I must have been wasted when I wrote this, but I haven't touched alcohol in my life, sooooo... _________ .__ __ .__ / _____/ ____ ____ |__| ____ _/ |_| |__ ____ \_____ \ / _ \ / \| |/ ___\ \ __\ | \_/ __ \ / ( <_> ) | \ \ \___ | | | Y \ ___/ /_______ /\____/|___| /__|\___ > |__| |___| /\___ > \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ ___ ___ .___ .__ ________ / | \ ____ __| _/ ____ ____ | |__ ____ ____ \_____ \ / ~ \_/ __ \ / __ | / ___\_/ __ \| | \ / _ \ / ___\ _(__ < \ Y /\ ___// /_/ |/ /_/ > ___/| Y ( <_> ) /_/ > / \ \___|_ / \___ >____ |\___ / \___ >___| /\____/\___ / /______ / \/ \/ \/_____/ \/ \/ /_____/ \/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 Walkthrough A thanks to Last Updated: December 9th, 2007 network-science.de/ascii Written by: 1Macabre for the c a b i l a n 8 3 @ l i v e . c o m ASCII art! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 - Introduction 1.1 - Copyright Information 1.2 - Version History 2.0 - Game Information 2.1 - Controls 2.2 - Rings & Monitors 2.3 - Bonus Stages 2.4 - Chaos Emeralds 2.5 - General Hazards 3.0 - Zone Walkthrough 3.1 - Angel Island Zone 3.2 - Hydrocity Zone 3.3 - Marble Garden Zone 3.4 - Carnival Night Zone 3.5 - Icecap Zone 3.6 - Launch Base Zone 4.0 - Additional Information 4.1 - Competition Mode 4.2 - Cheats 4.3 - Missing Zones 4.4 - Sonic & Knuckles 5.0 - Closing 5.1 - Acknowledgements 5.2 - Contact ======================================================================== 1.0 - Introduction ======================================================================== Thanks for choosing this FAQ! My name is 1Macabre, and I am pleased to present to you this FAQ for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on Sega Genesis! Hope- fully, if you're stuck on that evil part of Carnival Night with the bobbing barrels, can't locate the Chaos Emeralds, or any other problem of the sort, this guide will lend a helping hand. Allow me to give a brief history of Sonic. In 1991, a small company known as Sonic Team, working for Service Games (Sega), developed a small platformer to compete with Nintendo's mascot, Mario. To their astonish- ment, their game "Sonic the Hedgehog" was tremendously popular in Japan, Europe and North America. Since then, a long chain of sequels and spin- offs (literally) were released, and over the years, the blue hedgehog's reputation started to decay. One of the solid sequels, however, was Sonic the Hedgehog 3. It offered massive and lengthy levels, gameplay twists, unique character attributes and a story that ties the levels together. It set a high bar for Sonic games that no sequel has reached since. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.1 - Copyright Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This guide was written by 1Macabre. If you own a website and would like to host this guide, it may be distributed as long as nothing is changed, and I receive credit as author. Additionally, if you are hosting this guide and would like a link to it placed below, email me with the details. GameFAQs.com NeoSeeker.com Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters and places are copyrights (c) of Sega Enterprises 1994. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.2 - Version History ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version 1.2 - December 09, 2007 - Almost two years has passed since the last time I updated this, but it still feels like yesterday. Some small updates this time, including my new email address. Version 1.1.2 - January 23, 2006 - Added how to defeat MGZ's boss with Tails, thanks to feedback from a reader. Though, I'm probably the last person to learn how to do it :) I also made some typo corrections here and there, and I plan on adding a few more sections to the "Additional Information" category. Version 1.1 - January 9, 2006 - I really wanted to have more done for this update but I owe some people credit, including NeoSeeker.com. Add- itionally, I cleaned up some typos here and there. Version 1.0 - December 31, 2005 - First version complete. ======================================================================== 2.0 - Game Information ======================================================================== Read the following carefully, so you will know how things work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.1 - Controls ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The controls are all the same throughout the game. Give them all a try when starting! Start: Pauses/unpauses the game. A/B/C: Jump! If you tap A as Tails, his two tails spin like a rotor blade and allow him to fly. As Sonic, pressing A in mid-air will trigger what's called "Insta-shield" a shiny wisp temporarily protects him. Useful in boss fights. Left/Right: Move in the corresponding direction, if applicable. Up: Your character will look up. If they stare up long enough, the camera pans up a little, letting you see what kinds of obstacles are above. Down: Your character will duck. After a while, the camera pans down and lets you see what sorts of nasty things await below. Also, ducking gets you poised for spin-dashing. Down + A/B/C: This causes spin-dashing to occur. Keep pressing A, B or C to build en- ergy (indicated by a squealing friction noise) then release Down to launch Sonic and/or Tails with extra speed! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.2 - Rings & Monitors ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rings, as in any Sonic game, are very important. Little yellow rings are scattered everywhere throughout the level. At the end of an act, you'll get 100 points for each ring you have. When Sonic or Tails get hurt, every ring they have (if any) will spill everywhere, giving you just a brief chance to gather them. However, if you get hurt with zero rings, you die and lose a life! Obtaining 100 rings will earn you a 1-up, as indicated by a crazy little music cue. As for the monitors, those are little television-looking devices that you can break open and get an item. You will know what to expect by the image that's on the monitor's screen. Behold: Your character's face: Get a 1-up. Shoe: Temporary speed-up. The music's tempo also increases. Sparkles: Temporary invincibility accompanied by a crazy tune. Bubble: Bubble shield. It deflects projectiles, allows Sonic to do a bubble-bounce (enhanced insta-shield), and lets you breathe underwater! Flame: Fire shield. It deflects projectiles, lets Sonic do a "meteor- jump," and defends everyone from fire-related dangers. Bolt: Electricity shield. It deflects projectiles, let's Sonic do a "lightning jump," and projects everyone from electricity-related attacks which, as far as I can remember, there aren't any. Also, if you are close enough to rings, they will gravitate towards you! Robotnik: Breaking this open will hurt you... so don't do it. Letter S: Gives you 50 rings and turns you "super," even if you don't yet have all the emeralds. Accessable only in debug mode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.3 - Bonus Stages ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When you have at least 50 rings, run past a check-point lamp post and a little ring of stars appear above it. Jump into the star-circle to teleport to the bonus stage! At the bottom is a row of red springs. If you hit these, they collapse, making a bottomless pit. If you fall in, you exit the stage. On the walls are yellow flippers that flick Sonic back and forth, grad- ually going upwards. They disappear afterwards, though. And at the top of the stage, there's a large gumball machine. Make Sonic or Tails go past the crank to make a sphere with a power-up fall out. The power-ups go like this: Blue gumball with B: Bubble barrier, common. Red gumball with B: Fire barrier, common. Yellow gumball with B: Electric barrier, common. Gray gumball with Ring: You will get 10 rings, rare. Pink gumball with 1-up: You get a 1-up! This is rare. Green gumball with Rep: Repairs the red springs at the bottom, if they have already collapsed. Rare. Black gumball: Bounces you away. This can be either good or bad depend- ing on where you're at. It could bounce you to the bottomless pit or up to the gumball crank. Moderate. Clear gumball: You get NOTHING!!! Mostly serves as a false alarm to make you chase after it only to realize it's empty. Moderate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.4 - Chaos Emeralds ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In each act, there are (at least) 2 giant rings that will take you to the Special Stage. In the Special Stage, you're on a pseudo-3D small planet where you run around and pick up blue spheres, without touching the red spheres. Every time you hit a blue sphere, it turns red, so you can't retrace your steps. If blue spheres are arranged in a formation, collect only the ones on the outside edge. Doing this converts them all to rings that you can collect. Speaking of rings, get 50 of them in the Special Stage to earn an elusive Continue. Here is the effect of the different spheres: Blue sphere: It turns into a red one when you hit it. Red sphere: Boots you out of the Special Stage empty-handed. :( Orange sphere: Flicks you up into the air with a boing-noise. Land care- fully! White sphere with red star: With a ding, it bounces you backwards. This is bad, because you can't see what you're about to hit, and chances are it'll be a red sphere you hit next... Ring: Gives you a ring! After all the blue spheres have been collected, you get a Chaos Emerald. There are seven in all, so you must locate and conquer all seven Special Stages. After you do this, Sonic can become Super Sonic! Tails gets no- thing for his efforts. To become Super Sonic, collect the 7 Chaos Emeralds, get 50 rings in a normal stage, and do insta-shield. With a flash, Sonic becomes Super Sonic. This should help you out through the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.5 - General Hazards ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Water: You have a total of 30 seconds to live underwater. After about 15 seconds, Jaws music starts playing, and soon enough, a 10-second count-down begins. If it reaches zero, you die! You can extend your time underwater by looking around for cracks where bubbles emerge. Look for large bubbles and jump into it, and Sonic or Tails will inhale it, supplying oxygen. Also, watch out for anything you could potentially get crushed in, hori- zontally or vertically. If you get crushed, you die. Be wary of bottomless pits. There aren't a whole lot, but they are still there nonetheless. If you fall in, guess what happens... you die! If you get hurt at all with zero rings, you die! If the timer