Angel Island Zone


 * You may also be looking for Angel Island, the location.

Angel Island Zone is the first zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (or Sonic 3 & Knuckles). The zone is set in a green, tropical jungle with water in the background.

Angel Island itself is the entirety of the Floating Island. Sometimes Angel Island is used to refer to the entire island, such as in Sonic Advance, where Angel Island Zone appears as stone ruins high in the sky.

When playing as Sonic, the Angel Island Zone begins with a short introduction sequence. Sonic and Tails discover Angel Island in their Tornado bi-plane. Sonic, still having the Emeralds from Sonic 2, leaps off the plane and becomes Super Sonic, skimming through the surf and onto the island, where he is ambushed by Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles steals Sonic's Chaos Emeralds and runs off.

Halfway through the Zone's first Act, a horde of robot Fire Breaths appear and set the entire zone on fire. This completely changes the background of the level, from its lush peaceful surroundings to a burning inferno. One of the Fire Breaths returns as the mini-boss at the end of Act 1. In Act 2, a huge warship known as the Flying Battery will fly overhead and attempt to kill the player by dropping huge bombs. The player must outrun the machine (by holding right on the control pad) until it flies away.

After facing Doctor Eggman in his Flame Mobile and opening the zone's Egg Capsule, Sonic and Tails again encounter Knuckles, who presses a switch that plunges them into the next level of the game: Hydrocity Zone.

Sub-boss


Fire Breath is a robot that floats by means of flame jets on its underside. It is equipped with a flame thrower and rocket launchers. It takes six hits to destroy Fire Breath.

Boss
The boss for this level is Doctor Eggman, flying in a modified Eggmobile called the Flame Mobile. The Flame Mobile has two aimable weapons on either side that shoot fireballs across the screen. It takes eight hits to destroy Flame Mobile.

Music
thumb|300px|left|Act 1 thumb|right|300px|Act 2

Trivia

 * There is a glitch in this level that causes the Act 1 music to change to Act 2 music after the completion of a Special Stage or Bonus Stage in Act 1.
 * A remixed version of the music from both acts of the level was composed by Jun Senoue for the True Blue: The Best of Sonic the Hedgehog album and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * After defeating Fire Breath and moving on to Act 2, the player still has access to a large portion of Act 1.
 * After defeating Flame Mobile, when Knuckles destroys the bridge, Sonic (or Tails) can jump off just as it falls apart and roam around on the ledge where the boss battle was fought. Knuckles' theme music repeatedly plays, and Knuckles just stands there laughing as the player should be falling down to Hydrocity Zone. The zone does not end until Sonic or Tails falls down either of the two gaps where the bridges were.
 * An alternative version of the Sonic 3 intro featured Sonic surfing onto the island, which is a leftover from a beta version of Sonic 3. The Sonic surfing sprites can be viewed via debug mode.

Sonic Advance
In the Sonic Advance platforming game, Angel Island took place high in the sky in some ancient ruins. It was quite different from Sonic the Hedgehog 3's Angel Island, looking more like Marble Garden Zone (which is still located on the floating island). Instead of fighting Dr. Eggman, the player would encounter his new creation, Mecha Knuckles.