SONIC ADVENTURE: Millennium Ring FAQ Ver 1.3+ CREATED 29/9/00 -------------------------------------------- UPDATED 6/01/01 For the Sega Dreamcast FAQ by Dr.Eggman (eggman@dr.com) Just to start things off... Sega, Sonic the Hedgehog and all other Sonic the hedgehog Related characters are trademarks of SEGA. Dreamcast is a trademark of Sega. Mega drive, Mega CD and Sega CD are copyrights of Sega. All other copyrights that were not specifically written in this FAQ are acknowledged now. This FAQ cannot be used for any purpose other than private, non-commercial use. It cannot be used for your own personal gain (even if no money is made). It cannot be used as persuasion to purchase something (game, book, video etc). And cannot be reproduced in any way, shape or form without written permission from the author. It also cannot be used by any business, including (but not limited to) publishers of books, magazines, game sites and any other medium not specifically mentioned in this FAQ. It is a crime to copy and/or illegally re-circulate work protected by international copyright law. And don't go putting this up on your site and say that it's yours! This work is (c) 2000-2001 Dr.Eggman Phew! Now on with the FAQ ======================================================= TABLE OF CONTENTS ======================================================= 1. INTRODUCTION 2. INFO ON THE MILLENNIUM RING - How to obtain the millennium ring - What the millennium ring does 3. WHY FIND ALL THE RINGS? 4. LOCATION OF THE RINGS! - ADVENTURE FEILD - Station Square - ACTION STAGE - Sonic the Hedgehog - Miles "tails" Prower - Knuckles the Echidna - Amy Rose - Big the Cat - E-102 "Y" - MINI-GAME - Sonic the Hedgehog - Miles 'tails' Prower 5. MISCELLANEOUS - Attract mode - VMU 'trick' - Web page summary - Knuckles climbing - Station Square posters 6. REVISION HISTORY ======================================================= 1. INTRODUCTION ======================================================= Sonic Adventure! (referred to as SA from now on) In my opinion one of the best Sonic games ever. It's fast, fun and the graphics are amazing! I was really impressed with this game, so I set out to write a FAQ about it. Unfortunately I was a little late, and missed the boat as far as SA FAQ writing was concerned. I found that FAQ's had been written on almost every aspect of the game. So, as I was trudging back to the drawing board, I remembered one part of SA that had not been written about at all: The Millennium ring download. While it may not look like much, it adds a whole new dimension to the game, in much the same way as the Sonic emblems do. I was unimpressed with the download at first, but I found that once I got into looking for all the rings, it could be quite fun! So to quote Sonic "and away we gooo!" ======================================================= 2. INFO ON THE MILLENNIUM RING ======================================================= ------------------------------------------------------- HOW TO OBTAIN THE MILLENNIUM RING ------------------------------------------------------- Getting the millennium ring is easy. To obtain it all you need to have is an Internet connection for your Dreamcast. This should have come with the actual DC console, so consult the manual if you are unsure about anything Internet related. To get started, put SA in and boot it up. From the title screen, select the 'Internet' option and zip over to the SA home page. Now go to the 'community' page and select 'events', then you will be able to download the file from the 'special events' category. The download uses 62 blocks of space on the VMU. ------------------------------------------------------- WHAT THE MILLENNIUM RING DOES ------------------------------------------------------- Okay, so you've downloaded the millennium ring, now what? Good question! Choose a character and go to 'Adventure mode' (Sonic is probably a good place to start). In Station Square (called SS from now on) you will notice that a series of Sonic 2000 posters, and a large gold ring now decorate the central station. That large gold ring is the first of many. Upon examination, the ring will play a song (the little tune it plays is the background music of Palmtree Panic zone from Sonic CD for the MegaCD/SegaCD). The ring will also display a message. In this case the message it displays is "Try to find it! It's also in the action stage", but in the action stages it displays the message " A happy new year in 2K! Please support Sonic in 2K." The aim of this little Y2K ring mini-game is to find all the giant millennium rings hidden in the action stages. Some stages have rings that are easy to find, some rings are well hidden, and many stages even contain multiple millennium rings! ======================================================= 3. WHY FIND ALL THE RINGS? ======================================================= Good question! At this point in time there has been no reward discovered for finding all the millennium rings. If you have found any changes to the game or evidence to suggest a reward for finding all the rings, please E-mail me! Although you are probably thinking "why the hell would I want to find all these rings for nothing?" Remember that it does add a lot more to the game. Just like the Sonic emblems do, and