Launch Base Zone

"You're getting close to where Dr. Robotnik is repairing his Death Egg ship. This is your last chance to stop the Doc's evil scheme."

- Instruction manual


 * You may be looking for Launch Base (Sonic Generations).

Launch Base Zone is the sixth and final level of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and simply the sixth level of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. The level features the Death Egg in the background if playing as Sonic/Tails, in Knuckles' game, the background does not feature the Death Egg, having been launched previously in Sonic's story.

Description
The zone, being the launch site of the Death Egg, features many defenses designed to keep out intruders. The surface of the zone is primarily yellow bricks. There are also many pipes that seem to be used for transporting water (as some parts involve the player using the water flow to speed through the pipes).

Story
After spinning through the snow, the player will jump out of the snow and proceed to stop the relaunch of the Death Egg (Knuckles arrives to chase down the Egg Robo). Upon reaching the launch site, Dr. Robotnik uses three different weapons in an attempt to stop Sonic and Tails: first, he uses a static projectile launcher at the foot of the Death Egg. When that fails, Robotnik flees to the Death Egg and Sonic/Tails chases after him in the Egg Mobile. (This marks the only time to date that Sonic or Tails has used the Egg Moblie). Knuckles the Echidna will also attempt to block Sonic's (or Tails') path to the Death Egg and punch them back, still believing them to be trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds. However, the launch sequence for the Death Egg will commence, resulting in Knuckles falling into the water along with the beam that he was on, allowing Sonic/Tails to continue. If playing Sonic 3, then after defeating Eggman, The Death Egg will explode. If playing it's locked on form Sonic 3 and Knuckles, then the player will simply fall to the next zone. Knuckles will simply face the Egg Robo, who will drop a bomb upon defeat and cause the base to explode causing Knuckles to fall to the next zone.

Act One
Like many of Robotnik's fortresses, the entire facility is fully protected with an array of hazards, traps and machinery, such as an alarm system that will spawn an easy to defeat, but persistent badnik, rotating tubes that will make the player move as it spins, that while no danger is seen early on the soon, later parts feature spikes that await hasty players. Other hazards include crushing spikes, flamethrowers among others.

Act Two
Later on Act 2 new hazards include water with great risk of drowning if the player doesn't have either a Bubble Shield or leaves quickly, and the infamous Eggman Monitor which damages the player if broken. The facility seem to heavily depend upon the water tubes to provide energy (in a manner similar to that of Chemical Plant). For the player to progress he must make use of the technology available such as the transport capsules, break through the red boxes which control and change colored walls to progress, use rotating (and sometimes unstable) platforms, speed enhancers, circular tubes and even the water system itself.

Worthy of note is the fact that, despite of being a large facility dedicated to the reconstruction of the Death Egg, the fortress has no traces of pollution or nature endangerment at all. In fact the background shows a perfectly clean sky, a forest at the distance, and even the water seems pure, contrary to zones such as Scrap Brain Zone or the Chemical Plant Zone in which the liquids are chemical.

Boss 1
While Sonic and Tails are able to fight this boss, Knuckles doesn't fight the EggRobo in this machine, but in the next two mentioned. The first boss consists of Robotnik sitting in a currently unreachable pod, where he controls a mechanism that shoots giant bowling-ball like projectiles, one from a hatch next to the floor of the arena, the other from the top. There is a small chain-like platform that opens and closes in a 90° angle. When the lower projectile is shot out, the platform must rise open, which gives the player a chance to attack without the risk of being hit by the top projectile launcher. After 8 hits, Robotnik goes down, and Sonic or Tails will hop into Robotnik's Eggmobile, riding to a rising platform of the Egg Rocket.

Boss 2
Robotnik will rise and lower from the right and left sides inside his rocket, which consists of three segments: The first segment holds Robotnik with a small, spiky ball orbiting around him. The second and third ones rotate and shoot beams at the player. Once each segment is hit a few times, it will break off. Finally, the player just needs to avoid the small rotating spike-ball and can deliver the finishing blows.
 * This is the last boss of Launch Base Zone if the Sonic 3 cartridge is locked onto the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge. If playing as Knuckles through Sonic 3, Knuckles fights this boss as the first one, and the Big Arm as the second one.

Boss 3
Sonic and Tails will fight this boss after defeating the Beam Rocket in Sonic 3 only while Knuckles must fight it in his game. Robotnik will appear in his Big Arm machine, which is covered with spikes. The only spot to attack is at the glass of the cockpit, which is partially guarded by two, robotic hands. If the player is caught in these hands, Robotnik/EggRobo will rise up, and thrust down to the platform, where the player takes damage (even when playing as Super Sonic but this doesn't damage Super/Hyper Knuckles strangely). After eight hits like many traditional bosses, the scientist will fall, and Sonic or Tails are treated to watching the Death Egg either explode (Sonic 3), or fall to a different location (Sonic 3 & Knuckles).

Sonic Generations
Launch Base reappears in the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Generations, as the boss level for the Classic Era. The original Big Arm boss is fought in this stage, before advancing towards the Dreamcast Era.