Zone Idea Station - Share your Sonic Level Ideas Here!

[Popponic]

Anything goes

You do not need a template, you can just say what your dream level in a Sonic game would be.

Since I find the most enjoyment out of the Genesis titles, my zone will use that gameplay. Excuse my lack of depth, I'm just stating the atmosphere, gimmicks, badniks etc.

Zone Name: Tidal Garden Zone

Act 1: Cascading Down

This level starts off with a coaster de-railing (from a earlier mock level) into a water bed, to which Sonic runs out of. From here the zone starts, with a sunny hill backdrop and a garden feel in the background. It has abundant water, with whirlpools and underwater fans that push you sideways (similar to Hydrocity's). Another gimmick is moving blocks to let water gush out onto plant sprouts. These grow to create paths to continue through the lower sections of the level, if you manage to fail reaching the upper route. The upper route has plants that grow as Sonic runs on them. There are clouds shaped in a certain arrow, as in up means jump, as this means the plant has stopped growing; but another has started, so Sonic needs to jump onto that one. The badniks here are: Venus Hedgehogtrap, which will swing around it's itself, pause then launch at Sonic and retract, Electrish, which is a fish which acts like the bug badniks found in Mystic Cave, but swims in different patterns. Acidcan, which pours acid below randomly, acting like a Watering Can. The mini boss is an upgraded Venus Hedgehogtrap, which spits out fire and burries it's vines underground to shoot back up at Sonic. It still obtains it's swinging attack, along with the added attacks. When in pinch, it will sprout out miniature Venus Hedgehogtraps which act as the badniks themselves.

Act 2: Overgrowth

The level is set inside a forest of plants, someone has put a chemical which puts growth into overdrive. Gimmicks involve vines, water blockage as seen in Cascading Down, the growing plants, but more. Once entering the two caves, Sonic is chased by a huge Electrish, which tires out after a whileThis level hardly changes from Cascading Down, aside from the badniks; Burrobot returns, Divebot is a bird-like bot that dives down fast towards Sonic, carries him upwards and throws him down, Pirchompbot is a piranha-like bot which chews through the structures underwater, but moves slowly.

Boss Act: The Fat Gardener

This boss is the EggPlanter, this plants Venus Hedgehogtraps that can now move around and extend their heads at Sonic. This happens while Eggman gathers acid from the pool in the background and pours it on either side of the EggPlanter to catch Sonic by surprise. Once in pinch, Eggman is about to launch a huge claw at Sonic, but his machine is destroyed by the Mini-Boss which summons water and sends out waves of prior badniks. It uses it's attacks from before excluding the mini versions. After being defeated, the water drains and all badniks self-destruct. After breaking the Egg Prison, a huge plant grabs Sonic and flings him out of the Plant Forest.

Don't forget to have fun, this was made for sharing ideas not judging others.

[Blacklightning]

A giant skate park.

...oh come on, don't give me that look. You know rolling around all those lumps would be a real riot.

In all seriousness though, I do like it when stage tropes are mixed together into unlikely combinations, even moreso when they're actually done convincingly. Like a desert with lots of water features, Or a mechanical level overrun by nature. Or the obligatory grassy level as the penultimate stage in the game as opposed to the starting one. Hell, put all the special stages together and make an actual stage out of it, I'd like that.

[Popponic]

5 hours ago, Blacklightning said:

A giant skate park.

...oh come on, don't give me that look. You know rolling around all those lumps would be a real riot.

In all seriousness though, I do like it when stage tropes are mixed together into unlikely combinations, even moreso when they're actually done convincingly. Like a desert with lots of water features, Or a mechanical level overrun by nature. Or the obligatory grassy level as the penultimate stage in the game as opposed to the starting one. Hell, put all the special stages together and make an actual stage out of it, I'd like that.

I agree.

On that Skate Park front, if there was a suburbia/city trope, I could imagine Skate Parks as a gimmick to gain massive speed. Who wouldn't like to either see Sonic roll rapidly around the lumps or actually skate in there?

[speedhog58]

All the ideas bellow have the Boost/Unleashed system in mind...

 

Scarlet Sands- A lot of the desert stages we've seen lately have been inspired by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, I think it would be quite refreshing to see a desert stage inspired by Vegas! It would open up a nice hybrid of the desert and casino settings we've seen over the years.

Subway Speedrun- We've had one or two stages in the series dedicated to trains but oddly enough; we've never seen Sonic run through subway tunnels, I think it would be fun to use the quickstep to dodge oncoming trains and potentially expand into a sewer environment as an alternate route.

