ZMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMr ZMMBMMM0Xr;i2WMMMM. MMMMMWXWMMMaXZMMM7 SMMZrMW M0@rZMMMM MMWSSMB8, MWBZMM@MMMMMMZ S MMX2Za0X@@WM2Zaa2SSSXX2MMMMMMMMMX MM 0MMXa8Za8MMM@B2Z88ZZaaaa2S;M XMMW MWMX iMMMMMMMZ288ZBMMMMMMMZ88Z@M@B00MMM0MM8 ;:XMM M SM MMMSXZM7Z8ZZMM MM28Za2ZWMMMM. M M XZXMMMMMSr SM iMMMMM MM@iMZ2ZZ0WM 7a MSaSW0XSXMZa MSaMa raaS ,MMMMM Mr XM MMBM@Za@WM MMM MMMMMMaX0M M M27 i ZM22XMM @MM MMrMM8@M MM,, MMMMMM 7BX2M: MX,,.X@MM@ ;MMM,7MM M 7MM0a:M WM; M MM@@@M BM;M ;M iM M 2W; M.X MMMMMM MMM .Mr MX,M ;, ;M:BMMMMMMMMMM WMMMM: ,M MX @ M X M MMM; iMM rM MMMMM8 X2;MMMMMMWM MMMMM02 aM M ,Mi M M: MMM 0M MM .;MMa@ SMMMMM WMWBM;8MM BM @ MM.M MM aMaM2aMMi 7M , 7 Bi MMMMX .MrMMMMWM M BMMMMMM M Z. rMM WM :MZ :,M, M 8MM. @MBMMrM M M Z0 M2MM7 0 ,MM .Mr 7 . MMMMMMMM: SM@MMMaMMM MMW MMMM. iMM ZiM WMM MB WMM,MMr MMMMMMMM;:MSMZ7BMMWBMM MM. M2 M.M MM MMr MM M2rMMM M@M: MMMWMM. M SiMMXXBM;rMSaMMr M:M 20M 7M MMM MB W. MMMMBZWM . SM 0MMMMMM MMaMMMMM Mi B;B M aM i M M M MMi .M MM .iMXB M ,r:2aMM MM 8M .,. MMr 7M MMS MSi BMMMM M. @M2i MMMi MM7Z 7 WMM .MMM MM :MMXM @MWMM.M MMM, aMM7 M M7 iMS iMM@ MM M M MMMM M 8@MMW:. ;ZM0 M.MMW M MMM MZMWMBM MMMM M Ma :aMMMMMX: 0MMiMMX M aM@aX M2XSXZMMM MMMMZ; ,,, MMM2 MMWMM7iiMMM MM7SS0@0MMMZ7WMMMMMMZM iiiii:,,7.aM8 r MM MM MM@MMM@00Z aW MM0M ii:,.irX, M0MMMM ,X 8M2 : ,M MMWZa0MMMM70 a M ,irXSi MM88SZMMM MMMM . 7M MMMMB MMBMMMMSM MM 2SSr: BMZ0MWXSXM MMMMBM :@M2 MMSaS72M B,M 2MMMMi 2MM88M MWMZMMM MMiSaaSXMM WM2MMMMM8 .MM8X2MM, iMMMM, MM,SSX7WWMZMMMM2X @MMWa2@MX7 rMMS M@S220WWM7M MMMMMMMMMM MM0MMMWZMM 2M777M@S ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Sonic Advance 3 FAQS/Walkthrough Version 1.02 9/24/04 By Angnix peter379@msu.edu ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Legal Notes: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This guide cannot be placed on any site without my permission. Sonic and all related characters copyright Sonic Team/Sega. Sites with permission to post any of my FAQS: www.GameFAQS.com www.Neoseeker.com www.cheathappens.com faqs.ign.com www.cheats.de www.supercheats.com www.wogaming.com ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Version History: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Version 0.5: 5/27/04 Version 0.51: 5/28/04 Fixed errors Version 0.6: 5/29/04 Added more info, changed names of moves to match the manual. Version 0.8: 5/30/04 Some major rewrites. Added Story Added Unlock Features Section Added Map Area Section Added Sonic Factory Section Added Minigames Section Added Time Attack Section Added Two Player Mode Section Version 0.9: 6/5/04 Rewrites in Character Moves, Time Attack and Chao Locations sections, made some parts of Chao Location section less confusing, major rewrite of Zone 3 Act 1 Added Special Stage info and new section Added Medals section Added Frequently Asked Questions section Updated list of sites that can use my FAQS Version 1.0: 6/9/04 Added Mini Games and Mini Games Locator Added Act and Bosses Section, including General Tips for Acts and Bosses, Act and Boss Locator, info on all Bosses. Added info to Important Team Skills Summary. Smoothed out numbering system in Table of Contents and in the FAQS in general. Version 1.01: 6/13/04 Fixed minor errors throughout, including kind of major error in Unlock features section Addressed issue of people playing early version of the ROM Version 1.02: 9/24/04 Added Nostalgia Trip! section (13 in table of contents) Minor fixes, general updates ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ VERSION 1.02 IS HERE!!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ About the only things I did not include in version 1.02 is key locations and special stage walkthrough and as I said before I didn't include key locations because they are pretty darn easy to find, and someone else already has a find Special Stage walkthrough out. There is also a new section on the connection between this game and the earlier games, Nostalgia Trip! Included is info about Sonic Battle, a similar section is in my Sonic Battle Virtual Training guide and I decided to add one here also. It is section 13 near the end of this guide. Anyway if you really want to see these or any other sections you can think of or if you see any mistakes in the guide or need clarification then either e-mail me or leave a message on the GameFAQS.com messageboard I frequent regularly. Hope you enjoy this guide!!! I have included an important note because there are confused people who can't follow this guide because they are playing an early version ROM that was leaked out a few months ago and things in this guide do not apply to them, so I have included a note addressing this issue. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ IMPORTANT NOTE TO THOSE WHO HAVE THE EARLY ROM: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ First of all, please get the final version of the game, I put down 40 U.S. dollars for the game, please do so too or at least rent the thing. Second, there are several very important differences between this ROM and the final version including one major level change that has caused people to e-mail me saying my guide makes no sense. So in order to point out what you are missing here is a list of differences between the early ROM and the final version that was released so I will not get any more e-mails of this nature: Special Keys: In the early version all you have to do is find a key then exit out of the level by selecting quit on the pause menu and you still have it. Tag Actions: Knuckles can't punch through tough barriers, you have to use Knuckles as partner and Ground Tag Action every single time you come to one of these barriers, making it harder in general. Cream's Tag Action lasts longer, and her air action actually gives you a pretty good boost in height. Amy's Ground and Air Tag Actions are now completely different, her ground is now almost identical to Tails but with slightly less sideways motion, her air is the same but now you can't do that weird trick where you can use it almost infinatly. Invincibility and Maximum Speed now last longer. Other levels and areas: Minor changes have been made to other areas too, most noticeably a missing tunnel in Zone 3 Act 1 that I have received e-mails about and they took the falling rock out of the Zone 7 Map Area. Time Attack now works properly. Several annoying bugs were fixed. All in all, the final version is better, please get it!!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ IMPORTANT NOTE: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ In order to make my Chao locations a lot clearer, I decided to make the term Tag Action clearer by calling it Tag Action High Jump, which can be done by Tails or Amy as partner. Cream does have a Tag Action Jump, but is not very high so I do not discuss it, but it can be useful. Also Flight, Gliding, Boost Mode, and Tough Barrier Break are all moves that can be done by either team leaders or by Tag Action depending on what team you happen to have. Also the term Gliding covers Cream and Amy's Floating Fall which they have with particular Team mates. Climbing can be only done by Knuckles/Tails, Knuckles/Cream and Knuckles/Amy. If you are not sure if a particular team can do a particular move or not that is in my Chao location guide, the refer to Important Team Skills Summary to clearly see which moves can be done by what teams or just go with the team I happen to recommend because that team can defiantly get thorough the act with all Chao. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Table of Contents: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 1. Story 2. Character Moves Introduction 2.a. Basic Moves all Characters can do 2.b. Boost Mode and Mid Air Trick Moves 2.c. Tag Actions 2.d. General Partner Trends 2.e. Individual Team Descriptions and Moves 2.e.1. Sonic's Basic Moves 2.e.1.a. Sonic/Tails 2.e.1.b. Sonic/Knuckles 2.e.1.c. Sonic/Cream 2.e.1.d. Sonic/Amy 2.e.2. Tails' Basic Moves 2.e.2.a. Tails/Sonic 2.e.2.b. Tails/Knuckles 2.e.2.c. Tails/Cream 2.e.2.d. Tails/Amy 2.e.3. Knuckles' Basic Moves 2.e.3.a. Knuckles/Sonic 2.e.3.b. Knuckles/Tails 2.e.3.c. Knuckles/Cream 2.e.3.d. Knuckles/Amy 2.e.4. Cream's Basic Moves 2.e.4.a. Cream/Sonic 2.e.4.b. Cream/Tails 2.e.4.c. Cream/Knuckles 2.e.4.d. Cream/Amy 2.e.5. Amy's Basic Moves 2.e.5.a. Amy/Sonic 2.e.5.b. Amy/Tails 2.e.5.c. Amy/Knuckles 2.e.5.d. Amy/Cream 2.f. Important Team Skills Summary 3. Unlock Features 4. Map Area 5. Sonic Factory 6. Mini Games 6.a. Mini Games Locator 7. Acts and Bosses 7.a. General Tips for the Acts 7.b. General Tips for the Bosses 7.c. Act and Boss Locator 7.c.1. Zone 1: Route 99 7.c.2. Zone 2: Sunset Hill 7.c.3. Zone 3: Ocean Base 7.c.4. Zone 4: Toy Kingdom 7.c.5. Zone 5: Twinkle Snow 7.c.6. Zone 6: Cyber Track 7.c.7. Zone 7: Chaos Angel 7.d. Bosses 7.d.1. Zone 1 Boss 7.d.2. Zone 2 Act 3 Miniboss 7.d.3. Zone 2 Boss 7.d.4. Zone 3 Boss 7.d.5. Zone 4 Act 3 Miniboss 7.d.6. Zone 4 Boss 7.d.7. Zone 5 Boss 7.d.8. Zone 6 Act 3 Miniboss 7.d.9. Zone 6 Boss 7.d.10 Zone 7 Boss 7.d.11. Final Zone and Ending 7.d.12. Extra Zone and Ending 8. Guide to the Chao, Keys, Special Springs and Special Stage 8.a. Zone 1 Route 99 8.a.1. Act 1 Chao 8.a.2. Act 2 Chao 8.a.3. Act 3 Chao 8.a.4. Map Chao 8.a.5. Special Spring 8.b. Zone 2 Sunset Hill 8.b.1. Act 1 Chao 8.b.2. Act 2 Chao 8.b.3. Act 3 Chao 8.b.4. Map Chao 8.b.5. Special Spring 8.c. Zone 3 Ocean Base 8.c.1. Act 1 Chao 8.c.2. Act 2 Chao 8.c.3. Act 3 Chao 8.c.4. Special Spring 8.d. Zone 4 Toy Kingdom 8.d.1. Act 1 Chao 8.d.2. Act 2 Chao 8.d.3. Act 3 Chao8.d.4. Map Chao 8.d.5. Special Spring 8.e. Zone 5 Twinkle Snow 8.e.1. Act 1 Chao 8.e.2. Act 2 Chao 8.e.3. Act 3 Chao 8.e.4. Map Chao 8.e.5. Special Spring 8.f. Zone 6 Cyber Track 8.f.1. Act 1 Chao 8.f.2. Act 2 Chao 8.f.3. Act 3 Chao 8.f.4. Map Chao 8.f.5. Special Spring 8.g. Zone 7 Chaos Angel 8.g.1. Act 1 Chao 8.g.2. Act 2 Chao 8.g.3. Act 3 Chao 8.g.4. Map Chao 8.g.5. Special Spring 8.h. The Special Stage 9. Medal Times 10. Time Attack 11. Two Player Mode 12. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS) 13. About the Connection between Sonic Battle and Sonic Advance 3 14. Questions? ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 1. Story: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Dr. Eggman found the 7 Chaos Emeralds and using Chaos Control has broken the world into 7 pieces! But with help from the Master Emerald Sonic and friends can put the world back together again. But now Eggman has unleashed his new Ultimate Fighting Robot designed to be even stronger than the Gizoid/Emerl from the game Sonic Battle was! It is time to stop Eggman's most diabolical scheme ever with teamwork!!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2. Character Moves Introduction: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Sonic Advance 3's partner system is very complex. You choose one primary character, then you have to choose another character to be your partner. There are a total of 5 characters in normal levels, you start out with the choice between Sonic and Tails but later on you unlock more characters. You have to unlock characters with Sonic as the main character, Knuckles is unlocked if you complete Zone 2 Act 3, Amy is unlocked if you complete Zone 4 Act 3, and Cream is unlocked if you complete Zone 6 Act 3. But your partner character does a lot more than follow you around, they greatly affect the main character you are playing as. One thing your partner can do is Tag Team actions. These are activated by pressing the R button and each partner character has a particular Tag Action to help out their partner. But it gets more complex, the characters affect each other's powers too. Sometimes a partner character gives new abilities and sometimes takes away abilities, this even applies to your partner character but is less important. There are even other random affects that a partner can cause that are not attack related. Also, each team has a "formation", speed represented by the Sonic shoe, Power represented by Sonic's fist and Fly represented by Tails' tails that in general are suppose to tell you what that team is good for, but in my opinion is not always accurate. So there are a total of 20 different partner combinations, each one different! Also the Extra Zone that you can play if you get all Chaos Emeralds and defeat the Final Zone with Sonic as the lead character has a unique partner pairing, which I describe in a later section. I thought long and hard how to do this, so I decided to first list the basic moves of each character followed by a description on how each possible partner affects them. Later on in the guide I will describe such things as the location of all the Chao and all about the Map areas and other important things that apply to this game. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.a. Basic Moves all Characters can do: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Press and hold right or left: Run right or left, keep pressed and you will gain speed. Press down: Pressing down while standing still will cause you to crouch down, useful in dodging some attacks, if you remained crouched down for long enough the screen view will change so you can see what's below you. Press up: Pressing up while standing still will cause the character to look up, eventually the screen view will change so you can see what's above you. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.b. Boost Mode and Mid Air Trick Moves: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A couple of moves from Sonic Advance 2 that a good portion but not all the teams can do, I don't want to describe them over and over again so I describe them here. Any team with Sonic as either the main character or partner can use Boost Mode, in fact Sonic's Tag Action is instant Boost Mode, but for some reason only Tails has kept his Boost Mode attack. Only the Sonic/Tails, Tails/Sonic, Amy/Cream and Cream/Amy teams can use Mid Air Trick Moves. Boost Mode: Can only be used if Sonic is on your team. When you are in Boost Mode, you travel extra fast, There are a couple of ways to enter Boost Mode. One way is to run, preferably downhill, if you run long enough you will burst into Boost Mode, the more Rings you have, the sooner you will burst into Boost Mode. You can also achieve Boost Mode if a speed booster propels you forward. Mid Air Trick Moves: Can only be used by the Sonic/Tails, Tails/Sonic, Amy/Cream and Cream/Amy Teams. These are special mid-air maneuvers using the R button and a directional button that can only be performed during certain situations such as jumping off a spring, etc. where you are in the air but not in ball form. You cannot perform a Mid-Air Trick after you just did one and if you just press the R button alone you will just end up doing Tag Action. Here are the different Mid Air Tricks, I will highlight when characters do tricks that are quite different from each other. Press up when pressing R button: Jump higher up, most effective if used during the highest point in your jump, useful in reaching areas you cannot normally get to. Press left or right when pressing R button: This propels the character sideways real fast. This differs by character. Sonic and Amy: They both twirl around real fast and move sideways fast While slightly losing height until they either hit a wall or land. You cannot change their direction when moving sideways. You can attack enemies and continue moving sideways. Tails: Spins his tails to get a quick boost in the direction he is going, but then starts falling, he cannot go as far sideways as the other characters, but you can slightly control where he lands after he drops. You cannot attack enemies with this. Cream: Does a slower spin that Sonic and Amy, you can control her and change her direction during the trick, but you cannot attack enemies. Press down when pressing R button: The character stops in mid-air and Heads straight down. Sonic: Bound, he goes into a very fast spin while in the air and heads straight down, then bounces back up, can be used to attack enemies. Amy: Mid-Air Hammer Swirl, similar to Sonic's Bound but with a slightly wider range. Cream and Tails: Head straight down, you can slightly control which direction they head in, they cannot attack enemies with this move. