Goal

The Goal Ring as seen in Sonic Heroes.

The goal is the end point of a playable level in a video game. In the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the goal is a spot at the end of a level indicated by an object or a location that will end said level upon interacting with it.

Overview

The goal is often an object positioned at a certain point in the level (usually known as a Zone or stage) that must be passed, collected or destroyed. Upon reaching the goal, the gameplay in the level ends and the scores are tallied. This tally takes into account (for example) Rings collected, enemies defeated, points gathered, and the time taken to complete the level. Bonuses are also often provided depending on the score achieved or speed of completion. For example, in Sonic Rush, the player can get a bonus if they cross the goal at high speed.

Variations

Goal Plate

Robotnik/Eggman side of Goal Plate in Sonic Generations.

The most early yet well-known goals in the Sonic series appearing at the end of each Acts of almost every Zone as a large signpost on a rotatable post which spins round when passed, sometimes accompanied by a Warp Ring if Sonic has fifty Rings or more. It starts off with Eggman's face, and switches to the player's character's face. These large rings would teleport Sonic to the Special Zone. Usually a bonus is granted depending on your performance and represented as a picture on the Bonus Plate.

Goal Plates are not in the final Act of a Zone, which is usually for boss battles. Destroying the Egg Capsule after the boss fight officially finishes the Act and the Zone itself.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the Bonus Plate would drop down from above the screen after defeating the mini boss (Act 1) of that zone. It will spin continuously until it lands, with the same faces as the first two games. Jumping into it as it's falling pushes it up into the air again, giving 100 points each time. If the Bonus Plate lands on certain points on the ground, it will cause hidden item boxes to pop up, which can be collected before or after the score tally. This means that the player can start the next act with 10 or 20 rings, or they can be collected before the score tally if it would result in an extra life (having 90-99 or 190-199 rings). This was the same for some of the Sonic & Knuckles zones as well.

Chaos Emeralds

File:Sonic2SpecialStage.png

Sonic rewarded with a Chaos Emerald in Special Stage.

Chaos Emeralds are usually the goals of Special Stages, where the player had to collect enough rings to reach the end of the stage. In Sonic 1, Chaos Emeralds were usually ready for collection somewhere in the stage's center. In order to obtain it, the player just had to spin through the barriers protecting the Emerald. In Sonic 2, Sonic (and/or Tails optionally) run down a long continuing half-pipe with twists and turns. Sonic has to collect enough rings to pass the check-point at the center and to eventually reach the emerald while avoiding spike balls. These pipe like Special Stages become a recurring theme in future Special Stages. In Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, the Special Stages were changed into a checkered, globe-like sphere in which the characters had to collect blue spheres instead of rings (although collecting 50 rings would be rewarded by a continue). Chaos Emeralds were still the goals of this kind of Special Stage, but they only appeared until after the player hit all blue spheres.

In more recent Sonic games, Chaos Emeralds can sometimes be the goal of certain stages due to collecting them being part of the game's story. However, the Special Stages still appear from time to time. In Sonic Heroes, rather than being at the end of Special Stages, the Emeralds first appeared at the beginning of the stage, then flew away leaving the characters to chase it. In this kind of Special Stage, it was possible to reach the goal very early on if the player was fast enough. The Special Stages in Sonic Rush and Sonic Colours are much like those from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, while Sonic Rush Adventure features waterbike races against the shark-like pirate, Johnny. The winner of these races gets the Emerald at the end. The Special Stages in Sonic Lost World require the player to collect spheres to unlock the barrier surrounding the Emerald.

Capsule

A statue of a capsule in Sonic Generations.

Originally, capsules appeared at the end of third acts in Zones, but in Sonic Adventure, they would appear as the goal of Action Stages for Sonic and Tails. The animals that escape from the capsules are the same kind of animals used for raising Chao, and some of them would even go towards Sonic or Tails to be collected. In Sonic Lost World the capsules return as the end of stage goal, though smaller ones can be found that will not end the stage but still reward you with animals for opening them.

In Sonic Colors, a similar capsule is used by Dr. Eggman to hold Wisps, the game's new, power up-like, alien creatures.

Goal Ring

Goal Rings are the standard for recent Sonic games, beginning with Sonic Adventure 2. They look like the Warp Rings from early Sonic games but serve as the goal at the end of the Stages. In Sonic Adventure 2 the goal ring is a giant ring with the words GOAL in it; Sonic Heroes' goal ring has a star in it, while in the game Shadow the Hedgehog usually has an emerald in the ring.

Other Variations

• Usually defeating the boss in the end of zone or in separate level.
• In Sonic Adventure, Big the Cat has to fish out Froggy to complete the stage.
• In Sonic Adventure, Amy Rose has to grab the Goal Balloon to complete each Action Stage.
• Missions such as completing the level in a certain amount of time, destroying all the targets, collecting a certain amount of a specific item, or finding a lost Chao.
• The player has to find 3 shards of the Master Emerald, 3 keys or 3 emeralds. This variation appears in Knuckles' and Rouge's levels in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2.
• A unique goal gate in Sonic Advance 2 that makes the player stop running, and the game measures the bonus points at specific spot where the player stops, with how far they go depending on their speed. If the player stops too late, bonus points are not earned. If the player collects all Special Rings and enters to Special Stage, bonus points are not earned either as the player just keeps running over the field to enter the Special Stage.
• Gold, Silver or Bronze awards (Sonic Advance 3, Sonic and the Secret Rings and both Mario & Sonic series).
• In Sonic Forces, an animated hologram gate with an Eggman Empire logo is used as the goal. Once the player goes through it, it disappears and becomes a blue-starred Resistance logo.

Ranking

Starting in Sonic Adventure 2, the player is ranked on performance in a stage, but no actual bonuses were granted until one had completed everything with an "A" or "S" rank (depending on the game).

In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), additional Rings were rewarded depending on performance. The higher the rank, the more rings were obtained.

In the Storybook games, there are instead unique methods of ranking. The medal ranking system in Sonic Advance 3 was used in Sonic and the Secret Rings with three ranks: gold (highest), silver (2nd highest) and bronze (2nd lowest), introducing the "no medal" rank as lowest. In Sonic and the Black Knight, performance in a level is ranked by stars, where ★★★★★ is the highest and ★☆☆☆☆ is the lowest (though in some rare cases, one could get ☆☆☆☆☆ in a similar fashion to ★☆☆☆☆).