Aquatic Ruin Zone

Aquatic Ruin Zone is the third zone of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Mega Drive, coming after Chemical Plant and before Casino Night Zone. As with most other stages in this game, Aquatic Ruin Zone consists of two standard Acts with a boss fight at the end of Act 2.

Overview
A crumbling, semi-submerged stonework ruin, the Zone sports a couple of main terrain features that make it unique compared to the others. Water, for one; The movement speed underwater is much slower, so be prepared. Like with the rising chemicals from Chemical Plant Zone, if Sonic stays below the surface for too long, you will hear a new music and a flashing number, and finally Sonic drowns. To avoid drowning, stand near a small pile of bubbles on the ground and wait for a big bubble to rise.

The ancient pillars that lie dotted around Aquatic Ruin are replete with traps. Some will rise up when you approach, and you must jump on them to destroy them. These can be dangerous in conjunction with the arrows fired out by other pillars, but otherwise they are not a threat.

Geographically, the Zone is located somewhere on Westside Island.

Badniks

 * Chop-Chop: These are in the water and follow you around. They can be positioned anywhere in the water and are serious threats due to your decreased underwater movement speed.


 * Grounder: These drills look very easy but are positioned in very strategic places. They are placed at the top of paths above you, to block your way. They can also be hidden in the walls, and will pop out when you pass them - that form of them is by far the most difficult (although the places where they pop out have different colored bricks in the wall, so can be spotted in advance).


 * Whisp: These fly around in a swarm of three or five. They will follow you in many places, except underwater. They are usually positioned near jumps where you have little protection from them. Also, one insect can kill so even if you destroy two in a swarm, the rest can still kill you.

Boss


The boss here has large poles that rise up from the ground. Eggman will then float above the poles and hit them in an alternating pattern with his hammer, causing the totems to fire an arrow. Once this arrow hits the other pole, you must jump on the arrow and hit the Egg-O-Matic. A trick to beat him quickly is to hop on the poles when they began to rise out of the ground, then spindash. This will allow you to get about four good hits on him before you are forced to go on the ground.

Music
thumb|left|300px|Aquatic Ruin Zone thumb|right|300px|Drowning

Trivia

 * In various preview magazines back in 1992, Aquatic Ruin Zone was named as Neo Green Hill Zone, possibly because Sonic 2 was, in its early planning stages, intended to have time travel like Sonic CD.
 * In the children's books published by Ladybird, such as Robotnik's Oil and Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook 1, this zone was called Aquatic Ruins Zone instead of Aquatic Ruin Zone.
 * The boss for this stage can be very hard and frustrating when playing as Knuckles in Knuckles in Sonic 2, as he cannot jump as high as Sonic or Tails.
 * The boss for this zone was originally going to be in the cancelled Wood Zone. However, there are a few changes, in which there is a huge gap in the middle of the arena. The worst part, is that if Sonic (Or Tails) is hit with an arrow, it sends them back into a pit, and you lose a life.