Hidden Palace Zone
Sonic running through Hidden Palace Zone
First appearance	Sonic & Knuckles
Other appearances	Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Scrapped)
Description	A secret chamber containing the Master Emerald
Location	Angel Island
Previous stage	Lava Reef Zone
Next stage	Sky Sanctuary Zone
Playable characters (story mode)	Sonic the Hedgehog Knuckles the Echidna Miles "Tails" Prower (Sonic 3 & Knuckles only)
Level number	Fifth (Eleventh in S3&K)
Number of acts	1
Boss fight	Knuckles the Echidna (as Sonic or/and Tails)

This page deals with the Hidden Palace Zone of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. For details on the unfinished level from a prototype version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, please see Hidden Palace Zone (Sonic 2 Beta).

Hidden Palace Zone in Sonic & Knuckles is a transitional zone between Lava Reef Zone and Sky Sanctuary Zone. It consists of a single act, and is the shortest zone in the game. It is also the only zone in any of the Mega Drive-era Sonic the Hedgehog games that is devoted to plot progression. The zone first appeared in the Sonic 2 Beta.

DescriptionEdit

Sonic's StoryEdit

In Sonic's storyline (which can also be played as Tails if Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is locked on to Sonic & Knuckles), Sonic arrives in Hidden Palace Zone within the Lava Reef Zone. He encounters Knuckles the Echidna, who still believed Robotnik's claims that Sonic is bad, and there is a boss battle in which the two fight each other. The room of the boss battle is particularly notable for the prophetic mural in the background, presumably created by the defunct Echidna society, which foreshadows the final battle between Doctor Robotnik and Super Sonic in The Doomsday Zone.

After Sonic wins, a cutscene is shown in which Robotnik steals the Master Emerald from the Emerald shrine, thus revealing his true intentions to Knuckles, who, in turn, tries to stop him. Knuckles gets electrocuted, and Robotnik is able to get away without any further resistance. The floor then crumbles beneath the characters, sending them plummeting to a lower level of the palace. When Knuckles recovers, he leads Sonic to a teleporter, which transports them both to Sky Sanctuary Zone. There is no Act clear screen at the end of either version of this zone.

Knuckles' StoryEdit

In Knuckles' storyline, the level is even shorter. It contains no enemies or obstacles, and no other objects besides the teleporter used to teleport to Sky Sanctuary, the final zone in the game for Knuckles (which, again, is much shorter).

The Hidden Palace Zone also appears throughout the second half of Sonic 3 & Knuckles (after the beginning of the Mushroom Hill Zone), when the player collects one of the Super Emeralds. After entering the first special stage after completing the Launch Base Zone, a cutscene is shown in which any collected Chaos Emeralds are transported to the Hidden Palace Zone's Emerald shrine and transformed into Super Emeralds, although they have lost power and are grey. Jumping on a greyed-out Emerald will transport the player to that Emerald's special stage, the completion of which will grant the player a Super Emerald and turn the greyed-out Emerald into its original bright color.

MusicEdit

Sonic & Knuckles - Lava Reef Hidden Palace (1080p)(01:25)
370 views

S&K CollectionEdit

Sonic 3k PC "Lava Reef act 2" Music " FM Synthesizer"(01:20)
232 views

Sonic 3k PC "Lava Reef act 2" Music "General MIDI"(01:21)
88 views

TriviaEdit

• The player cannot beat Dr. Robotnik while he is stealing the Master Emerald. However, if the player can somehow get to where the trap is without Knuckles, the player character can hit Robotnik as many times as they want. Strangely, when the player hits him 256 times, he poofs into a Flicky; like Robotnik's Badniks. This triggers a glitch, whereas if the player uses debug mode and put something in, Dr. Robotnik will be on it. Not on his complete body.

• This stage was originally going to be in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, where Sonic gets transported when obtaining all seven Emeralds.
• The prophetic mural on the wall is likely a reference to Hayao Miyazaki's film 'Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind'. In the said film's opening titles a tapestry depicts the creation of the Giant Warriors and the prophecy of Nausicaa's arrival, which the mural in Hidden Palace Zone bears a direct resemblance to.
• In Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog #139, Sonic, Knuckles and the Chaotix arrive at the Hidden Palace Zone where the Dark Legion are stationed with the echidnas. The mural of Doctor Eggman and Super Sonic is also present. Sonic sees the resemblance and inquires about it, but Lien-Da claims that it has been there for a long time.
• After the first teleporter, there is a secret area that only Tails (or Sonic with Tails) can reach without using Debug Mode, consisting of two ledges either side of a large gap. This contains 20 rings, invincibility, an extra life, a speed boost and all three kinds of shields.
• If the player plays as Knuckles, the Death Egg is gone from the background, most likely due to the fact that Sonic's story takes place before Knuckles', thus the Death Egg had already been destroyed at that point in time.
• In the Sound Test option, it is considered the fourth act of Lava Reef (the Lava Reef boss fight area is coded under "Lava Reef Act 3").