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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonic Rush FAQS
Version 1.5: 1/12/06
By Angnix (Angela Petersen)
angnix@gmail.com
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I'm putting this right in the front of the guide because there are just
certain questions that keep coming up again and again and again about this
game I want to make clear at the beginning.
Q. How do you get the Chaos Emeralds?
A. This question is asked a lot because you have to read the booklet or later
parts of this guide to get the answer and it's not very obvious in game. See
the things in Sonic's Acts with a star in the middle and two handles? They are
called Special Gimmicks or Special Generators and if you have enough Tension
and you grab one of the handles then press X or Y and keep X or Y pressed, you
will eventually be warped into the Special Stage where you will have the
chance to grab a Chaos Emerald, you need to do this in each of the 7 Zones.
This is described in much more detail in the Special Stage Section of this
guide.
Q. I'm stuck in Night Carnival! The spring things won't bounce me high enough
or I can't reach that button!
A. First you work this spring thing by standing on it then pushing down, the
longer you push down the longer it charges up and the higher you bounce up.
Second, after springing off many things, you can push the R button and up at
the same time to do a Mid-Air Trick... in this game and in Sonic Advance 2 and 3
it's nifty for getting up higher, but in Sonic Rush it can mess you up and
slow you down a lot too... so be careful... Blaze goes much higher with this
trick
than Sonic.
Q. What do you get for getting all S-ranks?
A. Nothing, unless you count bragging rights as something.
Q. Can you play as other characters besides Sonic and Blaze?
A. Nope. All of the other characters in this game are there for story
purposes... or sometimes as a distraction during boss battles...
Q. Can you play through Story Mode and see the cutscenes again without
deleting the game data?
A. Sorry, nope.
Q. What's the difference between Normal and Easy Mode?
A. Bosses need two less hits to defeat, Final Boss has a few more differences
described in that section.
Q. Do I need to finish an Act to keep a Chaos Emerald?
A. Nope, if you have completed the Act before, you can just simply pause the
game and choose exit and you will have your Emerald.
Q. ARRGGGHHH! Special Stage 7 is impossible!
A. I added a special small section about this in the Special Stage Section
guide, hard but not impossible.
Q. I have all 7 Chaos Emeralds... where is the Extra Zone?
A. It appears in the Character Select Menu but only if you have beaten the
game with Sonic and Blaze also, it doesn't matter what order you complete
Sonic and Blaze's stories and when you get the Chaos Emeralds but as soon as
you do all three of these things go back to the Character Select Screen and
you will find the option to go to the Extra Zone there. Also you can't turn
Super in regular Zones like in the Genesis games... Sonic Team still hasn't
brought that back.
Q. Does putting a GBA Sonic game in the GBA slot unlock anything?
A. Nope, sorry.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Thanks Too:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A special section honoring those who have helped me with this guide:
GameFAQs/GameSpot Messageboard Members:
Various things posted on the messageboard have help quite a bit, for example
how to do a Double Advanced Trick and the presence of Homing Attack in this
game and other various things... thanks a lot guys!
Michael: Told me via e-mail about different jump mechanics(okay so I really
didn't mention this anywhere but here) and the little Easter Egg where you can
poke the characters with the stylus.
Matthew: Told me via e-mail you can repeat a Rail Trick on the same Rail after
a certain period of time, but not really worth doing it...
shadow2k: Explained to me what the PSG soundtracks were... and now I know more
than I wanted to ever know about PSG and even the history of PSG chips, wow...
tjoeb123: Told me about a glitch that can freeze the game, this is not really
a glitch guide and it's a glitch that would rarely come up so it's not include
but thanks, and also a couple things that were already told to me by a couple
other people and I discovered myself.
SonicLover: For in general being too picky about the Sound Test :P I changed
it slightly anyway...
Jagus: For posting about Extra Zone I won't mention here on the GameFAQs
messageboard... and a pointage error... just in time to update this guide... in
fact
I already submitted this version and I put in what he said last minute...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Legal Notes:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
This guide cannot be placed on any site without my permission. Sonic
and all related characters copyright Sonic Team/Sega.
Sites with permission to post any of my FAQS:
www.GameFAQS.com
www.Neoseeker.com
www.cheathappens.com
faqs.ign.com
www.cheats.de
www.supercheats.com
www.wogaming.com
1up.com
www.gamerstemple.com
http://www.gameplayworld.com
http://www.cheatcc.com
www.spong.com
GamerHelp.com
GameSlander.com
www.absolutcheats.com
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Version History:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Version 0.7: 11/21/05
Version 0.8: 11/24/05
Fixed errors in the character moves and act description sections
Added Item Box Section
Added Sound Test Section
Added Two Player Mode Section
Version 1.0: 11/26/05
Added Boss Descriptions
Version 1.01: 11/26/05
Fixed errors
Added Extra Boss Attack I accidentally left out
Reordered and rewrote Boost Mode description
Version 1.02: 11/27/05
Fixed errors
Various changes/better descriptions in Boss section
Redid Rankings section, added typical ranges
Redid Character Moves section, including reordering, adding more specific
details in the Tricks section and including more differences between Sonic and
Blaze's R button tricks and other useful hints.
Version 1.09: 11/28/05
Added extra info to R button Rail Trick
Added nice Special Stage Tip
Added Maximum number of points you can get from Tricking in an Act
Added Special Gimmick Locations and Ratings for Dead Line Act 1 and Leaf Rush
Act 1
Fixed the Ranking Ranges
Other things probably I can't remember right now...
Version 1.099: 12/2/05
Added Leaf Storm, Water Palace, Mirage Road and Night Carnival Special Gimmick
Locations and Rankings
Fixed a couple small details in Final and Extra boss descriptions
Added more detail to Dead Line Zone Description
Fixed Rail Trick description
Changed Ranking Ranges again.
Version 1.1: 12/3/05
Finished Special Gimmick Locations
Version 1.11: 12/12/05
Fixed errors in Trick and Final Boss Section and other minor errors
Finished up Sound Track Descriptions
Slightly rewrote Spoilers Section
Version 1.2: 12/17/05
Added Tension and Points List Section
Fixed errors/more detail in Zone Descriptions, Boss Section and Ranking
Section and other sections
Version 1.3: 12/22/05
Added Ring Bonuses for Special Stage Minigame
Added S-rank Miniguide/Times etc... Info
Version 1.31: 12/23/05
Finally... finished Time Attack Section...
Added Tips/Walkthrough for Special Stage #7
Added Nostalgia Again! Section
Fixed errors in new Act/Boss S-rank Section
Version 1.4: 12/30/05
Added FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Added much more detailed info in the Boss S-Rank Section and now includes Time
Bonus Info.
Fixed small things and added small things in other sections.
Fixed Extra Zone Description
Version 1.41Fixed yet another Final Boss Error
Added more FAQs
Added Speed Bonus info
Added rest of Boss Time Bonus info in S-rank Section
Fixed minor errors (B button Tricks)
Version 1.42
Added Final Boss difference when Game is set on Easy
Added and fixed S-rank Guide Info and Added Perfect Game in One Go as a
subsection in the Ranking Section
Added a little more info to Sound Test
Added more info in general to several sections
Version 1.43
More S-ranking stuff
Version 1.5 1/12/06
Errors I still looked over (The error in B button Mid-air Tricks most important)
More S-ranking stuff and major revision of S-ranking Bosses
Reformatting, one Section Order and Table of Contents changes
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
VERSION 1.5 IS HERE!!!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Wow... just wow. Back at E3 2004 when the Nintendo DS was announced, it was also
announced that a Sonic game would be created for this new system. For about a
year, all we had to go on was a demo with Sonic running through a Green Hill-
like Zone and very sketchy details that the new game would be Advance-series
like. I knew I would like the game back them... About a year ago when the DS
came out, I couldn't wait to get one, I did get one for Christmas, I had to
make sure I had one, the Sonic game could come out anytime! Well... okay, so
yeah, this game came out another year after that. But am I disappointed? Did I
wait all this time for nothing and now I am sad I spent like one and a half
years waiting? No way hosay... I swear, it is like someone was reading my mind a
created a Sonic game in just my style. The hype right now maybe about Shadow
the Hedgehog, but he can wait till a little later. I literally just feel so
privileged to write a FAQS about this game.
I will also warn you that certain parts of this guide do contain spoilers for
this game, but I tried to confine most of them to the Spoilers Section at the
end of this guide or when it is necessary to talk about the Spoilers.
Overall, this game is like the Advance series, but made better and a little
more Genesis-like. The amount of moves characters can do has been lessened,
and now there are only two playable characters, Sonic and Blaze.
Each zone has a different feel, even the styles of Badniks differ by zone, I
will talk a little more about that later in the Zone Description Section. Also
the Zone order differs for Sonic and Blaze, the zones will be in Sonic's order
but with a note as to which Zone it is for Blaze.
And the Extra Zone... I'll talk more about that later, but all I am going to say
is someone definitely has a thing for the classics...
Version 1.5:
This will hopefully be the Final Version, I swear!
I couple more errors I found... trying to get rid of those as much as possible,
and more fixes/changes under the S-ranking section plus the addition of 85,000
time bonus times to the S-rank section and a very major revision of the S-rank
Bosses section including how to tell if you are not going to S-rank most bosses
on Normal Mode... okay, I will tell you here also, count how many times the boss
dishes out it's longest attack where you can't hit the boss... if it's more than
three times... forget about it... this rule doesn't apply to the Altitude Limit,
Final and Extra Boss. There you go...
Also took the subsections out of Zone Descriptions, those sections are small and
don't deserve it. S-ranking Miniguide gets it's own section number, Tension and
Points Bonus movedand the specific sections under them get their own sectioning
in the Table of Contents so people can more easily see that the exist.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Table of Contents:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
1. Story
2. Characters
3. Character Moves, Gimmicks, Tricks, Tension Gauge and Boosting
3.a. Moves and Gimmicks
3.b. Tricks
3.c. Tension Gauge and Boosting
4. Tension and Points List
5. Item Boxes
6. Map Area
7. Gameplay Tips
8. Brief Zone Descriptions/Gameplay Tips
8.a. Zone Order Summary
9. Bosses
9.a. Leaf Storm
9.b. Water Palace
9.c. Mirage Road
9.d. Night Carnival
9.e. Huge Crisis
9.f. Altitude Limit
9.g. Dead Line
9.h. Final Zone (F-Zone): Unknown
8.i. Extra Zone: Exception
10. Special Stages
10.a. Special Stage 7 Tips/Walkthrough
10.b. Special Gimmick Locations
10.b.1. Leaf Storm Act 1 SGs
10.b.2. Leaf Storm Act 2 SGs
10.b.3. Water Palace Act 1 SGs
10.b.4. Water Palace Act 2 SGs
10.b.5. Mirage Road Act 1 SGs
10.b.6. Mirage Road Act 2 SGs
10.b.7. Night Carnival Act 1 SGs
10.b.8. Night Carnival Act 2 SGs
10.b.9. Huge Crisis Act 1 SGs
10.b.10. Huge Crisis Act 2 SGs
10.b.11. Altitude Limit Act 1 SGs
10.b.12. Altitude Limit Act 2 SGs
10.b.13. Dead Line Act 1 SGs
10.b.14. Dead Line Act 2 SGs
11. Ranking
12. S-ranking Miniguide
12.a. S-Ranking Acts
12.b S-Ranking Bosses
12.c. A Perfect Game in One Go
13. Time Attack
14. Two Player Mode
15. Sound Test
16. Unlock Features
17. Spoilers
18. Nostalgia, again!
19. Questions?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
1. Story:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonic's Story:
Like usual, Sonic is chasing after Eggman again wondering what
he is up to. After battling him, Eggman drops a mysterious emerald that Sonic
doesn't recognize, but when he is just about to pick it up, a mysterious girl
surrounded by flames appears and retrieves it, muttering something about
second emerald retrieved. The mystery continues when Sonic and Tails encounter
Eggman again, but looking kind of different this time. Why is he now insisting
on being called Eggman-Nega? Also, Tails detects there is something funny
going on with the space-time continuum... As Sonic, it is your mission to follow
Eggman-Nega to figure out who he is while retrieving Chaos Emeralds in the
Special Stages.
Blaze's Story:
Blaze, the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, was shocked when the Sol Emeralds
were stolen from her and taken away from her world by Eggman. A confused Blaze
doesn't know quite what to do, where is she? This is not my world! Suddenly a
rustle in the bushes... who could that be? Blaze is surprised by a very friendly
rabbit named Cream and her little Chao Cheese. What was even more surprising
was the fact that she invited her to her house to drink tea with her mother.