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.c. Tag Actions: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ In order to activate the Tag Action, you have to press and hold the R button. Orange circles appear, then your partner will go into ball form and jump into the main character's arms. Release the R button in order to activate the Tag Action, sometimes it depends on whether you are using it on the ground or in the air. Here are all of them: Sonic as partner: Instant Boost Mode, can be used either on the ground or in the air. Read the Boost Mode section to find out more about Boost Mode. Tails as partner: On the ground: High Jump, Tails throws you high into the air, cannot be used as an attack. In the air: Flying, gain height by tapping the A button, use up, down, left or right to control what direction Tails is going, you cannot stop him from flying until he lands on something. You can attack enemies while in the air if you hit them with his tails. Tails can stay in the air 5 seconds. Knuckles as partner: On the ground: Throw Knuckles, you can throw Knuckles as enemies, this move is also used to break barriers that can only be broken using Power formation. In the air: Gliding, glide sideways while losing little height, press left or right to change what direction you are gliding. You can attack enemies fist first. If you let go of the A button, Knuckles will fall. If you touch a wall while gliding, Knuckles will cling to it but you will not so keep that in mind. Cream as partner: Borrow Cheese, Cheese will transform and look more like the main character and start following him/her but only for 5 seconds, then Cheese returns to normal. During this time you can use Chao Attack by pressing the B button on the ground or while jumping. Cheese will automatically go out and attack enemies or get item boxes for you. This is a killer move when used against bosses, but you have to wait a little bit after you use this move to use it again. Also if you use this Tag action while jumping Cream does give you a slight boost in jumping. Amy as partner: On the ground: High Jump, Amy throws you high into the air, cannot be used as an attack. In the air: Spin High Jump, Amy can throw you very high in the air, can be used as an attack. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.d. General Partner Trends: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ How each character affects other characters can vary quite a bit, but here are the general trends: Sonic: Gives partner Boost Mode, in general makes partner's attacks more speed-like. Tails: Adds height to some of partner's abilities. Takes away some moves sometimes. Knuckles: Gives partner more/more powerful moves. Cream: Gives Homing capabilities (except to Amy). Amy: Gives Hammer, takes away normal jump/Spin Attack. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e. Individual Team Descriptions and Moves: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This is a thorough description of the moves/actions of all 20 regular Teams! In each section, I will first describe the basic moves of the main characters, then I will describe afterwards how each partner character affects them. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.1. Sonic's Basic Moves: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ These are the base abilities for Sonic, our true blue speedster! Boost Mode: Sonic can always use Boost Mode, read the Boost Mode section for more info. Press down while running: Spin Along Ground, you start spinning while still moving, use to attack enemies. A button: Spin Jump, use to jump or to attack an enemy. Press and hold down + A button then release: Spin Dash, used for attacking enemies or to instantly increase speed for getting up slopes, if you press the A button once and then release both buttons, you will get the most powerful Spin Dash, if you keep pressing down for a while then release the A button, the character will eventually rev down a little and then releasing down will result in a less powerful Spin Dash. B button: Skid Attack, he does a flip then slides along the ground then stops, great attack for enemies beside you. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.1.a. Sonic/Tails: An Unbreakable Bond! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Speed A classic combination! Basically Sonic has the same moves as he does in Sonic Advance 2, including Boost Mode and Mid Air Trick Moves, but he cannot do his Double Spin/Homing Attack, Bound or Jump Dash. A good Speed team with some flight too if you use Tail's Tag action. Differences from Sonic's Basic Moves: Non-attack Effects: Mid Air Trick Moves: Described Above ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.1.b. Sonic/Knuckles: Fighting Buddies! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Speed Sonic may not like Knuckles' help, but in fact Knuckles gives Sonic some good moves, it is more like a mix of speed/power, and don't forget the Tag Actions, even though this is not a Power formation you can still throw Knuckles at those extra tough barriers. Differences from Sonic's Basic Moves: A Button then B: Wind Attack, increases the range of your attack enabling you to attack things a little higher than you can normally reach and it increases the speed of your attack. A Button them Down + B Button: Bound, he goes into a very fast spin while in the air and heads straight down, then bounces back up. A Button then Up + B Button: Upper Spin: Sonic blasts off upward in a very fast attack, can be very useful against certain bosses. . . B Button: Fire Sliding, he does a flip then slides along the ground, more powerful and lasts longer than Sonic's normal skid attack. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.1.c. Sonic/Cream ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Speed A sort of "cheap" team, not only can Sonic borrow Cheese and use Chao Attack, but also he gets a bubble underwater! That added to the Jump Dash brings back memories of the games Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles. . . A good speed team and I recommend it for some time attacks. Differences from Sonic's Basic Moves: Non-Attack Effects: Breathe Underwater: Sonic gets a bubble while underwater and cannot drown. A button then A again while in air: Jump Dash/Homing Attack, Sonic rockets forward at a high rate of speed, if used near an enemy he will home in on it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.1.d. Sonic/Amy A Lovely Couple! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Speed Poor Sonic. . . not only is he stuck with Amy following him around in a love sick manner, but he loses his normal spin moves too! But actually with Amy's Tag action this is a pretty good speed team. Differences from Sonic's Basic Moves: Non-attack Effects: Amy's Behavior: Amy has several unique behaviors, including hearts appearing over her head and she chases Sonic a unique way and has a different wait animation. Sonic's Board: Sonic grinds rails on a surf board, Sonic does a cool trick when he goes off the end of the rail. A Button: Jump, you cannot attack enemies when you jump. A Button then B Button: Spin Attack, used to attack enemies. B button: Hammer Attack, use the hammer to attack enemies right beside you. Use Hammer Attack on a spring to jump extra high. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.2. Tails' Base Moves: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The base moves of our favorite flying kitsune friend! Press down while running: Spin Along Ground, you start spinning while still moving, use to attack enemies. A button: Spin Jump, use to jump or to attack an enemy. Press and hold down + A button then release: Spin Dash, used for attacking enemies or to instantly increase speed for getting up slopes, if you press the A button once and then release both buttons, you will get the most powerful Spin Dash, if you keep pressing down for a while then release the A button, the character will eventually rev down a little and then releasing down will result in a less powerful Spin Dash. A button then tap A button repeatedly: Propeller Flying, gain height by tapping the A button, use D-pad to control what direction he is going, you cannot stop him from flying until he lands on something. You can attack enemies while in the air if you hit them with his tails. Tails can stay in the air 5 seconds. B button: Tail Swipe, attacks enemies to the side of Tails without moving forward. In Water: A button then tap A button repeatedly: Dog Paddle Swimming, exactly like Tails flying but underwater, you cannot attack enemies while swimming. Tails can swim for 5 seconds. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.2.a. Tails/Sonic: An Unbreakable Bond! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Speed The reverse of a classic combination! Tails has all his moves from Sonic Advance 2 and of course he can swim. A good team for both Speed and Flying. Differences from Tails' Basic Moves: Non-attack Effects: Boost Mode: Described Above Mid Air Trick Moves: Described Above B button while in Boost Mode: Super Tail Swipe, do a Tail Swipe and keep on running. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.2.b. Tails/Knuckles: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Power Tails cannot fly in this formation and his swimming ability is affected, but he does gain an interesting "gliding" attack and he for the first time ever can do the Double Spin and he has a cool Tornado Attack! Mostly power. Differences from Tails' Basic Moves: A button then A again while in air: Mid-Air Glide, glide sideways pretty quickly, you cannot change direction. You can attack enemies fist first. If you let go of the A button, he will fall. Unlike Knuckles Tails cannot climb walls. A Button then B Button: Tail Spin Attack, increases the range of your attack enabling you to attack things a little higher than you can normally reach and it increases the speed of your attack. B Button: Tornado Attack, turn into a tornado to attack enemies. In Water: A button then tap A button repeatedly: Breast Stroke Swimming, but with Knuckles Tails swims a little more like Knuckles and cannot gain as much height, just a little. Tails can swim for 5 seconds. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.2.c. Tails/Cream: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Flight Not the best Flight formation, Cream affects Tails flight quite a bit. But at least you can use Chao Attack if you use Tag Action and there is Homing Atack. Differences from Tails' Basic Moves: A button then tap A button repeatedly: High Propeller Flying, but it is greatly affected by Cream, Tails flies with his tails below his body instead of above, gain height by tapping the A button, use D-pad to control what direction he is going, you cannot stop him from flying until he lands on something. Tails can stay in the air only 2 seconds when affected by Cream. A button then A again when in air near enemy: Homing Attack, he will home in on nearby enemies. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.2.d Tails/Amy: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Flight Not a bad flight formation if you do not mind the inability to Spin Attack normally. And you can attack with the hammer while you are flying! Differences from Tails' Basic Moves: A Button: Jump, you cannot attack enemies when you jump. B Button while Flying: Hammer Propeller Flying, attack with the hammer while flying. You can also fly faster than normal. B button: Hammer Attack, use the hammer to attack enemies right beside you. Use Hammer Attack on a spring to jump extra high. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.3. Knuckles' Basic Moves: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The basic moves of our powerful but gullible echidna friend! Press down while running: Spin Along Ground, you start spinning while still moving, use to attack enemies. A button: Spin Jump, use to jump or to attack an enemy. Press and hold down + A button then release: Spin Dash, used for attacking enemies or to instantly increase speed for getting up slopes, if you press the A button once and then release both buttons, you will get the most powerful Spin Dash, if you keep pressing down for a while then release the A button, the character will eventually rev down a little and then releasing down will result in a less powerful Spin Dash. A button then A again while in air: Mid Air Glide, glide sideways while losing little height, press left or right to change what direction you are gliding. You can attack enemies fist first. If you let go of the A button, Knuckles will fall. If you touch a wall while gliding, Knuckles will cling to it. Push up or down to climb on it or just press A again to jump off it, when he gets to the edge of a ledge, Knuckles will pull himself up on it. B button: Double Punch, punch an enemy while going forward slightly. In Water: Jump in water: Float, if you jump into a body of water, Knuckles will rise to the surface and float, push right or left to move right or left, push up and you can look up while floating, push down to sink into the water, push A to jump out. A button then A again while in water: Breast Stroke Swimming, exactly like Knuckles' gliding but underwater, but you cannot attack enemies and you cannot gain height. You can even cling to and climb walls underwater. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.3.a. Knuckles/Sonic Fighting Buddies! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Speed Actually not a very good team because Sonic takes away Knuckles' gliding and wall climbing which is very useful. Differences from Knuckles' Basic Moves: Non-attack Effects: Boost Mode: Described Above A button then A again while in air: Mid-Air Dash Glide, Knuckles rushes forward head first, when he hits the ground he goes into a fast spin. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.3.b. Knuckles/Tails ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Power This is not a power formation! This is the best Flight team there is! Not only does Knuckles do an extra jump before he glides and of course climb walls, but you can always have Tails get you higher too! You can go pretty much anywhere, I highly suggest this team for finding Chao! I love this team! Differences from Knuckles' Basic Moves: A button then A again while in air: Double Mid-Air Glide, Knuckles jumps up a little ways, then starts gliding sideways with one arm stretched out while losing little height, press left or right to change what direction you are gliding. You can attack enemies fist first. If you let go of the A button, Knuckles will fall. If you touch a wall while gliding, Knuckles will cling to it. Push up or down to climb on it or just press A again to jump off it, when he gets to the edge of a ledge, Knuckles will pull himself up on it. B button: Spiral Upper, a fiery jumping punch. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.3.c. Knuckles/Cream ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Power Not a bad team at all, Knuckles gains use of both Homing Attack and can use Cream Tag Action for Chao Attack, but the opposite team, Cream/Knuckles I consider better. A button then A again while in air near enemy: Homing Attack, he can home in on enemies. Away from enemies he does his normal glide. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.3.d. Knuckles/Amy ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Power He losses his normal jump of course, but actually not that bad because of Amy's Tag Action and the fact that this is the only team you can use Knuckles' Drill Claw for some reason and for some reason you can Spin- dash up walls, why does Amy add a new Spin-dash??? Beats me. Differences from Knuckles' Basic Moves: A Button: Jump, you cannot attack enemies when you jump. Right or Left + down and A Button while climbing: Dash Climb, you mush push either right or left depending on if the wall is right or left of Knuckles, Knuckles can rev up while clinging to the wall and Spin Dash up it, like normal Spin Dash the intensity depends on how long you hold down the A button. A Button then B Button: Spin Attack, used to attack enemies. A button then down + B button while in air: Drill Claw, Knuckles spirals straight downwards. B button: Hammer Attack, use the hammer to attack enemies right beside you. Use Hammer Attack on a spring to jump extra high. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.4. Cream's Basic Moves: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The basic moves of our favorite cute rabbit and her Chao Cheese! Press down while running: Spin Along Ground, you start spinning while still moving, use to attack enemies. A button: Spin Jump, use to jump or to attack an enemy. Press and hold down + A button then release: Spin Dash, used for attacking enemies or to instantly increase speed for getting up slopes, if you press the A button once and then release both buttons, you will get the most powerful Spin Dash, if you keep pressing down for a while then release the A button, the character will eventually rev down a little and then releasing down will result in a less powerful Spin Dash. A button then tap A button repeatedly: Flying, tapping the A button causes her to gain height, use right or left to control where she goes, pressing B button will cause her to immediately stop flying and attacks downwards. She can only stay in the air for 4 seconds until she gets tired and starts falling, but she can fly quite fast, remember she cannot attack enemies while flying but you can fly over them and then press B as an attack. B button or A button then B button: Chao Attack, if you are facing an enemy or an item box, Cheese will go out and either attack the enemy or will pick up the item box for you. This is a killer move when used against bosses, but you have to wait a little bit after you use this move to use it again. In Water: Jump in water: Life Ring, if you jump into a body of water, Cream will rise to the surface and use her cute floatie to float, push right or left to move right or left, push up and you can look up while floating, push down to sink into the water, push A to jump out. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.4.a. Cream/Sonic ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Speed Sonic makes Chao Attack loose its homing ability, but it is still powerful, a good speed team with flight abilities too. Differences from Cream's Basic Moves: Non-attack Effects: Boost Mode: Described Above B button or A button then B button: Chao Ball Attack, with Sonic as a partner looses its homing ability, but Cheese does rush sideways in a blue blaze of light, still a very powerful attack. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.4.b. Cream/Tails ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Flight A mediocre Flight team, Cream looses her flight but gains the umbrella, but Tails can still air lift her using Tag Action. Differences from Cream's Basic Moves: A button then A again while in air: Floating Fall, float gently down with the umbrella, press left or right to change what direction you are floating. You cannot attack enemies. If you let go of the A button Cream will fall. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.4.c. Cream/Knuckles ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Power One of the best teams there is! Cheese actually circles around Cream, automatically killing enemies he hits, plus Cream's flight makes this a very strong team indeed! Strangly Cream loses her ability to float in water when paired with Knuckles. Differences from Cream's Basic Moves: Non-attack Effects: Automatic Chao Spinning Attack: Cheese continuously spins around Cream and will automatically kill enemies/get item boxes he touches. Cream loses her ability to stay afloat in water. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.4.d Cream/Amy Team Jubilee! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: FlightA pretty good flight team, but not the best. Differences from Cream's Basic Moves: A Button: Jump, you cannot attack enemies when you jump. A Button then B Button: Chao Attack, same as Cream's basic, just remember you have to jump to use it. A Button then down plus B Button: Hip Drop, a fast downwards attack. B button: Hammer Attack, use the hammer to attack enemies right beside you. Use Hammer Attack on a spring to jump extra high. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.5. Amy's Basic Attacks: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Amy's basic moves, they are similar to the moves she had in Sonic Advance 1, no spin attacks. This is pretty general, she is the character most affected by other characters. A button: Jump, you cannot attack enemies when you jump. Press down and A button: Leap, she takes giant steps forward, good for getting up steep slopes, she can even get up slopes the others can't Spin-Dash up! Press down and A button, then B button during Leap: Head Slide, good when you encounter an enemy during Leap. A button then B button while in air: Mid-Air Hammer Attack, swing the hammer in the air. B button: Hammer Attack, use the hammer to attack enemies right beside you. Use Hammer Attack on a spring to jump extra high. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.5.a. Amy/Sonic A Lovely Couple! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Speed In this formation, Amy suddenly changes from Sonic Advance-like to Sonic Advance 2 like, here moves are very different and she has all the spin moves including her weird spin-dash! A good speed team. Differences from Amy's Basic Moves, note that these are pretty much completely different from her normal moves: Non-attack Effects: Boost Mode: Described Above Press down while running: Spin Along Ground, you start spinning while still moving, use to attack enemies. A button: Spin Jump, use to jump or to attack an enemy. Press and hold down + A button then release: Spin Dash, used for attacking enemies or to instantly increase speed for getting up slopes, if you press the A button once and then release both buttons, you will get the most powerful Spin Dash, if you keep pressing down for a while then release the A button, the character will eventually rev down a little and then releasing down will result in a less powerful Spin Dash. A button then A again while in air: Jump Dash: Amy attacks sideways while holding her skirt. A button then down + B button while in the air: Spinning Hammer Attack, swirl down toward the ground, then bounce back up again. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.5.b Amy/Tails ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Flight A mid level flight formation, Amy does have her balloon gliding which is kind of cool and her Super Hammer Attack has more height, but there is also always Tail's awesome Tag Action. Differences from Amy's Basic Moves: A button then A again while in air: Floating Fall, float gently down with the balloons, press left or right to change what direction you are floating. You cannot attack enemies. If you let go of the A button Amy will fall. A button then B button while in air: Mid-air Hammer Jump, swing the hammer in the air and jump up higher. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.5.c Amy/Knuckles ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Power Knuckles changes Amy quite a bit, for the better! Man that's a big Hammer... also Amy Dash can be useful for getting up slopes. Differences from Amy's Basic Moves: Press and hold down + A button then release: Amy Dash, she looks like she is going to do her weird Spin Dash, but instead she just runs at a faster speed, but she does not enter Boost Mode. Seems to resemble Sonic's Super Peel-out from Sonic CD... A button then down + B button while in the air: Mid-Air Hammer Attack, swirl down toward the ground, then bounce back up again. B button: Big Hammer Attack, attack enemies with a huge hammer. Use on a spring to jump extra high. Press down and B button: Hammer Jump, use the hammer to jump extra high. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.e.5.d. Amy/Cream Team Jubilee! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Formation: Flight In my opinion the worst flight team, they can't gain height at all except for the fact of high jump off springs, R button trick moves and the slight boost from Cream's Air Tag Action! And it is kind of similar to the Amy/Tails team, but so cute! Differences from Amy's Basic Moves: Non-attack Effects: Mid Air Trick Moves: Described Above A button then A again while in air: Floating Fall, float gently down with the balloons, press left or right to change what direction you are floating. You cannot attack enemies. If you let go of the A button Amy will fall. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 2.f. Important Team Skills Summary ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The different teams are defiantly better at doing some things than others, but there are a handful of skills that I consider very important and I often refer to when I describe Chao locations and such. This is intended as a quick glance guide to what all the teams can basically do, the teams and the terms I use are described in much more detail in the list above and of course not everything is listed, mostly just skills that help you get through an act and to areas that you might not be able to get to with another team, some of the stuff listed for each team is done by Tag Action and is indicated as such. Look at each act and boss and try to figure out which of these skills listed below would help you the most. I decided to add hitting spring with hammer, surprisingly useful, and Cream's Air Tag Action can help your jump so I included it too, plus I decided to add in Chao Attack because it is useful to bosses, there are also three teams that can't spin-dash, spin-dash is highly useful and puts them at a disadvantage in a few situations, so I pointed them out too. Sonic/Tails Speed: Boost Mode, R Button Tricks, Tag Action Flight, Tag Action High Jump Sonic/Knuckles Speed: Boost Mode, Tag Action Gliding, Tag Action Tough Barrier Break Sonic/Cream Speed: Boost Mode, Breathe Underwater, Tag Action Chao Attack, Tag Action Jump Assist Sonic/Amy Speed: Boost Mode, Spring Hammer, Tag Action High Jump Tails/Sonic Speed: Boost Mode, R Button Tricks, Flight, Swimming, Tag Action Boost Mode Tails/Knuckles Power: Gliding, Swimming, Tag Action Gliding, Tag Action Tough Barrier Break Tails/Cream Flight: Limited Flight, Swimming, Tag Action Chao Attack, Tag Action Jump Assist Tails/Amy Flight: Enhanced Flight, Swimming, Spring Hammer, Tag Action High Jump Knuckles/Sonic Speed: Boost Mode, Floating on top of Water, Tough Barrier Break, Tag Action Boost Mode Knuckles/Tails Power: Enhanced Gliding, Climbing, Floating on top of Water, Tough Barrier Break, Tag Action Flight, Tag Action High Jump Knuckles/Cream Power: Gliding, Climbing, Floating on top of Water, Tough Barrier Break, Tag Action Chao Attack, Tag Action Jump Assist Knuckles/Amy Power: Gliding, Climbing, Floating on top of Water, Tough Barrier Break, Spring Hammer, Wall Spin-dash, Tag Action High Jump Cream/Sonic Speed: Flight, Boost Mode, Floating on top of Water, decreased Chao Attack, Tag Action Boost Mode Cream/Tails Flight: Umbrella Gliding, Floating on top of Water, Chao Attack, Tag Action Flight, Tag Action High Jump Cream/Knuckles Power: Flight, Floating on top of Water, Enhanced Chao Attack, Tag Action Gliding, Tag Action Tough Barrier Break Cream/Amy Flight: Flight, Floating on top of Water, Spring Hammer, Chao Attack when jumping, Tag Action High Jump Amy/Sonic Speed: Boost Mode, Tag Action Boost Mode Amy/Tails Flight: Balloon Gliding, Tag Action Flight, Tag Action High Jump (no spin-dash) Amy/Knuckles Power: Hammer Jump, Tag Action Gliding, Tag Action Tough Barrier Break (no spin-dash, but Amy Dash helps out) Amy/Cream Flight: R Button Tricks, Balloon Gliding, Spring Hammer, Tag Action Chao Attack, Tag Action Jump Assist (no spin-dash) ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 3. Unlock features: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Unlock Knuckles: Complete Zone 2 Act 3 with Sonic as leader Unlock Amy: Complete Zone 4 Act 3 with Sonic as leader Unlock Cream: Complete Zone 6 Act 3 with Sonic as leader Unlock Sound Test: Defeat the Final Boss Unlock Boss Time Attack: Get all gold metals in all acts and bosses, beat Final Zone again. (Do not have to have all Chaos Emeralds and beat Extra Zone to unlock like some places say.) Unlock Special Stage Mode: Get all Chaos Emeralds, then enter this key combination on the main menu (the one with the Chao): Up, R, Down, L, Right, Left Unlock Extra Zone: Get all Chaos Emeralds, beat Final Zone with Sonic as leader. You have to beat Final Zone with Sonic as Leader every time you want to enter the Extra Zone ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 4. Map Area: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Unlike the previous two Sonic Advance Games this game has an over world system, the Zone Maps. The Map Areas are the main place to navigate to get to different Acts, Bosses and Minigames. at first can be confusing to navigate. Each Zone's Map Area contains the following things which will be described in more detail in their own sections: The Factory Ring: Where you always start, this giant floating ring will take you to Sonic Factory. Here you can change the main and partner character, go to Chao Playground, and go back to previously beaten zones. The Act Rings: Three in total, they are small rings numbered 1-3. These are the main stages in the game where you earn metals and find Chao and Special Keys. You have to beat all three acts in each Zone to be able to fight the Final Boss, but it does not matter which order you play them in. Crowns appear over the act rings to signify you have completed the act. The Final Boss: There is a huge yellow transporter that will take you to the Final Boss for the Zone if you have already beat the three acts. Defeat the Boss in order to advance to the next Zone. The transporter turns red if you have already defeated the Boss. Mini Games: Takes you to the Defeat All Enemies and Push the Switch Minigames where you can earn extra lives. Map Chao: Every Zone except for Zone 3 has one Chao hidden somewhere in the Map Area. Find this Chao along with the 9 others in the Acts so you can gather Special Keys in the acts. Special Spring: A locked spring hidden somewhere in the Map Area, if you have a Special Key then you can unlock it and go on to the Special Stage where you can earn a Chaos Emerald. A crown appears over it when you have successfully earned the Emerald. Omochao: They are here to help you! Found throughout the Map Areas and Acts. Go up to one and push up to see what helpful advice he has. Too bad you can't smash them like in Sonic Adventure 2... Final Zone Ring: A giant metal ring found in the Zone 7 Chaos Angel Map Area. It leads to the Final Zone, Altar Emerald. If you have all Chaos Emeralds and Sonic is leader if you beat this zone you can go on to the Extra Zone, Nonaggression. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 5. Sonic Factory: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This is the area in each Zone to change Team Formation, View Chao information and go to different zones. If you head to the right out of the factory you will go back to the Map Area. Character Select Machine: The first thing in the Sonic Factory, jump into it and you can change the lead and partner character you want to play as. Chao Playground: Going left of the Character Select Machine hit the spring and head left to find Chao Playground. You can see how many of the 10 Chao you have found in each Zone and the Chaos Emerald if you have earned it. If you press select you can view this information for each Zone. Zone Select: To the right of there is the Zone Select area, jump into the numbered machines to instantly go to other Zones you have already completed. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 6. Mini Games: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ In each Map Area there are two transporters with a star on them, they lead to two different types of minigames. 1ups are rewarded based upon how much time you take in completing the minigame, 5 is max, 0 if you can't complete it in time. You can only enter each minigame once per game. One minigame is Push the Switch, there is a capsule with 5 switches in it and you are suppose to try to push switches that turn colors as fast as possible. If you are able to push a red switch it is worth 3 points, yellow is worth 2, blue is worth one. You only have 30 seconds to push switches, but in my opinion this game is easier than the defeat enemies game! I recommend a team with a hammer because it is a lot easier to push the switches with a hammer, Tails' Tail Swipe works well too. Anyway the number of points required to win differs by zone. Zone 1: 5 Zone 2: 8 Zone 3: 12 Zone 4: 15 Zone 5: 18 Zone 6: 22 Zone 7: 25 The second minigame is Defeat All Enemies, you have to get through a small area and defeat all 8 enemies within a minute to get a reward, flowers pop out of the robots, Sonic CD anyone? This minigame is good for teams with good fighting skills and ways to get up higher, I like using Tails/Amy actually because some enemies are in the air, and Chao Attack is excellent. Push the Switch is easier than this game. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 6.a. Mini Games Locator ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The minigames are not only sometimes kind of hidden in the Map Areas, but you cannot tell the difference between them by looking at the transporter. So here is a guide to the locations of both minigames in each Map Area relative to such things as the Factory Ring and Act Rings. Zone 1: Push the Switch: Pretty easy to find. To the right of the Act 2 Ring is a large fall, after you fall down head jump left instead of right, the transporter is kind of in a small room against the left wall, if you do not make the jump you will have to tag action high jump, climb or fly back up there, or glide to there from the area you jumped is a little easier. Number of points: 5 Defeat All Enemies: Pretty easy to find. In between the Act 1 and Act 2 rings is a hole, jump through the hole, then spin-dash or run fast left up the curve and you will find the minigame transporter. Zone 2: Push the Switch: Easy to find, from the Act 1 Ring on your way to Act 2 you jump on a spring then you are on a platform with flowers on it. You can either go down the hole then you will have to go up on a platform, or jump over it and the blue and yellow spring, doesn't matter, you will find the minigame up against the right wall. Number of points: 8 Defeat All Enemies: Very easy to find, on your way from the Act 2 Ring to the Act 3, you go left from Act 2 and you come to a hole, the minigame is on the left side, go down the hole, push blue switch to go on your way to Act 3. Shortcut from Factory Ring, Tag Action High Jump Required: Tag Action High Jump up the gap in the ceiling just right of the Factory Ring and land on the blue switch that is to the left. Tag Action High Jump to the left again and there is the minigame. Zone 3: Push the Switch: Very easy to find, You should see it after you are shot out of the cannon on your way to Act 2 from Act 1. Number of points: 12 Defeat All Enemies: Very easy to find, you should see it when you are heading for the Act 3 Ring from Act 2 to the left as soon as you use the machine to go up higher. Zone 4: Push the Switch: Easy to see but a little complex to get to, unless you use the shortcut I will explain later! You should see it under you when going from Act 2 to Act 3, here is how to get to it. Just left of the Act 3 Ring is a blue switch, if you press it two platforms appear, one above in the gap and one going left and right, get on the platform going left and right. When the platform is farthest left, you will see a spring above you that leads to the zone 4 boss, but instead you want to jump to the left and land below there, it can be a tricky ledge to land on if you don't have any type of tag action, flying or climbing abilities. Anyway you should see another blue switch, push it and another platform appears to the left, this one leads to a rocket and the rocket leads to the minigame. Shortcut from Factory Ring, Tag Action High Jump or Flight Required: Just right of the Factory Ring you should see pendulums, Tag Action High Jump or fly from the pendulum (left one preferably) to the right and you will see the same blue switch to the right, or you can just fly or Tag Action High Jump directly to the rocket. Number of points: 15 Defeat All Enemies: Tag Action High Jump, Flight or Climbing apparantly required, Not easy to find. On your way from the Act 2 Ring to the Act 3 Ring you will come across an Omochao that says "There's An Act Ring Below Here" That is a big gap that you jump down in order to get to the Act 3 Ring, The minigame is actually on the right side of this gap, the other end of the hole is higher and I tried but you just can't jump it, and gliding barely works if you start off a little ways to the left of there up higher, but climbing is fine. You can also Tag Action High Jump up there if you happen to be in that hole near the Act 3 Ring. When you push the blue switch two platforms appear and one is in that hole, but you still can't use it to jump to the other side of the hole. Shortcut from Factory Ring: Follow the shortcut instructions for the other minigame, but keep heading right to end up near the Act 3 Ring. Zone 5: Push the Switch: Kind of hidden, just a little left of the Act 2 ring you will see a hole covered with an icicle. Just standing on it gets you nowhere, you have to jump on it then jump off to make it fall. Then jump down the hole and you will be in a room with the minigame. Number of points: 18 Defeat All Enemies: About medium difficulty to find. On your way to Act 2 from Act 1, you will come across a large gap area that you head left across on platforms, right before the platforms is an Omochao that says "There's an Act Ring left of here" Instead of jumping on the platforms, jump down in between the first moving platform and the wall and you will land in a room with the minigame in it. Zone 6: Push the Switch: Not really hard to find. From the Act 2 Ring heading for act 3 you will be in a machine where you choose direction, choosing left will send you to this minigame, right sends you on to Act 3. There is a small shortcut but not worth mentioning. Number of points: 22 Defeat All Enemies: Not really hard to find. From the Act 3 Ring heading to the boss there is a machine you get in that you have to choose a direction, down gets you to this minigame, up gets you to the boss. Shortcut from Factory Ring, Tag Action High Jump Required: Just right of the Factory Ring gravity reverses, when it does use Tag Action High jump and you will jump through a hole in the "floor" and head left, then gravity will reverse again and you will find the minigame. Zone 7: Push the Switch: Slightly hidden, going left from the Act 3 ring hit the spring up and go right, not left where you see the see-saw, fall down a little ways and you will come to the mini-game. Shortcut from Factory Ring, Tag Action High Jump, Flight, Climbing Required: Go up through the gap in the ceiling just to the right of the Factory Ring. It is even possible to get up here using Cream's Air Tag Action, but a little tricky... Number of points: 25 Defeat All Enemies: Kind of weird place, hidden. Just before you get to the Boss, you push a switch that makes a platform appear that takes you up to the boss, instead of getting on that platform instead push the switch and jump down the hole, a platform temporarily appears at the bottom that allows you to push a switch against the wall. This switch activates a spring that is left of the Act 2 Ring that sends you up to the minigame. Shortcut, Tag Action High Jump or Flight Required: Just use Tag Action or flight just to the left of the Act 2 Ring and head a little left, a lot quicker. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7. Acts and Bosses ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The most important part of the game, in each zone there are 3 acts, you have to get through them in any order in order to challenge the boss for the zone, defeat the boss and you are on your way to the next zone. There is one main boss for each zone, but zones 2, 4 and 6 have a miniboss located at the end of Act 3 that is associated with unlocking characters in those acts, defeat the act and miniboss with Sonic to unlock Knuckles, Amy and Cream. Also there is the Final Boss you get to face after defeating the Zone 7 boss to see the normal ending of the game. But if you successfully get all Chaos Emeralds, then you get the treat of facing the extra boss and seeing a totally different ending. For all acts and bosses you earn medals based upon how fast you have completed them, Gold, Silver and Bronze. In detail later on in the guide I give instructions on how to get into the Special Stages and earning Chaos Emeralds and tips on how to get Gold and other medals in every act and boss. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.a. General Tips for the Acts ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Like other Sonic games, you want to get through levels alive, so make sure you keep rings. But one difference is the scoring system, there is no score, you just earn medals by going through the act or boss as fast as possible. So rings are only important to keep you alive and gathering 100 of them to earn extra lives. Also rings are found in badniks this time too which in fact makes life in this game a little easier. Also this game's pace most of the time is more like the old Genesis games and Sonic Advance 1 that Sonic Advance 2, not much running and there are even switches this time like in the old games you have to press to make things happen. There are parts of the game you can get out a speed formation team and whiz through like Sonic Advance 2, but other places, Zone 4 comes to mind, where you find yourself at a much slower pace. That is part of what makes this game great, there is huge variety in how to get through acts. Also in the acts you will run into Chao. There are ten in all in each Zone and are important if you want to get into the Special Stage so you can earn Chaos Emeralds, I go into this in much more detail in the appropriate section. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.b. General Tips for the Bosses ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The bosses in this game are completely different than Sonic Advance 2, like Sonic Advance 1 they stay in pretty much the same place. There are different techniques to defeating each one and different moves that work on different bosses, not even all bosses can be Chao Attacked to death like in Sonic Advance 2 and you have to beat at least 5 of them anyway before even unlocking Cream so you better be learning some extra skills quick! Just like the acts there is no score so you earn a medal depending on how quickly you can defeat the boss. The breakdown is like this: 7 zone bosses, 3 minibosses in zones 2, 4 and 6, final boss, and the extra boss which are detailed in the next section. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c. Act and Boss Locator ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Most of the Acts and Bosses are pretty intuitive to find, but a few are tricky, so here is a guide, and for some of the acts I describe shortcuts to get back to the act from the Factory Ring, but most is in sequential order. The locations of other things such as Minigames, Map Chao, and Special Springs are described in later sections and use the Factory Ring, Act Rings and Bosses as reference points. Remember, you cannot get into Bosses until you have beaten all three acts in the zone, and a lot of people don't know about the Final Zone ring because you can also get to the Final Zone after defeating Zone 7 Boss, but it's there just left of the Zone 7 Boss! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c.1. Zone 1: Route 99 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Act 1 Ring: Go right from the Factory Ring and break the barrier in the floor. Hit the switch down there and it activates a spring, then go a little left and use the chain and handle to go up, a little right of there is the Act 1 Ring. Shortcut: Use some sort of flight, climbing, tag action, whatever where the barrier in the floor is and you should come to the chain that takes you to act 1. Act 2 Ring: Just head right from Act 1 making sure not to fall in the little hole between the acts unless you want to play the minigame. Act 3 Ring: Head right from Act 2, you will just fall down a bunch of little cliffs, just keep going right and you will get there. Boss: Right from Act 3 hit the red switch that activates the springs, these will send you up and into a chain and handle, jump up from there to the left and there is the final boss. Shortcut: Tag Action High Jump a little ways right of the Act 2 Ring heading left, this is the area of the Map Chao and the Final Boss is just right of that. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c.2. Zone 2: Sunset Hill ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Act 1 Ring: Just head right from the Factory Ring. Act 2 Ring: Heading right from Act 1 hit the spring, then land on the platform with the flowers on it. Jump over the gap heading right and you will come to the blue and yellow trampoline spring. Use it to head up and then head left, Keep going left and you will find Act 2. Shortcut, can use this also as an easier way to get to Act 3 and boss too, Tag Action High Jump Required. Tag Action High Jump through the hole in the ceiling just left of the Factory Ring, go to the right and land on the blue switch, but to get to Act 2 you want to instead Tag Action High Jump Again and land right, you should come to an area with a minigame to the left, go right for a while to get to Act 2. Act 3 Ring: From Act 2 head left and you will come to a hole with a minigame on the other side. Jump down the hole and you will land on a blue switch. It is best to walk off the edge to the right to land on the platform that appears, falling down this hole takes you back to the Factory Ring, Head right from there and you will find a blue and yellow trampoline spring, you have to jump off of it really hard, if you don't you will end back by the Act 2 Ring again. When you get up there head right and you will find Act 3. Easier way shortcut: From Act 2 go left and you will see a place before you get to the hole with the minigame by it that has a brown pole, right here you want to use Tag Action High Jump to get to Act 3, much easier than the trampoline Spring. Another shortcut: If you like the trampoline spring, then you can just Tag Action High Jump from the Factory ring and head right this time to get to the spring. Boss: From Act 3 head right and push the red switch and quickly head left. You will activate a spring to the far left that sends you up to a narrow platform, jump down to the left and you will land on a small platform with two gaps on both sides and to the left you will see the boss. Shortcut: Tag Action High jump a little more left of that brown pole where the tag action shortcut to Act 3, try to go straight up because that little platform gets in the way. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c.3. Zone 3: Ocean Base ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Act 1 Ring: Going right from the Factory Ring you will encounter a waterfall, you want to jump through it and head right and up, head right from the other side to find the act ring. Act 2 Ring: Just right of Act 1 you will find a blue switch that activates a platform that leads to a cannon, or just Tag Action High Jump, fly, whatever to the cannon, the cannon shoots you up next to a minigame, head left and then fall down a little, you will come to another waterfall, jump through this heading left and you will find the Act 2 ring. Shortcut: Tag Action High Jump or Fly just barely right of the Act 1 ring and head left to where you see the Omochao and go right to find the same waterfall. Act 3 Ring: Going left from Act 2 you will encounter a machine you jump on to take you higher, go higher and head right, left is the minigame, then jump through the waterfall you encounter heading right. Go right and you will find the act ring. Boss: Go left from the Act 3 ring and at the edge of the waterfall start climbing up and at near the top of the waterfall start heading left, you can use the red switch and spring but not necessary. From there you might want to spin-dash up the curve heading left, you will find a cannon. The cannon will send you into a spring, you will then find yourself heading right, launched off a ramp and into the boss. Little Shortcut: Instead of spin-dashing up the curve and into the cannon, use Tag Action High Jump when you get up the curve and head right, you will find a spring and hit that to find the boss, Tails' Flight barely makes it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c.4. Zone 4: Toy Kingdom ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Act 1 Ring: Going right you will come to a pendulum, jump on the left one, when it gets highest up jump off to the left and head left, you will come to the act ring. Act 2 Ring: Going left from Act 1 you will come to a rocket, take the rocket up and head right, you will find the act 2 Ring. Little and tricky shortcut: Tag Action High Jump through the gap barely right of the Factory Ring to get to the rocket. Act 3 Ring: Spin-dash or run up the wall to the right of Act 2, head right and you will come to a hole with an Omochao by it, drop down and head right to find the act ring. Shortcut: Tag Action off the pendulums at the beginning of the Act and head right to where you see the blue switch. Head right from there and you will find the act ring eventually. Boss: Just a little left of the Act 3 ring is a blue switch that makes two platforms appear, hit it and take the platform going left and right. When farthest left jump up to the spring you see to the left, this takes you all the way up to a rocket, there is a series of three rockets that takes you to the boss. Shortcut: Use Tag Action High Jump to get to the rockets just a little left of that area where the Omochao is by the hole you go down where Act 3 is. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c.5. Zone 5: Twinkle Snow ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Act 1 Ring: Just head right from the Factory Ring. Act 2 Ring: From the Act 1 Ring first go right, then a series of ledges leads you down and left, you will be by an Omochao and you will see a platform moving up and down to the left, jump on that one than the other two to span the huge gap and you will find act 2. Act 3: Go left from there and you will find a couple of moving blocks, get on those to head to the left and up and you will find act 3. Boss: Go left from act 3 and fall down till you reach the very bottom, hit the spring that is pointing to the right and you will land on a machine you push down to send you up and when you use it the boss is to the right. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c.6. Zone 6: Cyber Track ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Act 1 Ring: Head right from the Factory Ring, gravity will reverse, then reverse again, and there is the act. Act 2 Ring: Go right from Act 1, hit the spring, gravity reverses, then jump to the right, fall through, head right, gravity reverses, a little more right and there is act 2. Act 3 Ring: Stand on the platform just right of the Act 2 ring until it crumbles. Head left and jump into the machine that spits you out depending on what direction you choose. Choose right and when you are spit out head left, you will come to pendulums, use then to head left and up and there is act 3. Boss: Go left from act 3 and get in the machine. Choose up and there is the boss. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.c.7. Zone 7: Chaos Angel ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Act 1 Ring: Head right from the factory ring, jump over the gap with the platform in it, there is act 1. Act 2 Ring: Heading right form act 2 jump over both gaps you come to, keep jumping up and right and you will come to a blue switch, press it to make a platform appear, jump on the platform to go up and left and there is act 2. Act 3 Ring: Heading left from act 2 you will come to a machine you run on, run left to head left over the gap, there is act 3. Shortcut from Factory Ring: Tag Action High Jump up the gap barely right of the Factory Ring, you will see a minigame, go right from there and you will have to high jump again and you will be at the edge of a hole with a see-saw on the other side, jump down the hole head left and you will find act 3. Boss: Go left from act 3 and hit the spring, you will see a see-saw to the right, use it to get up higher, head right and you will come to a blue switch, press it and you will see a platform appear, jump on it to go up higher and there is the boss. Shortcut: Follow instructions for Act 3 Ring but jump on the see-saw instead. Final Zone Ring: Go left of the boss and you will find a spring, use it, head left and you will find the giant metal ring that leads to the Final Zone. Shortcut: Same as for Act 3 Ring and Boss. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d. Bosses ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Here is a handy-dandy description of all bosses on a zone-by-zone basis, including the final and extra zone! This will also be the section where I spoil the final and extra endings and I really talk about them. The number of hits is for normal mode, on easy mode you have to hit the bosses even less. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.1. Zone 1: Route 99 Boss ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This is a two part boss, the first part is the first time you meet Eggman's new robot, he is usually called G-mel based upon Sonic Team's Japanese website for this game. Anyway yes he does resemble Emerl(Gizoid)from Sonic Battle, he is suppose to. Anyway all he does is try to rush at you then he just stops and looks around, it is easy to hit him when he just stops at the edge of the screen, only 4 hits and he is toast. The next part doesn't have an official name yet, but I can bet it is Egghammer III since Egghammer I and II were in the first two Advance games. Anyway the giant hammer is on top of a turn table like thing with G-mel in it and is in the middle of the screen. The hammer smashes one side of the arena first, then always smashes the other side next. When you are on the side the hammer is going to come down then it tries to smash you directly. This is what you do, you want to be on the side the hammer comes down, wait for it to aim at you, then run out of its way toward the end of the screen so that it comes down short. Then you can simply hit it when it is down on the ground like this. Sonic/Tails or Tails/Sonic can easily jump and beat it and you have to beat it with one of those teams the first time anyway since you have not unlocked any new characters the first time through. Flight doesn't work in this situation so with Tails/Sonic just jump on it. If you unlock more characters, other strategies that work well are Tails/Amy, if you are careful you can just fly around and attack it with the Ariel Hammer, and Chao Attack does work on this boss if you want to gold medal it with Cream. Basically there are many different ways you hit this guy and is pretty easy with just about any team. It takes 8 hits to defeat. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.2. Zone 2 Act 3: Sunset Hill Miniboss ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ It is just G-mel again, and this time he can do two things, rush at you like he did in Zone 1, or he will jump into the air and then spin rapidly at you, to avoid this jump up quickly. You will want to defeat this act and miniboss with Sonic as leader because if you do you will unlock Knuckles the Echidna. 4 hits to defeat. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.3. Zone 2: Sunset Hill Boss ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This boss is basically a wheel, and it rolls around in an oval on the floor and the ceiling, there is also a switch in the middle you can press to make a platform temporarily appear. The most important thing to remember is to hit the glass part of the wheel where Eggman and G-mel is, you will just hurt yourself if you hit other parts of the wheel. Also the wheel goes faster and is on the ceiling more the more you hit it. Anyway hitting it is pretty straight forward, but when on the ceiling you can either jump off the platform, or better yet Tail's flight is very handy because you can hit it with his tails, so I recommend Tails/Sonic first time through. With other characters unlocked, try Tails/Amy or Cream/Knuckles, I don't like other teams with Cream because homing attack works but for some reason I have trouble avoiding the wheel, while with Cream/Knuckles you can just jump toward it and Cheese will probably hit the glass part for you, but I still like Tails/Sonic or Tails/Amy a lot better, of course with Tails/Amy you can attack with tails or hammer. Throwing Knuckles at it with Tag Action is a nice way to do it to. 8 hits to defeat. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.4. Zone 3: Ocean Base Boss ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This boss is a strange contraption on springy legs, he sometimes is up high going back and forth, but then he comes down hard. The trick is to keep up with him while in the air so when he comes down you are between the two feet which do hurt you if you touch them then jump up and hit him. But when you hit him 4 times occasionally instead of coming down like he normally does the feet will suddenly curve in before he descends, and on top of that when he lands a shockwave comes off on either side. To avoid that when you see the feet curve in quickly spin- dash or if you have Amy Giant Step or Amy Dash toward the edge of the screen, then jump up quickly to avoid the shockwave. Flight does not help at all, nor does gliding or any other tag action, Chao Attack works but turns out not to help much. I suggest just using Sonic/Tails, but I found out that Amy's Giant Steps and Amy Dash works better at avoiding the shockwave than Spin-dash because it is easier to jump after you hit the edge of the screen, but make sure you use Mid-air Hammer Attack to attack the boss. 8 hits to defeat. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.5. Zone 4 Act 3: Toy Kingdom Miniboss ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This time G-mel has three moves, the same two from the Zone 2 miniboss, plus a new move where he stands still and fires missiles at you, these are pretty easy to avoid by running away and jumping. You will want to defeat this act and miniboss with Sonic as leader because if you do you will unlock Amy Rose, but later on you might want to use Knuckles/Tails to get the Gold Medal. 4 hits to defeat. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.6. Zone 4: Toy Kingdom Boss ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Egg-in-the-box??? Anyway this boss is even more unpredictable than the Zone 3 boss. Eggman and G-mel are in a jack-in-the-box like contraption in a flat field, but there is a dangerous hole on the left side and right side! Anyway the goal is to push the box into the hole on the right side of the screen, while all of Eggman's attacks seem to try to push you into the left hole. When Eggman is visible, the box creeps slowly to the left, but when you hit him it sends him to the right, but watch out because what happens next is unpredictable, but if you watch closely you can prepare for anything while keeping an eye out for those three solders coming at you sometimes! The best thing that can happen is for G-mel to pop out of a box with some nice confetti, apparently as a nose for the clown head inside, no attack, and Eggman will soon reappear and you can hit him again, but the other two things are a doozy! One attack is G-mel appears in a mace ball and heads straight for you, then slowly retracts back into the box. This thing can be hard to avoid especially in the beginning because the mace comes all the way to the edge of the dangerous hole and if you hit it you will be knocked back probably into that hole. The best way to avoid it is to jump over it toward the box, then jump back to the other side when the mace has retracted a little, but don't wait too long for it to retract too much. Flying can be a little handy in avoiding this attack, and it gets easier to avoid later on because the mace then doesn't reach the hole and you can just carefully stand near the hole till it goes away making sure the little solders don't hit you. The third attack is a rocket attack, G-mel will rocket high up in the air and an arrow will appear over your head, then as soon as that arrow is gone he will try to really nail you. The best way to get past this is to rev up a spin-dash then release as soon as that arrow disappears, but spin-dash toward the box, not the hole! This gets harder later on because the solders pop out more frequently and if they hit you while revving up a spin-dash it will hurt. Knuckles as partner can be good to throw at him if you want, and flight is a little handy for avoiding that mace, and if you unlocked Cream Chao Attack works very well, and when hitting Eggman sideways moves like skid attack and hammers are slightly safer than spin jumping, but good old Sonic/Tails works just fine. There is no set number of hits, you have to hit him until he falls off the edge of the hole. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.7. Zone 5: Twinkle Snow Boss ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This one is tricky... the screen is slowly scrolling up, and Eggman is at the bottom of the screen going back and forth, and you have to jump on a bunch of platforms to prevent from falling to the bottom of the screen and dying! Eggman cannot be attacked directly either, not even by Chao Attack. When you jump on a platform it shakes and it falls as soon as you jump off, so you have to jump off when Eggman is under you so the platform hits him and does damage. Slightly complicating things is the fact sometimes the machine flips over and a spiky ball comes at you, it is best to be in the process of jumping to another platform when this happens then just waiting there till it is safe to jump again, Eggman cannot be attacked at this time. Only flying can slightly help with this if you accidentally miss a platform, but in general it is all a matter of timing jumps and it does not matter what team you use, but the team with the best vertical fly time in case you mess up is Tails/Amy. Don't try to glide because you can't gain height, no good, and if you try to climb the wall the spiky ball will get you, you will not be able to get back on the platforms and in general not good. Just practice and remember the platform will not fall until you jump off of it. It takes 8 hits to defeat. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.8. Zone 6 Act 3: Cyber Track Miniboss ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This time G-mel sometimes just rushes at you, but he also has two other different moves. One is a Chaos Control move where he suddenly teleports from the edge of the arena to the middle and runs toward you, pretty easy to avoid but can be surprising. The second one is a different type of missile attack, he fires missiles at you while spinning across the top of the screen from left to right or right to left, these can easily be avoided by just running around out of the way of the missiles. You will want to defeat this act and miniboss with Sonic as leader because if you do you will unlock Cream the Rabbit, but this act is quite difficult as Sonic so play as Cream later to get the gold medal. 4 hits to defeat. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.9. Zone 6: Cyber Track Boss ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Another boss that you cannot attack directly. Eggman is in a cannon that moves back and forth under the floor and he shoots blue balls at you, don't stand on the red and gray platforms on both sides of the arena too long because they drop. Anyway the blue balls do hurt you if they hit you, but not if you spin jump or some other attack into them, then they turn orange and if you can make them bounce into Eggman they will do damage, but remember the orange balls will hurt you too if you don't jump or attack them also. One trick is to hit the balls into the wall, then it will bounce at a smaller angle and is more likely to hit Eggman, but it is more likely to hit you too. I greatly recommend staying away from the hammer teams that can't spin-jump to hit the balls, and you can't Chao Attack them either so Cream is no help. Also since you are jumping around a lot pushing the A button I don't like most teams that have a second action in the air, so I like using Sonic, but Knuckles/Sonic and Sonic/Cream have actions that can knock the balls into the wall easier. You can hit the balls while gliding with Knuckles but not recommended. As the fight goes on the balls come at you faster, which can be a good and bad thing, more potential hits to both you and Eggman, you will end up jumping around like a mad man. 8 hits to defeat. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.10. Zone 7: Chaos Angel Boss ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Actually not that bad of a boss. There is a bridge across the screen and the machine moves along it, Eggman on one side and G-mel on the other. You will see that Eggman is protected by electricity, you have to hit G- mel so you want to be on the side of the bridge he is on, you change sides by just walking into the tube on the sides of the battle area, I guess gravity changes or something because when on the bottom you are upside down. It is easy to hit him, but the danger comes with the spikes at the very top and bottom of the screen, after you hit G-mel it forces Eggman into the spikes, but it shakes the bridge near where they are at and the force can send you into the spikes also if you are near the machine. Also later in the battle he will occasionally shake the bridge trying to make you go into the spikes yourself, and also later on after he is hit four times he will start turning around rapidly and going back and forth on the bridge after you hit him, just jump over the machine when it comes at you. The best way to hit him without being sent into the spikes is to try a long range attack, Chao Attack is very excellent and it does not matter what side of the bridge you are on when you use it. Knuckles as partner is good too because you can throw Knuckles at him, but this only works if G-mel is on the same side of the bridge but on the other side of the arena. If you spin jump him try to get away quickly before being sent into the spikes. Avoid flying, gliding and for goodness sakes no high jump! Also avoid hammers because it is hard to get away from him after hitting him. 8 hits to defeat. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.11. Final Zone: Altar Emerald Boss and Ending ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This is a two part boss. The first part is just G-mel again, he has the same three moves from the Zone 6 miniboss plus a new one, he sometimes spins in place at the top of the screen and shoots out missiles straight in different directions, these missiles are not aimed at you, usually if you just stand right under him the missiles will not hit you. 4 hits to defeat. The second part is much trickier and can range from pretty simple to kind of hard depending on what team you are using, it is also a little unpredictable. The setting is in front of the Master Emerald Altar and the boss is *gasp* a giant robot. This robot has huge hands that it uses to attack you with, and your goal is to hit Eggman, he is barely high enough off the ground to avoid a spin-jump. The ground is actually 4 platforms which becomes important in one of the attacks he dishes out. One attack involves the giant hands moving back and forth at the top of the screen, watch out because two of them will come down hard and push two of the platforms to the bottom of the screen, not only will the hands hurt you but if you fall in the holes that are created you die. You avoid this attack by just standing on one platform while the hands are moving back and forth, then observing where they stop and just walking onto a safe platform. Then the hands slowly come back up, you can take this opportunity to jump on the top of the hands and then jump off and hit Eggman. The second attack he is likely to pull out involves the hands being at the side of the screen hitting around red balls that appear, if you just run into the red balls you are hurt, but you can jump on top of them and then jump on Eggman. The third attack is kind of hard to get away from. The hands first turn around in a circle then they punch directly at you three times, try to jump to avoid them but it is a little hard to avoid, I usually get hit but I am getting better at it! The final attack involves the two hands first moving up and down at the side of the screen, then they suddenly come in and try to grab you, if you are grabbed you will be shaken violently and you will either loose rings or you will die after being slammed down hard, avoid by jumping when the hands come at you. The trick to beating this quickly and easily is to be able to hit Eggman without having to always jump on top of the hands or on the red balls. Good choices include Chao Attack, flying with Tails and hitting Eggman with his Tails, using Sonic/Knuckles and Upper Spin, Amy's Air Tag Action, there are others too. Usually when you defeat this boss you will see the normal ending to this game, but if you have collected all 7 Chaos Emeralds and you have Sonic as the leader then the ending completely changes and you will go on to the Extra Zone. It takes 8 hits to defeat this boss, one little note is the fact there is a little delay between the 8th hit and when the boss blows up, so don't freak out. Final Ending: Eggman tries to get away but the character jumps and hits him sending him crashing and burning into a hole. G-mel looks around then jumps in after him. Then the two characters you were playing as join the others around the Emerald Alter and watch as Chaos Control restores the world back to the shape that it was. The flicky birds fly around while Knuckles just stands there looking at the Master Emerald, Cream and Cheese jump up and down, Tails just stands there waving his arms happy, and Amy makes eyes at Sonic while Sonic looks like he wants to run away. Then Omochao appears with a camera and takes their picture. The real ending??? Or is it??? Nope!!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 7.d.12. Extra Zone: Nonaggression Boss and Ending ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ As I said many times before, get all Chaos Emeralds, check out the next section of this guide to find out how to do that, then replay the Final Zone with Sonic as leader to get in the Extra Zone, unlike the last two Sonic Advance games you have to defeat the Final Boss every single time, so here are my suggestions on ease of final boss with each Sonic lead team: Sonic/Cream: Easiest, use Tag Action Chao Attack, make sure Cheese is transformed, skid can be dangerous if you skid into a hole when the hands come down. Sonic/Knuckles: Second easiest, attack Eggman directly with Upper Spin.Sonic/Amy: Use Amy's Air Tag Action to attack Eggman directly Sonic/Tails: Can use Flight Tag Action to attack Eggman directly Anyway this is how the final ending changes, Eggman tries to get away, but G-mel being near the Chaos Emeralds goes crazy, he attacks Sonic and steals the Chaos Emeralds! He uses them to transform into this huge cube thing, then using a huge grappling thing picks up Eggman then smashes Eggman right into Sonic, then it flies away! Sonic looks up wondering what to do and Eggman is just sort of sitting there on his side. Then suddenly the Chaos Emeralds come back and Sonic transforms into Super Sonic. Super Sonic blasts off after G-mel and Eggman follows him. The team for this fight is Super Sonic and Eggman!!! Yep, Eggman is your tag action partner! This outer space zone has its own special moves which I have detailed below, and what Tag Action does which you have to use to defeat this boss: D-pad: You can move around in any direction. A or B button: Rush forward, this can be used to just dash fast, or you can also dash through beams and the arms unharmed, and used to attack G- mel after you have used Tag Action. Tag Action: Charge up Eggman, Super Sonic holds Eggman and his little ship and he starts to glow, the glow turns into a sphere of energy, first blue then turning orange when it reaches max. Then what you do is let go of the R Button in front of the cube and the eye opens, when the eye is open you can directly attack G-mel by pushing the A or B button, the longer Eggman is charged up the longer the eye remains open and the more you can hit him before it closes again. But when you are holding Eggman Super Sonic slows way down and if stuff hits you you will be slowed down even more, especially those darn beams... But it is not as easy as that because G-mel does several things to try to stop you from hitting him with Eggman, plus like all Super Sonic levels he is loosing Rings, he starts with 50 rings but when that ring count reaches 0 you are dead so you want to pick up extra rings during the fight too, here are the various things G-mel does: The first attack he extends one of the grappling hook things and then a beam comes out, if you touch the sliver dots that attach the hook to the cube in any of these attacks you will drop Eggman but you can dash though them if you are not holding Eggman. But the danger comes in the beam, if it hits you and you are not dashing or temporarily flashing because you were hit by something else then it electrifies and temporarily paralyzes Super Sonic, dash through the beam or try to avoid it and charge up Eggman away from the beam to throw at G-mel. Near the end of the battle the beam turns around in all directions, you have to dash through this, don't charge up Eggman. The next kind of attack both grapplers are extended in the center of the screen, then they move along the silver dots and missiles are fired in between the space, the missiles make you loose your hold on Eggman of course. You can try to hit G-mel by charging up and trying to avoid missiles, but it is safer to charge up either above or below this area where it is completely safe then hit G-mel after this attack is over. Another attack involves the grapplers forming a wide beam that slowly moves up and down across the screen, easy to dash though and avoid, just charge up Eggman in the safe area. The last type of attack involves all four grapplers coming out and then the thing spinning so they swing around like a pinwheel, I find it hard to charge up Eggman during this, you have to stay moving around in a circle between two of the grapplers, I like to just dash around picking up rings. Of course the attacks don't always occur in this order, especially toward the end. 12 hits to defeat. Extra Ending: A series of scenes play out, and I do mean series... Sonic wakes up to Tails, Cream and Amy standing over him. Then a hysterical Amy hugs him and Sonic well acts like he doesn't know what to do. Then Tails is talking to him and you see something in the background falling through the air smoking. The next scene is Sonic and the rest with the same smoking thing in the background. Then there is a scene in normal game play where Sonic, Tail, Cream and Amy are standing by the Master Emerald, then Sonic spin-dashes away saying "Here we go!", Knuckles drops in afterwards. The next few scenes are separated by random game play demos and should strike a strong cord if you have played Sonic Battle. The first scene just shows a beach, but then a closer view reveals G-mel lying on the beach. Then Cream and her mom Vanilla discover G-mel. Tails fixes G-mel in his workshop, then the next scene shows a fixed G-mel with a flicky bird on his arm and Cream looks happy. Then the last scene shows a tea party at Cream's house, and Cream is happily hugging G-mel's arm, then the credits roll. At the end of the credits is a cute little scene where Cream is chasing after G-mel but trips and falls, she cries but G-mel comes back and pats her on the head, then they run off together hand and hand, then "Sonic Advance 3 End" appears on the screen. Interesting ending, especially if you played Sonic Battle isn't it? ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8. Guide to the Chao, Special Keys, Special Spring and the Special Stage. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Finding Chao is the first step of the process, and I do mean process of getting into the Special Stages in order to earn Chaos Emeralds so you will eventually be able to see the great Extra Ending this game has! The process briefly looks like this, for each Zone get Chao, then get Keys, then find the Special Spring then try to beat the Special Stage. Since all of these have to be done separately for each Zone, you can go all the way to getting a Chaos Emerald in one Zone while you might not have found Chao in another, I have set up this guide to talk about each Zone separately, first the location of the Chao, then Keys, then Special Spring location, you will have to wait till later for the key section? I will now talk about each stage in this process in more detail. Chao: There are a total of 10 Chao scattered throughout the maps and acts in each Zone, when you find all ten Chao in that zone and you defeat the Final Boss then you get the keys which I will talk about next. In order to get all Chaos Emeralds you will have to find all Chao in the game, 70 in total! Also, some Chao can only be gotten with a certain team, so I will provide information which teams are best to use if it matters. After you get a Chao it will be gone from the act or map and it goes to Chao Playground. To keep track of what Chao you have found in each Zone, go to the Factory and hit the spring and land to your left and go into Chaos Playground. There you will see all Chao you have found in that Zone and if you press Select you can see which ones you have found in each zone. The list for each zone is in order starting from the first chao you can find in Zone 1 and ending with the Chao hidden in the Map area, only Zone 3 lacks a Map Chao. When you finally get the Chaos Emerald in a zone that appears in the middle of the Chao list for that Zone and in the Chao Playground. After you find all 10 Chao in the Zone suddenly Keys will start to appear in the Acts. Special Keys: After finding all Chao, you will see the Special Keys in each Act. They are pretty much in the open and not hard to find, but the trick is the fact you have to grab one and keep it throughout the act without dying, if you die your key is gone. You can only have one key per act, when you pick up one all the others disappear, but you can accumulate keys in the Map areas. If you have all Chao but the keys just won't appear, try going into Sonic Factory then back out again and they should now be there again. Once you have keys time to find the Special Springs in the map areas. Special Springs: There is a Special Spring slightly hidden in each map area, if you have one or more keys you can unlock the spring and try out the Special Stage. Good luck. Special Stage: In the Special Stage you find yourself on the Tornado and you have to earn more rings in order to advance through the special stage, a more through explanation of the Special Stage is in another section. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ IMPORTANT NOTE: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ In order to make my Chao locations a lot clearer, I decided to make the term Tag Action clearer by calling it Tag Action High Jump, which can be done by Tails or Amy as partner. Cream does have a Tag Action Jump, but is not very high so I do not discuss it, but it can be useful. Also Flight, Gliding, Boost Mode, and Tough Barrier Break are all moves that can be done by either team leaders or by Tag Action depending on what team you happen to have. Also the term Gliding covers Cream and Amy's Floating Fall which they have with particular Team mates. Climbing can be only done by Knuckles/Tails, Knuckles/Cream and Knuckles/Amy. If you are not sure if a particular team can do a particular move or not that is in my Chao location guide, the refer to section 7.f. Important Team Skills Summary to clearly see which moves can be done by what teams or just go with the team I happen to recommend because that team can defiantly get thorough the act with all Chao. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.a. Zone 1: Route 99 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ As you can imagine, the Chao in this Act are not that hard to find in this cityscape. Also this entire zone seems made especially for the classic duo, Sonic and Tails because this is the best team to use for all three acts to get the Chao! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.a.1. Zone 1 Act 1 Chao: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Any team can get the Chao in this act, but of course being the very first act of the game it seems suited for an old fashioned Sonic/Tails pairing! The interesting thing about this act is the fact the Chao seem to be on the lowest and easiest route in the act, there are many fancy things you can do to go a high route, but the Chao are not up there! And if you miss the first one... man you are not paying attention! Chao #1: Hard to miss, when you begin the act, you will soon go up the side of a wall, and at the top will be the Chao, make sure you land on the top and you don't overshoot and fall off the right side. Chao #2: Now you want to jump off the right side. There is a moving platform down there, but you don't want to go on that ledge with the rings and bug you see to your right, instead jump down and hit the spring against the left wall which sends you running right. (If you are interested in a Green Shield, jump up and to the right when you start running down the slope and you will hit a platform that just has the Green Shield on it.) Keep going right and you will be launched by a little curve up in the air, don't go on the moving platform in the air, instead fall down far right and try to hit the rail that starts there and is going left, watch out for a purple badnik in the air, grind. Off the rail you will run left and then be launched by a ramp, keep pushing far left and keep running, you will run up then through a loop-de-loop, then afterwards you will run up another wall and hit a spring on the ceiling that will send you running right, you will end up running on another path, around another loop-de-loop, keep running right and the blue bugs will jump out of your way. You will hit another spring that will send you up and through another loop-de-loop, then you will hit a blue switch, press it and get on the blue and orange platform that appears. Go right, kill the bug, hit the spring, then you will be sent up to the area of the next checkpoint, hit the spring on the right and go past it. You will end up on the ceiling, then be careful because when you fall off the end you will hit a small platform with an Omochao and some spikes, it is very easy to hit the spikes. Omochao tries to trick you! He says to use Tag Action, but don't listen to him! Instead jump down to your right where you see the two springs. The bottom spring sends you running right, then another spring sends you running down a slope left, then you will drop down in an area where you will see a block moving back and forth to your left. When the block is moving to the right and a gap is made jump over it, the Chao is behind it in a small room. (If you are interested in a Ring Magnet Shield, just before dropping down in this area try to jump and go left, or try to use flight or climbing or tag action high jump to get back up there, the shield is on a ledge right above where the Chao is.) Chao #3: From there when you can jump over the block again and head right. You will see another block going up and down, don't get crushed by it and jump on top of it. Go right getting the bug, then you will drop down through a hold. You will land on a moving platform, first jump on the other moving platform you see a little below and to the right, then jump left off of that one and try to hug the left wall on your way down. You should hit a ? Ring Item Box instead of some nasty spikes right beside it! Now jump over the spikes, you will hit a speed booster, keep heading right. You will go down a slope, around a loop- de-loop, then up a wall, and go to the right, watch out for a spike trap at the left edge of the small platform up there. Jump down to the right, hit the spring on the left wall and continue right. You will end up running up a wall and on the ceiling, but spikes will end up stopping you and you will fall down, get the 5 Ring Item box you see and then go left, hit the spring to go higher. You will see a trampoline, use it to bounce up to the right. Hit the spring up there, be VERY careful, you will run into a plane badnik that is hard to avoid. Get the Green Shield you see to your left if you want, then go right and hit that speed booster you see. You will end up running up and then right, then hitting another spring that sends you down over the same curve and going right, then going down, then going left, then hitting another spring that sends you right again, then down, then eventually up again. You will probably land on a higher ledge with a wheel that you spin, but the Chao is right below that, you should see it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.a.2. Zone 1 Act 2 Chao: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Another act any team can do, but I highly suggest getting a team that has Tag Action High Jump, especially Sonic/Tails because the last two Chao are possible to get without Tag Action but annoying. This act has more than one way to get through it and get the Chao though and it is possible with any team. The last Chao at the very end and I will describe its location from the end of the act instead of from the Chao before it. Chao #4: You will eventually run into a room that has curved sides, instead of going right, try to spin up the curve on the left side of the little room and you will hit a spring that will send you up the right curve and in the air, you will hit a handle and chain and it will take you up higher. Just go a little more to the right, you will see a Chao on the other side of a gray barrier, break the barrier and get the Chao. Chao #5: Jump down to your right, but hug the left wall as you go down or you will hit a purple badnik! Run right, you will end up running through a total of three loop-de-loops before eventually running up a wall and ending up in a new area, then go left. You will find a switch and see a slightly higher up ledge with a spike trap you have to look out for, a spring the switch activates and flying over your head a plane badnik you will have to take care of, hit the switch and jump on that spring. You will be sent into another spring that bounces you right into an area that has a bug and a see-saw at the left end of the platform. Jump on the right end of the see-saw then go to the left end of it so when the spiky ball comes back down it will spring into the air instead of hitting you. Grab that little pole you see to bounce up higher, you will find a ? Ring Item Box and you will see another see- saw floating in the air to your right, get that item box and then you want to use that other see-saw to get up higher, it might take a couple of tries but you will land on a rail up there, grind, or better yet Tag Action. Off of the rail you will hit a spring and go left, then you will find an Invincibility Item Box, get it and then hit the speed booster you see to the left of it. That will send you into a couple of springs, then you will find yourself launched off a ramp going left, keep pressing left and you will end up running left and killing a bug with your invincibility. A spring you hit will send you up a rail but look closely. Above the rail you will see a trampoline floating in mid- air, to the left of that a moving block, to the left of that a moving platform that crumbles if you stay on it too long. Up against the left wall where the spring that sends you up the rails is way up high is a small platform with the Chao on it. You can either try to jump off the rail and land on trampoline and stuff up there then jump to the left off of them to try to get the Chao, or much easier use Tag Action High Jump on the ground near the spring to get up to where the Chao is. Chao #6: This Chao is at the end of the act and is much easier to get if you have flight or climbing or tag action high jump mainly because of the way I am going to describe it, it is at the end of the act and a lot of act is in between the last Chao and this one and a description will be very long. When you are near the goal, turn around, you will come upon a high wall to the left, at the top is a ledge with the Chao on it. You can come though the act a certain way and not have to use flight or climbing or tag action high jump , but there is more than one way to do it and I don't feel like giving a long winded discussion. There it is, if you want to find another way with the flight challenged teams go for it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.a.3. Zone 1 Act 3 Chao: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Like the other acts in this zone, any team can get the Chao, but it is best if you have Boost Mode and able to get up higher and at the beginning an R trick makes it easier, another good Sonic/Tails act. Chao #7: From the beginning you will jump down a gap then you will be grinding a rail (If you jump through the rail you will find an area where you can get a Green or Ring Magnet Shield but it leads nowhere else and you will just be back on that rail again). Off of the rail keep running, you will hit a spring and you will see a ledge covered with spikes and to the left of that blocks moving up and down in a hole. You want to go right of both the spikes and blocks, a right Mid- Air Trick from that spring is nice there if you can do it. Anyway try not to fall down into that area below the blocks. On the other side keep going right, you will go around a loop-de-loop and end up at a see-saw. Use the see-saw, grab the handle and then at the top jump off to the right being careful of that bug up there. Go right, a spring will spring you up higher, beware of the plane, jump over the spikes. Continue right, the floor will start curving and you will start running down, jump off now while in that little gap between the floor and right wall, you do not want to run around on the ceiling or you will miss the Chao! Head left, a spring will spring you up, you will see a 10 Ring Item Box and the Chao. Chao #8: Jump down to the left and continue running right. You might want to press down to curl up in a ball because you will be launched in the air and if you don't you will end up hitting a purple badnik! Now at the end of that platform jump as far right as possible, you will end up hopefully hitting a purple badnik then hitting either a handle and chain or just hitting the spring above it, anyway the chain takes you to the spring anyway, that sends you through a loop-de-loop and you are stopped by a see-saw. Use it to get up higher and you will encounter another see-saw, go even higher and you will hit a small pole on the wall that bounces you higher still, watch out for the plane up there. And guess what, another see-saw! You will hit another pole on the wall, but this time when you go up higher watch out! There is a block moving up and down up there and you can get crushed both under and on top of it so make sure you run under it when it is safe and of course hit the speed booster. You will end up grinding a rail, then running past the checkpoint. You will run through a loop-de-loop and eventually be bounced on a spring to the right, you should land on a handle and chain. Go right watching out for a bug up there, the spring sends you left and down. Just run off the edge and you will end up on spinning handles. Jump off as far left as you can, you should land on a rail heading left. At the end of the rail is a platform that falls jump up real quick and get the handle up there or you will fall down and have to get back up there! Now go left watching out for a blue bug. You will end up going through a corkscrew eventually, then grinding a rail, be careful because at the end of the rail you will be sent up a curve to the left and an easy to hit bug is on the top! Now jump down to the left, ignore the floating platform and just fall, slow down! At the bottom to the right is a checkpoint and by that is a ramp, but you do not want to launch off the ramp. Instead jump down just to the right of it. Down there is an Invincibility Item Box and a blue switch, get your item box, hit the blue switch, then run for it to the right but not too fast! Past the bugs you will see a hole to the right and a blue and orange platform going up and down next to it the switch activated, try to get on that platform. Then use the pole on the wall if you want to to go to the right. You will be under a rail and find a speed booster, hit the speed booster and go up the wall, be careful of spikes at the top, let the spikes stop you. Now jump down just right of the spikes, try not to jump to far to the right, get your plane on the way down. You should land on a red switch, press it and head right. You will go down and hit a spring that will send you into a wall and then you will fall down on a rail, grind and afterwards you will run into the Chao. Even if you do not make it to this rail and fall further down, just keep going and you will end up at a checkpoint, from there head a little left and you will still find the Chao. Chao #9: Go right past the checkpoint. You will hit a spring, go through a loop-de-loop, and launched by a ramp to the right, go through another loop-de-loop and hit a spring and end up in a corkscrew. Think fast! Jump just after the corkscrew before you fall in the gap to catch a hold of spinning handles. Easy to miss so you might want a team that can get back up there if you miss. Jump up off the handles onto a handle and chain up above, the Chao is on a little ledge to the right. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.a.4. Zone 1 Map Chao: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Chao #10: If you go left past where the Final Boss is located you will find this Chao near a spring that is pointing to the left at the end of a platform, a slightly faster way to get there is if you have either a tag team ability to go higher or flight is to use this just a little past the Act 2 Ring and land on the platform that is to the right that has the spring on the end. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.a.5. Zone 1 Special Spring: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ When you reach the Act 1 Ring area go left and you will find a spring, jump on the spring and go straight up, you will hit a horizontal pole sticking out of the wall that will send you further up, the Special Spring is on the right. A quicker way to go up there is to use Tag Action High Jump just a little to the right of the Factory Ring and go through the gap you see in the ceiling, land on the platform to the right and you will see the same spring described above. It's too far for Tails or Cream to fly. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.b. Zone 2: Sunset Hill ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Nostalgia anyone? Yes, that music is a remix of the first Zone in the first Sonic Game, Green Hill, and of course it looks like Green Hill too, except for the sunset..., oh how lovely... anyway a nice zone for teams that can fly or team tag to higher places, there are some major shortcuts you can take. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.b.1. Zone 2 Act 1 Chao: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Any team can get these Chao, but there are a lot of poles and you have to jump off of them just right and it is very easy to fall down too far, so I suggest using a team that can either fly, climb or tag action high jump to make it easier, but I will describe how you can do it with anyone and the tricky areas where being able to get up higher might help. Chao #1: Starting from the beginning just go right for a while, you can jump on the giant platform above the stairs if you want 6 rings, go around the loop-de-loop, you will either be launched or hit a spring to an area with an Omochao and a frog, Omochao says that there is something above, which is correct. Jump to your left so you land on the loop-de-loop you just went around, there is a switch that activates a spring, That spring will send you right to a platform with a green bouncy thing, that bounce sends you left to another green bounce, and that one will send you right to a platform with a rock at the right end an a moving platform above. Break the rock open and the Chao is inside. Chao #2: Get on the moving platform and then go up and keep going right, watch out for a hornet. Jump for the three rings near the sign with the red arrow to make it across a hole (If you go down the hole all you will find is a 10 Ring Item Box and spring that will get you back up there, you can get it if you want.) Hit the spring, go up and around the loop-de-loop, you will hit another spring and land on a little ledge with a Green Shield on it next to a pole to the right. Get your shield, then hit the pole. Instead of going on the other poles when you get further down just jump off the pole straight down, it's much less dangerous that way. Go right and hit the spring, you will go around a loop-de-loop and at the other side of that is a bungee, but instead of hitting the bungee jump over it instead. Now you should be in an area with a monkey and a rock, go right and you have to think fast! You will hit a water slide and you have to jump to the right fast while you are sliding down, hit a pole, then jump off the pole to the right into the upper gap in the right wall behind the waterfall, that is where the Chao is. It is very easy to miss this so it is very good to have a team that can get back up there if you fall down. Don't go in the lower gap that has the 5 Ring Item Box next to it. Chao #3: Go right from there, a rock and frog will stop you, just smash them. Beyond that the platform ends, jump off as far to the right as you can, there is a pole there and then you want to jump off the pole to the right as soon as possible to land on a small ledge with a spring, hit the spring and it sends you up through a loop-de-loop. Then you will hit the checkpoint but you have to jump fast after that because you will end up running around a curve going down if you do not and you don't want to be down there, instead jump on the pole that is to the right then jump off the pole to the right as soon as you can to hit a spring, this is another place easy to miss and it is good to have some way to get back up there again. Hit the spring, you will now be in a place where you will have to Spin-dash right, keep going right, you will cross a bridge then get to a rail, grind the rail. After grinding the rail you will go up through the floor and find yourself by a blue and yellow trampoline spring, jump on the spring and try to reach the high platform by timing the jump just right to get maximum height, watch out for the hornet. (If you land on the rail instead you can still go that way but it is much harder) Head right and go down the slope and just run into the red spring at the end as hard as you can. That spring will sent you into a green bounce and that green bounce will send you left up to a little ledge and a spring, hit that spring then the next one, then you will go around a loop-de-loop and then run across a small gap and stop at a 10 Ring Item Box, get it then jump down that little gap. Now you are on a waterslide, you will fall right on top of a loop-de-loop and you will see a giant platform moving up and down to your right. Get on top of it, don't go under it unless you want a crushing! Then jump on the other giant platform to the right of that one. When that one is far enough right jump off again. Go right a little ways and you will see a rail, grind. Off of that rail you will hit another rail. You will see a 1-up at the top, but instead of going up there the rail will send you flying to the left, just go with the flow, you will hit a green bounce that will bounce you back to where that 1-up is. And just across the bridge to the right of that 1-up is the Chao. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.b.2. Zone 2 Act 2 Chao: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Tails/Sonic Highly Recommended! Climbing or Tag Action High Jump Required!!! This is a short act, but the first Chao is easy to miss but is easiest to get with Sonic's Tag Action, climbing works too but is very slow, and the second and third Chao are not only pretty well hidden, but they are strangely pretty close together and the third one requires flight or climbing or tag action high jump to get to anyway. In my opinion Tails/Sonic is the best team and Cream/Sonic would work if you have Cream unlocked already. It is possible with Knuckles' climbing, in fact I first found the Chao with Knuckles/Tails, but Tails or Cream/Sonic is really the best. There is more than one way to do this too, but some of the other ways have very iffy spots that you have to jump just right or you will die or not be able to get the Chao, this way seems to be the easiest and this description applies to Tails or Cream/Sonic. Chao #4: Use Sonic Tag Action right from the beginning, you will go around the first loop-de-loop with enough speed to run up the very high wall, the Chao is at the top. (If you are interested in an Invincibility Item Box, before going around the loop jump on the moving platform beside it and then jump on top of the loop-de-loop.) Chao #5: Now jump back down to your left. You will end up running around the same loop-de-loop again, but then you will end up going down a slope then going left up a wall, then hitting a speed booster that will send you further down and you will be speeding right again. You will hit a spring and try to land on the small platform with the checkpoint on it. Now just walk off it and you will fall and land on a moving platform. Jump on the other moving platform to your right, watch out for the hornet, then jump off again onto the platform with the speed booster, hit the speed booster and it will send you up the slope. You will run up the curve and into the air and you will find yourself on a short pole with a green bouncy thing below it. You want to jump right off the pole over the bouncy thing and try to go as far right as possible. You might hit a wall with three rings by it, make sure you land on the rail that is underneath. Grind, and you will be launched off the rail onto a platform, hit the spring to your right and it will send you up and around a loop-de-loop, just keep going right, you will go around another loop-de-loop, then you will start going up a high wall and at the top you will see a rail and a checkpoint to your right. You can get the checkpoint if you want, but it is best to slow yourself down because you really don't want to go up there. Instead you want to now go down that same wall and head left, you will then go down a different slope. Keep going left and go around another loop-de-loop and then just hit the spring on the other side, you will then go right through the same loop-de-loop (if you really want to you can slow down and get that 5 Ring Item Box you see to the left of that spring). This time you will end up going down a hidden slope, keep going right, a speed booster will send you grinding a rail, then through another loop- de-loop. Soon afterwards, you will be launched up a curve and high up, you will see two moving platforms, try to land on one of them. The higher moving platform is going left and right, left of that you will see a platform moving around in a circle, and right in the middle where the platform is attached a Chao. Chao #6: Flight or Climbing or Tag Action High Jump Required! Now jump down, don't go up and go to your right. Go up the small curve there and you will find a small Badnik and a Green Shield, get them then jump down to your left where you see the three rings. Go right, you will go over a small bridge and them see a place where you jump a little higher up and three rings even further right, don't get those rings! Instead where you are use a technique to go higher, preferably flight to the left, you should see the Chao to your left as soon as you get in the air. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.b.3. Zone 2 Act 3 Chao: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Tag Action High Jump VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Sonic as partner recommended to unlock Knuckles!!! You can get by with Flight and Gliding too, but not only is there a Chao you can only get with Tag Action or Flight or Gliding, but this act is mostly constructed so you have to go up, if you fall down you may end up all the way back at the beginning, and there are HUGE shortcuts, anyway the account I will give will be for Tag Action High Jump and will contain some good shortcuts... if you have not going through this act before you also want to use Sonic as the leader anyway because if you beat this act with Sonic as leader you will unlock Knuckles as a new character you can partner up with! There is also a huge shortcut through this act requiring Knuckles/Tails if you have trouble getting the Gold Medal later, I might describe it sometime. Chao #7: Flight, Climbing or Tag Action High Jump Required! From the beginning go left and you will run into a spring that will get you higher, kill your Badnik and hit the second spring and stop at the edge. At the edge use Tag Action or flight or climbing to go up to your left. You will have to Spin-dash or fly, whatever to get up a wall to your left. Up there to your left you will see a green bouncy thing and an Omochao to the left of that, if you jump over the bouncy thing trying not to hit it and you happen to pick up the Omochao it will tell you to use Tag Action. Use Tag Action High Jump, Flight or Climbing and head to the left, you will see the Chao. Make sure you do not keep heading left down the waterfall you see or you will end up at the beginning of the act again. Chao #8: Now go back to where the Omochao and green bouncy thing is, jump to the other side of the bouncy thing and bounce right, you will land and then go past the checkpoint. You will come to poles to your right, you want to jump on one than the other and then to the left as quickly as possible to catch a ledge below a loop-de-loop, if you fall down use Tag Action to get back up there. Hit the spring and go around the loop-de-loop, you will end up hitting a bungee, make sure you land as far right as possible and do not fall or you will have to get back up there once again. You will land on a large platform with a blue switch on the far right, hit the switch and jump up to the grassy area to the right, watch out for the frog. At the end of that platform you should see a platform that is swinging around in a circle and a waterslide, try to jump on that platform without getting in the water or you will end up near the beginning of the act again! When the platform is furthest to the right look to the right, you will see the waterfall coming down and behind it a gap with three rings, try to jump in that gap without hitting the waterslide below! Keep going left and you will run into the Chao. Chao #9: You will see stairs to your right, go up them and then catch a ride on the three giant platforms so you are going left again, you can use Tag Action to help you up there if you want to. You will hit a Speed Booster, then hit a spring and that spring will send you straight into a switch, get on the platform that appears to get up higher. Go to your left and you will see a ramp, try to push A on the ramp if you can to go further, you will land at the next checkpoint. Here comes the fun part, more Tag Action High Jump shortcuts! Use Tag Action just left of the checkpoint, about where the palm tree is and head left. Hopefully you will land just left of a rail, go left until you find an Invincibility Item Box, then head right with as much speed as you can, that rail will end beside a wall, you will be flipped off and will go through a bridge and land on top of it. Now use Tag Action again at the far left side of the bridge to go up higher still, land to the left of course. Now you will see a large platform moving up and down next to some spikes to the left, try to get on this platform without being crushed and go up top to your right and stop at the edge. Now this is a little tricky, but use Tag Action again and try to go up the gap between the left wall above the giant moving platform you were on and some other platforms up there you might see some frogs on, and there is a long platform moving up and down up there too that kind of blocks your way a little, a good way to do this is to initially head left then go toward the right, it may take a few tries, but land to your right on the highest platform. Get the frog, then go right, hit the spring, go up the little curve and hit the next checkpoint. Keep going right and you will run into a rock is inside. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.b.4. Zone 2 Map Chao: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Chao #10: Flight, Climbing or Tag Action High Jump Required! Starting from the Factory Ring head right and go past the Act 1 Ring. You will see a red spring, hit it and land to your right where the flowers are. Jump to your left where you see the slightly higher ledge. From there use flight/climb/tag action to get up higher, the Chao is to your right. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.b.5. Zone 2 Special Spring: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Starting from the Factory Ring head right and go past the Act 1 Ring. You will see a red spring, hit it and land to your right where the flowers are. You will see a hole to your right, jump over it and you will see a blue and yellow spring. Jump on that trampoline spring as hard as you can straight up and you will see a moving platform, land on the platform and then when it gets to the top jump to your left where the Special Spring is waiting for you. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.c. Zone 3: Ocean Base ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ My least favorite Zone in the entire game. Not only in my opinion is the Zone kind of ugly, but getting the Chao is ugly too, especially in Act l, actually Act 3 is not that bad. Also the horrible amount of crushing traps and water means dying a lot... you also need to use your Tag Action High Jump or Climbing or Flying skills quite a bit in order to get those Chao! Also this is the only Zone without a Map Chao at all, the first two difficult acts have 4 Chao each while easy act 3 has just two Chao. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 8.c.1. Zone 3 Act 1 Chao: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Knuckles/Tails Highly Recommended!!! First of all, this and the next act are weird because the Chao are not numbered according to where they are in the act when you look at the Chao map, for example the last one appears as Chao #2, and I know why. I was confusing people so I rewrote it as just a Knuckles/Tails description. You will notice that the first three Chao could really be grabbed in any order and are close. Boost Mode does help, but Knuckles/Sonic or Sonic/Knuckles cannot get all the Chao, and Knuckles is required. This description fits Knuckles/Tails or Knuckles/Amy pretty well, also there are different ways to do this so once you see how close together the first three Chao are come up with your own way if you want to. Note that this is quite different from when I first put this guide together and the Chao are even numbered different, what used to be Chao 3 and 4 are now 2 and 1 and 1 and 2 are now 3 and 4. Also thanks a lot to mjc0961 for pointing out a MUCH easier way to get what is now the first Chao!!!!!! This great shortcut now only avoids smashed characters, but in general is very, very nice! This is the main way I will describe, but (looks at people who are still playing the early leaked ROM of the game instead of the final and e-mailing me saying this doesn't work) there is also the long way to get to this Chao so I have included both ways now, if this applies to you PLEASE read the first important note that is at the top of this guide.) Chao #1: Shortcut way, Climbing Required!!! From the beginning going right first jump over your spikes and badnik and continue, hit the speed booster up the slope, then when you see three rings in air to the left jump off the slope left and you will land where there is another speed booster that will send you left up a steep slope. (If you are interested in a Green Shield jump off to the right where you see three more rings, then go back left and go down the slope so you can hit the speed booster and make it back up the slope well. You can get it later too since you will be here when going after Chao #3.)Be careful at the top of the next hill and slow down, there is a crusher that has the light that indicates when spikes will come off the top, either jump on it when it is safe. Against the left wall is a small pole, bounce to the right, careful the edge up there has both a spike trap and spikes! Now hit the speed booster, you will be launched of a ramp into a waterfall. Head to the bottom of the waterfall but be careful, there is a speed booster at the bottom and if you hit it you will be sent down and end up at the beginning of the act again! Now be very careful and try to jump over the speed booster into the gap you see the left of the base of the waterfall and go left. (If you do not see this gap then take the long way described below) You will see a tunnel going up, you have to climb up there, then the tunnel heads left slightly, then climb to the top of that one. At the top you will see to the right a room blocked by a breakable barrier, careful in breaking it or you will be knocked back into the hole and when you climb back up the barrier will be back, mjc0961 suggested to use a weird R button maneuver, but I find that if you first have Knuckles push against the barrier by pressing right then you hit the B button he will break the wall without falling down the hole. In that room is a 1 up item box and the Chao. Long way, starting from the waterfall: Climb all the way to the top of the waterfall. Look to your right, ouch! Spikes on the wall just below where you have to go and a crusher right at the edge? Jump off so you land right on top of the spikes, of course you can stand on top of the spikes are facing to the side! And then time the crusher so you go under it without it crushing you of course! Barely right of that is yet another crusher you have to walk under carefully, now you will see a moving block and down below to the right yet another moving block, you have to time this right too and get past both the first and second one without being crushed, its best to wait till the top one is farthest right, then just walk off the edge and land then jump over the second one to the right before it can crush you against the left wall. Continue right and you will come to a rail, grind. You will be sent up a wall, into a couple of springs, then another speed booster, then on the ceiling, then into a spring that will send you left and on either a small pole or a moving block just under the small pole, use the small pole to bounce to the left. (If you are interested in a 10 Ring Item Box when on the ceiling jump down, the Item Box is to the right, then go left and hit the spring, it will take you to the sa