Titanic Monarch Zone

Titanic Monarch Zone is the twelfth Zone for Sonic Mania. It is a secret base of the Hard-Boiled Heavies and Dr. Eggman.

Overview
This Zone begins inside a dark, yet surprisingly lit high-tech metropolis with skyscrapers. They roads are purely metallic and has red banners for the Eggman Empire and the Hard-Boiled Heavies, as well as mechanical or technological contraptions, along them. As the player progresses through the Zone however, the surroundings become more closed off as they enter a giant version of the Heavy King. By the second half of the Zone, the player has fully entered the giant robot, which resembles a cross between the mechanical insides of such a machine, with all of its inner components present, and a cathedral with stained glass windows depicting the Hard-Boiled Heavies, the Chaos Emeralds, Dr. Eggman and the Phantom Ruby in the background.

Gameplay
The Titanic Monarch Zone features a gimmick mechanics of reaching higher areas with the use of plasma spheres and Carnival Night Zone's side bumpers and teleporting fog. The plasma spheres take their mechanics from the Glowing Spheres Bonus Stage from Sonic & Knuckles.

Act 2
Act 2 takes place inside the Titanic Monarch. This act introducts the Ruby Mist, a purple haze that teleports Sonic to different areas inside the giant robot. Once all the areas have been explored, a wormhole will appear in the central area, teleporting Sonic to the final boss fight.

Act 1
The Act 1 battle marks the return of Red Eye, where it is now called Crimson Eye. The first phase of the fight is identical to its appearance in Sonic & Knuckles, wherein the playable characters must hit it in the eye while avoiding the large exploding spheres that it orbits around itself as a shield. Hit it eight times to move onto the second phase, which is new. The elevator lift the battle takes place on will begin to move up and down dramatically, which affects how much gravitational pull is inside the elevator. The eye, now detached as it was in the second phase of the original battle, will float around the arena then lodge itself on the floor or ceiling and fire out energy balls at forty-five degree angles. Hit it another eight times to end the fight.

Act 2
The penultimate battle against Dr. Eggman sees him piloting a machine that is tethered to all four corners of the arena. The Phantom Ruby will be housed in the center of the machine. The battle begins by Eggman shielding himself and bouncing around the arena. Periodically he will fire off four missiles that will home in on the playable characters. Eventually he will land and electrify his tethers. When the electricity expires, he can be hit. After this, he will summon a pair of transparent hands from the Phantom Ruby. When captured by the hands, the character will be transported to a short battle with one of the Hard-Boiled Heavies, who use modified tactics from their previous battles. It should be noted, however, that the player cannot defeat the Hard-Boiled Heavies. After these short fights, the character will be warped back to the battle with Eggman and resume fighting him. As Eggman takes damage, the tethers will begin to break one by one, making it easier to find openings to hit him.

Due to the second act's potentially exhaustive length, arriving in the battle against Eggman will reset the Zone timer as the battle itself is of a considerable length on its own.

If all seven Chaos Emeralds have not been obtained, the battle ends with Eggman's machine blowing up along with the Titanic Monarch, the characters escaping from the ensuing destruction. However, if Sonic has all seven Emeralds, the Phantom Ruby will engage one last time and warp him to an unknown place.