Angel Island Zone

This is the first zone and the easiest. This zone is basically the tutorial level. Use it to learn Sonic's moves. Try spin-dashing into rocks and dead ends -- occasionally you'll find a secret area. When you get a shield, try using its special effect. The flame shield will allow you to make a forward-leaping attack. Note: The lightning and flame shields will wear off when you hit water.The main dangers are water, robo rhinos, and monkeys in the trees. Look all around because the special stage rings are easy to find. Be on the lookout for spikes too. At act 1's end Robotnik sends a robot that shoots fire. Avoid the fire and jump on top. 6 hits will kill it. At act 2's end Robotnik shows up in a machine that shoots fireballs. Hit it once then jump off the bridge QUICK! One fireball will destroy the bridge. Dodge the fireballs and hit him 8 times. Free the animals from the floating tank and Knuckles will show up and hit a button sending you falling into Hydro City.

Hydrocity Zone

This stage is another water stage except bigger - MUCH bigger. Better be on the lookout for air bubbles. Try to stay above water. Bubble shields are very handy here and just may save your life. At the end of act 1 you have to fight a robot that spins around the sides just like a washing machine. Spin dash, Jump it then and hit it when it lands on the pole. Enjoy the ride when you go for a spin but don't stay in too long or you may drown. Watch out for the walls in act 2. At the end of this act Robotnik comes to stir up trouble. Be careful, he'll stir up the water in a whirlpool. Stay away and jump on the bombs he releases right before they go off. They'll blast you up so try to land on Robotnik for a hit.

Marble Garden Zone

This zone is kind of easy but its VEEERRRRRRYYYYYYY long - Possibly being one of the longest stages. Your worst enemy however will be the stage itself - Be careful, sometimes the walls will close in and spikes are not what they seem. Prepare for some fast-flying action! New objects are the blue spinwheels embedded into hillsides and blue tops! Use a spin dash right next to a wheel to change the landscape! On a blue top, push left or right to direct it and to move upward! Also, certain walls can be destroyed only by ramming them with a top.Tails is a real help here to lift you to useful places. At the end of act 1 you'll fight a double drill bot. Hit him when his drills are up. Dodge the staclitites and rocks and stay away when he comes down. At act 2's end Tails will air lift you when Robotnik comesbringing destruction uponthe entire zone. Using Tails manuever yourself into a position close to robotnik - jump, hit, and fall. Tails will pick you up each time so you need not worry about dying. However, this time, this boss is harder for Tails alone. Tails has to do the same thing as Sonic did, but timing is critical as you will have to manuever yourself underneath Robotnik and hit him with your twin tails. Whomever you choose, the boss's pattern will be from right, above, below, right, I think.

Carnival Night Zone

This zone is reminiscent to Casino Night in Sonic 2 but with a twist. There are a LOT more hidden places than in other zones, and a few more toys. Try looking for special rings in this zone! If you've been keeping up with the special stages you should be able to get enough Chaos Emeralds to catch Super Sonic early on in the game !!!!! Obstacles here include the cannon which will launch you in the direction of your choice. Of course, we must not forget the anti-gravity pads and balloons to bounce off of. Large, black wheels to get dizzy on, and the unforgettable rotating barrels! At the end of act 1 you'll fight a robot with a spike bottom. The easiest way to kill him is to jump on his top. The spike bottom will separate and then home in on you. If you're jumping on the top of the robot it will hit itself. In act 2 you may become trapped in a room with a big spinning cylinder. Press up when it goes up, and hold down when it goes down. This one area had caused MUCH confusion among Sonic fans at one point. At act 2's end you'll face Robotnik again this time with a UFO, complete with magnetism attachments and giant ball bearing! OK, this one's a little harder. When Robotnik drops the ball, get away from it since he'll use it to focus his lightning on as well as draw you towards it. When the light show ends, park right next to the ball, and I mean right next to! Wait for Robotnik to come down to pick up his toy, and attack, Attack, ATTACK! If you positioned yourself right, you should hit the ship right between the lightning generators.