 

That's all for now, might edit some more in later

 

[Baraksha]

I never really had a dream stage, but I though this could be a fun thread so I decided to think of something and throw an idea. I was thinking of an area that has a whole bunch of stadiums in them and sonic would from time to time go throw one of them and them perform some tricky stuff. This is a small amateur rushed drawing I made of part of the concept. Sonic would come out of the entrance, run up the ramp, then you would have to perform a light speed dash in order to reach the loop, but those are not boost loops so they won't make you fly but they will increase your score. After the light speed dash sonic would almost hit an enemy and fall into the spikes bellow, unless he will perform a homing attack before that, then the homing attack's blast will give you enough high to light speed over the other trail of rings and so on, but at the end before reaching the other ramp you have a chance to hit an enemy with a homing attack, and then the blast would make you go up and hit some boost rings and so sonic would fly outside the stadium like a homerun.

Also I feel like making this joke, he might go through his OWN stadium if you know what i'm saying.

[expansivelovestories]

https://clyp.it/4ghqkytj

https://clyp.it/qdpltr21

https://clyp.it/2kpxewaj

Yes, I've some music demos from last autumn, that seem to evoke environments!

They are definitely incomplete sketches/ideas that would need elaboration and collaboration to become actual tracks for a fangame but I feel that element will not keep people from imagining zones and experiences.  

Though not sounding fully like Sonic styles, there is something in there that does feel connected!

It was last autumn that I finally noticed the islands in the background of Angel island that can be seen from the topmost path of act 1 when the horizon is visible; and thought, if they are not meant to represent previously explored islands, what types of places might be there? (especially if the floating island landed back into the ocean to where it was once located!)   

[Popponic]

These are all great ideas

1 hour ago, expansivelovestories said:

https://clyp.it/4ghqkytj

https://clyp.it/qdpltr21

https://clyp.it/2kpxewaj

Yes, I've some music demos from last autumn, that seem to evoke environments!

They are definitely incomplete sketches/ideas that would need elaboration and collaboration to become actual tracks for a fangame but I feel that element will not keep people from imagining zones and experiences.  

Though not sounding fully like Sonic styles, there is something in there that does feel connected!

It was last autumn that I finally noticed the islands in the background of Angel island that can be seen from the topmost path of act 1 when the horizon is visible; and thought, if they are not meant to represent previously explored islands, what types of places might be there? (especially if the floating island landed back into the ocean to where it was once located!)   

Imagine that, if someone came along and said, "Right, these zones sound pretty awesome, let's put them into action". Yeah, they set a environment, in a way that isn't face paced and cliche like Unleashed. That Angel Island stuff is pretty mysterious, hopefully a fan-game explores that, or Sonic 2017 does.

Anyway, I normally don't like making huge level details, so my next ideas are on the bare side but carry a pretty decent idea in my mind.

Blizzard Labyrinth: A frozen labyrinth, which has ice covering the water which is broken by Sonic falling on them or badniks. Also, there could be a system in Act 3 or so, where it's really cold. This means a gimmick could be that Sonic needs to find warmth, otherwise he'll slowly freeze, like drowning; but it's easier to move around... unless we add water drowning and freezing.... It has a feel of a frozen Labyrinth Zone with extra gimmicks and more annoyance.

Isolated Isle: Inspired by expansivelovestories' island theory, this is a island close to Angel Island, but it does not share the same characteristics as Angel Island. It has been left isolated for years, not because of any Dr. Eggman plot, rather due to the mutated beasts there. Deep in the forest lies the Mutation Amethyst, which has been stolen, but the person who 'stole' it is very familiar, but not the fat man. It takes from a deep rainforest similar to the amazon.

 

[Multikaris]

Voodoo Vineyard Zone

(Adventure)

 

In the first part, Sonic lands in a large forest, filled with what appear to be trees filled with old voodoo dolls. Progressing further, and you will see large vines that can be ridden on, which lead to a bigger one covered in spikes that can be used as platforms. Don't stay on the spikes for too long or they will break. Once you reach the top, the vine collapses to the ground, forcing you to leap onto a large canopy. In this canopy, one may notice large hieroglyphs of Tikal and Iblis to the left, and Shadow and Mephiles to the right. After defeating a handful of Badniks, move onto a large bridge inscribed with ancient runes, as you travel beyond a large swarm of vines.  The runes will start to glow, and suddenly, out comes a being resembling King Boom Boo, whom chases you across the bridge and into an ancient encampment.

Inside the village, there is a pattern of Solaris inscribed upon the ground. Nearby it are a pair of Black Arms symbols. Turn an old wooden crank to make a vine grow out to serve as a grind rail. Grind on it, and be sure to grab the white lights to make the vine grow even more, becoming a platform. On this new platform, one can see stone Echidna heads, with Solaris's pattern painted on their foreheads. Near the end, you see a large Echdina Sphinx (think Sonic R). As you enter it, you see large piles of skulls with burning fire on top of them. You must push blocks to form the symbol of Solaris, opening a gate that sends you into a room depicting Iblis battling Chaos as a mosaic.

