____ _____ __ __ _____ | | | |\ | | | |____ | | | \ | | | | | | | \ | | | ____| |_____| | \| __|__ |______ __________ | | | __________| | | | __________| xKINGKOOLx Copyright 2004 Version: 1.0 - 15th of April 2004 - WOOt! My first guide! May have some updates soon. 1. Introduction 2. The story so far... 3. What's new in Sonic 3? (i) Zones (ii) Special Stages (iii) Bonus Stage (iv) Sonic + Tails, and their new abilities + sheilds (v) Basic controls (vi) Super Sonic 4. The Walkthrough (i) Angel Island Zone (ii) Hydrocity Zone (iii) Marble Garden Zone (iv) Carnival Night Zone (v) Icecap Zone (vi) Launch Base Zone 5. Special thanks to... 6. What's next? --------------- |1. Introduction| --------------- Hi guys! This is my first FAQ/Walkthough I've ever made! What inspired me to make this guide, was that this game is one of the greatest sonic games there is, and one of the greatest games ever. I loved this game from the moment I started playing - it was an amazing platformer, and I giant leap forward from the previous two games. Please note though guys - I don't want any of you copying parts of this guide for your own activities. I spent a long time on this and all I want is for you to enjoy reading it, and I hope it will help you with this game a lot. That's all I want to say. ---------------------- |2. The story so far...| ---------------------- If you have played the first two sonic games, you will know who sonic is and what he does. In his first adventure he foiled Dr. Robotnik's plans to take over the world and turn all sonic's friends into badniks, and he took hold of 6 of the 7 chaos emeralds. But Robotnik, with his 7th emerald, took over the Emerald Hill Zone and the surrounding island. Sonic travelled to the island, along with his trusty sidekick, Miles "Tails" Prower, and foiled Robotniks plan's again, and this time he got all 7 emeralds and changed into the mighty yellow super sonic! In this adventure Robotnik travels to the floating island, where he meets no other than Knuckles the Echidna, who guards the island and all it's inhabitants. Robotnik manages to convince Knuckles that Sonic and Tails are the bad guys - they have stolen the 7 chaos emeralds from him and are going to travel to the island to destroy it. Knuckles now lies in wait for our heros while Robotnik uses this time to try and get his Death Egg airborne again. So you must now attempt to foil Robotnik's plans for the third time, destroy his Death Egg and convince Knuckles you are the good guys. It won't be easy! :) ------------------------- |3. What's new in Sonic 3?| ------------------------- ----- i) |Zones| ----- There are only 6 zones in Sonic 3, with two acts each, but they are much longer than in the previous two games. Plus, there is a boss at the end of each act, instead of just at the end of the zone. Act 1 will feature one of Dr. R's creations and Act 2 will feature the big man himself. Collecting 100 rings and 200 rings in a zone gives you an extra life. There are other items in zones that you will come across as you play too. Note: Don't spend over 10 mins in an act or it will be time over and you will lose a life. -------------- ii) |Special Stages| -------------- Sonic 3 introduces a whole new type of special stage - The blue sphere stages! You access these through giant rings that are hidden throughout the zones. Jump into one and you will be teleported into a 3D arena with blue spheres, red spheres, star bumpers and rings. This is what each of these items do: Blue spheres - these are what you need to run through in order to complete the stage. Run through them all and you get a chaos emerald. However, when you have ran through a blue sphere it turns into a red sphere. Completely encircle a complete block of blue spheres with red ones and they ALL turn into rings. Nice! :) Red spheres - don't touch one of these, 'cos if you do, you will lose and you won't get the chaos emerald! :( Bumpers: Run into one of these and you will bounce off and start running backwards. They can be good or bad - it depends! O_o Rings - Collect all of these and you will get a perfect bonus of 50,000 points! :) They can be lying loose around the stage or hidden within blue/red spheres. Controls within the stages: D-buttons - turn left/right at intersections, start running forwards while running backwards after hitting bumper. A/B/C - Jump. (well what did you expect? O_o) What is the point of the special stages? Well, once you have all 7 emeralds, you can collect 50 rings, jump twice (press A/B/C twice quickly), and you will transform into super sonic! (if you are tails, bad luck.) See below for super sonic and what he can do. ----------- iii) |Bonus Stage| ----------- If you collect 50 rings and touch a star post, you will see a