Blaze has always been alone and is confused by all this niceness, but accepts
Cream's offer to be her guide since Blaze doesn't know where she is. Your
mission as Blaze is to recover the Sol Emeralds from Eggman, while trying to
figure out why this bunny is being so nice to you and why everyone keeps
talking about this Sonic guy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
2. Characters:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonic the Hedgehog: Age 15. Sonic is like the wind and goes where he wants to,
but always shows up when Dr. Eggman threatens the world or nowadays more like
challenging Sonic. He seems to have a special connection with the Chaos
Emeralds and is known for his great speed and spinning attacks.
Blaze the Cat: Age 14. A mysterious purple cat from the alternate dimension.
She is the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, which are just as mysterious as the
Chaos Emeralds are. She can control flames and manipulates them to pull off a
variety of powerful moves. She is a loner that really doesn't know what
friendship is all about, but with Cream being so nice to her and wanting to be
her friend, will that change?
Miles "Tails" Prower: Age 8. A young fox that is like Sonic's kid brother. He
has a very high IQ and loves to tinker with mechs and technology in general.
He can fly by spinning his tails like a helicopter. In this game he is Sonic's
guide and support.
Cream the Rabbit: Age 6. She is kind to a fault and doesn't like to fight. Her
pet Chao Cheese goes wherever she does. She can fly by flapping her ears like
wings. In this game she is Blaze's guide and support.
Vanilla the Rabbit: Age ?. Cream's mother, she is also very kind and is the
typical kindly mother figure. Not much is really known about her, does she
have any special powers at all? Briefly appears in this game.
Knuckles the Echidna: Age 16. He is the powerful Guardian of the Master
Emerald which controls the Chaos Emeralds. He tends to be gullible and easily
tricked by Eggman. Like Blaze, he is also a loner and Sonic's friend and rival.
He is briefly seen in this game.
Amy Rose: Age 12. She is psychotically in love with Sonic, but the feelings
are not mutual. She is insistent on marrying Sonic someday and does not like
the idea of another female about Sonic's age getting anywhere near him... Her
signature weapon is the Piko Piko Hammer and she also makes a few guest
appearances in this game.
Dr. Eggman (Dr. Ivo Robotnik): Age ?. The mad scientist with a 300 IQ that
likes to use helpless animals to power his robots in an attempt to defeat
Sonic. Eggman really does want to take over the world, but he also has a lot
of fun just trying to beat Sonic, and if the world really is in grave danger
he is known to even help Sonic.
Eggman-Nega: Age ?. This mysterious man is very similar to Eggman and even has
the same voice and uses similar robots. Blaze seems to know a little more
about him than other characters do...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
3. Character Moves, Gimmicks, Tricks, Tension Gauge and Boosting:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Thankfully this section will be a lot shorter than in
the Sonic Advance 3 guide. The two playable characters are Sonic and Blaze of
course, Blaze unlocked by beating the first boss with Sonic. Compared to the
Advance series, Boost Mode and R-button tricks are the same, basic moves have
been reduced, and now there are new tricks, the Tension Gauge, and Super/Fire
Boost. Sonic and Blaze only have a few minor differences in moves and the same
button combinations, so I'm doing Moves in one section with Sonic and Blaze
specific stuff clearly labeled.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
3.a. Moves and Gimmicks:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Press and hold right or left: Run right or left, keep pressed and you will
gain speed. After a while you will go into Boost Mode, when you go into Boost
Mode, you will have a burst of wind with Sonic or fire with Blaze and after
images appear, Boost Mode is discussed later in the Tension and Boosting Section.
Press down: Pressing down while standing still will cause you to crouch
down, useful in dodging some attacks. If you crouch down long enough and you
are on the bottom screen, the view will eventually change and you can see what
is below you.
Pressing down while moving will start you spinning, useful for attacking
enemies. Doing this with Sonic is a good way of getting around loops if you
don't want to go into Boost Mode, but Blaze's spin is slower and that would
just slow her down.
Press up: Pressing up while standing still will cause the character to
look up, eventually the screen view will change so you can see what's
above you if you happen to be on the top screen.
A or B button: Spin(Sonic)/Axel(Blaze) Jump, use to jump or to attack an enemy.
Sonic spins into a ball while Blaze turns into a fiery top.
Press and hold down + A or B button then release: Spin (Sonic)/Burst (Blaze)
Dash, used for attacking enemies or to instantly increase speed for getting up
slopes, if you press the A button once and then release both buttons, you will
get the most powerful Spin, if you keep holding down then release the A button,
the character will eventually rev down a little and then releasing down will
result in a less powerful Spin. Sonic's Spin Dash is faster and lasts longer
than Blaze's Burst Dash.
A button, then R button: Jump Dash and Homing Attack (Sonic)/Burst Hover
(Blaze), both moves are go for moving to the right or left in a sudden burst.
Sonic's Jump Dash is fast and short, Blaze's Burst Hover is slower, lasts
longer and she can glide for 3 seconds and even change direction from right to
left in the air. Sonic can attack enemies with Jump Dash, in fact if you are
close enough to an enemy with Sonic and press R even in mid-air Sonic will use
Homing Attack and head right toward the enemy, but Blaze can't with Burst
Hover.
Extra Zone Specific Moves: I'll discuss this in the Extra Zone section to help
prevent spoilers.
Gimmicks: Devices throughout the acts that propel you forward someway, these
were sort of in Sonic Advance series also but not named. Some gimmicks have to
be operated a certain way and sometimes hints in the form of a little symbol
telling you what button to push pop up, these little hints sometimes pop up in
the Boss Battles also. In Sonic's acts you can also find Special Gimmicks (also
called Special Generators), a
round device with a star on it and two handles which you can use to get into
the Special Stages, but I will discuss that more later.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
3.b. Tricks:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
These are special mid-air maneuvers using the A, B and R button,
pretty much an extension of the tricks from the Sonic Advance series but more
useful and there are a lot more of them. There are several kinds of tricks
that can be preformed in certain situations, usually after jumping off a
spring or on a rail, etc... Tricks generally give you extra points (maximum of
20,000 per Act) and help fill your Tension Gauge which I will discuss in the
next small section, but tricks differ in points/tension and sometimes won't
give one or the other. If you use the same spring or other trick object more
than once, the amount of points/tension you get will normally go down until
eventually you will get none, but there are a few exceptions to this rule... so
keep moving through the act! If you do a very nice combination of tricks,
various things such as confetti, Small Animals, and applause appear.
There is a new section in this guide that lists more specific Points and
Tension bonus info.
R button + Up Mid-air Trick: Hop Jump(Sonic)/Axel Tornado(Blaze), this trick
gives you about 200 points but no gauge boost. Similar to the same trick from
Sonic Advance 2 and 3, it can be used after jumping off a spring, being
launched off a ramp or out of a cannon, or after being propelled through a
boost hoop, after certain Gimmicks (discussed below) or in general situations
where you are in the air after bouncing off some sort of Gimmick or other
level object. Used to jump higher up, most effective if used during the
highest point in your jump, useful in reaching areas you cannot normally get
to. R button tricks are also used during Advanced Tricks described later. The
differences between Sonic's Hop Jump and Blaze's Axel Tornado are:
Sonic: Doesn't go very high and can't attack enemies.
Blaze: Much higher and faster than Sonic's and can attack enemies.
R button + Left or Right Mid-air Trick: Same bonus and same situation as the
other R button trick. Humming Top(Sonic)/Jump Step(Blaze), this propels the
character sideways real fast, good if you want to go more sideways into an
area, unlike in the Advance games you don't need to face the direction you
want to go. The differences between Sonic's Humming Top and Blazes Jump Step
are:
Sonic: Propels Sonic very quickly to the side and can attack enemies.
Blaze: Can't attack enemies.
R button Rail Trick: Points and Tension. Just hit the R button while grinding
a rail, you can only hit R a maximum of three times in a row on most rails and
get up to 1100 points, then if the rail is long enough if you wait a couple
seconds and press R three times again you get 1700 points for each set of
three afterwards. Unlike most tricks you can trick on the same rail multiple
times and get the same points/tension (took me too long to figure this out...
seriously, I could have sworn there was point loss, and I think I've been
writing this more than I have been playing the game @_@)
A button Springboard Trick: Points. Off the edge of a springboard (I call
these ramps in my earlier guides. Same concept as in Sonic Advance 2 or 3, but
not only are you launched forward but you also get Points. You can follow this
up with any of the B button tricks described below.
A button end of Rail Trick: Points and Tension. Off the end of a rail, like
Sonic and Amy could do in the Advance series, but this time you also get some
points and tension.
B button and Advanced Mid-air Tricks: Points and Tension. Press B a bunch of
times to do tricks on the way down during the same situations you would use an
R button trick described above. Most places tension and points go down if you
trick off the same place more than once, but that is not true with the cannon
at least...
If you want to get fancier add in the A button and R Button Tricks and try
Advanced tricks. In general A button is pushed last, can only be pushed after
pushing B at least two times and finishes off the trick and is usually done
near the ground, you can only push A again if you do an R button + up trick
right afterwards, if you push and and do an R + left/right trick you can't
trick anymore afterwards at all... but you can only do one R trick in the whole
sequence... here are a few Advanced trick button combinations, the Double
Advanced gives you the most points and tension and works best with Blaze,
but slows you down the most... it is best to experiment yourself to find
combinations that give you good amounts of points, but don't slow you down
too much when you are trying to get an S-rank... also remember there is a
max value to how many Trick Points you can earn in an act, that is purposeful
because the game designers don't want you to S-rank everything by just doing
a whole lot of tricks...
Advanced: B at least two times than A R button Assisted Advanced: R button trick
(either up or right/left), B two or more times, then A
Advanced and a Half: B at least two times, then A, then R button plus up, then B
button till you hit ground
or
B at least two times, then A, then R button plus left/right
Double Advanced: B at least two times, than A, then up R button trick, then
B a least two times, than A before you hit ground
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
3.c. Tension Gauge and Boosting:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Master Tension Gauge and Boosting if you want to go fast and get S-ranks!
Tension Gauge: The gauge on the left hand side of either the top or bottom
screen is the Tension Gauge. You get Tension by doing Tricks, hitting a
checkpoint, hitting one of the Tension Item Boxes or Defeating Enemies, you
lose Tension by using the Super/Fire Boost or getting hit and losing rings.
You start off a zone or at a checkpoint with the gauge 100% full, but it can
go up to 300%. All white bars means you have zero tension, then it fills up
from bottom to top with blue bars to 100%, between 100 and 200 it fills up
with orange bars, then past 200 to 300 red. Look in my new Tension and Points
List to find more specifically what certain things give you what amount of
Tension.
Boost Mode: Tension not needed, but can be activated by Tension.
When you are in Boost Mode, you travel extra fast, there are a few
ways to enter Boost Mode. The easiest way is to tap X or Y if you have a
little Tension, this will activate Super/Fire Boost, a more powerful boost
than this described next for a split second and that will activate Boost Mode.
Another way is to run, preferably downhill, if you run long enough you will
burst into Boost Mode, the more Rings you have, the sooner you will burst into
Boost Mode. You can also achieve Boost Mode if a speed booster propels you
forward or if you hit a horizontal spring at high speed. Boost Mode cannot
harm enemies like the Super/Fire Boost can, discussed next.
Super (Sonic)/Fire Boost Mode: Tension needed. On top of the regular Boost Mode
left over from the Sonic Advance series, there is a new more powerful Boost.
Anytime you have Tension, you can use the Super(Sonic) or Fire(Blaze) Boost
where you gain a lot of speed and can defeat enemies, kind of like Boost Mode
but more extreme, but using this reduces your Tension quite a bit. When the
gauge is at 300 percent, for a short period of time the character glows and
the gauge blinks and you can do a Full Boost where you are Invincible and even
faster. Here is the complex part... if you do not activate the Full Boost
within 5 seconds of the gauge/character starting to blink, the tension gauge
and character stops glowing and you will just be at 300 percent but doing
just one more trick will make the character glow again and you can keep it
glowing by getting more tension also. But if you do use it but don't gain more
tension while using it, then you will be only able to use it for the remainder
of the 5 seconds after gaining the tension to keep it glowing and after you
used it the Tension Gauge goes back down to 200 percent. But then again, if
you use this Full Boost and you continue to defeat enemies and do Tricks you
can maintain the Full Boost until 5 seconds have come by without gaining more
Tension, afterwards the Tension Gauge going down to 200% of course.
When you quit pushing X or Y or run out of Tension, you will be in regular
Boost Mode described above.
This type of boosting is helpful
if you want to travel fast, defeat enemies, becoming more invincible except
against spikes and suck and even helps you push heavy objects much faster.
The Tension Gauge is also important if you want to get into the Special Stage
with Sonic because to activate the Special Gimmick fully you need at least
105% Tension, I will discuss this in more detail in the Special Stage section.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
4. Tension and Points List:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There are many things in the acts that earn you Tension, Points or both or
make you loose tension or points. Remember that each bar in the Tension Gauge
is 5% and this list for your convenience gives bars and percentage and Points
don't show up till the end and for Tricks the amount you get or loose is the
last number shown and they seem to come in 1000 point intervals and if do too
few Tricks you can get nothing. Tricks are more complex, since so many things
affect the total amount given and some trick objects are infinite, but most
things give you a pretty consistent amount of Points/Tension.
