- For Special Stages in general, see here.
Special Stages are a series of special levels that appear in Sonic Rush. With enough energy in the Tension Gauge, Sonic must jump on a Special Generator and boost until he is transported to the Special Stage. From there, Sonic can go through a half-pipe collecting Rings to move on through the Special Stage, similar to the Special Stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. At the end of each Special Stage is a Chaos Emerald for Sonic to collect in order to access the Exception stage.
Gameplay
Sonic in the final Special Stage.
Within the Special Stages, the player must use the stylus of the Nintendo DS in order to move Sonic. Touching Flappers and Egg Bats with the stylus will cause Sonic to jump and perform a Homing Attack on the robots. Balloons also appear in these Stage, only as special trick-combos that Sonic can perform when the player moves the stylus to a series of numbers on the screen in numerically order in a short time limit. If successful, Sonic will earn bonus Rings.
Each Special Stage has two checkpoints, each containing a number of specific Rings for Sonic to collect in the stage. If Sonic collects the exact number or more of the rings by the end of the first segment, he moves on to the second segment of the Special Stage. The same thing goes for when he collects enough rings in the second segment, only he gets a Chaos Emerald at the end of each Special Stage if Sonic makes it through both segments.
Chaos Emeralds
The Zone the player enters the Special Stage will determine the color of the Chaos Emerald Sonic earns, unlike in past Sonic games, namely Sonic the Hedgehog 2, where Sonic went to the next Special Stage for the next Emerald regardless of which Zone. In these Special Stages, Sonic will continually earn the same colored Chaos Emerald if he enters a Special Stage of the same Zone. Here is a list of zones where Sonic can reach the specific Chaos Emerald:
- Leaf Storm: Red Chaos Emerald
- Water Palace: Blue Chaos Emerald
- Mirage Road: Yellow Chaos Emerald
- Night Carnival: Green Chaos Emerald
- Huge Crisis: Gray Chaos Emerald
- Altitude Limit: Cyan Chaos Emerald
- Dead Line: Purple Chaos Emerald
| Console | Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit) | Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | Sonic the Hedgehog CD | Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles | Knuckles' Chaotix | Sonic 3D Blast | Sonic Heroes | Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Episode I, Episode II) | Sonic Colors (Ultimate) | Sonic Mania (Plus) | Sonic Superstars |
|---|---|
| Handheld | Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit) | Sonic Chaos | Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble | Sonic Jam (Game.com) | Sonic Blast | Sonic Pocket Adventure | Sonic Advance | Sonic Advance 2 | Sonic Advance 3 | Sonic Rush | Sonic Colors | Sonic Generations | Sonic Lost World | Sonic Mania |
| Media | Sonic the Hedgehog (manga) | Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog | Archie Comics (Pre-Super Genesis Wave) | Sonic the Comic |