Neon Palace Zone

Neon Palace Zone
Third Zone, Sonic Rivals 2
Number of Acts: 3 + Boss
Level theme: carnival/casino
Boss: Neon Palace Zone Boss

Neon Palace Zone is the third level of Sonic Rivals 2 for the PSP. The latest in a long line of Robotnik's brightly colored casino bases, the Zone contains three Acts plus a boss fight at the end. As with most of Rivals 2, the Zone is located somewhere upon an unnamed island in Sonic's world.

Incorporating both the pinball-flipper slot machines of Sonic 2's Casino Night Zone and the bingo-squares of Sonic Heroes's BINGO Highway (activated by running over numbered blocks to form the appropriate ring-earning lines), Neon Palace plays the gambling cliché straight up. The background features playing card motifs, and the floor is often decorated with red/white dice-patterned tiles.

Story

With their new emerald detector (recently acquired from "Eggman"), Knuckles and Rouge arrive in Neon Palace Zone only to see the machine go crazy over a pair of chao - unbeknownst to them because the chao were hiding Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles gladly surrenders his chao to a pursuing Silver, more concerned with finding rings to recharge the detector than anything else. Espio, unaware that the echidna has acquiesced to Silver without a fight, steals Rouge's chao and Emerald in order to buy the hedgehog some time.

Shadow and Metal Sonic, once out of Sunset Forest's canopy, finally manage to get a signal from the Doctor, but an understandably suspicious Sonic and Tails show up in pursuit before the fat scientist can divulge any useful information. Eggman orders Metal Sonic to run interference for Shadow, while revealing to the black hedgehog that Nega has taken control of Neon Palace's badniks, requiring Shadow to destroy them.

Level Composition

ACT	Sonic	Tails	Knuckles	Rouge	Shadow	Metal Sonic	Espio	Silver
Act 1	Time Attack (2:40)	Time Attack (2:40)	Collect 100 rings	Race: Espio	Destroy 5 Badniks	Race: Tails	Race: Rouge	Rescue 5 chao
Act 2	Knock-Out (3): Shadow	Knock-Out (3): Metal Sonic	Knock-Out (3): Silver	Tag (1:30): Espio	Knock-Out (3): Sonic	Knock-Out (3): Tails	Tag (1:30): Rouge	Knock-Out (3): Knuckles
Act 3	Race: Tails vs. Metal Sonic	Race: Sonic vs. Shadow	Race: Rouge vs. Espio	Knuckles - Collect 250 rings	Race: Metal Sonic vs. Tails	Shadow - Defeat 5 Badniks	Silver - Rescue 5 Chao	Race: Espio vs. Rouge
Boss	Vs. Shadow	Vs. Metal Sonic	Vs. Silver	Vs. Espio	Vs. Sonic	Vs. Tails	Vs. Rouge	Vs. Knuckles

Trivia

• Robotnik actually uses the word "Badniks" in the preamble to Shadow's Act 1; the first time the word has appeared in official game media since before Sonic Adventure.