Flying Eggman



Flyingmobile (フライングエッグマン) is the name of the boss fought in act three of Metropolis Zone from Sonic 2. This boss also reappears in Sonic & Knuckles and its locked-on form, Sonic 3 & Knuckles in Sky Sanctuary Zone as a sub-boss.



This boss is basically Doctor Eggman (Mecha Sonic in Sonic 3 & Knuckles) with seven small spheres orbiting his Eggmobile. These spheres protect the Eggmobile, causing damage to the player if struck, and move in complicated patterns. To begin with, the Eggmobile descends and moves from left to right along the floor, forcing the player to make difficult jumps over it. After this, it will hover in the centre and cause its pods to whirl around in very large circles, which the player can avoid if standing to the very side. Immediately after this is the best time to attack as the pods briefly orbit the Eggmobile just around the middle rather than whirling all around it. If the player hits the main body of the Eggmobile, one of the spheres will detach and expand into an inflatable copy of the Eggmobile, while Eggman himself flies to the top of the screen, out of reach. The clone will float towards the player, and can be easily destroyed with a Spin Attack. Once the clone is destroyed, Eggman drops down again and resumes its pattern.

Once all of the spheres/clones have been removed and destroyed, Eggman (or Mecha Sonic) will fly to one side of the screen and fire lasers. This will continue until the Egg Mobile is hit for the 8th and final time (7 hits having been required to destroy the spheres), which destroys the boss and completes the level.

The reappearance of this boss in the Sky Sanctuary Zone used exactly the same attack pattern.

Sonic 4
This boss reappears in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, in the Mad Gear Zone and E.G.G. Station Zone, but with clear differences. The first part of the fight is just like the others, but the player is able to hit Eggman without setting off the copies. If the player hits one of the bubbles, they'll come off and try to hit the player, but unlike Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, the player will sustain damage if they try to destroy the copies. After the fight with the player, Eggman will run away much like the Eggmobile (retreat). While running away, Eggman will drop copies of himself with different attributes; for example one bounces much faster than normal, while another starts off small, but expands in varying sizes even to something twice as big as the Eggmobile itself. Eggman will also throw spike balls as well. The player has to hit Eggman with a Homing Attack three times to win the battle.

Trivia

 * When Knuckles faces this boss in Sonic 2 (via locking it with Sonic & Knuckles), this boss is notably hard due to Knuckles poor jumping skills. It's impossible to beat it without getting hit.