star circle spinning around it. Jump into it and be teleported into the bonus stage! :) In the bonus stage, there is a gumball machine at the top, and yellow bumpers at the sides. You will need to bounce off these to get to the machine, and flick the lever to release a gumball. Whatever is on that gumball tells you what will happen once you collect it. Black gumball - you will bounce off it. Red Gumball with B on - You will get a fire shield (see below for sheilds and what they do) Blue Gumball with B on - You will get a water sheild. Yellow Gumball with B on - You will get a lighting sheild. Green Gumball with Rep. on - this will replace the red springs at the bottom of the screen. Otherwise it does nothing. Pink Gumball with 1-up on - gives you an extra life! :D If you fall through the bottom of the screen, you exit the bonus stage. Also, as you hit the yellow bumpers they dissapear, so you can only stay in a certain length of time. ------------------------------------------------ iv) |Sonic + Tails, and their new abilities + sheilds| ------------------------------------------------ Sonic and Tails are the heros in this game. Sonic now looks different in this game - he looks older and has more facial expressions. They also have several new abilities: Sonic: Insta Sheild - Jump and press the jump button again in mid air to activate the sheild for a split second. This will protect you from damage. With fire sheild: 1. Mid air spin dash: Double jump and sonic will spin dash forward in mid-air doing damage to anything he hits. 2. Protection from fire. With water sheild: 1. Bounce: Double jump and sonic will bounce downwards onto the ground. 2. Sonic can breathe underwater. With lightning sheild: 1. Double jump: Double jump and sonic will do just that - jump slightly higher into the air! :) 2. Protection from electricity. 3. Attracts rings to you. Tails: Fly - Double jump and Tails will fly. :D Keep pressing the jump button again and again to fly higher. However, Tails will get tired after a while and fall back to earth. Tails only has the no. 2's and 3's for sheilds as he can't "use" the sheilds. Note: All the sheilds protect you from small bullets enemies shoot and the fire and electric sheilds fade off in water. -------------- v) |Basic controls| -------------- D-pad - move left/right, look up/down A/B/C - Jump D-pad down and A/B/C - rev up a spin dash - release buttons to blast off in a blaze of speed! Hold D-pad down while moving - super spin attack - roll along the ground. ----------- vi) |Super Sonic| ----------- OK, so Super Sonic isn't new in this game. But what is new is the fact that you can select when you want to become him. Unlike in Sonic 2, you don't become Super Sonic when you have all 7 emeralds, collect 50 rings and then jump. When you have these things in Sonic 3, you have to double jump to change into him. Also, Super Sonic looks different from Sonic 2's Super Sonic in this game. Super Sonic's abilities: 1. Invincible. 2. Can run twice as fast and jump twice as high as regular sonic. 3. Leaves white stars behind him as he runs at top speed. 4. Flashes from yellow to white and back to yellow instead of just staying blue. ------------------ |4. The Walkthrough| ------------------ OK, this is the actual walkthrough for the game. I will only cover the acts and the bosses - I will not cover most giant ring locations as that is in another guide. But I will mention a few to get you started. :) ----------------- i) |Angel Island Zone| ----------------- Firstly you will get an introduction where Sonic jumps off the plane, crashes into Knuckle-head, drops the emeralds, and Knuckle-head makes off with 'em. Now you can control Sonic. If you are playing Tails you won't get this introduction :( Act 1 This is basically the training act, where you can learn sonic and tails' moves. This isn't a hard zone if you are a pro to sonic games, but if you are a noob then take it easy. The first giant ring is right at the begining of the act. When you get to the first set of swinging vines, drop down, and spin dash throught the wall on the left and there is your first giant ring. Badniks include: robot monkeys that hang in trees and throw coconuts at you, and rhino like robots that charge at you. Mini-Boss: Flame Tank - 6 hits Pfft - easy - especially if you have the fire sheild. When he comes down, hit him a couple of times, then avoid the flame he shoots. He will then rise upwards out of your reach, then move across the screen and drop down at the other side. Repeat until he dies. With the fire sheild, hit him 6 times - nothing to worry about. BTW, don't hit him from underneath unless you have the fire sheild :) Act 2 Continue onwards through this easy second act. There is nothing new here except