Sonic the hedgehog Guide. Version 1.00 - By Sabranan. Don't copy this file without my direct permission, at present it is only on Gamefaqs.com. Contact info is at the bottom. I made this guide for people who are already fairly good at this game. As anyone who's completed it will know at the end the game adds up all your points, and thats what we're hoping to increase. All the other guides just show you how to finish it, some don't even have good information of the emeralds and lives. I think this is the best Sonic 1 guide out there, if anyone's seen a better one please send it to me. Key: GI = General Information Nr = No rings Ch = Chaos Emerald First up, so there are no mistakes: · I am referring to sonic 1 on the master system. · The master system is not the mega drive (Genesis). It is also NOT the game gear. · As far as I know, there are no cheats for sonic 1. (Although, there are bugs in the game which can work to your advantage!) Second up, some points about this guide: · This is a guide for players who are either having trouble completing the game, or want to increase their score (or both) · The point of this guide is to help you get to the end, with as many points as possible. · This guide will tell you where all the Chaos emeralds and lives in the game are. · This guide will give you a walkthrough to beating each boss. Ok, some general pointers before we get into the individual levels (acts): · Lives are worth 5000 points at the end of the game. · 50000 points automatically gives you an extra life. · Rings (x) are worth x * 100. I.E. 50 rings = 5000 points. (The Special Stage is different, and explained later) · If near the end of an act, you find you have something like 99 rings, DON'T get 100. You will get an extra life, but 99 rings are worth more points. Plus, you need between 50-99 rings to go to the special stage. · Try to get to the special stage as often as you can. It’s worth loads at the end of the game. You can’t get to it after you’ve finished Labyrinth. · There is an extra life in EVERY ACT OF EVERY ZONE, GET THEM ALL. · Get shields, they protect you from loosing valuable rings. · There is a roll technique to move very fast, on a higher ledge, roll of the edge and hold the direction you want to move, you'll go much faster than normal speed. Amazing for underwater (try it on Green hill act 2 to boost your time bonus). · When you face a boss, the screen won't scroll, you can't go to a more convenient location. · Bop all the badniks you can, they’re worth a few extra points. Ok, the acts... GREEN HILL ZONE GI - Cool level for training, not that people reading this should need to train much on this level... Nice background music and an easy boss. Act 1 Don’t be fooled by this levels apparent simplicity, you have to be quite good to complete this level well. By well, I mean in under 30 seconds, making sure to collect the extra life on the way, and to get over 50 rings by the end. If you manage to complete it in under 30 seconds, you get a good time bonus, which can be an amazing 30000 if you do it right. That's worth 6 lives! The trick is, run and jump, collect rings if you happen to get the opportunity, but DON'T backtrack, every second is essential here. Jump and roll when you get to the first 10 ring TV then go off the edge and use the roll technique to go faster, and bop the crab badnik. Keep running and jumping and get the invincibility TV, and about halfway down the long slope just ahead, roll and land a centimetre or 2 before the speed boots, roll off the edge and jump keep running and jumping through the level (with the speed boots, you can jump much further) My best time on this level is 23 seconds, but to get that you have to do it perfectly. Very satisfying time bonus if you do though. The extra life is in a tree, hidden. Try to get it (you may be able to bounce on top of it with the speed boots, and continue like nothings happened (if you can do that, then DO IT!)), it's a little way past the first spike pit. The treetop will sparkle slightly, which is how you recognize it. Get underneath it and jump (hit the bottom of it), and it will fall down (it can't squash you, don't worry!) However, getting more than 50 rings is good, as in the long term you get access to all the special stages, which as explained in that section gets you LOADS of points if you follow this guide. If you can get more than 50 rings and complete the level very fast, well done, you may be as good as me! Act 2 Ch First, don't worry about going over the top with ring collection, you can't. There are 98 rings in the whole act. The extra life on this level is hidden in a wall (just jump through it), located to the left of the first lot of water you come to. Use the roll technique to go fast underwater (really is nice to know that trick in this level). Once you have gone right enough to get to the checkpoint TV, hit the spring and go up. Don't hit the second spring though, instead go left. Use the roll technique to go fast underwater, and to bop the crap badnik. On the far left, drop down, the chaos emerald is there. Go