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Mar7 XM rMMM MMr;.;: MM2ZZ ,MMMWMMMMMMS MM:: MMMMZ,M XZ MMMSii:;;;XX2MMMi : M ,0@MMMSi;;r:7Mi2M BM87ir77X22S2X;rX2MM : M MMMZ7i:i722SaXXMi;B MM2X;7777X, r7rXSSMM MSMZX;ir7777, ;77Mi:M M@X7;r777SX2i:SS7;7S7XM :MM7XX2S77777X2i.2XirM7:M Marr7S777SrXSaS7r7SSSXSB0iMr7SSXr77777XSSX;7Ma rM MMWZX7X228S0228S7XX77r;r0BS0SXS2X;rr77arrXXMB 0M MWSZM2 2WB00B@MSarMM27r77r:::::S2W 2a rSWMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMrSa8 ,MMMMMMMMMMMZ aMM: 7iiiiiiiiX8 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Sonic Advance 2 FAQS Version 1.07 5/17/04 By Angnix peter379@msu.edu ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Version History:~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Version 0.5: 12/20/03 Version 0.51: 1/7/04 Slight rewrite of Zone 5 Act 2 SP RG #2 instructions, a clarification on how you hit the spinwheel. Moderate rewrite of Zone 7 Act 2 SP RG #7, found much shorter, better way through the Act that gets you a Ring Magnet Shield. Fixed errors where I didn't completely fix problem with using symbols that don't show up in plain text, a couple of other minor fixes. More notes Version 1.0: 1/13/04 Added Unlock Features Section Added Time Attack Section Added Tiny Chao Garden Section Version 1.01: 1/17/04 Added info on Sun and Moon Jewel Chao Decided to mark Character Moves not described in manual Updated list of sites that can post my FAQS Other minor fixes Version 1.02: 1/28/04 Added FAQ section Updated list of sites that can post my FAQS Version 1.03: 2/03/04 Added note about e-mail problems Version 1.04: 2/19/04 Fixed e-mail problem! Added a little more info under character moves section Version 1.05: 3/4/04 Added Walkthrough for Zone 7 Special Stage Updated list of sites that can use my FAQS Added more art Version 1.06: 5/17/04 Fixed error in the Zone 7 Act 2 description. Added new note Version 1.07: 6/5/04 Updated list of sites that can use my FAQS Fixed Tiny Chao Garden information ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Note: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ People were complaining that the Sun and Moon Chao are impossible to get, so I decided to remove the information. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Note: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ By popular demand, a walkthrough for the Zone 7 Special Stage has been added. I am not sure if I will be able to do this for the rest of the Zones however. It is section 7.g.3. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Note: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Update 5/17/04! Thanks headetectv for pointing out an error in my Zone 7 Act 2 descripion, it is correct now. Anyway while we are on the subject of Zone 7 Act 2 lately I have been working on perfecting this act, I can now get all 7 Special Rings in about 2 minutes 2 seconds and I think it could be even less time, should I make a special walkthrough telling you how??? ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 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 my FAQS: www.GameFAQS.com www.Neoseeker.com www.cheathappens.com faqs.ign.com www.cheats.de www.supercheats.com ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Table of Contents: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 1.Story 2.Introduction 3.Character Moves 3.a. Basic Moves all Characters can do 3.b. Smashing Through Floors and the Special Rail Trick Jump 3.c. Unique Character Moves 4. Unlock Features 5. General Tips for the Bosses 6. General Tips for the Special Stages 7. Complete Special Ring Guide and Walkthrough 7.a. Zone 1 Leaf Forest 7.a.1: Act 1 7.a.2: Act 2 7.a.3: Boss Egg Hammer Tank II 7.b. Zone 2 Hot Crater 7.b.1: Act 1 7.b.2: Act 2 7.b.3: Boss Egg Bomber Tank 7.c. Zone 3 Music Plant 7.c.1: Act 1 7.c.2: Act 2 7.c.3: Boss Egg Totem 7.d. Zone 4 Ice Paradise 7.d.1: Act 1 7.d.2: Act 2 7.d.3: Boss Aero Egg 7.e. Zone 5 Sky Canyon 7.e.1: Act 1 7.e.2: Act 2 7.e.3: Boss Egg Saucer 7.f. Zone 6 Techno Base 7.f.1: Act 1 7.f.2: Act 2 7.f.3: Boss Egg-Go-Round 7.g. Zone 7 Egg Utopia 7.g.1: Act 1 7.g.2: Act 2 7.g.3: Zone 7 Special Stage Walkthrough 7.g.4: Boss Egg Frog 7.h. Final Zone XX 7.h.1: The First Seven Bosses 7.h.2: Final Boss 7.h.3: Final Ending 7.i. Extra Zone True Area 53 7.i.1: Extra Zone Boss 7.i.2: Extra Ending 7.j. Unlocking and Playing as Amy Rose 8. Time Attack 9. Tiny Chao Garden 9.a. Geography of the Tiny Chao Garden 9.b. Chao Stats and What They Mean 9.c. Earning Rings and the Mini Games 9.c.1. Cream and Cheese's Chao High Bounce Game 9.c.2. Matching Game 9.d. The Store 9.d.1. Fruit 9.d.2. Eggs 9.d.3. Toys 9.e. Transferring Chao and Other Things to and from the Game Cube 9.e.1 How to tell Chao type, color and age in the Tiny Chao Garden 9.e.2 Jewel and Clear Chao 9.e.3 Using the Tiny Chao Garden to transfer between Sonic Adventure 2: Battle and Sonic Adventure DX 10. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) 11. Questions? ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 1. Story: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Eggman is up to it again, will he ever learn? This time Eggman is not only capturing little animals and using them to power his Badniks, but Tails is captured and Knuckles is well, naive, well, very very naive. . . and Eggman also captured a little rabbit named Cream and her pet Chao Cheese and for some reason is after her mother too. He also seems to have a new Death Egg-like ship too. . . Can Sonic rescue his pals and stop Eggman's plans? ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2. Introduction: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ There are many different ways to get though each Act, but if you want to collect all 7 Chaos Emeralds, you have to find all 7 Special Rings in at least one Act without losing a life in the first 7 Zones in order to enter the Special Stage. If you loose a life after you pass a checkpoint all the Special Rings you have collected so far will disappear, and you will have to start the act over again. If all you want to do is to get the Emeralds and you are not interested in finding every single Special Ring in the entire game, then just follow the guide for one Act in each Zone, the difficulty of getting the Special Rings varies by Act and I will point out which Act in each Zone is easier. There is sometimes more than one way to get through the Act and get all 7 Special Rings, I will go through each Act and describe a way to get all 7 Special Rings that can be done with any character, but occasionally I will point out a shortcut that can only be used by some characters or a slightly out-of-the way power-up, these are marked with parentheses, if you are not interested in what is in the parentheses, ignore it and continue on with the next sentence. If you are inexperienced at getting the Special Rings, first try to get them with Cream and use Chao Attack to grab them, then use Tails because he can fly and get some hard to reach Special Rings, then Knuckles, then try to get them with Sonic. I will also give tips for completing the Special Stage, Bosses, the Final Zone and the Extra Zone. This guide applies to the game set on Normal, when on Easy some of the Badniks are not present and the Bosses take fewer hits to defeat. If you want some tips on how to get thorough the Acts all I have to say is this particular Sonic game is all about speed, the general rule is this: you are more likely to mess up if you slow down. Also any other general rules from other Sonic games apply, always keep Rings, etc... Another tip is this, you get a lot more points in the end from Rings than attacking Badniks, and if a Badnik attacks you you lose Rings, so it is better to go through an act the way with the least Badniks and the least amount of traps in general, that's all I have to say. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 3: Character Moves ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Beyond the basic moves such as Spin Attack and Spin-Dash each one of the five characters has their own unique set of moves. On top of that are the Mid- AirTrick attacks and moves that are not even mentioned in the guide book and things such as Sonic and Amy's Rail Jump and breaking through floors. All in all the character moves and abilities in this game are in my opinion even more complex than they were in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, so here is a complete list of every move. Some of these moves are not in the manual, these are marked with an asterisk *. Plus I have described the moves that are in the manual more thoroughly. A little extra note, you can get a boost in speed if you press right at the end of the countdown at the beginning of the level, but it had to be timed right. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 3.a. Basic Moves all Characters can do: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 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, after images appear. Boost Mode: When you are in Boost Mode, you travel extra fast, There are a couple of ways to enter Boost Mode. One 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. If you press the B button while in Boost Mode, each character will do a running attack, differs by character. Press down: Pressing down while standing still will cause you to crouch down, useful in dodging some attacks, pressing down while moving will start you spinning, useful in attacking enemies or to gain speed when going around loops and you do not want to go into Boost Mode. Press up: Appeal move, no real purpose, just watch the characters do silly things. Sonic: Stretches out his legs and then acts eager to go. Cream: Looks around, then pulls an ice cream cone out of nowhere and starts licking it, Cheese seems concerned. . . Tails: Streches out arms and yawns, then falls asleep standing up. Knuckles: Tightens his gloves then starts punching air. It was pointed out to me by a Fanfiction.net reviewer of one of my stories screenname Shitaru that Knuckles appeal move is also an attack and can cause damage to enemies, even the Fiery Badniks of Hot Crater. Amy: Yawns but then looks at you and jumps up and down acting like she's not tired A button: Jump/Spin Attack, use to jump or to attack an enemy. Press and hold right or left + A button then release: Spin 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 Dash, if you keep pressing down for a while then release the A button, the character will eventually rev down a little and then releasing down will result in a less powerful Spin Dash, be careful because the only way to slow down after using a Spin Dash is to press the opposite direction and it takes a little while to slow down to a stop, do not attack an enemy with this if you are dangerously near a cliff! Mid Air Trick Attacks: These are special mid-air maneuvers using the R button that can only be performed after jumping off a spring, being launched off a ramp, after jumping off the end of a rail, or after being propelled through a boost hoop. You cannot perform a Mid-Air Trick after you just did one. Note: Each character does the mid-air tricks their own way, I will say how they are used in general then point out any differences in use between characters. R button alone: Stops a lot of forward motion, useful if you do not want to go as far as you are currently going. Knuckles: I have observed once this move can attack enemies with him, but I have not confermed this with any other characters. Press up when pressing R button: Jump higher up, most effective if used during the highest point in your jump, useful in reaching areas you cannot normally get to. Knuckles: He goes very straight up, it is hard to get him to then start moving sideways so it is harder to use this trick with him. If you want to go higher but then want to move sideways, use this trick closer to the ledge you want to land on than with the other characters. Press left or right when pressing R button: This propels the character sideways real fast, but you must press the D-pad in the direction you are already facing or you will just do the same trick as if you just pushed to R button alone. Sonic and Amy: They both twirl around real fast and move sideways fast while slightly losing height until they either hit a wall or land. You cannot change their direction when moving sideways. You can attack enemies and continue moving sideways. Cream: Does a slower spin that Sonic and Amy, you can control her and change her direction during the trick, but you cannot attack enemies. Tails: Spins his tails to get a quick boost in the direction he is going, but then starts falling, he cannot go as far sideways as the other characters, but you can slightly control where he lands after he drops. You cannot attack enemies with this. Knuckles: Goes into a really fast glide, when he lands he immediately goes into a spin. You cannot change his direction when moving sideways, but you can attack enemies and continue moving sideways. Press down when pressing R button: The character stops in mid-air and heads straight down. Sonic, Knuckles and Amy: They perform their respective A button then B button while still in air move, see individual character moves for more details. Cream and Tails: Head straight down, you can slightly control which direction they head in, they cannot attack enemies with this move. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 3.b. Smashing Through Floors and the Special Rail Trick Jump: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *Smash Through Floors: Use Sonic, Knuckles and Amy's A button then B button attack to break through the floor in certain places, look for areas where the floor looks funny and you can see a space under it, this is useful only in going places where Tails and Cream can't, an occasional short cut through the act or the occasional hidden power-up. *Special Rail Trick Jump: With Sonic and Amy, if you press the A button just before you get to the bottom of a rail that does not slope directly into the ground, then they do a fancy maneuver and jump much higher than the other characters. You can also use a Mid Air Trick at the top of the jump and go very high! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 3.c. Individual Character Moves: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Sonic: A button then A again while in air: Double Spin Attack/Homing Attack, Double Spin increases the range of your attack enabling you to attack things a little higher than you can normally reach and it increases the speed of your attack. If an enemy is on the screen and you are facing it, doing this will cause him to do a Homing Attack, fast spin straight toward the enemy. A button then B button while still jumping: Bound, he goes into a very fastspin while in the air and heads straight down, then bounces back up, can be used to attack enemies or to break floors. *A button, then press right or left twice in rapid succession: Jump Dash, he does a sudden jumping dash, I find this move annoying, can be hard to do if you ever wanted to, usually end up doing it when I don't want to. B button: Skid Attack, he does a flip then slides along the ground then stops, great attack for enemies beside you. B button while in Boost Mode: Super Skid, do a skid to attack enemies and keep on running. Super Sonic: (Extra Zone only) *Up, down, left or right: Move Super Sonic in any direction. *A or B button alone or in combination with up, down, left or right: Rushing Attack, in a blaze of light Super Sonic will speed up and attack in any direction, use if you want to move in a direction really fast or when you hit the missiles. Cream: A button then tap A button repeatedly: Flying, tapping the A button causes her to gain height, use right or left to control where she goes, pressing B button will cause her to immediately stop flying and attacks downwards. She can only stay in the air for 5 seconds until she gets tired and starts falling, but she can fly quite fast, remember she cannot attack enemies while flying but you can fly over them and then press B as an attack. A button then press B button and down at same time: Chao Rolling Attack, Cheese momentarily spins around Cream, can be used to attack enemies, but very risky since Cream comes out of her spin and becomes vulnerable, I never use this move. B button or A button then B button: Chao Attack, if you are facing an enemy or a Special Ring, Cheese will go out and either attack the enemy or will pick up the Special Ring for you. This is a killer move when used against bosses, but you have to wait a little bit after you use this move to use it again. B button while in Boost Mode: Step Attack, Cheese spins around Cream and she jumps over Cheese and continues running, used to attack enemies. Tails: A button then tap A button repeatedly: Flying, gain height by tapping the A button, use up, down, left or right to control what direction he is going, you cannot stop him from flying until he lands on something. You can attack enemies while in the air if you hit them with his tails. Tails can stay in the air 8 seconds, longer than Cream but he flies much slower. Tails is better for flying straight up, Cream for flying sideways. B button: Tail Swipe, attacks enemies to the side of Tails without moving forward. B button while in Boost Mode: Super Tail Swipe, do a Tail Swipe and keep on running. Knuckles: (There are several notes about him in the above section describing his unique Trick Move abilities and the fact his appeal move is also an attack.) A button then A again while in air: Gliding, glide sideways while losing little height, press left or right to change what direction you are gliding. You can attack enemies fist first. If you let go of the A button, Knuckles will fall. If you touch a wall while gliding, Knuckles will cling to it. Push up or down to climb on it or just press A again to jump off it, when he gets to the edge of a ledge, Knuckles will pull himself up on it. B button: Double Punch, punch an enemy while going forward slightly. A button then B button while in air: Drill Claw, Knuckles spirals straight downwards, great for attacking enemies that you cannot attack otherwise or for busting through floors. B button while in Boost Mode: Spiral Attack, like Drill Claw but horizontal, he falls out of Boost Mode after using this attack. Amy: A button then A while in air: Super Hammer Attack, very similar to Sonic's Double Spin. B button: Hammer Attack, use the Piko Piko Hammer to attack enemies right beside her. A button then B button while in the air: Mid-Air Hammer Swirl, similar to Sonic's Bound but with a slightly wider range, use to attack certain hard-to-attack enemies or to bust through floors. B button while in Boost Mode: Head Slide, she slides facedown into enemies and then gets up and keeps running. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 4. Unlock features: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Unlock Cream: Defeat Zone 1 Boss as Sonic. Unlock Tails: Defeat Zone 3 Boss as Sonic. Unlock Knuckles: Defeat Zone 5 Boss (which is ironically Knuckles) as Sonic. Unlock Tiny Chao Garden: Complete game with all 7 Chaos Emeralds with one character. Unlock Extra Zone for Sonic: Get all 7 Chaos Emeralds with Sonic, complete game as Sonic, Cream, Tails and Knuckles. Unlock Sound Test: Complete game with all 7 Chaos Emeralds with two characters. Unlock Fight Bosses in Time Attack: Complete game with all 7 Chaos Emeralds with three characters. Unlock Amy: Complete game with all 7 Chaos Emeralds with first four characters. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 5. General tips for the Bosses: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ All of the Bosses in this particular game are on the move unlike the relatively stationary bosses of the past. So in order to attack the boss you must catch up to it first avoiding whatever it is trying to hit you with. The only attacks that work against Bosses are: Spin Attack, Sonic's Double Spin Attack, Cream's Chao Attack, and Amy's Super Hammer Attack. In fact Cream's Chao Attack gives her so much of an advantage over bosses you will almost certainly beat the game as her first. Also be aware it takes quite a few hits to defeat some bosses, so be patient, but some are so hard to hit you might be fighting a Boss for several minutes, in fact when I started playing this game I ran out of time on some of the bosses! Just be patient, you will eventually pick up the pattern and learn the perfect time to attack! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 6. General tips for the Special Stages: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ In the Special Stage, your goal is to get 300 rings in two minutes, single Rings are worth one, red spheres are worth 5. Watch out, Zero follows you around and tries to hit you, if it does you lose 10 Rings, but you can Spin Attack it and you won't loose Rings. If Zero hits you and you have no Rings you will immediately leave the Special Stage. The red and black patches are Booster Pads, they greatly increase you speed, the red, blue and yellow patches send you into the air. Always go after Rings that are in a row, when you get Rings one after another in rapid succession, you get rewarded bonus Rings, for example when 2x appears on the screen, you get two Rings for every one you pick up. It is much easier to control the character when they are going kind of slow, so first avoid the Booster Pads and try to get Rings in a row, then after you get 300 hit the Booster Pads to make sure you stay away from Zero, you do not want to get 300 Rings but then loose then right when time is up! The last Special Stage is particularly tough on top of the fact it is hard to complete the Egg Utopia Acts with all 7 Special Rings, trust me you will probably get sick of Egg Utopia before you get the Emerald, but you will probably be an expert at getting through one of the Acts before you are done! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7. Complete Special Ring Guide and Walkthrough: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.a. Zone 1: Leaf Forest ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Very typical for the first Zone in a Sonic game, brown ledges toped with grass, the ocean in the background, this Zone is of course the easiest and has Badniks that should be familiar to anyone that has played Sonic games before. Both Acts are pretty easy, hmm, for the most part Act 2 is easier to get the Special Rings than Act 1, but if you do not make the jump properly after getting Special Ring #6 in Act 2 you will miss #7, well, the truth is both Acts are easy. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.a.1. Zone 1 Act 1: (easier) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: You will see a launch ramp, jump over it instead of going off it, you will find a 5 Ring item box. Jump on the doorstop-like spring to get on the ledge above, get your Green Shield, jump over the spikes and kill the hornet. Instead of going through the loop-de-loop, jump on top of it instead, Spin Dash up the rail, you will then see the SP Ring. SP RG #2: Grind the rail to you right. (Sonic and Amy: If you are really good at this, you can use the Rail Trick at the end of this rail, then quickly use an up Mid-Air Trick and you will grab the SP Ring.) When you naturally jump off the rail, you will land on a ledge with a 10 Ring item box on it, get it, then jump back to your left as far as you can. You will land on a slope, and you should then see a blue Trampoline Spring at the end. Jump on it and use the up Mid-Air Trick to get you higher, and you will eventually get the SP Ring. Be careful, don't fall down the gap just to the right of the spring or you will not be able to get back up where you need to go. SP RG #3: Use the same spring to land back on the platform that the 10 Ring item box was on. Jump down to your right, go through the loop-de-loop, then go through the spiral. One you get through the spiral, push left to slow yourself to a stop, then jump off the ledge where the spiral is and grab the SP Ring. Make sure you do not fall off the left side of this ledge. SP RG #4: Spin-Dash up the curve to your right to get back up to where the spiral ended. Go to your right, make sure you jump across the gap you will soon encounter or you will never make it back up there. Right after you jump across, you will see a giant loop-de-loop, the SP Ring is at the top of it. SP RG #5: You will soon hit a Speed Booster and you will be in Boost Mode, you will go through a couple of loop-de-loops, hit a bumper, etc... but just keep running to the right as fast as you can. Soon after hitting the checkpoint, you will be running across water and you will run right into the SP Ring. (If you are interested in a 1-up item box, then jump through the rail that you end up on after running into the SP Ring, and land in the water, go to your left long enough and you will get the item box, go back to your right, and a Speed Booster will propel you out of the water, but make sure you land on the ledge that is to the right of the water, don't go to the higher part of the round, then continue to the right.) SP RG #6: Keep running, you will go through a loop-de-loop, then you will end up on a Spinning Handle, try to aim for the three Rings to your right, jump off, and you will land on a Door-stop Spring, jump to the higher ledge, Spin Dash up the curve, and you will end up on a ledge with two jumping monkey, but this can be a little difficult to do. (If you missed the jump off the spinning handle, go to your left and hit the Invincibility item box, then run to your right around the loop-de-loop, you will see a slightly higher ledge with spikes, a spring and a hornet, jump on the spring, then use the up Mid-Air Trick and then fall to your left, you will land on the ledge with the two monkeys.) Jump as hard as you can off the Launch Ramp at the end of this ledge, pushing A when you hit it helps, and try to land on top of the giant loop-de-loop, use the up Mid-Air Trick if you have to. Continue to your right, grind the rail, jump over the next gap you see and land on the Door-stop Spring, jump up, go around the loop-de-loop, you will then run off the Launch Ramp. Keep going to the right and you will see the SP Ring and a ledge with a spring that sends you right into the Special Ring. SP RG #7: The ledge with the last SP Ring is easy to miss, so follow these instructions and you should land on it just fine. Fall to your left, go around the loop-de-loop you were just on top of. Slow down. Instead of jumping off the launch ramp, jump down right and keep close to the edge of the ledge, and you will land on a ledge, to the left is a loop-de-loop, and it slopes steeply to the right. Just run off the edge, this is actually a ramp that will send you perfectly to the ledge with the SP Ring on it. Do this and you should neither over shoot or under shoot this important ledge. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.a.2. Zone 1 Act 2: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: Kill the jumping monkey, jump onto the slightly higher ledge with the 5 Ring item box, but watch out for the tree climbing monkey throwing bombs. Jump on the Door-stop Spring, watch out for the hornet on that ledge, go around the loop-de-loop, run off the Launch Pad, you will end up grinding a rail, when you get to the end of the rail you will naturally jump into the SP Ring. SP RG #2: The best way is to not land on the top ledge, but to fall down on the ledge right below it, go around the loop-de-loop and then the spiral, then you will see a spring and a rail just above the spring, jump on the spring, try not to fall to the right of the spring, use the up Mid-Air Trick or land on the rail and jump up and you will get the SP Ring. SP RG #3: After you grind the rail, keep going right and you will be launched onto a ledge with a Green Shield box on it. Ignore the Green Shield, you need to build up as much speed as you can, just keep running to the right. Then go to your right and go through the funny looking half spiral, then the giant loop-de-loop, hopefully you have achieved Boost Mode right before you hit a spring and you will be sent right into the SP Ring. SP RG #4: Do not grind the rail, instead fall to the ground, run past the checkpoint, and run down the steep slope. You will be launched, but do not keep flying to your right, if you land on top of a loop-de-loop you've gone too far. Instead right after you are launched just take your hands off all buttons, you will fall through a rail and probably land to the left of a ? ring item box. After you get that, go to your left, fall down, then go right, you will see a spring on the wall and a Special Ring floating there. SP RG #5: Hit the bumper, hit the other bumper and land on the ledge to your left with the Speed Booster, let the Speed Booster take you up the rail and through the loop-de-loops, you will find yourself running up a wall with a couple of Door Stop Springs on it. Keep running, and you will be sent into the air. Land on the top most platform to your right that has a spring on it pointing to the left at an angle. Hit the spring and you will see the SP Ring floating in the air. (After you get the SP Ring and if you keep flying to the left, you might land on top of a loop-de-loop with a 1-up item box on it, then just jump down to your right.) SP RG #6: Now use the springs to jump up the wall that you just ran up to get to the ledge above. Fall down the gap you see. Now run to the right as fast as you can, don't let the monkey frighten you, it will jump out of your way, run past it, and achieve Boost Mode, you will be launched in the air, and if you keep pressing right you will enter a hidden passageway with the SP ring in it. SP RG #7: You might want to slow down, jump when you are at the end of the passageway and land on top of the loop-de-loop with the Speed Booster on it. If you do not land on this, there is a way to still get the SP Ring, but it is rather involved and I do not want to go into it. Hit the Speed Booster, then just run, you will end up going up a rail and then running through a giant loop-de-loop with a gap at the top, the SP Ring is at the top of the loop. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.a.3. Zone 1 Boss: EggHammer TankII (An egghammer? Doesn't sound too sturdy to me...) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Unlike the first EggHammer Tank from Sonic Advance, this one is moving away form you at high speed, like all the bosses in this particular game, but this boss is really not that hard, unlike the other bosses.... The hammer's pattern is this, it hits close to the tank, then farther out, then close again, so what you have to do is be far away form the tank when the hammer hits close to the tank, then move in closer, the hammer will miss you and you will be close enough for a good hit. It is defeated after 8 hits. The first time you encounter this Boss with Sonic you will see Cream and Cheese trapped in the hand on the robotic arm. When you defeat the boss a cut scene plays. Cream looks at Sonic at awe that she was rescued by "the famous Mr. Sonic", then she thanks him and bows, Sonic comments on how polite she is but has a surprised look on his face, but then Sonic runs off and tells her not to get caught again, but he leaves too fast for Cream to tell him that her Mom is still in trouble!! Looks like Cream will have to make sure her Mom is okay herself! After you defeat this Boss the first time with Sonic you unlock Cream the Rabbit. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.b. Zone 2: Hot Crater ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Does anyone have a fan and some ice water? This place is burning hot, just look at the boiling background! It's a little easier to get the Special Rings in Act 2. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.b.1. Zone 2 Act 1: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: You will come to a rail attached to the ceiling, grab onto it and start sliding down, but after hitting about 2 Rings jump off, you have to land on top of the loop-de-loop (Cream, Tails and Knuckles, can slide all the way down, go back to the left, watch out for the fiery Badnik and spike trap, get the Ring Magnet Shield, then fly or climb back to the top of the loop-de-loop to your left.) Hit the Speed Booster, you will be launched off a ramp, continue going watching out for the spikes and fiery Badnik, then you will see the Special Ring. SP RG #2: You will see a loop-de-loop (Cream, Tails and Knuckles can fly or climb to the top of it and get a 1-up item box) go through it, you will grind a rail then hit a 10 Ring item box. Keep going, after the next loop-de-loop, you will see a rail, instead of grinding it fall through it, you will see a turtle to you left, and a platform with a Green Shield, get the Green Shield if you didn't already get the Ring Magnet Shield. Jump down the right side of it, but don't hit the floating spring. Go to your left and you will see a turtle, jump on the turtles back and head to the left, there is a secret hole in the wall that contains a small room with the Special Ring in it. SP RG #3: Now move to the right, you will hit a bumper and Launch Pad then a Speed Booster, keep going, and you will hit a bumper that sends you to an area with two octopus-looking Badniks, if you do an up or left Mid-Air Trick you can get a ? Ring item box. Go to your left, you will eventually see the Special Ring. SP RG #4: Go back to your right, you will find yourself grinding a rail, after you reach the end of the rail, you will see a Springy Hook, grab it, and one you're sprung into the air do an up Mid Air Trick to hit an Invincibility item box. Then Hit the Speed Booster and just keep on pressing right. You will run right through a Badnik, then up the wall and into the air, keep pressing right, you will land on top of a loop-de-loop on a small platform with a spike trap and Special Ring on it. SP RG #5: Jump down, go through the loop-de-loop, you will come to a rail in the ceiling, grab on and slide down, then jump to your left, go left a little and you will see a hole in the floor with two steep slopes on both sides, jump down it and you will then go through a couple of Hoops that will plow you straight into the Special Ring, you end up holding onto a Springy Hook. SP RG #6: When you are in the air, head toward the right, go through the tunnel, and around the loop-de-loop, you will eventually find yourself in the air, grab onto the hook you see, don't land on the spikes or the Badnik! Once the hook springs you up, do an up Mid-Air Trick and you will go through a hoop, you will see the Special Ring on a little platform to your left. SP RG# 7: Jump down as far to the right as you can, hit the 10 Ring item box, continue to the right. Hit the Boost Pad, go through a couple of loop-de-loops, you will eventually hit the checkpoint. A little past that, you will see a hoop, go through it, Then up the steep slope and through another loop-de-loop, then jump onto the platform with the ? Ring item box on it. Spin-Dash to make sure you have enough speed to grind the rail, then you will be stopped by spikes, then get the three Rings and kill the octopus Badnik. Keep going to the right, you will end up grinding another rail, at the end you will see a hook and a ? Ring item box, break that then let the hook spring you up taking care not to hit the spikes as you go to the right, continue to the right, you will end up grinding another rail, soon after grinding the rail you will break into Boost Mode, and will be launched off a ramp right into the last SP Ring. (If you want a 1-up item box, grind the next rail you land on, land on top of the loop-de-loop, then hit the spring and head straight up and you will find it.) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.b.2. Zone 2 Act 2: (easier) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: After you are launched off the first ramp make sure you land on the rail, Pressing A when you hit the ramp helps and you can also use an up Mid-Air Trick to slow yourself down so you can make sure you land on it. After you jump off the rail, you will see a hook, make sure you grab it, then head to your right making sure to avoid the spikes and the fiery Badnik. Keep going, you will see a hoop, ignore it, instead hit the Speed Booster, you will end up grinding a rail, then you will be running up a wall and end up in the air, to the left you will see a hovering turtle and above it will be the Special Ring, bounce on the turtle to get at it. SP RG #2: Then fall to the right, try to hit the Green Shield on the small platform. Jump off it to your right and you will be grinding a rail. After grinding it, you will land on a platform with a spring, and you will see one of those snaky Badniks and an octopus Badnik, (if you bounce on the spring and head slightly left you will see an Invincibility item box but if you try to get it make sure you land back on the same platform.) Head to your right down the slope, you will be launched off another ramp and end up in an area where you see 6 Rings floating in the air, a octopus Badnik, and a loop-de-loop to the far right. Go to the left, but do not hit the Speed Booster, instead jump off and fall as close to the wall as possible pushing right the whole time, you will end up killing a Badnik, and then you will hit the Special Ring right before you land. SP RG #3: Head to the right, you will grind a rail, head through a loop-de-loop, grind another rail then launched from a ramp. Run to the right, you will see 6 Rings and a Special Ring to the right of them. SP RG #4: Keep going, you will be bumped off a spring down, you will end up running right and will go through a loop-de-loop. (Cream, Tails, Knuckles, there is a Ring Magnet Shield on top of the loop-de-loop, it might be possible for Sonic and Amy to get it if you jump off the slope to the right of the loop-de-loop at the right place, but I've never been able to do it.) You will hit a horizontal pole and end up in the air, be vary careful not to hit the Badniks floating to the right and the left of you! Then hit the Speed Booster and grind up the rail to your left, you will end up on the ceiling then dropping down on a spring that will send you up to a higher platform to your left. (If you slow down right after grinding the rail you might be able to hit the ? Ring item box sitting to the right of the spring.) Hit the spring and you will find yourself grinding a rail. After jumping off the rail you will hit the checkpoint. Keep going, you will find yourself twirling around a Turn Around poll that will then send you into a spring that will bounce you to the right, you will see a hook but do not grab it. Instead, fall down through the rail keeping an eye on the spikes to your far left, get the 10 Ring Power up sitting next to the spikes. Then go to your right, you will go around a loop-de-loop, then up a curve and end up in the air, you will see a floating turtle and above the turtle a rail with a Special Ring floating above it, land on the turtle if you have to in order to bounce up and get the Special Ring. SP RG #5: Grind that rail, then you will be running to the right and you will end up going through another loop-de-loop and you end up falling downward out of it and grinding another rail. Right before you get to the end of the rail, you should see the Special Ring near the bottom of the screen, jump down and grab it taking care you do not fall of the left side of that ledge or you will die! SP RG #6: Jump on the spring, then hit the Speed Booster you see, you will go through a bunch of loop-de-loops at high speed, you will eventually be launched off a ramp, you will see a rail, make sure you land on it and grind it. (There is an Invincibility power-up floating in the air right above the ramp, but it is trouble to get and not really necessary.) Once you get to the end of the rail, use the up Mid-Air Trick, you can go up through the floor here. (Sonic and Amy can use the Special Rail Move here too.) (Cream, Tails and Knuckles can then get the 10 Ring Bonus on the high platform to the left after killing the snake-like Badnik.) To your right you will see a ledge with a spike trap on the edge, and floating just above the spikes is a Special Ring. SP RG #7: No matter which way you go now, you will eventually run into the last Special Ring right before you reach the end of the act. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.b.3. Zone 2 Boss: Egg Bomber Tank (Egg bombs, must be rotten eggs then...) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This tank shoots bombs at you out of its moving cannon. First, you have to hit the cannon, not the tank itself. Try to get a sense of the timing of the bombs, then make sure that when you try to hit it you are not in the cannon line-of-fire, when the cannon is pointing up, attack from below, when it is pointing down, attack from above. Then after 8 hits the cannon is destroyed, but the bombs continue falling from the damaged tank. This time hit the tank itself, to keep away form the bombs try to hit the tank right after you just got through jumping over one, after 4 more hits the boss will be defeated, a total of 12 hits all together! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c. Zone 3: Music Plant ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This Zone is a musical adventure, xylophones, tubas, piano keys, giant flutes! I judged Act one easier because of having to hit bumpers just right to get a couple of Special Rings in Act 2, but it is not that much harder. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c.1. Zone 3 Act 1: (easier) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: You will first find yourself going up then down a large hill then up a smaller one, then a steep drop off, you can try to hit the music note bumpers you see and then jump on the xylophone to the right of them. (If you fail at that, run down the slope and you will hit a spring that will send you into two more springs in a row, the right most spring up against the wall will send you up farther, jump on it and head toward the left a little, avoid hitting the music note bumpers, go in between them then use an up Mid-Air Trick to get higher, land on the xylophone to the right of you). Right after you get off the xylophone then kill the monkey and go a little further and get your ? Ring item box. Then you will go down a slope and you will see a spring at the end pointing to the right, do not hit it, instead jump down just to the right of the spring, and you will see the Special Ring, watch out for the clown. SP RG #2: Now go back to the right, and then jump off the ledge as far right as possible, you will see a rail and below it is a ledge with a spike trap on the end of it, fall a little short of the ledge, you will go down the wall, then you will hit a Speed Booster that will send you back up it and go to the right jumping over the spike trap then roll down the right side of that ledge, you will do down and end up in a tuba tunnel, you will be propelled up in the air, you will see music note bumpers and a Green Shield, try to bounce on the bumpers if you want, but it is more important to keep going to the right, land on one of the two xylophones, bounce to the right on then, to the right of the second xylophone you will see a ledge with a spring on it, jump on the spring, if you use the up Mid-Air Trick you can then hit the Special Ring that is right above the beginning of the rail, or if you miss it bounce on the trampoline to reach it. SP RG #3: Grind the rail, then go through the tuba, (after going through the tuba if you then go left you will find a 1-up item box next to the wall, then just go right again) keep going right down the slope, you will be stopped by spikes, jump over the gap being careful of the spikes on the other ledge too, then grind the rail. You will end up going up a curve, and you will see a snail, jump straight upwards off its back, and you will hit the Special Ring. SP RG #4: Then drop down to your right, go right and grind the rail, then you will land on a platform, keep going right, you can jump on the trampoline if you want, you will see a snail, don't jump on it and go up to where the clown is, go through the gap you see next to the snail instead and grind the rail you see, you will end up running down a wall and hitting a spring, keep going right, you will see a place that has a floating blue spring and you will see a platform to your right with a trampoline, fall down in between the spring and the platform, you will see 6 springs in a row at the bottom of the hole, to your right you will see a gap, bounce into it, and then jump on the spring you see, and head a little right, you will see a snail, a Special Ring floating above the snail, and a higher platform with a Speed Booster on it. SP RG #5: Do not go to the higher platform, instead go to the right of the snail and into the tuba, you will land on a small platform with a trampoline next to it, jump on it to the platform to the right, grind the next two rails that are in a row, you will land on a flute, (on the left end of the flute is a ? Ring item box), try to land on the ledge to the right of the flute, be verycareful! It is easy to hit the spike trap on the edge of the ledge! Then hit the Speed Booster, you do not want to go through the gap to the right that leads to spikes and a couple of tubas, head straight down. Keep going, you will hit a spring that sends you right into an area that looks like this, there are two holes, both have 5 springs at the bottom, in between them is a narrow divider toped by a spike trap, and there are a total of four music note bumpers spanning the gap, in the second, deeper hole, bounce off the springs, and jump up against the right wall pressing right, there is a secret room there containing the Special Ring. SP RG #6: Now use the springs to jump up on a ledge to your right with a 5 Ring item box on it. Keep going and you will hit a tuba. It will send you up in the air, and you should land on a floating platform with a Speed Booster on the left end and a ramp on the right end, us the booster to launch off the ramp, and keep pushing right, you should land on the edge of a ledge, keep going right, you will go down a slope and hit a bumper that sends you up, land on the trampoline that is to the left, careful do not fall to the right of this platform or you will die. When you bounce on it to your left you will see a small platform with a monkey and a spring on it, if you bounce long enough on the trampoline you will hit the Special Ring (or kill the monkey and the spring will send you into the Special Ring, a little risky because you could end up hitting the bumpers). SP RG #7: Now bounce up onto the high ledge to the right, be careful and do not hit the bumpers above you, or you might find yourself bounced downwards and into the hole below. When you go right, you will encounter a place with a spring, some spikes, when you bounce off the spring, be very careful, there is a bell Badnik hanging from the ceiling, you have to jump carefully so you land just to the right of the spikes but not hit the Badnik. Anywise, it doesn't matter what route you take, you will shortly end up in a place like this: there are 4 small ledges, the one farthest to the right is higher, then the next one is slightly lower, etc... Going from the right to the left, this is what's on the ledges: spikes, you will see a rail above them, a flute with two holes, two springs, another two holed flute, and just to the left of that flute is the Special Ring, don't fall into the hole that is left of that. (Tip for beating the act, you have to land on that very narrow beginning of that rail in order to get across a large deadly hole, it is hard to land on it, it is easiest to land on it after being blown out of the right-most hole of the flute, or you can fly across the gap with Tails and Cream, or glide with Knuckles, but be careful with Knuckles to glide as high as you can, the hole is long and shallow and you might end up gliding into it, or you will barley miss the ledge and end up falling!) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c.2. Zone 3 Act 2: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: Shortly after going down the first slope you will see a xylophone, jump on it, you do not want to go through the tuba. Get your Green Shield, then bounce on the right-most of the four springs you see to the high ledge to your right (if you bounce on the bumpers to your left you can get a 1-up item box.). Now jump down off it to your right, you should land on a xylophone with a Special Ring floating above it. SP RG #2: Jump on the ledge to the right with the clown on it, then a little further you will see a rail going down, jump through it and head toward the left. Beside the left wall is a platform with a Maximum Speed item box, a trampoline, and there is a spring higher up the wall pointing to the right at an angle. If you do not land on the platform, there are springs right below you can use to bounce back up there, the right-most spring bounces you the highest. Get the item box, then bounce on the trampoline and hit the spring and keep going to the right through the air, you will hit a wall, you will see some bumpers, when you have fallen to the level just above the bumpers, use a right Mid-Air Trick or just try to land on the bumpers and bounce right. You will land on a ledge, watch out for spikes, there are two different tuba openings, you want to go through the bottom one, you will be propelled in the air, head right and land on the xylophone, then go right and run off the ramp at the end of the platform, you will land on another xylophone with a Special Ring floating above the right part of it. SP RG #3: Now jump down to the right of the Xylophone, go to your right, the little hole with the 10 Ring item box is tempting, but do not get it, instead jump over it, you will come to a narrow passageway with a bell Badnik blocking the way, Spin-Dash through it, when the ledge drops off, you will see a hoop, ignore it and grind the rail instead (There is a slightly different way to go and get a ? Ring item box, but it is quite involved and kind of difficult, I don't want to go into it.) Right after you come off the rail be careful of the monkey, then go down the slope to your right, you will see a hole lined with piano keys with springs at the bottom, jump down it, and then go in the gap to your right into another hole lined with piano keys, jump on the springs on the bottom, there are two gaps to the right of this one, the higher gap leads to another piano key lined hole and you will see the Special Ring in it. SP RG #4: Jump out of that hole to the right, Spin-Dash up the side, then get the ? Ring item box you see. (Cream, Tails, Knuckles fly/climb to the rail you see above you, grind the rail, Sonic and Amy can Spin-Dash up the slope and onto it but it is kind of hard.) If you can't make it to the rail, then you will have to go across two holes lined with flutes and some spikes to end up where you would if you grinded the rail, be very careful. After jumping off the rail or over the last set of spikes, go left and hit the spring at high speed to propel yourself up the wall, at the top of the ledge hit the Speed Booster, you will then be launched off the ramp, then you will see bumpers, bounce right on the bumpers so you can land on the small platform by the trampoline with the Special Ring on it. (Or you can avoid the bumpers all together by using a right Mid-Air Trick at just the right time, but this can be risky.) SP RG #5: Now bounce up to the ledge, and hit the Speed Booster, you will go down a slope, then hit a couple of springs that will propel you into a tunnel lined with piano keys (If you miss the tunnel, then just the upward pointing spring to get back up to it, do not go through the lower tunnel.) Keep going right, you will be launched off a ramp, and you should then land on a rail, after grinding the rail, you should then hit the checkpoint, then you will be going up a steep slope, then down a steep slope, just before the drop-off you will see some bumpers, don't hit them, instead go down the drop-off, and a spring will propel you into a ramp, you should land on some more springs, jump on the springs and head left, you should see a floating platform with a trampoline in the middle and a Maximum Speed item box on it. Get the item box, and when you bounce on the trampoline you should see a platform with a Speed Booster on the right, hit the Speed Booster, but push down after you hit it to roll up so you can attack the bell Badnik hanging from the ceiling, then jump on the xylophone to the right of the platform, then jump on the ledge to the right of that, keep going and you will hit a ? Ring item box right before dropping down a little hole, bounce on that spring to the right, you will land on a long platform, then run into the spring on the end of it, you will land on a platform with a snail Badnik and floating right above the snail is a Special Ring. SP RG #6: You might want to slow down, you will probably still have Maximum Speed at this point. Go to your right and go down the slope, then stop at the edge of the ledge, you will be right under a xylophone. Jump to your right and land on the xylophone that is a little lower and to the right of the one you were just under, now bounce off that one onto the other xylophone, the Special Ring is hovering above the left side of it. SP RG #7: Now bounce onto the ledge to the right of you with the Speed Booster on it, when you hit it a spring will send you up a rail, then you will hit another spring that will send you flying through the air to the right, when you land keep going and run straight off the ledge, you will hit a trampoline against a wall, use it to get to the ledge above, but be very careful of the spikes and the clown. Then go down the slope and grind the rail. Then hit the spring, you will bounce upwards and see another ledge with another spring on it, ignore this spring and keep flying to the right and try to avoid this ledge all together, then just fall, don't land on the other high ledge either. You will see a tunnel to your right lined with piano keys, go through it, you will land on a xylophone and you will see the Special Ring hovering above it, use the trampoline to bounce up so you can finish the act. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c.3. Zone 3 Boss: Egg Totem (That sounds SO sturdy too...) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This one is actually not as hard as it looks, there are three spiky disks that come out of it and end up hovering to the left of the machine, when they reach a certain distance they stop and a small cannon pops out either the top or the bottom of it, sometimes it fires at you, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the three disks will switch position before returning to the machine. You can hit the cannons on the disks and bust them after hitting then a couple of times, but this is no good in defeating the Boss. When the disks are out of the machine, try to jump on them or jump through the very middle of them, be careful of the spikes, then jump and hit the top of the machine. Use some fancy footwork to keep on top of the highest disk that is out; make sure to jump off the disks before they return to the machine. It takes 8 hits to defeat the Boss. When you first encounter this Boss with Sonic, you will see poor Tails tied up with a string hanging from a small hook. When the boss is destroyed Tails is released and then a cut scene plays. Tails looks relieved Sonic rescued him and tells him Eggman is behind all of this, but then Sonic runs off before Tails can follow him... After you defeat this Boss the first time with Sonic you unlock Miles "Tails" Prower. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d. Zone 4: Ice Paradise ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ It may be cold, but with all the pretty snow and ice and the city lights and searchlights in the background, this nighttime Zone is very lovely. I judged Act 2 easier because you pretty much run into all of them easily except for Special Rings #4, to tell you the truth, this is the hardest Special Ring in the whole Act, the easiness of the rest of the Special Rings in Act 2 make up for the difficulty of getting this one, but Act 1 is not very difficult at all. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.1. Zone 4 Act 1: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: Hit the A button when you hit the first launch ramp, grind the rail, then when you drop off it you will land near a Speed Booster, use it to propel you up the wall. (Or if you want, use an up Mid-Air Trick off the rail or Sonic and Amy's Rail Trick jump and you can grind the higher rail to get more Rings.) Hit the next Speed Booster and grind across the rail, you will see a ramp, jump past the ramp, you will be launched off another ramp and you will end up spinning around Spinning Handles. (If you want a Green Shield, launch off the ramp and use the up Mid-Air Trick to land on the ledge and then use the springto land on top of the loop-de-loop and get the shield, then fall to the right, go around the loop-de-loop, you will fall and end up spinning on the same handles.) You have to time this perfectly; you have to jump off the handles and head up and right to get the Special Ring. (Cream, Tails and Knuckles, if you miss it fly or climb up and get it, Cream cannot fly all the way up to it, just fly back on the handles, if your Sonic and Amy start the round again, there is a way to get it again, but it is very difficult and not worth it.) SP RG #2: After you grab the Special Ring, fall as close to the right wall you can, you should land on a 5 Ring item box that is sitting just to the right of spikes, jump over the spikes and head left, you will come to a ledge, aim for the three Rings and jump left, land on the small platform with the Special Ring on it. SP RG #3: Jump down the left side of the platform avoiding the spikes on the wall, if you jump down the right side you will fall straight through the floor and into an area you don't want to be in. You will end up sliding on an icy floor to your right. You will be launched off a ramp; you will land near a spring with a ? Ring power up to the right of it and then a slightly higher place with a Speed Booster, get the item box and hit the booster, you will end up going around a half circle and running on the ceiling, hitting a spring that sends you into another booster going left, then hitting a spring that sends you grinding up a rail. You will hit a spring, and you will see a Badnik floating above a rail, instead of grinding the rail, land to the left of it and run down the slope instead, you will end up grinding down another rail, then send up a curve up into the air where you will hit Spinning Handles. Jump off them onto the floating platform you see to your right, you will see the Special Ring floating above the platform. SP RG #4: Jump to your right so you are now on top of a half-pike, go right, hit the 5 Ring item box, then run into the spring that is at the end so you end up grinding the rail. Then keep running, you will run off a ledge and end up on Spinning Handles, jump off them and head up and to the right, you should land near the two red floating Badniks and a 10 Ring item box, if you are good you can kill the Badniks and get the item box right in a row. Go right and grind the next rail, when you jump off it you will land on another rail, when you get off this rail you will be stopped by spikes. Jump up and kill the Badnik, then carefully jump so that you land on the spring that is to the right of the spikes without hitting the spikes or jumping off the ledge, you will see the Special Ring once you bounce off the spring. SP RG #5: Fall down, do not hit the bumpers that line the wall of the hole, you should land on a rail. (Sonic, Knuckles and Amy shortcut, jump through the rail after grinding