Ice Cap Zone

If you're playing as Sonic, you'll get to see him snowboard. COLLECT AS MUCH RINGS AS POSSIBLE !!! If you're playing as Tails, well, too bad. Same as usual, plus a few sleds and lift cups. When you find and impassable wall, either you came from the wrong side, or you need to ram it through. Remember the Marble Garden? Find a block of ice and slide away! Also, there are some little cups with safety rails. Spin-dash into the cup to send it flying upward. Plus, ever want to know what it feels like to be fresh frozen? Just watch out for gas clouds from the celings. Note: Flaming and lightning shields will be useful here -- they destroy the Star Pointer's stars and they seem to prevent you from being frozen, HOWEVER Lightning shields CAN BE LOST though you may not lose any coins in the process. Be VERY careful when underground. If your going through an endless loop there's a big rock to get on somewhere that will break through the necessary wall. Spin dash into a platform to make it move up. At act 1's end you'll fight a robot that has a ice forcefield. Hit him underneath when he comes down and dodge it's other attacks. At act 2's end Robotnik will come with a freezing machine. Hit it by getting on the stand and jumping. Dodge it's freezers. It's freezers go off in this pattern: left, up, right, up.

Launch Base Zone

This is the final and hardest zone......for now. Watch out for the Orbinauts ESPECIALLY. At act 1's end you fight a machine with rotating spiked balls. Dodge the spiked balls and hit him whenever you can as much as you can. At act 2's end you must fight 3 bosses. The first is Robotnik's cannon. Get underneath the stand when the top ball fires. When the bottom ball fires get on the stand and jump at him. Then jump over the ball when it rolls back down. When defeated Jump in the Egg-o-Matic to get to the second boss which is a ship that shoots rays at you. Jump over the rays and jump on the cockpit when the star is not above it. After 8 hits the final boss appears. The Nightmare with spikes and a good grip. OK, you made it this far, but you better stay alert! This one starts by passing by you from the right then from the left. Time your jump each time so that you hit the windshield -- not the hands below or the spikes above. Then wait for it to come down and try to make you run into the spikes. Stay behind it -- you can still get caught by the hands on its way up! Wait until it moves off the screen then, move Sonic or Tails to the center. It'll make another two passes, starting on either side and then from the other. Tap the jump button slightly and push in its direction, you should be able to hit it. From there, it repeats by trying to impale you. After 8 hits you've beaten the boss - If playing Sonic 3 alone you've beaten the game! But if you're playing with Sonic And Knuckles attached YOU'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN as the Death Egg crash lands upon the Floating Isle !!!!

Mushroom Hill Zone

Deep in the Heart of Floating Island, you zip through a hilly area. Much of the plant life here is useful (Use the mushrooms to reach higher areas), but most of it is just plain aggravating. There are many routes to take here, so don't worry about having to go over half of the level to find the right way out. There are lots of walls you can walk through, so do some testing. When you have to go down a "pit", be careful. Many of those "pits" have spikes at the bottom and there are 1 or 2 REAL ones as well !!! This zone is pretty easy to navigate through and takes place DIRECTLY after the Launch Base Zone. Right at the beginning of the zone is a golden ring leading to the Chaos emerald special stage. If you've been playing with Knuckles it is here that Sonic and Knux split to go thier seperate ways ( FOR KNUX's storyline see the Sonic And Knuckles gamepage), but the terrain from there after that they cover are pretty much the same up to a point unlike earlier levels, with not many badniks to worry about - until later. If you play your game wisely, you can get up to 3 Chaos Emeralds in this first zone. Note also that you LOSE your Super Sonic powers at this point!!!!! Your newest goal will be a newer "Super Sonic" complete with Flickie birds and "Super Tails AKA Turbo Tails" !!! At the end of Act 1, one of Robotnik's minions will attack. He will cut down the trees with an ax, sending the logs flying at you. Jump them and hit him when he's low down the tree. After 8 hits, he'll explode and you've finished the act. At the end of Act 2, Robotnik will be underground in a satellite. Hit the satellite and hit him as many times as you can before he flies off. He will be floating away from you as you run and jump and duck spiked hurdles attached to the trees. Jump and duck the hurdles, if you've played past Sonic games then they should be pretty easy to avoid. Hit Robotnik when ever you get the chance. After 8 hits, he'll fly away and you can free your friends. After freeing them, Robotnik passes by in the Flying Battery Zone and you grab hold to the ship before it takes off.

