Overview
Zones consist of an overworld area and acts. Warp rings in the overworld lead you into the acts and present you with descriptions of the act's six emeralds. Three emeralds will require you to find them hiding in the act or to defeat a boss. One emerald will require you to reach the goal within a time limit. One emerald will require you to attain a certain score (end-of-act bonuses included). The final emerald is awarded for opening all seven of the emerald monitors in each level. Collect emeralds to open doors in the overworld and progress through the game.
You have infinite lives and can exit an act at any time by pausing the game and pressing A.
You have infinite lives and can exit an act at any time by pausing the game and pressing A.
Controls
All moves from the original Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are available, occasionally with some slight alterations, e.g. jumping out of a spin attack is now controllable. The "speed cap" behavior, which slowed you down to a manageable speed if you left the ground at high speed, has been removed. New moves include:
- Midair Curl: Press A in the air to enter a spin attack.
- Uncurl: Press the D-pad up while spin attacking to revert to running.
- Homing Attack: Press C during a midair spin attack to dash at the nearest monitor or badnik. If no targets are within range, a jump dash will be performed automatically.
- Jump Dash: Press B during a midair spin attack to dash forward quickly.
- Wall Kick: Hold A while pushing the D-pad in the direction of a wall to latch onto it. After latching, use the jump buttons and d-pad to jump. Repeatedly wall kick off of opposing walls to climb, but don't latch on for too long or you'll fall to the ground.
- Midair Actions: After being launched by a spring or seesaw, press A plus a direction to boost in that direction.
- Exit Act: Pause the game and press A to return to the overworld. Any earned emeralds will be kept.
Gameplay Tips
- Scoring is similar to that of Sonic Adventure 2. Everything that can be collected or destroyed is worth points, and rings are counted a second time if you clear an act with them in your possession. The time bonus is worth 10000 points for a time less than one minute, and is worth 20 points less for every second after that. An additional 2500 points are awarded for finishing an act without taking damage (lost shield / lost rings / death). Exploring every passage quickly is the key to high scores.
- The easiest way to learn the layout of an act is to try to score attack first. While traversing paths, you may stumble across emeralds or emerald monitors. You can also learn which paths are the simplest for time attacking.
- All boss acts have an emerald sitting just past the boss arena.
- The hub areas contain emeralds of their own and sometimes contains secret level entrances.
- The most efficient way to spin dash is to hit A, B, and/or C six times in rapid succession. The spin dash takes longer to charge than a jump dash but has a slightly faster launch speed given proper revving.
- Wall kick off of a single wall repeatedly to descend slowly in lieu of making a blind jump. With a Super Sneaker item, this trick allows you to scale a wall.
- Jumping off of uphill slopes while running or spin attacking raises your jump height. Jumping off of steep (about -45°) downhill slopes while running or spin attacking speeds you up. Jumping from just after the apex of a loop down to the sloped section below can speed you up if the landing is smooth, and the same goes for jumping from the beginning of a loop up to just before the apex.