right to the spring, and this time go on the second one too. Go to the left inside again, and jump over the drop (there is a 10 ring TV to the far left of this part if you want it), hit the spring taking you through the ground to the surface again. Go on the moving platform and roll down the slope, but not too fast. There is a bug here, if you go too fast down this slope, you'll get stuck rolling forever in the same place and have to restart, or wait for the time to run out (Quicker to restart). Act 3 - Boss Nr Easy boss, go right and jump over the first drop, continue and drop down the second drop. Go right until you get the extra life, but don't bother trying to jump over the spikes. Go back, to the spring and get up to the surface on the right side of the drop. Keep going right, until you eventually get to the boss. Stay on the far left side of the screen. Ignore him until the second time he touches the left side of the screen, when he'll slowly descend. Hit him as many times as you can, (generally 5) then either jump or roll and hit him as he fly's, quite fast to the right. He'll come from the top right after this, and he's low enough now so that at times you can jump up and hit him (you couldn't do this before, he's slightly higher the first time he passes). Hit him twice more and he'll retreat. Go and free the animals. BRIDGE ZONE GI - My favourite zone, nice scenery and the best music. Harder than green hill though... Act 1 Ch A nice, easy warm up to bridge. First up, go right and start jumping over the drops, make sure you don't fall... This is a fairly easy zone, as long as you time you movement right. The extra life is on top of a high ledge, which to get you need to go on the second counterweight bouncer, bouncing twice before holding hard right. The chaos emerald is virtually impossible to miss, but to get it, go on the first segment of the collapsing bridge, and go down far enough to jump over and get the chaos emerald, but not so far that you die. If you miss it but survive, you can always try on the next segment, but obviously it gets more difficult as you go across. All the way through this level, watch out for springs designed to push you back into the water. Act 2 - Moving Screen Don't bother going for a time bonus here, this level will take you no less than 1 minute and 59 seconds to complete. That means, take your time, be cautious to the extreme. Try hard to get 99 rings here; you have the time to do it. The screen doesn't scroll with you on this one, it scrolls quite slowly but at a set rate until right at the end. You can't backtrack before the left edge of the screen, and you can't go further than the right edge. The extra life is floating in water, keep looking down as you go along and you should spot it no probs. It sometimes doesn't look like it, but you'll bounce up high enough to easily make it back to the ledge. Act 3 - Boss Nr First, get the extra life by running to your left. Then proceed right and jump onto the middle ledge, (there are 3 ledges, one in the middle and two at the far opposites of the screen). The boss appears in 1 of the 2 water drops (randomly I think). When he appears, jump fairly high and bounce on him 4 times (less and you risk getting hit by the balls he fires, plus we're going for speed here), for the 4th, you go a little underwater, DON'T worry; you wont die (But don't risk trying for a 5th). He'll fire 3 balls, but they won’t hit you as you are bouncing on him. After 4 bounces, get back to the middle ledge. Repeat this once more, and after 8 hits he retreats. JUNGLE ZONE GI - Like a real jungle, this place is a complex route. The game gets obviously more difficult here, and the chaos emeralds get harder to get. Excepting the last boss, this is the hardest boss in the game. Act 1 Ch The extra life is on the first waterfall, when you see it, it's obvious how to get it, just jump on the lower ledges till the third on the right, then go up to the 4th, then jump left twice and you've got it. For time bonus, you don't need to go on the logs on the second waterfall; you can jump right over the whole thing (But watch for the spring on the other side). To get the chaos emerald, on the third waterfall follow the first log down to the bottom, and you should see a ledge you can jump to your left. Jump on it, and go left. Drop down onto the log in the water, and ride it (Just hold the direction you want to go) as far left as you can. Then jump onto the ledge, grab the emerald and get back on the log. Go right AS FAR AS YOU CAN, don't stop until the log CAN'T go any further (Ifa waterfall log is heading for you though, avoid it, it will dislodge you), then jump up onto the green vine above, go a little over half way up it and roll down holding hard right (otherwise you'll fall into the water and die, beleive me it happens), most likely hitting the 10 ring TV when you land. Keep going, use the log roll but watch for the fish, then jump down to the right (may want to get on the ledge and duck to see exactly where to jump to), jump over the next hole and you're at the end. Act 2 - Can't go down Need some skill to get a good time bonus here... The extra life is easy to get, but jump on it then move left or right... It's in the same place as a spring. I can't really give a walkthrough on this level, it's skill that matters. If you want the extra life, keep to the left though when you have the choice. YOU CANNOT GO DOWN AT ANY TIME IN THIS LEVEL, ONCE THE SCREEN SCROLLS UP, IT WON'T GO DOWN AGAIN YOU'LL JUST DIE. Be careful! Once a ledge is below the bottom of the screen, you can't get on it again. The only things to watch out for are the occasional badniks that shoot balls at you, a couple of spikes and some logs fall, if you look you’ll see they look slightly different than the others, just jump on and off them as quick as possible (which you should be doing anyway, time bonus!). Act 3 - Boss Nr First, to get the extra life keep going right until you come to the water. Drop down into it, and go right (Not too far though), you'll see it. Then get out of the water, and go up the green vines until you reach the boss. This boss is really annoying sometimes... Don't fall off the edge of the green vine you're on or you'll die. The best strategy I find is to hit him once as he comes down to drop a ball, then AFTER the ball has rolled past you, try and hit him again. It doesn't matter if you can't, it's worth the time loss for a life here (of course if you can, go right ahead). Then, as the ball comes past you again, standing near the left edge of the vine, jump and hit him while he's about halfway across. Once he gets to the other side, he will drop a ball, just repeat the process but from that side. After a while, the balls take longer to blow up than usual, so make sure you avoid them (as there can sometimes be 2 at a time) At all times, as you come down from hitting Robotnik, be careful you don't land on his bombs, it's difficult, good luck on this one. LABYRINTH ZONE GI - Labyrinth is the worst zone... You can't move very fast because of the water, but it's a good place for the roll technique. Underwater, you don't have unlimited air, you need to surface or collect air bubbles which come from tiny bubbles every now and then. You get a countdown meter above your head when you're loosing air, don't let it get to 0 or you die. Act 1 Well... I can't really offer a walkthrough on this... But the extra life is located in a 10 ring TV. After coming out of the water, go left and hit the switch, the 10 ring TV turns into an extra life TV. Above and to the left of the first set of spikes that come out of the ground, there’s a bubble shield. Get this if you can, because it’ll help you in act 3. Act 2 Ch Ok, the extra life... When you come across the first dragon in the wall, shooting balls at you, go left (don't drop down to the right), picking up the bubble on the way. Keep going left but mind the spikes. Drop down, and continue left, watching out for platforms that take you into the spikes if you stay on them. Once you have the life (you need to roll into it) come back, quickly. By the time you get back you will have the countdown thing on your head, so get the first bubble you come across. Sometimes, you just dont have the time to get it. Still, considering you'd have the extra life anyway it's worth the risk. To get the Chaos emerald... After coming out of the water, go up to find an invincibility TV. Grab it and get back into the water and run through the corridor to the right. At the far right, jump left and right until you reach the top then go left. Find the spikes. Fall in and get the chaos emerald. Afterwards, get out before you loose invincibility. Act 3 - Boss Nr The extra life in this level is the hardest to escape with in the game, no need to worry about air on this level even though you're underwater. If you want to try getting the extra life, go right, get on the spring and hold left. Navigate through the spikes to the far left and collect it. Quite easy to collect, but getting out's very hard. It's the hardest challenge in the game really... The main problem is the first spikes from the right, you need to jump over a tiny ledge but not hit the spikes above you. There is a way to do it though, by using the shield. If you have it, go as far right as you can then turn around, facing left. Jump into the spikes, and though you’ll loose your shield you’ll fall right, out of the way of the spikes. For the boss, go on the spring holding right. When you get there... There are 3 ways for Robotnik to come in, but unlike the bridge zone boss he follows a set pattern. He comes from the middle big drop, then the left shoot, then the right shoot. Don't hit him when he comes on the middle drop, often you don't bounce high enough to make it back. Stay on the left and avoid the balls he fires when he's in the middle. Hit him twice as he drops down from the left shoot; avoid the torpedo he fires, and then jump over to the right ledge. Do the same when he comes down the right shoot, and then jump back to the left. Repeat the whole process once more and he's beaten. SCRAP BRAIN CITY GI - Cool level... Futuristic