Seesaw

Seesaws  are gimmicks that are seen several times in Sonic the Hedgehog games, which bounce the player in the air and helps him or her reach higher platforms. They make their first appearence in the 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog.

It often has a damaging object on the other end, so the player must be careful to not touch it. There is a trick to make the seesaw throw you higher, if you stay in the middle of it when the spike or round-shaped badnik comes down.

Description
Despite being somewhat different in the games they appear in, seesaws are the usually grey metallic boards or plates that are held up by a different colored cylinder base. Sometimes seesaws are held in the air by poles. On the one side of a seesaw sits a bomb, smaller spiked ball or something else that can hurt the player. When Sonic stands on the other side of the seesaw, the object is lifted in the air and falls back down, sometimes on the opposite side of where it once was. Sonic must therefore move to the other side to avoid taking damage. When the object lands, Sonic is thrown in the air. He can reach higher elevations by consecutively repeating the process of bouncing the object off the seesaw, assuming he avoids colliding with the object.

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
Seesaws were first seen in Star Light Zone in 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog, where a gray spike ball sat on one side. Some seesaws were positioned in the air as well as on the ground. During the boss fight with the Egg Mobile, Robotnik drops mines on the seesaws, which the player can launch at the Egg Mobile, or use to launch Sonic at the Egg Mobile.

Different looking seesaw also appears in 8-bit version of the game, in Bridge Zone. The object on these seesaws are light blue libra weights. The seesaw itself is set on a long pole with a brown orb on top of the pole.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Seesaws appeared in Hill Top Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Theboards are colored light blue, with a green bottom base with small pole being set under it. The object on the seesaw is a red Sol that will hut Sonic if he touches it. These seesaws are usually set on the ground but sometimesfloat dangerously below a lava pool.

Sonic CD
Seesaws appear in Sonic CD and seem to look and work different than in previous games. In this game they are seen only in Wacky Workbench, where they have a rocket on the bottom. The player needs to jump on other sides of the seesaw to make it move higher.

A variant of seesaws can be found at Metallic Madness. The player is only able to stand on the front plate, as the other plate is seen behind it with a spike ball on it. If the player jumps to the front plate, it will launch the spiked ball in the air. The player must move Sonic before the spike ball lands on the front plate.

Sonic & Knuckles
Mushroom-type seesaw appear in Mushroom Hill Zone in Sonic & Knuckles. The object on these seesaws is a small metallic libra weight, which doesn't bounce to other side of seesaw when Sonic stands on the seesaw but lands on its original place. These objects also do not increase their height with each successive bounce, so the player cannot go any higher than they were originally launched.

Sonic Advance 3
Red and white colored seesaws appear in Sonic Advance 3. These seesaws are featured in Route 99 and Chaos Angel. The objects on these seesaws are black spike balls. Some of them also are seen floating in the air, which the player has to reach by jumping.

Sonic Generations
Seesaws make appear in a few challenges in Sonic Generations, having a detailed look with a purple orb in the middle. The object on these seesaws are grey spike-balls, similar to the ones in Star Light Zone. One of the challenges in which seesaws are featured is the Rouge: The Bombardier challenge, where the player has get to the Goal Plate by avoiding purple Heart Bombs by Rouge the Bat and use seesaws to get upper levels of the challenge act.

Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic
In the Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic Volume 2's story ''Clash!! South Island'', as Sonic, Ricky and Cucky are hurrying up to the Star Land Zone and discover Egg Capsule above, Sonic notices seesaw with spike on its other side, as he knows it's hard to reach to the capsule. Sonic then used seesaw and bounces straight up to capsule but Orbinaut gets to the way. Despite that, Sonic defeats the Orbinaut with Spin Attack and lands to near of capsule.

Sonic the Hedgehog Yearbook 1992
Single seesaw make brief appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog Yearbook 1992' story "Space-Hedgehog", as Sonic gets freed from space rocket where Robotnik locked him, while he suddenly got tied up from foot to the launched space rocket's rope, which only few moments later gets cut. Sonic gets out of rocket and lands to the empty seesaw at Hill Top Zone. After that, Robotnik lands to the other side of seesaw which bounces Sonic to the air, while Robotnik is seen been fainted and sleepy on seesaw at the end of story.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
In the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog episode "Super Special Sonic Search &amp; Smash Squad" a seesaw appeared where Sonic made Scratch and Grounder open their mouth then Tails dropped a seesaw then Sonic jump on it making the two anvils flying inside Scratch and Grounder's mouths. In the episode "Slowwww Going" Sonic made a seesaw which it was made by wood to launch the wood to the Sloth's Home.

The seesaw reappeared in the episode "Close Encounter of the Sonic Kind" it appear when Prince Charmock was walking on the other side where Sonic stop him, Scratch and Grounder use the magnet which accidentally aim at the rock which made the seesaw moved upward which it released the rock and hit them. When Scratch and Grounder was trying to get the nose from Sonic they fell on the ground and the side of the seesaw fell on them.

Archie Comics
The Seesaw briefly appeared at Genesis arc. in Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 227, where it was used by Sonic the Hedgehog, Sally Acorn and Rotor Walrus, when they were passing through the Star Light Zone.

Trivia

 * In Simon Wai's prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, seesaws are seen to have generic orb on the other side of it, instead of Sol without fireballs from the final version.