Flying Battery Zone

Longer than The Marble Garden Zone if that tells you anything - In Robotnik's flying fortress, more powerful than Wing Fortress in Sonic 2, you must go through the area avoiding the electrical and magnetic badniks lurking around. Be careful in the areas under the ship in open sky. You must navigate across the bars at the top to get to the other platform. In this zone, Sonic and Knuckles run the exact same road through this zone, so of course it would be easier to go through this zone with Knuckles. But you don't have that choice, you must start the game with one character and go through the entire game with that character! And it DOES NOT make things easier....At the end of Act 1, there is a prisoner egg holding animals. But the egg is alive!! It will try to hit you with its spiked hands. Stand on the plunger on top and spin dash away when he tries to attack. He'll hit himself. After 6 such hits, he'll explode, the animals inside him will be freed, and you will have finished Act 1. At the end of Act 2, Robotnik attacks in a boss just like Wing Fortress Zone, except without those spinning platforms. Just avoid the laser beam and jump up and hit the laser shooter hovering at the top. Every time it shoots, the walls get closer. After a certain number of shots, the whole thing will explode and you must chase Robotnik to the top of the ship before the ground comes up and crushes you. If using Tails DO NOT FLY TO GO QUICKER !!!!!!!! You may get crushed! Once up there, Robotnik will go from side to side shooting a flame from the top of the ship. After he shoots 3 times he will bounce up and down the platform. Hit him when he's above the platform. After 8 hits he'll fly away. Be careful, when his ship explodes however as, the exploding spiked hands can still hit you!

Sandopolis Zone

Mind numbingly long and mind numbingly HARDER - This IS one of the longest stages. Your worst enemy yet again will be the stage itself - This time being quicksand as well as rising sand!!! After freeing the animals in the prison egg, Sonic or Knuckles runs out of the Flying Battery and plunges to the sandy ground of Sandopolis Zone. When you fall in the sand, jump to get out. The first act is pretty easy, and so is the end boss. It's a giant stone statue that jumps at you. Just go over to the left and stand in the quicksand. When he jumps in, you jump out of the way! The monster will sink in the quicksand and the act will be finished. Now comes the hard part, the inside of the Sandopolis ruins of Act 2. Whenever the lights are out in the ruins, ghosts will come and try to attack you. Make sure you pull all the handles you can hang onto along the way, they turn the lights back on and get rid of the ghosts for the time being. Other than the annoying ghosts, as well as the annoying sandslides and sandtraps that follow the act isn't so hard. Push the switches on the floor to open up doors ahead, but remember, after you push these switches COMPLETELY over, run 'till you're sure you've passed the doors up, 'cause if you don't you have to go all the way back when you get to the door's switch, & repeat the process. Knock out the plugs in the ceiling, & run to the next place you're due at, or you'll find yourself starring into Sonic's eyes when he is flattened like a "Hedgehog Pancake"! Not only that but this level is so long that it litterally guzzles time. So dont stay TOO long! Oh yeah, watch out for the skorp badniks, their tails can hit you from a long distance.At the end of the act, Robotnik will attack in a BIG statue. When his left arm is in front of him, jump on it and hit the head of the statue. It will break away, revealing Robotnik. Hit him a couple more times before the statue head comes back on. Watch out, because he will fire at you right before the head comes back. Repeat this pattern and score 8 hits to get rid of him. HOWEVER - you must do this in a set amountoftime - Let him get too far and you get crushed!