 

Scrap Brain

(Adventure)

 

The place is now covered in a dense overgrowth, but is somehow, still operating. Hyudoros appear near rotting machinery, operating it still. As you enter the center of the place, molten metal hails down from the smokestacks, creating a burning road that you must run across.

[Popponic]

13 hours ago, Miru said:

Voodoo Vineyard Zone

(Adventure)

 

In the first part, Sonic lands in a large forest, filled with what appear to be trees filled with old voodoo dolls. Progressing further, and you will see large vines that can be ridden on, which lead to a bigger one covered in spikes that can be used as platforms. Don't stay on the spikes for too long or they will break. Once you reach the top, the vine collapses to the ground, forcing you to leap onto a large canopy. In this canopy, one may notice large hieroglyphs of Tikal and Iblis to the left, and Shadow and Mephiles to the right. After defeating a handful of Badniks, move onto a large bridge inscribed with ancient runes, as you travel beyond a large swarm of vines.  The runes will start to glow, and suddenly, out comes a being resembling King Boom Boo, whom chases you across the bridge and into an ancient encampment.

Inside the village, there is a pattern of Solaris inscribed upon the ground. Nearby it are a pair of Black Arms symbols. Turn an old wooden crank to make a vine grow out to serve as a grind rail. Grind on it, and be sure to grab the white lights to make the vine grow even more, becoming a platform. On this new platform, one can see stone Echidna heads, with Solaris's pattern painted on their foreheads. Near the end, you see a large Echdina Sphinx (think Sonic R). As you enter it, you see large piles of skulls with burning fire on top of them. You must push blocks to form the symbol of Solaris, opening a gate that sends you into a room depicting Iblis battling Chaos as a mosaic.

 

Scrap Brain

(Adventure)

 

The place is now covered in a dense overgrowth, but is somehow, still operating. Hyudoros appear near rotting machinery, operating it still. As you enter the center of the place, molten metal hails down from the smokestacks, creating a burning road that you must run across.

Good Idea, not my kind of trope, but you've explained it to a good standard. My only reason for not liking it, is the many references to Sonic Adventure-06 characters; with little reason.

Ignore that though, these full explanation posts help people understand the level/acts a lot more than the explanation of the level in general.

[Multikaris]

More of a Re-Imagining, but:

 

Silent Forest

 

Rather than a tropical place (again), this will be a coniferous forest level, with log platforms, a giant tree set piece aka Angel Island Act 1, log cabins, and large totem poles of Shadow, Tikal, Mephiles, and Iblis. The ruins are a little more emphasized compared to the original.  Each section, in fact, has its own enemies. The canopy has the Tarantula (renamed "Little Miss Dokugu"), Cluckoid, and Tonber (renamed "Blastagurius"), the forest floor is occupied by Cluckoid, Dragonfly, Mushmmeanie, and Madmole, the ruins contain Laser Grabbers and regular ones along with Leon from Sonic Adventure, and the swamp sections have the now-destructible Surprise Crocodiles. You must still avoid the Owl's Gaze at first, until you come up to it and destroy it as a mini-boss. In fact, this level has three mini-boss battles: the owl, Grapsule, and a fight with Zor. 

 

In an attempt to find Tails, the capsule Sonic finds becomes Grapsule, and Sonic must slice off the arms before moving into hitting the top. Instead, Sonic himself is finally trapped. With him out of the way, Zavok arrives to firebomb the place. One you get out, the place is aflame, exposing its true nature. The first fight with Zor takes place atop a Solaris glyph in the middle of the burning forest. After bating him, the forest burns down completely. In the burnt area, Eggman appears to demonstrate a new weapon and carelessly thrashes what's left of the place, just as a running battle against Zor (on a black cloud) ensues. 

 

Defeat him and enter the ruins (with Tikal and Shadow statues) and you get to Sky Road at last.

[Popponic]

Dusk Rivers Zone

 

Act 1: Land Rush

Sonic finally meets the ground, hard. The plant had thrown him so far, he could not see the prior forest no longer. Sonic gets up and is met with new gimmicks. A figure eight loop, which Sonic goes around to the top and racing down the exact same shape. Rushing rivers, which contain boats; which Sonic surprisingly can man, this gimmick is not finished in this act, please note. Odd wooden objects connected to wood structures similar to Sunset Hill, will let Sonic push them in... to a certain extent then push back at high speeds, sending Sonic flying upwards to either fair ground or another one of these. Those act practically as the springs of the zone. Badniks include Chompers, that force Sonic to manage his speed on the rivers, motobugs with spikes on top, who charge; invincible, until projects themselves at Sonic, which Sonic can THEN roll into them. The atmosphere, it's a setting sun, real-time; (adjusted to the 10:00 time limit), with rivers and odd wood structures projecting out of them. The mini-boss is a huge chomper, with Sonic stuck in between two waterfalls, preventing escape. Chomper will shoot missiles akin to Gemerl. Once defeated it's explosion will send a water spout to send Sonic flying out into the next river.