Also keep in mind Points totals do not show up till you finish an Act or Boss.
This is in the
form of a list (I tired a chart but I had too many notes), with specific level
objects, hazards and end of level bonuses, then Tension and Points received,
then specific Notes about that particular object/bonus.
In Bosses you don't have Tension to worry about, and Points are only earned by
how much Time you have Left and how many Rings are left.
Enemy (defeating):
Tension: 4 bars/20% for one enemy defeated
Points: none
Notes: Increasing Tension Bonus for hitting more than one Enemy in a short
period time, for example you get 10 bars for hitting two (4x2+2) and 22 for
hitting 3 (4x3+10), 45 for hitting 4 (4x4+29) exc... I'll figure out the
mathematical pattern behind this later...
Checkpoint:
Tension: 10 bars/50%
Points: none
Tension Bonus Item Box:
Tension: 20 bars/100%
Points: none
Max Tension Bonus Item Box:
Tension: 60 bars/300% and blinking. (completely full)
Points: none
Hit by Enemy or other damaging obstacle:
Tension: -15 bars/-75%
Points: All Rings lost, -100 points for each Ring lost.
Notes: A Barrier(Shield) or Magnetic Barrier will prevent Ring and Tension
loss one time. Try to recover Rings before they disappear after you loose them.
Rings are harder to recover the more you are hit.
R button Rail Trick:
Tension: 8 bars/40% for three in a row
Points: 1100 for three in a row
Notes: Three R presses on the same rail gets you value above and is most
typical, the pattern is:
1 press: 2 bars and 100 points
2 presses: 4 bars and 200 points
3 presses: 8 bars and 1100 points
If the rail is long enough and after a short period of time you will be able
to press R again, you get a typical bonus as follows:
1 press: 2 bars and 400 points
2 presses: 4 bars and 800 points
3 presses: 8 bars and 1700 points
The more time you delay pressing R, the bonus goes down.
A button End of Rail Trick:
Tension: 4 bars/20%
Points: 200
Notes: A/B and R button Mid-Air Tricks can be done afterwards.
A button Springboard Trick and Rainbow Hoop:
Tension: none
Points: 400
Notes: A/B and R button Mid-Air Tricks can be done afterwards.
R button Mid-air Trick:
Tension: none
Points: 200
Notes: Can be combined and part of B button trick complex, see Tricks section
for more info. Pressing R after other tricks will give you even more Bonus
points. You can press R more than once from same trick object without point
reduction.
B button Mid-Air Tricks:
Tension: 5 bars/25% for one button press
Points: 200 for one button press
Notes: 5 more bars and 200 points bonus for each press of B button afterwards
off single trick object, ending number is the number you will receive.
Pressing R during the sequence will double last number and add about 100 more
points, pressing A will do the same and give you bonus Tension.
Bonus received also varies if you do not press B/A and R very rapidly like for
the Rail Trick.
Point and Tension received reduced by half for each time you reuse same Trick
object until finally after reusing the same trick object/Gimmick 8 times in a
row you fail to receive a bonus at all. This rule does not apply for the
cannon.
This whole thing is sort of complex...
Time Bonus:
Points: Acts, 85000 Maximum down to 0 closer to 10 minutes, the time limit for
getting 85000 points varies by Act.
Bosses maximum is 45000 and goes down in intervals of 1000 for every 2 seconds
and like Acts the bonus varies by time completed.
Trick Bonus:
Points: Totaled from Tricks, seems to be rounded off to nearest 1000 with 1000
minimum and 200000 maximum.
Ring Bonus:
Points: 10 for each Ring held when Goal is hit in Acts, 100 in Extra Zone,
1000 for rest of Bosses.
Speed Bonus:
(A couple people said it depended on how fast you hit the Goal Ring... not
true...
I finally pretty much got down what it is... but I still really can't tell you
how to guarantee a certain amount)
Points: Determined by average running speed in level including how much of
the time you spend going forward in general, using Super/Fire Boost
is the fastest way to travel so using it more gives you a higher score and
also not staying in one place for long periods of time.
Maximum is 10000 points.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
5. Item Boxes:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A couple of new ones and a little different from earlier Sonic games, so I
thought I would list them all out for anyone that doesn't have the manual:
5 Rings
Random Rings (Ring symbol with question mark): 1, 5, 10, 30 or 50 Rings.
Barrier (Green Bubble, also known as a shield): Protects you once from losing a
life or losing
Rings/Tension when hit.
Magnet Barrier (Electric Bubble): Like Barrier but also draws in nearby Rings.
Floating Item Box (Balloon): Mystery item, can be any one of the other items
described here.
Invincible (muti-ray star pattern): Become immune from attacks that would
cause loss of Rings for a short period of time. Cannot save you from being
crushed or running out of time. For some reason can save you from drowning in
this game.
Tension Bonus (Up pointing arrow): Increases Tension by 100%
Max Tension Bonus (Star surrounded by a circle): Completely fills your Tension
Gauge
1 up: One extra life.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
6. Map Area:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
You first see the Map Area after defeating the first boss. On the top screen
is a box with Character name, the current Zone you are on, current number of
lives, the amount that Blaze's World has combined with Sonic's World, and the
number of either Chaos or Sol Emeralds you have. Blaze gets a Sol Emerald the
first time she defeats a boss, while Sonic gets Chaos Emeralds in Special
Stages, which will be discussed later. Also if your guide is around, Tails for
Sonic and Cream for Blaze, they will be in the right-hand side of this screen.
The bottom screen is the actual Map Area. New Zones or Event Places which is
where you meet other characters who help to unfold the story as you progress
through the game, the actual order you visit the Zones differs some between
Sonic and Blaze, and Blaze never makes it to Tails' Workshop. Also starting at
the top of the screen, the Map Area will become more wavy and gloomy as more
of Blaze's World comes into Sonic's.
Map Area Controls:
Directional Buttons or Stylus on Map Area: Move the character to a different
Event or Zone. With the Stylus you can simply touch where you want to go.
X Button or Stylus Tap box with X and Arrows: After pressing this, you can now
use the D-pad or Stylus to pan the Map, press B or the box with the B and one
arrow to get back.
Start Button: If you press the Start Button on the Map Screen, you will get
the Pause Menu where you can choose to return to the Title Screen or Cancel
and return to the Map Area.
A button or Stylus Tap: Select an Event or Zone. You can only go to Events one
time. When you first come to a Zone, you can only go to the first Act, but
after you have beaten Boss 2 in that Zone, a different screen will show up,
allowing you to choose with left or right directional buttons or the stylus
previous acts in that Zone or the boss or with up and down or touching the
numbers on the top of this menu choose an Act or Boss from another Zone you
already have completed. This comes in handy especially after beating the Final
Zone since you do not have to navigate the Map to get to any Zone, but since
it only gives Zone number, you need to sort of remember the differences
between Sonic and Blaze's Zone Order.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
7. Gameplay Tips:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Anyone familiar with the Advance series will feel right at home with the
gameplay, but here are good tips anyway:
Typical Sonic games stuff such as Crushing and Drowning are instant death,
keep at least one ring because if you don't have one ring you will loose a life,
100 Rings=one extra life, don't step on spiky things, etc...
R button Tricks especially in Night Carnival are a good thing to master if you
have not already in Sonic Advance 2 and 3... but don't get too carried away...
Learn how to do Tricks and use your Boost, but actually you can beat this game
without them if you want to.
Don't go too fast, this game has quite a few horrible holes and other nasty
things you can get into, especially if you use the R button too much... but once
you learn this game really well you can speed right through it.
Silly Easter Egg: Told to me by Michael, poke the characters and small animals
when they are standing still on the bottom screen with the stylus...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
8. Brief Zone Descriptions/Gameplay Tips:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Each Zone in Sonic Rush has different characteristics and even are in a
different order for Sonic and Blaze. The Zones are listed in the order they
appear for Sonic, but what Zone it is for Blaze is the first item listed. Next
is a Scene Description which describes the setting of the Zone and what
previous Sonic Game zones to compare it to. Following that is Enemy/Small
Animal type. The three types of Enemy are Heroes, the newer Eggman robots from
Sonic Heroes and the most common enemy, Advance, there is one random Badnik
from Sonic Advance 3 in Altitude Limit (Night Carnival confused me, those bats
are Heroes style if you look closely), and GUN, which are robots made by the
Human military which appear in Huge Crisis. Small Animals are just what kind
of animals pop out of the Eggman robots in each Zone, most are from the Sonic
Advance series. Then it is on to Gameplay Style, describing if it is fast, or
has a lot of rails, or puzzle elements, dangerous spots, battle rooms, etc...
Finally is Boss Description, very brief, I have a separate Boss Tips section
later on.
There is also a very brief description of the Final and Extra Zone.
Note: These are notes about getting through the Acts in general... if you want
more specific notes on getting S-ranks or Time Trials, refer to those specific
sections later in the guide.
Leaf Storm Zone:
Order: Sonic Zone 1, Blaze Zone 2
Scene Description: Classic Green Hill-like Zone. Contains lush green
vegetation, cute Flickies and their nests, grass covered runways, and a
tropical forest background. Many of the Gimmicks are from the Sonic Advance
series Green Hill-like Zones. Compare to Green Hill Sonic 1, New Green Hill
Sonic Advance, Leaf Forest Sonic Advance 2,
Sunset Hill Sonic Advance 3 and other Green Hill-like Zones.
Enemy Style: Heroes
Small Animals: Parrot, Gorilla, Lion
Gameplay Style: A Fast Zone and the easiest. Easy to keep your Tension Gauge
Up and there are a lot of fun Gimmicks and a few rails. Near the end of Act 2
is a giant rolling thing with Eggman's symbol on the side, just keep running
down the slope, Boost Mode and Super/Fire Boost are your friends, you can just
outrun it in Boost Mode. A couple of horrible holes of death, but generally
you won't encounter them.
Boss Style: Updated Egg Viper from Sonic Adventure.
Water Palace Zone:
Order: Sonic Zone 2, Blaze Zone 4
Scene Description: Well, the zone title says it all... anyway, the top of the
acts are dryer than the bottoms, so if you want to avoid drowning in the water
you can stick more to the top. Mostly reminds me of Sea Palace form Sonic
Heroes and the design of the level reminds me of the classic Labyrinth Zone
from Sonic 1 and Aquatic Ruins in Sonic 2 and of course Hydro City in Sonic 3.
Enemy Style: Heroes
Small Animals: Seal, Penguin, Rabbit
Gameplay Style: Underwater platforming. Especially in the second Act there are
horrible pits of death you have to cross on shaky platforms, and of course air
bubbles underwater are not very plentiful, the tops of the act are better, but
in Act 2 you cannot get out of crossing the shaky platform gaps. Also look out
for the mine Gimmick, they lift you up but explode when the countdown ends, so
use them to get up higher, then use the R button to do a dash out of the way.
It is best to Boost into the large wooden paddlewheel Gimmicks because if you
don't it is a while before you drop out of the Gimmick, bad if you don't have
much air left.
Boss Style: Lock-ness Mecha
Mirage Road Zone:
Order: Sonic and Blaze Zone 3
Scene Description: Egyptian. Compare to the classic Sandopolis Zone in Sonic
and Knuckles or the Egyptian-themed levels in Sonic Adventure 2.
Enemy Style: Heroes
Small Animals: Camel, Kangaroo, Mole
Gameplay Style: Slower-paced. This zone has rooms that trap you and you are
forced to defeat enemies in order to leave including Egg Hammers that take
more than one hit, slowing this zone down, but at least in these rooms you can
charge up Full Boost and keep attacking invincible. Near the end of both Acts,
there is a section where you are on this strange golden platform you can move
up and down on instead of just up and down and enemies and rocks are falling
on you. You cannot touch rocks at all unless you use Tension Boost or are
Invincible and you can see the rocks hanging before they drop, in fact the
best way to do this part is to use your Tension Boost to just zip through the
rocks, and to save tension hit enemies normally. Enemies drop out of nowhere
but you do see their shadows first.
Boss Style: Dung Beetle Mecha
Night Carnival Zone:
Order: Sonic Zone 4, Blaze Zone 1
Scene Description: Carnival Style, switch the name and you get the classic
Sonic 3- Carnival Night. Other note-worthy Carnival Zones to compare this too
are Sonic 2's Casino Night, Sonic Advance's Casino Paradise and Sonic Advance
3's Toy Kingdom.