don't try to tell me you didn't at least try to get all 130 emblems! ======================================================= 4. LOCATION OF ALL THE RINGS! ======================================================= The following lists where to find all the rings hidden throughout the game. ------------------------------------------------------- ADVENTURE FEILD ------------------------------------------------------- -STATION SQUARE DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY As stated above, the first ring is located in front of the SS central station. This is accessible with any character in the game. ------------------------------------------------------- ACTION STAGE ------------------------------------------------------- SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ------------------ -EMERALD COAST (Azure blue world) DIFFICULTY: EASY Sonic's first millennium ring is located on the boardwalk at the start of the stage, just before the first loop-the-loop. You can't miss this if you stick to the track. -EMERALD COAST (Windy and ripply) DIFFICULTY: EASY-NORMAL Sonic's next millennium ring is not so easy to spot, but it not that hard to find. At the start of the 'windy and ripply' section (the second part of Emerald coast) when you are running behind the two big waterfalls, don't take the shortcut with the extra life, up on the cliff. Instead take the normal way (the low road) and when you reach the large pool, don't jump on the platforms, just dive straight into the pool, and you will see the ring floating down the far end. -WINDY VALLEY (Windy hill) DIFFFICULTY: EASY This is impossible to miss. It is lying on the ground right before the collapsing bride (the bridge is just beside the tornado you get sucked into). -WINDY VALLEY (Tornado) DIFFICULTY: HARD This is much harder to find, and tougher than any of Sonic's previous rings. There are two ways to get to the ring: The easier way: --------------- To get to it, follow the tornado up until you get to the numbered panels. Jump on all the panels until you get the number three panel, don't jump to the next panel. You will be standing on a wire mesh platform. Walk over to the bottom right hand corner of the platform, and jump in that direction. You should land on the platform with the Y2K ring. The harder way: --------------- To get to it, follow the tornado up until you get to the numbered panels. Jump on all the panels until you get to the next bit of stable land (the place with the point marker and the trampoline) (If you had a sharp eye you would have been able to catch a glimpse of the millennium ring on your way up the panels). Now, Instead of jumping on the trampoline, turn around and walk back to the edge of the platform. You should see a broken piece of bridge hanging over the edge of the platform. Stand on top of this broken piece of bridge, and then jump of the platform. Hold UP on the analog thumb pad as soon as you jump and you should touch the ring on the way down. If you have any problems with this, E-mail me! -WINDY VALLEY (The air) DIFFICULTY: EASY After the tough ring that was hidden in the 'Tornado' section of Windy Valley, Sonic gets a rest here, as this ring is easy to find. Play through the third part of Windy valley until you reach the place in which Sonic gets shot up in the air, then free falls down to a platform with a point marker on it. While free falling, you can see the millennium ring on the platform you land on. Once again, this ring is very hard to miss if you just stick to the normal route, and remember keep on the look out. -CASINOPOLIS (Dilapidated way) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL Finding this ring isn't too tough. To get to the sewer area where the ring is hidden, you need to play a game of pinball and lose all your balls without earning more than 99 rings. If you succeed in doing this, you will be dumped into the sewer level of the casino (called Dilapidated way). Reach the end of the sewer level and you will see the giant ring buried in some trash to the right of the last set of spiked balls and chains. -ICECAP (Snowy mountain) DIFFICULTY: EASY At the very start of the level walk onto the speed ramp to get shot outside. Now when you land, simply press down on the analog thumb pad, and after a few steps you will come across the ring! (check out the ring, it's all frozen over!) -ICECAP (Snowboard) DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY At the very end of the level (once Sonic has removed the snowboard) walk over to the right of the egg-capsule (the grey thing you jump on to finish the level) and you will see the ring beside a tree and a log that has fallen on the ground. Due to the white nature of the level, this ring is quite easy to spot. Obtaining this ring is really easy, because it is impossible to die during the snowboarding sequence. -TWINKLE PARK (Pleasure castle) DIFFICULTY: EASY-NORMAL This is another ring that is harder to find than it is to reach. The actual ring can be found in bottom of the pool located the middle of the of Twinkle park. (This is the pool that Big fishes in, when he plays the Twinkle park action stage). To find the ring, look in the corner of the pool closest to the castle. -SPEED HIGHWAY (goin'down) DIFFICULTY: EASY After you have run down the sky scraper and