Act 2: Nightly Dash

The sun has set, the moon is rising. At this part of the river, the wood structures clash with the river boats. This requires Sonic to half of the time, use the Boat gimmick in an odd way. For example, you'll be forced to get off and run a wood loop and you'll auto jump onto the boat, unless you are too slow. Only the chomper badniks appear, but in varied sizes. The speed is necessary here, as there are the wood gimmicks and chomper chases. The atmosphere is a dark sky, hard to see front plane and river wood structures, rather than projecting wood structures.

Boss Act: Metal on the Water

Metal Sonic appears, riding on a submarine which shoots missles and chompers. Metal will occasionally charge at Sonic to knock him over. The stage has water killzones at either side of the structure Sonic sits on. Pinch involves Metal disbanding the Sub and attacking Sonic personally. An unique form of attack, is him diving underwater and shooting out and instantly charging at Sonic, to surprise the player. Unlike the slow avoiding of The Fat Gardner, this requires fast dodging of his attacks, he is only vulnerable when recharging, which is uncommon in this phase.

Currently, making a series of levels, as you can see it takes place after Tidal Garden Zone.

[Hyp3hat]

Like Sonic Advance 2's Music Plant Zone, but everything's in key. All the sound effects on that stage are off key, and it really sucks. Also ditch the super garish colour scheme, please.

Plus, you could have a bunch of cool shit happening, like bouncing off and grinding strings on a guitar or bass to play melodies and riffs, stomping on piano keys to unlock doors as puzzles, quick stepping to hit notes in sheet music to unlock bonuses... there's a whole platformer based around this that I forget the name of (Sound Shapes?) that you could fit Sonic into nicely.

 

Alternatively, something like the opening of Jackie Chan's Police Story - Sonic busting through a hillside shanty town, hopping over buildings, breaking through windows, crashing through walls. Murder on a physics engine, would still love to see it.

[VolatileMike]

Moonlight Beach

As the name implies, this is a beach at night, lit by a brilliant full moon. Sea turtles can be homing attacked and act as bounce pads that bring Sonic up to different rock formations. Badniks shaped like crabs and seabirds try to attack you. Sand castles can be destroyed to uncover powerups and rings, but some have badniks waiting inside. An invisible wall marked by rocks and kelp keeps Sonic from moving too far into the water. Underwater enemies include shark badniks and octopus badniks that blind you with oil. Giant clams can be homing attacked to bounce you back above the water. 

This is a very atmospheric and visually emotional level, but the serenity gets interrupted towards the end. A mini-boss comes in the form of a giant, spike-covered beach patrol cart being driven by two egg pawns humorously dressed as lifeguards. Its blinding headlights shift around and telegraph where they're going to attack. They throw bombs, shoot lasers, all this stuff you have to dodge, but eventually you run over a ramp and while you make it to the other side, they fall into a craggy tidal pool and get hit by a big wave. 

Things get calm again as you approach the goal ring, and now there aren't any obstacles. For the next quarter miles, you're surrounded on both sides by a large group of sleeping seals. If you run into them, they bounce you back and forth like a pinball. The crowd becomes so dense that you inevitably run into one, and they nose-butt you forward until you hit the goal ring. 

[TheBlueGuardian]

Arctic Glacier

Act 1:The zone starts off in the mountians, using the snowy bridges to make your way down the mountain, there are snowy patches similar to the ones found in Ice Cap act 2. When you are at a certain point there is a cave that links to act 2 once you get to the signpost at the end.

Act 2: You leave the cave and its night, the glaciers come to view at the foot of the mountain after 30 seconds of play, theres water here so be careful when going through, the aurora similar to the northern lights in real life (or southern lights if your living in the southen hemisphere) appears in the background (as an effect) and starts to snow as you play, there are icy patches that can cause movement problems and if they are not nasty enough there's caterkiller variants know as Snoworms, they hide in the snow, walpain walus inspired badniks that shoot projectiles, and robo orca, orca based robots that charge when Sonic is underwater, oh yeah, there is air bubbles if you chose to go underwater in this act.

Boss: Egg Polar

The boss is entirely underwater but there is air bubbles to make this fight fair, the idea is to strike the boss when it not protected by the icy rocks, after the seventh hit things can get tough as it will fire an ice beam that freezes Sonic if it makes contact and it removes the air bubbles, you only have a few seconds to land the final blow or you'll drown, it might be ideal to bring a bubble shield before fighting this boss, if you can find one.

[Popponic]

On 4/08/2016 at 5:58 AM, TheBlueGuardian said:

Arctic Glacier

Act 1:The zone starts off in the mountians, using the snowy bridges to make your way down the mountain, there are snowy patches similar to the ones found in Ice Cap act 2. When you are at a certain point there is a cave that links to act 2 once you get to the signpost at the end.

