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Shield

From Sonic Retro

Revision as of 13:45, 27 February 2009 by Galaxia (talk | contribs) (''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'')

A shield (referred to as barrier in Japan) is a power-up that protects the player from harm. When the player runs into an enemy or trap, they fall backwards and the shield is lost. Shields offer limited protection in the same way as rings do, although shields can't be re-collected after they are lost.

Shields can be obtained though breaking monitors, or the gumball machine bonus stage in Sonic 3.

Types of shield

Sonic 1 and Sonic 2

  • The original shield is a simple blue sphere, with no additional advantages.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

These shields protect against most projectile attacks. Sonic is able to perform special attacks by pressing jump twice, whereas Tails and Knuckles cannot.

  • The aqua barrier (or water shield), which protects the player from drowning. Pressing twice lets Sonic "bounce". This also appears in Sonic R, but without the bounce technique and allows your character to walk on water- which disappears afterwards.
  • The flame barrier (or fire shield), which protects the player from flames. Pressing twice turns Sonic into a fireball which briefly zooms forward. This shield also appears in Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island.
  • The thunder barrier (or lightning shield), which protects the player from electric damage and attracts nearby rings. Pressing jump twice lets Sonic perform a double-jump. This shield also appears in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Advance (1, 2 & 3), Sonic R and Sonic Rush.

Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island

  • The standard blue shield, which protects the player from bursts of electricity.
  • The fire shield, which protects the player against fire and lava (especially useful in Volcano Valley Zone).
  • The gold shield, which lets the player perform homing attacks on nearby enemies.

Sonic Adventure and beyond

  • A green version of the standard blue shield.
  • The magnet shield, a blue shiny shield which is the same as above except that it also attracts rings.
  • A version of the flame shield was available in Shadow the Hedgehog which would deal damage to enemies that touched it.