Volcano Valley Zone


 * See also: Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island



Volcano Valley Zone is the fifth level of Sonic 3D for the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Saturn, coming after Diamond Dust and before Gene Gadget Zone. As with other stages in this game, Volcano Valley 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).

If Diamond Dust = cold, Volcano Valley = hot. Molten lava pulses through the zone like scorching blood, and the fat man's flamethrower cannons don't help lower the temperature much. Semi-solidified magma, still glowing a dull crimson, coats the craggy bluffs on the interior of this volcano, with giant quartz crystals and the petrified remenants of trees jutting crudely out of scorching rocks. Robotnik's made the place even less hospitable by throwing in spiked orbs and robotic terrors to boot.

Keep your eyes peeled for the square slabs of beige-brown rock that litter the floor. Hidden beneath a formation of these you can almost invariably find secret passageways down solidified lava tubes, leading to power-up TVs like the very, very, very useful Fire Shield.

Geographically, the Zone is located on the volcano of Flickies' Island.

Boss


Like he did in Rusty Ruins, our old friend Robotnik docks the Egg-O-Matic with a fixed-position killing machine in this Zone. Sat in the middle of a criss-cross of pipes above the lava, Eggman directs homing ribbons of fire towards Sonic's position. You have to dodge the hunter-seeker flames and run along the fuel pipes to hit the Egg-O-Matic at the centre of the contraption. Much of the danger here comes not from Robotnik's weapons themselves, but from the lava he's surrounded by. Put a foot wrong on those pipes and Sonic will find himself taking a hasty trip to the burn ward.