Sonic 3 & Knuckles Part 10: Lava Reef Zone (Hyper Sonic & Tails)

Channel:

Carls493

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Published on October 27, 2011 9:55:18 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6btxuLAtopo

Game:

Sonic & Knuckles (1994)

Duration: 13:56

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The trap at the very end of Sandopolis has made Sonic & Tails fall into Lava Reef, a volcanic site hidden deep under Angel Island.

As you can see in the background of both Acts, when Sonic prevented the Death Egg's relaunch at the Launch Base, it didn't explode. It just fell right on top of a volcano, if the title screen of the solo Sonic & Knuckles is to be believed. This volcano has to be the same one the characters are in now.

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Both Acts bosses are pretty unique compared to the others. Act 1's boss has two wired orbs shooting at you, but the true boss is a giant hand that tries to crush you. If you destroy the orbs, first, you can go after the hand without having it switch itself back out for those orbs.

Act 2's boss is a very elaborative one. How you reach it is courtesy of Knuckles punching a boulder at you with so much force that it can cause Sonic to lose his Hyper form, for the time being.

Sonic & Tails are now closer to the Death Egg, and it appears to still work as its "eyes" light up to intensify the heat and lava of Lava Reef, causing the whole area to become a boiling hot-red! Eggman appears and tries to bombard you with missiles, which eventually leads you to facing him in area completely surrounded by lava.

This is yet another endurance boss, just avoid his bombs as they sink towards his lava sub on their own. If you're Super/Hyper at the moment, this is another cakewalk, but before the last bomb hits, make sure you're on the center platform if you don't have a fire shield. As soon as you break open this zone's Egg Capsule, the lava will harden, then you can escort yourself to the next zone.

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I think I found all of Act 1's Special Stage rings. There should be at least one ring in Act 2 that I can't reach without Knuckles. Also note that Lava Reef is the LAST zone you can find any Special Stage rings in. So if you haven't gotten all of the Super Emeralds, let alone the Chaos Emeralds, after this point, you'll have to go through the last legs of the game without their power before you can go back through it and earn your Super/Hyper Transformation!

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In a secret Zone Select/Sound Test screen, Lava Reef's 1st & 2nd Acts are listed as normal, but the section that commences the extended boss fight with Eggman is listed as "Lava Reef 3", while Lava Reef 4 is actually the one-act Zone that takes place after Lava Reef: Hidden Palace.

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There's also a bit of a programming oversight at the start of the Act 2 Boss/Act 3. You get a 1-UP when you get 100 rings, and another one if you get 200 rings. At the start of this sequence, if you have 100+ rings, getting one of the rings you see on the right nets you another 1-UP automatically, or two 1-UPs if you get two of the rings with 200+ already in stock. Just watch at 11:20 to see what I mean. Watch how the life counter quickly changes from 93 lives to 95.

Yeah, I got THAT many lives by this point. It's actually possible to get over 100 lives, but the game resets it back to 99 every time you start a new zone.

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