Lava Reef Zone (Sonic Mania)


 * For other uses of the term, see Lava Reef (disambiguation).

Lava Reef Zone is the tenth Zone for Sonic Mania. This Zone is a re-imagination of the Lava Reef Zone from Sonic & Knuckles for the Sega Mega Drive.

Overview
The Zone takes place in the deep underground of Angel Island, as a sprawling labyrinthine cave system filled with mining machines and seemingly random spiky objects strewn around. Adding to the danger, the Zone is filled with magma and fire-based trappings.

Act 2 is drastically different in appearance, and now takes place in a huge open cavern. There are traces of Hidden Palace Zone around the Act, with ancient structures starting to show up. The Act also borrows artistic visuals from Quartz Quadrant, down to the background being based on the underground of Quartz Quadrant's good future. Despite the magma being newly cooled and turned into obsidian, there are even more mining tools that are seemingly more dangerous; even to the point that the Badniks are not safe. Little Planet is also visible through the cracks in the ceiling where the Death Egg used to be.

Story
In their search for Dr. Eggman to foil his plans with the Phantom Ruby, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles have arrived in the Lava Reef Zone. As they pass through the Zone, they have an ugly encounter with the Driller Droid, but are able to destroy it later on.

Deeper into the Lava Reef Zone, Sonic and co. enter the grounds of the Hidden Palace Zone. Along the way, the crew get split up. Sonic and Tails themselves arrive into the arms of the Heavy Rider and Jimmy, but the duo are able to defeat them. Meanwhile, Knuckles arrives at the Master Emerald's local altar, just as the Heavy King tries to steal the massive gem. Recalling how Eggman tried to steal the Master Emerald once before, Knuckles stops the theft and manages to make the Heavy King retreat despite the robot empowering himself with the Master Emerald. Knuckles then uses a Warp Point to catch up to his friends.

Act 1
Act 1 features elements from the first Act of the original Lava Reef Zone, but with a few features borrowed from other Acts such as the mechanical legs from Metallic Madness and the Rexon from Hill Top Zone; even the Driller Droid is encountered in the middle of the zone. The Act is otherwise the same as in Sonic & Knuckles.

Act 2
Act 2 is a fusion of the original Lava Reef Zone Act 2 and Quartz Quadrant. The Conveyor Belts make a return, amongst the returning mechanics from Lava Reef Act 2. Strangely enough, only Knuckles can access the warp tubes in the stage.

Act 1
The player starts off by getting targeted by an autoreticle, signaling the Driller Droid is targeting them. Dodge this attack twice and wait for the armor to fall off of the boss. After the player takes its armor off, the player will want to let the boss target them and have it land on them while ducking underneath the boss in the middle. When the boss hops in the air, jump and hit it, but immediately duck again otherwise the player will take damage. Repeat this process to defeat the boss.

Trivia

 * During the cutscene when the Heavy King attempts to take the Master Emerald in Lava Reef Act 2, Knuckles will reminisce the event from Sonic & Knuckles where Dr. Eggman takes the Master Emerald and electrocutes Knuckles when he attempts to retrieve it in the form of a thought bubble.
 * The thoughts are presented in a crude drawing style, which is a reference to Knuckles' flashback scene from the one-shot comic, Sonic: Mega Drive, which was also presented as crude scribbles.
 * Like its predecessor in Sonic & Knuckles, Lava Reef is the only Zone in the Level Select menu with more than two listed Acts; the boss arena in the Hidden Palace is listed as Lava Reef Act 3.