for the blue lighting worms - hit them on the head to kill them. At the end of the act a plane will chase you dropping bombs - keep holding right and you will be fine. Dr. R. will then appear in the background, so chase after him. Then you will fight him: Boss: Robotnik's Fire Ship - 8 hits Couldn't come up with a better name :P. Anyways, at the start he will appear on the left hand side of the screen, and will burn up the bridge - so don't be on it when he does. Next, he will dissapear behind the waterfall and reappear nearer to you. He will shoot fireballs at you which you must dodge. He will then dissapear then reappear again, and his pattern repeats. With fire sheild - piece of cake. Hit him when you can. 8 hits and his creation blows up. Hit the animal cage to free the animals, then you will run right to meet Knux on a bridge. He hits the button, the bridge explodes, and you fall into: -------------- ii) |Hydrocity Zone| -------------- Act 1 This is a watery zone that is longer than the previous zone, and you have a danger of drowning. Breath the large bubbles that appear out of certain areas. You won't always be underwater though. Try to stay out as long as possible. Nothing too hard about this zone. Badniks include piranas that attach to you and sap rings from you - 1 per second as long as they stay on - avoid these at all costs, gun turrets that shoot bullets at you - the water sheild will deflect these, and puffer fish robots that show and hide their spines - hit them when they retract their spines. Continue through this zone and you will soon be fighting: Mini-Boss: Water Churner - 6 hits This boss can be annoying, but easily beaten if you know what to do. He will come down from the ceiling, swooping under the pool where you are, once each direction. Then he will attach himself to the central pole, and churn the water into a twister that sucks you in. Just after he attaches himself is when you need to hit him. Get in 3-4 hits before he churns the water up, then 2-3 more before he flies away. If not, the pattern repeats, but you should easily beat him. Act 2 At the start of the act the wall on the left will try to close in and try to crush you, so you need to be quick at the start. After this the rest of the act is easy. Near the end, Knux will appear and smash a bridge, sending you towards: Boss: Robotnik's Flying Water Ship - 8 hits He will firstly come down from the ceiling a create a water twister, sucking you in - try to get in a few hits as he comes down. Then he will drop depth charges - time your jumps so that the explosion propels you up into Robotnik's ship :) Get in 8 hits and he will run away like the coward he is :P. Hit the plunger and free the animals, then a water tower will sent you flying into: ------------------ iii) |Marble Garden Zone| ------------------ Act 1 Hmm - a long zone this - and pretty tricky. It is set in a city high in the mountains (you were blasted high!) + there are all sorts of little things to trip you up - mud that you can sink into and die, badniks that look like spikes, etc. Jump on these badniks and they bounce you higher, even thought the top looks like spikes! LOL. Other badniks are robots similar to the puffer fish in Hydrocity - they show and hide their spines as well - expect they fly around. This zone is the only one in Sonic 3 without water. But when you reach the end of this act you will have to fight: Mini-Boss: The Two Drilled Machine - 6 hits. You met him earlier in the act - he made the land shake, and that is exactly what he does here. He firstly goes up into the ceiling, shaking debris from the ceiling. Only the spiked debris hurts you, so only avoid this. He will then drop down to try and hit you, then repeat his pattern. Hit him when you can, AWAY from the drills. Act 2 Virtually the same as Act 1, except there is a new badnik - the grasshopper, who jumps when you are close. Robotnik will appear a few times in this act - shaking the land and trying to make it collapse. You will have to be quick through these parts of the zone as you will get crushed if you are too slow. Reach the end and you will then fight him: Boss: Robotnik's Drill Machine - 8 hits He will appear at the top of the screen, point his drill downwards, then drill into the land, making it collapse. Hit him 3 times here if you can. Then you will take to the skies and fly after him! :) With Sonic, Tails will be carrying you. With Tails, you will fly solo. Robotnik will then attack from different angles with his drill from different sides of the screen - the pattern is left, up, down, left, and it repeats. With Sonic, hit him when you can, AWAY from the drills. With Tails, hit him from below with your spinning tails. This is one of the toughest bosses in Sonic 