Sonic 2 HD

Just to be clear, this is totally independent of the rom right? I remember they had a level editor tool for the Sonic 2 rom back in the day so if isn't then they might be able to take some pointers from that.

Nothing is derivative of the ROM. Unless you consider ripping sprite sheets, printing out sprites, tracing them and adding detail, then scanning and recoloring to be "derivative".

And I don't see how a level editor for a ROM could help... if it was ROM derivative, they could just rip the levels as is. I suppose they could base it their own level editor design off the markup language (or proprietary format) if one exists. But creating the levels from scratch wouldn't be too much difficulty either. Because there are level maps and such all over the place, all they need to do is pick the parts they need and drop them in where they go. Would probably be boring to build levels exactly as the classic that way, but it wouldn't be hard.

this is kinda for the purpose of commercial. in my opinion, it defeats the purpose of the "old school game". its like why they remade stars wars episodes 4, 5 and 6 into HD dvds. its just to rake in some money while people already have experienced the movie. its still the same game. its just gonna be replayed in less "eye bleeding" graphics but it loses its originality.

This is a fan project. They're not making any money off of it, they're not selling it.

And yeah, "still the same game", so why not love it like you did the original? Have an affinity for low res sprite art? I would be surprised if they don't have the option to turn on alternate art that could make it appear exactly as it did on the Genesis. Look at Street Fighter II HD-- I hear they're having all kinds of different modes and settings, including one that makes the characters play and appear exactly as they did in the original, bugs and imbalances included. Bugs and imbalances wouldn't be good for a platformer though, so don't expect to see that pumpernickel here, but the other point remains that people who would prefer the classic look and will probably be able to see it here.