Bonus Stage (Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles)

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles both contain individual Bonus Stages which are accessable only by passing a check-point sign. Sonic 3 & Knuckles contain all 3 of these stages and are still accessable by passing the check-point sign with a certain number of rings.

Sonic 3 bonus stage

Gumball Machine

Located at any checkpoint with 50 rings, This bonus stage consists of a large vertical space with a gumball machine at the top with Metropolis Zone-style bumpers on the sides and springs on the bottom. Spheres come out of the gumball machine and have a variety of effects:

• Clear Balls - Nothing
• Black Balls - Bounces Sonic off of ball
• Pink '1-Up' Balls - Gives an extra live
• Green 'REP' Balls - Replaces the springs at the bottom
• Blue 'B' Balls - Gives a water shield
• Red 'B' Balls - Gives a fire shield
• Yellow 'B' Balls - Gives a lightning shield
• Grey Ball with Ring - Gives 10 rings

Sonic & Knuckles bonus stage

Glowing Spheres

Entered through a starpost with 20 rings, the Glowing Spheres special stage features bumpers and flippers on the sides, magnetic balls, star bumpers, rings with grey orbs in the middle, and a rising laser that will knock you out of the stage when you touch it. Touching one of the grey orbs will change it into one of the following spheres:

• Clear Balls - Nothing
• Black Balls - Bounces Sonic off of ball
• Pink '1-Up' Balls - Gives an extra live
• Blue 'B' Balls - Gives a water shield
• Red 'B' Balls - Gives a fire shield
• Yellow 'B' Balls - Gives a lightning shield
• Grey Ball with Ring - Gives 5 to 100 rings. The closer to the top of the stage you are, the more rings it will give.

Rotating Maze

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Entered by going through a starpost with 20 rings, the Rotating Maze is like a Sonic 1 special stage, but minus the up/down circles and plus a ring gambling machine like the ones in Sonic 2's Casino Night Zone. Ring combinations are:

• 1 Bar: Win 2 Rings
• 2 Bars: Win 4 Rings
• 3 Bars: Win 8 Rings
• 3 Tails: Win 20 Rings
• 3 Knuckles: Win 25 Rings
• 3 Sonics: Win 30 Rings
• 3 Jackpots: Win 100 Rings
• 3 Robotniks: Lose 100 Rings

Getting 1 Jackpot and 2 others gives you double what you would get if you got 3 of those others (i.e. Sonic + Sonic + Jackpot gives 60 rings). Does not apply to Robotnik; you will still only lose 100 rings.

Getting 2 Jackpots and 1 other quadruples the effect of 3 of the others (i.e. Sonic + Jackpot + Jackpot gives 120 rings, the highest possible payout.). As above, this does not apply to Robotnik; you will still only lose 100 rings.