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Sky Chase Zone

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Sky Chase Zone
Skychase.png
Sky Chase Zone
Ninth Zone, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)
Number of Acts: 1
Location: Above West Side Island
Level theme: sky
Maximum rings: 67 + 0
Non-English names:
Metropolis Zone | Wing Fortress Zone
"Sky Chase" redirects here. For the Sonic Adventure levels, see Sky Chase Act 1 and Sky Chase Act 2. For the Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure level, see Sky Chase Zone (Pocket Adventure).

Sky Chase Zone is the ninth Zone of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Following his defeat in Metropolis Zone, Dr. Eggman has retreated to the sky, and thus Sonic and Tails pursue the evil genius in the Tornado bi-plane.

After the three-Act Metropolis Zone, all Zones from here on out are a series of single-Act Zones.

Overview

The entire Zone is an auto-scrolling level, with Sonic standing on the Tornado with Tails as the pilot (or Sonic, if Tails is being played as). The Tornado will keep up with the player at all times; If the player jumps to hit a Badnik, Tails (or Sonic) will fly in and keep the player from falling. They must be careful if they try to use the Spin Dash, as they'll go too fast for the Tornado to keep up and potentially fall to their death. Halfway through the zone, the Tornado will fly right by Eggman's Wing Fortress as it rises up through the clouds.

Because of its auto-scrolling nature, some players believe this Zone is very frustrating due to the fact that they cannot go back and collect Rings that they have missed, and also because it is a much slower-paced level than the earlier, more linear levels. However, there are others who believe it to be easiest for the same reasons. All that needs to be done to complete the level is to survive, which just means jumping when a Badnik comes. At the end of the Zone, the player's character will automatically run towards the right of the screen and advance straight to the next Zone.

Quotes

Sonic and Miles follow Dr. Eggman in the Tornado.
Spin jump on the wings!
The fierce aerial battle has begun!

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 JP manualMedia:Sonic2 MD JP manual.pdf[1] (translation by Vertekins)[6]

Robotnik has escaped to the sky! Sonic's a wing-walker (and "Tails" is his pilot!) in a perilous battle above the clouds!

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 US manualMedia:Sonic2 MD US manual.pdf[7]

Development

"Probably the least difficult and boring breather stage in Sonic 2. The graphics here are my responsibility. Or rather, this stage is a pre-production stage for Wing Fortress, which will eventually be moved to space, so why not consider it as a set with Wing Fortress and separate it as a stage? There was that, but for some reason it ended up being a different stage. (So the background is the same) image ©SEGA Well, since the previous Metropolis Zone was up to ACT 3, the difficulty level was high, and there was no save function, players would not be able to concentrate, so I hope they will recognize this as a point to take a break. It was also in the final stage of the development process that all the staff members were pretty exhausted. If it had a save function like the current port, it would be better to work on the gameplay a little more and make it a stage that is on par with other stages, and the Tornado would probably be Sonic's jump destination. I think the difficulty level suddenly increased just by removing the part that serves as a foothold to save the player from falling to death.

This is where Sonic's favorite aircraft, the Tornado, appears for the first time, and at first I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I thought a retro biplane would be better suited to being an adventurer than a high-tech, smart mech. That was decided. Originally, Sonic was using it alone, so instead of a two-seat model, it was a single-seater, with Miles (Tails) controlling the aircraft and Sonic standing on the wings."

Yasushi Yamaguchi[8]

Enemies

Balkiry sprite.png
Balkiry — Bird Badnik that flies horizontally at high speed.
Nebula sprite.png
Nebula — Spherical Badnik with a small propeller. Drops a spiked ball on the player when they move underneath it.
Turtloid sprite.png
Turtloids — Turtle Badnik duo that fires small projectiles at the player. Once the little turtle is destroyed, the large turtle can be used as a platform.

Successors

Sky Chase Zone would eventually serve as a template for levels where the player flies on the Tornado or one of its variants. Some of the levels inspired by this Zone would be presented as mini-games where the player must shoot down targets, while others would be one Act of a larger Zone. Among them, in chronological order:

References


Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)
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