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Final Zone

From Sonic Retro

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Final Zone
Sonic1 MD FinalZone.png
Final Zone
Seventh Zone, Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)
Number of Acts: 1
Level theme: industrial
Boss: Egg Crusher
Scrap Brain Zone
Sonic1 MD FinalZone.png
Egg Crusher
Game: Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)

Final Zone is the seventh and final Zone of Sonic the Hedgehog. It is a single Act that consists of only a boss battle, in which Dr. Eggman tries to defeat Sonic using the Egg Crusher[1], a machine that attacks using giant pistons and energy balls. No Rings are available in the standard version of this Zone, although three are provided in Sonic Jam's Easy mode.

Overview

The arena contains four pistons, arranged as two pairs; one pair on the floor and one on the ceiling. Eggman's attack pattern consists of causing any two of these pistons to extend and strike the opposite surface, with himself inside one of them. Sonic must hit Eggman's piston on the side to damage the contraption. Next, the pistons retract, and generators at the top emit four balls of lightning that Sonic must dodge. If Sonic is able to hit Eggman 8 times, the machine is destroyed, and Eggman again attempts to escape in his hovercraft. This time however, Sonic can jump up and hit the hovercraft, causing it to begin exploding and lose altitude. Whether the player does this or not, they are taken to the ending sequence.

Strategy

There are two places where the pistons could not reach: the left and right edges of the arena. The player can stay in the edges to hit Eggman and come out to avoid the plasma balls, but the right edge is better because it's larger and because the left edge has got a low ceiling.

The hit-stun period for this boss is longer than that of Eggman's other incarnations in the game. This normally makes it impossible to hit Eggman more than once in a single piston round. However, upon delivering the eighth hit, the destruction sequence causes the pistons to move more slowly for the remainder of the round, and if the eighth hit was delivered early enough, it is possible to get a ninth hit on the way back down. Ports of Sonic the Hedgehog that include the Spin Dash make this easier to pull off. In any case, this is inadvisable, as it underflows the boss health counter from 0 to 255, thus causing the battle to continue until Sonic lands 255 more hits, which is normally impossible within the time limit.

Sonic Jam Easy mode

In Sonic Jam's Easy mode, Final Zone undergoes a couple of changes that affect the difficulty of the Zone. Instead of having two pistons move out, only one is moved. Sonic is also provided 3 Rings before battling Eggman.

Technical information

As shown in full maps of the level, the arena and the other parts are located near the right of the end of Scrap Brain Zone Act 2.

References


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