Night Carnival

Sonic Rush

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Night Carnival

4th (Sonic) / 1st (Blaze) Zone, Sonic Rush
Number of Acts: 3
Level theme: carnival/casino
Boss: Egg Libra
Non-English names: JP: ナイトカーニバル
← Mirage Road (Sonic) \| Huge Crisis (Sonic) →
Leaf Storm (Blaze) →

Not to be confused with Carnival Night Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Night Carnival is a Zone in the Nintendo DS game Sonic Rush. It is the fourth Zone for Sonic and first Zone for Blaze. As with other Zones in the game, Night Carnival consists of two standard Acts followed by a dedicated boss Act.

Story

Blaze's story begins in this Zone, where she awakens in Sonic's world after pursuing a "mustached old man" who had taken the Sol Emeralds as part of his desire for an "ultimate power", and not recognising the world she had arrived in. During her search for clues, she finds the man she is looking for, and engages in her first showdown with the evil genius, reclaiming the red Sol Emerald in the end. Shortly afterwards, she is spotted by Cream and Cheese while she is pondering where to find the other six Sol Emeralds with no idea where in the world she is, and is flustered when the two approach her and take them to their house nearby.

Later, in Sonic's story, Sonic and Tails arrive at Cream's house in their search for information about Blaze and Eggman Nega, and learn from Vanilla that Cream and Blaze had headed for the nearby town. As the heroes leave, Vanilla comments on how busy Cream's friends always are.

Overview

True to its name, Night Carnival takes place in a carnival at night, just like the other carnival-themed Zones in other Sonic games. The Zone is not related to Carnival Night Zone, save for the fact that they are both casino/amusement park-themed levels. Much like Sonic the Hedgehog 2's Casino Night Zone, this Zone occasionally has signs of the main characters littered around the glowing streets, in this case Sonic and Blaze. Unlike Sonic 2, however, Blaze doesn't live in Sonic's world.

The Zone is filled with switches that light up rails or platforms, allowing Sonic or Blaze to grind/walk on them to progress through the Zone, trapeze swings that the player can swing from by pressing or after grabbing one, and hooks that swing across screws which can be Boosted into to reach the maximum distance. Some springs in this Zone are powered by standing on top of them and holding - the longer is held, the higher the player will be launched.

Giant instant-death balls will chase the player down some of the carnival's roads much like in Leaf Storm, only they appear more frequently here. Continuously boosting will ensure escape.