Enemy Style: Heroes (They are a little Advance-like)
Small Animals: Elephant, Parrot, Tiger
Gameplay Style: Platforming, slight puzzle. There are a few switches you need
to press to activate stuff, but they are not really hard to find. Also this
zone actually requires you to use R tricks to get to the end of the level if
you end up going certain ways. Also in both acts you are chased by a big
rolling thing like in Leaf Storm, run and use your Tension, especially with
slower Blaze or it is instant death! There are several large pits of doom you
need to look out for.
Boss Style: Merry-go-round like.
Huge Crisis Zone:
Order: Sonic Zone 5, Blaze Zone 6
Scene Description: Military Ships. Apparently GUN is interested in what is
going on too, they are not really in the story but they sure make their
presence known in this zone. It actually resembles an Eggman base zone, like
Sonic Advance's Egg Rocket and Sonic Advance 3's Secret Base.
Enemy Style: GUN
Small Animals: None
Gameplay Style: Platforming/Obstacles/Enemy Battle. There are a lot of
sections in this zone where you are trapped in rooms and you have to defeat
all of the enemies to leave. Also watch out for crushing traps and toward the
end of Act 2 a couple of serious pits of death, but other than that not a zone
you will probably be hung up on for long.
Boss Style: Same Egg Viper Boss from Leaf Storm with different attacks.
Altitude Limit Zone:
Order: Sonic Zone 6, Blaze Zone 5
Scene Description: Sky Level. Compare to the old Sonic 2 Genesis/Gamegear Sky
High Zone or to newer zones such as Sonic Advance 2's Sky Canyon, Sonic
Adventure's Windy Valley, Sonic Adventure 2's Sky Canyon or Sonic Heroes Rail
Canyon.
Enemy Style: Advance/HeroesSmall Animals: Swallow, Parrot, Peacock
Gameplay Style: Rails/Tricks. Since you are way up in the sky, of course there
are a lot of big holes of death, many for some reason gapped by unnecessary
purple lasers. The parachutes can be a little confusing
since you have to duck enemies, but really not that bad after you figure out
where you need to land. The rocket platforms also just need getting used to.
Both acts have a hang glider section, very easy to control and all you have to
do is follow where the rings are to avoid enemies, even if you get hit you
still don't fall off the hang glider, so don't worry. At the beginning of Act
2 is a large rail part where the rails have spikes you need to jump over and
you need to quickly jump rails, use Tension Boost to even plow through spikes,
but you risk going too fast and missing getting on the next rail, but after
you know where to jump this is an excellent way to get past this part.
Boss Style: Bird-style, reminds me of Egg Albatross from Sonic Heroes.
Dead Line Zone:
Order: Sonic and Blaze Zone 7
Scene Description: Eggman Ship. A very typical Eggman spaceship zone with
reversed gravity and everything. The first one was Sonic and Knuckle's Death
Egg, and many more examples can be named but most like Sonic Advance 2's Egg
Utopia.
Enemy Style: Heroes
Small Animals: Monkey, Koala, Skunk
Gameplay Style: Fast. Probably the most annoying Gimmick in the game, the
Giant Rockets are weird to control. If you press no buttons it goes straight,
fine for most situations and will get you past the huge pit of death at the
beginning of Act 2. If the rocket is facing to the right, then pressing the up
and down buttons carefully to steer it in the direction you want to go, but if
the rocket is facing left the controls are reversed. Once you get a hang of
controlling them the rockets are not that bad.
Boss Style: Sonic Vs. Blaze
Final Zone (F-Zone): Unknown
Scene Description: Falling Ship Boss Battle and standard giant Eggman bot.
Think of the Final Boss of Sonic and Knuckles sort of.
Extra Zone: Exception
Scene Description: Sonic Advance 2 even more Doomsday-like...
*even more severe spoiling*
More specifically it's an updated version of Sonic Advance 2's Extra Zone with
a very similar mecha defeated mostly a very similar way... with some Sonic
Advance 3 Extra and a Doomsday Zone from Sonic and Knuckles-like meteor
beginning... but with a Sonic Adventure 2 Final Hazard-like twist...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
8.a. Zone Order Summary:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonic:
Zone 1: Leaf Storm
Zone 2: Water Palace
Zone 3: Mirage Road
Zone 4: Night Carnival
Zone 5: Huge Crisis
Zone 6: Altitude Limit
Zone 7: Dead Line
Final Zone (F-Zone): Unknown
Blaze:
Zone 1: Night Carnival
Zone 2: Leaf Storm
Zone 3: Mirage Road
Zone 4: Water Palace
Zone 5: Altitude Limit
Zone 6: Huge Crisis
Zone 7: Dead Line
Final Zone (F-Zone): Unknown
Extra Zone: Exception
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
9. Bosses:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Bosses in Sonic Rush are all 3D in some form or the other. Sometimes you
still can only more in two directions but the boss is animated in 3D, other
times you can move in a circle around it. In all Bosses except the Extra Zone
the actual boss battle is on the top screen, and the bottom screen shows the
number of hits left to defeat the boss and if your guide is around your guide
will cheer you on. Also during a Boss battle, there is not Tension Gauge or
Gimmicks, so all of your Boosting and Tricks are gone. In general the bosses
start out with a couple of attacks that are easy to dodge, but later on pull
out tougher attacks and the earlier types of attacks get faster or might
change a little. Also not all bosses are attacked directly, often you have to
do something first just to reach the boss or you have to attack the boss
either using or shooting back something it attacked you with.
The Boss Descriptions start off with how the boss looks and the basic way to
beat it, then describes how the boss behaves, then if the boss changes say
when there are 6 hits left the next section will describe the changes, so you
will see sections like "8-7 Hits" then "7-5 Hits" etc...
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The hits left applies when you are playing this game on Normal Mode, Easy Mode
takes off two hits from the end of each boss and you need to adjust
accordingly, plus there are some significant differences when it comes to
beating Final Boss detailed in the Final Boss section.
Even though each boss has a variety of different attacks and all
of them except the Extra Boss are pretty random in what attack will come next,
Eggman or Eggman-Nega will say something different and the boss will act
differently before the attack, so in these sections I will say something like
"When Eggman says "Take This" and the boss lifts it's head..." and then tell you
exactly what the attack does and info such as if that attack is lethal even
with Rings, or if you will have a chance to hit the boss after the attack,
etc...
Also I didn't discuss some important Boss differences here when it comes to S-
ranking them, that is all under the Ranking Section in the S-rank miniguide, I
didn't want to bog down people that just want basic boss info with more advanced
information...
For the most part, Sonic and Blaze's bosses are the same, except Sonic usually
finds himself attacking Eggman Nega in the pursuit of just finding out who he
is, and Blaze is fighting Eggman to get back the Sol Emeralds and gets a Sol
Emerald when she first beats a boss. The bosses are usually a different color
too for Sonic and Blaze. But the Zone 7 and Extra Bosses are a little
different so that will be discussed in those specific sections.
Tips:
When Eggman or Eggman Nega say "Take this!", it's an attack during which you can
attack Eggman or Eggman Negal also, "He he!" means you can't attack him during
his attack, but if he says "Get ready to be schooled!" you are in for an attack
that most likely kills you instantly or at least can kill you instantly if it
hits just right.
During some bosses, a little hint comes up telling you what buttons you should
be pushing, this is very helpful, make sure to follow them!
Try to keep Rings floating around the field because the more you are hit, the
more Rings scatter when you lose them and they are harder to pick up.
Note: These are notes about getting through the Bosses in general... if you want
more specific notes on getting S-ranks or Time Trials, refer to those specific
sections later in the guide.
A FINAL REMINDER: These following descriptions are for Normal Mode, Easy Mode
is two less hits, and these following descriptions will not match up, but it
will be the same attacks. The total amount of hits required to defeat the boss
is 8 on Normal and 6 on Easy for Bosses 1-Final, and 12 on Normal and 10 on
Easy for Extra.
NOTE: If the sections are a little off as to where a certain attack begins, it
is because the bosses are random and it can be a little hard to judge exactly
when a certain attack begins. If a boss attacks you with an attack and I say
it happens later, e-mail me and I will correct my error.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
9.a. Leaf Rush Boss:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A Boss that is similar to the Egg Viper in Sonic Adventure 1, it is mostly
fought in an area where you move side to side, but for one attack it moves to
the side of the platform and the camera angle changes and you have to move up
and down.
In general you hit this boss when it slams it's head on the ground and the top
of its head starts to blink.
8-6 Hits Left:
When Eggman says "Take This!" and the head flips back:
Chance to hit Boss! The head will try to slam down on top of you. It is easy
to jump or run out of the way, it landing on top of you is a hit of course.
When the head is on the ground and the cockpit is blinking, just simply jump
on it to hit the boss.
When Eggman says "Get Ready to Be Schooled!" and the head flips way back:
Always Lethal if you get hit! Chance to hit Boss! This is a much more powerful
version of the above attack, avoided the same way or you can spin-dash, but
this time of course the head instantly kills you if you get hit. Hit the boss
the same way described above.
5-1 Hits Left:
Same as above but one new attack:
When the Boss moves to the side of the platform:
Lethal if you are not careful! Part of the head comes off, the camera angle
changes, and the head becomes a rolling object toward you. Jump and press up
to get over it. This object may roll at you 1-4 times in a row, so be prepared
to turn around and jump back over it! If you touch it, it can't hurt you at
all, but it can push you right off the edge of the platform and kill you! You
can't hit the boss when it is doing this.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
9.b. Water Palace Boss:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
This Lock Ness Monster-like Boss is in general defeated in the same way as the
last boss, you attack the top of its head when it is blinking. But unlike the
last boss, you are running around a circular track making it more 3D.
8-6 Hits Left:
When the Boss is in the middle, the head comes back and Eggman says "Take
This!":
Chance to hit Boss! Same general concept as the head-smashing attack for the
Leaf Storm Boss, but this time it is underwater so your jump is slower.
When the Boss is near you and suddenly rises in the air and Eggman says "Take
This!":
This is a belly slam attack, I still can't duck him all the time because he
comes down real low and tries to hit you even before he does the belly slam,
try running away from it but not too fast or running away a little then
running under it's belly before it attacks. You can't hit the boss, and I find
myself still getting hit by him a lot during this attack.
5-1 Hits Left:Same as above, boss might get a little faster but not very much
and the boss
might confuse you slightly what attack is coming next, one new attack:
When the water drains out of the area:
Chance to hit Boss! This is a two part attack. For the first part, the head is
coming slowly at you with mouth open and you are forced to go toward its tail,
which happens to be a propeller that damages you if you touch it. Then it will
suddenly charge at you and Eggman will say "Get Ready to Be Schooled!", it's
kind of hard to escape this attack without being hit but basically you stand
close to the propeller without being hit by it and you might not get hit by
the mouth, then it's mouth closes and the head retreats, you will then see the
top of it's head blink and you can then chase it down, jump or Jump Dash with
Sonic and hit it. Then the water will return.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
9.c. Mirage Road Boss:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
This Dung Beetle Boss is more complex than the last two Bosses I have
described. Mostly it is rolling a funny ball around a circular path. This ball
changes, sometimes it is covered in spikes, sometimes smooth and blinking.
When it is spiky, do not touch, but when the ball is blinking you can hit it.
But this is the tricky part, you need to get to ball to hit the back of the
bug to get a hit on the boss... there is only one attack it does where you have
the chance it hit it and that is described below of course.
8-6 Hits Left:
When Eggman says "He he!" and the bug is simply rolling the ball around:
Just run from it, if you get close to it, it will turn around and just simply
start to chase you the other direction. When the ball is blinking and you hit
it, you can make the boss stop in its tracks, but that is about it, can't hit
it.
When Eggman says "He he!" and the bug releases the ball and it comes toward
you:
Chance to hit Boss! The bug will release the ball, then eventually turn around
to catch it again. If you just jump over the ball or you hit it wrong, then
the bug will just simply catch the ball and nothing will happen. To correctly
hit the ball at the back of the bug, you need to first be running from the bug,
then when it releases the bug still run a little in the direction you were
coming from. Now watch when the bug turns around and faces the opposite
direction, you want to hit the ball where there is no spikes so it is now
rolling toward the bug's behind, basically don't jump over the ball after the
bug releases it and hit it and it will end up going in the correct direction.
Don't hit the ball at the bug too soon, you need to give it a chance to turn
around first.
5-1 Hits Left:
Same as above but the boss/ball gets faster and the ball changes from smooth
to spiky more quickly. But thankfully the bug turns around much faster,
meaning you can hit it sooner after the bug releases the ball. Toward the end
it gets even quicker.
When you hit the ball toward the boss, sometimes the boss will jump over the
ball, just simply hit the ball again, don't jump over the ball first, the ball
will not turn spiky on you, and the ball will then hit the boss.