Act 2: You leave the cave and its night, the glaciers come to view at the foot of the mountain after 30 seconds of play, theres water here so be careful when going through, the aurora similar to the northern lights in real life (or southern lights if your living in the southen hemisphere) appears in the background (as an effect) and starts to snow as you play, there are icy patches that can cause movement problems and if they are not nasty enough there's caterkiller variants know as Snoworms, they hide in the snow, walpain walus inspired badniks that shoot projectiles, and robo orca, orca based robots that charge when Sonic is underwater, oh yeah theres air bubbles if you chose to go underwater in this act.

Boss: Egg Polar

The boss is entirely underwater but theres air bubbles to make this fight fair, the idea is to strike the boss when it not protected by the icy rocks, after the seventh hit things can get tough as it will fire an ice beam that freezes Sonic if it makes contact and it removes the air bubbles, you only have a few seconds to land the final blow or you'll drown, it might be ideal to bring a bubble shield before fighting this boss, if you can find one.

This is like a cool twist on the likes of Ice Mountain, I like it.

On 2/08/2016 at 7:15 PM, VolatileMike said:

Moonlight Beach

As the name implies, this is a beach at night, lit by a brilliant full moon. Sea turtles can be homing attacked and act as bounce pads that bring Sonic up to different rock formations. Badniks shaped like crabs and seabirds try to attack you. Sand castles can be destroyed to uncover powerups and rings, but some have badniks waiting inside. An invisible wall marked by rocks and kelp keeps Sonic from moving too far into the water. Underwater enemies include shark badniks and octopus badniks that blind you with oil. Giant clams can be homing attacked to bounce you back above the water. 

This is a very atmospheric and visually emotional level, but the serenity gets interrupted towards the end. A mini-boss comes in the form of a giant, spike-covered beach patrol cart being driven by two egg pawns humorously dressed as lifeguards. Its blinding headlights shift around and telegraph where they're going to attack. They throw bombs, shoot lasers, all this stuff you have to dodge, but eventually you run over a ramp and while you make it to the other side, they fall into a craggy tidal pool and get hit by a big wave. 

Things get calm again as you approach the goal ring, and now there aren't any obstacles. For the next quarter miles, you're surrounded on both sides by a large group of sleeping seals. If you run into them, they bounce you back and forth like a pinball. The crowd becomes so dense that you inevitably run into one, and they nose-butt you forward until you hit the goal ring. 

Nice and unique, it'd be cool to see that in concept.

[Pingu]

i like to think of my zone as something that would be in the modern sonic boost gameplay style.

Digital Evolution Zone

the level would be like similar to Digital circuit from shadow or Cyber track from advance 3 except it kinda pays a tribute to how gaming has evolved through out the years.

I'd imagine it as starting out in a Green Hill Zone type area but everything is more pixelated. The camera would start in the 2d perspective and the level would start out like the layout of green hill zone from the original sonic one to  a certain point, where the pixels would all disapear and sonic would be in a cyber digital type world. as he continues running you break into another game this time it's in 3d and depending on where you are in the layout of the level actually changes the design of the next area you explore. if your on the middle route your suddenly racing amongst other cars from Daytona USA! if you go through the bottom route you while grind, and outrun cops from jet set radio and finally if you go to the top route you will fly with NiGHTS through rings. once you finish going through these areas you once again go back into the cyberspace where now it's 3d! you boost through this area for a bit to once again break into another game these next few areas arn't really based on any sega franchises but are just basically a little jab at what gaming became at one point and quite debatebly still is an apocolyptic world with explosions and cinematic set pieces once you get through these you break out into cyber space for one last stretch to finally finish off in Green Hill Zone but this time looking like the HD version from Generations.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

4 hours ago, Pingu said:

i like to think of my zone as something that would be in the modern sonic boost gameplay style.

Digital Evolution Zone

the level would be like similar to Digital circuit from shadow or Cyber track from advance 3 except it kinda pays a tribute to how gaming has evolved through out the years.

I'd imagine it as starting out in a Green Hill Zone type area but everything is more pixelated. The camera would start in the 2d perspective and the level would start out like the layout of green hill zone from the original sonic one to  a certain point, where the pixels would all disapear and sonic would be in a cyber digital type world. as he continues running you break into another game this time it's in 3d and depending on where you are in the layout of the level actually changes the design of the next area you explore. if your on the middle route your suddenly racing amongst other cars from Daytona USA! if you go through the bottom route you while grind, and outrun cops from jet set radio and finally if you go to the top route you will fly with NiGHTS through rings. once you finish going through these areas you once again go back into the cyberspace where now it's 3d! you boost through this area for a bit to once again break into another game these next few areas arn't really based on any sega franchises but are just basically a little jab at what gaming became at one point and quite debatebly still is an apocolyptic world with explosions and cinematic set pieces once you get through these you break out into cyber space for one last stretch to finally finish off in Green Hill Zone but this time looking like the HD version from Generations.