gets to 10 minutes, you time out and die! If you sink in oil, you die! If the game crashes, you die! Also take note that Super Sonic, while invincibile to enemies and spikes, can still die in the following ways: Drowning, getting crushed, falling into a chasm, timing out, or sinking in oil. ======================================================================== 3.0 - Zone Walkthrough ======================================================================== Detailed here are the six zones from Sonic 3. Note that the other eight zones can only be accessed in "Sonic & Knuckles," described near the end of this FAQ. When the game first starts up, press Start to access the save selection screen. Choose a file, preferably the first one, and choose your char- acter. Your choices are: Sonic, Tails, or Sonic being followed by Tails. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.1 - Angel Island Zone ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Act 1 In the intro, Sonic is standing on the wing of Tails' plane, riding over the sea. Sonic jumps off and disappears, then becomes Super and skims over the sea's surface. He rips through some trees for a moment until Knuckles the Echidna jumps up from the ground and knocks Sonic down, then steals the emeralds. You should take this small interlude of the level to get used to the controls. Almost all basic land-forms are here for you to see how they affect Sonic's movement. The first entrance to the Special Stage isn't far off, either. When the stage starts, keep going right until you go off a crumbling cliff with some swinging vines after it. Drop down below them and then spin-dash left, smashing through rocks and entering the Special Stage. In the middle of the level, an army of Battery Blimps descends and scorches the entire rain-forest. You can attempt to kill it, but it is invincible at this time. When gameplay resumes, go right until you see a path leading down. Go down and then spin-dash left, smashing through more rocks. Jump on the red spring to launch into another Special Stage entrance. Act 1 Boss: Battery Blimp ------------------------- The blimp that burnt the rain-forest returns at the end of the act. If you grabbed the fire-shield just prior to the fight, this is even easi- er. Don't hit the bottom because fire comes out; rather, hit the top of it 6 times to win. Careful, It shoots fire. Act 2 Act 2 isn't much different besides different music. From the start, go through the wavy tube at high speeds and you'll be spit out right next to another Special Stage entrance. Continue on for a while. Notice the water; it's not deep enough to drown you so don't worry. The path to the end is mainly linear. The fourth giant ring can be found at the bottom of the last large waterfall before the boss fight, hidden to the right a little. When the Flying Battery descends and starts chasing you, just dash to the right and keep going, so you don't get hit by the many bombs it drops. If Tails is following you, he won't be so lucky. After that's over, you'll see Dr. Robotnik flying behind the trees. Onward!!! Act 2 Boss: Robotnik's Fire-Spitter ----------------------------------- Robotnik emerges from behind the waterfall and blasts the bridge away. He goes behind the waterfall to hide, but you can see his silhouette and be able to tell where he's going. Hit him whenever he pops out, but watch out for fire-balls. Hit him 8 times to win. After that's over, a flying egg-capsule lowers, hit its button to free the animals. After that, a bridge lowers, and Sonic tries to cross it. Unfortunately, Knuckles stomps a switch and the bridge breaks, and Sonic falls into the abyss of the waterfall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.2 - Hydrocity Zone ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Act 1 This place, from what I can tell, is a remade version of Labyrinth Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. The waterfall swept you into this weird underground cathedral that's flooded with water. If you are Tails, hold Left when the level starts to land on a higher platform. Then fly up and to the right to take a different route than Sonic usually does. As for Sonic, hit the gray switch to open a hatch, and the stream forces you through a tunnel filled with spikes. Navigate up and down to avoid the spikes. Along the way, there will be tiny piranha fish that latch onto you and start draining your rings one-by-one. Shake them off by doing a spin- dash, or jump out of the water. There are also these strange hand robots that reach up to grab you, then they launch you off at full speed. That's strange, considering Dr. Ro- botnik's creations usually hinder you. I can't remember the location of the first giant ring, but the second one is just a little before the boss. If you've been finding all the giant rings and getting the emeralds, you should now have 6 out of 7!! Act 1 Boss: Spin-Cycle ---------------------- A weird spherical robot surrounded by rockets appears. It can't be harm- ed when the rockets are moving. The arena is bowl-shaped. Wait until the robot tries to charge you, then spin-dash the opposite way and leap off the wall to go over it. Do it again, the other direction. After that, the boss stops the rockets and sits on the pole and spins it, making Sonic get caught up in a water cyclone. When that