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If Sonic is really going to save South Island, he has to rescue the five Chaos Emeralds from the parallel universe during the Special Stages.
Sonic can enter a Special Stage by snatching 100 Rings in the first two acts of any zone. The moment he gets 100 Rings, he zaps into the Other World. There, Rings are floating everywhere!
One of the Emeralds is stashed somewhere in each Special Stage. You have one minute to find it. The round ends when you pick up the Emerald or run out of time.


— United States instruction booklet, Sonic Chaos (Sega Game Gear)[1]

Special Stages in Sonic Chaos are a series of five extra levels. The player can enter one of these Special Stages, each with their own unique features to utilize, to obtain one of five Chaos Emeralds (the sixth is earned through normal gameplay).

To enter the Special Stage, the player must be playing as Sonic the Hedgehog and collect one hundred Rings from any of the two Acts in a Zone. The screen will then flash and the player is taken to the Special Stage. Once Sonic has all the Chaos Emeralds, though, collecting one hundred Rings will achieve the classic effect of granting one life.

Gameplay[]

Once Sonic collects 100 Rings, he will automatically warp to the Special Stage. Here Sonic can find the Chaos Emeralds — there is one in each Special Stage. Collect all five and battle Robotnik for the sixth to restore peace to your home!
Each Special Stage consists of a maze filled with Rings, Items and a Chaos Emerald. Pick up as many Rings as you can for extra Lives — especially the big Rings, which are worth 10 normal Rings each. The Special Stage ends when you claim the Chaos Emerald, or when the timer runs out. If you pick up the Chaos Emerald, you receive 10 points for each second remaining on the timer.
Note: Only Sonic can proceed to the Special Stage. If Tails picks up 100 rings, he will receive an extra Life.

United States instruction booklet, Sonic Chaos (Sega Master System)[2]

Designed much like the platforming levels in the regular Zones of Sonic Chaos, each of the Special Stages have different level designs. Each Special Stage possesses as well its playstyle, which is centered around a certain form of platforming-based gameplay, such as areas requiring usage of the Pogo Spring, navigation through mazes via high-speed warp tubes, or flight segments through mid-air. Regardless, the player's overarching objective in each Special Stage is to navigate through these stages in order to reach the Chaos Emerald in each of them within the one minute time limit. However, the Special Stages are often designed like mazes, making them a challenge to complete without either luck or knowledge of their layout. Running out of time or falling into bottomless pits makes the player drop out of the Special Stage without obtaining its Chaos Emerald.

The Special Stages hold several kinds of items, the most common of which are large amount of Rings, as well as Large Rings worth ten Rings in some of them. These abnormal amounts of Rings are useful for accumulating Extra Lives. The player can also find Rocket Shoes Monitors or Pogo Springs in metallic boxes for progressing through the Special Stages, or Time Stop Monitors for freezing the Special Stages' timer for a few seconds.

When the player collects a Special Stage's Chaos Emerald, the stage will be completed. The results screen will then appear, where the player receives Ring and Time Bonuses based on their performance, and maybe also Continues. Regardless of how the player leaves a Special Stage though, they will be deposited into the Act proceeding the one they entered the Special Stage from in the current Zone when done with it. In addition, after the player has completed every Special Stage, they will automatically claim the sixth Chaos Emerald after defeating the Laser Walker.

Overview[]

First Special Stage[]

Oddly these huge rings don't transport to another places

The first Special Stage, from Sonic Chaos.

In the first Special Stage, Sonic finds himself standing on a floating Rocket Shoes Monitor. The stage has no solid ground and has only the sky as the background. The player's only objective is to fly forward with the Rocket Shoes (which here last indefinitely unlike in regular Zones and other Special Stages) before the time runs out. While flying forward, the player can collect Rings and Giant Rings. At the end of the Special Stage, the blue Chaos Emerald can be found in the middle of a round-shaped formation of Large Rings.