it a little ways, head to your left, you will see to the right of a spring an orange floor, use the A then B attack to bust through the RIGHT side of the floor, if you bust the left side, you will take a long fall right into a hole and die. You will land on a platform, you will see a penguin Badnik and the Special Ring to the right of you, jump off the platform quick because it will fall, then you will die!) After grinding the rail, watch out for the penguin Badnik, and then head right, you will see the ground sloping up to a small ledge, and a red Badnik and a 5 Ring item box, jump to get the Badnik and the item box, then drop down. You will be grinding a rail heading left, then you will drop down and hit another rail, to the left you will see a gap in the wall and the Special Ring, keep jumping to the left and you will eventually make it through the gap and get the Special Ring. SP RG #6: Grind the rail, you will end up running past the checkpoint then being launched off a ramp, you will hit Spinning Handles, jump off and land on the ledge you see to your right, hit the Speed Booster, you will go through a couple of loop-de-loops then end up hitting a spring, carefully land where the penguin Badnik is and kill it, then drop down to the right. You will end up sliding down a slide, then falling and then sliding down another slide, once you fall off that you will hit Spinning Handles, jump off them and land on the platform you see to your right. Do a Spin-Dash if you want to, kill the two penguin Badniks, there is another slide, and floating just above the top of it is the Special Ring. SP RG #7: The last one is near the end of the Act and you can get it no matter which way you go now, but I will describe the fastest way. After you slide down the slide, you will see some hoops, it really doesn't matter if you hit them or not, you will end up on a platform that has a spring on the right end, there is one slide coming off the platform and another one higher up, hit the spring and land on the higher slide, you will stop, jump off it to your right, jump over the gap, keep going right and jump over the next gap, you will be on top of a loop-de-loop, careful, there is a large spike trap on the right side, jump over it, kill the Badnik, go to the right, you will go through two loop-de-loops, then you will be bounce off a spring to the right, land on the rail that you see. Keep running and you will bump into a Maximum Speed item box. Go to the right, you will be bounced by a spring into a loop-de-loop and launched off a ramp, then hit a slide, jump off the end of the slide and onto the ledge, you will hit one spring that will send you right, another one that sends you left, then you will see a spring on a floating platform, hit that one and fly right, you will hit a wall and as you are falling you will hit the Special Ring, then grind the rail to finish the Act. (If you miss it, fall through the rail and there will be a spring to the far left against the wall, jump on it then use Mid-Air Trick to get the Special Ring, you have to do this if you went through the Act another way, you will end up at this spring, the rail is the last one in the Act.) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.2. Zone 4 Act 2: (easier) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: You will first be launched off a ramp, don't fall down the hole, land on the ledge, then go up the curve and get your Green Shield and kill the penguin Badnik, go down the slope, then you will hit a spring that will send you up, you will end up on Spinning Handles, jump off them and head up and slightly to the left, you will see the Special Ring. SP RG #2: Get back on the handles, jump off and land on the slide to your right, jump off the end of the slide and land on the ledge you see. Then go to your right, jump up to the higher platform with the penguin Badnik and the Invincibility item box on it, kill the Badnik and get the item box, then keep on going right, you will end up going through a couple of loop-de-loops, hitting a Speed Booster, then being bounced by a spring up a rail going left, then you will end up going up a wall, on the wall is a spring pointing to the right, when you hit it you will fly right into the Special Ring. SP RG #3: You will land on a platform with a 5 Ring item box and a spring, slowdown a little, run into the spring and head to the right, you will see a rail, land on it and grind it, you will land on a spring that will send you bouncing on more springs, you will be on top of a half-pike (If you stop and land on the half-pike and go right, you will find a 1-up item box, then go left and hit the springs again to continue) The springs will bounce you to the left, then eventually to the right again, you will land on an ice slope and will be sliding. When you fly off the end of the slope, you will run into Spinning Handles, aim for the three Rings and jump as far right as possible, you will land on top of a loop-de-loop and see a 5 Ring item box and a spring, jump on the spring to the higher ledge, kill the penguin, then you will see spikes and a rail, grind the rail, then after flying off that one you will be grindinganother rail which leads to the top of a loop-de-loop, you will see the Special Ring floating above a steep drop-off at the end of this platform. SP RG #4: This one can be quite tricky! You will end up going down and through the loop-de-loop you were just on top of, then you will be sliding on ice, push left and try to slow yourself down as much as possible, you will come to the end of the ledge, you will see two gaps with a platform also covered in ice in between them, you have make sure you do not slide off the edge, jump across the first gap and land on the ice platform, then quickly jump on the next platform across the second gap that has a spring on the right end. Run into and hit the spring so you can clear the final gap to your right. You will end up going through a couple of loop-de-loops, after that SLOW DOWN, in fact, start slowing down when you are in the loops, get out of Boost Mode and come to a stop once you are out of the loops! Go to the right and stop at the ledge, jump for the three Rings to your right, you will see a Speed Booster, hit it, you will be sent up the wall and in the air. Up there, there is a small floating platform that moves back and forth and to the right of that is the Special Ring, try to land on the platform, then jump and get the Special Ring. (It can be difficult to get this Ring, but if you follow my directions you should get it, another way to get it is to jump onto the Speed Booster and then keep pressing right, you will fly into the Special Ring then hit the platform with the sign on it totally avoiding the little one in the air, but you will hit if really fast and you will have to then slow down before you accidentally fall into the next gap, or you can just fly up and get it if you are Cream or Tails, you can glide into it as Knuckles off the platform with the sign on it toward the left.) SP RG #5: Hopefully you landed on the ledge with the giant sign pointing right, if you did not and you are Sonic or Amy, start the round over again. Go right and you will quickly see a gap, jump over it, then go up the slight slope and hit the spring and fly to the right, you will see a rail, land on it and grind it, use an up Mid-Air Trick if you have to in order to reach it. Keep running to the right, you will be on top of a loop-de-loop, run into the spring at the end, you will jump right into the Special Ring. SP RG #6: When you fall down, you will see a spring pointing left, a giant sign with arrows pointing to the left toward a steep slope, and a penguin Badnik to the right of where the spring is. The sign is there to fool you!!! Jump for the penguin and then you will see the Special Ring. SP RG #7: Hit the icy slope to your right, your finished! Just take your hands totally off the controls and relax and you will end up at the goal with the last Special Ring in tow! Trust me! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.3. Zone 4 Boss: Aero Egg ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This one is really hard! Bombs are flying from the bottom of the aircraft, the bombs hit and throw off rocks and are hard to avoid! On top of that, in order to hit the thing, there is a trampoline attached to the aircraft, sometimes it is horizontal and you can jump on it and hit the aircraft, but sometimes it is vertical and you can't jump on it. You have to run up close to it, jumping over the bombs as soon as they drop, try jumping right after you hear the noise that indicated one just dropped, then jump on the trampoline when it gets in the right position, you have to time your jumps perfectly to make it over the bombs. A great tip is if you're hit and loose all your Rings, which is very likely, just quit running, at the far left of the screen you are totally safe from the bombs, stay there until you pick up more Rings. To make it harder, after 4 hits the bombs start falling faster! It takes 8 hits to defeat the Boss. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.e. Zone 5: Sky Canyon ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Located on scenic Angel Island, this Zone full of windmills and fans and lots of steep drops really gives you the sense you are running among the clouds... Act 2 is much easier than Act 1, not only is Special Ring # 6 in Act 1 one of the hardest ones to get in the entire game, but you also end up backtracking through the round making it quite long. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.e.1. Zone 5 Act 1: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: You will quickly come upon a ramp, try to push A as you hit it, you definitely want to clear the gap and end up on the small ledge, prepare to use an up Mid-Air Trick if you have to, if you fall short of the ledge and end up in a place with a 5 Ring item box and a armadillo Badnik and you can't climb or fly back up, start over again. Then jump over the second gap being careful of the spikes and the hornet when you land, if you fall down this gap also start over. Continue right, you will hit Speed Boosters and be sent around this twisted thing, don't panic, you'll be upside down a couple of times just keep running. You'll end up being sent into the air by a hoop, then you will see another hoop above you and one to your right, use an up Mid-Air Trick in order to go through the hoop above you, that one sends you into yet another hoop that sends you to a right, you will see a windmill with a bumper hovering to the left and a 10 Ring item box on the ground below, use another up Mid-Air Trick and land on the bumper so you can bounce on top of the windmill, the Special Ring is up there. SP RG #2: You will see a bumper to your right, jump on it, there is a series of four bumpers in a row, jump across them, you will land on top of a loop-de-loop, to the right you will see a spinwheel, Spin-Dash or run right into it, then fly as far to the right as possible. Hopefully you will land on top of a windmill and get a 1-up item box. Jump down off the windmill, you will then see a ramp to your right, do not launch off it, instead jump over it, you will fall quite a distance, if you land on a rail then jump through it, head to your right, stand on the dark brown platform above the gap, the platform will fall, press right as you fall so you catch the ledge to your right, then continue right being extra careful of those annoying hummingbirds. You will go up a slope, then see a spinwheel, just run into it, it will send you up, and two large fans will send you even farther up, then land on the ledge to your right, hit the spring, and then hit the checkpoint. Grind the rail, then a Speed Booster will send you into the air, keep pressing right and you should hit a ? Ring Bonus near the wall, hit the spring below which will send you speedily toward the left. You will go up a rail and through a loop-de-loop, keep going left, you will eventually find yourself in the air, you will hit a spinwheel that will spin you to the left onto a platform with a fan on the end that will blow you right into the same spinwheel again. It will spin you up, instead of landing on the platform above and to the right, fall just short of it instead, you will land on a platform with a fan on the end that will blow you right into the Special Ring and then a spring. SP RG #3: When you hit the spring, you will then see two rails, hit the top one, you should hit the top one naturally. After you grind, you will be running down a slope, then you will hit a spring, you can either land on the ledge to you left or use the helicopter lift. (Sonic, Knuckles, Amy shortcut, on the ledge to your left you will see flooring that is brown and looks different, it's breakable, break through it and then head right, you will come to a large gap, jump on the bumper you see, then jump on the higher one to get to the ledge with the 10 ring item box on it, then head a little right and you will be caught up in the same whirlwind mentioned below.) Head right, one spring will bounce you into a loop-de-loop, then a couple more will eventually send you to the right, you will land on a slope, another spring sends you into another loop-de-loop, then you will eventually run right off the edge of a ledge where you will be caught by a whirlwind. At the highest point, you will see three bumpers floating there, don't hit them just yet, drop down instead, but you will eventually be caught in the same whirlwind later and you will end up here again... Anyway, go to the right, after going through a couple of loop-de- loops, you will end up hitting a spinwheel that sends you into the air, then go for the helicopter lift you see, it will take you to the top of the windmill where a Special Ring is waiting for you. SP RG #4: Drop back down to the left to where the 10 Ring item box is and get it, then drop down to the left again, do not hit the spinwheel, drop as close to the wall as you can, you will land on a slope, go left, after a loop-de-loop you will hit a spinwheel that sends you up, go to the left and land where the 5 Ring item box is, to the left of that you will see another spinwheel, very carefully jump into it making sure you hit the top spoke, if you hit it just right, the spinwheel will send you up so you can grab the Special Ring. SP RG #5: Fall down, a giant fan will catch you, land on the platform to your left with the spike trap and the spring on the end, once you hit the spring, it will send you into a couple more springs, and you will end up in the same whirlwind you were in before. This time hit the bumpers and go to your right, be very careful, a hornet is hovering above that platform and it will shoot at you and possibly make you fall down. Get the 5 Ring item box, then launch off the ramp at the right end. You will end up falling on a spring against a wall, (if you are interested in a ? Ring item box, jump on the spring and it is on the ledge above, then jump back down to the left.) if you jump on the spring and push right while against the wall, you will find a secret tunnel, go through it and you will be caught in a whirlwind that takes you right up to a ledge and a Special Ring. SP RG #6: This Ring is really hard to get!!! Go right, you will go up and down slopes, through a loop-de-loop, then sent into the air right into a spinwheel that sends you right, then you will encounter a trampoline spring in between two windmills (if you are interested in a 5 Ring item box, use the spring to land on top of the windmill to your right, then get the item box and jump back down to the spring.) Bounce on the spring while using the up Mid-Air Trick in order to land on the high left windmill, head left, you will encounter bumpers, when you hit the fifth bumper, pause and keep bouncing on the bumper, there is a spike trap, you have to land on it at just the right moment so you can then quickly jump on it then on the other bumpers to the left of that, this takes perfect timing, then after you hit the fourth bumper after that pause again, you will see a large block floating in the air, be very careful! It moves up and down, and when it moves up it hits the ceiling, it will crush you!!! You have to land on it right after it starts to move down from the ceiling, then you have to quickly jump on the block that is to the left of that that is moving left and right. After that you will see a third block moving up and down, when you land on that you will see the top of a wind mill to your left, on top of that is the Special Ring (I really recommend using Cream, Tails and Knuckles to fly/glide if possible to get this one, it will probably take several tries before you can get it.) SP RG #7: Jump off the windmill, then head right, you will go up and down slopes, you will then hit a spinwheel that sends you up, land to your right, keep going right, you will go down a slope, through a loop-de-loop, then launched off a ramp, you might land on a spinwheel, but it sends you up, you want to land just to the right of it instead, hit the right-most part of the spinwheel so it sends you right, then a spring sends you up into a loop-de-loop, then hit a spring that sends you into more springs, you will end up at a place with a spinwheel, run into it so you are send up by the spinwheel into a whirlwind, then land on the bumpers you see and bounce right, keep going right, you will head down a steep slope, then you will run into a spinwheel that send you up, land on the thin ledge to your left but DO NOT hit the Speed Booster at the end. Instead, slowly head down the steep incline going left, and then jump onto the next incline you see that criss-crosses the one you are on, go up that one, you will see the Special Ring, then go back down that incline you just climbed up, then jump on the other incline and go up it, then hit the Speed Booster you just avoided and just run, if you do not you will die before finishing the Act. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.e.2. Zone 5 Act 2: (MUCH easier) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: You will find yourself running up the wall, then on the ceiling, then dropping down on a spring, make sure you build up enough speed starting at the beginning of the act so you can make it to the spring. (If you are interested in a ? Ring item box, jump on the spring, use an up Mid-Air Trick and land on the platform to your left) Now land to your right and hit the Speed Booster and just keep running. You will end up upside down and everything and hitting another spring, just keep running and you will be launched off a ramp-like slope into the air, you will see a windmill, use an up Mid-Air Trick so you can land on top of it and get the first Special Ring. SP RG #2: Go right, you will be running down a steep slope, then you will hit a spinwheel that sends you up, head right and land on the platform, jump to the higher platform, you will find the Special Ring. SP RG #3: Now go back, jump down the left ledge, make sure you do not hit the spinwheel on your way down, jump close to the wall. Head right, you will then grind a rail, hit a spring that sends you into another spring, then on a small platform, run left into the next spring on the end of that one, when in the air you will see a spring floating on a little platform, then hit it and then hit the other floating spring above it and to the right, then land on the ledge to the right with the hornet, be very careful not to hit the Badnik on the way down. Then go right through the loop-de-loop, then you will be launched off a ramp, then you will see the Special Ring floating in a small room with a spring pointing to the left and a rail going up. (If you fall slightly short, don't worry, you will hit a Speed Booster that will send you back up there.) SP RG #4: Hit the spring and grind up the rail, you will encounter another spring, but don't let it send you too far to the right, you want to land just to the right of the gap that the rail goes through, preferably slow down after the rail and don't hit the next spring at all, just jump to the other side of the gap. A little to the right, you will see one thin ledge slightly above you and a gap that leads to another thin platform below, you want to jump into the gap and go in the lower area, then head right, but just when you start to go down the steep slope, jump to your right, you will land on another slope that is going up, head up it and watch out for the hummingbirds! Then to the right you will see a spring pointing to the left, do not hit it, it will send you down that other slope you see, you don't want to go down there, jump over the spring, you will see the Special Ring. SP RG #5: Jump on the spring you see to the right to jump through the floor to a higher place. Then jump on the next spring you see, land to the right and get your ? Ring item box. Jump on the bumper you see floating to your left, then jump on the other two you see to get to the ledge on the right. Go right, you will be launched by a ramp into a spring that sends you flying left, then you will hit a ledge with another spring, hit that and launch off the ramp, then run right, you will hit a spinwheel that sends you up, land on the bumper that you see floating to the right, then on the other bumper so you can get on top of the windmill and get your Ring Magnet Shield, then hit the two bumpers to the right of that, then land on the ledge and continue off to the right up and down slopes, you will hit a spinwheel that sends you up, land to your left, then fans will propel you up a couple of more slopes, then jump over the little gap you see and hit the checkpoint. Then run to the right and run right into the spring at the end of the ledge, you will see two rails, land on the top one and grind, you will run right into another platform, then run right into another spring, you will see two more rails, hit the top one, in order to do this you must use an up Mid-Air Trick. Grind the rail, and then you will naturally jump off it and into the Special Ring. SP RG #6: After you land, you will be caught in a whirlwind, when you land head right, you will hit a spinwheel that sends you up, land to the right, then you will eventually run into another spinwheel, this time head to your left off the spinwheel, if you head right you will fall and die, you will be on a small platform with a 5 Ring item box, then Spin-Dash left to hit the next spinwheel, then land to your right, go a little farther and you will see a rail, instead of grinding it jump through it, you will find the Special Ring against the left wall. SP RG #7: Now run right and launch off the ramp to your right, try to press A when you hit the ramp, you will see a ledge with a ? Ring item box on it, use an up Mid-Air Trick to reach the ledge. Then head right, you will hit a spinwheel that sends you up, head for the right, at the end of that ledge, you will see bumpers floating there, hit the bumpers, keep hitting bumpers and going to the higher bumpers, when you reach the highest bumper, you should see the Special Ring floating above and to the right of it, bounce and grab it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.e.3. Zone 5 Boss: Egg Saucer (sounds like a type of breakfast plate to me, it's fun to make fun of the Bosses names...) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This is one of the hardest if not the hardest boss in the entire game, the last Boss of the Final Zone is actually much easier than this, and in my opinion only the Zone 7 Boss and maybe the Extra Zone Boss are a little harder than this maybe...Basically, it's a giant wheel with three things on it, a compartment housing Eggman (or Knuckles), a laser cannon that occasionally shoots this annoying black laser at you twice in a row, and most dangerous of all, a giant arm and hand, the arm and hand slaps at you occasionally. All of these turn around the wheel in a clockwise direction to complicate things more!!! Your first mission is to take out the cannon, you have to run up to the wheel right when the cannon is turning around the wheel to where you can hit it and right after the hand has just finished slapping so you have enough time to hit the cannon without being hit and then back off just before the hand tries to get you again. When the laser fires, the first beam will probably miss you, but the second one will not, jump right after you see the first one to avoid the next one. After 4 hits the cannon is gone, but now you have more problems, the arm and hand start moving much more erratically, and is harder to predict and it's much more dangerous because if it hits you just right, you will die even if you have Rings!!! There is a pattern but it is complex and I will not discuss it, you have to figure it out, this time you must hit the Boss compartment, you have to figure out when it is safe to run up to the wheel and hit it, I'm sorry, I can't really describe it, but you have to hit the Boss quickly then quickly back off before the hand gets you. 8 hits to the Boss chamber, and it is defeated, that's a total of 12 hits to defeat this boss!!! When you first encounter this Boss with Sonic, you're in for a surprise, Knuckles is driving this thing!!! Once you defeat it a charred Knuckles starts running after him and shouting, we're probably glad we don't know what he is saying. Then a cut scene plays where Knuckles takes on this "Leave me alone" attitude and actually cries! Who knew Knuckles could be a cry baby? So why did Knuckles start driving this thing and attack Sonic? We may never know.... But Knuckles doesn't look happy that Eggman tricked him yet again and swears vengeance. After you defeat this Boss the first time with Sonic you unlock Knuckles The Echidna. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.f. Zone 6: Techno Base ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This flashing high-tech Zone with laser floors and computer chips in the background makes you think you're going through a giant computer or something. I voted Act 2 easier because of Act 1's backtracking through the round that involves some pretty risky jumps and it is easier to get Act 2's Special Rings, if you have Knuckles and use the shortcut only he can do, you will avoid Act 1's risky jumps all together, but overall it is still a lot easier to do Act 2. Remember, we're getting toward the end of the game, both Acts are hard, especially if you compare then to the first few Acts. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.f.1. Zone 6 Act 1: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: When you run right, you will encounter a laser floor, make sure you run across it when the laser is on, you do not want to fall through, then continue. Run into the spring, you will land on a platform with a 5 Ring item box on it in between two square moving platforms. Land on the 5 Ring item box, then jump on the square to your left, it will spring you up, land on the ledge to your right, watch out for the bird Badnik. Then you will see a spring with a Green Shield item box to the right of it, get the shield, then jump on the spring, land to the left, being very careful of the spikes lining the wall and the silver Badnik. Then go right, you will encounter another laser floor, run across it when the laser is on. Keep going and build up speed, you will end up running up a curve then on the ceiling then falling on a square platform, then go to your right being careful not to land on the silver Badnik. Keep going a little further and you will see the Special Ring. SP RG #2: Keep going, you will fall down and end up grinding a rail, you will come back to this same exact place later... Anyway, hit the spring and land to your right being careful of the spikes on that ledge. Just to the right of those spikes you will see a 5 Ring item box floating above a hole, do not hit it, jump over the spikes and down the deep hole, keeping as close as possible to the left wall, you will fall right into the Special Ring (if you are going to use Knuckles' shortcut described next, make extra sure you do not pop the 5 Ring bonus before falling down the hole, or you will be unable to cling to the wall...). SP RG #3: (Knuckles' shortcut, after grabbing Special Ring #2 and just before you reach the bottom, push the A button while pushing left and then you will cling to the wall, climb up and get off on the platform above, when he pulls himself up next to the spikes don't worry, he will be standing on the teeny tiny ledge just to the right of the spikes, now just ignore the vast majority of the rest of this long description, other characters cannot make it up this hole again, not even Cream and Tails, so I will describe how to get back to this ledge again with the other characters.) After you fall down the hole, you will find yourself grinding a rail, but instead of grinding all the way down it jump right through it. Now head left, you will come to a ledge, be careful, jump off the ledge but close to the wall but not very close, hopefully you will land on a small ledge with another spring next to the wall, jump down the same exact way again, this time being extra careful you will land on a another small ledge like the one above, if you fall too close to the wall you will just hit a spring, but if you fall to far to the left, you will fall down a hole and die. Just to your left you will see a floating platform, run and jump for it and as soon as you touch it jump again going as far left as you can!!! The platform falls, if you stay on the platform too long you will die, if you don't make it far enough to the left you will die too. Anyway, hopefully you land on a spring or on a slope to the left of the spring, go up the slope, Spin-Dash if you want to, then at the top you will see a slightly higher platform with a spring pointing to the right at an angle. (If you are interested in a 5 Ring item box, keep going left and you will find it, then just go back to where the platform is.) Hit the spring, then you will hit a ledge with a Speed Booster, hit that and just keep going, you will end up grinding a rail, then you will hit more springs and Speed Boosters, you will be running up the wall a couple of times, just keep running, finally you will hit a spring that will knock you up and you will be grinding a rail, the same exact rail you were grinding before! Now just bounce on the spring, and you will be on the ledge with the spikes again and you will see the 5 Ring item box floating above the hole again. Now jump for the item box, and land on the ledge to your right, be careful of the purple star Badnik. Now run down the slope to your left, you will hit a series of springs, they will eventually send you into a Speed Booster heading left. Keep running left, you will run up a wall, then you will be sent into the air and go through a floor, then to your left you will see a wall lined with bumpers, fly left and hit this wall as high up as you can, ignore the two star Badniks, you will then be bounced hard to the right, and you should see the Special Ring, try to jump into it. SP RG #4: Now probably you're still in Boost Mode, head right after you land, you will launch off a ramp, in the air you will see two rails, one below the other, to the right of a wall covered in bumpers, you do not want to hit these rails, instead fall through them (grinding the bottom rail works too, but it's hard to land on and you will miss your ? Ring bonus, but it's a tiny shortcut). You should land near a ? Ring bonus or maybe even land on top of it, get it, then head right. Hit the spring and jump on the little platform where the bottom rail ends, careful of the spikes. Jump over the spikes to the right, you will land on a rail and start grinding, instead of grinding it jump through it then head right down the slope, you will run right into the Special Ring. SP RG #5: Keep going right, you will be launched off a ramp, use the up Mid-Air Trick if you have to in order to land on the ledge, then keep going, a spring will send you between two walls lined with bumpers, bounce up them, then continue right, when you see a curved drop off, don't jump or anything, just run around it and run down the wall, and then on the ceiling, pushing down while going around the little curve will help. A spring on the ceiling will force you down a wall, then you will be running to the right, then quickly you will see a group of silver-bar bumpers over a gap, hit them and bounce right, you should land on a platform, there are square moving platforms on both sides of it, and right in the middle is spikes and a silver Badnik hovering over the spikes, kill it if you want, you want to jump on the left square platform, it will spring you up, then land on the ledge to your left. Hit the spring, to your left you will see three orange lines one on top of another sticking off the side of the wall right below a ledge, watch out, the green triangles that appear and disappear on it are spikes, jump on the orange thing when it is safe then get on the ledge. Go right and you will encounter a rail, grind it. You will then hit a Speed Booster that sends you up the wall and in the air and you will hit the ceiling, to your right you will see a ledge with the Special Ring on it and a platform floating in the air to the right of that, land on the Special Ring. SP RG #6: Do not jump on the floating platform, instead just drop down to the right, then when you land run to the right. You will hit a spring that will send you into other springs, don't be alarmed when one of them sends you down and left, just let the springs take you, the last one will send you to the right and up, use an up Mid-Air Trick if you have to to land on the ledge. Then go right and you will be stopped by spikes, jump over them, you will see more spikes and a spring to the right of them, jump on the spring and head toward the spring on the ceiling, or jump over the spring and use the next spring, anyway, just make sure you land on the rail and grind, you will then run off the rail and into the checkpoint. To the right of the checkpoint you will encounter a hole next to a wall, when you jump down it you will hit a square platform that will propel you to the left, PUSH RIGHT as soon as you hit the platform and keep pushing right in order to SLOW DOWN and STOP, you DO NOT want to go off the drop off to your left. Go back to your right, right under where the square platform now is, you will see a Special Ring right next to a spring pointing right, jump down and get it. SP RG #7: The last Special Ring is through quite a bit more of the act, there is more than one way to get it, in fact it is kind of hard to miss, but it is possible, I will describe the easiest and best way to get it. Hit the springand head right, you will end up bouncing up two walls lined with springs, land on the slightly higher platform to your left. Then jump to the left and hit the spring, it will send you bouncing on another spring, you will see a block to your right moving up and down, use the spring to jump on it, be careful, the ceiling is lined with spikes and if you jump too high they will get you. Go right and you will be stopped by spikes, just jump over then and keep going. You will go down a slope, then fall right off of it into a hole, hit the green grid sphere and it will send you bouncing up the two walls above you lined with bumpers, then land on the ledge to your right. Keep going, you will see a drop-off, and silver bar bumpers next to it, ignore the bumpers and keep running, you will run around the little curve. You will be going down the wall, then across the floor then up another wall and into the air, in the air you will see a rail with 4 silver bar bumpers floating to the right of it, hit and grind the rail. Keep right, you will hit a spring and land on the little ledge to your right, watch out for the star Badnik. Drop down to the right hitting the springs on the walls if you want, they just send you down faster, then head right where you will then hit another spring, keep going right. You will then be launched off a ramp, when you land keep going right, you will end up going over a little curve then down the wall, then in a slight depression you will hit two more springs, you will actually probably hit the right one first that propels you into the left one, the left one sends you to the right, you will see another spring on the right wall pointing left at an angle (There is a much longer path you can take form here that involves not hitting the next spring and going through the gap to the right, but it is risky and a long way out of the way just for a ? Ring item box, if you are adventurous try to find it if you want.) Hit this spring, then that will send you into another spring going right, when you land watch out for the spike trap. Hit the Badnik then go right, a spring will send you into a wall lined with bumpers which will then bounce you left, then when you land head right and hit the spring on the end of that ledge, landing on the ledge right above the wall lined with bumpers. Head right and go down the slope, then keep going and run into the spring, you will hit a wall then land on a ledge just to the right of a star Badnik, but be careful, there are spikes and you will most likely land on them if you do not jump slightly away from the wall, but don't deviate far from the wall, you will probably hit the spikes a couple of times before mastering this but that is okay. Then jump over the spikes and hit the Speed Booster and it will propel you up the wall and into the air where you will see the Special Ring floating. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.f.2. Zone 6 Act 2: (MUCH easier) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: Run, then you will see a rail, jump off the small ledge and onto the rail. After you grind this rail, run some more, run right into the spring ahead, in the air you will see a ledge with a platform floating to the right of it, and a Special Ring floating in between, land on the platform then quickly jump off and into the Special Ring before the platform falls, watch out for the silver Badnik right above the Special Ring. SP RG #2: After you land on the ledge head right and then you will hit a trampoline spring and use it to bounce up onto the next platform, instead of hitting the spring at the end of the platform, jump over it, be careful of the bird Badnik. Keep running right, you will end up running down a wall, then you will fall through a hoop and land on a rail, grind it. Then run right some more, and run right off the edge of the ledge you come to, you will hit a spring on the right wall that sends you left into another spring, you will end up running up a wall and then on the ceiling, just keep going, you will hit a couple of walls lined with bumpers, then you will be bumped right, in the air is three star Badniks in a row, you should be able to then hit all three in a row and get a cool 700 points. Then go right, there is a spring at the end of the slope, run into it, you will land on a platform with square moving platforms on both sides, and a Special Ring floating above it, make sure not to hit the left square before getting the Special Ring, it's okay if you hit the right one, you can still jump down and get it. SP RG #3 and #4: Now hit the left square, it springs you up through a floor, go right, you will hit a Speed Booster that takes you up a wall, then running on the ceiling, then another wall, just keep running. You will eventually be running right again and hit a spring, land on the ledge to the right. You will see a hoop, hit it, it will propel you toward a ledge with a Speed Booster, but you must use either an up or right Mid-Air Trick in order to reach it. After hitting the Speed Booster, just keep pressing right, it will be one wild ride, but if you just keep pressing right you will very quickly go through a lot of springs and bumpers, etc... but you will get Special Rings #3 and #4, just keep pressing right until soon after you hit Special Ring #4 and you find yourself going left, no matter what happens, you will eventually bounce off a spring on the ceiling and find yourself grinding a rail. Trust me! SP RG #5: After grinding the rail just keep going and run right into the spring, you will be send to a ledge with an Invincibility item box on it, get it and run right again right into the next spring, then continue running, you will eventually go down a steep slope, then up a wall, before you get to the ceiling, you will see the Special Ring floating on the platform below, jump off the ceiling and land on it. SP RG #6: Now jump off the left of that platform going as far to the left as possible. When you land, you will see a rail to your left, don't grind it, instead jump through it, this is the longest drop in the whole game!!! If you hit silver bumpers, just bounce off them and continue falling, you will fall near two bird Badniks, but you should still have Invisibility at this point, anyway head right. Hit the spring and land on the ledge above avoiding the spikes. You will encounter a laser floor, you want to fall through this one. Head right again, you will run down a curve, then you will hit a spring that sends you running right and you will launch off a ramp. Use an up or right Mid-Air Trick to reach the next ledge if you want, if you don't make it you will die. Then hit the spring, it will send you into a bumper lined wall, then bounce off the other bumper-lined wall to the left, keep bouncing up, the left wall has bumpers farther up it than the right one, if you bounce until you hit near the top of the left wall, you will see the Special Ring in the air. SP RG #7: Now head to the right and hit the ledge, be careful you do not fall straight down. Head right and a square platform will send you to the right, you will run up a wall, then hit a green grid sphere that sends you bouncing up a couple of bumper lined walls, then land on the platform to the right with the spring on it. Jump on the spring straight up and head slightly toward the left, land on and grind the rail up there, when you naturally jump off the end of the rail, you will hit the Special Ring, but be careful not to land on the spikes. (Ending the Act is the tricky part of this Act, when you jump over the spikes and head right, you will see a spring on the end of a ledge. Be very, very careful, you have to run into the spring as fast as you can and head to the right as far as you can, you will see the end of a rail, a floating platform, and a ledge, if you're Sonic or Amy, you have to either land on the floating platform, then very quickly jump off before it falls and land on the ledge, or you can use a right or up Mid-Air Trick near the end to help you. If you have Cream, Tails or Knuckles, I strongly suggest flying or gliding the gap, but Cream barely makes it. Of course if you fall, it's instant death, which would be ashamed after finding all 7 of the Special Rings!) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.f.3. Zone 6 Boss: Egg-Go-Round (How fun, a kiddy ride at a pancake house...) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Another hard boss, but this one is not that bad if you know how to attack it right... The machine Eggman is in seems to be sliding along a rail in the wall, there are four appendages coming off the thing, each one has a platform on the end of it, there are two yellow and two silver platforms. The platforms spin around the machine, sometimes stopping momentarily and changing direction. There is a light in the middle of the platforms, when the light is blue you canstand on them, when the light is red you can't, when the light turns red on the silver platforms the platforms just start spinning, but when the light turns red on the yellow platforms spikes come out of them! The machine also fires three little balls of energy aimed straight at you sometimes. The trick is this, try to stand on one of the platforms when it is safe, then hit the machine right in the center, and then if you're lucky you can keep on bouncing on the thing and hit it some more right in a row, but the little energy balls will probably eventually hit you and you will loose your Rings and fall off. If you loose your Rings, surprisingly it is not good to fall completely back to the left side of the screen, you will have a harder time jumping over the little energy balls that come at you, stay closer, then drop off when you see the energy balls coming at you, the first one or two energy balls will be aimed to where you were and will quickly go into the floor, then it is easy to jump over the remaining one or two. I would be surprised if you didn't loose all your Rings at least once (unless your using Cream's Chao Attack.). It takes 8 hits to defeat this boss. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.g. Zone 7: Egg Utopia ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This utopia is not Moore's dream of a perfect society but Eggman's, all technological, inhabited by Badniks... Act 2 is a little easier than Act 1, plus Act 2 is fun because of all the ? Ring item boxes.... ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.g.1. Zone 7 Act 1: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: This is the easiest Special Ring in the entire game, it is floating just a little to the left and above the narrower passageway very near the beginning of the round, jump and get it. SP RG #2: Grind the rail then keep heading right, spikes will stop you. Jump on the spring and get the 5 Ring item box you see to the right if you want it, but then jump back on the spring, then do an up Mid-Air Trick, you will hit spinning handles, then jump off them into the gap you see to your left. Hit the Speed Booster, and push down to roll up, you will be sent up the wall and then on the ceiling, you have to roll so you can kill the Badnik on the ceiling instead of running into it. Then you will hit some spikes that will cause you to drop back down on the ground, then grind the rail you see, when you get to the bottom of the rail, jump off and then do an up Mid-Air Trick (or Sonic and Amy's Special Rail Trick Jump) so you can land on the highest platform to your right. Now go right, you will end up hitting a launcher that sends you to the right, then you will hit a couple of springs in a row, you will be running on the ceiling, then spikes stop you and you'll fall down, you will see a Green Shield, a hornet Badnik, and a launcher, get your shield and kill the Badnik (If you are interested in a 1-up item box head left, you will eventually find the item box, then head right again) (Sonic, Knuckles, Amy shortcut/extra item box, jump to the right over the launcher and go a little right, you will come to a different part of the floor with a gap under it, it's breakable, break through the left side of it and you will hit a ? Ring item box on the way down, now run to the right, try to build up as much speed as possible, you will go around a loop-de-loop, and then you will be launched off a ramp, try to press A when hitting the ramp if you're not in Boost Mode to go higher, you will hit a pole and you will see the Special Ring floating above a purple Badnik to the right of the pole, jump off the pole into it.) Jump on the launcher, it will send you to the right, keep going right, you will hit a little turn-around pole that sends you down a left slope, then you will grind a short rail, still going left, then you will end up going right, go through the loop-de-loop and then you will be launched off a ramp and into a pole, you will see the Special Ring floating above a purple Badnik to the right of the pole, jump off the pole into it. SP RG #3: When you land, slow down and try to get out of Boost Mode, head right, you will see a spring on the edge of a ledge, jump on it and head toward the right a little, you will see two poles, one is short and higher then a longer one to the right of it, hit the higher pole first, then jump on the next pole near the top, aim for the purple Badnik floating to the right, you will kill it then drop straight down on the ledge you want to be on. Go right, you will then see a hole against a wall, when you drop down it you will land on a sliding platform. The platform launches into the air off a ramp, jump and land on the rail you see before the platform falls too far down. You will grind into a platform, (If you are interested in an Invincibility item box which I highly recommend, push left, preferably starting when you are still on the rail to slow down to a stop before you hit the spring on the right end of the platform. Then jump straight up from the spring.) Run into the spring at the end of this platform, you will then be bounced up and to the right, you will see two rails and a 5 Ring item box, hit the item box and then land on the bottom rail. (Huge but risky shortcut, as near to the top of the rail you are on as possible, jump through it and head straight down as straight as an arrow, you might hit a Badnik, just keep on dropping, after a long drop you will land on the platform with the Special Ring on it or maybe even right on top of the Special Ring, but if you're a little off, you might fall past the platform and die.) Grind the rail, as soon as you're off the rail press left to slow yourself down, then go to the left and drop down. Then keep going left, you will see a launcher near the end of the ledge, a hornet, and spinning handles to the left of the hole, jump over the launcher and jump on the handles. Jump off the handles up and to the left, you want to land on that platform, careful, miss the platform and you will fall and die. Don't jump on the spring, you will see the Special Ring to the left of the spring. SP RG #4: Then go back to the right jumping over the spring, then jump off the platform and go as far right as possible, hit the launcher to go right faster if you want. Now keep going right, run right off the ledge, but as soon as you do gravity reverses, you will be on the ceiling, watch out for the spikes. Now hit the pole to your right, jump off immediately to the right to get those Rings, now while your on the ceiling go right and hit the spring, it will send you into a 5 ring item box, then gravity will reverse again and you will be back on the floor. Now you will see poles, and a spring on the edge of the right ledge, jump on the spring and catch the pole to the right as high up as possible, aim for the purple Badnik to the right or at least jump off the pole as high up as possible so you land on the correct ledge. Now you will hit a launcher that sends you into another pole, jump off the pole to the left, you should hit an Invincibility item box next to a speed booster, then hit the booster, you will then be launched off a ramp and you will land on a slope heading up to the right, go left so you will hit another speed booster that will get you up that slope fast, then a spring will make you run left, then another spring sends you up, go to the gap to the left of the moving block, don't land on the block or it will crush you, you should have invincibility so don't worry about the Badnik blocking this path, You will then hit a launcher that sends you into a series of three springs, you will end up heading to the right, when you land watch out for the mouse Badnik, keep going right and you will hit a speed booster, you will then hit a spring, grind up a rail heading left, then to the left of that you will run into a launcher that send you right into a 10 Ring item box, go right, head around the loop-de-loop, then you will hit a spring that sends you left down a slope, then another spring sends you right down a slope, you will be in Boost Mode and launched into the air, a thin rail is attached to the ceiling, grab the left end of the rail and slide down it. One you fall off it you will then be stopped by spikes on the end of a ledge, jump up quickly and kill the hornet Badnik but don't jump over the spikes, then head left, you will see the Special Ring. SP RG #5: Now go back to your right, and jump off the ledge over the spikes, don't land on the floating platform to your right. When you land you will see a speed booster, hit it and it will send you grinding down a rail, then when you jump off the end of the rail you will land on a thin platform with a spring on it, do not hit the spring, instead jump off the left, and stay close to the wall, then head left and hit the speed boosters, this will send you up the wall and you will hit three springs in the row, the last one hits you into a rail grinding down and to the right, then you will hit two more springs, the second one that is on the ceiling sends you down and to the right and into Rings (Sonic, Knuckles, Amy hidden item box, slow down after hitting this second spring, right below it is different looking flooring with a gap underneath, it's breakable, under it is a Ring Magnet Shield and a couple of springs, get the shield, but don't use the springs to bounce way up to the top of the act, instead just use them to get out of the hole and land just to the right of it, then continue right.) Keep going right, you will head through a loop-de-loop, then up a wall and jump over the checkpoint, then fall down the right side of it and onto a sliding platform. Ride the platform until it hits the ledge, don't jump off it sooner. Get the Invincibility item box, then after that gravity will reverse and you will be on a slope on the ceiling, keep running right, at the end of the slope and next to a wall gravity will reverse again and then hit the spring pointing left as hard as possible, now just keep running, you want to be in Boost Mode, you will hit another spring heading right, keep running, you will run up a wall, then on the ceiling, then hit spikes pointing straight at you but you should still have invincibility, you will drop perfectly on a small platform with the Special Ring on it. SP RG #6: Now jump down to the right keeping close to the wall, you will hit a speed booster that sends you round the loop-de-loop you see to your left, then into a spring, then when you are still in the air gravity reverses again, hopefully you still have invincibility because you will land on spikes on the ceiling, then hit the launcher to your right, it will send you into a spring, and when you are in the air gravity will reverse again, you will land on the floor, hit the spring to your left so you can land on the ledge to your right. Go right, you will run into a spring, then you will hit spinning handles, land on the platform to your right with the mouse Badnik on it. Jump in the cannon. Wait till the cannon points up, then fire. You will land in one of two places, either on the higher platform or you will slightly miss it and land on one slightly lower, it doesn't matter, on the higher platform, go around the loop-de-loop, then slow way down, instead of launching off the ramp jump over it kind of close to the ledge, you will land on a platform and see a spring pointing to the right at an angle on the right edge of it, if you land on the lower platform, walk off the ledge, gravity will reverse, go around the loop-de-loop on the ceiling, gravity will reverse again, you will find yourself at the same exact spot I described above with the spring pointing to the right at an angle on the edge of a ledge. Jump over the spring instead of on it, you will land on a rail, grind, as soon as your off the rail you will see the Special Ring, but there is a mouse and a hornet Badnik there too, jump into the Special Ring so you can hit the Badniks at the same time. SP RG #7: Head up the slope to the right, there are spikes, carefully jump over them, but not too far, off the ledge you will see a platform, jump on it then quickly jump off and on the other platform to the right of that one, then hit the spring on the right wall, the platforms fall, and if you fall down this hole you will die. This spring sends you into another spring, you will land on a ledge with a speed booster, hit it and it will send you up the wall, and then running on the ceiling, push down to go into a roll so you hit the Badnik on the ceiling correctly. Then you will hit a series of three springs, and you will end up going to the right, then run up the right wall, Spin-dash if you have to to make it up, a speed booster is on the wall about half way up, you will end up in the air and hitting the ceiling, fall to the left, you will fall through a rail, you will see a Special Ring on the rail, to get it head to the left under the rail, I do not recommend hitting the speed booster to your right or you will run into a spike trap, jump over the spike trap and onto the ledge with a speed booster where the left end of that rail is, hit the booster and it will send you up the rail and into the Special Ring, at the top of the rail look out for the spike trap, jump off the right of the ledge, then land on the sliding platform that will take you to the end of the act! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.g.2. Zone 7 Act 2: (easier) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ SP RG #1: Run right, and you will hit a rail on the ceiling, just slide down it and keep right. Gravity will reverse, then you will hit a launcher that sends you into a rail, just grind it and keep going, then slow down, when you go right you will see a depression containing a ? Ring item box and a spring, get the item box and then hit the spring, you will go through a hoop, and gravity will reverse, then kill the hornet before it hits you. Head to the right and start grinding the rail, but a little ways down jump through it, watch out for the mouse Badnik, head left and against the left wall is a Invincibility item box, get it and then run right. After a little ways, gravity will reverseagain, then you will be grinding a rail upside down, then you will be running on the ceiling, just when gravity reverses again you will fall right into the Special Ring. SP RG #2: You will land on a very steep slope going right, just keep running. You will then see a spring pointing to the right at an angle, do not hit it, jump over it instead, you will still have invincibility so don't worry about the spikes. Go right, you will then see a spring on a wall pointing left and a ? Ring item box, get the item box and hit the spring to go down the slope heading left, you will run across the top of a loop-de-loop, an will be stopped by a wall on a platform to the left of the loop-de-loop with a Special Ring floating above it, jump up before the platform falls to get the Special Ring. SP RG #3: When you land, a speed booster will send you through the loop-de-loop, then you will hit a spring, land to the right and be careful of the spike trap if you have lost your invincibility by now. Then you will end up heading down a wall, at the bottom is a spring, try not to hit the spring, if you do, you will land on a speed booster, be send up a rail, then launched off a ramp then hitting a launcher and you end up sliding down a thin rail attached to the ceiling, if you do this you will miss two Special Rings!!! Instead go to the right slowly, instead of hitting the speed booster jump over it, then jump through the rail, (there is a ? Ring item box against the left wall, it is hard to get with Sonic and Amy but possible.) Go left and hit the spring, this will send you around the loop-de-loop, and up the wall, on the wall is a spring that will send you heading up and to the left, you will land on a ledge with a Green Shield on it, then to the left of that you will see the Special Ring. SP RG #4: Go left, you will see a pole, either slide down it or just jump down, you will land back near the rail you just jumped through, now hit the speed boosters, go up the rail and launch off the ramp, but miss the launcher, you still don't want to grab that thin rail! Head to the ledge to the right and jump down instead without grabbing the rail, you will land on a platform, you will see a couple of springs to the left, a 10 Ring item box and a mouse Badnik, get your Rings and kill the Badnik, then head right and you will come to another ledge, jump off this one