Conveyor Belt

The Conveyor Belt (ベルトコンべア) is a gimmick that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is a type of long, infinitely moving assemblies that can carry objects along their surfaces.

Description
Based on two or more rotating wheels with a long belt set on to move endlessly between them, conveyor belts are recurrently featured in numerous machinery and air fortress-themed Zones. When Sonic or any other playable character runs to the conveyor belt, their moving speed either heavily decreases or increases, depending on the direction the belt is moving. In some games, the movement speed of conveyor belts can also be either slow or extremely fast.

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
In the original 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog, conveyor belts are only featured in Scrap Brain Zone Act 2, where they can be found in halls and along routes. Along them are also dangerously-placed circular saws, swinging spiked balls, and crusher tubes. Moving on the conveyor belts is also very difficult due their high speed and obstacles.

Conveyor belts are also seen in Scrap Brain Zone in the 8-bit version of the game with same name, where most of them float in mid-air. In Scrap Brain Zone Act 2, there is also a large room with a lot of conveyor belts, which the player has to use to climb to reach the upper route.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Casino Night Zone and Metropolis Zone have singular conveyor belts floating in their Zone. In the Metropolis Zone, the conveyor belts sometimes have crushers above them. There is also a vertical conveyor belt at the mid-point of Wing Fortress Zone.

Conveyor belts are also featured in Gimmick Mt. Zone in the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. In this Zone, they are either floating in mid-air or placed in-between small pits full of spikes.

Sonic the Hedgehog CD
In Sonic the Hedgehog CD, conveyor belts are featured as the main gimmicks of Quartz Quadrant. These conveyor belts are set everywhere, both on the ground and on platforms. In Quartz Quadrant, there are also small Switches with arrows on them that point in the direction the conveyor belts move. The direction of these conveyor belts can be changed by touching the aforementioned Switches. There are also tunnels through Quartz Quadrant's underground whose walls are covered in conveyor belts; by changing the belt direction, these tunnels can suck the player either up or down through them. Outside of Quartz Quadrant, Metallic Madness also features several suspended conveyor belts.

During the boss encounter in Quartz Quadrant, Dr. Robotnik uses a conveyor belt covering the boss arena's floor to keep the playable character from getting close enough to his cockpit, all while dropping bombs on the playable character from above. While on the this conveyor belt, the playable character must keep running to the right, or risk getting pulled into the spikes on the left side of the arena. To win, the player has to survive this battle long enough for Robotnik's cockpit to overheat from the friction caused by the conveyor belt it sits on.

Sonic & Knuckles
In Sonic & Knuckles, conveyor belts are featured in Death Egg Zone, where they can be embedded in the road. This Zone also has elevators consisting of long, active conveyor belts, on which the player has to balance their movements while avoiding missiles that are launched from the walls. These conveyor belts change direction at random, and can force the player into the spikes laced on the walls if they are caught off guard.

Besides the standard conveyor belt that double as moving platforms, there are similar moving plaforms whose belts are only moving on the bottom. This creates a platform with treads that the player can ride across electrified surfaces with.

Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble
In Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble, conveyor belts are featured in Tidal Plant Zone. In this Zone, they are only set on the ground, like in Quartz Quadrant in Sonic the Hedgehog CD. They also appear both above and below the underwater sections of the Zone. While moving on them, the player has to avoid small bombs that fall down from small tubes in the roofs and onto the conveyor belts.

Tails Adventure
In Tails Adventure, conveyor belts are common gimmicks in Coco Island and Battle Fortress 2. Due Tails' and Remote Robot's medium walking speed, crossing conveyor belts can be extremely tricky. Making these treks even more difficult are the enemies, electric generators and spikes that appear along the conveyor belts.

In Battle Fortress 2, certain machines drop non-functional Battle Kukku Empire droids on the conveyor belts. As a result, these droids will be carried along on the conveyor belts until they fall off of them and get destroyed. When encountering these droids, the player's only option is to dodge them. In Battle Fortress 2, there are also machines that can reverse the moving direction of conveyor belts when using the Wrench on them..

Sonic 3D Blast
In Sonic 3D Blast, the boss fight in Gene Gadget Zone takes place on a wide conveyor belt. This conveyor belt runs in the opposite direction the player must move, towards a set of spikes at the end of the boss arena. While running along the conveyor belt, the player also has to avoid spiky blocks that are placed on the conveyor belt by a machine in front of the arena. When Robotnik lands above the conveyor belt to shoot missiles from his Egg Mobile, the player can attack Robotnik.

