Sonic News Network:Sonic Level Tournament/Week 9

Today begins the ninth week of the Ultimate Sonic Level Tournament! Inspired by the Sonic News Network's extremely popular Ultimate Sonic Character Tournament held in 2010, the Sonic Level Tournament has chosen a total of 256 stages, and you, the judges, will narrow down the competition until only one stage is crowned the most popular stage in the Sonic the Hedgehog series!

This week features a duel between the stages of Sonic Rush vs. Sonic Rush Adventure. Please think through your decision before casting a vote. Note that each stage represents every appearance they have had in the entire Sonic the Hedgehog series. Please vote accordingly.

You have one week! Vote below!



The stage dubbed Leaf Storm is a Zone from Sonic Rush, and the first and second for the two main characters, Sonic the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat. The two have different storylines to pass though. Blaze has to find her missing Blue Sol Emerald, while Sonic has to stop Doctor Eggman from doing another of his evil doings (What's new?). The levels are in a dense forest, on a strange island. You could say that these levels are quite a bit tricky for the first two levels of the game. There are bungee ropes and springs to help you progress through the forest, and the boss is the Egg Hammer Mega.

Plant Kingdom is a stage in Sonic Rush Adventure which is the first level, the second if you count the Training Level. It has a lush landscape which begins with a beach, and is similar to Plant Kingdom in a in a way, such as the setting. The two characters that are playable are Blaze and Sonic, as usual in the Rush games. At the end of the Act 1, there is a 3D setting where the player must grind on the vines, and try not to fall or hit obstacles, and collect precious rings. The boss is the Ghost Rex, which is relatively hard to beat.

Which is the better stage? Leaf Storm Plant Kingdom



Water Palace is a zone in Sonic Rush which is a modern village located near the ocean filled with water pumps that function as springs that launch you into the air, water slides you can ride on. As one may expect, you will have to traverse through underwater sections so keep in mind to retain your breath while you're down there. There are gimmicks such as mines you can ride on but make sure to jump off because it will detonate after some time and giant water wheels that will either move you up or down depending on how fast you move at.

Coral Cave is a stage in Sonic Rush Adventure where it used to be a submerged underwater cave until it was brought up to the surface. Now you can speed through the coral-composed cave, get launched into the air via green prisms or wheels with a rope. There are two types of stalactites that can be helpful or harmful, one embedded with red coral and the other embedded with green coral. The ones with green coral will automatically drop when you approach below them so be very careful not to let them drop on you or it is an instant death while the ones with red coral, drop when the red coral is attacked. Another main gimmick is where you get to ride on mine carts that will escort you around, taking care that you jump over pits. In act 2, you'll even ride through a 3D mine where you can steer at forks and jump over obstacles.

Which is the better stage? Water Palace Coral Cave



Mirage Road is a hot, desert labyrinth with an Egyptian theme that extends even below the surface and is the first of three levels to consist of rooms that trap in the player. The player must then destroy a set amount of Eggman's robots in order to escape. In the second act, there will be platforms that will fall into rivers of flowing sand after going over a track similar to a mine cart's, and Sonic or Blaze will have to dodge falling boulders and robots.

Haunted Ship is shown to be a large collection of old and abandoned pirate ships brought together to practically form an island and is constantly covered in thick fog. Features in this zone include swinging anchors, elastic ropes, barrel traps/lifts, and cannons, the 3D gimmick. To use cannons, hop into one and it will self-fire. You can get more boost on the Tension Gauge if you press a certain button when passing through large hoops while in flight.

Which is the better stage? Mirage Road Haunted Ship



Night Carnival is less modern and and more fancy than other carnival-themed Sonic stages. Its buildings are classical and defined, the level more akin to a long lived city made over for a night festival. It features lots of neon and bright lights and the player somehow is able to stand on lights. There's also some parts of the zone in which the electricity goes out. This poses a problem, as some of the platforms and rails are powered by electricity and can't be used without it. The only way to advance is by pressing a switch to turn it back on.

