First ROM I downloaded (StH2 Beta). :D ... :(
-About Hidden Palace, the reason Sonic dies after going under the Emerald could be that the looping
was never finished. I found a slope that seemed like it should've gone from the bottom of the stage
to the top. (Sonic can't reach the top normally, and he dies if he goes down to the bottom.)
-Yeah, I heard about the time travel somewhere. What reasons are there to believe that?
(I know about Aquatic Ruin being Neo Green Hill, but I thought there was something else...)
-The Long Version hack was cool, but there were a few things I didn't like. The main one was that
one Dust Hill stage is really confusing. I spent a long time trying to get through it the first time,
and then I just ended up forgetting when I went back to replay the game.
Also, there were a few other things that seemed like "cheap challenge", and Genocide City
wasn't how I expected it. (It didn't look as nice as some other stages, and it wasn't factory-like.)
-Hidden Palace could've been a really cool and cool-looking stage, with 3-D-looking backgrounds,
water slides (which, as I remember, didn't work right in Long Version), glittery jewels
(do I sound too much like Rouge? :P ), and the cave design.
Sonic and Knuckles didn't make up for this. It was a regular part of the game (instead of being
the secret stage for getting the Emeralds, like I hoped before I knew much about the game),
it was smaller, it was simpler, and it just didn't look as cool overall.