Lava Reef Zone

Be careful when walking around, some of the floors give out due to your weight. There are many dead-ends that you can pass through, using the spin dash so be on the look out. THIS LEVEL IS THE LAST AREA TO OBTAIN HYPER SONIC !!!!!!! Watch out for flame throwers in the 2nd act. After defeating the statue in The Sandopolis Zone, Sonic will run to the right, through the wall, and will take a long fall into the Lava Reef zone. Sonic's version of the zone isn't so different than Knuckles, BUT he does go over different ground and unlike Knuckles, Sonic has an end boss for this zone. Watch out for the lava all over the place, and get out of there FAST when there's a spiked platform coming down. At the end of the act, you'll have to deal with two long arms. They'll go to the top of the screen and shoot 3 balls each at you. Avoid them and hit them on the way down. Six hits kills them, but killing the arms aren't necessary to beating this boss. After those arms go down, a giant hand will come up. It will float around for a bit, then it will smash the ground. Be out of the way and hit it on top where the red gem is. After 6 hits it will blow up. At the end of Act 2, you must avoid these missiles shot out by an Assualt and Batter Blimp. The missiles are easy - Its when the screen moves that it gets frustrating. Watch out for the floors that collapse around you and be sure not to get crushed! Get as many rings as possible and try to locate a flame shield if you can. You will climb platforms and soon come to one of the hardest bosses of the game - the dread lava waterfall. Stay on the platforms. When you reach the bottom, Robotnik will attack. He will come up in one corner, forcing the waterfall to flow his way. At the same time he'll shoot these spiked balls. Jump from platform to platform away from him and watch out for the spiked balls as they can destroy the platforms. He'll shoot 3. When you avoid the balls, they will hit his ship and damage it. After a WHOPPING 15 spiked balls have hit his ship, it will explode, the waterfall will level out, crystallize, then dry up and you will have beaten the zone.

Hidden Palace Zone

So THATS what happened to the missing Hidden palace from Sonic 2 - except it seems to have gotten a makeover....The time has come as Sonic and Tails will have to fight Knux! Jump at him when he glides and jump over him when he spin dashes. After 6 hits, he'll run away, but he'll realize who the real bad guy is when both of you see Robotnik stealing - The Master Emerald!!!! The two of you will go to a room with an orb similar to the one above. Knux will jump on it and catapult to the Sky Sanctuary zone. Sonic will follow suit, as well as Tails if you have Sonic 3 attached.

Sky Sanctuary Zone - Knuckles Finale

A well-done zone, but one bad jump, & you're repeating half the level again!!! For Knux this is the last hurrah but for Sonic and Tails its just the beginning as you can see the Death Egg - now powered with the Master Emerald looking over the sky !!!!! Not only thatbut Robotnik has brought back a villian of old in the form of - MEATL SONIC !!!!!!!!!! Not seen since Sonic CD the Metal Sonic is back with a vengeance! In this zone, Sonic must fight Mecha Sonic. You'll fight him at different times during the zone; at each time after you defeat him and orb will appear that you can jump on which will send you to a different part of the zone. The first time you fight him, he'll attack in the same Egg-O-matic device Robotnik used to attack you in Green Hill zone in Sonic 1 with the checker wrecker ball attached to the bottom. Get underneath the platforms when it swings toward you and duck at the edge. It won't hit you. When it swings the other way, jump on the platform and jump at Metal Sonic's ship. 8 such hits will destroy his ship. The second time you fight him, he'll attack in the device Robotnik used in Metropolis Zone of Sonic 2. This time it will be a little easier however. The final fight with Mecha though is a toughie. He will attack you himself this time. Jump above his spin dashes and get out of the way when he jumps up and falls to the ground. Hit him while he's standing still. Eight hits defeats him for Sonic but he has hisorders to take care of another being - namely Knuckles The Echidna !!!!!! The final battle awaits Knuckles (See the Sonic And Knuckles gamepage) but Sonic and Tails must now run up a huge spyre as it crumbles beneath their feet, along with the rest of the Sky Sanctuary zone. When they reach the top of the building, they jump to the now fully launched Death Egg that Robotnik has functioning yet again.....