stops, hit the robot 6 times to defeat it. Act 2 Act 2 starts out with some funky James Bond-type music as Sonic is suck- ed underwater and ends up in some deep tunnel. Proceed to the right a tad until the wall suddenly starts shifting! You have to hurry and out- run it before it crushes you. The path is linear, so you can't get lost. Spin-dash through the big stone doors that block your path. After that scary event is over, you're free to continue the stage without fear of being crushed. Little cylindrical rotating platforms hover around in patterns that can help you up, but also crush you if you're not careful. You will soon notice that this entire place is now a huge ancient water- park. The slides are loopy, flowing with water and make Sonic slide fast. Sometimes, you'll experience running across the surface of the water gracefully. If you don't have enough speed at these areas, you splash into the water. After a while, you encounter old Knuckles again. You can't reach him be- cause a wall divides the two of you. Watch in horror as he jumps onto a switch, causing your platform to burst, making you fall into the flooded tunnel below! Act 2 Boss: Robotnik's Water-Slaughter -------------------------------------- The water is just a little over Sonic's head, enough to drown in. Robot- nik's machine starts by sticking its fan in the water and going up, cre- ating a column of water. Sonic can use the column as a platform, so quickly jump up onto it and hit Robotnik. He then starts dropping gre- nades into the water. When they start blinking, jump right above them. When they detonate, the water column launches Sonic up and gives you a chance to hit Robotnik. Hit him 8 times and he'll get all fired-up. After you bust the animals out of their confinement, the ground starts to tremor... and a massive column of water launches Sonic out of the cathedral, and high into the air! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.3 - Marble Garden Zone ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Act 1 You get sort of a crash landing. Though you start sprinting down slopes, if you press and hold Down, you will roll and move twice as fast. After the slope thing is over, you'll finally get a good view of the new level which, in my opinion, is the most frustrating stage of the game - Marble Garden Zone. Every step of this level is laced with spikes, swinging spike balls, things that smash you, things that hurt you, oil in which you can sink, and other terrible obstacles I can't even de- scribe. Some places require you to stand up against a blue circular object, then spin-dash. The circle object spins and then causes large steps to form, which will get you to where you need to go. Some walls can be spin-dashed through - others require something extra. You must hop onto the blue frisbee-like platforms and hitch a ride on them. The controls are simple - Left and Right go in the corresponding directions, A, B or C make you jump off. The catch is that your altitude is affected by how fast you're running on the platform. The faster you go, the higher you go. The slower you go, the lower you go. This is more difficult than it sounds. You must then use it to ram into those afore- mentioned walls. There are other times when a stone face spits arrows at you. The only way to get past these guys is to hit the red jewel on its forehead 3 times, and it will die and reveal a new path. I should also mention two bizarre enemies - the first is the blue orb insect. While it looks harmless at first glance, watch out! In intervals of 5 seconds or so, it will eject spikes all over its body. If you hit it when its spikes are out, you take the pain. The other enemy is the one that LOOKS like a bed of spikes - but when you jump on it, you will bounce off. Then, it reveals itself to be a robot, and it tosses a pro- jectile at you. Watch out for these. Act 1 Boss: Drill Bot --------------------- This fight is easy, it only seems hard if you don't know what to do. The Drill Bot will drill up into the ceiling, and debris rains down from a- bove. The falling rocks won't hurt Sonic - but the falling stelactites will. Navigate yourself out of the way until the drilling stops, then take cover. The boss emerges from the ceiling for a brief second, spikes down. Hit him several times, but be cautious, as his spikes will turn up and the process repeats. Hit it 6 times. Act 2 The second act of this zone is just more of the first, basically. The only new obstacles are pulleys that you grab onto, and they tug you up steep (and otherwise-unclimbable) surfaces. Also, every now and then Dr. Robotnik will show up to cause trouble. He drills his way into the ground, and the whole place starts to collapse! You have to get from point A to point B quickly before you are crushed. Act 2 Boss: Robotnik's Driller-Killer ------------------------------------- At the end of the act, Robotnik returns and drills the ground, and it all falls to pieces! Luckily, Tails comes to the rescue. He now carries you around in the air with infinite flight. Jump out of his hands and onto Robotnik's head whenever possible, until 8 hits when Robotnik bites the dust. Update 1/25/06: In Tails' scenario, you must hit Robotnik with Tails' 'propeller' while Robotnik's drill is NOT pointing down! It's a bit trickier. Thanks to one_heck_of_a_guy_13(AT)yahoo(DOT)com for sending me this information! After Robotnik's gone, the sun begins to set. Day becomes dusk, and dusk becomes night. Just what awaits in the dark? ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.4 - Carnival Night Zone ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Act 1 Why, Carnival Night of course! The funky beats here sound like something straight from a michael jackson song. In fact, Whacko Jacko was origin- ally to compose music for this game, but was unable to, due to a certain trial. But all madness aside, this is one of the best levels in the game, along with Icecap Zone, which is up next. Carnival Night is so decked-out in lights and pinball stuff, it almost screams "CARNIVAL" right at you. The first thing you should know is something that has caused mass confusion throughout nearly all gamers to play this game - how do the bobbing barrels work? Incase you're lost, I am referring to the pudgy, cylindrical rotating red-and-white platforms with a very strange behavior. To control these, hop on top, then press Up when it rises, and press Down when it sinks. It will start to lash around and move more, letting you reach either a high platform or a low underground area. Keep this in mind, because it's mandatory later. Another cool device is the candy-cane-looking bars. When Sonic runs down one of them, he goes in a swirling technique, regardless of physics. Every now and then, you'll find anti-gravity pads that make Sonic hover above them with a deep humming noise. When you follow a long line of these, there are usually bumpers somewhere to ricochet you away, which can get annoying sometimes. Something else that should be mentioned is the "no back-tracking" door ways that are moderately common. When you go in one way, it ushers you to the other side. But if you try to go back, there's an annoying sci- fi sound effect and it magnetically repels you, and effectively prevents you from back-tracking. There are also some neat circular objects which, when Sonic jumps on one, he runs around its circumference clock-wise and gains speed. You can also press Down to roll around them, increasing your speed. If you go too fast, though, you're thrown off with a random trajectory. Not so interesting, but still worth mentioning, is the tall cylindrical grates that Sonic can grab on to and be taken either up or down, depend- ing on its direction. Finally are strange balloon-elevated platforms. When you stand on it, it will slowly sink. But when you jump, it rises back up twice as far. You use this method to go up on them; stand on it for 1 second, then jump, repeatedly. Eventually you'll arrive at the first boss, which, in my opinion, is tough. Act 2 Boss: The Zapper ---------------------- Like I said, this can be tough. You are on a row of breakable blocks which are going down at a high velocity. The robot releases an independ- ant drill which breaks through these blocks. Once they're gone, they don't come back. If you fall into the abyss below, you'll die. Also, di- rect hits won't work on this thing. You have to jump on it first, then take cover. It will expose its weak point, the abdomin, and spew elec- tricity. As it does this, the drill comes back and hits it. Do this 4 times and the boss will be dead. The blocks come to a stop on the safe ground and the act ends. Act 2 This act is mostly the same as the first, except with two differences: The presence of water, and the absence of lights. About half-way through the stage, Knuckles appears on the scene again, and hits a switch that shuts off all power. Not only that, but the next area is completely flooded, so you'll be playing in dark water for just a while. About three-fourths into the stage, Sonic hits a gray button and the lights come back on. Not only that, but the water lowers. However, if you're going fast enough, it's possible to go right past the switch :) You'll soon meet up with Knuckles again, and he'll be left open for attack... the only problem is that before you can do so, he hits yet another switch that activates the gravity tube just above Sonic, and so you're pulled from the ground and sent UP to the boss fight! Act 2 Boss: Robotnik's Ball-Bouncer ----------------------------------- Here, Robotnik comes in on his new machine and starts bouncing his balls against the walls. Well, he just drops the shiny green ball onto the ground, and it bounces towards Sonic a little. Avoid that. Then he comes down to scoop up the ball via magnetic force. Be careful, because this causes Sonic to be magnetically pulled towards the good doctor. After that, he lowers for a short time to pick up the green ball. Hit him 8 times and it's over. After that, Sonic hops into one of those weird cannons. It rocks back and forth a few times before finally shooting him out with MUCH more force than he probably expected. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.5 - Icecap Zone ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Act 1 Ever since I was a wee lad, this has always been my favorite stage. When I was that young, I was fascinated by how night becomes dawn. That's be- cause I had always wondered how it works, and Icecap Zone starts off at night, becomes early morning and finally turns into day-time in Act 2. But also because it features snowboarding, great music (by Genesis stan- dards) and the ice structures are just cool. If you're playing as Sonic, he lands from the sky conveniently onto a well-placed snowboard, and begins riding down the hill. You don't have to press any buttons, just enjoy the ride. Then he crashes into a wall and causes an avalanche which traps him down into a frigid cave. First of all, watch out for the things on the ceiling that spit icy mist at you. Sonic will get frozen in a block of ice, then lose all his rings and we wouldn't want that! Also, there are some cool platforms that are chained to the ceiling. Spin-dash from the ground onto these platforms, and the momentum Sonic created will make the platform swing over to another ledge. There's one area where you have to walk up a snowy hill, nudge a plat- form a little, then hop aboard as it starts to slide down the hill. It then smashes through walls for you. Act 1 Boss: Rock-Juggler ------------------------ A weird little device arrives and picks up about eight rocks, then be- gins juggling them weirdly. It's difficult to breath this layer of rock in order to hit the boss, so time it well. Wait for the boss to come down to the ground, then try spin-dashing into it. If too much time goes by, it throws the rocks at you and then picks up more. Hit it 6 times to win. Act 2 Dawn cycles into day, which happens to be the final day of Sonic's ad- venture (considering Sonic 3 takes place immediately where Sonic 2 end- ed, that is a long time!). The new obstacles here include little platforms that are chained to the two adjacent walls. Jumping on the platform makes it go down, but the elasticity of the chains makes it launch you back up. Also, this marks the first appearance of the Robotnik monitors in Sonic 3. If you hit these, you will lose all your rings. :( Notice that the music's noises are high-pitched, and the ring sound eff- ect completely drowns it out. When you're going through a trail of rings the constant glinging noises cancel out the music entirely and there is only silence in the background. I thought that was neat. There are occasionally piles of snow that slow you down, or mess up your spin-dash. Act 2 Boss: Robotnik's Ice-Spreader ----------------------------------- This is a tough boss, mainly because it attacks in rapid procession. On the bottom of Robotnik's vehicle, there's a platform jutting out. Icy mist sprays out of the contraption in this order: left, center, right, center, repeat. The best way to hit him is to wait until the ice spews out the opposite end, then quickly run up and leap off his platform, hitting him. It also helps if a friend is controlling Player 2 (Tails), so that when you get frozen, they can smash open the ice before you get hurt. Hit Robotnik 8 times to win this perturbing battle! Sonic is close to the finale, the Death Egg's launch site. Run forward and spin through the snowy tube. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.6 - Launch Base Zone ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Act 1 Well, here it is! Launch Base. It somewhat reminds me of Moscow, with those cool castle-like towers. The background looks like it was a com- plete rush-job, though, as it has very little detail, and dull colors. There are some weird siren-looking objects that, when Sonic runs through them, they buzz and alert a bird enemy to swoop down and attack. If you want to rack a lot of points, stand between them and do a spin-dash. Doing that will call an unlimited amount of birds, but they'll all hit your spin-dash and die. The score you get for each consecutive kill gets progressively higher. There are some odd spoon-looking platforms that Sonic can jump into and they'll pivot on a pole and take you either up or down safely. Sometimes they spin out of control and launch you in a direction. There are some places where a red-and-black-striped wall will block your path. The only way to open these is to find little red boxes with a green arrow, and bust them open. The wall will now be out of your way. Near the end of Act 1, Knuckles returns yet again! After taking the pivoting platform up, you spot the red echidna on a balcony. He tosses a cliché spherical bomb down, and it detonates, covering the building in flames. Jump out the window and off the balcony. The entire building im- plodes on itself. :D Act 1 Boss: Spiker ------------------ This is a simple boss, you just have to be careful. A sphere with two spikeballs attached via chains is all this guy is. It periodically re- leases the spikeballs and they flail around his circumference, while it slowly moves towards Sonic. Just stay away from it until the spikeballs stop, then hit him as many times as you can. After 3 hits, one of the spikeballs breaks off, making this fight much easier. After the other 3 hits, its other spikeball breaks off, and then it just dies. Act 2 Act 2 offers almost nothing new to the mix aside from some water, which you hardly skim. Just keep going, the main attraction is the boss(es). Oh, and hopefully by now you have all the Chaos Emeralds... Act 2 Boss A: Robotnik's Cannon-Cruncher ---------------------------------------- This is an easy boss. Just watch the pattern. When the small bridge pops out of the wall, the cannonball will either shoot out from above or be- low the little bridge. It comes out from above first. When it shoots out just jump over it, onto the bridge, and