- "Labyrinth" redirects here. For the Sonic 1 Zone, see Labyrinth Zone.
Sonic Labyrinth (ソニックラビリンス) is an isometric puzzle/action game for the Sega Game Gear. Sonic the Hedgehog must move around a pinball-like arena, using his power to roll into a ball to defeat Badniks and pick up keys in order to exit through the Goal door and clear the stage. The only move Sonic can use in the game is the Spin Dash, because Dr. Eggman secretly replaced his famous red shoes with a pair of Speed Down Boots that took away his ability to run fast or jump.
Story
In his frustrations over Sonic the Hedgehog foiling his schemes, Dr. Eggman came to the realisation that if Sonic's speed was taken away, he would not be able to outrun his traps and stop him from taking over the world. As such, Eggman invents a pair of Speed Down Boots and switches Sonic's red sneakers with them while the hedgehog sleeps. Upon waking up, Sonic puts on the boots, and suddenly finds himself unable to run or jump.
With Sonic stripped of his speed, Eggman accidentally announces in an act of triumph that in order for Sonic to remove the boots, he must use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to deactivate the boots. Having been given clues on how to take them off, Sonic follows Eggman into his latest fortress on South Island, the Super Labyrinth, in order to locate the Chaos Emeralds using only his Spin Dash.
Gameplay
The game uses a 3D isometric overhead view similar to that of Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island. However, gameplay is restricted to a single button which is the Spin Dash. To use the Spin Dash, the player must press and hold either or to charge the move with the overhead arrows determining the strength of the charge, with four arrows being the strongest charge and no arrows being the weakest, then release the button to dash away in the direction Sonic is facing. While Sonic is rolling about, pressing or will make him skid to a halt. There is no jump button whatsoever and the only way to make Sonic airborne is through the use of obstacles. The objective of each level is to collect 3 keys in order to be able to exit through the door which leads to the next level.
In most Acts, Rings do not appear to serve as Sonic's health. Instead, health is determined by the amount of time available and each hit from an enemy or hazard will shave 10 seconds off the clock. When time runs out, Sonic will lose a life. Fortunately, seconds can be added to the clock by collecting keys or by destroying enemies. The boss levels are different as they lack a timer and so can be tackled at the player's leisure. Sonic can use the Rings collected in the preceding Scroll Zone as protection from hits, as in most Sonic games, but Rings lost cannot be collected again. After defeating the Boss, a Chaos Emerald is awarded, meaning there are a total of 5 Emeralds which can be earned without any extra effort. To attain the good ending of the game, the player is also required to find the hidden Bonus Stage in Act 3 of the Labyrinth of the Sea.
The Time Attack mode allows players to race to achieve best times. When completed, a best time and score are given. In addition to that, there is a 5-digit password which has no actual use in the game. The password was for use in a contest held in Japan where one hundred players with the best times would be awarded prizesMedia:SonicLabyrinth GG JP manual.pdf[12]. The contest was only held from November 17 to December 31st in 1995Media:SonicLabyrinth GG JP manual.pdf[13].
Items
The power-ups in Sonic Labyrinth are not contained in monitors but are found inside coloured triangles instead and are collected simply by touching them. Their formation, which constantly shifts to another formation, determines which power-up is given. Interestingly, these triangles cannot be found in the third Act of Labyrinth of the Sea, but there are oil slick-spitting octopus robots that have two colored diamonds that cycle through the colours of the triangles.
Versions
Also released on
Production credits
- Director: N.Machida, H.Katagiri
- Planner: K.Tanaka
- Programer: K.Iwanaga, Y.Kataoka, A.Inoue, T.Ueshima
- Designer: K.Kayajima, K.Tanaka, K.Tamura
- Sound Programer: A.Iwanaga
- Special Thanks: N.Matsushima, S.Yoshihara, K.Kumakura, N.Tabata, M.Araki, N.Gotoh, Y.Yanagisawa, A.Matsumoto, M.Morohoshi, N.Honda, K.Hijiya, M.Ohta, K.Mine, H.Ozaki, T.Takinoue
- Source: In-game credits
Manuals
Magazine articles
Artwork
Physical scans
Game Gear, US
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Cover
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Cart
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Game Gear, EU
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Cart
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Technical information
ROM dump status
System |
Hash |
Size |
Build Date |
Source |
Comments |
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✔
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CRC32
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5550173b
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MD5
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aa6598585b2cdb92a14476beeb34991b
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SHA-1
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e24bf33d8d5a79f371485f20f207b6b26f5b341e
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512kB
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Cartridge
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✔
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CRC32
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b531a09e
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MD5
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27c46dadda7bd6d04bd7863975cdde39
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SHA-1
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77b7a4972725c605346cb441ad0b532bff21065d
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512kB
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3DS Virtual Console (US/EU)
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|
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?
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CRC32
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5550173b
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MD5
|
aa6598585b2cdb92a14476beeb34991b
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SHA-1
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e24bf33d8d5a79f371485f20f207b6b26f5b341e
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512kB
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1995-05-25
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EPROM cartridge
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Page
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External links
References
- ↑ https://www.mtwo.co.jp/development/retrogame-2/#tab-4
- ↑ File:Labyrinth-box-eu-back.jpg
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/gamegear/software.html (Wayback Machine: 2018-12-07 04:57)
- ↑ [egm, issue 77, page 182 egm, issue 77, page 182]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 [mms, issue 37, page 88 mms, issue 37, page 88]
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 http://vc.sega.jp:80/3ds/labyrinth/ (Wayback Machine: 2012-10-28 11:50)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://www.nintendo.com:80/games/detail/eKX2obOabUS4BkI1h_IIeW8mmBdgVxCk (Wayback Machine: 2013-06-30 14:26)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.fr/Jeux/Console-virtuelle-Nintendo-3DS-/Sonic-Labyrinth--275858.html (archive.today)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 http://www.nintendolife.com:80/games/gamegear/sonic_labyrinth (Wayback Machine: 2017-09-09 22:43)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Virtual-Console-Nintendo-3DS-/Sonic-Labyrinth--275858.html (archive.today)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.de/Spiele/Virtual-Console-Nintendo-3DS-/Sonic-Labyrinth--275858.html (archive.today)
- ↑ File:SonicLabyrinth GG JP manual.pdf, page 32
- ↑ File:SonicLabyrinth GG JP manual.pdf, page 33
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 File:SonicLabyrinth GG US manual.pdf, page 10
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 File:SonicLabyrinth GG JP manual.pdf, page 26
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 File:SonicLabyrinth GG JP manual.pdf, page 27