After an earlier hint with the numbers ’32’ and ‘8’ from Christian Whitehead aka The Taxman, fans have discovered an hidden image in the newly released Sonic CD port that reveals an unused stage called Desert Dazzle. In response to the find, Whitehead has explained at the Sonic Retro forums that this re-release was originally going to feature two new levels: Desert Dazzle and a boss fight called Final Fever. The levels were cut because Sonic Team “felt the game should not deviate too far from it’s original form”.

Oh boy…

So what is this image doing in Sonic CD?

Basically, earlier on in the remake’s development there were 2 new levels: Desert Dazzle & Final Fever (another boss)

Neither level was fully complete, and we had to make the call whether or not to go ahead and finalize them. Sonic Team felt the game should not deviate too far from it’s original form, and in retrospect it was for the best since we had a lot of other work to do anyway.

I left this image in since it’s quite a groovy looking Zone, and it also serves as a way for you to get to the stage select as Tails.

Source: Sonic Retro

Thanks to Christmas Doggy at the SSMB for the heads up!