Diamond Dust Zone


 * See also: Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island



Diamond Dust Zone is the fourth level of Sonic 3D for the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Saturn, coming after Spring Stadium and before Volcano Valley Zone. As with other stages in this game, Diamond Dust consists of two standard Acts followed by a third Act containing only the boss fight. In Acts 1 and 2, Sonic must free captured Flickies from inside badniks, depositing five of the birds into a Goal Ring to progress between sections of the level (usually three per Act). Geographically, the Zone is located on Flickies' Island; presumably on the outer slopes of its volcano, considering the next stage.

Diamond Dust cold. So much so that the Flickies often pop out of badniks frozen in an ice cube - which actually makes them easier for Sonic to grab. Snow covered pine trees rise from soil tinted steel-blue with permafrost - and complete with half-exposed mammoth skeletons. Our hero slips and slides over ice slicks, leaps across roaring torrents of snowy slurry, and braves trap snowmen planted by Robotnik to explode like proximity mines. The level also features freezing-gas turrets, which cause Sonic to suffer the same fate as the unfortunate Flickies: being encased in a hedgehog-sized block of ice. Luckily, you can break out of these simply by mashing the jump button a few times, and without even losing your rings.

Boss


In keeping with the icy theme, Robotnik has augmented his Egg-O-Matic with eight of those freezing-gas pods he dotted around the level. The fat man begins as usual, hovering tantalisingly above Sonic's reach, but he'll soon swoop down and attempt to blast the hedgehog with a jet of cryogenic vapour. The nozzles fire cyclicly, so just land a hit on Eggman when the wave of chilling gas is round the other side of his vehicle.

To spice things up a bit, the Eggman also drops those exploding snowmen onto the battlefield on occasion. Make sure you don't run into them while you're dashing back and forth across the arena.