Boss Gate Key

The Boss Gate Key, or just Boss Key, is a special type of key that appears in Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations. These keys are needed in order to gain access to the local level's boss, and are, therefore, required to be collected through the game in order to progress further.

Game appearances

Sonic Unleashed

A Boss gate key in Sonic Unleashed.

The first Boss Keys appeared on the PS3/Xbox 360 version of Sonic Unleashed under the name Gaia Keys (ガイア神殿の鍵, Gaia shinden no kagi^?, lit. "Key to the Gaia temple"). These keys were created in ancient times to unlock certain Gaia Gates (called the Boss Gate by Professor Pickle). Once unlocked, these Gaia Gates give access to the area of the local Gaia Temple, which is guarded by the level's boss who Sonic must defeat.

While there are seven Temples of Gaia in the world, only four keys are available since story-wise, Sonic does not need themto locate the Gaia Temples in Eggmanland, Mazuri and Chun-nan. In Eggmanland, the Gaia Temple is located near the only stage's Goal Ring; in Mazuri, Sonic's battle with the Egg Beetle lead him to the Gaia Temple; and in Chun-nan, Sonic's search for Zonshen took him to the Gaia Temple. In the PS2/Wii version, they are replaced by Planet Tablets.

Each Gaia Key for each temple is split into to halves; one daytime half and one nighttime half, and one of each type are needed to form one Gaia Key. To obtain these halves, the player has to clear the main Stage on each continent, with the daytime half found in the daytime Stage and the nighttime half found in the nighttime Stage. They are found at the end of the Stages and serve as the initial Goal Ring. A nighttime half for one continent's temple cannot be substituted with another nighttime half on another continent however, meaning the player must collect both halves from the same continent to form one key.

Sonic Generations

File:Bosskey - Kopi.png

A Boss Gate Key in Sonic Generations.

In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, the Boss Keys are needed to open the Boss Gates that are found in the White Space. Each Boss Gate found in the White Space requires three Boss Gate Keys in order to be unlocked, making a total of nine Boss Gate Keys found in the game.

After both Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic restores the colors and space of all three levels found in an area of the White Space, three Boss Gate Keys will appear in that area, but are surrounded by an unpassable barrier. In order to obtain the keys, the Sonics has to clear one Challenge Act Gate for each of the Boss Gate Keys found in their respective area. Once cleared, their barriers will be lowered and the Boss Gate Keys can be obtained. The keys will unlock the bosses Death Egg Robot, Perfect Chaos and Egg Dragoon.

Appearances in other media

Archie Comics

The Boss Gate Keys in the Archie Comics.

In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, the Gaia Keys from Sonic Unleashed appear, though they share some elements from the Sun Tablets, Moon Tablets and Planet Tablets.

In this media, the Gaia Keys open up for the inner chambers of the Gaia Temples. In turn, they have been entrusted to select families who keep their duty a secret. Hoping to resolve the Shattered World Crisis, the sage Gregorios revealed the existence of the Gaia Keys to the New Freedom Fighters and provided them with the identities and locations of the keyholders.

Gallery

Gallery
The Gaia Key (Night) The Gaia Key (Day) The Gaia Key halves side-by-side.

Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360/PlayStation 3)

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Main article · Script · Credits · Glitches · Beta elements · Gallery

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Sonic Generations (console/PC)

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Main article · Script · Staff · Glitches · Beta elements · Gallery · Re-releases (Sonic X Shadow)

*Appears in Sonic X Shadow Generations only
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