Doctor Robotnik’s Flame Craft (Angel Island Zone Act 1)

Fire Breath (ファイヤーブレス) is a robot created by Dr. Eggman and the sub-boss of the Angel Island Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Game Appearance
Fire Breath first appears halfway through Act 1 (along with numerous other Fire Breaths that fly across the background at the same time) and sets fire to the jungle. In this first appearance, Fire Breath can be hit any number of times but not destroyed. It departs when the cutscene ends, and returns at the end of the Act as a mini-boss.

Attack Pattern
Fire Breath is a robot that flies by means of four jets of flame on its underside (which can injure the player unless they have a Fire Shield). It is equipped with a flamethrower on the front and several rocket launchers on the top. (It uses the rocket launchers to set fire to the jungle, but not during the sub-boss battle, unless you are playing as Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles.)

It takes six hits to destroy the Fire Breath, after which Act 1 ends and the player can move on to Act 2.

Trivia

 * It is possible that after defeating Fire Breath, a glitch may happen to where you can still go through a huge portion of Act One of Angel Island Zone instead of going on to Act Two.