Mirage Saloon Zone

Mirage Saloon Zone (ミラージュサルーン) is the eighth Zone in Sonic Mania.

Overview
This Zone takes place in a vast desert based on those in American during the old west. The landscape features canyons, mesas and other rock formations, along with cactus vegetation in various forms.

Act 2 of the Zone features multiple indoors areas modelled after wild west saloon bars. These include swivel stools, barrels, and giant piano key-like platforms. Alongside these elements are also elements from casino/pinball stages. On the walls indoors are also numerous wanted posters of Fang the Sniper, Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear.

Story
Continuing their hunt for Dr. Eggman and the Phantom Ruby, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles arrive in Mirage Saloon Zone onboard the Tornado. While in the air however, the Heavy Magician, one of the Hard Boiled Heavies, ambushes them, knocking Knuckles off the Tornado in the process. As such, while Sonic and Tails ward off Eggman and the Heavy Magician's tricks from midair, Knuckles is left to catch up to his friends from the ground. Eventually though, Sonic and Tails are forced down to the ground too when a familiar face causes the Tornado to crash.

Reunited, Sonic and his gang continue their trek through the Zone. At the end, they are attacked by the Heavy Magician, who is revealed to be the one who shot down the Tornado as she is able to disguise herself. After defeating the Hard Boiled Heavy, Sonic and co. use one of Mirage Saloon Zone's contraptions to shoot themselves to Oil Ocean Zone in the horizon.

Gameplay
The Mirage Saloon Zone features gimmick mechanics reminiscent of western play. These include giant revolvers that (depending on the player's aim) shoots the playable characters certain distances, giant seltzer bottles that creates a guided path for the characters to run on, and piano keys that the player can bounce on like bumper walls. The Zone also features the return of many pinball-themed gimmicks, such as Flippers, Bumpers, and Breakaway Bumpers type items.

When this Zone is played as Knuckles, the Mirage Saloon Zone takes on a different Zone configuration compared to that of Sonic and Tails'.

Sonic and Tails
In Sonic and Tails' playthrough of this Act, the player must use the Tornado to fly across the Zone. This is similar to Sky Chase Zone, with the player being caught in an auto-scroller where they must avoid enemies summoned by the Heavy Magician to progress. Soon, the player has to get of the Tornado and progress on a freight train driven by Dr. Eggman until the player can jump into the train's pistol and return to the Tornado in the sky.

After defeating the Act 1 boss, the player encounters what appears to be either Fang the Sniper, Bean the Dynamite, or Bark the Polar Bear riding on one of the Armadiloids. They will then attack the Tornado, causing it to crash and transition into Act 2.

Knuckles
Knuckles takes a different route in this Act after being knocked down into a canyon by the Heavy Magician. In this version of the Act, the player travels through various tunnels and cave-like areas. Several Seesaw gimmicks are present throughout as well as sections that force the player to utilize Knuckles' gliding and wall climbing abilities in order to progress.

Sonic and Tails
The boss of Sonic and Tails' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 is the Uber Caterkiller, a giant Caterkiller/Bead Worm Boss hybrid. This battle is fought aboard the Tornado. At the beginning of the battle, the Heavy Magician will reappear and make a RattleKiller Badnik appear out of her hat, which then transforms into the Uber Caterkiller. This boss will leap out of the sand at the Tornado from various angles and it must be hit in the head to do damage. To defeat it, the player must hit it six times.

Knuckles
The boss of Knuckles' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 is the Uber Caterkiller, not unlike the one Sonic and Tails come across. Unlike Sonic and Tails' Uber Caterkiller however, this one will launch its segments at Knuckles either by rolling them or bouncing them along the ground. Knuckles must avoid these and hit it in the head to do damage. When the Uber Caterkiller runs out of segments, it respawns three new segments and the fight continues. Land six hits on this boss in order to defeat it.

Act 2
The boss of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 2 is the Heavy Magician, one of the Hard Boiled Heavies. In battle, the Heavy Magician uses a box above the area to transform into either Fang the Sniper, Bean the Dynamite or Bark the Polar Bear. Each of these disguises comes with its own attack patterns. Attacking the Heavy Magician will dispel her disguise and stun her however, allowing the player to hit her. After successfully landing eight hits, the player will have defeated the Heavy Magician.

