Doctor Robotnik's Flame Craft (Angel Island Zone Act 2)

Flame Mobile
Official artwork of Robotnik in the Flame Mobile.
Overview
Game	Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles
Level	Angel Island Zone Act 2
Description	Floating vehicle with two arm cannons firing fireballs. The player has to hit eight times to defeat it.
Boss order
Previous boss	Fire Breath
Next boss	Big Shaker

Flame Mobile (フレイムモービル, Fureimu Mōbiru^?) is the first regular boss in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, that the player encounters at the end of Angel Island Zone Act 2. It takes eight hits to destroy the vehicle.

Flame Mobile is a vehicle piloted by Doctor Eggman (or EggRobo, if the player has Knuckles in the locked-on game), that can fly around in the mid-air much like the Egg Mobile. Like Fire Breath, it is dark blue colored and bulky, that has been fitted with two aim-able weapons on either side that shoot fireballs across the screen. It also has small orange dome at the bottom of the mobile.

Battle

The Flame Mobile first appears moments after Sonic / Tails outruns the bombs dropped by the Flying Battery. It flies past in the background behind some trees, and then disappears behind a huge waterfall. When Sonic crosses a wooden bridge, the Flame Mobile emerges through the waterfall and drops a fireball on the bridge, destroying it. The player is able to fall into a bottomless pit, if the playable character stays at the bridge while it gets destroyed.

The Flame Mobile will then disappear behind the waterfall, becoming impossible for Sonic to hit, and emerge again in a new location to fire its weapons at Sonic again. Eggman has certain pattern to move either far right, upper left corner or left side. Once it he comes out, Eggman then fires two fireballs each time it emerges. Only when it emerges to fire can Sonic hit the Flame Mobile with a Spin Attack. After eight hits, the Flame Mobile is destroyed. After that, the floating Capsule that is suspended from helicopter-style propellers, lowers from the top of the screen. Opening the Capsule ends the level, after which the player moves on to the Hydrocity Zone after Knuckles destroys the second bridge.

When the player is Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, the player gets to the arena from another pathway. EggRobo is seen piloting the vehicle with the similar pattern, but it is able to fire four fireballs at one time. After doing another eight hits on the vehicle, opening the capsule and clearing the Zone, Knuckles then hops from the waterfall and the game normally progresses to the Hydrocity Zone.

Trivia

The Flame Mobile as it appears in Sonic Adventures comic.

• The Flame Mobile has been featured in French Sonic Adventures: Dans Les Griffes De Robotnik comic, where it is seen as Robotnik's main transportation vehicle instead of regular Egg Mobile. While not having the important role in the story, arm cannons have motors behind them and function as flamethrowers instead of firing fireballs.
• The Flame Mobile appears on the US box art for the Genesis version of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but not on the box art for Mega Drive editions. Like in the French comic, Robotnik is seen firing flames instead of fireballs in the box art.
• In the end credits for Wreck-It Ralph, Sonic is seen losing his Rings, when Eggman in the Flame Mobile comes out of Chemical Plant Zone.
• If the player is playing as Sonic and Tails, and if Sonic goes for the early hit when Eggman destroys the bridge and gets Tails stuck behind the boss, Tails is stuck bouncing between the locked screen and the boss, defeating it in a few seconds.

Gallery

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