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Sonic Wiki Zone
Main page IDW Publishing
Not to be confused with Marble Zone.
<< Previous Zone Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Marble Garden Zone
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A Zone where the ruins of a legendary civilization remain.


— Description, Sonic the Hedgehog 3[1]

Marble Garden Zone (マーブルガーデン[1] Māburu Gāden?, lit. "Marble Garden") is the third Zone of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and the lock-on game Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It is an ancient city located on the Floating Island. As with other Zones in the game, Marble Garden Zone is composed on two Acts, with a boss fight at the end of them.

Description[]

Marble Garden Zone is an area located somewhere on the Floating Island. This Zone in particular is notable for housing the ruins of an ancient civilization spoken of in legends.[1] The background features orange mountains under a blue, clean sky. Some ruins covered in large amounts of vegetation also appear.

Story[]

Sonic and Tails eventually arrive in Marble Garden Zone after being shot there by a geyser in Hydrocity Zone. Continuing their adventure to stop Dr. Eggman from re-activating his Death Egg, the heroes make their way through the Zone. Eventually, they find and defeat a Tunnelbot, one of Eggman's Badniks. Later, on several occasions, the heroes meet the doctor in his Egg Drillster Mk. II, though he never actually fights them. Later though, when Eggman is about to escape from Marble Garden Zone with his Egg Drillster Mk. II, Sonic and Tails defeat him. After their victory, the heroes make their way to Carnival Night Zone.

Later on, Knuckles visits Marble Garden Zone during his pursuit of the EggRobo. There, he defeats the Tunnelbot and later on, the EggRobo in the Egg Drillster Mk. ll located in a tunnel. Afterwards, the echidna heads out for Carnival Night Zone.

Gameplay[]

Act 1 of Marble Garden has the playable character traversing the hilltops and zeniths of the Zone, with many tracks and sloping hills throughout. This is the only Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 that does not feature water. Instead, there are mud/tar pits that are far more lethal; sinking all the way to the bottom causes the player to instantly lose a life. Other hazards include large iron balls that swing around in circles and stone walls that smash into the ground. In terms of gimmicks, the Zone includes the exclusive Spinning Top, which the player can ride through mid-air or on by running on it. The top is also sometimes the only way to smash through some walls, floors, and columns that cannot be broken by the Spin Dash. The Spinning Tops on top of small pedestals are already charged up however, so when the playable character gets on them, the Spinning Top is released and shoots off in the direction the playable character was facing when it was released. Also found throughout the Zone are Strange Reliefs that fire arrows at the playable characters. Although hitting the flashing red gem three times will either open up a rock hatch or a small piece of the structure, allowing the player to progress forward.

Act 2 has the playable characters travel deeper into the ruins and groves of Marble Garden Zone. Here, the Zone makes greater use of its obstacles and features, from trackball switches to using Pulley Rifts to climb up steep slopes. Throughout the Zone, the terrain will shift and provide access to further locations (in the late part of the Zone, this feature eventually becomes a death trap if player is not careful).

Overview[]

Act 1[]

The Act opens with Sonic and/or Tails falling onto several steep ramps. If they do not jump off at an earlier point, whether aided by Springs or the rotating platforms, they will reach the bottom and drop into a contained area underneath a breakaway floor, and have to make their way through the Act from there. There are multiple paths to take, but all meet up shortly before the last Star Post before fighting the Tunnelbot mini-boss. If the upper route is taken early on at the beginning of the Act, Tails can airlift Sonic to some areas he cannot reach on his own, including some of the Giant Rings.

Act 2[]

The second Act has Sonic and/or Tails make their way through more of the deeper ruins of Marble Garden. At two points, they are momentarily interrupted by Eggman in his Egg Drillster Mk. II, but he will leave after taking one hit or not being attacked for several seconds. The second time this happens, he starts to cause the ruins to collapse, forcing the player to move quickly to avoid being crushed until the collapse stops, allowing them to safely continue until they reach the end where Eggman returns to start the boss fight in the skies above Marble Garden after one last attempt to collapse the ruins before making his getaway.

In Knuckles' case, the echidna cannot reach the Relief on the wall due to his jumping height. So therefore, he'll have to backtrack and climb up to a different route exclusively for him.

Bosses[]

Act 1[]

Main article: Tunnelbot

The sub-boss of this Zone is a Tunnelbot, and the player confronts it at the end of Act 1. Just like the Egg Digger from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the machine burrows into the ceiling (causing debris to fall down) and returns to the ground, allowing the player to damage it. While playing as Knuckles, there is a rotating platform that the player can stand on to compensate for Knuckles' lower jump height. A Shield-based power-up can protect the playable character from the stalagmites that fall from the ceiling as they will bounce off the shield and cause no damage.