Trivia

 * Mirage Saloon Zone features several references and Easter eggs:
 * The overall concept and aesthetic of Mirage Saloon Zone is identical to the scrapped Desert Dazzle that was intended to be featured in the 2011 re-release of Sonic the Hedgehog CD. Christian Whitehead later confirmed that Desert Dazzle was the inspiration for the Zone.
 * The gameplay style of Sonic and Tails' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 is based on Sky Chase Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Both Zones feature the player riding the Tornado and feature similar Badnik designs. The music for this Act also incorporates elements of Sky Chase Zone's music.
 * The Armadiloids in Sonic and Tails' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 are based on the Turtloids from Sky Chase Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * The Cactulas in Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 are based on the Nebulas from Sky Chase Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * The way Sonic and Tails run on top of a moving train in their edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 may be a nod to Sunset Park Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble.
 * The spinning emergency light on Dr. Eggman's freight train in Sonic and Tails' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 are based on the same objects from Spring Yard Zone in the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
 * In Sonic and Tails' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1, the freight train the player comes across includes oil tanks with the letters "OOZ" on the side and the Oil Ocean color scheme. These letters and objects are taken from Oil Ocean Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * This also hints at the Zone that follows Mirage Saloon Zone.
 * In Knuckles' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1, there are Seesaw with cactus-like ball Badniks on them. Those are based on the same set of objects from Hill Top Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * The RattleKillers in Knuckles' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 and the shared Act 2 for all playable characters behave much like the Crawltons from Mystic Cave Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
 * In Knuckles' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 and the shared Act 2 for all playable characters, there are rocks in the shape of a trapezoid, both solid and destructible. Those rocks are based on the same objects from Sandopolis Zone in Sonic & Knuckles.
 * The Roller mk.IIs in Knuckles' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 and the shared Act 2 for all playable characters are based on the Rollers from Spring Yard Zone in the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
 * The rotating columns of spiked balls in Knuckles' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 and the shared Act 2 for all playable characters are based on the same objects from Collision Chaos in Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
 * The vines in Knuckles' edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 are based on the same objects from Angel Island Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
 * Knuckles' battle against the Uber Caterkiller in his edition of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 is based on the battle against the Bead Worm Boss from Gigalopolis Zone in Sonic Chaos.
 * CvtRSAgWgAAENma.jpg_large.jpgple wanted posters of [[Fang the Sniper]], Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Dynamite can be seen in the background throughout the Zone. This trio of characters originally appeared on wanted posters in City Escape in Sonic Generations.
 * The cans labeled "SH2 Cream" in the bar sections of Mirage Saloon Zone Act 2 use the same initials as the that was used in the Sega 32X.
 * The piano bumpers in Mirage Saloon Zone Act 2 are seemingly based on the same gimmicks from Music Plant in Sonic Advance 2.
 * The characters that the Heavy Magician turns into in this Zone (Fang, Bean and Bark) are all characters that previously appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble and Sonic the Fighters respectively.
 * The label on the seltzer bottles in this Zone reads "Egg•seltz•ior" a pun on the word "excelsior."
 * The sound effects used during the fight against the Heavy Magician in Mirage Saloon Zone Act 2 are taken from Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble.
 * The "EG" Eggman symbol previously seen in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 appears on multiple objects in this Zone, much like it did on the popcorn machine gimmicks at Studiopolis Zone.
 * The revolver-like launcher gimmicks use the same designs as the guns wielded by the Eggrobos in Sonic & Knuckles.
 * Coincidentally, they also function in a similar way to that of the cannons in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 's Carnival Night Zone, just moving more up-and-down and not so much left-to-right.
 * The animation sequence at the end of Act 2 of this Zone has the character jumping into a gun-like launcher that launches him towards Oil Ocean Zone (also referencing Sonic/Tails' endings for Carnival Night Zone). This could lead to the likely conclusion that this Zone is located on West Side Island.
 * Being located on West Side Island also references the scrapped desert Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Videos
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