In the last Zone of the game, Panic Puppet Zone, there are also slow-moving conveyor belts that transport Sonic to the other part of the Zone. Some conveyor belts go in the wrong direction however, and must have their direction changed by pulling nearby Switches to the other side.

Sonic Adventure
In Sonic Adventure and its remake Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, the conveyor belts appear in one of the rooms in Final Egg. These conveyor belts are extremely fast-moving, and the player has to jump on them to get to the other side of the room or risk falling into a huge bottomless pit. At the same time, the player also has to avoid large moving spike attachments above.

Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure
In Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure, the conveyor belt are somewhat less frequently encountered. In this game, they can be found floating in midair in Cosmic Casino Zone and Gigantic Angel Zone. In both Zones, they work much like they did in Casino Night Zone and Metropolis Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Sonic Advance
In Sonic Advance, conveyor belts are featured in three different Zones: Secret Base Zone, Egg Rocket Zone and Cosmic Angel Zone. In all three Zones, the conveyor belts have slightly different designs based on their Zone's environment. Secret Base Zone has rusty looking ones, Egg Rocket Zone conveyor belts are more bright, and Cosmic Angel Zone conveyor belts are the most colorful of all three variations. The direction of the conveyor belts in Cosmic Angel Zone is also easily recognized, as the belts have arrows pointing in the direction they are moving.

Sonic Heroes
In Sonic Heroes, two extremely fast moving conveyor belts are featured at Egg Fleet, which are located on the inside hall of large battleships. As the conveyor belts move quickly in the opposite direction, the player should use speed formation and use Rocket Accel repeatedly to charge towards the end of the dark hall. Once there, the playable team is automatically seen destroying the battleship itself and moving to the next part of the stage.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)
In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Radical Train has conveyor belts on a wooden building. They come in sets of two and switch between going forwards and backwards. The pattern changes when the player progresses on the wooden building.

Sonic Rivals
In Sonic Rivals, conveyor belts are featured in Death Yard Zone. The conveyor belts are mainly colored grey with yellow arrows indicating their direction.

Sonic Unleashed
In the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Sonic Unleashed, Eggmanland features wide and long conveyor belts above bottomless pits. This conveyor belt goes against the player at high speed, and the player has to avoid lasers, among other obstacles that come down the conveyor belt, such as boxes with spikes and bombs.

In Wii and PlayStation 2 versions of the game, all conveyor belts also appear only in Eggmanland, except they are only featured in Werehog acts of the stage. Here, they are less wider and normal, yellow/blue and grey colored treadmills, that have arrows showing the moving direction of conveyor belt.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I
Conveyor belts are featured at Mad Gear Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I, where they are mostly set individually or in small groups floating on mid-air. These conveyor belts aren't fast moving, but usually have Badniks on the other side waiting the player. Unlike in previous games, the player is able to jump through conveyor belts from below.

Sonic Lost World
In the Wii U/PC version of Sonic Lost World, conveyor belts are only seen in the interior sections of Lava Mountain Zone 3, where they function similarly like in previous games. However, several Spiked Balls can be usually on the player's way, as they are passing on the belt to the direction where it takes.

Sonic Mania
In Sonic Mania, Press Garden Zone Act 1 makes heavy use of the Conveyor Belt mechanic. The Conveyor Belts there in particular have been modified so the player can bounce off their belts. By holding down the jump button when touching the belts, the player can even increase their bounce's height. Also, touching the wheels of the Conveyor Belts will catapult the player in the direction they are moving.

Lava Reef Zone Act 2 also features Conveyor Belts. These Conveyor Belts are more like the regular ones encountered in previous games, except their direction can be changed by switches that appear along them. They also occasionally carry obstacles with them on their belts, such as spiked balls and Iwamodokis.

Sonic Forces: Speed Battle
In Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, conveyor belts take the form of long, metal belts with either red arrows facing backward, or green arrows facing forward on them. The green conveyor belts will greatly accelerate the player while they are on them, while the red version will greatly slow the player down for as long as they are on it, even sending them slightly backward if they are moving slowly enough (such as when frozen).

Sonic Forces
Conveyor belts reappear in Sonic Forces, exclusively in Death Egg. They function as they always did, though they can also transport Egg Pawns which act as hazards.

Trivia

 * In the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog, when the player sees the first conveyor belt in Scrap Brain Zone Act 1, one of them is seen to have 1-Up monitor moving to the edge and falling to the bottomless pit. The player is able to pick the extra life from the monitor if they are fast enough.
 * In Simon Wai's prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Wood Zone originally was supposed to have wooden conveyor belts. In the prototype, they are shown to be active, but do not function normally at all.