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Sky Babylon

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Sky Babylon

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Sky Babylon
Fifth / Sixth Zone, Sonic Rush Adventure
Number of Acts: 3 (including boss stage)
Level themes: ancient ruins, sky
Played as: Sonic, Blaze
Boss: Ghost Condor
Underwater areas: No

Sky Babylon can be played as either the fifth or sixth level in Sonic Rush Adventure. The Sol Dimension counterpart of Babylon Garden, Sky Babylon sees Sonic and Blaze tear across the coloured skyways of the floating city, up twirling ramps and across exploding causeways. This is very much a vertically-oriented zone, with springs aplenty and bottomless (electrified) pits awaiting a single misstep. Purple anti-grav crystals see the heroes floating across gaps, or rising up through the level's platforms riding golden balloons. Fires rage across the newly-ascended city, so Blaze's flame immunity can come in useful here. A small section of Sky Babylon's second act takes place in either the background or foreground of the stage.

Story

With the Aqua Blast hovercraft now completed after Captain Whisker's escape from Haunted Ship, the team on Southern Island have two possible routes of investigation: north, towards the Vikings of Blizzard Peaks, or east, into regions unknown to Blaze. Should the player opt for east, the first stop they come to is Daikun's Island. An initially hostile koala questions Sonic, Tails, and Blaze's intrusion; but on spotting Marine it turns out that Daikun is another member of the Coconut Crew. He advises the heroes to keep heading east, as he's felt strange quakes coming from that direction.

Hidden Island 2 is the next stop - a curious level where the platforming is built around a vast, bottomless pit. The characters wonder about this oddity in conversation, just as Marine spots an ancient artifact. As on Hidden Island 10, even a supersonic hedgehog isn't fast enough to stop her messing with it... and as if from nowhere, Sky Babylon appears, hauling the four adventurers up above the clouds aboard the floating city. Blaze is very, very quick to back away from the edge, her fear of heights making itself known for the first time.

Captain Whisker is there before them, though! Impressed enough with their tenacity to reveal the legendary name Sky Babylon, the pirate is almost goaded into a fight right then and there. However, Mini and Mum remind him of their "mission", and Whisker takes off, requiring Sonic and Blaze to give chase.

Sky Babylon provides a tenuous link between the Sonic Rush series and the Sonic Riders series, as the ancient floating city of Babylon Garden is a major fixture of the latter games. However, beyond the name and the similar settings, there is nothing concrete to connect the Sol Dimension and the Babylonians of Sonic's world.

Level-Exclusive Gimmicks

  • Gold Balloons - They operate kind of similarly to the metal platforms in Sonic Rush's Altitude Limit. Hanging on to one, you can steer right or left, but you can't control how fast the device goes up. If you crash into something, you have to try to land where you got the device in the first place, because another one will soon appear to replace it.
  • Purple Ropes - Pretty much the same thing as the blue elastic ropes in Haunted Ship, but there's far fewer of them.
  • Fire - Not so much of a gimmick as an obstacle, most of the time, it hurts Sonic but can't hurt Blaze, but Sonic can Super Boost past it.
  • Purple Crystals - Have sparkly stars surrounding them, if you touch the stars you start to float and you will eventually float on top of them. You are pretty vulnerable here, all you can do is move left or right until you are out of the stars again, but they do take you to higher areas.

Enemies

  • Mecha Skeletons - They carry a small knife and try to cut you if you get too close. Use jump or Super Boost.
  • Yellow Floating Bots - Do nothing but try to get in your way in the air. Look vaguely like the Gold Klagen, but without the capture ability.
  • Red Floating Bots - Like the yellow ones, but also shoot a small laser at you. At a couple points in Sky Babylon Act 2, you can use them as a shortcut by jumping on them in a row (although Sonic's Homing Attack tends to be more of a hindrance than a help for this).
  • Blue Robots - Shoot out a small cannon ball with the launcher they are carrying.


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