Second Special Stage[]

Special-Stage-2-Sonic-Chaos

The second Special Stage, from Sonic Chaos.

The second Chaos Emerald is located above numerous platforms. Starting from the bottom, the player has two pathways to climb up along: on the left is a route with smaller platforms and Rings (Large Rings in higher sections), and on the right is a route with slightly bigger platforms that can only be reached by jumping off local Pogo Springs at the apex of their ascend.

If the player chooses the left path, they will eventually reach a point where they must switch over to the right path, because if the player stays on the left path, they will come across a wall that bars the way to the Chaos Emerald. Once the player reaches the top of Special Stage, the yellow Chaos Emerald can be collected.

Third Special Stage[]

Special-Stage-3-Sonic-Chaos

The third Special Stage, from Sonic Chaos.

In the third Special Stage, the player starts off in a small room with a high-speed warp tube on the right, which the player has to enter. As Sonic moves through the pipe, the player can use Controlpadds to steer Sonic into branching pipes. Eventually, the player will be deposited into another room with another ventilation pipe to enter. This process repeats for four rooms (not including the starting point).

The path to the green Chaos Emerald is hidden in a vertical pipe after the fourth room that is easy to pass right by, so hold up on Controlpadds while in the pipe to avoid missing the passage. If the player follows the pipe instead, they will eventually come to a room with numerous Springs that bounce Sonic to the right and eventually into one of two pipes that will take Sonic back to an earlier point in the stage.

Fourth Special Stage[]

SonicChaosSpecialStage4

The fourth Special Stage, from Sonic Chaos.

The fourth Special Stage is a long, traditional platforming level with the Chaos Emerald at the end. It should be noted that there are two sections in this stage where bottomless pits are located.

In gameplay, the player can use Rocket Shoes to fly over most of the stage. The pathway along the ground on the other hand involves smashing through tunnels filled with breakable blocks. There are also numerous Springs around the stage, some of which are meant to help the player while others are obstacles meant to slow the player down. Some pits on the ground also have Super Ring Monitors on their bottom.

The gray Chaos Emerald at the end of stage is set on top of a hill too high to be reached by jumping. As such, the player is required to use nearby Rocket Shoes to reach it.

Fifth Special Stage[]

Special-Stage-5-Sonic-Chaos

The fifth Special Stage, from Sonic Chaos.

The last Special Stages is another high-speed warp tube maze, but far larger than the previous one. Like before, the player must use Controlpadds to choose branching pipes.

The player starts in a room and must enter the pipe maze quickly from there. Via the pipes, the player can enter four extra rooms with different items: one room right after entering the maze which holds a Time Stop, one larger room above the starting room which also holds a Time Stop, one room above the second room which is full of Rings, and the final room where the Chaos Emerald is located. Choosing the wrong path can easily lead the player into any of the aforementioned room or even back to the starting room.

The fastest route to the Chaos Emerald is as follows: enter the pipe maze, take the first pipe upward and follow it until it turns right and divides into an upward and downward route. Choose the downward pipe and follow it until the first crossing as the pipe goes upward again. Keep going left from there to enter the room with the purple Chaos Emerald. However the player has to jump upon exiting the pipe to avoid hitting a Spring which will sent the player back into the pipe maze.

Trivia[]

  • In the first Special Stage, numerous giant ring formations spell the names M. Shima, Ray and 5OOZO, which are amortization names for the designers of Sonic Chaos.
  • Even through Tails is unable to enter these Special Stages, the player automatically gets a good ending for the game by completing it with Tails.
  • Over the course of a single playthrough of Sonic Chaos, the player gets a maximum of twelve chances to enter the Special Stages.

Music[]

Name Artist(s) Length Music track
N/A Nagao N.Gee 0:51
N/A Nagao N.Gee 1:32

References[]

  1. Sonic Chaos (Sega Game Gear) United States instruction booklet, pg. 10.
  2. Sonic Chaos (Sega Master System) United States instruction booklet, pg. 36.
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