Special Stage (Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I)


 * For Special Stages in general, see here.

Special Stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I are a series of special levels. The Special Stages are similar to the ones in Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) in the fact that the objective of the level is to guide Sonic through a rotating maze to find the Chaos Emerald hidden in there.

If the player obtains all of the Chaos Emeralds (by completing all of the Special Stages), Sonic is able to transform into Super Sonic at any point during any stage (except boss fights). After defeating the final boss in E.G.G. Station Zone, if the player collects all rings from the final scene before end credits, Super Sonic will do final pose instead of Sonic in his regular form. Also after the credits, the player is treated to a silhouette of Metal Sonic flashing his red eyes followed by the text: "To Be Continued...", marking the cliff-hanger of the next episode of Sonic 4.

Gameplay
Like Sonic the Hedgehog ' s Special Stages, Sonic must collect 50 Rings and jump into the Giant Ring hovering above the goal to be transported to the Special Stage. Even though Sonic 4: Episode I ' s Special Stages and Sonic the Hedgehog ' s Special stages are similar, the former's Special Stages have various exclusive features as listed:
 * The player controls the rotation of the entire stage itself rather than Sonic.
 * The goal blocks are simply red, circular blocks with a white exclaimation mark in the center.
 * The Special Stages must be completed within the time limit or ends in failure. Time can be added on by touching Time Items which grants 5, 10 or 15 seconds back on the clock.
 * There are special, orange barriers that will block and riochet Sonic off until he has collected a certain number of Rings to proceed.
 * The player can shake the maze by pressing the jump button (//).

Note that Sonic can only collect one Chaos Emerald per act, which means that if the player already has collected a Chaos Emerald in Splash Hill Zone Act 1 for example, he/she will not be able to collect another one in that same act.

In the PlayStation 3/WiiWare versions, rather than using the left stick/d-pad, the player may tilt the six-axis controllers/Wii Remote to control the maze rotation while in the mobile versions, tilting the device or swiping the screen with fingers for control.