For those who are curious, this is from an arcade version... There are actually quite a few differences, mainly that not all the levels are in the game and done on a timer.

There are actually two Mega Drive to arcade systems (not counting arcade systems that uses the MD hardware such as C2 or the Top Shooter/Super Bubble Bobble games). Mega Play would be like the VS NES where it got changes (sometimes very minor) while Mega Tech is more like PlayChoice 10 where you put money in for time (basically more or less the same game as the MD/Master System versions, interestingly the super rare MD Tetris game where about 10+ genuine copies survived did make it on Mega Tech), just by comparison.

There weren't many Mega Play games, just 11 compared to 47 Mega Tech games. Sonic 1 & 2 made it on both as well as Golden Axe 2.

Where did this come from

@Spicy Spicy the ladder: 🪜

@saan1ty isn't it just the normal backgrounds from the levels

Where's the backround

@MattVGResource154 this shares a lot with the Sonic 1 prototype, if anything. Either way, it's pointless separating these because it would literally be a whole other version for only a 1412x224 png. That's like making a separate sheet for SMS Sonic Blast. Before you point out the mobile remakes, they have inaccurate colours and new graphics, especially Sonic CD for the ladder

Shouldn't this sprite sheet be relocated to the Arcade section?

On another note, unlike most graphics on the Mega Drive that are 4bpp, the font itself is 1bpp and has a special routine to handle it. Though the box containing "YOUR RANKING ___ TIMER" is in the standard format.

So as of late I've been disassembling Sonic 1 Mega Play myself, and something I noticed is that the slash and vertical line (seen in this sheet) isn't actually in the ROM data, I'm curious as to where the uploader got those tiles?

@The Observer
Late reply, but they’re still the same game but with very minor differences. "Very minor" as in the timer counting down instead of up and no Special Stages, so I thought that I’d just add this here instead of making an entirely different page for just one sheet.

I'm kind of confused about this. If it appears on an Arcade cabinet, then does it not stand to reason that this doesn't belong in Genesis?

@TattleangusMLG
They appear when played on the Mega Play arcade cabinet.

Where Is This In The Game?