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Special Stages, also called 3D Special Stages,[1] in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic & Knuckles and the lock-on game Sonic 3 & Knuckles are a series of extra levels. Here, the player must collect blue spheres and avoid red spheres on a checkerboard-covered, spherical planet.

To enter the Special Stages, the player needs to find the Giant Rings that are hidden in the regular Zones. Upon clearing a Special Stage, the player will receive a Chaos Emerald. In the locked-on version of the game, multicolored Super Rings from Mushroom Hill Zone and onward can also be found. These rings let the player enter additional Special Stages which award them with Super Emeralds.

Concept and creation[]

The Special Stage's overall planetoid layout was inspired by King Kai's Planet from the Dragon Ball manga.[2] Yuji Naka implemented the graphical look of the Special Stage based on the scene with Son Goku chasing Bubbles on King Kai's planet to make it look interesting.[3]

Gameplay[]

In Special Stages, the player constantly moves around on a small, checkerboard-covered spherical planet full of different objects related to the player's goal. Being spherical planets, these Special Stages will loop around infinitely; when the player reaches the northern point, they will find themselves walking towards the south point. Meanwhile, all of the playable characters' moves besides the Spin Jump will be disabled while in the Special Stages, and the player is only able to turn left or right using Controlpadds. The player is capable of jumping a distance of two spheres with the Spin Jump.

How to collect blue balls part 2

An example of transforming a chunk of spheres into Rings by collecting the blue spheres around the edges.

The player has to run through all blue spheres found in the stage. Doing so, however, turns them into red spheres which expel the player out of the stage when ran into. Small Ring formations are also found separately in Special Stages, which the player can pick up to earn additional awards. The upper left HUD counter shows the remaining blue spheres, and the upper right HUD shows the number of Rings the player has collected (in Blue Sphere and the Sonic Origins remaster, it instead shows how many rings are left for a Perfect Bonus). When the player walks over the entire perimeter of a group of blue spheres, each blue sphere will be turned into a Ring. Special Stages also include other spheres with different effects that trigger upon contact. Additionally, the longer the player stays in a Special Stage, the faster the playable characters will move, raising the risk of hitting a red sphere unintentionally.

If the player collects all blue spheres in a Special Stage, all objects present will fly off the planet and the player will come across a Chaos Emerald, thus completing the Special Stage. By completing all seven Special Stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic will be able to turn into Super Sonic and the game's good ending will be unlocked. Sonic & Knuckles has another seven Special Stages, but with more challenging object layouts and routes to collect the blue spheres. Completing these Special Stages will earn the player Chaos Emeralds like in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, allowing Sonic and Knuckles to turn into Super Sonic and Super Knuckles in Sonic & Knuckles. For Sonic, however, the player can also access The Doomsday Zone after defeating Giant Eggman Robo and unlock the game's good ending.

Items[]

Sprite Name Description
Blue Sphere
Blue Sphere Obtainable spheres in the Special Stages which the player must collect all of to get a Chaos Emerald/Super Emerald. When the player gets the blue sphere, it turns into a red sphere. When the player obtains all blue spheres from the edges of large blue sphere groups, they turn into Rings. However, red spheres included in the group will remain intact.
Red Sphere
Red Sphere The most common sphere in the Special Stages, which the player should avoid. Touching them transports the player out of the Special Stage without getting an Emerald. They can be avoided by jumping over them or moving around them.
Yellow Sphere
Yellow Sphere Only featured in the Special Stages of Sonic & Knuckles and the locked-on version of the game. If the player runs into one of these, they will spring five squares forward on the grid of the planet. They are usually necessary to proceed, but tread with caution.
Bumper Special Stage
Bumper When the player touches these spheres, they will bounce them backwards. However, the player is able to run forward again by pressing up on Controlpadds. Bumpers can be dangerous objects if the player rams into them at high speed.
Ring Special Stage (S3&K)
Ring Can be found in different places. Collecting all blue spheres from the edges of large blue sphere groups will also turn each blue sphere there into a Ring. In a Special Stage, collecting fifty Rings earns the player a Continue, while collecting all Rings gives a Perfect Bonus, which is worth 50,000 points (and an extra life).

Super Emeralds[]

Knuckles is not interested of flashing donuts

Knuckles next to a Super Ring in Mushroom Hill Zone, from Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

In the lock-on game Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the rules for accessing specific Special Stages have changed due to the new exclusive Super Emerald feature. When entering Zones from Mushroom Hill Zone and onwards while having all seven Chaos Emeralds, there will be multicolored Super Rings which replace the Special Rings. These Super Rings will take the player to Hidden Palace Zone, where the player's Chaos Emeralds will turn into gray Emeralds on pedestals. Jumping onto one of these deactivated Emeralds will transport the player to a Special Stage of Sonic & Knuckles; clearing such a Special Stage will grant its corresponding Super Emerald.

If the player does not have all of the Chaos Emeralds prior to reaching Mushroom Hill Zone, the player is given the opportunity to acquire a Super Emerald via the first Super Ring encountered at the beginning of Mushroom Hill Zone Act 1. However, the player will not be allowed to return to the Super Emerald Special Stages via Super Rings until they collect the remaining Chaos Emeralds. If the player visits Hidden Palace Zone via the said Super Ring without having a single Chaos Emerald or has converted all of their Chaos Emeralds into Super Emeralds and not obtain the remaining Chaos Emeralds, they will not be able to play any Special Stages and must leave Hidden Palace Zone by standing on the green transporter from which they arrived on.

Also, upon visiting Hidden Palace Zone via a Super Ring for the first time while having at least one Chaos Emerald, the player will be unable to use their Super State (even if they had less than seven Chaos Emeralds during that moment and then collect the remaining Chaos Emeralds). The game will still check whether the player has collected all seven Chaos Emeralds for determining the game's ending. By completing all seven Special Stages for the Super Emeralds, the player gets to play as either Hyper Sonic, Hyper Tails, Hyper Knuckles or Hyper Amy. The game's ending also changes slightly.