smashed through the glass, the ring is just beside you in the room where you land. You can't miss this. -RED MOUNTAIN (symbol of thrill) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL Just before the section of the level where Tikal tells you to "move forward by attacking the enemies" you can plainly see the ring. I must be sounding like a broken record, but... You can't miss it if you follow the path! -RED MOUNTAIN (Red hot skull) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL For Sonic's second Red Mountain ring, follow the path until you come across a large machine, with many cogs etc. Near the machine (to the left)is a long row of prison cells that contains three inmates (there are two tall inmates, and one short). In front of their cells is the ring. -SKY DECK (Sky deck a GO! GO!) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL At the start of the level run along the walkway, while avoiding the cannons, and climb up the ladder at the end. Now, instead of jumping onto the spring, look to the left. See the bladed spinners? Good! Now use the homing dash on them to advance forward to the next platform. Once you reach the platform your reward will be waiting for you! -SKY DECK (sub level after the first section) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-(HARD if you suck at this zone) For Sonic's second Sky deck millennium ring, work through the sub-level as normal, listening for the warning siren to alert you when to grab on to something. When you reach the first horizontal ladder (I think it is the only ladder in this sub level) use it to get up on to the red platform, now immediately run over to the left. Near the edge of the ship you will see the ring. Again, you can E-mail me with any problems. -SKY DECK (general offensive) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-(HARD if you suck at this zone) At the end of the level, the millennium ring is in between two of the catwalks that you run on to get to the egg-capsule. -LOST WORLD (Tricky maze) DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY At the beginning of the level, the ring is just in front of the entrance to the long winding tunnel. If you can't find this I suggest giving up on videogames altogether :) -LOST WORLD (Danger! Chased by rock!) DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM This ring is hidden in the pitch-black room. Here are some rough directions on how to get to it: At the start, walk forward, light the mirror, move forward and kill or avoid the fire badnick, light the mirror at the end of the path, move forward, jump to the next platform, forward, avoid the spikes, move forward, jump to next platform, jump forward again, light mirror, kill or avoid another fire badnick, forward, light torch. The ring is located to the right of the mirror you have just lit. Remember to take you time with this level (I lose more lives here than any other level in SA!). -FINAL EGG (Mechanical resonance) DIFFICULTY: EASY After the room full of conveyor belts, look to the right just before going into the rotating tunnel, and you will find the ring stuck to a pillar. -FINAL EGG (sub level after the first section) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-MEDIUM To get to Sonic's second Final Egg millennium ring, take the first elevator you come across (just after the swinging hammers) down to the next level. Instead of going right, past the three spiked balls, down to the point marker, go left and turn the corner. You will see the ring in front of three item cylinders. -FINAL EGG (Crank the heat up!!) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-(EASY when you know how to do it) Play through the level until you reach the point marker just before Gamma's shooting range. Stand in between the point markers facing the range (you will see a ramp on the other side of the room), and rev-up a light speed dash. Just before the dash has finished charging, release it and press the analog thumb pad FOWARD, along with the jump button. The momentum from the dash will cause you to jump all the way over to the ramp on the other side. Spin up the ramp on to the ledge, to find the ring sitting there, waiting for you! MILES "TAILS" PROWER -------------------- -WINDY VALLEY (The air) DIFFICULTY: EASY This is in the same place as Sonic's 2K ring. Play through the third part of Windy valley until you get to the part in which Tails gets shot up in the air and free falls down to a platform with a point marker on it. While free falling, you can see the millennium ring on the platform you land on. Once again, this ring is very hard to miss if you just stick to the normal route. -CASINOPOLIS (Dilapidated way) DIFFICULTY: EASY Unlike Sonic, Tails starts in the sewer so finding the ring on this level is even easier. To get to the ring, simply reach the end of the sewer level, and you will see the giant ring buried in some trash to the right of the last set of spiked balls and chains. -ICECAP (Snowboard) DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY At the very end of the level (once Tails has taken of the snowboard) walk over to the right of the egg-capsule, and you will see the ring beside a tree and a log that has fallen on the ground. Obtaining this ring is really easy, because it is impossible to die in the