Sonic 3 & Knuckles Part 9: Sandopolis Zone (Hyper Sonic & Tails)

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Carls493

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Published on October 27, 2011 8:56:24 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfcfpaO0HtE

Game:

Sonic & Knuckles (1994)

Duration: 10:09

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Among other things, Angel Island is also the home to a vast, Egyptian-like desert.

Said desert even has pyramids, one of which rises from the ground at the end of Act 1, releasing its boss, a Golem, from a temple. This Act 1 boss cannot be killed by any of the character's attacks. They only knock it backwards. All you can do is either trick it to jump into the quicksand on the left of the field, or force it into there yourself!

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The entirety of Act 2 takes place inside the pyramid that just came out of the ground, ending with a with an Egyptian-themed mech that Eggman built. This act also has vertical looping that makes the whole level bigger than it actually is with the game's engine.

Before that boss, however, a little bit after after entering Act 2, you'll notice that you have to pull switches that light up the place... Because you'll soon run into another Egg Capsule that releases ghosts upon you.

There are at least 5 phases throughout Act 2 that involve those ghosts and how bright it is during the Act:

Phase 1: Complete Brightness: This occurs as soon as a switch is pulled. There are no ghosts in sight.
Phase 2: The Gathering: The temple is still bright, but now one, small ghost appears onto the screen. The game will reset to this phase every time Sonic loses a life and respawns either at the Act's start or at a Star Post. This also happens if you select this Act from the hidden Level Select screen.
Phase 3: The Dampening: The temple starts to get dark as it torches get weaker, that lone ghost gets a bit bigger and meaner, and it's joined by another ghost of the same form.
Phase 4: Complete Darkness: With all of the torches put out, the temple goes completely dark, or just really purple. The two ghosts get even bigger & meaner, gain horns, and are joined by a third ghost of the same form.
Phase 5: Haunting Attack: The three horned ghosts now proceed to attack Sonic by flying right into him. They can be hit, but they'll just disappear and reappear a few seconds later. They can't hurt you at all as long as you're a spinball. Act 2 starts at this phase every single time you enter this Act right after completing Act 2. So these ghosts won't appear when that happens, at first, but remember this when you decide to play as Knuckles!

Everything goes back to Phase 1 as soon so you pull a switch and light the entire pyramid back up. From my playthrough, you could only see up to Phase 3. Phase 5 is only at the start of Act 2, but you don't get to see any ghosts at that point, so they won't even be there to try and kill you.

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The places that I looked up at near Act 1's ending and Act 2's beginning is where a Special Stage ring was located, but I couldn't reach it because Sonic can't climb like Knuckles. There should be another one I missed that's in Act 2 for the same reason.

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Act 2's boss is Eggman piloting an even bigger golem. Climb up its body and hit its eye to show Eggman and hurt him. You can hit him as fast as 4 times until the golem pulls itself back together again. You'll here a pretty cool sound when that happens.

At the end of Act 2, Sonic and Tails were trying to make a formal entrance into Lava Reef, but they fell through a trap door, instead, which took them there, anyway. Must be another one of Knuckles' traps!

Speaking of whom, after Mushroom Hill, it's been a while since Knuckles showed up at all...

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