Special Stage (Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble)

Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble

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Special Stage
show;hide 2D Stage 3D Stage
Special Zone, Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble
Number of Acts: 5
Boss: Fang the Sniper

There are five Special Stages in Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble. To access them, the player must find and hit a Chaos Emerald Monitor () while they have 50 or more Rings, and jump in the circle of stars that appears above. If the player does not have enough Rings, nothing will happen. The Emerald Monitors are hidden in Act 1 and 2 of every Zone.

There are two kinds of Special Stages: 2D Stages and 3D Stages (as they are referenced in the US manual).^[1]

Gameplay

2D Stages

The first, third, and fifth Special Stages take place in a maze where the player has to find their way through like regular Zones to Fang the Sniper, who acts as a boss, trying to prevent the player from collecting the Emerald. However, in the first stage, Fang doesn't fight the player, as the button he activates backfires against him. The player has a time limit of one minute and thirty seconds to reach Fang (the fights themselves do not have time limits), but there are Time Monitors () that will reset the timer back to one minute and thirty seconds.

Rings and Super Ring Monitors are dotted around these Special Stages and can be collected like normal, even awarding an extra life when 100 of them are collected. Each of the three layouts for this type of Special Stage are very labyrinthe in layout and include their own set of obstacles. The first Special Stage has plenty of hidden Springs, with the Super Ring monitors concealing stronger Springs. The third and fifth layouts both feature tiny invisible platforms that become visible when the player stands on them (much like in Palmtree Panic) and are placed inbetween gaps. The fifth Special Stage is filled with puzzles that involve standing on breakable rocks without breaking them, bouncing across stone bumpers that break upon impact, and avoiding bottomless pits that will instantly end the Special Stage in failure if the player falls into them.

3D Stages

The second and fourth Special Stages take place in the sky, respectively during day and during night. Sonic or Tails will be flying in the Tornado, and the player is tasked with collecting a total of 80 Rings by moving the Tornado in eight lateral directions with the D-Pad. While flying, the player must watch out for black/orange bombs, as crashing into one will immobilise the player for a few seconds. The Rings and bombs are all arranged in specified formations, and once the player has been through all the formations, they will repeat a second time for an extra chance at collecting more Rings, therefore giving the player two rounds to reach the required total.

When the player collects their 80th Ring, they are warped into an arena just like the ones in the 2D Stages, where they fight against Fang the Sniper. If they don't collect enough Rings by the time they reach the end of the second round, they will be kicked out of the Special Stage empty-handed.

Emerald Room

The room where the player collects the Chaos Emerald.

Once the player reaches the goal of each Special Stage and defeats Fang the Sniper, they can proceed to the Emerald Room, where they can collect their prize: one of the six Chaos Emeralds. The player must beat all five Special Stages to get five of the Emeralds, then relinquish the sixth one from Dr. Eggman at the end of the game to alter the ending.

After the Special Stage has ended, win or lose, the player will be returned to the location of the Emerald Monitor they smashed to enter the Special Stage, only for it to have transformed into a Super Ring Monitor, meaning they must find another one in the next Act to either enter the next Special Stage or try the last one again.

List of Special Stages

Number	Screenshot	Type	Chaos Emerald
#1		2D Stage
#2		3D Stage
#3		2D Stage
#4		3D Stage
#5		2D Stage

Manual errors

The US instruction manual makes incorrect statements about the rules of the Special Stages^[1]:

The description for the 2D Stages claims the player must collect 120 Rings in order to reach Fang, but no such requirement exists; the player just needs to get to the end within the time limit. If this requirement were to exist, all of the 2D Stages would be impossible to pass, as they do not have enough Rings to meet the requirement.
The description for the 3D Stages states that hitting the bombs will also make the player lose some of their Rings. That does not actually happen; the player only becomes immobilised for a few seconds.