Oil Ocean Zone

Oil Ocean Zone is the seventh zone in Sonic 2.

Instruction Manual Description

Robotnik's refineries are pumping at full steam. Crude oil has turned the ocean black. Can Sonic keep his footing on the slippery catwalks and bursting steam vents?

Villains

Enemies

• Octus - Octopus enemy, levitates and fires a missile when Sonic approaches.
• Aquis - Seahorse enemy, floats around quickly, firing globules of oil at Sonic.

Boss

• Boss: Dr. Robotnik's Oil Tank
• Hits: 8

Wow. What an ANNOYING boss this is! The setup here is very similar to that of Hill Top Zone, with three islands and small pools of oil instead of lava. Robotnik is in another submarine, and this time he has a few extra tricks up his sleeve. Robotnik will appear at first, doing nothing but floating in the thick, disgusting oil pool. When he appears like this, that's your only chance to attack, so keep that in mind. When Robotnik submerges, a long spikey robotic arm-like thing launches out of the oil towards you. Jump to avoid it, then prepare for what's next. A laser will now come out and fire a few shots at you, one of which ignites the floor on which you stand. Simply jump over to another platform shortly after he shoots, or else he'll just switch directions and shoot up the new platform you're on.

Differences between beta and final

• The sun scrolls with the background, and is non-animated.
• Wooden balls did appear in Sonic 1 prototype, as they do here by pressing a switch.
• Two seahorse enemies are found within the prototype ROM through hacking.
• An unused, shoot-and-flee octopus enemy is found within the prototype ROM through hacking.
• The oil splashing animation is missing and oil slides have no effect on Sonic.
• A pipe in the levels' background is sucking oil up instead of pouring it out.

Tech note

Oil Ocean's "sinking pool" mechanic was reused in Marble Garden Zone, though not nearly as expansive there. In this zone, it has a peculiar interaction with ground in that the ground is supported by numerous small pillars that extend down to the oil, but not all the way. Because of this, it's possible to spindash in the oil while you're against one of these pillars to go under it. In this way it's possible to travel at the very bottom across the whole stage.