I do, however, think that it was a smart choice to change it to "Aquatic Ruin Zone" since a lot of people wouldn't get the reference (and it still wouldn't at all be obvious to those minimally well-versed in the artistic world since 1 - as you said, "Neo" literally means "new"; 2 - Even in an artistic context, there are literally dozens of artistic movements throughout history designated by "Neo____"; and 3 - looking at the stage, one would instinctively think of the original Classical Period and not the much later Neoclassical Period).

00:01 first thing that caught my attention was the coin counter lmao

YoU MiSseD GReEN hIlL fRoM sOniC mAnIa!!!

YOOOOOOO WE GOT THE DIDJ

"Dust Hill" was a scrapped zone, which was meant to be a desert stage. In one of the betas, SEGA accidentally put "Dust Hill" instead of an Early Name for/"Mystic Cave". yeah

Sonic Lost world is way underrated. It’s got the same beginners jank of any sonic game. But I think it’s super fun.

Green Hills had a remix of "You Can Do Anything" from CD as well and i'm surprised you forgot to mention that

10:31 As someone who prefers "Kick the Rock" (the Wild Canyon theme), I say "Fair enough"

mystic cave wasn't called dust hill it was a replacement for the now scraped dust hill which you can see prototypes of online and what it was gonna be like. remember sonic mania? mirage saloon was the reworked dust hill that they decided to finish and put in the game. mystic cave isn't dust hill the devs just didn't take the name out of the prototypes until the actual release. its the same for hidden palace too.

*T H E P I T* Also, if we're getting REAL technical, Chemical Plant is TECHNICALLY a hill zone too, as it's the FUTURE version, of Emerald Hill, or more accurately Dust Hill AKA Hidden Palace AKA location of *T H E P I T* leading to Hidden Palace. Or if you're not an *ELITE* then it's just spikes. Chemical Plant's music is a *BOP.* That's all I have to say.

What if, now hear me out, Neo Green Hill Zone might've originally been called Neon Green Hill zone?

You forgot about Sonic Triple Trouble’s Great Turquoise, Drift 1&2’s Green & Emerald Hill, and Blast’s Green Hill

Bro fell in "the pit" as super sonic... with 100 rings!

5:22 Neo green air bubble zone

HILL APPRECIATION DAYYY!!

Green hill(s) uses the Toot toot sonic warrior tune.

Green Hills from Sonic 2 for Master System is actually supposed to be a different zone from Green Hill, it even uses the opening music from Sonic CD! Also, it was released BEFORE Sonic 2 for Genesis, not a spin off, this is where Sonic first meets Tails before Genesis Sonic 2.

I love emerald hill because of the music. Emerald hill is called emerald hill because you can get all 7 emeralds in that zone alone.

Sonic Battle has a green hill zone arena, i think you get it after beating the game, it can be played on training and free battles

Aquatic Mine is sooo chill I agree that it's kinda better than Pumpkin Hill

I call THE PIT a beginners hidden palace zone.

Im fine with that they change the name of Green Hill. Sonic 2 takes place on another Island. So i get the idea that it was origanaly intented to take place in the same Island as Sonic 1. Also Can you talk about almost every final level in a Sonic game?

In sonic heroes, knuckles says "we have mushrooms on my island, but not this large", nothing related, just wanted to say this

Where is the "Hill" which is absolutely flat with some ketchup?

9:24 Green Hill’s looking a lot more like Sand Hill right no-

I always thought hilltop was at the very tip top of emerald hill because it looks like there are clouds in the background.

07:38 technically You can do anything is the remix and Sonic 2 Green hill is the original because both Sonic 2 where released before Sonic CD

HAPPY LATE HILL APPRECIATION ZONE DAY

So you got the Green Hills/sonic cd bit backwards Sonic 2 (8 bit) came out first, then hayata decided to turn that into the game's theme Mecha sounds similar because it's supposed to be a mechanized version of the same stage from Sonic 2 8bit

Are you saying Mushroom Hill is just “good” This is an fantastic level. Yes the seesaws is a bit anoyying but the rest of the level is amazing

Werehog is dabbing in the Background as his game doesn't have any levels with the word Hill in them (That I know of)

Why do you always talk like you're just about to run out of breath??? Remember to breathe, sir, it's good for you.

Kiro you should probably make Sonic the hedgehog 2 iceberg

ahh yes my favorite zone WALMART BRAND GREEN HILL ZONE

Don't knock Brown Hill. Brown is still a shade of green, if you neglect it long enough.

*next is Walmart brand green hil- i i mean* got me💀💀💀💀💀💀

Dust hill is not an early name for mystic cave zone but an cut desert stage

2:49 Hill top is a palette swap of Emerald Hill because there was originally gonna be time travel in sonic 2

Guess my birthday is hilll zone appreciation day 2

In Sonic and All Stars racing transformed as well as team Sonic racing there is a racetrack that's at that seaside level in Sonic heroes so you can almost say that counts as a hill level because it's the second act of that Hill zone at the beginning of Sonic heroes. And by the way Sonic forces speed battle is completely different than the Sonic forces you get for PC and console. What Sonic forces speed battle is similar to is Sonic dash which is also on smartphones. The difference is Sonic dash actually has more obstacles and I'd say it's more difficult while Sonic forces speed battle is more focused on trying to beat actual human opponents on the internet to be the first of the finish line which therefore they made the obstacles easier to avoid not to mention you get power-ups to mess up your opponents. I haven't played either of the games in a long time but I used to livestream them every once in a while but I played them a lot more than I live streamed them, and this may sound like a brag but I mean in my opinion I think it's what just makes Sonic forces speed battle really easy. I get first place to vast majority of the time. Although I think I noticed as I was leveling up more my opponents started to get more challenging so I think as you just get better at the game you start having better competition but I still would win the majority of the time.

Hill top zone, dust hill as supposed to be the western canyon zone full of sand and cactuses

Translation in the 80s and 90s was pretty new so today, the translation error of Green Hill to Green Hills is pretty confusing why it happened

Pumpkin Hill? I think you mean Halloween Town

i feel like emerald hill was called that because you can get all emeralds in that zone

that title sounded like “hill zone”

I think marble zone was originally called marble hill zone but in the final product it called marble zone only

pumpkin hill the first time I played it.. took me HALF AN HOUR to beat.. it's F tier for me

don't forget your schizo pill zone

In mystic cave you can also find the hidden palace

You Missed Gray Hill Zone From A Fan Game Called Sonic 2.5 for Pico-8

turquoise is a shade of blue

Hill!

L I M E H I L L Z O N E

I know this might be a scratch but here I go. "Hilltop Heights Zone from the fan game called Sonic the Hedgehog: Before the Sequel created by LakeFeperd." Just wondering does this count or is it a no go.🤔

Someone make clayhill zone as like a sonic web series thing where he goes thru portals and enters clayhill, it can be a game too, idk just yes.

Emerald hill is on west island so calling it "green" hill zone would be canonically incorrect to the lore

You missed sussy hill zone in sonic 3 & k

Actually I had Sonic mobile game endless runner where we were running on the green hill zone

Green Hill is the main true zone I know

how on earth did you add something as obscure as leapster sonic but forgot green grove