3, but he is beatable. ------------------- iv) |Carnival Night Zone| ------------------- Act 1 This is THE longest zone in this game, and possibly the longest zone in all the sonic games. It is not a bad zone but it is just too long for most people. Anyways, try to make it through this act as fast as you can - there are not many badniks and it is not too hard. The badniks that ARE in this act are robot shellfish that shoot spikeballs, and if you jump on top of them they bounce you like springs, and robot bats with light bulbs on the bottom - just hit these and they will die. Items are "jelly platforms" that you must first jump on to make them sink downwards, that jump, and they will rise. Repeat to get up to the platform you want to get up to. Also there are cylinders that you must move by shifting your weight up, then down, by pressing up, down, up, down at the right moment. Finally, bumbers that bounce you away, also giving you 10 points. :) Soon you will be fighting: Mini-Boss: Drill Machine that destroys blocks :P - 4 hits He will appear at the top of the screen, then shoot off the drill at the bottom of him. It will then rebound off everything, destroying the blocks you are standing on. You will need to destroy him before you are left with nothing to stand on. Firstly, hit him, when he is not charged with electricity. He will then stop and stick out his plunger at the bottom of him. The drill will then whack him, making him retract his plunger. Repeat this 3 more times and he will be gone. If you are left with few blocks to stand on, jump on the drill itself for a free ride. Try to beat him quickly. Act 2 THE longest act in the game. You have a real danger of running out of time in this act, because it is so friggin long - so just run throught his act as quickly and efficiantly as possible. No new enemies except for a badnik that shoots electricity at you after jumping from the ceiling to the floor, then back to the ceiling. Halfway through Knux will press a button that will make the water level rise. Before going under the water collect the water sheild near the bumpers. Soon the water level will sink again, allowing you to continue. At the end of the act you run into an area where Knuckles hits a button, causing you to be sucked up into a long thin cylinder. Then run to the right and you will reach: Boss: Robotnik's Electric Cruiser - 8 hits As if the act wasn't enough, this boss can be a bit tricky if you are unsure of what to do. To start with Robotnik will drop a ball on the ground, slightly forward of his current position. He will then focus his electricity onto it, power up and create an electric twister, that will attempt to pull you in. He will then stop, and drop down to pick up his ball. This is when you should hit him. This is a safe, yet time consuming way. For us experts you can save time my attempting to hit him between his electric generaters when he is in the air, and has just dropped his ball. This is risky though. However, however you attempt to hit him, 8 hits will do him in. Jump in the cannon and it will fire you into: ----------- v) |Icecap Zone| ----------- Act 1 Hurray - you have finally reached Icecap Zone - my personal favourite for this game and for many other people too. Partly this is because of the music, partly because the graphics are so stunning. At the start of this act, if you are playing Sonic you get to see him snowboard :). If you are Tails you won't :(. Either way, you will hit a wall and will be covered in snow, then you spindash through the right hand wall and continue onwards. Just in case you haven't got Super Sonic yet - when you reach the first button frozen in ice, jump over it and run into the ring chamber on the right. Most of the other items are frozen in ice, including item boxes - you will need to jump on them to smash the ice and get what you want. Spindash into the blue "cups" to move them upwards. Badniks are: orbinauts that throw icy spikeballs - Fire/Electric Sheilds destroy these blocks making defeating them easy, and penguins that walk around and slide at you on their bellies. This zone is much shorter than the previous two zones, although it can be a bit tricky. Mini-Boss - Ice Block Spinner - 6 hits Firstly he will come down from the top right of the screen, with several ice blocks spinning around him. He will then move across the screen in an arc, trying to hurt you. Stay on the left hand side or the right hand side of the screen if you don't want to get hurt. Then he will throw his ice blocks off, and they will drop down from the sky, attempting to hit you. However, this is when he is vunerable. Get in 2-3 hits here, before he repeats his pattern. Repeat until he is gone. Act 2 Not much different from Act 1, except this