Death Egg Zone - Tails Finale

Congratulations - Youve reached The Death Egg !!!!!!! Prepare to die.....Sonic encounters The Death Egg zone again. But this time, it's drastically different than it was in Sonic 2. It's a heck of a lot more dangerous and riddled with badniks out to get you. When you come to a lamppost with a 3 on it, stop right before it because usually you'll get sucked into a ride in an ultra sonic wave. You can't do anything, so just sit back and enjoy the free ride. The Act 1 boss isn't too tough to beat but he can be a pain in the rear! When you Jump up at him, do your Electric shield attack when your near the eye's opening. If you don't have an electric shield watch out for the rotating arms and plug him when he's open. Then dodge the steel ball's shrapnel flying at you. When all the steel balls are gone, the alarm eye comes after you itself! THIS is when it gets hard!!! Wait 'till it's on the other side of the screen. Hit it from the top, & then run to the opposite side of the screen & duck, 'cause this machine gives one heck of a migraine headache! Jump on the platforms rotating around him and hit him again. Six more hits defeats him. Be careful in act 2, the gravity reverses itself a lot here. You'll be walking on the ceiling plenty and its hard to tell where pits are as opposed to ceilings lined with spikes!!! Proceed 'till you get to the anti-gravity switches/machines. Walking on the ceiling seems fun at first, but you get sick of it after a while. The next Mid-Boss is a pain in the rear. He has a shield that circles him & you CAN NOT get past the shield. You can't hit him directly, the bumpers will shrug you off. You must use his own weapons against him. Every few seconds he'll drop a robot lined with spikes on the top. If you go in the pillars to the left or right, you'll reverse the gravity, sending the spiked robots to the ceiling or the ground with you. Try to make them hit the bumper robot on the way up. If this happened, the robot will have a hit taken off of him. Eight such hits defeats him. But heres the next catch - The Death Egg zone is PURPOSELY LONG !!!!!! BE CONSIDERATE OF TIME, People have been known to beat this board at 9:58 minutes and you die when the clock reaches 10!!!! After defeating this robot, you must fight Robotnik. He will attack in a machine with large hands similar to Lava Reef but daringly different!!! His first attack will be using the fingers of the machine to slam down and crush you! Watch out for the fingers when they come down. Each finger takes 3 hits. Once each finger is gone, he'll retreat, but he isn't gone for long. When he comes back he chases you as well as the fact that the floor is beginning to give way!!! Watch out for the flames he shoots out his nose! Avoid the fire and plug the nose. His upper chest will open revealing the Master Emerald, Dr. Robotnik, and a LARGE ray gun!!! Hit the ray gun as it sucks energy in - It's his only weakness - being careful to jump back as quick as possible! When he gathers up enough energy up, he'll sit there for a second before he shoots a laser beam that is brutal. Jump before the laser is shot to avoid annihilation. Remember the floor is still falling! Repeat this pattern 7 more times to defeat Robotnik in his second form. Now for form number three!!! He'll then fly off with the Master Emerald with the ground falling out beneath your feet at a much faster rate than before! Run after him and hit him 8 times being careful of the recoil when you hit. If you're playing with Tails you've beaten the game!!! But if youre playing with Sonic and you don't have all the emeralds, sit back and watch the ending. If you do, get ready for the ultimate Sonic boss in - The Doomsday Zone!!!!