look and matching music... (Door means 2 things here, the auto open/shut doors, and the doors in which the game loads a new part.) Act 1 Well, not much to say. The extra life is on a conveyor belt (moving), get it quickly before it falls off the edge. Just keep going right, and avoid falling and there's not much to worry about. Do watch out for the electrifiers on the ground (zaps out lightning) and the flames that come from holes in the ceiling. This is one of the shorter levels in the game though, just head right. Act 2 Ch Ok... I'll start from the point where you see an extra life in a one way door to your left. There are 2 ways to go, straight on or on the upper ledge. Take the upper ledge, and keep going through the door. Keep going right, jump over the first 2 holes but drop down the 3rd. Go right, through the door then the teleporter and the chaos emerald is to your right. Go left, through the door and go up the platforms. Hit the switch once, even though it blocks off access. Go back down the platforms to the ground, and head left. Go through the door and jump over all 3 holes (avoid the flames). Go down the slope, through the door. Go left until you find the door blocking access to the extra life. Go on the lower route this time, through the door. Go right, and fall to the bottom of the shaft, then LEFT. Through the teleporter, and you can get the extra life. Go on the lower slope once again, and this time follow the paths down (right left right left) until you see a part where upon going right, you can jump through the big shaft to another room. Keep going right to the teleporter. After using it, go left and fall (now you see why you hit that switch! ). Keep going left, up the hill then right, and then the end is just ahead... Phew! Act 3 - Boss Ok... This is the only boss level with rings in it, but as irony would have it, you don't face a boss just see him. The place is a maze, so I'll tell you the route. When I say go right (for e.g.), keep going until you can't go any further, unless otherwise specified (makes it shorter). The route I'm giving you includes getting the extra life, if you don't want to bother with it, when you see @ then skip until the next @, then carry on. First, go right, jumping over the holes, go through the door, and then Continue right until you see another drop (after going through 2 more doors). Go right (ignore the electrifier, it doesn't work) until you see another spring, then use it to go up left, go left, through one door, then up the spring (holding left). Go left through one door, then up right. Go right through one door, then up right, then right through the door then up @ right, go right through the door, and keep going right until you drop down, go left, get the life and you'll see a spring use it to go up left, go left, through one door, then up the spring (holding left). Go left through one door, then up right. Go right through one door, then up right, then right through the door then up @ left, through the door, jump across the drop and jump OVER the switch. Keep going left, through the door until you come to a spring. Go up right, and keep going right until you see Robotnik running away, follow him, then take the lift he takes. You've done it. SKY BASE GI - This is it... the final confrontation. The acts are too different really to give and good general info. Act 1 This is the hardest level in the game, go slowly... Lighting flashers and cannons are a real pain here, be cautious, and stay as far up as you can. The extra life is easy to miss on this level... But to get it you have to stay low, and keep checking if you can go left. This level is a little complex so I can't tell you exactly where to go, near the end though, when you get to the flying platforms, go on the first one and duck, when you see the second, jump down onto it. Keep going on that one, but be careful! There are two lightning flashers, but jumping straight up stops the platform, so you can stop until you're sure it's safe. Jump on the vertically moving platforms, and onto the high ledge. That's the end. Act 2 Ch Nr This is seriously easy... Don't move, wait until you can see a flying platform and jump on it. Keep on it until you see a 2nd under a ladder, jump on the ladder rungs and keep jumping until you are at the top. Get the extra life and go right, (don't fall) you should be able to see the 3rd platform. Jump on it and keep going until you see the 4th. Get on that, and keep going until you see the vertically moving platforms, get on it, and jump left. Get the chaos emerald, and continue left (you can go through the chain) AVOID THE CANNON SHOTS, IT'S EASY TO DIE HERE. There is a pattern to them (as with most things in this game), so watch for a moment if you need to before making your move. Keep going left, and run through the wall. You'll reappear at the far left, go right and keep going, the ends just ahead. At the start, if you try to go up, not only is it MUCH harder (but possible none the less), you cannot get the extra life or the chaos emerald. You always get 10 rings from the