In hindsight, what were the point of these UFOs even going to be? They don't really blend in with the level artstyle that well and you spend most of Marble Zone underground.
It doesn’t matter.
>>12500389Nothing here actually matters, so there's no harm in discussing pointless trivia.
>>12500383Ancient ruins of a lost civilization. Think Atlantis or Mu. When I was more into that stuff as a teen, there were theories that UFOs weren't actually extraterrestrial, but from a civilization that either lived deep in the sea, or inside the Earth. It all kinda loosely ties together.
>>12500416Pretty cool theory
Dr Robotnik spy drones
>>12500419If Robotnik had access to UFO technology, it makes it seem even more weird that he got defeated in the first game.
>>12500389...now what happens
They were there to probe Cream's anus.
>>12500424speed > gay nerd shit
>>12500476Was Cream giant?
They were saving the idea for the Saturn logo
>>12500383they just thought they looked cool
ok but WHO lived in Marble Zone, anyway?
>>12501269I doubt anybody lived there, it's just an abandoned ruins
>>12501269The Moving Mediterraneans
>>12500383Let's get schizophrenic for a moment. Marble Zone is clearly inspired by ancient Roman/Greek architecture (I mean it's even in the name). The UFOs look vaguely like Saturn. Saturn is the Roman god of many things, but the ones that make sense here are time, dissolution, and liberation. Time represents how Marble Zone still looks ancient regardless of how modern the Sonic world is and dissolution and liberation tie into Sonic saving the animals from Robotnik. Basically, the UFOs are there because someone working on the game thought it'd be clever.>>12500575However this is probably the real answer desu.
>>12500383They were used for transporting the Roaming Romans
>>12501345I think the roman thing could be true but i'm not sure how much the japanese actually care for european mythology.
>>12501392They care plenty but not that deeply, not to write kino like anon's post
>>12500383sonic 1 originally had a more abstract style and leaned more heavily into dreamlike aesthetics
>>12500469I will never, give up the fight!
clearly they represent the planet saturn, their removal was a premonition of the saturns failure, had they been kept in the game the saturn wouldve been saved. though the saturn was doomed from the start since marble zone was cut from the sega system version so there wouldnt have been a chance for these sega saturns to appear in marble zone and save the saturn. the more you know
>>12501345The Sedentarians Saturnines
>>12500391This, the point is the fun of the discussion itself.
>>12501269The Boarding Byzantines
also could look to sonic cd since its formulaically identical to 1. you only see this bg in 1 act for 2 seconds then never again. just take a moment and stand at the start of tidal tempest. its severe in its animation then gone forever. for years i wondered if this was meant for dubious depths, the removed marble zone lvl of that game.but even at face value this can be analyzed.>harsh environment, get somewhere safe>immediately a sharp contrast undergroundmaybe thats what they were going with the ufos in 1>shits goin down up here, get underground
>>12503219also what makes it more likely that it was a recycled bg is that its only used in 1 time zone. all the other eras dont have a unique background for this spot. if it was always intended here they would have had 3 more variants for past and both futures. in comparison the 1st act of the final zone of cd has a different background then acts 2 and 3-like sonic 1. each era also has a different bg just for that act.
>>12503219>>12503249honestly i was going to say it doesnt make much sense for dubious depths and thats what ive always believed but im not sure now, the crystals in the background make me think its supposed to represent quartz quadrant and just be a neat little easter egg but the overall forboding nature and all the brown squares everywhere makes me think it could be dubious depths bad future. maybe the squares are supposed to be stumps from all the forested trees, marble zone also had a mountain range behind its forest so itd make sense. its also pretty barebones compared to the other backgrounds in the game so itd check out for being an early cut. but on the other hand one of the devs said there was hardly any stage assets made for DDZ, tho he could also just be misremembering, or maybe theyre still not allowed to talk about stuff like that
>>12500424This pic was originally towards the lefties poosly users of Sonic, especially the comic writers.Are you a lefty, anon?
>>12503748did the artist of dubious stated he was willing to post the work he did on the level but was awaiting the ok from sega? that was like 6 years ago
>>12501269The Ambulating Athenians, presumably.
>>12503943No, I just find the image funny.
>>12500383early promo shots show the original idea was rotating square platforms.for whatever reason, these were changed to ufos and the level lost the upper path and became a purely linear underground only poo zone.
>>12503965ive never heard of that, that sounds more like something from sonic 2 on the STI side, theyve always been much more open about the game's development which is why we know the most about it of the original MD games. the stage artist for CD said no work was done iirc
>>12503943>lefties poosly users of Sonic
>>12500383Sonic travels so fast in the first few levels he goes into the past and visits the lost city of Atlantis, just as it is sinking into the earth and the aliens are evacuating.