act features water. Just keep plodding onwards. Boss - Robotnik's Ice Blaster - 8 hits Oooh - a tough boss this. Firstly, he will come down from the top right of the screen, and lower his blaster. He will then move across the screen from right to left, and then left to right, shooting ice blasts from his machine as follows: left, down, right, down, and it repeats. Just occasionally he will shoot two down, so beware. If you are frozen, you lose all your rings. To beat him, wait until he shoots a blast from underneath his ship, jump on his blaster and whack him, then MOVE! Before he shoots another one underneath again. Repeat this until you have got 6 hits in. Then his blaster will fall off, and he will only shoot ice blasts underneath him. Hit him twice more IN THE FRONT and he's a gonner. ---------------- vi) |Launch Base Zone| ---------------- Act 1 Hurray - you have reached the final zone. This is probably one of the harder zones in this game, but not quite the longest. New items include - sirens that go off if you run through them, frogs with hammers, and black cylinders that spin you round as you run over them. If you STILL haven't got all the emeralds (Jeez) then the first giant ring is just below your starting position. Run onto the first giant cylinder, then make sure you fall off at the bottom. Run to the left, and you will see the entrance to the first ring chamber. Mini-Boss - Machine with two spinning maces - 6 hits He will start by spinning two maces around himself while heading towards you. He will occasionally retract them into his sides - this is when to hit him. After 3 hits one of his maces will fall off, making it even easier to hit him. To be honest, this is a very easy boss and you should have no trouble defeating him quickly. Act 2 Last act in the game. Not much different to the previous one, except it might be slightly longer and harder. Boss 1: Robotnik's Bowling Ball Machine - 8 hits He will appear at the top right of the screen, just out of your reach. He will then open a hatch at the bottom of his machine and a black ball at you. You must jump on this opening to the hatch before it closes again and jump and hit him. His pattern of where he shoots the balls is up, down, up, down etc, although he occasionally shoots two from the top. Defeat him and it's all over, or is it...? You will then jump in a eggmobile and fly across the sea to meet Knux for one last time. He will try to punch your machine back, but the ground starts to shake, which knocks Knuckles off the column on which he is standing. Say one last goodbye to him, and carry on flying. In the background you will see the Death Egg taking off. Finally you will reach a platform just below the Death Egg. This is the place where you will stay for the rest of the game. Boss 2: Robotnik's Laser Machine - 9 hits He will move upwards from the right hand side of the screen, shooting two laser beams from the sides of his machine. You will need to hit him on top WHILE avoiding his annoying spiked ball. He will then choose a direction, and descend, doing the same thing again. Hit him 4 times to remove one of his laser sections, 4 more to remove another, and once more to finish him. That MUST be it, right? Nope... Boss 3: Robotnik's Final Machine - 8 hits This is your doom... ahem, sorry - final boss for this game. He will start by swooping in from the right hand side of the screen, trying to grab you in his hands. You must perfect your jump so you hit him in between the spikes on top and hands below, otherwise you'll be in a world of hurt. After two swoops he will drop down below the platform you are standing on and move from left to right and then right to left, trying to hurt you. Don't try to hit him here. Then Robotnik starts his attack sequence all over again. Get in 8 hits and it really is all over. You will see your platform detach from the Death Egg, and then Robotnik's Death Egg explode in the distance. Congratulations, you have beaten Sonic 3! Sit back and watch the credits roll! -------------------- 5. |Special Thanks to...| -------------------- 1. The Sonic Staff for creating this magnificent game and inspiring me to create this guide 2. GameFaqs.com for telling me and showing me how to create such fantastic guides 3. All the other people who created guides and gave me tips on how to set out this guide. Thanks guys! ------------ 6. |What's next?| ------------ Well, I'm not sure where I'll go from here. This is the first guide I've made, but I might consider making other Sonic guides in the future. Until then... I'll have to wait and see. As for this guide... I might make some major or minor updates. Hope you enjoyed reading this guide and I hope it helped you complete this game. See you guys... until next time!