Horizontal Bar

Horizontal Bar
Sonic using the Horizontal Bar
Appearances
First appearance	Sonic Adventure 2
Statistics and overview
User(s)	Sonic the Hedgehog Super Sonic Sonic the Werehog Shadow the Hedgehog
Purpose	Transportation
Description	A horizontal bar for swinging on.

Horizontal Bars (スプリングポール, Supuringupōru^?, lit. "Spring Poles"), or Swing Bars, are gimmicks that first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2. They are used to launch the player higher into the air in order to traverse distances or grossing gabs that otherwise cannot be spanned.

Description

Horizontal Bar are, as their name implies, normal and respectively thin, horizontal poles. They can either be placed between two walls and hang perpendicular from a lone wall or a vertical pole.

In gameplay, the Horizontal Bars are used by the player to bring the playable character to other locations. By having the playable character swing around on the Horizontal Bar and then releasing it, the playable character will be thrown through the air as a form of transporation. This can be used to either reach otherwise unreachable areas, cross bottomless pits, take shortcuts or just get further down the path. Where the playable character is sent depends on when in the playable character's swing that the player releases the Horizontal Bar. Sonetimes, the player can grab onto multiple Horizontal Bars in succession. To grab a Horizontal Bar, the player usually has to either jump into it or use the Homing Attack, and to release it, the player always has to press the respective game's jump button.

In most cases, when grasping a Horizontal Bar, a circle with a densely colored front section will appear around it. The circle lights up according to the user alignment with the bar, similarly to a Plan Position Indicator radar display. If the player presses the release button at the time the playable character is in the colored front section, the user will be launched forward with optimal speed and hight; otherwise, the playable character will be launched forward and downward with much less speed. In some games it will makes the player fall to the ground if the player presses the button early or too late.

Game appearances

Sonic Adventure 2

The Horizontal Bars first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 and its remake, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, where they are only encountered in Sonic and Shadow's Stages, such as City Escape and Radical Highway. In this game, the Horizontal Bars have the ring indicators for an optimal jump, which are colored red, and they can be grabbed onto by touch.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), the Horizontal Bar's mechanics are exactly the same as in Sonic Adventure 2 with a red-colored ring indicators for an optimal jump. The Horizontal Bars are a rare gimmick in this game, meaning it can only be found in a few Action Stages, like Wave Ocean and Shadow's version of Dusty Desert.

Sonic Unleashed

In Sonic Unleashed, Horizontal Bars, called Horizontal Poles in the PlayStation 2/Wii version, they usually appear in the nighttime Stages for Sonic the Werehog to use. In this game, there is no circle appearing around the Horizontal Bar to mark the ideal point to jump off it and Sonic only swings back and forth on it rather than all the way around it. However, the ideal point to jump off the Horizontal Bar is usually on the apex of Sonic's swing. To grab onto a Horizontal Bar in gameplay, the player has to press the following buttons:

PS2	Wii (remote)	Wii (Classic Controller)	Wii (GameCube Controller)	PS3	Xbox 360
		R Button

Once grabbed onto the horizontal bar, Sonic will automatically keep hanging onto it. Note that when using the Wii remote, the player has to shake the Wii remote to make Sonic swing on the bar while in the others version or with the other controls, Sonic will swing automatically. Additionally, on the PlayStation 2/Wii version of the game, if the player holds the Grab button after jumping off the Horizontal Bar, Sonic will automatically find and grab the next Horizontal Pole/Vertical Pole within his range.

In rare cases, there are also a few types of poles that appear in the daytime Stages which regular Sonic can use too.

Sonic Generations

In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, Horizontal Bars are usually seen in 2D sections, held in place by a pole in the background. In this game, Horizontal Bars again have the ring indicators for an optimal jump, except that in this game they are colored cyan. Additionally, the player can target the Horizontal Bars with the Homing Attack.

The only times Horizontal Bars appear in three-dimensional sections are in the Challenge Act "Cream: Helping Hand" and the Seaside Hill Challenge act "Surf, Sea and Sand". They function exactly the same, but the circle that appears is slightly harder to read due to the camera angle. There are no poles holding the bars.

Gallery

Gallery

Hor.JPG Sonic using the Horizontal Bar in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). Shadow using the Horizontal Bar in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). Horizontal Bars in the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version of Sonic Unleashed. Sonic using the Horizontal Pole in the PlayStation2/Wii version of Sonic Unleashed. Sonic using the Horizontal Bar in Sonic Generations. Horizontal3.jpg Horizontal1.jpg Horizontal4.jpg A failed launch from the Horizontal Bar in Sonic Generations. Horizontal5.jpg A successful launch from the Horizontal Bar in Sonic Generations. A Horizontal Bar in a 3D section in Sonic Generations.

References

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

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

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Main article · Scripts (Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Last) · Credits · Manuals · Glitches · Beta elements · Gallery

*Unused
V·T·E · Category

Sonic Unleashed (Xbox 360/PlayStation 3)

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Main article · Script · Credits · Glitches · Beta elements · Gallery

V·T·E · {{Unleashed (mobile) info}} · {{Unleashed (Wii/PlayStation 2) info}} · Category

Sonic Generations (console/PC)

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Main article · Script · Staff · Glitches · Beta elements · Gallery · Re-releases (Sonic X Shadow)

*Appears in Sonic X Shadow Generations only
V·T·E · {{Generations (3DS) info}} · Category