City Escape

Sonic Adventure 2

»

For the Sonic Generations level, see City Escape (Sonic Generations).

This article needs cleanup.
This article needs to be edited to conform to a higher standard of article quality. Specifically, issues with this article are:

Needs information about the 2-player version of the stage.
Better formatting of current information so it's more consistent and less ugly.
The "trivia" section should be incorporated into the main article.

After the article has been cleaned up, you may remove this message. See How to Edit a Page for help.

City Escape

First hero storyline stage, Sonic Adventure 2
Level theme: urban
Mission 1: Escape from the military pursuit! 18,000 points 14,000 points 11,000 points 9,000 points Finish the mission (total rings: 436 + 3 point markers 424 + 3 point markers)
Mission 2: Collect 100 rings! Under 1:20 Under 1:40 Under 2:00 Under 2:30 Finish the mission
Mission 3: Find the lost Chao! Under 2:30 Under 2:50 Under 3:10 Under 4:00 Finish the mission
Mission 4: Reach the goal within 3 minutes! 18,000 points 16,000 points 14,000 points 12,000 points Finish the mission
Mission 5: Clear Hard Mode! 19,000 points 15,000 points 12,000 points 10,000 points Finish the mission (total rings: 395 + 3 point markers 397 + 3 point markers)
Wild Canyon →

City Escape is the first stage in the Hero storyline of Sonic Adventure 2 and the first stage playable by Sonic the Hedgehog. It corresponds to Sonic's escape and subsequent run through the city to escape the G.U.N. military force that is pursuing him. This stage was later revisited in Sonic Generations.

Plot

13:27

Above the Capital city

Above an unnamed city, a helicopter piloted by members of the military organization G.U.N. flies due south towards an undisclosed location. The soldiers, designated as Sigma-Alpha 2, communicate with a control tower, giving an update on the status of their mission. The transmission is interrupted as the door to the helicopter breaks away, Sonic the Hedgehog escaping from inside. Landing on the wing, he rips off part of its structure. Using it as a makeshift board, Sonic launches himself off the helicopter, exclaiming in joy as he descends to the city below.

Level layout

Appearance

City Escape is a city themed level, based on parts of San Francisco – where Sonic Team USA is located – especially in its steep hill streets.

This level is an introductory/tutorial level, so there aren't any notable gimmicks present, besides the Ramps, which will make Sonic do a trick by pressing while on them; these vary in animation and points awarded due to speed. There is, however, an emphasis on street parkour movement.

Other level specific objects include: swing bars and handrails; green street lamps, red benches, newspaper boxes, recycle centres, purple shrubs, hedges and trees, cars of different colours and shapes (a pair of city cars (one red, one cyan), a pair of executive cars (one white, one black), a van (blue), a common yellow and black American taxi), trams, an assortment of street signs (STOP, Speed limit, and Parking), and billboards scattered amongst the level.

Walkthrough

Sonic first starts by dropping from above, still carrying the board from the cutscene. He will use this to traverse the first section of the stage, which is composed by steep hill streets. Along the way, there are several cars parked in the sidewalks and passing in the roads; if hit, these fly away and slow Sonic down (albeit without hurting him). There are also some ramps, which will allow tricks either to get points or to access higher areas. After passing a parked ferry, Sonic kicks the board away and is launched to a new area.

A bit further along, the way forks in two: one path by foot (and along the wall) to the left; and another accessible by using a switch hidden by a steel container to the right, which will make a string of rings appear. Both paths end at a dead end of sorts, walled up with wooden containers. Doing a somersault will destroy these and reveal a staircase with a handrail and at whose end there is a passageway to another section. There, Sonic can make his way up the staircase on the left, by using the vertically moving platforms over the bottomless pit, or by using the Beetle and the Homing Attack to pass it directly to the First Point Marker.

Past this last area, there’s a section similar to the boarding section, except travelled on foot. The parked cars will still fly out when Sonic somersaults them, and tricks can still be performed on ramps. At the end, there’s a staircase, with some robots and containers, and past a hallway, another section like the first after the Point Marker. At the bottom, there’s a long strip of stairs and a handrail, which end up in a new section. Here the way forks twice: to the left and using the springs, or using the tunnel to the right. Either way, Sonic will end up at the ledge with the Second Point Marker.

Beyond that, there’s a large open grassy area, with three ways to go. The main path is clearly marked on the ground with pavement and through a bridge, and both left and right end up at the top of the bridge (and optionally a trail of rings to the path below). Both ways connect close to a large loop and a run down the side of the building. In the subsequent section, there’s a Knuckles Tribe Pedestal at the left, which if activated will reveal a spring leading to an acrobatic path up the building. Going forward, there are several steel containers on the ground after the stairs, which block the way to the Magic Hands upgrade. Past it there’s a bottomless pit and some horizontal platforms that allow Sonic to pass through. Going back to where the pedestal was, there’s another path, by using the swinging bars to access the high ledge and with the option of using the Beetles as a way across the bottomless pit. Both ways connect on a passageway to a long stair section with handrails. At the bottom there are three ways to pass through the Third Point Marker, by going up the staircase at the left, by using the vertical moving platforms over the bottomless pit, or by swinging the bar correctly and passing over the pit.

After the Point Marker, there’s a small gap that can be passed through using a somersault. A giant G.U.N. truck will burst through and chase Sonic down a section similar to the boarding one, although no moving cars are present and the camera is switched 180 degrees. The truck goes a bit slower if Sonic goes slower as well, but it still pursues Sonic and poses a large hazard: touching it will hurt him, and there’s no way to defeat it except staying out of its reach until it crashes on a bridge. Past there, there are some dash panels, which eventually will launch Sonic to a large open area containing the Goal.