The Doomsday Zone - Sonic finale: Accessible ONLY with 7 Chaos Emeralds or all Super Emeralds

Death Egg was Tails' last zone, so if you don't have Sonic and either 7 Chaos Emeralds or all 14 Chaos and Super Emeralds, then don't expect to be here. Here you are Super or Hyper Sonic, depending on how many emeralds you got. The number of emeralds you get depends on the better ending you get though theres not much difference! The rule for this zone is that the second your ring counter hits zero, say hello to pit city. You start the zone with the 50 rings you need to become Super or Hyper Sonic, but you must grab more as you get to the Final Boss since you lose 1 ring per second as Super or Hyper Sonic. Most of the rings in the beginning of this zone are near the top, so fly along there until you get to the Final Boss. You must avoid the asteroids and try to get more rings, else wise you're in for a LONG drop! The Asteroids WILL slow you down!!! After a while, you'll come up to Robotnik's ship. The rings and rocks are gone, so make sure you stocked up on rings. Robotnik will shoot pellets at you, as well as 3 homing torpedoes. You must maneuver yourself around so that the homing torpedoes hit the small Robotnik head on the front of the ship. This IS NOT as easy as it sounds!!!!!! After 8 hits, the ship will crash and Robotnik will fly off in a smaller version of the Sonic 2 end boss - The Robo-Eggsterminator!!! The rocks and rings return, so get some more rings before you die. When you get close to Robotnik, he will fire four bombs. The bombs won't kill you but they will stall you. Dodge the bombs and hit Robotnik. Don't forget to keep collecting rings because you're still losing them. Get the clusters of 6 rings, they're the most helpful. Don't pass up the 3-ring clusters unless you have about 30 or 40 rings left. Avoid the missiles and hit the head of this robot. By now your fingers will be hurting! Do this 8 times to beat the robot and save the Master Emerald. After you've defeated him Sonic snatches the Emerald and you can sit back and enjoy the ending of Sonic & Knuckles or Sonic 3 & Knuckles whichever you're playing. Now comes the easy part. Now sit back and enjoy the ending.

One of the BEST Special Stages created IMO - A 3-D Fast paced and fun but each one changes and gets harder and harder. What can look simple on the outside can end up being a pain otherwise....There are three basic objects located here - red globes, blue globes, and power rings. The object is to collect ALL blue globes but if you touch the red ones youre booted out of the stage. Collect all blue spheres and youre rewarded with a chaos emerald !!!! Collect all chaos emerals and your rewarded with Super Sonic !!!!!!!!! Collect all Super Emeralds after the game has been locked on and you get not on access to "the Doomsday Zone" but the better ending of the game! Sounds easy right? BZZZZZTTT !!! WRONG ! As the stages progress it gets harder and harder, PLUS Sonic over time gets faster and faster - not only making him harder to control but harder to get turns off as well......

This is the only bonus room accessible WITHOUT the lock on device. Basically its premise is simple as you bounce around the bumpers twisting the turner which in effect will release "gumballs" and marbles. Collect the gumballs to earn a prize such as an energy, flame, water shield or 10 rings. Black marbles do nothing but bounce you while clear marbles give you nothing.

This is one of the weirder ones. Easy when getting power rings but it definetely gets repetetive. Its a mixture of the rotating special stage from Sonic 1 and the Casino Night slot machines from Sonic 2. Dont stay on the sides too long as you'll activate the goal buttons and its just random luck otherwise.

One of the hardest bonus rooms on the whole game - the object is to keep moving up and collect the gumballs and rings along the way! HOWEVER as you move up so does an electromagnetic field. Touch it and your booted out of the stage!

****NOTE**** The zones are accesible only through the competition mode.

Azure Lake Zone

A crystal clear setting and the easiest of the time attack zones. Be sure to jump directly after the first loop and after the yellow pillar. Also watch out you dont fall into the oil pit.