snowboarding segment of the game. -SKY DECK (Sky deck a GO! GO!) DIFFICULTY: ??? I cannot find a ring anywhere in this level! Any help would be greatly appreciated! -SPEED HIGHWAY (Speed highway) DIFFICULTY: HARD Follow Tails' normal track until you come across a building that has a satellite dish tower on both sides, and a rocket over to the right hand side. There are also three badnicks as well (spiky spinners). In front of this building is a yellow platform, use it to jump over to a skyscraper, where the millennium ring is waiting. Sorry I can't be more descriptive, but there are no other land marks in this area. Any problems, you know what to do! KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA -------------------- -SPEED HIGHWAY (at dawn) DIFFICULTY: EASY At the start of the level, jump into the fountain and let it shoot you over to a passage in the building opposite to the bell-tower, now all you need to do is turn the corner, and the ring is right there! -CASINOPOLIS (Main hall) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL To get this ring, go just outside the vault (the place where Sonic stores his rings) and you will se a tilted spring. Jump on it, and let it spring you up onto the mast of a pirate ship. Now glide down to the stern of the ship (the back of the ship) and the ring is yours for the taking! -RED MOUNTAIN (symbol of thrill) DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM Okay, from the start, go forward and glide to the next ledge (the one with the bridge), then walk across the bridge and follow the track down around to a set of springs. Jump on the springs and let them take you to the next segment of the path. Keep following the path and kill or avoid the fire badnick. When you come to a rocket (close to a large hammer) use it to fly up to a cliff top with a pool of lava in the middle. There are two small hills on the left and right hand sides of the cliff-top, climb up the one to the right and the ring is stuck on the wall in between two large hammers. -LOST WORLD (Danger! Chased by rock!) DIFFICULTY: EASY >From Knuckles' starting position, walk to his right, and climb up the wall you come across. Eventually you will get to a hole in the wall. Climb into it, and you will see the ring half buried in the sand/water. -SKY DECK (general offensive) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-(MEDIUM if you suck at this zone) The ring is in the same place as Sonic's (in between two of the catwalks that you run on to get to the egg-capsule as Sonic). It is quite easy to reach. All you need to do is climb up one of the walls on either side of the sky deck, then climb or glide over to the ring. AMY ROSE -------- -TWINKLE PARK (Pleasure castle) DIFFICULTY: EASY-NORMAL This is another ring that is harder to find than it is to reach. The actual ring can be found in bottom of the pool located the middle of the of Twinkle park. (This is the pool that Big fishes in, when he plays the Twinkle park action stage). To find the ring, look in the corner of the pool closest to the castle. If you have found Sonic's Twinkle park Y2K ring, you will have noticed it is in the same place. -TWINKLE PARK (Mirror rooms) DIFFICULTY: EASY-NORMAL Keep following the path and it is impossible to miss this ring. -HOT SHELTER (Bad taste aquarium) DIFFICULTY: EASY Right above the emergency drainage switch. Another one of those impossible to miss rings. -HOT SHELTER (Crank the heat up!) DIFFICULTY: EASY In the monitor room, where you must put the four blocks in the slots to turn the monitor on. The ring is stuck to the monitor. -FINAL EGG (Mechanical resonance) DIFFICULTY: EASY Blocking the path to the escape balloon at the end of the level. Man, Amy's got it easy! BIG THE CAT ----------- -TWINKLE PARK (Pleasure castle) DIFFICULTY: EASY This is another ring that is harder to find than it is to reach. The actual ring is located in bottom of the pool that Big fishes in. To find the ring, look in the corner of the pool closest to the castle. -ICECAP (Limestone cave) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-MEDIUM This is Big's hardest to find millennium ring. >From the start, take the angled spring up onto the path, then follow the path around the until you get to a small pool. Dive in the pool, and swim through the underwater passage until you resurface. Take the only path over to the frozen lake and break the ice using the boulder. Then jump in the water to see the ring floating to the left had side of the screen. -EMERALD COAST(Big fishin') DIFFICULTY: EASY Simply walk over to the opposite end of the sand bar you start on to find the ring sitting out in the open. -HOT SHELTER (Bad taste aquarium) DIFFICULTY: EASY Big's last millennium ring is located in the same place as Amy's Hot Shelter ring. Look for it right above the emergency drainage switch. Yet another one of those impossible to miss rings. E-102 "y" (or just Gamma) -------- -FINAL EGG (Mechanical resonance) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL Although this ring is in the same position as Sonic's second Y2K ring, the method of reaching it is different. To get to the ring, go through the level as normal, until you reach a set of two springs. Use the springs to get on to the ledge above, then do a 180 degree turn. Now press UP on