too, but jump straight down or slightly to the left, you do not want to jump far right or you will land on a heck of a lot of spikes! When you land, to your right you will see a speed booster, and sandwiched between that and the beginning of the spikes is a Special Ring, carefully jump so you can get it without hitting either the spikes or the speed booster. SP RG #5: Hit the speed booster, you will be sent up a wall, then running on the ceiling, you will be in the air, land to the left on the platform that used to have the mouse Badnik and the 10 Ring item box on it, then hit the spring which will send you into the other spring you see, this one sends you into the thin rail, you can finally slide down it. When you land, head right and grind the rail, at the end of the rail spikes stop you, make sure to jump up and kill the hornet, then hit the launcher you see. (If you are interested in a ? Ring item box, when you are still sailing through the air horizontally, you will eventually see a ? Ring item box, you have to use either an up or right Mid-Air Trick to get it.) When you land keep heading right, you will go around the loop-de-loop and up a wall then send in the air, in the air head left and land on top of the loop-de-loop where you will find the Special Ring. SP RG #6: Jump on the spring so that you land on the rail above, then grind. You will then hit a launcher which sends you into a spring on a floating platform which sends you into another spring, then another, on the floating platform that the third spring is located sits a Special Ring, the spring bounces you left, but when you hit it push right so you end up going to the right and land on the platform and the Special Ring. SP RG #7: We are not even halfway through the act yet and the last Special Ring is near the end of the act, so this is going to be one long description! Now hit the spring on the platform and this time head left, land on the other platform with the spring pointing straight up, jump up on it, you will see a Green Shield, get it if you lost your first one, then land on the rail and grind. Then head right, you will see a ledge with poles to the right, run straight off the ledge, then just let the character fall off the end of the pole, then push right right after you fall off it, hopefully you will land right on a Maximum Speed item box, then just drop down. Then head right, you will hit a speed booster, grind up a rail, hit a spring that sends you in the air to the right, then you will hit a wall (If you are interested in a ? Ring item box, do an up Mid-Air Trick just before you hit the wall to get it.) You will fall on a rail, just below the rail, you will see the top of another item box, it's a ? Ring item box, jump through the rail and head toward it to get it, you might get it, or fall down just short, it doesn't matter, if you do get it jump down just to the right of it anyway. You will fall quite a distance before landing, To the right you will see a pole, jump down the hole without hitting the pole all the way to the bottom. (this is where it is quite different than in version 0.5 of the FAQS) Head right and gravity will changeand you will be on the ceiling. You will go around a loop-de-loop and end up grinding a couple of rails upside down. You will then run down a couple of curves, hit a Speed Booster, keep pushing right, you will go through a gap and hit a Ring Magnet Shield item box before landing on the ceiling again. Keep going right, gravity will eventually reverse again, watch out for the mouse on the floor right after gravity reverses. Go right and you will hit a cannon, fire the cannon when it is pointing down. Keep going right, you will eventually go through a loop-de-loop that sends you down, then hit one spring that sends you right into another spring, after hitting that spring make sure you land on the right ledge, then continue, gravity will reverse and you will end up on the ceiling, keep going, you will hit a speed booster that will send you into a spring that will send you grinding a rail heading left, then gravity will reverse again and you will fall down, hit the spring pointing right to go off to the right, you will grind another rail and be stopped by spikes, jump up quickly to kill the hornet that is now coming after you. Keep going right, gravity will reverse, you will fall up through a hole, be careful of the mouse Badnik, Spin-Dash to the right to kill both of them, then you will be grinding a rail going right. You will hit a 5 Ring item box before hitting a spring, it will send you down and into more springs, gravity will reverse again, and you will land on a rail. At the end of the rail, jump off it and use the up Mid-Air Trick (or Sonic and Amy's Special Trick Rail Jump) and head a little right, you should land on spinning handles. Jump off them onto the platform to your right with the spike trap on it, watch the spikes. To your right you will see a speed booster, DO NOT hit it, jump over it instead, then you will come across a spring, do not hit this either. Jump to the right off the ledge, there will be a ? Ring item box, get it and land. Then head to your right, you will eventually see a cannon, gravity reverses right after you jump in it. Wait until the cannon is pointing the farthest up, then fire. You will hit the ceiling and a speed booster, keep running and you will run down the wall and stuff, keep running and you will run right into the last Special Ring. (You're near the end of the act, keep running, go through the hoop, go to the left, hit the ramp, get the 5 Ring item box, hit the spring to your right up and watch out for spikes and land to the right, fall down to the right, and hit the sliding platform, it will take you to the end of the act, yay!) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.g.3 Zone 7 Special Stage Walkthrough: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ First head for the line of rings you see in front of and slightly to the left of you along the edge of the Special Stage hitting the Booster afterwards. After you hit the Booster keep going straight toward the corner of the stage through the line of rings you will see a 5 Ring sphere floating there, ignore it, if you get it you will run into the edge and loose your multiplier, instead made a sharp left to get the line of rings, jump at the end of this line of rings to get the 5 ring sphere that is floating right in from of the next Speed Booster. A similar pattern holds for all 4 corners and edges of the Special Stage, just keep going and make sure you turn corners correctly so you do not loose multipliers. When you get the last line of rings near the edge of the stage, run a little farther and you will see two rings off to the left, go toward them, you will see a booster to your left, I recommend not hitting it but instead head for the line of rings you see ahead of it. Go for those, but before you get to the end make a left hand turn to get the next line, try to get the 5 Rings sphere in that line, then make another left, there are several squares of Rings like this, in this part try not to hit speed boosters or you will have a hard time making the necessary turns. After you get one square of rings when going to the other ones make sure you hit some of the rings that are in between to keep up multipliers. After that head toward the middle of the stage, there are a lot of 5 rings spheres floating there, it is hard to keep multipliers for them, just jump up and get them. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.g.4. Zone 7 Boss: Egg Frog (I don't know what to say about this one...) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This is one crazy Boss! The complex part is that you have to fight it on both the floor and the ceiling!!! If you are on the floor pushing up will send you falling toward the ceiling, if you're on the ceiling, pushing down will not only start you spinning but then you will fall back on the floor! The Boss itself is a machine with two frog-like legs with wheels on the bottom. It does several things, sometimes it will drop from the ceiling onto the floor or from the floor to the ceiling, and after it does this it releases a bomb and sets the floor on fire where it just was, you can tell it is about to do this when the two legs come in close to the machine and stay there for a second. Or, it will take off to the left on either the floor or the ceiling, then will come back in fast from the left heading right after it disappears for a second, it might have switched from the floor to the ceiling or vice versa when it comes back, sometimes it will drop a bomb and set the other floor on fire after it come back, you can tell its going to do this when the legs suddenly spread apart. Mostly for this Boss you have to look out for the ends of the legs, avoid the bomb and then the floor it sets on fire, and watch out when it suddenly goes to the left then comes back form the left after disappearing. There is more than one way to hit it, some of the best are: Run to the left of it, if the legs come together and you see it is about to change floors, then drop down or up before it does, you don't want to be where it sets the floor on fire anyway, then meet it on the other side, watch out for the ends of the legs, then spin into it. If you are on the ceiling and it is right under you and pretty much stationary, push down to go into a roll and hit it. If you are running to the left of it and you see it's legs spread apart and it starts coming at you, then jump up and try to hit it when it moves past you. The entire fighting on the floor and the ceiling thing is what makes this hard, plus the machines movements are quick and can be unpredictable, you have to have quick reactions and get the hang of switching from floor to ceiling and form ceiling to floor. It takes 8 hits to defeat this Boss. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.h. Final Zone: XX ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The game is not over yet! It's the final encounter between you and Eggman high above the planet and there are a total of 8 Bosses you have to defeat! But don't fret! The first 7 are the same as the 7 Bosses you defeated earlier and the last Boss at first looks hard but in fact is one of the easiest Bosses in the game, and ridiculously easy if you are playing with Cream! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.h.1. The First 7 Bosses: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The first part of this one Act Zone is defeating the first 7 Bosses in a row!!! Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds, first of all the Bosses only need half as many hits to defeat them, so it only 6 hits for the Egg Bomber Tank and the Egg Saucer, and only 4 hits for the rest. Also, if you die when battling one of these Bosses, that does not mean you have to start over again from the beginning, you will start back again at the Boss you died at. Now on to the Final Boss!!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.h.2. Final Boss: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ You will come to a stop, then a giant robot will appear on the right hand side of the screen!!! Why does Eggman think every giant robot has to look like himself? This is what the area you will fight in looks like: The Robot to the right, then three platforms, these occasionally rise up and head toward the ceiling that is lined with spikes, then they come back down. The Robot does a couple of things, the two arms attached to the robot will fly off it sometimes, they aim right for you and try to hit you, then they return to the robot, and a wide white beam sometimes fires from the robot's eyes, which doesn't help sinceyou ultimately have to hit the robot's head in order to defeat it. You will have a lot to look out for, you have to make sure you are not on a platform when it rises up and is about to hit the spikes, you have to watch out for the arms, they hare extremely fast and have very good aim and you have to watch out for the beam. There are two good things though: First, there is a little warning before anything happens, the platform moves a little then stops for a second before it goes up giving you enough time to get off it, shortly before an arm comes off and is about to lunge at you, the fingers at the tip spin around, and there is a little bit of a sound and a little bit of flash before the beam comes on full. Second, there is a really easy way to beat this thing!!!! In fact if you do it right I will argue this is one of the easiest Bosses in the entire game, and ridiculously easy with Cream!!! Your first mission is to take out the arms. They do come at you very fast, but all you do is stand in between the left-most platform and the middle platform. At this spot, you are slightly out of reach of the Robot's left arm, and the right arm can barely get you, plus just standing there you are totally safe form everything else. Watch the arms, when the fingers start spinning on one of then, then jump up and a little bit right, you should then hit the arm, then if you want attack it another time before it returns to the Robot, making sure you do not jump up too high and possibly hit the beam or end up on one of the platforms as it is moving up, then return to that same spot and just wait for one of the arms to come at you again. Repeat until both arms blow up. With Cream all you have to do is stand there looking pretty and use Chao Attack until both arms are gone, maybe occasionally moving out of the way of the Robot's farther reaching right arm. It takes 12 hits to get rid of the arms, 6 for each arm. Now to finish it off, now move and stand in between the platform next to the Robot and the middle platform. You have to hit the Robot's head, but the fact the platform moves up into the spikes and the beam complicates things, this is what you do: Wait until the right-most platform goes up to the ceiling, then jump on it on it's way down, then jump from it to hit the Robot's head, this will prevent the risk of having the platform send you into the spikes, but before the jump, watch out for the beam, if it is firing or if it looks like it is about to fire then don't jump, it's as simple as that. Just repeat until the Robot is history, with Cream all you do is stand in this spot looking pretty again and use Chao Attack some more. After 8 hits to the Robot's head it is history, a total of 20 hits to defeat this boss. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.h.3. The Ending: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The character falls from the sky, in the background Eggman's Death Egg-like ship crashes and burns. Then the character lands either in a place that looks like the Leaf Forest Zone or a field of flowers if you have all the Chaos Emeralds. All the animals jump around, everything looks happy again. When you beat the game with Cream, her mom will be standing there, she looks safe, everything is now fine, or is it...??? ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.i. Extra Zone: True Area 53 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ When you beat the entire game with the first four characters and you get all 7 Chaos Emeralds with Sonic, then this Zone appears on the Zone Map for Sonic. First a small scene plays, it's Cream's mom! She is standing there watching a bunch of little birds flying around her, she seems happy enough. Then suddenly this strange partially cloaked thing appears!!! It sucks up Cream's mom and all the little birds and then disappears!!!! Cream and Cheese come running in just in time to see the thing go off in the distance, then Sonic, Tails and Knuckles run up, but it is too late, Sonic snaps his fingers in frustration and anger. Cream then starts to cry. Tails and Knuckles just stand there looking sad, and Sonic watches Cream cry. Then Sonic closes his eyes and starts floating in the air, the others then look at him in awe as the 7 Emeralds start to swirl around him. He transforms into Super Sonic! Super Sonic gives the others a thumbs up, then blasts off the rescue Cream's mom! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.i.1. Extra Zone Boss: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ If you have ever played the Doomsday Zone in Sonic & Knuckles prepare for a weird feeling of deja-vu. Super Sonic catches up to the cloaked thing in space, it uncloaks, it turns out to be a shrimp-looking machine. The machine fires different types of energy balls and homing missiles that follow you around at you but these only temporarily knock Super Sonic off his bearings for a second, they of course can't really hurt him. The real danger comes when the tail of the machine comes up and points at you; it fires a whitish beam at you, if Super Sonic hits it he will be frozen into a Super Sonic ice sculpture! Then the machine turns on its suction, poor frozen Super Sonic can't move, then he is sucked into the machine and the machine removes 10 of his Rings and is then spit out of the machine again. This is really bad, if you already know about Super Sonic then you know that Super Sonic burns one of his Rings every second and if he burns them all he becomes just plain Sonic again. In this Zone you start with 50 Rings, but if you loose all of them, you will instantly die!!! That is why being sucked into the machine is so dangerous, you do not want toloose you're Rings faster than you already are, but at least there are Rings floating around in the Zone you can pick up! If you try to hit the thing, even when you push A or B while hitting it, you will not damage it at all no matter where you hit it. This is how to beat it: The first thing it does is shoots energy balls at you, then it sends three homing missiles at you, if you push and A or B button when you hit the missiles, they will bounce right off Super Sonic, and if you hit them so that the missiles head toward the "head" of the machine, then they will hit the machine and do damage to it, the machine flashes silver when it is damaged. From then on the machine will send energy balls at you, then it will try to fire the ice beam at you right when it is firing three more homing missiles at you, so duck the ice beam by quickly moving out of the way before it hits you, or move under or above the machine where the beam can't hit you, then move back to the side of it so you can fling the missiles into it. After you fling 8 missiles into it, then you must have broken the ice beam or something because now after it fires the homing missiles it just rolls up into a ball and spins around, now you're home free because all you have to do is fling the missiles into the rolled up machine! The machine now flashes red when you hit it. 4 more hits, and the machine blows up and ejects a capsule that Super Sonic then goes after, the Boss is finished after a total of 12 hits! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.i.2. Extra Ending: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Super Sonic is falling through the atmosphere with the capsule! Then the capsule starts to glow red and cracks appear at the bottom of it!!! Then it busts open and Cream's mom comes out, the force of the blasts flings Super Sonic off and at the same time he looses Super Sonic form and becomes just Sonic again. Now Cream's mom is dropping at a high rate of speed! Sonic is trying to catch up with her to grab her, but he just can't seem to reach her, then with one last try Sonic finally catches her! They land apparently safely with Cream, Cheese, Tails and Knuckles looking on. When the credits roll, scenes of a happy ending including Cream hugging her mother and Sonic looking proud he saved the day appear. The very last scene shows Sonic running off, Congratulations!!