This would be very bizarre as a normal level, but it sounds pretty awesome for a bonus unlockable - a reward, sorta like 3D Green Hill Zone in SA2.

[TheBlueGuardian]

19 hours ago, Popponic said:

This is like a cool twist on the likes of Ice Mountain, I like it.

Thanks, it's suppose to be a mix between Ice Cap Zone from Sonic 3 and Cool Edge night from Sonic Unleashed (without the Werehog), for the boss I was inspiered by the Tidal Tempest boss, just without the air bubbles surrounding it. I'm thinking about doing an underwater theme zone idea.

[Shade Vortex]

This is from a fangame/fancomic idea I came up with in 2011:

Tropical/Water>Pinball/Ruins>Ice/Base>Desert/Palace>Lava/Underground>Urban/Sky>Battleship>Space>Underworld/Heaven

Sonic Dimensions Level and boss concepts:

Flooding Forest Zone: A stage which takes place in a ruined forest that is suffering from a flood, causing trees to fall, rocks to tumble, and other stage changes. Water currents are strong and can lead you to alternate paths, or even hazards and obstacles. Be careful when you're underwater, the vines that grow underwater are machines built by Eggman and they'll grab onto you and constrict you, causing you to lose your rings!

Flooding Forest Zone Boss: Egg Flooder floods the boss arena to fight him underwater. He also tends to drain the water so that he can use a high-pressure water pump to shoot Sonic with a water cannon, which also refills the arena with water. The stage has air bubbles underwater, so that you don't drown. Sonic must try to figure out how to defeat the boss!

Tribal Trampoline Zone: Tribal ruins with springy trampolines which are placed so you bounce between ones on the floor and ceiling, like a pinball. Some of them are placed sideways, to bounce you to different paths, and even into other trampolines. It could get crazy!

Tribal Trampoline Boss: Egg Bouncer, a big machine that has a springy surface, where Sonic bounces off him if you try to attack. Sonic must use the springy nature of this boss and the arena to his advantage, if he wants to win!

Arctic Empire Zone: A frozen base, hidden in the snowy mountains. The only way to get in is to snowboard. Badniks here are arctic wolf badniks and other robots based on animals that live in cold areas, so beware. Icicles will also fall from the ceiling, and you have a shorter time to survive underwater to boot, since it's freezing cold!

Arctic Empire Zone Boss: Egg Freezer, a freezing machine that can freeze Sonic. Be careful not to get frozen, because if you do, Eggman will use his machine to smash you, and so you'd lose all your rings- or die, if you don't have any!

Sand Palace Zone: The sand area is rather unique in that it's not fully a desert, but rather it's an Indian palace that's filling with sand as you play the stage. This stage's layout changes based on how long you take to beat it, as well. If you take too long, you end up missing a lot of stuff, and end up in the actual desert area, which is expectedly barren compared to the normal areas. There are hourglasses that if you spindash (or boost as modern Sonic, if it were a Generations stage) into them, they reverse the flow of sand so that it lowers in the area you're in, incase the only way to proceed has been blocked off, or if you're about to be pushed into the ceiling and killed by being crushed between the ceiling and the sand.

Sand Palace Zone Boss: Egg Timer, a giant mech that uses an hourglass to slow down or speed up time. Sonic has to be careful to beat this boss! The sped up portions of the boss are probably the hardest to dodge, so Sonic might have met his match! Take advantage of the slowed down portions, because they make him easier to hit!

Mining Core Zone: The lava/underground stage takes place inside an underground base built above the core of the planet. The stage is full of mining tools and badniks, proving that Eggman had been mining to the core of the earth for some reason, most likely to harness the energy, since it's a very powerful source of heat (which is a type of energy, of course!). The lava rises in certain parts and parts of this stage crumble or change, and there are also minecarts.
You don't ride THESE minecarts though. You push them so they they run into other things. They tend to have bombs in them and blow open paths you can take.

Mining Core Zone Boss: The Egg Driller, a drilling machine piloted by Eggman. It can dig into the ground and cause parts of the ceiling or floor to collapse, so Sonic has to be careful! Defeat this boss by finding and taking advantage of its weak spot!

Aerial Ride Zone: A zone taking place in a surreal, Sonic-esque airport. The stage gimmick is riding on airplanes by grabbing onto the tailfin, and each plane has a different course and riding them leads to alternate paths. The lowest path is of course the most dangerous.

