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You may be looking for Game Over.
The most known place to get Time Over

The player loses a life due to Time Over, from Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Time Over, also known as Time Up or Time Out, is a subject that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It refers to the gameplay mechanic in which the player has exceeded the available in-game time limit to complete a task. If this happens, they will receive a punishment, which, in most cases, and rather infamously, involves losing a life. In most games after the 16-bit era, Time Over has become an option that can be deactivated or is otherwise completely removed.

Aside from its function in the early 2D appearances, features that have the same role as Time Over are also commonly featured in extra modes such as missions and certain levels and boss fights, where exceeding the given time will force the player to reset the stage. In many of these challenges though, the player can be given extra time through different means.

Description[]

In the early Sonic games for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, the time limit the player has to complete each Act is 10 minutes; otherwise they will lose a life. During the Act, the "Time" of the heads-up display (HUD) on the top-left corner of the screen will begin flashing after passing 9 minutes, warning the player there is only one minute remaining. Once 10 minutes (though it actually stops at 9 minutes 59 seconds) is reached, the player will lose a life regardless of any power-ups, including invincibility or even the super transformation, and the Time Over message appears, similar to receiving a Game Over (and consequently plays the same music). After this, the player will restart the Act from the last Star Post, but the timer will reset to 0:00. If the player loses their last life due to a Time Over, the Game Over message will replace the Time Over message.

In the two-player mode of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, if one of the players reaches the Goal Post first, the other player must also need to reach the signpost within 61 seconds. When 12 seconds are remaining, the drowning music will begin playing at background until the player runs out of time. If that player fails to reach the end of the level in time, the Time Over appears.

Both Eggman's Tower and the Death Egg's Hangar, the final stages of SegaSonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Fighters respectively, are required to be beaten in a short amount of time to win; failing to do so results in permadeath and the player being sent back to the beginning of the game regardless of lives.

Since Sonic Adventure, the Time Over has become non-existent in 3D games, although there are a few exceptions. For example, Gamma's Action Stages in that game involve a time limit which starts at three minutes, and extra time is awarded for destroying Badniks. If the time runs out, the player has to try the mission again, at the cost of a life. Sonic Adventure 2 features stages like Security Hall, where Rouge the Bat has to find the three Chaos Emeralds in Prison Island's security chamber within five minutes before the island blows up, Also, the final boss, Finalhazard, is limited to five minutes before it enters atmosphere and destroys the planet. The fourth mission of almost every stage features a time limit taking from as little as two minutes (Wild Canyon and Metal Harbor) to eight minutes (Cosmic Wall), and the timer slowly flashes yellow and amber at the top right corner of the screen (quickly flashes red and orange once one-minute remains). If the timer reaches zero, the player will start from the beginning of the stage and lose a life, similar to manually restarting the stage. In Sonic Heroes, there are extra missions (namely all of Team Sonic's and some of Team Chaotix's) that involve reaching the Goal Ring or completing an objective within the given time limit. In these missions, the timer for the time limit is displayed in green at the bottom right corner of the screen (turns yellow once there is one minute remaining and slowly flashes red and orange once there are eleven seconds remaining). If the player fails to complete the mission within the time limit, they will respawn at the beginning of the stage without losing a life. In Shadow the Hedgehog, the time limit exists for the following stages and/or its missions: Central City (8 minutes), Cosmic Fall (15 minutes), Space Gadget (5 minutes for the Hero mission) and The Last Way (10 minutes). The player character dies if the timer expires (except for Space Gadget's Hero mission, in which case the mission simply failed). In Sonic Generations, there are some challenges which involve the time limit as well. In Sonic Frontiers, Sonic is armed with a time bomb in the Cyber Space stage 4-E. If the timer of the bomb hits 0, it will detonate and kill Sonic instantly. It is the only situation in which the player receives a Time Over.

Games such as Sonic Jam, the Sonic Advance series, both Sonic Rush titles, the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors, and Sonic Mania all have the Time Over feature, which works the same as in the original Genesis/Mega Drive games. However, it can be disabled in the titles' respective Options menus, meaning they will not get punished should they exceed the 9:59 time limit in any stage.