the D-PAD to look at your surroundings, and tap LEFT a few times so you can get a good view of the ring (which is on the opposite ledge). Now simply jump over to the ring. (The jump is made easier with the jet booster power up, but it is not necessary). -WINDY VALLEY (Windy hill) DIFFFICULTY: NORMAL-HARD NOTE: You must have the jet booster power up to reach the ring in this level. First, it is a good idea to locate the ring, so to get a good view of it, walk forward on to the first bridge, and press UP on the D-PAD. You should see the ring up ahead on top of a pillar. To reach the ring, cross the first and second bridges, then when you are at the end of the second bridge, walk to the left. You will see a break in the fencing. Jump off the platform at this break, and you will land on a small ledge with a spring and an item cylinder containing speed sneakers. Take the sneakers if you want, then jump on the spring. At the peak of your jump, use the jet booster to glide over to the top of the pillar where the ring awaits. -EMERALD COAST (Azure blue world) DIFFICULTY: EASY Gamma's third millennium ring is located on the boardwalk at the start of the stage, just before the first loop-the-loop (which is boarded of in Gamma's version of the level). You can't miss this if you stick to the track. This is located in the same place as Sonic's Azure blue world ring. -RED MOUNTAIN (Red hot skull) DIFFICULTY: NORMAL For Gamma's Red Mountain ring, follow the path until the end of the level, where you can see the millennium ring on a round platform close to where you fight E-104 "e". -HOT SHELTER (Red barrage area) DIFFICULTY: EASY-NORMAL You can find this ring on the front of the cargo train that Gamma has to ride (it's blocking the button you need to press to stop the train). You need to get the ring before you stop the train, because it will disappear when the train is stopped. ------------------------------------------------------- MINI GAME ------------------------------------------------------- SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ------------------ -ICECAP (Snowboard) DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY At the very end of the level (once Sonic has taken of the snowboard) walk over to the right of the egg-capsule and you will see the ring beside a tree and a log that has fallen on the ground. Obtaining this ring is really easy because it is impossible to die in the snowboard section of the game. This is exactly the same as Sonic's action stage version of the level. MILES "TAILS" PROWER -------------------- -ICECAP (Snowboard) DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY At the very end of the level (once Tails has removed the snowboard) walk over to the right of the egg-capsule and you will see the ring beside a tree and a log that has fallen on the ground. This is exactly the same as Tails' action stage version of the level. ======================================================= 5. MISCELLANEOUS ======================================================= -In the 'attract mode' (the demo when you leave the game going at the title screen) sometimes has millennium rings in it (e.g. Big's Emerald coast stage). The ring can also be seen in several FMA's (full motion actions), such as Sonic's, Knuckles' and Big's intros. -If you pull your VMU out while playing, all the millennium rings will disappear from the adventure fields and action stages. -The paragraph below is taken from the SA web page, it gives a brief description of the download: "Here it is folks the dreaded Y2K! Okay, so it's not really the new millennium, truth is, the millennium does not officially begin until 2001! However, to usher in the three zeros, Sonic Team presents the millennium download! Enjoy! Sixty-Two (62) Blocks". -Knuckes can climb up the outside of any Y2K ring (this serves no purpose, though). -If you examine the posters that appear on the SS central station, they give you little messages. The following is a list of the messages: -FAR-LEFT POSTER: A happy year in 2K Knuckles digs through 2K -LEFT POSTER A happy year in 2K Tails smiles through 2K -MIDDLE POSTER A happy year in 2K Please support sonic in 2K -RIGHT POSTER A happy year in 2K Sonic runs through 2K -FAR-RIGHT POSTER A happy year in 2K Wish you a good new year ======================================================= 6. REVISION HISTORY ======================================================= - 1.3+ Changed layout slightly - 1.3 Added the easy way to get Sonic's windy valley tornado ring. - 1.2 Added Amy's second Hot Shelter ring Added info about Gamma's Hot Shelter ring - 1.1 Added Kunckles' Speed Highway Y2K ring Fixed info on Sonic's first Final Egg ring Added info about posters to miscellaneous section Fixed loads of spelling and grammatical errors Added Knuckles climbing info to miscellaneous section Added badnick names Corrected web page info Added web page summary to miscellaneous section Added section on Sonic's second Final Egg ring Edited Sonic and Tails snowboard sections for the Mini-Game category - 1.0 First version, not much to say really! | -------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Please feel free to e-mail comments, and additions to me, at eggman@dr.com| | -------------------------------------------------------------------------|