Aerial Ride Zone Boss:
After chasing down the location of the soon-to-lift off Metal fortress Eggman plans to use for his latest scheme for world domination, Sonic is confronted by an upgraded version of Silver Sonic, the robot he once fought in Death Egg Zone! And he's brought his past incarnation with him through the power of the Time Stones, which Eggman had collected. As a surprise, Classic Sonic hitched a ride to the present with them!
The upgraded version can turn into a buzzsaw much like the original. Sonic must find a way to break through its strong defense, and must avoid an instant-kill attack that knocks the ceiling down as a last ditch effort from the Silver Sonic upgrade to win.

Metal Behemoth Zone: Eggman's new flying fortress, a gigantic behemoth with incredible destructive force, built with many traps and badniks as security, which Sonic has to get past. Worst of all, even though Eggman has recently launched the airship, an advanced version of Metal Sonic damages the engine once you get to the end of act 2, and challenges you to a race. You're given ten (as a reference to how you die for a time over in the classic games) minutes to get out in act 3, and the stage actually falls apart and as it does, more bottomless pits will form, and different paths will form as well. The race is impossible to win, however, so all you must do is keep up and get to the animal capsule at the end of the ship without dying! Meanwhile, Classic Sonic has to race the original version of Metal Sonic, who has been brought from the past as well!

Gravity Galaxy Zone: This entire stage takes place on a solar system as your path. So you could say you're running on my interpretation of the Sonic world's version of the Milky Way. It has gravity shifts at specific parts of the stage, at different intervals (it does warn you when it will happen)- it's not something you control, so you have to be careful of spikes and enemies, and if you're on the lowest route, even bottomless pits.

Gravity Galaxy Zone Boss: Standing on top of a screw-shaped platform that lets Sonic see to the sun beneath him through yellow-tinted glass, Sonic has to fight one of Eggman's giant robot inventions, the Egg Hero, piloted by the mad scientist himself. This is his ultimate creation at the end of his final fortress- or is it?

Apocalyptic Paradise Zone. This stage is a mix of a "Heavenly" area and a "Hellish" area, so you'll encounter many different kinds of hazards, from bottomless pits, lava, spikes, demonic badniks, angelic badniks, and environmental hazards that change depending on which segment of the level you're in. This stage is definitely one of the hardest, if not the hardest.

Apocalyptic Paradise Zone Boss:
Finally, Modern Sonic catches up to the upgraded Metal Sonic, and Classic Sonic catches up with the original one, after having gone through all the other stages and having to fight Eggman's other creations, this race might be the ultimate rematch, where both Sonic's have to win their respective races to regain their title as the fastest thing alive!

Collosal Chaos Zone. The final boss stage, where both Sonic's fight against Dark Deity, a giant monster that is created from Dark Matter, and has the ability to shift dimensions and timelines, even able to merge them together. This boss uses instant-kill black holes against you, so both Sonic's must evade them as they gets closer to the boss to attack its weak point, which is the final Time Stone the Sonic's must collect.

Chronic Dimensions Zone Boss:
Eggman interrupts the  Dark Deity battle as both Sonic's are about to defeat the Dark Deity, bringing in the robot that you fought at Gravity Galaxy Zone to merge with the Dark Deity, to become the Egg Deity. This boss switches between two phases/forms consistently, so you have to be prepared to switch between Sonic's for its different attacks and patterns of attacking for each phase until you can beat it. Or, just get all seven Chaos Emeralds for an easy victory with both Super Sonic's, if you can manage to get and keep 50 rings during the fight.

Chronic Dimensions Zone
After the boss of the very last stage, both Sonic's are making a last ditch effort to escape from the collapse of a timeline and several dimensions, and the collapse is causing a shift between time and space. The stage changes from surreal environments, realistic environments and also past present and future variations of them. This is the epilogue stage. After it, having finally collected all the Time Stones, Modern Sonic is able to send his Classic self, as well as Eggman's past incarnation, to the time in which they belong. The Chaos Emeralds automatically scatter by themselves again now that they've been used, leading Sonic to wonder off for his next adventure, while Eggman of course plots his next scheme, unwilling to give up despite yet another defeat.

[TheBlueGuardian]

I just thought up another Zone.

Sunken Temple Zone

Act 1: The zone starts in the temple ruins, traversing across the crumbling ruins the player can choose to stick to the higher route, or go underwater to find secrets (if you don't drown of course) there are traps similar to Aquatic Ruin Zone, but there's badniks such as totus, totem based badniks that takes 3 hits to destory (one hit each collum), Vapam, Vampire Bat based robots that drain Sonic of his rings, shake them off or you will die if your ring count hits zero and Torchel, Turtle based badniks that shoot fire, underwater, once you reach the signpost at the temple entrance the act ends. 

Act 2: This act is entirelly underwater, you'll have to find a bubble shield in this act or it will become really diffcult to get through without drowning, there are air bubbles in this act, but there are big bubbles that you can use to go up and your air is instantlly restored, once you reach the end to the boss room, you'll reach dry land but still inside the temple.