Machine Labyrinth is exactly what the name suggests. Find your way among the weaving paths of this mechanical island. The stage is set in a large steam factory, with plenty of steam used to help or hinder Sonic. The major "gimmick" of this zone is the steam-powered hang glider, on which the player presses the up button to get a burst of upward velocity.

Which is the better stage? Night Carnival Machine Labyrinth



Get ready to play battleship with the good Doctors themselves in Huge Crisis. In Sonic's 5th Zone and Blaze's 6th Zone of Sonic Rush, take on the naval force of GUN. This stage takes place on a group of aircraft carriers and battleships. The hostile GUN robots are opening fire on you. In the search for answers to their colliding worlds and a mysterious feline appearing, Sonic and Tails have set out to get to the bottom of this. Blaze, on her search to take the Sol Emeralds back and fulfill her role as guardian, the newcomer cat went out to find Eggman. This stage is full of gimmicks, such as pipes, pulleys, compressed jets of steam, locked doors, and jet powered vehicles. At the end, take on the Egg Hammer Fortress, an upgraded version of the Egg Hammer Mega.

Snowboard down the icy slopes of Blizzard Peaks! A group of polar bear vikings that took residence there were invaded by Cap'n Whisker and his crew. A battle ensued, but the pirates superior technology beat out the vikings, and the vile sea scum froze the bears within the very element they called home, ice. With the vikings' impending doom near, Sonic, Tails, Marine and Blaze set out to find them. They wanted to enlist the vikings help in tracking the pirates as they have fought the automatons before and would likely know the location of their base.. Tails then built Sonic and Blaze personalized snowboards so they could shred the mountain in style. This stage features other gimmicks, such as ice sheets, ice half-pipes, and climbable icicles. The boss of this stage is the Ghost Whale, a mini level of a boss that gives you the inside story...

Which is the better stage? Huge Crisis Blizzard Peak



Altitude Limit is a zone of Sonic Rush which is a sky fortress that takes place at high altitudes. This zone features unique gimmicks such as parachuting safely to the ground and platforms that rise towards the air the moment you stand on it, requiring good navigation abilities to steer it to proceed. There's hang gliding sections where you must move in all directions to avoid enemies that fly towards you. There's even platforming sections that require precision but yet it must be done quickly as the platforms will slowly drop down. One major obstacle is the long-ranged horizontal lasers that will instantly kill you if you touch them, so be warned as they are your limits where you can drop to.

Sky Babylon is a stage of Sonic Rush Adventure comprising of ancient ruins that hover high in the sky that was only spoken in legends as it was once inhabited by an unknown civilization (Could it be the ancient Babylonians?). They may be fairly crafty at ancient mechanisms such as golden balloons you can ride on, purple prisms to float you around, spiraling roads, roads that collapse as you run along them and purple lightning pits that will instantly kill you if you touch them, just like the horizontal lasers from Altitude Limit. You might encounter fire that can damage you but if you are Blaze, you are unaffected by it, making Blaze a better choice for this stage.

Which is the better stage? Altitude Limit Sky Babylon



Dead Line is the seventh Zone of Sonic Rush for both Sonic and Blaze. It is yet another massively space station built by Dr. Eggman. The level itself shares similarities with the previous space stations with sudden gravity changes and patrolling badniks, but there are some unique features like rockets that can take the heroes through the level and cannons that can shoot them to different sections of the station. This time, however, Eggman and Eggman Nega don't have any mechs to threaten Sonic and Blaze with. Instead, the two of them are forced to fight each other in a one on one duel as the doctors watch in the distance.

Pirates' Island is the seventh level of Sonic Rush Adventure. This place used to be an ancient city, but it has been taken over by Captain Whiskers and his crew. This level is filled with various gimmicks like trebuchets, catapults, water cannons that shoot upwards and anchors used as platforms. This time, Whiskers doesn't use any mechs against Sonic and Blaze. Instead, he fights them head on with Johnny. Johnny attacks by charging at the heroes. Whiskers attacks by ground-pounding, firing his rocket arms and breathing fire.

Which is the better stage? Dead Line Pirates' Island