When Eggman Says "Get Ready to be Schooled" and flies to the center:
The bug throws spiky balls at you. Two forms of this attack:
Balls land behind you: Keep running as fast as you can
Balls land in front of you: Keep Running and jump over spiky balls when they
are about to hit the ground.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
9.d. Night Carnival Boss:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
This is another boss you fight by going around a circular platform. In the
middle the boss machine has two arms that spin around. One is where Eggman or
Eggman Nega is sitting and is normally high up and the other one is a ball
that is sometimes electrified and sometimes shoots out energy balls from the
bottom. You need to either bring Eggman down to your level and hit him or go
up to his... described below:
8-6 Hits Left:
Boss is spinning around: Chance to hit boss! The ball and Eggman are spinning
around. Watch out, sometimes the ball is electrified and sometimes it shoots
out energy balls downwards you just have to avoid. The ball flashes red before
it becomes electrified to warn you. To first hit him, you need to jump at the
ball when it is not electrified and hit it. This does two things, it causes
Eggman's part to drop down, allowing you to hit him, and it causes a little
purple or green vehicle thing to appear on the ground below that will just
drive around and try to hit you. This little vehicle thing if you jump on it
is springy, you will be bounced way up in the air. You can use it if you time
it just right to hit Eggman while he is up high, hit the ball when it is not
electrified and bring Eggman down to your level, or avoid the next attack I
will describe in the next section later on. If you hit Eggman while he is
still high, sadly another little vehicle doesn't appear, so you have to wait to
hit the ball again to bring him back down.
5-3 Hits Left:
Same as above, but sometimes the ball swings low enough to hit you even just
on the ground, and the ball stays electrified longer and the boss moves around
faster.
When Eggman says "Get Ready to be Schooled!" and the ball drops down:
Can be Instantly Lethal! The ball slams into the ground and sends two shock
waves out. Just jump over them to avoid. Not a chance to hit the boss. Kills
instantly if the ball drops directly on you.
2-1 Hits Left:
Same as above, but the boss is even faster, and the ball is almost always
electrified, there is only a brief period of time when the ball is not
electrified and it's blinking red, the little vehicle is the easiest way to
hit the boss at this point.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
9.e. Huge Crisis Boss:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Seriously, this is the same Boss as Leaf Storm, but a different color and
these attack differences:
8-6 Hits Left:
When the boss slams its head down after Eggman says "Take this!", he will slam
it down one or three times, you just need to watch a little longer before you
attack.
The "Get Ready to be Schooled" attack is a little faster.
5-1 Hits Left:
The moving to the side of the platform attack is gone.
The boss twists around and moves into the background:
Eggman will put the head down and say "He he!" and missiles will fire from it
toward you. It is really easy to avoid them if you just look to see where they
are going to hit. The pattern they hit and the speed they come at you can differ,
there are four patterns:
Slow and coming directly at you: Easy to walk away from, go back and fourth on
the platform, but don't go too fast
Slow and random: Stand mostly in one spot, only moving if one is coming
directly at you.
Fast and directly at you: Run pretty fast back and fourth across the platform.
Fast and random: Hardest to avoid, but if you stand in one spot you will see
most of them are not coming at you, only move if one is and then watch where
you move to.
No chance to hit the boss.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
9.f. Altitude Limit Boss:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
This bird-like boss is hit like the Egg Viper-like and Nessie-like bosses on
the top of the head when it is blinking, but attacks are quite different. Like
the Egg Viper-like boss it is on a 2Dish platform:
8-6 Hits Left:
Boss is in the background and Eggman says "He he!":
The boss shoots at you from both of its wings. Try to run a little ahead of
the boss and when you get to the edge of the platform just turn around. It's
still pretty easy to get hit by the bullets, you can also try jumping through
the bullets and it will be less likely you will get hit. No chance to hit the
boss.
Boss lands on edge of platform, then jumps up:
Chance to hit boss! The boss will jump up in the air, Eggman says "Take this!"
and it will try to stomp on you. Just run or jump a little out of the way but
not too much, the boss will then bow it's head and you will have a chance to
hit it.
Boss is in background, but then swoops in suddenly and Eggman says "Take
this!":
Chance to hit boss! This is a peck attack, make sure you are not too close to
the boss when it's beak hits the ground, or you will be kind of trapped there
and after you are hit stunned for a little bit. After it hits the ground, jump
out of the way a little bit to avoid being trapped there, then top of the head
starts to blink and you can hit it.
5-1 Hits Left:
Same as above with one added attack:
Boss lands on edge of platform and Eggman says "Get Ready to be Schooled!":
Instantly lethal if you are not careful! The boss starts creating a lot of
wind. A symbol will appear in the bottom corner telling you to press A and B,
if you don't press them fast with the up button, you will be blown off the
edge of the platform! Try to stay as close to the boss as possible, in fact
you can touch the boss and not loose your Rings. No chance to hit the boss.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
9.g. Dead Line Boss:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonic vs. Blaze! Sonic and Blaze do have slightly different attacks, but their
most powerful attack is really different enough to warrant a different
strategy, so that will be discussed when I get to it. It is fought on a 2Dish
platform.
Hit Sonic or Blaze when they are just standing there and not spin-dashing or
jumping, if you spin or jump into them they cannot hurt you. I find it better
to just jump into them or run toward them a little them press down instead of
trying to dash them.
Because when to hit them is kind of general, I didn't specify it below. The
best time to hit them is right after they have completed an attack. The last
hit is completely different and will be discussed later.
8-6 Hits Left:
Character Revs Up: You are about to be Dashed. Just jump out of the way,
jumping into them while spinning doesn't do anything but sends you flying in
the opposite direction, but be prepared to hit them when they stop spinning.
Character floats up in air: They are about to home in on you at high speed,
just jump so they can't hurt you and be ready to hit them quickly after they
land.
5-2 Hits Left:
Same as above but character stands there for a shorter period of time and has
one more attack:
Character floats into air, differently than attack above (Sonic starts to spin
around, Blaze just floats there):
The character is about to do their Special Attacks which are:
Sonic creates a Blue Tornado and tries to suck you in. Basically, you try to
jump or run away from the tornado. Sonic will do the Tornado 1-4 times and
after doing one will very quickly hover over you and try to form another one
right on top of you, you just need to watch Sonic very carefully and run away.
Blaze floats in mid-air and summons flame pillars. If you look on the ground a
small circle of fire appears before the flame pillar and you can try to run,
but try not to get backed up in a corner but if you do if you look carefully
there will be a gap you can go into.
Both characters might follow this attack up by homing in on you or they will
just go back to the ground.
1 Hit Left:
Always Lethal if done wrong! Final hit! There is a small cutscene, then the
battle totally changes. Now Sonic and Blaze are running into each other trying
to push each other off the platform. The A/B button symbol appears, and it is
not kidding! You have to push these buttons very fast to win! The best way is
to use both hands and press both buttons at the same time. You can tell you
are winning when the flashes of light that appear are mostly toward the other
character and if you look closely at the background you can tell which way the
two of you are in general heading. If the other character is winning, better
start pressing those buttons harder! The battle ends with either your
character or the other gets sent flying off the platform.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
9.h. Final Zone (F-Zone) Boss: Unknown
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
This typical giant robot took me a little while to figure out mainly because
of how it is hit... but the last hit is ridiculously easy and is free making
this boss in reality have one less hit than the others before it. It is fought
on a 2Dish platform.
How to hit this boss in general: The boss is normally behind you, but to hit
it you need to make this boss move to the right of the platform. To make it
move at first you have to hit its hands if they are blinking and on the ground,
you can do that after a couple of its attacks or later on in the fight the boss
will move there if you successfully dodge it's laser or electric attacks.
After the boss is there, Eggman will say "Get ready to be schooled!" and it
will shoot out 3, 4 or 5 later in the fight green energy blasts, you need to
jump over them, it just gets harder to do that later on. After the last blast,
the hand hits the ground and starts blinking again, try to jump toward the
hand after the last energy blast. Now the word go appears on the screen, you
are suppose to run up the robot's arm. Here is the tricky part, eventually the
arm starts shaking and the down symbol appears. Soon the robot will try to
shake you off its arm. What you do is press down so your character can hold on
for dear life. Then you proceed in moving up its arm and hitting its head which
is blinking. If you are thrown off it's arm, you will have one more
chance of getting up there, but after that the arm will come back down, but
the robot will shake you off so hard you can't make it back up, the robot does
the same thing even if you stay on it's arm the first time, which means you
really need to hurry up and hit it's head as fast as you can. When 5 hits are
left metal things start rolling down its arm and they will hit you when you
press down. What you do is make sure you get to the robot's white elbow joint
before pressing down so the metal things will not hit you but go over you
instead. You can also jump and hit the metal things.
Deal with me... this is the boss battle I have updated the most in this guide,
it's pretty complex...
NOTE: Important Easy Mode Differences.
Playing the game on Easy Mode just cuts the numbers of hits down by two for most
Bosses, but when you play Final on Easy, there is a significant difference. No
metal things ever roll down the robot's arm, and 4-2 Hits Left, you have to stop
on the arm before it shakes you off of it.
8-7 Hits Left:
Three green energy blasts before you can hit the boss, there is enough time to
hit the boss before it starts to flail it's arm.
When the robot lifts up both of it's arms and Eggman says "Take this!":
Chance to hit boss!: The hands will come down one at a time and produce
shockwaves, you just need to watch the hands and duck them, then jump over the
shockwave. Eventually one hand will stay down and start to blink so you can
hit it and move the boss to the edge.
When the robot lifts up both of it's arms, leans back and Eggman says "Get
ready to be schooled!":
Instantly Lethal Attack! Chance to hit boss! This is similar to the Egg Viper
attack, but the boss follows you around more before attacking and shockwaves
come out after the boss very powerfully hits the ground with both of it's arms.
It is best to stand there, then move right before it attacks, then jump up to
both avoid the shockwave and hit the hands which after the attack are both on
the ground and blinking.
6 Hits Left:
Same as above, but there are 3 (sometimes 4) green energy blasts before you
can hit the boss, and this time you don't have enough time to immediately hit
the bosses' head, you need to press down on the arm so you are not thrown off.
5-4 Hits Left:
Same as above plus first attack described above gets faster and harder to
avoid. When it moves to the side there are now 5 (occasionally 4) green energy
blasts you need to jump over that come at you even faster.
Metal things start rolling down it's arm , and you actually have enough time to
make it to the head before being shook off again (Normal Mode only). Also this
new attack:
Robot crosses it's arms and says "Take This!":
Possible chance to hit boss. Laser attack, only the fire on the ground can
hurt you, watch carefully and jump over it. There are two variations:
Random Laser: Laser is fired in random directions, run and jump from one side
of the platform to the other as fast as you can and you will miss them almost
always.
Sweeping Laster: The Laser sweeps back and forth on the ground, it's easy to
just jump back and forth across it.
The robot will move to the edge of the platform on it's own after this attack
if you don't get hit during this attack, if you do get hit then it will attack
you with something else afterwards.
3-2 Hits Left:
Same as above, you do have enough time to hit the head but barely, if you do
have to press down to avoid being shaken off do this in the robot's elbow, one
more attack:
The robot hits it's hands together twice and Eggman says "He he!":
Possible chance to hit boss. Electric Attack, electrical arcs come out of
floating metal things. When the electric arcs are transparent you can walk
through them, but watch out when they are not anymore! Comes in to forms:
One metal things comes out: You are trapped between two electric arcs that
move slowly. The space between them changes size and moves, you just need to
be alert and move with this space to prevent getting hit.
More than one metal things come out: Multi-attack that is harder to avoid, be
very alert and move if you are near a transparent arc but not into a full one!
The best way is to start off at the edge of the platform, then slowly walk
away, this seems to be a good way of avoiding the arcs, your pace needs to be
steady, not too fast, not too slow.
The robot will move to the edge of the platform on it's own after this attack
if you don't get hit during this attack, if you do get hit then it will attack
you with something else afterwards.
1 Hit Left:
Instant Death Risk!!! (That I never realized before) Last Boss hit! The robot
rams itself into the side of the stage twice, but this does nothing to you.
Then the robot gets stuck in the side of the platform. It's easy to jump up
and hit the head... but don't wait too long or the robot will break through and
kill you!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
9.i. Extra Zone Boss: Exception
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Unlock this boss by completing the game with Sonic and Blaze and getting all
the Chaos Emeralds with Sonic. It doesn't matter which order you complete
these things, one these requirements have been met go to the Character Select
screen and you will find an option to head to the Extra Zone.
For people familiar with the earlier games in the series, this is Sonic
Advance 2's Extra Boss made even more like the Doomsday Zone... Anyway this boss
is a little different in that it is broken up into sections, which are
described later and this boss is much less random, if you play it long enough
you will be able to anticipate which attack comes next. The scene is space,
and like the Sonic Advance Extra Zones and the classic Doomesday Zone from the
game Sonic and Knuckles you are flying through space fighting an Eggman
invention, this one happens to strongly resemble the Extra Zone mecha at the
end of Sonic Advance 2.
