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Special Stages: What's Your Favourite & Why?


Danj86

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I think Sonic 1's special stages are a fun time, and use rolling in a different kind of way that really makes playing it all the more unique. Sonic CD's UFO special stages are fun too, but very frustrating (especially in the Taxman port). And Blue Spheres is the shit, like really, just freaking awesome.

But Sonic 3D Blast Saturn's special stages are the best in the series, hands down. I know so few of people have played them, but they really are a total dream in every way imaginable. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np76lPXKfCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-bPLZb-Ue8

You can roll in these. Also, look at all the platforming, and the corkscrews, and the eye candy, and the music... man. They're THE best in the series, no doubt.

....

Oh and if you're wondering why I dodged Sonic 2's, it's because they're absolutely horrible to play. Just a miserably frustrating experience, lord.

Edited by Azoo
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How do you actually play these things? Tell me your secrets.

Well, for the past x years since Heroes came out, I was tapping the boost button rather than holding it in. I was doing it wrong for all that time. Let me tell you, made it about 100 times easier once I figured it out, they're not even hard now.

Reminds me of how I used to beat Unleashed without upgrading the Werehog. xD

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Mine have always been Sonic 1's. I find them the easiest, and they have the best music.

Sonic 2 I'm on the fence about.

Sonic CD's are atrocious, even in the Taxman remake.

I can't stand Blue Sphere because the speeding up stresses me out too much.

I appreciate 3D Blast Genesis for at least making it hassle-free.

Rush's special stages can go to hell, I hate them.

Sonic 4 Ep. 1's is just like Sonic 1's except worse.

Same for Ep. 2.

Edited by Dizcrybe
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Sonic Rush definitely has my favorite special stages. They're fun and just feel really, really good to play. I also really enjoy Rush Adventure's too.

And I do love me some blue balls (:

latest?cb=20070302130356

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Decided to write something about every Special Stage from every game in the OP. While I was doing that, a second question popped into my head.

Are we in agreement as to what defines a Special Stage?

I was wondering if I should mention the little mini game in Sonic Spinball, when I thought that it probably doesn't count, but if it did, then surely the spinning slot machine room from Sonic 3 or the orb room from Sonic and Knuckles. I assumed the Chaos Emerald is one of the defining characteristic of a Special Stage, but having looked into it further and in some games, Special Stages don't even give Chaos Emeralds. What are your thoughts on this?

Also I think it's okay to also rate your favourite method of entering a Special Stage. Finishing the level with 50 rings is the most common, but I like Sonic 3 & Knuckles the best. You can get more than one on the same act and although you can also do that in Sonic 2, it is a much simpler task  and doesn't require 50 rings in 3 & K.

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My favorite Special Stages in the series would definitely be the ones in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Those provide quite a challenge while still being fun and not cheap. The speed increasing as you play them is also a nice touch that keeps things from getting dull.

The Special Stages in Sonic 2 are my favorite concept-wise, but after the first few they end up being way more cheap than fun. You pretty much have to memorize what’s going to come since you have basically no time to react to the rings/bombs that fly in while going through turns and stuff.

I also have a soft spot for the Special Stages in Sonic Advance 3, although admittedly that’s mostly because of the music. My personal favorite special stage tune in the series.

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I hate the halfpipe special stages games like Sonic 2 have. A lot of the time in the later special stages you can lose rings and basically be trapped behind a point of no return where you can't possibly get enough rings to continue. It's a really nice feeling having to keep doing the special stage despite knowing fully well that you've lost the chance at getting the chaos emerald.

That said, Blue Sphere is by far my favourite type of special stage because it has a simple playstyle that lets you go about doing the special stage however you want to. It's not hampered by points of no return like the halfpipe ones are and you have a lot more control than you do in the rotating maze stages. Plus, there's also the thing about having its own game with over 100 million stages to go around.

As a matter of fact, S3K also has my favourite method of getting into a special stage because I feel hiding the Giant Rings away and rewarding players for exploring the levels is one of the best ways they've done special stages in the entire series. The "Get 50 Rings" method can be especially annoying in levels with lots of enemies and a lot of the time I know it ends up slowing me down to a crawl just to make sure I don't lose the rings.

I don't remember much of the advance stages but I don't remember having happy memories trying to get to them either.

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I really love that the Sonic 1 special stages do something very unique with the same core game engine rather than carting you off to a minigame, even if the stages themselves are a little unruly to play.

 

Despite that praise though, my fave is definitely Sonic Colours DS.  They take Rush's excellent half-pipe gameplay (definitely the best iteration of the half-pipe game from the titles I've played due to the touch screen controls) and do something unique and new with it.  I love the concept of having three sets of collectables, performing three laps where you're only supposed to collect one set per lap, and having it so mistakenly collected ones on earlier laps than intended hamper your ability to get them on their intended laps later.  It's a shame that only the last one or two were at all challenging for these and I'd love to see the concept expanded.

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My favorite is the Blue Spheres from Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ECUK7J8kzvc/hqdefault.jpg

For one, Tails (if you had picked Sonic & Tails) doesn't screw you over like the Special Stages in Sonic 2 & Sonic 4 Ep 2. Two, I really love the music, it is seriously one of my all time favorite Special stage themes in the series. Lastly, the sense of speed, also with the music speeding up along as well. :D

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  • 8 months later...

I Love the Sonic CD special stage and they are still the only ones i can go back to, I like the Music In both the JP and US versions and I think they provide the right amount of challenge to keep me retrying though i would suggest getting them all by Quartz Quadrant Act 2, anyone attempting to get to  bonus stage in Wacky Workbench is a bloody madman I tell ya'.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My all-time favourite type of Special Stage is Blue Sphere. I really enjoy the gameplay and the music and, unlike the maze and half-pipe types from the prequels, there's nothing that may screw you up for the wrong reasons -as Eggy would say in Terminal Velocity, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!-. Honourable mentions:

-The platforming stages and fights against Nack in Triple Trouble.

-The bridges with bombs (at least the Knuckles ones) in MD Sonic 3D Blast.

-The crystal tubes with orbs in Sonic Heroes (control issues aside).

-Gameland, if you wanna consider that a colection of Special Stages.

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Sonic 3 just for nostalgia sake. Sonic Heroes can burn, though the stages ARE beautiful and it helped me with my button tapping "skills". Sonic Rush's was freaking great and challenging, same goes for Sonic Rush Adventures, plus, its not a half pipe for once!

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My least favorite special stage would go to Sonic Heroes because of the wonky controls where you can easily lose your speed at the snap of a finger, not to mention that the method of getting to a special stage is something I could do without. (Seriously, grab a key and make it through the whole level without getting hit. I didn't like it in Sonic 1 and I certainly don't like it here.)

Favourite special stage would be Blue Sphere from Sonic 3 and Knuckles. I don't really have much to say on why I like them other than because nostalgia. But I feel that you have full control of where you're going and any mistake made is on the player and not the game. 

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