Boss: Egg Golem mk.II

This Egg Golem is the same as the one fought at Sandopils Zone but with a twist, after 5 seconds it will do an attack that floods the temple for 10 seconds, after that it is vulnerble for 5 seconds, after that rinse and repeat until it's seventh hit, after seven hits it will move faster but it's completely open for one final attack, use that chance or get crushed by the temple door, (yes the door closes behind Sonic after he enters the room).

[Wing]

A Christmas themed Zone

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Party Pop Zone:

OST idea (something similar to):

The general concept of the stage is inspired by Mario Kart 8's Electrodome, which for those who don't know, is like a massive nightclub stage. 

The idea however isn't just a nightclub zone, but rather a massive music video/digital inspired stage mixed in with the nightclub. The basic idea would be at certain points, Sonic would run into monitors that instantly teleport him into a digital music video like zone. Basically, imagine a more updated version of Sonic Advance 2's music zone. Several gimmicks would include things like Sonic running along pure beams of light throughout the digital portions of the stage, enemies that would incorporate dancing into their attacks, and Sonic running along several musical instruments while inside the digital part of the stage, including electronic pianos, and guitars. As for gimmicks inside the nightclub, one of the things I'd love to incorporate is things like homing attack along stage lights, and having some background screens showing Sonic running through the stage, similar to the screens present in Electrodome, but focusing on Sonic rather than NPCs. 

Boss: Egg Shockwave

The boss of the stage would be Eggman in his Egg-Mobile with a set of speakers on his Eggmobile, and the ability to switch between the Nightclub, and the digital music worlds. The time to attack Eggman would be during the transition stage between him going between the nightclub world, and digital music world. His moveset would include damage inducing sound waves that he sends out through the speakers, and a desperation attack that if not dodged, would cause Sonic to begin dancing along to his music (I would love to have a Sonic air guitaring animation lol), allowing Eggman to gain a hit on Sonic. The effect could be escaped through a button mash command, but if that failed, Sonic wouldn't escape in time, and Eggman would land the blow. 

What do you guys think?

[TheBlueGuardian]

Volcanic Maze Zone

Act 1: The act starts off in upper levels of the volcano, make your way down with caution, it's pretty obivus that there is lava in this zone, watch out for the lavaworms they are similar to the Sandworms in Sandopolis Zone except they leap out of lava pools, a modified version of Golah behave the same way except they are more aggresive with their attacks, and spiders that shoot fire, time your attacks well.

Miniboss: Excavatax

This miniboss just drills through the ceiling but with a twist, after 3 hits it will attack the ground opening the lower parts of the volcano, get another 3 hits then the act is complete.

Act 2: This is the deepest part of the volcano, it is so hot down there that the lava will instantly kill Sonic if he does not have the fire shield, or invincibilty or even Super Sonic, this will get confusing quickily so make sure you know where you are going, thankfully it is not as hard as Sandopolis act 2 but still difficult.

Boss: Egg Fireball

This boss can be tricky so time your attacks well, unless you got a fire shield this boss can become very hard, after 7 hits Robotnik will fire off a lot of fireballs, land your final blow well... wait, you think this boss is easy? Well there is a twist, once Robotnik is defeated the volcano will start to erupt, get the hell out of here within 90 seconds or you'll have to do the whole boss fight again (the lava will kill Sonic regardless if he is Super Sonic or not, it also kills him even with the fire shield).

Transition: Sonic runs from the Volcano, but trips up, just as a piece of boiling magma is about to hit Sonic, suddenly he is teleported to the Hidden Realm Zone.

[ICantThinkOfAName]

My dream zone would be in the gameplay style of sonic adventure 2. The actual zone(s) would be the following:

Hidden Crystal

Sonic starts at a door, then once broken has a drop which sends sonic into a glowing cave, which has a similar aesthetic to the special room in sonic & knuckles. Similarly to white forest and green jungle, the level would have a time limit. It would focus a lot on the homing attack to cover long distances.

Lost Treasure

The stage starts off with a cutscene of sonic running into an opening with act 1 being destroyed from caving in. Then the stage starts. Sonic is in a huge open area with tons of rings. Advancing forward reveals there are traps based on timing. Then a segment where sonic runs out of the cave (it's exploding from a trap) and would be similar to that part from sonic heroes where you have to run away from a huge spiky boulder thing.

[Popponic]

Just came back to this, these are awesome ideas!

Pipe Paradise

This is an extension of the Palmtree Panic GF level theme.

It acts as a tropical grass level, but has pipe gimmicks like Launch Base Act 2 and Chemical Plant Zone. Also, there would be extensive underwater parts of it aswell.

Sorry for the bare bones idea, but I'm focusing more on my ideas for both a Sonic hack and an actual Sonic-inspired game.