As in any other Super fight, you start with 50 Rings, but loose one ring a
second. If you run out of rings you die and you need to remember in this fight
Sonic and Blaze are sharing Rings so if you beat one section with only one
Ring left the other character will be suffering too. That is the only way you
can die, most attacks just slow you down a bit and make you blink, but there
are a few attacks in this particular fight that can make you loose rings. The
good thing is you don't always have to start from the beginning, Sonic and
Blaze bring to the fight the number of lives they each earned. If Sonic dies
you start at the beginning of his section and if Blaze dies you start with
Sonic again in the section before. This is kind of annoying because Sonic's
part is much harder and made more annoying by the fact you have to battle the
boss as Super Sonic more than Super Blaze.
Super Sonic and Super Blaze fight the boss a little differently and have
slightly differing moves, described below:
Super Sonic:
D pad: Move Super Sonic in any direction on the screen.
D Pad + A or B button: Dash Sonic in any direction. This more powerful move is
used to dash through certain things like lasers and meteors without being
slowed down and hitting things back at the boss.
Super Blaze:
Same as Super Sonic, but the A button instead of being like the B button is a
special attack where Blaze charges up then fires a fire ball. During the
charging process you can move a little but not very fast. This attack can only
be cancelled if an attack hits her, disrupting her concentration.
Super Sonic and Super Blaze take turns battling the end mecha. Sonic battles
it on the top screen against Eggman, then after hitting it a certain number of
times, the mecha goes into a base things, comes out the bottom upside down and
is now driven by Eggman Nega and Blaze has to battle it on the bottom screen.
The first Sonic and the first Blaze section start off in a meteor herd, but
then they have to battle the boss, the next sections after that don't start
with meteors and the battle technique never changes, but the attacks that the
mecha gives off and the way Super Sonic and Super Blaze fight it are quite
different. The specific section order is this:
Super Sonic, meteor beginning, 3 hits; Super Blaze, meteor beginning, 3 hits;
Super Sonic, 2 hits; Super Blaze 2 hits; Super Sonic 4 hits (2 on Easy Mode)
After the final hits with Sonic, there is a short cutscene of Sonic and Blaze
finishing off the mecha and hitting it one last time together.
Here is the description of the Meteor Section, followed by the differences in
the Sonic and Blaze sections of this boss. Like in the other boss sections, I
will indicate stuff like you can hit the boss and if the attack will cause you
to loose rings, remember the attacks are not as random and you will be able to
see the attack order better the more you play:
Meteor Section: The meteors will slow you down and so will the laser that
occasionally fires. You can dash through the laser and meteors to avoid
slowing down and try to grab the rings scattered in the meteor field. If you
dash into red meteors you will find 5 Rings inside.
Super Sonic Section:
In general you attack it by hitting the objects that the boss fires at you
back at it at the boss's head when it is blinking. The bosses' attacks are:
Boss extends its right arm:
Chance to hit boss! These strange white things with blue centers are annoying,
they sort of circle around and sometimes stop and fire lasers out that hit and
slow you down. These things seem to move the more you move Sonic around. Try
not to move much so they kind of circle around. If you are lucky or if you
have practiced enough they will stop in the perfect place and you can dash
into them and hit the boss. They eventually blink red before exploding.
Boss extends its left arm:
Chance to hit boss! Green energy balls come out and head right for you, then
toward the end of the screen, they can slow you down. Try to position yourself
in front of the robot's head, if you are in the right place you can dash then
right into the boss.
Boss suddenly twists around and says "Take this!":
Laser sword attack, he swipes most of the screen, pauses briefly and in this
pause you can hit him with one of the white things, then he swipes again. This
just hits you and slows you down. Dash through it.
Boss moves into background and Eggman says "Get Ready to be Schooled!":
Ring Loss Risk! The boss fires missiles at you. They move toward the screen
and explode hard enough to make Super Sonic loose 10 Rings. Just dash around
the screen away from them.
Super Blaze Section:
In general you charge up a fireball and hit the boss when the cockpit is
glowing. It is pretty easy to get the timing of hitting the cockpit right, but
Eggman Nega in general has harsher attacks and if you don't attack him quickly
you will end up loosing Rings.
Cockpit stops blinking and the boss is just sitting there:
The boss is about ready to do a Scratch Attack that just hits her and slows
her down, just dash toward the edge of the screen.
Weird noise, Eggman Nega says "He He!", boss extends left arm:
Ring Loss Risk! Chance to hit boss! The arm will come out and try to grab
Super Blaze. Try to dash away, if she is grabbed, she gets slapped by the
other arm and looses 5 or 10 Rings. If you get away, the cockpit is blinking
and you can hit the boss.
Boss moves backwards, than forwards off screen and into background:
Ring Loss Risk! Seriously, the most evil attack ever. The boss rips a hole in
space sucking everything into it including you and nearby Rings. At the end of
the attack you loose 5 or 10 Rings. I never figured out how to avoid this
attack on my own... but Jagus figured it out... thanks... you dash straight up
or
straight down, starting from just before the attack... don't deviate to the
sides at all...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10. Special Stages:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Blaze gets it easy, she just gets one of her Sol Emeralds back each time she
defeats a Boss. But Sonic has to find the Special Gimmicks and enter the
Special Stages to grab the Chaos Emeralds. If you can get all 7 Chaos Emeralds,
you have a chance to enter the Extra Zone and see the true ending of the game.
The Advance series had you finding many Special things including Special
Springs, Special Rings and Special Keys, now add Special Gimmicks (or Special
Generators) to this list. Thankfully except in the last couple of Zones most
of them are easy to find and there seems to be about three in each Act. They
have a star in the middle and two handles. Every Special Gimmick in each Zone
takes you to the same stage, so all you really need to know is where one is in
each Zone, in fact you have already completed the Zone you just need to get
the Emerald then you are free to leave the Act and Zone all together with your
Emerald. To activate one, you first need to make sure you have at least 105%
Tension (at least all blue bars and one orange bar), then press X or Y to start
spinning. Keep holding X or Y until you
are sucked into the Special Stage. If you have too little tension you will
just stop spinning when the gauge gets down to zero and at zero you can't spin
the Special Gimmick at all.
Also if you spin a Special Gimmick with full Tension and you are glowing if
you warp into the Special Stage before your meter stops blinking and you go
back down to 200% Tension, your meter will still be blinking once you leave
the Special Stage, so it is possible to go get a little more Tension to keep
your meter up, then go to the Special Gimmick again and keep your meter going
and get into the Special Stage even more than normal.
Gimmicks seem to be placed in certain locations, some are in rooms where you
can only use the Gimmick once, then you can't even reach it again and you have
to leave and others seem to be placed in spots near a whole lot of springs,
enemies, tension item boxes, etc... where it is easy to refill your gauge more
and enter the Special Stage again. These sort of things are described later in
the Special Gimmick Location Guide.
The Special Stage itself is a half-pike like in Sonic 2 but with a twist, you
control Sonic with the stylus by sliding it back and forth across the half-
pike. If you sweep your stylus over the top of the pike you can make Sonic
jump up in the air and grab rings or other things that are floating above the
half-pike. You will be told to grab a certain number of Rings. When you reach
the half-way point if you don't have that number of Rings you are kicked out
of the Special Stage, but if you do have enough Rings the number is increased
for the next section, and if you can grab that number you are rewarded a Chaos
Emerald.
The objects in the Special Stage are:
Rings: The things you gather of course.
5 Rings: These silver things are worth 5 Rings.
Mines: Hitting these spiky things will cause you to loose 10 rings.
Trick Springs: If you hit one of the red circles with a Star in it, you get to
play a Bonus Game where you have to touch numbers in order before time runs
out. You are rewarded with Rings and sometimes there is more than one round.
The number of Rings awarded depends on how fast you touch the numbers or more
specifically how much of the bar that appears at the bottom of the screen is
left... the different words that appear tell you how many Rings you will get:
Miss!: Uh-oh, you didn't make it in time... No Rings for You!
Fantastic!: about 3/4ths or more of the bar left, you get 20 Rings
Great!: between 3/4ths and 1/2th of the bar left, you get 10 Rings
Nice!: less than 1/2th of the bar left, you get 5 Rings
Buttons: Press a button to make more Rings appear.
Booster Pad: Makes you go faster and leads you down a certain path for a short
period of time, often gets you Rings/Trick Springs and past mines.
Enemies: If you hit them the red ones take
one hit to destroy and are worth 2 Rings and the purple ones take three hits
to destroy and are worth 5 Rings, but enemies are dangerous and if they hit you
you lose 10 Rings, the Purple ones will actively attack you.
Chaos Emerald: What you are trying to get.
Tips:
If you don't like how a part of the Special Stage looks, make Sonic jump over
the area.
Practice the timing of jumping to grab mid-air objects, especially if it is a
Trick Spring.
The last Special Stage is the hardest, memorize the first part, but the second
part is a lot easier.
As a little cheat, pause the Special Stage, then move the stylus while pause
to instantly make Sonic jump to a different area, this also works during the
touch numbers minigame the Trick Springs take you to.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.a. Special Stage 7 Tips/ Partial Walkthrough:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The other Special Stages are a piece of cake compared to this one... anyway for
where to enter the Special Stage in Dead Line, consult the next section with
the locations of the Special Gimmicks... the best one being number 2 in the
first Act. Anyway the main strategy to this one is to hit both of the Springs
in the first part of the stage and then hit the numbers as fast as you can on
the screen for a "Great!" Bonus (10 Rings) instead of a "Nice!" Bonus (5 Rings)
and both these minigames have more than one round... so as part of the
upcoming mostly text walkthrough I map out where the numbers appear on the
screen. The next section of the Special Stage is easier but I didn't
walkthrough it because seriously, I don't get there very often still and it is
easier, but there are still some tips I will give on completing it with enough
Rings. A complete ASCII guide would be sweet, but I don't have time...
Note: Many people find it easier to use the pausing trick I described in the
section before this.
Obtain 160 Rings!:
First two sections are seemingly random mine fields with Rings and 5 Rings
scattered. The trick is that there is a safer path toward the right of the
mine field... don't try to grab every single Ring, you will get hit, focus
mostly on staying on this path and most of the 5 Rings you can grab safely.
It's more important to not get hit than to gather Rings, even at this early
point.
Next comes three lines of mines going almost straight across... just swing right
and left to go through the clear spaces filled with Rings, pretty obvious,
ehh?
Then you have a button followed by three mines... followed by a lot of rings if
you pushed the button... there are three of these in a row, you need to push all
three buttons and grab all the Rings that appear, you run in between the mines,
be careful.
Next is the tricky section that I don't usually try to duck entirely... several
lines of mines going all the way across with gaps of two Rings in them... the
tricky part is going from gap to gap... go ahead and get hit.. you need to slow
down anyway... cause after this section hovering above the half-pike to the
right is a Spring that takes you to a mini-game... hope you practiced your
timing good for hitting hovering objects so you can quickly swing your stylus
up and catch the spring... this is why I recommend getting hit, a temporarily
invincible Sonic won't get tripped up by mines trying to hit the Spring. This
mini-game has two rounds, and try to tap these numbers as fast as possible.
The numbers appear like this on the touch screen, tap them fast with the
stylus!:
Round 1: Round 2:
1 2
2 6 3 7
7 1
3 5 4 6
4 5
The next section is another random mine field, this time it's a little safer
to at first be on the left side, then move to the edge of the right... about
the best I can explain it right now...
Next is an easy to catch Speed Booster, yeah, it leads to Rings... but after
that going up a hill you see random groups of three mines... at the very top of
the hill near the left is Another Speed Booster you need to catch. To catch it,
going up the hill hug the top left edge of the half-pike to get past all the
mines and then you should run into the Speed Booster after cresting the top.
The next part is a row of Mines going completely across the half-pike and a
Red Enemy hovering above, when close enough, tap the enemy with the stylus so
you jump over the mines and get bonus Rings.
Now is a section of groups of four mines with groups of four Rings, it's
relatively easy to swing back and fourth ducking mines and grabbing Rings.
Now is another section very similar to the one before the first Minigame... and
guess what... the second Minigame is hovering above and to the right this time...
do the same exact thing as in the first section... and make sure to hit this
spring: This one has three rounds, the first one kind of hard and you will
probably get a "Nice!" bonus, but the other two are a lot easier, they look
like this:
Round 1: Round 2: Round 3:
1 3 1 2 3
3 5
6
7 4
2 2 1
After this is one more line of mines with an enemy floating above it... and the
first checkpoint... hopefully you have at least 160 Rings, and hopefully if I
explained the top section correctly you will... now on to the next, easier
section!
Obtain 320 Rings!:
Just tips...
A lot of enemies, fighting enemies too much can prevent you from grabbing
enough of the plentiful Rings on the course, so time you Enemy hits so you
take breaks and pick up Rings in between hitting them, Enemies are worth Rings
themselves and they can hurt you so you can't just ignore them.
