Balloon Park Zone

"You'll have a lot to celebrate after completing this Zone. Jump onto the top of colorful balloons and you'll shoot Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles upwards."

- Instruction manual

Balloon Park Zone is the second Zone in Competition Mode of Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Overview
Balloon Park is an amusement park-themed Zone with bright colors and circus-themed structure. The Zone's pathway has many flags and illustrations of circus animals as part of structure decorations. The night background has city with bright lights and clouds far away.

The Zone begins by going right through a loop to two moving elephant platforms. At the right, there is a single red and white-colored Bumper set on the corner. By quickly dropping into the moving gap between elephant trunks, there are three Bumpers set in mid-air. Competition Mode items on bubbles are seen floating around at this point in the arena.

By running right, there are two yellow balloons, which can be inflated in seconds. The player has to bounce on the balloon by doing the Spin Jump on top of it. Then, the playable character must land on another yellow balloon on the left to reach the top of the right side, where the starting point is located. This can be tricky at times, but the yellow balloons will respawn quickly after being worn out. The section can be easier for Tails, who can use their abilities.

Trivia

 * There is a known cheat in this Zone, making it possible to finish the level in under 10 seconds. Right at the beginning, the player must jump down to the left where the yellow balloon is (if one accidentally touches it, he/she will need to wait until it reappears). Then, the player must jump on the top of the balloon and walk up the wall next to it. After reaching the top of the level (which is a quarter-loop) the player can make a move like he/she is walking around a normal loop and move upwards. The player will get stuck there and there is no way to escape either. However, now he/she can move to the right and do the whole course in a very low time. The character only need to do 1 jump per lap to jump over a small gap.
 * The music track for Balloon Park Zone was later remixed in Sonic Generations. It can be heard during various Challenge Acts.