Special Stage information[]

No. Emerald
color
Position Amount of collectibles
Blue spheres Rings
1. Sonic 3 green Chaos Emerald Center 102 64
2. Sonic 3 yellow Chaos Emerald Left 127 87
3. Sonic 3 pink Chaos Emerald Right 118 80
4. Sonic 3 blue Chaos Emerald 2nd from the left 115 80
5. Sonic 3 grey Chaos Emerald 2nd from the right 58 54
6. Sonic 3 red Chaos Emerald Far left 128 64
7. Sonic 3 cyan Chaos Emerald Far right 60 74

No. Emerald
color
Position Amount of collectibles
Blue spheres Rings
1. Sonic 3 green Chaos Emerald Center 67 61
2. Sonic 3 yellow Chaos Emerald Left 37 54
3. Sonic 3 pink Chaos Emerald Right 72 64
4. Sonic 3 blue Chaos Emerald 2nd from the left 155 64
5. Sonic 3 grey Chaos Emerald 2nd from the right 54 68
6. Sonic 3 red Chaos Emerald Far left 64 160
7. Sonic 3 cyan Chaos Emerald Far right 71 57

Super
Emerald
Position Amount of collectibles
Blue spheres Rings
Chaos Emerald 1 (Sonic Chronicles) Left
Chaos Emerald 6 (Sonic Chronicles Japanese)
Chaos Emerald 6 (Sonic Chronicles)
Chaos Emerald 3 (Sonic Chronicles Japanese) Middle
Chaos Emerald 4 (Sonic Chronicles) Right
Chaos Emerald 4 (Sonic Chronicles Japanese)
Chaos Emerald 3 (Sonic Chronicles)

The game will cycle through the stages in the aforementioned order upon each subsequent use of a Giant Ring, moving onto the next stage regardless whether the player successfully clears the stage by obtaining the Chaos Emerald or not until all Special Stages are cleared. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the player can play the Super Emerald Special Stages in any order.

Trivia[]

  • In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, there is a secret eighth Special Stage which the player is able to enter using cheat codes. The player must access the Level Select code and play the music number "07" on the Sound Test. After this, the player must press Sega Genesis A Button and START at the same time to enter the "Special Stage 1" section. By completing it, the player earns a golden Chaos Emerald, which does not have any effect on the game whatsoever.
    • In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, there also exists a ninth Special Stage with a yellow Super Emerald. To enter this Special Stage, the player must have enabled Level Select and Debug Mode while going to the Sound Test. There, the player must play music number "07" and then go to the "Special Stage 2" while pressing Sega Genesis A Button and START at the same time.
      • When playing through Hidden Palace Zone, if the player uses Debug Mode to reach the emeralds' shrine without fighting Knuckles or uses glitches to mess with the cutscene of Robotnik stealing the Master Emerald, then jumps onto a gray emerald, they may also play this Special Stage instead of that emerald's corresponding Special Stage.
  • The line "Get Blue Spheres" was originally called "Get Blue Balls" during game's development. This was changed by the game's testers in the final cut.[4] The reason for the change could possibly be the localization team wanting to avoid the phrase being taken out of context and unintentionally being seen as an innuendo to a male organ.
  • This type of Special Stage is used as the core gameplay mechanic for the standalone game Blue Sphere.
  • This is the first type of Special Stage in the Sonic the Hedgehog series to be brought back in a future title, making a return in Sonic Jam (Game.com) but under the name of Black Spheres, due to the console's monochromatic display.
    • The Special Stages also return in Sonic Mania, this time acting as Bonus Stages for passing a Star Post with enough Rings and jumping into the Star Circle that appears above. The rules remain the same as in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Some of the layouts are directly derived from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, including the aforementioned secret Special Stages.
  • This incarnation of the Special Stage makes a cameo in the credits of the Sonic the Hedgehog film, with Sonic's sprite replaced by Tom's truck.
    • Additionally, a checkerboarded planet that resembles the Blue Sphere special stages can be seen on Sonic's ''safe worlds'' map, but the true content of the planet is unknown or if it could be like the actual special stage.
  • The music used during the Special Stage was originally created for an unreleased puzzle game titled SegaSonic Bros., where it plays when the game reaches level 40.

Music[]

Name Artist(s) Length Music track
Special Stage - Blue Spheres Sega 2:38

Gallery[]

Screenshots[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. Sonic & Knuckles (Sega Genesis) United States instruction manual. pg. 16.
  2. Sonic the Hedgehog – Developer Interview Collection. shmuplations. Retrieved on 19 May 2018. "Yuji Naka: The ball-shaped 3D special stage from Sonic 3/S&K was actually inspired by King Kai’s little planet from Dragon Ball Z, which I am a fan of."
  3. "誰もが驚いたロックオンシステム". Sega Magazine (SoftBank) (8): 15. 13 June 1997. "「僕『ドラゴンボール」が好きで、毎週日本の妹にビデオに撮って送ってもらってたんですけど あの中に界王さまの小さな星で猿を追いかけっこして修行する場面がありますよね。 あれをゲームに取り入れたら面白いのができるよって作ったのが、このスペシャルステージなんです。 あと、それ以外にも、実際アメリカの高速道路沿いに、あれにそっくりな家があったのは影響があったかもしれませんね(中)」。 「3」のアイデアは意外なところにたくさん転がっていたのだ。"
  4. Contacted J. Pataki (S3/Spinball tester). Sonic Retro Forums. Retrieved on 20 August 2016.
Navigation templates to Special Stage (Sonic 3 & Knuckles)



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