There are Rings and even Springs floating right in the middle of the course,
these you have to hit a purple enemy at the correct time to grab, not only
does this take incredible timing... but Purple Enemies will attack you if you
don't attack them for too long a period of time... try to get these objects as
much as you can, but don't worry about it too much, not necessary.
Minigames are even faster than in the first section and most of the springs
easier to hit, but thankfully there are not as many numbers usually, still
pretty important when trying to get enough Rings.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.b. Special Gimmick Locations:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There are three Special Gimmicks (often called Special Generators) in each of
Sonic's Acts. I described how to use them earlier, just refer back to the
beginning of Section 9. The description of each Special Gimmick starts off
with a rating on how useful it really is, including a Least and Most useful in
the Act rating right after the gimmick number. Usefulness of a Special Gimmick
is how many times in a row you can use it to get into the Special Stage. A
completely full Tension Gauge will get you into the Special Stage two times
usually, and you should always try to have you Tension Gauge full when
approaching a Special Gimmick. Also you can maintain full blinking with nearby
tricks and get into it even more times... But the location of the Special
Gimmick affects how useful it is... the worst kind of Special Gimmick is in some
sort of isolated place way up high and once you use it once, there is
absolutely no way to get back to it, even if you still have enough Tension to
enter the Special Stage again. The other extreme is one placed next to so many
various things that allow you to earn Tension that you can literally keep
refilling your gauge, reentering the Special Stage and exiting again and you
can keep at it till you finally get that elusive Chaos Emerald or you
literally run out of time if you have the Time Up option on in the Options
Menu. On the other hand, the Chaos Emeralds are pretty simple to grab so you
will probably only really need this info for that hard seventh Emerald, or the
last couple of Zones where Special Gimmicks tend to hide a little better.
The Usefulness Section starts off with four descriptive phrases separated by /.
The first phrase describes how many times in a row you can use it ranging from
once to infinite if it is located next to a cannon or rail you can trick a
whole lot, second phrase is where in the Act it is, third is how easy is it to
find on your own, and fourth is once you find it how easy is it to actually
get to the Special Gimmick.
The usefulness section will then go into detail on where nearby the Special
Gimmick you can fill up your Tension Gauge and other useful info.
Then following the Usefulness Section will be Non-through Location, if you
have read my guides in the past, you know I am very through (truthfully too
through, I know, but I want to make sure you get there) but this time I am
conducting an experiment... can you find the Special Gimmicks alright without
the horribly detail directions? Or will you still want them in incase you get
lost?
Note: I might still do detailed Locations if there is enough demand for this
guide to be more like my Sonic Advance series guides. If not and everyone can
find these okay with my simple descriptions it saves me typing.
No one has asked for more detailed descriptions yet... so I will keep it this
way.
Another Note: Usefulness increases if you can maintain a completely full
Tension Gauge all the way through the warping process so you will have a full
gauge even when you return from the Special Stage... but the warping process
takes time meaning you usually loose your Completely Full Gauge and drop down
to 200% or less after leaving the Special Stage, so I really didn't mentions
where it is possible to do this at.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.b.1. Leaf Storm Act 1 SG Locations:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The first one is the easiest to find and most useful and I am sure most people
will probably grab the Emerald the first time trying, I sure did.
SG#1 (Most Useful In Zone):
Usefulness:
Infinite/Mid-Way Through/Very Easy to Find/Easy to Get To
Easy to find, there is a rail to the left of it and an enemy and trampoline to
the right that will get you more tension, especially the rail which you can
use to trick as much as you want to, but once you go a little further in the
act you can't go back to it.
Location:
Soon after first Checkpoint.
SG#2:Usefulness:
Infinite/Mid-Way Through/Medium Hid/Easy to Get To
You actually miss this one by using too many R tricks and going too high in
the act, but you can go up higher and then drop down once you know where it is.
A rail is to the left and the large number of springs to the right makes this
one great, but this is an Easy Chaos Emerald anyway, so does it really matter?
Location:
After first Special Gimmick don't bounce up higher on trampoline and take
lower route through loop. After hitting a second trampoline and a loop, land
on rail, not up high, SG is right after this rail.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Use Once or a Few Times/End of Act/Easy to Find/Medium Difficulty Getting To
This baby is on a tiny platform, depending on how you approach it, you either
find yourself launched off a ramp over it making it hard to get to, or from a
spring up through a floor. Either way kind of hard to grab this one and you
would probably want to use it just once anyway since it is near the end of the
act, but if for some weird reason you want to recharge, jump over the hole to
the left over the little ramp and you will find an enemy and some hoops to
recharge your gauge.
Location:
Near the end of the act, it is kind of raised up, you find yourself launched
over it from a ramp or up to it from a spring but you should see it right
before getting to the Goal.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.b.2. Leaf Storm Act 2 SG Locations:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In general the theme for this Act is "Hide the Special Gimmicks..."
SG#1:
Usefulness:
Infinite (but risky)/Near Beginning of Act/Hidden/Pretty Easy to Get Too
This tricky one you can only find if you see the three rings under a rail near
the bottom of the level. To the right is a spring that will get you on a rail
you can trick infinitely, but be very careful because it is easy to hit the
flying enemy and below this rail is a bottomless pit, so even though you can
trick a whole lot it is a risky area to be in to begin with.
Location:
Stay as low in the level as you can. Soon after bouncing on a trampoline and
going through a Rainbow Hoop, you will be on a short rail, if you look under
this rail, you will see three rings floating below the left-hand side of it
next to a wall, jump through the rail and grab the rings and you will probably
land right on this Special Gimmick.
SG#2:
Usefulness:
Use a Couple Times/Mid Way Through/Hidden/Medium Difficulty Getting To
This hidden SG is in a little hollowed out stump room with a Full Tension Item
Box and an Enemy. You could use this one a few times if you come with a full
Tension Meter and then use the Item Box and Enemy to recharge, but after you
hit the bungee you will not be able to get back there, not a very useful one.
Location:
Starting from SG#1, continue till you hit the next checkpoint. Very soon
afterwards you will find yourself on a bungee. Instead of bouncing up to the
higher level, instead see that other bungee just to the right? Bounce just a
little so you land just to the right of that. See the speed booster next to
the hollow log? Hitting it will just send you into the other bungee, but
instead carefully try to jump over it to the right.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Infinite/Near End of Act/Mostly Hidden/Easy to Get To
Near the bottom of the act and normally a ramp and hoop propel you away from
here. There is a pretty good array of things to recharge your tension with
including an infinite rail very close by.
Location:
Starting from SG#2 soon after hitting the next checkpoint make sure to stick
to the lowest part of the level again, which means jumping into huge areas
that normally ramps/hoops naturally get you over, but don't jump into one thin
hole which a spring gets you over. Soon after this spring you hit a checkpoint
and the SG is very soon after that.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.b.3. Water Palace Act 1 SG Locations:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Annoying SGs... Even the one I hesitantly dubbed most useful in Zone...
SG#1 (Most Useful in Zone):
Usefulness:
A Few Times/Near Beginning/Medium Obvious/Kind of Hard to Get To
An annoying one because it happens to be located on a shaky platform above
water. You could recharge on a nearby spring or enemy a little, but usually
when you come out of the Special Stage here you either end up falling off the
platform or fall off when trying to make it back to that spring... well, it
does get easier with practice... but not worth it...
Location:
No matter which path you initially choose, very soon in the level a spring
will bounce you over a lot of water. You will see a few floating platforms and
the SG if floating over one of them... but DON'T use a right R Button Trick here,
instead use up + R Button Trick so you can use a spring pointing up to spring
you up and to the left to the three floating platforms so you can jump left to
the third one.
(Note, I had the above part mixed up in the earlier versions of this guide, a
right trick doesn't get you high enough)
SG#2:
Usefulness:
Couple Times/Mid Way Through/Medium Obvious/Kind of Easy To Get To
Annoying just for the fact it is underwater and there are no air bubbles near
it. There is an enemy and Tension Bonus above this Special Gimmick, but kind
of hard to get up there.
Location:
From SG#1, fall down and go the underwater route. At one point you will have
to option use a moving platform and one floating on the water to get out of
the water area, but instead continue to the right underwater. You will come to
an underwater SG soon after the next checkpoint.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Very Few Times/Near End of Act/Mostly Hidden/Kind of Hard to Get To
Another weird annoying underwater one that is kind of hard to get to, as soon
as you use it you have to jump off to the area below and you can't get back up
there and there is only one nearby enemy so make sure you bring a lot of
Tension with you.
Location:
From SG#2 use Tension to activate first paddlewheel Gimmick. After this stay
high in the level, but you will end up running into water again eventually.
After the next checkpoint, there is a spring and a paddlewheel Gimmick up high,
jump up with the spring, and then do a Right + R Button Trick to activate the
Gimmick to send you up. Soon you will come to shaky platforms in water again,
jump across three of these and the fourth one is rectangular. This platform
falls if you stand on it, soon after it falls jump and land slightly to the
right to find the little area with the SG.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.b.4. Water Palace Act 2 SG Locations:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kind of annoying like the last one, the second one took me a while to find
because I kept looking for it somewhere before the first one and the third one
is not far from the first one anyway... so I give two routes to the third one.
SG#1:
Usefulness:
A Few Times/Mid Way Through/Medium Hidden/More Annoying than Hard to Get to
A weird one near shaky platforms and spikes... there is a spring below it and
some enemies to recharge a little. Getting to it is the weird part.
Location:
Several ways to get through this level, but eventually you will hit a
paddlewheel Gimmick, don't activate it much. Eventually you will hit a spring
and it will be above waterline to the left a little.
SG#2:
Usefulness:
A Few Times /Near End of Act/ Medium Hidden/Easy-Medium to Get to
Only a couple enemies near this underwater SG to Boost your meter, but at
least not far from the water's surface and if you keep going to the left of it
you will find a 1up.
Location:
From SG#1 Activate the paddlewheel Gimmick you eventually get to by Boosting
into it. (If you don't activate it, it's a more direct route to SG#3) You will
eventually find it to the left to two enemies.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Several Times/Near End of Act/Medium Hidden/Easy-Medium to Get to
Another underwater Gimmick, but better than most in this entire Zone because
of the nice amount of Springs nearby to charge up Boost and the top most
spring can bounce you out of the water so you do not drown. Watch out for the
hole to the right, it is bottomless, continue this level by bouncing on the
spring to the left that is facing up.
Location:
From SG#1: don't activate paddlewheel Gimmick much. At one point, there is two
Mine Gimmicks, touch them both and watch them kill Enemies, then bounce on
nearby springs and you will see the SG to the right at the top.
From SG#3: Soon after grinding a rail you will be launched from a spring over
a large gap, instead of going all the way across, drop down and you will find
it underwater, just don't go to far to the right and land in a bottomless pit.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.b.5. Mirage Road Act 1 SG Locations:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hidden SGs, the third one has a couple different ways to get to it, both kind
of hard, especially if you want to hit all three in one go of the act which is
quite hard.
SG#1:
Usefulness:
Use a Few Times/Beginning of Act/Hidden/Easy-Medium to Get to
You have to fight through an extra battle room and this Special Gimmick is one
of your rewards. Your Tension should be high after the battle, but you can
also raise it with the spring directly under this SG, or go back to the hoops
you were at to trick off of those.
Location:
A little bit into the Act you will come to a place where there is a moving
block to the upper right and below some spikes. Jump and land on the moving
block, you have to go the upper path. Soon after the battle room you will go
up through a Rainbow Hoop, land to the left instead of right and you will find
another battle room. To the left of this is a reward room with a SG, 1up and a
shield.
SG#2:
Usefulness:
Use a Couple Times/Near Beginning of Act/Hidden/Medium to Get to
This one is to the left of an annoying sand slide, which you can't fall into
if you either want to gain more Tension from the springs you were just one or
the enemy, or if you want to try to get to all three SG's in this act.
Location:
From SG#1 go back to the right. Soon a spring will bounce you and you will see
shaky platforms, don't land on them unless you want to go directly to the
harder SG#3... instead fall through. Soon after the next checkpoint you find
yourself sort of going up a slope and into the air where you see an Enemy and
a spring against the right wall you can't quite reach... under the enemy is an
Invisible Spring, hit it so you can then proceed to hit that spring against
the wall to end up where this SG is, but don't land in the sand slide that
takes you away from it, but that's kind of hard to do.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Use a Few Times (Infinite if you are crazy)/Near Beginning of Act/Hidden/Hard to
get To
Pretty hard to get to, there is a Full Tension Gauge Item Box and Enemy... if
you are crazy you can try to use the rail to make it infinite if you dare to...
you will probably die trying to do that or often just trying to get out of
this area anyway...
Location:
From SG#1: Remember the shaky platforms you decided not to go across to get to
SG#2? Go across them this time to get to this one.
