Hint Box

Hint Box
The Hint Box, from Sonic Rivals 2.
Appearances
First appearance	Sonic Adventure
Game appearances	Sonic Adventure Sonic Adventure 2 Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut Sonic Rivals 2 (cameo) Sonic Adventure (2010) Sonic Adventure 2 (2012)
Statistics and overview
User(s)	Amy Rose Big the Cat Chaos E-102 Gamma Knuckles the Echidna Metal Sonic Miles "Tails" Prower Rouge the Bat Sonic the Hedgehog Tikal
Purpose	Providing information
Description	A Hint shaped like a floating screen.

The Hint Box (ヒントボックス, Hinto Bokkusu^?), also known as the probe (探査機, Tansa-ki^?), is a gimmick that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is a floating screen and a variant of the Hint which provides the player with instructions during gameplay.

Description

The Hint Boxes appear as floating, stationary computer monitors found in different stages and Adventure Fields. When interacted with, its screen glows and it provides the player with information in the form of a text box about the surroundings, gimmicks, objects, enemies, and strategies on how to play the game.

Game appearances

Sonic Adventure

In Sonic Adventure, its enhanced port Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, and the 2010 remaster, the Hint Boxes mostly appear in Adventure Fields, but also in a few Action Stages. In the former, they are usually found near shops or enterprises to tell whether the player can use these locations or not. In Action Stages however, they tell the player how to operate vehicles or objects.

To use a Hint Box in gameplay, the player has to step up to it and wait until its screen shows a question mark on it, then press the action button. While interacting with them, the player can neither move or attack. To leave them, they have to press the action button again.

Sonic Adventure 2

A Hint Box providing a hint, from the 2012 remaster of Sonic Adventure 2.

In Sonic Adventure 2, its enhanced port Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, and the 2012 remaster, the Hint Box, also known as the monitor screen (モニター, monitā^?, lit. "monitor"), work like a Wi-Fi device, as they show the Wi-Fi bars symbol on their screen. They only appear in the Treasure Hunting stages, where they provide hints as to where the Master Emerald shards, Keys or Chaos Emeralds are hiding in the form of riddles, or the names of the Stages' sections, though at a cost of potential points. They can give up to three hints and once used, they will fly away. However, the player can see their info by going to the pause screen where they will be displayed. Only one will appear at a time but the game will scroll through all of the hints while in the pause menu between intervals.

Not all Hint Boxes can be used at the same time, as some hints are locked to their designated targets. Those Hint Boxes will be transparent until the player can collect the object they talk about. In multiplayer mode, they appear less frequently in the Treasure Hunting challenges. Some Hint Boxes also appear only by using the Sunglasses/Treasure Scope.

A Hint Box in Mad Space displaying reversed text, from Sonic Adventure 2. The hint that it gives is "A container within a container".

The Hint Boxes have unique propierties in Mad Space. According to Omochao, they are being affected by electrical disturbances, which causes their detector readings to be reversed and feed the player false information about the location of the Master Emerald shards; for example, if a Hint Box claims that a shard is at "the lowest place" of the stage, it means that the shard is actually at the highest point of the level. Some Hint Boxes will display vague, reversed text, like "sgel eerht htiw 1 ,on enihcam" ("machine no, 1 with three legs"; it claims that the shard is on a machine on Capsule Planet). However, unlike with the other Hint Boxes, the information that these feed the player, while hard to understand, is not false.

Sonic Rivals 2

In Sonic Rivals 2, the Hint Box appears on a collectible card:

Image	Card Number	Card	Challenge	Unlocked
	36	Hint Box	Successfully use 10 Power Ups	N/A

References

Sonic Adventure

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Main article · Scripts (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, Gamma, Super Sonic) · Story Screens (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, Gamma) · Credits · Glitches · Beta elements · Gallery · Pre-releases (Limited Edition, DX Demo Version) · Re-releases (DX, 2010)

*Appears in only the original Dreamcast version · **Appears in only Sonic Adventure DX · ^Appears in only the Sonic Adventure DX DLC of the 2010 remaster
V·T·E · {{Adventure 2 info}} · Category

Sonic Adventure 2

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Main article · Scripts (Hero, Dark, Last) · Staff · Manuals · Glitches · Beta elements · Gallery · Pre-releases (The Trial, Preview, TRIAL Version) · Re-releases (Battle, 2012)

*Appears or is playable in only the 2P mode · ^Appears in only the original Dreamcast version
V·T·E · {{Adventure info}} · Category