Saxman's Theory of Sonic 2 Time Travel Concept

People often say that Sonic 2 had time travel concepts. Others will say that there is no proof of this. I am here to show my evidence that suggests that the concepts for Sonic 2 were very real.

By another theory of mine, I have said that Sonic CD was branched off from an early alpha version of Sonic 2. So we have to assume that this is right to really visualize the theory I am discussing today. It so happens that Sonic CD has time travel (if you didn't already know). Each time zone has a different player icon. There's present (shows Sonic), past (outline of Sonic with a 'P' in it), and future (outline of Sonic with an 'F' in it).

In Sonic 2, all playable levels use a default player icon. This means that if you are playing Sonic, it shows Sonic; if you are playing Tails, it shows Tails. Let's take into consideration that Tails wasn't in Sonic 2 originally just as he wasn't in Sonic CD at all. If you look at level 01 (a level nobody really knows anything about), it shows a 'Miles' icon, regardless of who you're playing. In level 02 (Wood Zone), it shows a 'Tails' icon, regardless of who you're playing. Now I suggest that the 'Miles' icon used to be a 'past' icon, and the 'Tails' icon used to be a 'future' icon. This would be back before they added Tails to Sonic 2 of course.

Using a hex editor, you can open a ROM and see the data and code. In Sonic 2, you can view the data that tells the game what icons to use for each level. It's true -- you can tell the game to use whatever icon you want it to use for each individual level. This seems kind of useless... unless there was a purpose for it at one time. Now let's see what each level uses:

00 EHZ - Default
01 *??? - Miles
02 *WZ - Tails
03 *DHZ - Default
04 MZ - Default
05 MZ3 - Default
06 WFZ - Default
07 HTZ - Default
08 **HPZ - Default
09 *GCZ - Default
0A OOZ - Default
0B MCZ - Default
0C CNZ - Default
0D CPZ - Default
0E DEZ - Default
0F ARZ - Default
10 SCZ - Default

* - unplayable and scrapped from commercial release plans
** - unplayable, but originally intended for commercial release

Now let's assume that all playable levels and HPZ use the default icon because they were to be released to the public. What does this say about the other levels? Keep in mind that in my theory, default is present, 'Miles' is past, and 'Tails' is future. Let's look at a pattern:

00 EHZ - Default
01 ??? - *Miles
02 WZ - *Tails
03 DHZ - *Default
04 MZ - Miles
05 MZ3 - Tails
06 WFZ - Default
07 HTZ - Miles
08 HPZ - Tails
09 GCZ - *Default
0A OOZ - Miles
0B MCZ - Tails
0C CNZ - Default
0D CPZ - Miles
0E DEZ - Tails
0F ARZ - Default
10 SCZ - Miles

* - unplayable and scrapped from commercial release plans

Pay attention to the levels that have been noted. They fit into a pattern. If the other levels use the icons sequence that I think existed, it would all work. This is the evidence that I am using to support my claim that I believe Sonic 2 had time travel concepts. I don't know that the time travel actually 'worked', but I believe they had a developing structure.