spinner at the end on this level. Act 3 - FINAL BOSS Nr Ok... You've made it. The extra life is right in front of you, but only if you’ve collected all the extra lives before this level (one in every act). Go right until you see Robotnik in a glass chamber. Hit it twice, and then run left as far (and as fast!) as you can. The two moving objects when they reach Robotnik will start firing lightning, so keep to the left. When they reach the bottom of the very small slope, they stop. Run right quickly and hit him twice again, then get back to the left. Repeat this again. After 6 hits, the pattern changes, they won’t fire lightning again yet... They just come towards you and stop at the slope. When they're at the slope, run past them and hit Robotnik twice, no more, then get back, avoiding the lightning. The first time you run past them the firing pattern can seem erratic; it really helps to have a shield here because there are no rings. Time it right, and repeat this, and after 4 more hits he'll retreat. When Robotnik jumps on the spring in his chamber, the ball will power up above him and release. It's heat seeking and heads for you, jump to avoid it. Ensure you time your attacks so when you charge him so the ball doesn't come right then too. When Robotnik retreats, follow him (you can actually get on the teleporter and leave before him!), he'll teleport away, follow him. That's it, you've finished the game. Now watch the ending, and then the game will count up your score. My personal best is 1328000, try and beat it! SPECIAL STAGES GI - Ok... You get to these by getting 50 or more rings (but getting 100 resets the rings to 0) when you hit the end of act marker, provided you are on a level BEFORE scrap brain city. Once there you can't get to the special stages and more. The score per ring is different as you go to different special stages (I will quote it on each one). On all special stages unless specified otherwise, try to get the continue TV, then the life TV, then 99 rings, and then finish the stage. The springs in the special stages are of different strengths according to their colour. The purple ones are the weakest, the orange are medium and the greens are really strong. ONE OTHER THING, CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN THE SPECIAL BONUS AT THE END OF THE GAME PLEASE? MY GUESS IS YOU GET POINTS FOR EACH SPECIAL STAGE YOU DO BUT I'M NOT SURE... SS1 1 ring = 100 points No extra life you can get here, just go for the continue TV and 99 rings (as always, don't get 100 as it resets). Not hard at all, just head right. The continue TV is past the first large coil, and then use the green springs to go up right. Keep going right, it's in the very top right corner. Then go left and drop down, heading right until you have 99 rings and have finished the level. SS2 1 ring = 200 points Ok, run right and when you fall into the springs you start rolling. Keep going right, and drop down. Avoid the bouncers, and go left. After a while you'll see the continue TV, so get under it and knock it down (hit it directly underneath (don't worry, it can't squash you)). Keep going right, and you'll see the extra life. Knock it down, and then you need to get between it and the bouncer if it falls that far, easy to get into but harder to get out without loosing control. After that, just go right, go up, and the ends in sight. SS3 1 ring = 300 points Go right, but this special stage is more difficult. You can't miss the extra life and continue as there's no way around it. However, it's very easy to hit a purple spring pointing backwards and loose control. Just keep heading right and you'll be fine. SS4 1 ring = 400 points This is a pinball machine... You drop, all the way on this one. Stay near the centre as you go if you want the continue and extra life, there are flippers on the left and right which you can use to propel yourself back up. Be careful, the final part of the drop has loads of rings; don't get so many that you reset the total. You want to drop down it with just over 80 rings. 1 life = 5000 points, 99 rings here = 39600 SS5, 6, 7 and 8 SS5 1 ring = 500 points, SS6 1 ring = 600 points, SS7 1 ring = 700 points, SS8 1 ring = 800 points. Exactly the same as the first set of special stages, except the ring bonus is more and there are extra red moving bouncers. They are small and generally aren't a problem or assistance. When you get to these special stages, make sure you get lots of rings... I.E. In SS8, 99 rings are worth 79200 points, also getting you an extra life, worth another 5000 in the end... The equivalent of over 16 lives! Enjoy! Ok... Now we get to contact info and such. My email address, sabranan@tiscali.co.uk. It's also the one I use for MSN messenger. For email don't clutter up my mailbox with messages... Or I'll just delete them all. Send one, and I'll respond to that... Send advice, other hints, your top score... And I may respond if I feel your letter need a response (I.E. If you ask questions or whatever). I won't bother responding if you ask questions already in the FAQ, so don't waste our time.