While not exactly a Time Over feature, Rings are also used to measure the remaining time the player has until they fail the stage, with them losing a Ring every second and the level once they run out of Rings, similar to Super Transformation gameplay. This has been a common trope in final boss fights featuring Super States, as well as in a few Bonus and Special Stages in 2D titles, such as in Sonic Mania. On a similar note, the Special Stages in Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit), in Sonic the Hedgehog CD, in Sonic Heroes, and in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I; as well as the Mini-Games from Sonic Advance 3 all have Time Overs, though in many of these, a small fraction of time can be regained through items such as UFOs and Time Bonuses.

In Sonic Battle, a feature similar to the Time Over is featured in Battle Mode. Here, the player can put a time limit in the battle they are about to play, which will be displayed on the top right of the screen. Once said time runs out in the fight itself, it will end and the characters will be scored for the amount of KOs they managed to land on their opponents. In Story Mode, the mechanic is also present, albeit with different functions. For example, at one point in Rouge's Episode, Emerl has to spend a certain amount of time without getting attacked by the bat, otherwise the player will fail the mission. In Sonic the Fighters, there is a time limit for every battle; if it reaches zero, the fight will end and the victory will be given to the player with the most health.

In the Wii version of Sonic Colors, and the remaster Sonic Colors: Ultimate, a similar mechanic appears. When enough time has passed, the text "Time Over" will be written in red font underneath the score tally. Though the player will not lose any tries, they will no longer be able to gather more points, no matter what they do, reducing the chance they get an S-Rank at the end of the Act. This effect is present until the Act is finished or restarted, or the player goes back to the World Map.

Sonic Lost World features the time limit on normal Zones of the game. On the Wii U/PC version, the timer will count down to zero instead of the standard stopwatch timer (each Zone has its own timer). The stopwatch timer has been kept in Nintendo 3DS version of the game, similar to other Sonic games. Getting a Time Over on the Nintendo 3DS version will cause the words "Time's Up" to appear, resetting the timer back to its full amount, depending on the Zone. When the player completes the stage if they got a Time Over, the best record for the player's time will not be written, as it will be blank.

Although Sonic Forces does not feature a life system at all, it also made use of the Time Over mechanic. Each stage in the game has a 60-minute time limit, which the clock will begin flashing at 59 minutes and 30 seconds. When a Time Over occurs, the game will end and the player will be returned to the World Map.

Trivia[]

  • In Sonic the Hedgehog CD, if the player waits three minutes at one stand, Sonic is then heard saying, "I'm outta here!"[1] and then jumps off of the screen, causing the player to immediately receive a Game Over. This no longer happens in Sonic Origins.
  • The manual of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version of Sonic Unleashed mentions there is a 10-minute time limit for clearing daytime stages (like previous Sonic games) although it is non-existent in the final version of the game.
  • In Sonic Lost World, when the timer goes down to 20 seconds, a faster arrangement of "Wonder World" starts playing.
    • This is the only game in the Sonic series that plays unique music when running out of time.
  • If the player has the "Time Limit" option enabled in Sonic Mania and surpass the 9:59 time with Debug Mode active, the time counter will reset back to 0:00 and the player will not lose a life. This also happens when they activate Debug Mode when their character is dying due to the Time Over.
  • Time Over is one of the few effects that instantly destroys Super State characters during 2D gameplay, alongside falling to bottomless pits or being crushed.

References[]

  1. Masato Nishimura on Twitter (Japanese). Twitter (9 July 2017). Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. "Masato Nishimura: あ、それから、プレイ中にコントローラ放置してるとソニックが飛び降りて行ってしまう時のセリフは「I'm outta here」ではなく「I'm outer here」って言ってます。あばよ!ってニュアンスのセリフですね。ちなみに1up時のYES!も含め私が声をやりました。"
  2. Flynn, Ian; Sega (8 December 2021). "Sonic CD". Sonic the Hedgehog Encyclo-speed-ia. Dark Horse Books. p. 34. ISBN 978-1506719276. "Hidden Goodies: Wait too long, and Sonic will say, "I'm outer [sic] here!" He'll then jump off the stage, costing you a life."
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