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.j. Unlocking and Playing as Amy Rose: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ If you can get all 7 Chaos Emeralds with the first four characters and make it though the Final Zone Amy Rose will be unlocked. There isn't anything different about playing the game with Amy than with the other characters and nothing special is unlocked if you beat the game with all 7 Chaos Emeralds with her. Also Amy and Sonic do not even appear together in this game, probably to Amy's dismay and Sonic's joy! One interesting note is the fact she does Spin Attack and Spin-Dash in this game unlike in Sonic Advance and playing with Amy is quite different in this game than it was in that game. And her Spin-Dash is funny, she can't do it quite right and she revs up while still standing! Even Cream Spin-Dashes better than her, she needs to work on that a little more... But don't get me wrong, Amy is one of my favorite characters! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8. Time Attack: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The Time Attack mode allows you to play the regular Acts and the Bosses if you unlock that feature in order to see how fast you can get through the Act or Boss. For the Acts you first have to choose a character, you can only choose characters you have unlocked already in the normal game. You only get to play Time Attack for the Acts you have already beaten with a particular character. The Acts are the same as in the regular game except for these differences: Score does not matter and is not kept. There are no extra lives, you have to get through an entire Act without dying in order to get a new time recorded. If you die you go to a screen where you have the choice to either try again, change course but keep the same character, change character, or end Time Attack. All ? Ring Item Boxes are replaced by 10 Ring Item Boxes. The Special Rings are present, but of course if you get all 7 in an Act you will not go to the Special Stage. The top three scores for each character are recorded. About the only tip I will give for this is the way to complete the round with all 7 Special Rings is not the fastest, if you really want to find the fastest way to get through an Act experiment with each character to find shortcuts. To unlock this feature for the Bosses, you must complete the game with all 7 Chaos Emeralds with three characters, I will tell you right now, Cream will get the fastest times if you use Chao Attack on the Bosses. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9. Tiny Chao Garden: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ If you are able to complete the entire game with all 7 Chaos Emeralds with one of the characters you will be able to unlock the Tiny Chao Garden. Chao are mysterious creatures that have a very complex life cycle, I will not go into many details about this basically because the Tiny Chao Garden is not nearly as complex as raising Chao in the Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 Chao Gardens, but later on when I discuss transferring Chao between the Tiny Chao Garden and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle and Sonic Adventure DX I will mention some of these details. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.a. Geography of The Tiny Chao Garden: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ When you first unlock the Tiny Chao Garden you will see a white egg with blue spots on it. Move the hand over it and press A in order to rub it so the Chao hatches. The Chao stats bar is on the right, that is explained later and it contains the Chaos name, if you move the hand over this and press A you will open up the screen to change the Chao's name if you don't like the one the game gives you, what type it is (will be a normal Child stage, only differs if you transfer Chao from the Game Cube, your Chao will not age and evolve in the Tiny Chao Garden) the status bars which are discussed below, and at the bottom how many Rings you have you can use to purchase things from the store. If you push the L button you can open the store where you can buy Fruit your Chao eats which change the stats bar levels, toys, and special Eggs called Jewel Eggs you really don't have to be concerned about unless you have a Game Cube. In the right hand corner are white and purple Game Boy Advance symbols, these lead to the Mini Games, the white one is Cream's and Cheese's Chao High Bounce Game and the purple one is a Matching Card Game. See the little lake? At first your Chao will jump in there and get mad because it cannot swim, but when it levels up in the swim stat enough it will eventually swim around in there. Your Chao will also say various things, some quite funny and some that should have been rephrased a little... look to other guides to find out the specifics on this. Weeds will occasionally pop up in the garden too and you can pick them if you move over them with the hand and press A. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.b. Chao Stats and what they mean: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ On the right side of the screen you will see 7 status bars: Mood, Belly, Swim, Fly, Run, Power, and Stamina. Each of these are affected by what type of fruit you happen to give your Chao (Mood is affected by other things too). As you can see, there are 10 points on each bar, the mood and belly bars are always at a value from 1-10, when your Chao gets 10 points on one of the other bars your Chao gains one level in that particular stat which is displayed above the bar. In the Tiny Chao Garden the Mood and Belly stats count the most, the other stats are only really important if you are trading your Chao to Sonic Adventure 2: Battle or Sonic Adventure DX. The highest level a Chao can reach for any stat is lv. 99. Here is a list of all the stats, how the different fruit affect these stats will be discussed under the store items section when I describe the fruit. Mood is of course how happy or sad your Chao is and unlike the other stats can be affected by many things. Things that can put your Chao in a bad mood include petting it when asleep, certain fruit, and maybe not being able to swim well, I'm not sure. Make your Chao happy by petting it when it is awake and giving it certain fruit. If you don't keep your Chao happy it might run away. Belly is how hungry it is. All but one fruit will increase this stat by some amount when you give it too your Chao. A Chao doesn't like it if you don't feed it and if might run away. The fruit vary in how much they increase the belly bar and also in how hungry the Chao has to be before it will eat it. For example, a Chao will eat a blue fruit if it has 9 points on its belly bar but will refuse to eat a pink fruit. Swim is how well it swims. At first your Chao will jump in the pond but it's can't swim so it thrashes around a little and jumps out. But if you raise its swim level to above 14 I think, not for sure, then it will jump in the pond and swim around happily. I read somewhere that if the duck is in the pond then the Chao will sometimes jump on it and float around on it, but I have never seen this happen. Fly is how well it flies. When the level of this stat gets above 14 or so, I will figure this out completely later and update, your Chao will then occasionally take off and start flying around. Run is well, how fast it runs. I have never seen a Chao do anything different when its Run stat reaches a certain level, the same goes for the Power and Stamina bars, I will just stop with the list right here. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.c. Earning Rings and the Mini Games: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ There are two ways to earn Rings to spend in the Store, through the game in the regular Acts and the Special Stage, and earning them in the two mini games that you can play while in the Tiny Chao Garden. When you complete the regular Acts or the Special Stages in the game all of the Rings you earn are transferred to the Tiny Chao Garden. The best way to get a huge amount of Rings is to earn them in the Special Stages, if you are really good at the Special Stages you can earn a huge amount of Rings, my personal record is about 800 in the Hot Crater Special Stage. Another thing to keep in mind is that in this game you have to unlock the Special Stage and the process of getting all of the Chaos Emeralds does require going through the game Acts and the Special Stages quite a bit so the first time you unlock the garden you should have quite a sizable stock of Rings to use already, I have gotten up to 99,999 Rings which appears to be the limit to the amount of Rings you can have. On the other hand playing the two mini games in my opinion does not pay off very well in Rings even if you complete them, but they can be sort of fun I guess, I will describe them below: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.c.1. Cream and Cheese's Chao High Bounce Game: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ You have to bounce Cheese off the trampoline that Cream is pushing around in order for Cheese to grab the Rings up above. You can of course move Cream right or left, if you push the A button down Cream pushes down on the trampoline, pushing A when Cheese hits it will send him higher! Push the B button while moving back and fourth in order to move faster, only useful if Cheese is coming down fast. When you get all the Rings then more will appear, first at a pretty low level, then a little higher up then eventually one then finally two balloons appear, hitting the balloons really makes Cheese do quite unpredictable things! If you hit the ground three times your game is over, but Cheese can either land on the trampoline or Cream's head and be safe! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.c.2 Matching Game: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ You will see squares in a rectangle arrangement, the ones on the outside are blue and say x1, the pink ones say x3 and the two red ones in the middle say x5. There are Chao cards randomly on them and they are flipped over revealing fruit on them, each card had a matching card. But then the cards are flipped back over and your Chao comes out and randomly rearranges them. You have to remember what was on the cards and correctly pick matches, the number of rings awarded corresponds to what squares the two cards are on, for example if one of the matching cards was on a red square and the other was on a blue square you would be awarded 5 for the card on the red square and 1 for the blue square for a total of 6 Rings. You will lose the game if you incorrectly guess three times. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.d. The Store: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Push the L button and open the store. Use the Rings that you have earned (refer to Earning Rings and the Mini Games section on how to earn Rings) to buy fruit for your Chao to eat, eggs for transferring to the Game Cube, and toys for your Chao to play with. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.d.1. Fruit: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Fruit affects your Chao's status bars, the different status bars are explained in the Chao Stats and what they mean section. For convenience I put this section in the form of a table of how much it costs, how much they either add to or subtract from each status bar. Another small note, A Chao might not accept a fruit if it is not hungry enough to eat it. The Chao will eat the Red fruit no matter how hungry it is and even if the belly bar is all the way full, this fruit also dos not affect the belly bar, it will eat Blue and Green fruit as soon as just one point is empty on the belly stat bar, and it will eat the other fruit a little later than the Blue or Green one, often a little bit before the belly bar goes down another point. As you can see a more costly fruit is usually better, but the most expensive fruit, the red one, doesn't fill up your Chao at all so I can sort of see an advantage of being able to feed a lot of them to your Chao at once, but I still think it is a pretty lousy fruit because of how much it takes away form mood, your Chao is still hungry after eating it, and it actually takes away hugely form the stamina stat. Fruit | Cost | Mood | Belly | Swim | Fly | Run | Power | Stamina ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Orange | 30 | +1 | +2 | +3 | -2 | 0 | +3 | +1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Blue | 60 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +5 | 0 | -1 | +2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Pink | 55 | +2 | +2 | +4 | -3 | +4 | -3 | +3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Green | 50 | -1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | +3 | +4 | +2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Purple | 30 | +1 | +2 | -2 | +3 | +3 | -1 | +1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Yellow | 55 | +1 | +2 | -3 | +4 | -3 | +4 | +2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Red | 70 | -3 | 0 | +3 | +1 | +3 | +2 | -5 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.d.2. Eggs: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The eggs you can buy in the store, except for the Normal egg which is free, are special eggs called Jewel eggs which hatch into Jewel Chao. In the Tiny Chao Garden the Jewel Chao just appear a different color but if you move them to Sonic Adventure 2: Battle or Sonic Adventure DX for the Game Cube using the Game Boy Advance Link Cable they will appear to be very shiny. They are only worth buying if you can trade Chao between this game and the Game Cube games because when you buy the egg it will just sit there, it will not hatch unless your first Chao leaves. Each time you enter the Tiny Chao Garden a different egg will be displayed, just keep exiting and entering the garden until the egg you want to buy come up. You can abuse your first Chao so that it runs away and then the egg you bought will hatch, but this is not really worth it just to get a Chao of another color if you don't have the Game Cube games. But if you do have the Game Cube games then you can have fun playing with pretty Chao that you can't get in the Black Market and you can have fun breeding Clear Chao, I will discuss this later in the section about trading between this game and the Game Cube games. Here are the different types of eggs listing how much they cost and what color Jewel Chao hatches out. Normal Egg: 0 Rings, normal Chao coloration Silver Egg: 500 Rings, silver Jewel Chao Gold Egg: 1,000 Rings, gold Jewel Chao Ruby Egg: 5,000 Rings, pink Jewel Chao Sapphire Egg: 7,000 Rings, dark blue Jewel Chao Amethyst Egg: 8,000 Rings, purple Jewel Chao Emerald Egg: 10,000 Rings, dark green Jewel Chao Garnet Egg: 12,000 Rings, red Jewel Chao Aquamarine Egg: 14,000 Rings, light blue Jewel Chao Peridot Egg: 16,000 Rings, light green Jewel Chao Topaz Egg: 18,000 Rings, orange Jewel Chao Onyx Egg: 20,000 Rings, black Jewel Chao ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.d.3. Toys: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ There are three toys you can buy in the store for your Chao to play with, when you buy one toy the next toy appears in the store after a little game time has gone by. Bugle: Costs 1,000 Rings, give it to your Chao and it will toot it. Duck: Costs 2,000 Rings, floats around in the pond, I have read more than once the Chao will ride it but I have never seen this. TV: Costs 8,000 Rings, your Chao will sometimes sit in front of it and watch it and it might make a comment about it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.e. Transferring Chao and other things to and from the Game Cube: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ If you happen to also own a Game Cube, a Game Boy Advance to Game Cube Link Cable and either one or both of the games Sonic Adventure 2: Battle and Sonic Adventure DX you can then move Chao between the various gardens. From the Tiny Chao Garden you can transfer over Chao, Eggs, Fruit and Rings. From the Game Cube you can transfer a Chao if the Tiny Chao Garden is empty. I will not explain all the complexities of Chao raising in the Game Cube in this guide because that would take too long and this guide only is supposed to be about this game, if you don't know what I am talking about refer to a guide covering the Game Cube Chao Gardens. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.e.1. How to tell Chao type, color and age in the Tiny Chao Garden: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Below the Chao's name is the information of the Chao's type which is a Chao symbol followed by a description of the type. The Chao symbol color indicated whether it is a Neutral (blue and yellow), Hero (white and blue) or Dark (black and red) Chao. The word next to it will tell you if the Chao is just a Child (never evolved), or type Normal, Swim, Fly, Run, Power, or Chaos. Your Chao will look like a normal Chao no matter what type it is or what animal parts it may have which do not show up. The only thing that will differ between Chao is color, but this can tell a lot. If your Chao is any type of colored Chao whether Normal, Shiny or Jewel your Chao will appear that color in the Game Boy Advance, but if you have a Normal Colored Chao then your Chao will be the normal blue and yellow if it is Neutral, white and blue if it is Hero and black and red if it is Dark. Things you cannot determine in the Game Boy Advance include stat rankings, personality, race records, and several other things. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.e.2 Jewel and Clear Chao: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ You can only get the Jewel Eggs from the Tiny Chao Garden and you get to raise very shiny-looking Chao in the Game Cube. One special thing you can do with them is mate them with one of the Shiny Chao you can get in the Game Cube games, if you do then you will get a special type of Chao called a Clear Chao you can see through! It is very freaky looking! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 9.e.3. Using the Tiny Chao Garden to transfer between Sonic Adventure 2: Battle and Sonic Adventure DX: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ If you own both of these games and if you transfer your Chao from one of them to the Tiny Chao Garden then transfer that one to the other game on a save file on the same memory card interesting things happen. First of all, you will notice that your Chao will loose its animal parts, the two games have different animals and are not compatible in this way, but if you transfer it back you will see the parts again. Pretty much everything else about your Chao is retained however including things it learned in Kindergarten in SA2: Battle, things it learned from the small animals, and what characters it likes, so if your Chao liked Tails in one of the games then it will like him in the other one but of course this only works for the characters in both games. One thing I have never tried out is the fact that when Chao draw they draw the characters they like and they do this in both games, but I am not sure if they will draw characters from a different game, one Chao that is currently in DX from battle still draws Tails, I should try that out myself, I have a Chao in DX that draws Amy, I will transfer it to Battle and see if it works, I doubt it though, but since DX came out after Battle it would most likely work the other way around if it does at all. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 10. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Q. Can you give me more info on how to get through the Special Stages? What is in this guide is not enough. A. There is now a walkthrough for the Zone 7 Special Stage included, for certain reasons I am not going to write a walkthrough for the rest of them at this time. Q. I heard Shadow is in this game, is it true? A. No. Q. Can you give me Action Replay/Game Shark tips/codes? A. No, this is a guide for people who don't use Action Replay/Game Shark ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 11. Questions?: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Got Questions? I will answer them if they are not stupid. 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