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"The Doomsday" redirects here. Not to be confused with The Doom or "The Doomsday Project".
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The Doomsday Zone

Sonic unleashes incredible Emerald forces in this final shattering showdown with Robotnik!


— United States instruction booklet, Sonic & Knuckles[1]

The Doomsday Zone (ザドゥームズデイ[2] Za Dūmuzudei?, lit. "The Doomsday"), also known as simply Doomsday Zone,[1] is the eighth and final overall Zone of Sonic & Knuckles and the fourteenth and final Zone of Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Under normal circumstances, this Zone is only playable as Sonic. However, through the use of Level Select/Sound Test (granted that Debug Mode is enabled), it is possible to play the Zone with Tails, Knuckles or Amy as well. When playing as Sonic, the player must have collected all seven of the Chaos Emeralds, and thus have unlocked Super Sonic; In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the player can also play as Hyper Sonic if they have collected all seven Super Emeralds as well.

Description[]

The entirety of the Doomsday Zone is set within an endless stretch of outer space high above Earth, the horizon of which is visible in the background. Strangely, this area is also shared with countless asteroids that seemingly orbit the planet; the first and third phases of the Zone take place in such fields of asteroids, whereas the second is set in empty space.

Story[]

With Sonic having engaged and defeated Doctor Eggman in a grueling battle on the Death Egg, the hedgehog has successfully thwarted the evil doctor's plans and destroyed the space station. However, the Master Emerald remains in space amongst the wreckage, which Eggman reclaims and attempts to escape with using his Final Weapon spacecraft as a last resort.

Calling upon the power of the Chaos/Super Emeralds, Sonic transforms into his Super/Hyper form and gives chase to the fleeing doctor. Another profound battle ensues between the two forces. Sonic prevails in the end, managing to rescue the Master Emerald and destroying the Final Weapon in the process.

As Sonic rapidly descends from space with the Master Emerald, he is on the verge of losing his Super/Hyper powers with himself and the Master Emerald high above the ocean. Just as fate seems inevitable, Tails swoops to his rescue using the Tornado. Sonic safely lands on the biplane's wing and loses his powers while the Master Emerald is held firmly in tow using a large magnet. The duo descends to sea level and circles around Angel Island before depositing the sacred gem back where it belongs. In response to this, Angel Island flashes and begins to rise from the water, being held up by the Master Emerald's power once again.

Meanwhile, inside the jungle of Angel Island Zone, the Master Emerald is seen to have been placed atop a cliff. Knuckles enters the area and, seeing Sonic and Tails fly away, watches with a grin on his face.

The credits then roll, depicting Sonic and Tails flying over the ocean, with an entourage of seagulls and dolphins following them.

Gameplay[]

The Doomsday Zone features an exclusive gameplay style unique to the Zone no other level in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise featured at the time of the release of Sonic & Knuckles. Instead of the player controlling their character in a grounded level or on top of the Tornado, they control Super/Hyper Sonic who can fly freely throughout the level, which constantly scrolls to the right. In this Zone, the player can use Controlpadds to maneuver the hedgehog in each respective direction. Pressing Sega Genesis A Button/Sega Genesis B Button/Sega Genesis C Button will cause Sonic to charge forward a short distance with a burst of speed.

Phase 1[]

Immediately upon beginning The Doomsday Zone, Sonic automatically transforms into his Super/Hyper form with fifty Rings in his possession. His rings deplete by one each second; to counter this, the player must move Sonic around the zone in order to pick up Rings that spawn from the right. Rings can spawn anywhere in groups of three or six; however, near the vertical borders of the zone, groups of eight to twelve may occasionally appear. This makes it possible to collect 100 or more Rings (and consequently a 1-Up) before the second phase of the Zone begins. Whenever Sonic's Ring count drops to ten Rings or below, the zone's music will speed up, serving as an audible warning to the player. Should Sonic's supply diminish to zero, the hedgehog will downgrade from his Super/Hyper form, fall to the bottom of the screen, and immediately die.

The first phase of the battle sees Sonic making his way through a labyrinth of asteroids. Serving as obstacles, the asteroids will not cause Sonic any harm, but they will force him to slow down significantly should he hit them. Sonic must also be wary of missiles that sweep the area from the right. While not necessarily detrimental to the hedgehog, getting hit by a missile will cause Sonic to tumble out of control for a short period of time, rendering him unable to move or collect any Rings. Missiles are initially launched one at a time; later, however, they are later fired twice at a time in waves. These waves of missiles have a gap in between them and are launched in a zigzag pattern, otherwise a formation akin to a slalom, prompting Sonic to fly through the gap (or avoid it completely). As the phase draws on, Rings become less and less common as asteroids grow more numerous and closer together.