Hard Mode

The first section remains the same, with the exception of some objects switching their place.

The second section changes twice: once with the passageway containers switching from wooden to steel and the area leading to the Point Marker, which has the staircase to the left completely blocked off, though it's possible to grind up the handrail. The path on the right also changes, there's only one vertically moving platform over the bottomless pit and (an optional) Beetle closer to the ledge than the item box in Normal Mode was. It's also easy to use to spindash across the gap.

The third section changes like the first mostly, the objects switch their places in the boarding-like sections, and the staircase section will have the main path blocked and therefore Sonic must go around it.

The fourth doesn’t change much either, but the Knuckles Tribe Pedestal won’t generate a spring, and nor is the path up the building present in the first place. One of the two swinging bars will be gone, rendering the high ledge at the end impossible to reach by conventional means. Sonic is forced to go through the bottom path instead, and instead of vertical moving platforms, there’s a Beetle and a trail of rings that will help Sonic pass through this area. At the long stair with handrail section, there’s an enemy in every gap.

The chase segment doesn’t change much, besides the obvious less forgiving and faster truck.

Other versions

City Escape shares most of its layout and level objects with Tails' Mission Street city sections: green street lamps, newspaper boxes, red benches, trees, cars, street signs, and some billboards.

Enemies

Type	Series	Models
Type	Series	Normal Mode	Hard Mode
	Beetle series	Mono Beetle, Spark Beetle, Spring Beetle, Gold Beetle	Mono Beetle, Gun Beetle, Gun Wing, Gold Beetle
	Hunter series	Gun Hunter	Gun Hunter, Shield Hunter

Locations

Animals

Animal	Quantity	Location
	4	First Point Marker: Under the first taxi at the right after the Point Marker First Point Marker: Circling the right tree, just before the staircase section. Second Point Marker: In the end of the alley, on the right of the Point Marker. Second Point Marker: Around one of the benches, in the section after the small rail section.
	3	Beginning: At the right behind the hedge, right after Sonic lets go of the board. Beginning: Below the right bench, in the same area as the Point Marker. First Point Marker: At the right in the section right before the long handrail.
	3	First Point Marker: Under a blue car, just before the staircase section. First Point Marker: Circling the recycle centre after the enlogated springs on the staircase section. Second Point Marker: Over the lamp post behind the Gun robot, on the green grass open area.
	1	Third point marker - behind the right ledge, where the Point Marker is.
Random	9	Beginning: In a pipe hidden by wooden containers, located at the northeast corner of the area after Sonic lets go of the board. Beginning: In a pipe near an Omochao, located near the first bottomless pit. First Point Marker: Whistling close to the purple sherub in the section right before the rail. First Point Marker: Whistling close to a recycle bin, to the back west of the section after the long handrail. First Point Marker: In a pipe hidden by wooden containers, to the back east part of the section after the long handrail. Second Point Marker: Whistling close to the tree after the building side run. Second Point Marker: Whistling close to the recycle centre close to the bottomless pit. Third Point Marker: In a pipe, located at the back east part of the section after the long rail. Third Point Marker: Whistling close to the newspaper box close to the Goal.
		Level specific animal

Big the Cat

In the chasing section before the end, Big can be seen along the right side of the last stretch of road before the bridge, panicking and then being ran over by the truck. He also makes a cameo appearence holding onto the Helicopter if you press A(GameCube version) when Sonic escapes from the Helicopter

Chao container

First Point Marker: At the top east part of the staircase section.
First Point Marker - On top of the ledge after the long handrail.
Second Point Marker - Over the high ledge to the north, after the run down the building's side section.
- In Hard Mode, it switches to the small room that is blocked by the steel containers on the floor, around the same area.

Gold Beetle

After the first Point Marker, the Gold Beetle can be found over the ledge after the first long stretch of handrails and close to the Chao container. In Hard Mode it switches locations, an exception to the rule, and can be found at the beginning of the second long stretch of handrails, after the second Point Marker.

Lost Chao

Recommended upgrades: Mystic Melody

After the running down the building section, there's a Mystic Melody to the right in the area. Activating will reveal a spring, that leads to a path up the building. The Lost Chao is on top of it in a small alcove that it's also seen on the way down the building.

Upgrade

Recommended upgrades: Bounce Bracelet, Flame Ring

The Magic Hands can be found right after the running down the building's side section. It's in a room blocked by steel containers on the floor, after the swinging bars section.

Comparisons

Main article: Sonic Adventure 2/Comparisons/City Escape

Trivia

	Trivia sections are bad Try and incorporate this information into the main article. See the manual of style to find out why.

At the cutscene that precedes the level, the pilot of the helicopter identifies himself with an acrophony system (used similarly in the widely known NATO phonetic alphabet), as Sigma-Alpha 2, which means SA2.
In the aforementioned cutscene, Sonic’s model has his old shoes while he escapes the helicopter but they have changed to the trademark Soap shoes when he lets himself drop to the city below.
In the Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial disc included with Phantasy Star Online, The first cutscene of the game is seen. The pilot of the helicopter says "What the hell?" In the finished product, the quote is changed to "What in the world?"
The "Playing SA2 is habit forming" poster had a hidden message on the bottom. It reads; "ANTI XXXX XX2 ASSOCIATION". This actually means "ANTI SONY PS2 ASSOCIATION". The message was removed in the GameCube version.