hit Robotnik. Next, the cannon- ball shoots out from underneath the bridge, so jump over it and onto the bridge, and again hit Robotnik. Also, if you're playing as Tails, you're able to fly up over Robotnik and onto the stretch of land behind him. Then just hit him until he fries. After 8 hits, his machine explodes and he falls into the water! Finally some pay-back. Jump over the ledge where the deranged doctor was positioned at a moment ago, and keep going until you see his infamous flying vehicle parked there, and the keys are in the ignition! Sonic hops in to take it on a pleasure cruise. Unfortunately, Knuckles shows up to ruin the day again. He's standing on a lone pillar in the sea, and he bops the vehicle away, preventing you from reaching the Death Egg. Just then, its engine roars to life, and his pillar collapses! Knuckles also falls into the water. Sonic continues riding until hopping out onto a platform, while Robot- nik's hovering car just goes and crashes somewhere. All is calm until... Act 2 Boss B: Robotnik's Laser-Blazer ------------------------------------- Now Robotnik rides a rediculous laser-shooting column-esque device. Of course, he doesn't stand a chance. Hit the top of the machine where he sits as he comes by. Be careful of the spikeball that revolves around the top! Also, jump over or duck under the lasers he shoots at you. Hit him 8 times to succeed. Final Boss: Robotnik's Squeeze Tag Machine* ------------------------------------------ It's time to face the Slayer! The demonic spike-covered machine crashes down on the platform and cracks its knuckles. He will go off-screen, then return quickly. It is then that you must jump and hit him straight on. If you jump too high, you'll scrape the spikes on his head and get hurt. If you don't jump high enough, he'll catch you in his hands and bang Sonic against the ground. The problem here is that you won't have any time to pick up your rings! Phase 2, he'll hover back and forth up in the air, determining your position. Get out of the way, because he slams back down, under the platform, and his spikes are all that stick up. Then he flies back and forth some more; jump over the spikes. He continues this pattern, and so should you. After hitting his final cre- ation 8 times, wave goodbye to the good doctor! *Thanks to Joe Rogers for the official name of the last boss! Congratulations, you have beaten Sonic the Hedgehog 3! ======================================================================== 4.0 - Additional Information ======================================================================== Everything else you need to know about the game! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.1 - Competition Mode ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are three main modes of racing in Competition Mode: Grand Prix: You and a human opponent (or the computer) foot-race through all 5 zones in order. Whoever won 3-out-of-5 or more races is crowned victor! Match Race: Two players can race through any of the courses at their choice. Time Attack: One player picks their character and speeds through the zones to earn the fastest clear time possible. You can choose from these three characters: Sonic, Tails, and even the elusive Knuckles! Sonic: While usually he was ordinary and unskilled in the regular game, his speed and raw jumping power have netted him the most useful role when racing an opponent. Tails: Nearly as fast as Sonic, though not quite. His tails allow him to fly, but that isn't particularly useful when racing! Knuckles: Kind of like drawing the short stick, Knuckles is slow and doesn't jump very high. His gliding, climbing and smashing skills haven't been im- plemented yet, either. The five zones present are listed below: Azure Lake: A nice, serene little destination, this will get you accustomed to the mechanics of split-screen (which makes it more difficult to control your character). Watch out for the sinking mud pit. Just blaze through the two cork-screws, fling up to the tree, then down two platforms and to the goal. Balloon Park: A little Carnival-Night-wannabe, this zone is quite ornate and festive. Go through the cork-screw, then between the two elephants' trunks. Hop on the yellow balloons which will pop you up to where you need to go. This zone is mostly for how well you can turn directions. Chrome Gadget: My particular favorite stage with groovy music and a nice back-drop. Take the elevator down and and spin-dash off. Careful, because you may spring backwards and hit the platform just as it ascends, killing you. Just keep going until one lap is done. Desert Palace: This place is good for hindering your opponent. Go through the two cork- screws and across a moat of sand, hitting a red switch to eject a spring that will bounce your opponent back. Then go up the hill and across the bridge (which will crumble) and back to the beginning. Because of the way this stage intertwines, glitches can and will occur. Endless Mine: Run forward and propel yourself off the spring and through the shaft. Jump on the yellow blocks to smash them and continue. Run up the wall at the necessary point and down a little tunnel, through two cork-screws, and back to where you started. Good stuff. There are also some items that will either help or hinder you. These items can be deactivated in the Competition Mode intro screen, though. Red Shoes: These will make you run twice as fast. Oh happy days! Gray Shoes: These things slow you down. No good. Bomb: This sucks. If it hits you, you lose a lap. Ring: Protects you against bombs. Banana: Generally bad for making you slip and lose control, but can prove useful if you aim your trajectory well. Spring: Causes a spring to drop down, and it can be bounced from but once. Arrow: If you and your opponent have an item, they get traded. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.2 - Cheats ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ah, yes. I'm sure this is the first section everyone will be reading, I considered putting another introduction here for that reason, but no one reads those things anyway. :) Level Select: You know that quick drum line before the title screen? Well, if you have the fastest thumbs in the west (or east), you must press Up, Up, Down, Down, Up, Up, Up, Up right on the beat. After doing this, a third menu will appear on the title screen called Sound Test. Don't let the name fool you, it's the stage-select menu. You may also notice something odd about it. Level Select (alternate): If that last one was too hard for you, there is an alternate method. But you MUST be careful. Enter the Level Select cheat in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, then pull the cartridge out CAREFULLY, and quickly insert your Sonic 3 cartridge, then reset the game. Remember, you promised to be careful. All Chaos Emeralds: Once the Level Select and Sound Test menu is unlocked, play the follow- ing tunes in Sound Test: 02, 04, 05, 06. You'll hear a neat noise if you did it right. Hidden Special Stage: To find an eighth Chaos Emerald (which has no effect on gameplay) go to Sound Test and play 01, 03, 05, 07. Then highlight Special Stage Act 2, hold A and press Start. Debug Mode: Do the Level Select code (by now, if you still can't get the LS code to work, this just isn't your day). Highlight a level and hold A and press Start, and hold the two buttons until the level loads. Press B to turn debug mode on or off. Whilst in debug mode, A lets you cycle through the items and C pastes the item on-screen. The programmers used this to find and eliminate glitches, or "bugs," hence de-bug. Have fun playing around with it! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.3 - Missing Zones ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Earlier, I mentioned that the Level Select screen has something odd a- bout it. It has three zones that aren't found in the game: Flying Batt- ery Zone, Mushroom Valley Zone, and Sandopolis Zone. This was weird at the time, but we soon found out why. These stages were originally to be included in the game, but were held back to be released on the sub-se- quent "Sonic & Knuckles," which does contain these stages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.4 - Sonic & Knuckles ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Buying "Sonic & Knuckles" was actually worth it. With the little car- tridge slot on top of the cartridge, you could stick Sonic 3 in there and receive the "full version" one could say. This allowed you to play as Knuckles in Sonic 3 stages, play as Tails in the S&K stages, collect a second set of Chaos Emeralds and be able to save your progress through all 14 of these massive levels. This guide only covers 6 of them. You can also: * Hook Sonic 1 onto S&K to play a virtually-endless series of Special Stages, Sonic 3-style. * Hook Sonic 2 onto S&K and play as Knuckles through the Sonic 2 stages. * Hook Sonic Spinball onto S&K to play one massive and crazy Special Stage. * Hook S&K onto S&K to have no effect (I was stupid enough to try it). ======================================================================== 5.0 - Closing ======================================================================== It's that sad time once again... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5.1 - Acknowledgements ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'd like to thank... Sega and Sonic Team. This FAQ would be pointless without the game, eh? The fans that made Sonic 2 popular enough for Sega to make THIS game. GameFAQs and any other website kind enough to host this guide. www.network-science.de/ascii for the excellent ASCII-generator. Joe Rogers for informing me of the final boss' official name! I still like the name Slayer better though ;) Peter Beloshitski for telling me how to defeat Marble Garden Zone's boss with Tails! Myself, for writing this... but now my wrists burn! And most of all, I'd like to thank you, the reader, for reading this FAQ and giving it a purpose! I also hope you check out my yet-to-be-created FAQs in the future. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5.2 - Contact ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'm currently not needing updates to this age-old thing, but any words you want to send are appreciated. My e-mail address is up at the top. Well, it seems appropriate to bring this walkthrough to a close now. It has been a lot of fun to compile and write, and I hope it helped ya's. Goodbye goodbye. ________________________________________________________________________ © 2005-2010 1Macabre. All rights reserved. Sonic the Hedgehog and related content are Copyright (c) Sega. December-2007