Phase 2[]

Main article: Final Weapon
Doomsday1stboss

The Final Weapon during the second phase.

Just as Sonic exits the cluster of asteroids, he encounters the Final Weapon itself, which is encased within a shell of streamlined blue armor. The ship is completely impervious to any of Sonic's direct attacks; therefore, the hedgehog must manipulate the homing missiles it launches into hitting the ship's "head", which is mounted atop its armored body. In addition, a trio of homing cannons positioned on the ship's sides fire a constant barrage of unguided bullets at Sonic. The Final Weapon, after taking eight missiles to its head, bursts into flames and falls off the screen before exploding.

Both the missiles and bullets are incapable of harming Sonic, but will instead stop him in his tracks altogether. This can prove to be a dangerous trait for an unsuspecting or inexperienced player, as the rapid succession of these hazards can keep Sonic at bay during the battle. Furthermore, no Rings are present here, meaning that Sonic has no way of sustaining himself for the phase's duration.

Phase 3[]

Doomsday

The Final Weapon during the third phase.

After the Final Weapon combusts and explodes, it suddenly reappears on screen, albeit with drastic changes. The armor plating is now completely gone, revealing a humanoid-like body with the Master Emerald clearly being carried in its clutches. With its shell stripped away, the ship is now able to be directly attacked by Sonic; however, in an attempt to slow the hedgehog down, the ship dispatches constant volleys of bombs if approached from behind. Should Sonic attempt to overtake the ship from below, it will instead release blue spiked mines from its body. Both types of weapons have the same effect as the missiles and bullets from the previous phase. Rings and asteroids also reappear during the third phase, adding to the challenge. While avoiding these hazards, Sonic must register eight hits on the Final Weapon's body. Doing so will cause the spacecraft to ignite into a fireball once again and fall apart, releasing the Master Emerald. It plummets downward and explodes in a massive flash as Sonic gets away with the Master Emerald in company.

Trivia[]

  • This Zone marks the first time in a recurring succession of Sonic games that the final stage uses a Super form setting in a race against time and depleting Rings, only accessible through obtaining all the Emeralds.
  • The music for this Zone is also used in Knuckles' version of the Sky Sanctuary Zone during the fight against Super Mecha Sonic Mk. II.
  • In most versions of the game, the music will accelerate in tempo when Sonic runs dangerously short of Rings (ten Rings or below), increasing tension in the player and urgency to keep collecting Rings. This is similar to the Special Stages after some time has passed. However, this is missing in Sonic Jam, due to the port playing the music directly from a CD track instead where it cannot be sped up, compared to the Genesis soundchip or MIDIs.
  • When playing this Zone as Tails or Knuckles in the original version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, their sprites are garbled. These were fixed in the remastered port of Sonic 3 & Knuckles in Sonic Origins and Sonic Origins Plus, respectively.
    • After clearing the Zone as Tails, his regular ending cutscene is played, with the corresponding ending based on the number of Chaos and Super Emeralds the player has acquired in the last save file they accessed before playing this Zone.
    • After Knuckles finishes this Zone, the following ending cutscene is similar to Sonic's but it contains many oddities. "Knuckles" is seen blue on the Tornado, while Sonic and the Tornado are miscolored. As the blue Knuckles and Sonic fly towards Angel Island, the cutscene displays two Master Emeralds, one on his hand and one on the back of the Tornado. The original red one will be watching him at the end. In the credits roll, the dolphins and seagulls accompanying the Tornado are replaced with garbled sprites.
      • In Sonic Origins, Knuckles' corresponding ending is used instead after clearing the Zone depending on whether the cheat code to get all the Chaos Emeralds was used or not.
  • There is technically an unused "Act 2" for this Zone, but it can only be entered through a glitch or hacking. The Act is just a black screen with Sonic turning into Super/Hyper Sonic, but immediately falling to his death due to having 0 Rings.
    • In the Level Select for original versions of the game, it also lists an Act 2 for this zone, although it sends the player to the boss room for the Giant Eggman Robo instead.
  • This is the final of four Zones in Sonic (3) & Knuckles to not feature Giant Rings.

Gallery[]

Concept art[]

Screenshots[]

Gallery

Music[]

Name Artist(s) Version Length Music track
"Last Boss" Sega Sonic & Knuckles/Sonic 3 & Knuckles 2:01
Sonic & Knuckles Collection "FM Synthesizer" 1:54
"General MIDI" 1:51

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Sonic & Knuckles (Sega Genesis) United States instruction booklet, pg. 15.
  2. (in Japanese) ソニックメガコレクション最強攻略ガイド. Shogakukan. 1 March 2003. p. 189. ISBN 978-4091060907.

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