From SG#2: Kind of stupid way, only do if you really am a nerd like me who has
to find a way to get to all three in one go... Make sure you don't fall into the
sand slide and go back the way you can from up then down hill. When you get to
the gap you normally rip cord across, jump into it and go as far left you can,
landing on top of a Gimmick. Now jump from there and land a little to the
right on a rail. You have to go down instead of up this rail like normal, jump
off the rail before you hit the speed booster at the bottom toward the left,
and try to land on a ramp before you plummet to your death, then go left.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.b.6. Mirage Road Act 2 SG Locations:~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ehh, not that bad of an Act.
SG#1:
Usefulness:
Use A Few Times/Near Beginning of Act/Slightly Hidden/Easy to Get To
Ehh, a pretty average one, you can use the enemy and the Rainbow Hoop you just
went through to recharge, but if you head into the Sand Slide to your left or
the Battle Room if you head right, you will never be able to get back to here,
so you can't recharge much.
Location:
Not very far into an act, you are bounced near two rails one higher than the
other. The bottom rail is the one you naturally land on, but do an up + R
button Trick to land on the top rail. After going up through a Rainbow Hoop,
head left instead of right.
SG#2 (Most Useful in Zone):
Usefulness:
Use Several Times/Mid Way Through/Easy to Find if You Found First One/Easy to
Get To
If you go into the Sand Slide near the first SG and go that path, you will
eventually bounce right into this one. A pretty average one with several
springs underneath to charge you up.
Location:
From SG#1, head into the Sand Slide Gimmick just to the left of you and
continue on that path and you will eventually find it.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Use A Couple Times/Near End/Easy to Find/Easy to Get To
Near the End, the only way to recharge is kill the enemies on the large slope
ahead, but then you have to boost back up the slope loosing some of the energy
you recharge, and of course the end of act golden thing ride is right ahead of
this.
Location:
Soon after Last Checkpoint, right after jumping over spikes.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.b.7. Night Carnival Act 1 SG Locations:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The second one is easier to get to if you go past the first one, but I'm a
nerd, you can get to the second one if you grab the first one also.
SG#1 (Most Useful in Zone):
Usefulness:
Use One or Two Times/Beginning of Act/Easy to Find/Easy to Get To
This one you cannot recharge nearby, and there are only like two places to get
Tension before arriving here, so make sure you do that. It is very near the
beginning, making it nice.
Location:
On first Swing Gimmick make it to the other side instead of dropping down
lower. Jump clear over after launched by ramp. Soon you will see it under you
when on a Light Ride Gimmick.
SG#2:
Usefulness:
Use Once/Beginning of Act/Slightly Hidden/Medium to Get To
A kind of hidden one high in the air you have to use a Swing Gimmick to get to.
If you really want to use it more than once, you have to drop way below to
find a Rainbow Hoop and then use an R trick to grab the handle of the Gimmick
again as in the second way I describe getting here below.
Location:From Beginning: Go same way as for SG#1, but instead go all the way
across on
Light Ride that goes over SG#1. On the next Swing Gimmick swing all the way up
as you can to the right so you can jump off the Gimmick and grab this mid-air
SG.
From SG#1: After going up through a Rainbow Hoop, try to head as far left as
possible, do an Up + R Button Trick to grab the handle of the Swing Gimmick,
this is the same Swing Gimmick described above.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Use a Couple Times/Mid Way Through/Slightly Hidden/Easy-Medium to Get to.
Pretty easy to get down there, just need to make sure to boost and push the
right buttons, but once around here there is just one enemy to assist in gauge
refilling.
Location:
From SG#1, make sure you dash into the huge Spirally Gimmick after the next
Checkpoint so you fully activate it and can make it across to the High Route.
On the next Light Ride (hint, you have to use an R-button trick to activate
it), look below and you will soon see a balloon and rings, jump off the ride
and grab them and you will fall on or near the SG.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.b.8. Night Carnival Act 2 SG Locations:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ehh, not as good as the First Act, with the first two SGs hidden and the last
one that can be only used one time.
SG#1:
Usefulness:Use A Few Times/Mid Way Through/Hidden/Medium to Get to
A kind of tricky one you have to slow down and be careful to get to. The
Gimmick nearby you crouch down to activate will send you through a hoop and
through a floor, but simply go a little left, jump down and back to the same
area if you want to recharge a little up there. Careful, the drop off on both
sides of this area is lethal.
Location:
No matter which path you take to begin with, eventually a spring will make you
go up through a certain Rainbow Hoop with a Bat Enemy high above it and right
after that SLOW DOWN when you hit the barrier and there is a Rail you activate
by pushing a button. Instead of pushing the button, walk off the edge slowly
then jump down that narrow hole you see, the light will go off, take that path.
SG#2:
Usefulness:
Use A Couple Times/Toward End/Kind of Hidden/Medium to Get To
The path to get here is a little rough, but you can cheat by going backwards a
little from Last Checkpoint. A Speed Booster launches you up in the air and
you have to run into this every time you want to grab this mid-air SG. Only
one nearby enemy will help with Tension Getting.
Location:
From SG#1: First Spirally Gimmick don't Boost into much, jump off it and land
to the area at the right with Enemies, don't fall into the large pit of doom.
This path is a little difficult but continue to eventually find the Special
Gimmick.
From Last Checkpoint: Boost to the left from here and you will eventually fall
into this area.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
One Timer/Toward End/Pretty Easy to Find/Easy-Medium to Get To
The trick here is not finding it, but you have to hit the three balloons right
after the checkpoint perfectly to grab it, these balloons will actually help
fill your gauge and once you go into the Special Stage once the balloons
disappear leaving it unreachable again.
Location:
Right after the Last Checkpoint, there are three balloons, hit them in a row to
get to this SG.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.b.9. Huge Crisis Act 1 SG Locations:
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A nice act when it comes to getting into the Special Stage, not so nice when
it comes to crushing risk...
SG#1:
Usefulness:
Use One or Two Times/Near Beginning/Pretty Easy to Find/Pretty Easy to Get To
This strange one is floating above platforms that crumble, if you fall through
you can't get back on it.
Location:
A little ways into the act, you are launched over a large area from a ramp,
instead of landing on the other side of the top of the ship, look below for
the SG.
SG#2:
Usefulness:
Use Several Times/Near Beginning/Easy to Find/Easy to Get To
There is one spring nearby but if you dare to cross the crushing area to
recharge you will find a Full Tension Bonus Item Box and a few more springs.
Location:
From SG#1, not that far from the next Checkpoint, you will bounce over it on a
spring, it is near crushers.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Infinite/Near End/Slightly Hidden/Medium-Easy to Get To
A very useful one, since it is near enemies and more importantly a long rail
to the right.
Location:
Path #1: Near the end, there is a huge area you normally fall down into with a
robot, a tube and a shield and 1up Item Box. Instead of going down there, try
to jump over the huge gap.
Path #2: If you fall down into the huge area, then continue on, soon after the
battle room you will find yourself at a rail, go to the left instead of on the
rail.
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10.b.10. Huge Crisis Act 2 SG Locations:
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The first Special Gimmick is very useful but the last two are nothing to call
home about. Even more of a crush risk in this Act than the last.
SG#1 (Most Useful in Zone):
Usefulness:
Infinite/Beginning of Act/Hidden/Pretty Easy to Get ToThis Special Gimmick is
floating in the air between two rails... you have to use
a Rail Trick off the end to get back up there... but it's by two rails... you
know
what that means... super SG...Location:
On the first rail in the act, jump at the highest point where you see three
rings so you are sucked up by a tube, continue on that path.
SG#2:
Usefulness:
Use A Few Times/Mid Way Through/Easy to Find/Pretty Easy to Get To
This one is also floating in the air, get on it by using the spring on the
wall that is to the left. This spring and a few nearby enemies/battleroom lets
you recharge some.
Location:
From SG#1 continue on... it's in the air before the battle room with the steam
shooting up from the floor.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Use a Few Times/Toward End/Slightly Hidden/Pretty Easy to Get to
This one is also up high, you actually have to use the little springy Enemy
below to bounce up to it. A few nearby enemies can help you recharge, but if
you kill the springy enemy you can't get back up there.
Location:
From SG#2, after bouncing up through the floor via spring, go the lower route
instead of using a trick to reach the hook above. You will find it pretty soon
after the next battle room floating in the air in it's own little room with
enemies and stuff.
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10.b.11. Altitude Limit Act 1 SG Locations:
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You have to go through quite a bit of this high up act before you find the
really good Special Gimmick.
SG#1:
Usefulness:
Use Once or Twice/Beginning of Act/Hidden/Easy to Get To
This one is isolated in a small room, so you can only use the Tension you
bring with you.
Location:
When you hit the first spring in the act and bounce up to the high rail, use a
little Tension and go left uphill on that rail instead of right and continue
on that path.
SG#2:
Usefulness:
Use a Few Times/Near Beginning of Act/Pretty Easy to Find/Medium to Get To
Use the Rocket Pad to get to it, or use the spring and slightly cut short your
line of travel or jump off to the right from where you land after hitting the
spring. A Full Tension Item Box, a few springs and one enemy can help with
Tension refill.
Location:
Soon after First Checkpoint, above where you normally get off the Rocket Pad.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Infinite/Mid Way Through/Hidden/Pretty Easy to Get To
Located just above a rail...
Location:
Path 1:
Shortly after next Parachute Ride (Right before the Parasail part) on the
rails there is one part where you are heading left and a Speed Booster sends
you to the right uphill to the parasail part, jump over this Speed Booster
instead to find the SG.
Path 2 (Harder):
If you choose to go the way where you are ducking a lot of enemies while on a
Rocket Pad, if you go through the small hole in the ceiling and go that
direction, you will bounce on a spring up to this area.
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10.b.12. Altitude Limit Act 2 SG Locations:
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The first SG is extremely good, but the second one is just for people that
absolutely have to find everything.
SG#1 (Most Useful in Zone):
Usefulness:
Infinite/Beginning of Act/Hidden/Easy to Get To
Above a rail, nuff said...
Location:
When on the first parachute, head to the left instead of the right.
SG#2:
Usefulness:
Use a Couple Times/Mid Way Through/Hidden/Very Hard to Get To
Not only are their enemies in your path but they are shooting at you...
seriously, a very hard one to get to (I died more than one trying to get back
up there to write this description) and only worth finding if you are a person
like me that has to find everything. Only one Full Tension Item Box to help
you refill.
Location:
From SG#1, very carefully use first Rocket Pad to get as high as possible...
with enemies shooting at you, you have to perfect jumping off the pad killing
enemies then jumping back on.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Infinite/Near End/Hidden/Hard to Get To
It is a lot of trouble to get to since you have to navigate though a small gap
lined with spikes with a parachute then land on a spring, but once you get up
there not only is there this infinite SG but also a lot of rings and a Tension
Bonus in a Balloon.
Location:
During next Parachute part, hug the right wall when falling down, there is a
small gap lined with spikes you need to float through, then land on the spring
to spring up to the rail area with the SG.
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10.b.13. Dead Line Act 1 SG Locations:
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SG#1:
Usefulness: One Timer/Sort of Close to Beginning/Kind of Hidden/Relatively Easy
to Get To
It is stuck in mid-air, a spring hit you on it and the only way you can mess
this up is if you try to Trick after hitting this spring. Once you get off of
it and drop down you can't get back to it at all. The only things really going
for it is the fact that right before you hit it you hit two Tension Bonuses
allowing you to use it even if you come to this area with zero Tension and it
is kind of close to the beginning of the Act, but not close enough where it is
really worth restarting the Act to get to it.
Location:
From the beginning, choose up at the first cannon, down at the next and you
will eventually hit the Special Gimmick.
SG#2 (Most Useful in Zone): Usefulness:
Infinite/Mid-way Through Act/Kind of Hidden/Medium Difficulty to Get To
Unlike a lot of the Trick devices, you can use a cannon to Trick as many times
as you want to in a row without loosing Points or Tension gained... There
happens to be a cannon to the left and below of the Special Gimmick, use the
cannon to fill up your gauge and to blast you back to the area where it
happens to be. Be careful, if you enter the cannon just to the right of this
SG you will not be able to get back to it.
Location:
From the first Special Gimmick, go straight mostly straight on the first
rocket, be careful of the spikes! (up is fine too but harder) Then on second
rocket push B to get off of it early, go into the cannon you see below you and
use it to launch to the right where the Special Gimmick is.
SG#3:
Usefulness:
Use a Whole Lot(Infinite if you care to explore nearby)/Near end of
Act/Relatively Easy to Find/Easy-Medium to Get Too
There is just a lot of stuff near this Special Gimmick that you can use to
charge up your Gauge. To the left is some hoops you can jump in a few times,
then the spring right below it... DON'T jump into the hoops just to the right of
this spring, they will propel you away from the Special Gimmick. Use the
spring to get to the upper right area where you will find a Tension Bonus Item
Box, a rail, some enemie