Act 2[]

Main article: Egg Drillster Mark II

The boss of this level is the Egg Drillster Mark II, which is fought in an aerial battle over the grassy plains of the Zone, or in a tunnel when playing as Knuckles in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

This boss fight is actually the last of a trio of encounters with the Egg Drillster Mk. II: the first encounter causes a ramp leading up to a shortcut through a breakable pillar to collapse, while the second encounter causes the ground to rise, forcing the player to race through to avoid getting crushed against the ceiling. Knuckles has a somewhat more difficult version of this section; his path contains crushing traps, walls that must be opened by Spin Dashing against blue Platform-raising Wheels, and Strange Reliefs, all of which are found throughout other parts of the Zone when playing as Sonic or Tails. The boss also had a different attack pattern for Knuckles versus Sonic and/or Tails.

Giant Ring locations[]

Act 1[]

  • At the start of the Act, the player should take the higher path and keep going up until a wall with a Spiker and two monitors. They must then Spin Dash through the wall and into the Ring.
  • As Sonic, a Lightning Shield (found by Ring #1) or a Flame Shield will be required to reach this Giant Ring. After the first Ring, the player must jump onto the third vertically moving platform and then onto the spinning platform if it will help, then use the shield to get onto a platform to the left of these moving platforms and into the Ring room. Tails and Knuckles can simply lift themselves up there.
  • With a Lightning Shield, right after Ring #2, the player must double-jump onto a rotating platform with the Lightning Shield then jump onto a 1-UP platform and Spin Dash into the monitor and into the Ring room.
  • The player should carry on to the right from the previous Giant Ring. At the spinning top, they must double jump up to the ramp and climb it. The spinning top also works, but the Lightning Shield is more convenient. After that, the player must continue onward until the Speed Shoes monitor, Spin Dash into it, and the Ring room will then be found.
  • The player must head to the right to the pillar which makes the character spin around. They must travel forward until a spinning top is reached, then use it to go up until a ceiling is reached. From there, they can jump into the room with the Giant Ring.
  • To reach the next Giant Ring, the player must kill the playable character if the right path on the spin pillar was taken. If the left path was taken, they should take the normal route until the rotating platform. A Ring room can be found to the left of this platform.
  • If any of the previous Rings have been obtained, the player must kill the playable character. They should let the momentum guide them downwards at the start this time, continuing until a spinning top by a Bubbles and Spring is reached. The player must then jump over the top and into the mud. To the left is the Ring room.
  • The player should carry on from the previous Ring until a large black vertical room is reached, then go to the bottom right until they come across another spin pillar and take the left path. They must continue until they reach a red spring, then use it to get to a spinning platform before going to the right, where they will find the Ring.

Act 2[]

  • This one is only accessible with Tails. The player must fly up at the first two signs, land when tired, then fly up the ramps. They should continue upward until a spin pillar is reached. The player can then go left to find a Giant Ring.
  • The player should carry on from Ring #1 (going through both fake walls) until a 1-Up room is reached, then Spin Dash through the wall (and the 1-Up if it is needed) and carry on until the spinning top. They must then hop on it until a cave is reached, go to the right through all spiked crushers, and the Ring room will be reached. If the player did not take Ring #1, they must take the lowest path possible.
  • This one can only be accessed with Tails. After the first checkpoint in the sky, there will be a spin pillar. The player must go to the right on it to reach another, where the right path must be taken again. After the Mantis, they should have Tails fly up (taking Sonic if playing with both Sonic and Tails) until a crumbling platform is reached, then go left to reach a Giant Ring.

In other media[]

Books and comics[]

Sonic the Comic[]

In the Sonic the Comic series published by Fleetway Editions, the Marble Garden Zone is a Zone on the Floating Island that is filled with ancient Roman-esque structures. Over the years, these structures and monuments have fallen into disrepair. However, there are still a number of working booby traps throughout the ruins. Since the zone has been uninhabited for centuries, the ruins have been ravaged by the elements and been covered in overgrown plant life.

The Marble Garden Zone was where Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails first landed after discovering the Floating Island. It was also here Sonic had his first encounter with Knuckles the Echidna.

Archie Comics[]

In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, the Marble Garden Zone (also known as the Marble Garden or Marble Zone) was one of the Zones on Angel Island. In 3237 in particular, a Dingo Regime-run concentration camp was located in the Marble Garden Zone.

After the Super Genesis Wave rewrote history, the Marble Garden Zone became virtually identical to its game counterpart.

Trivia[]

Sonic Against the Drill Mobile

Sonic and Tails against the Egg Drillster Mk. II in Knuckles' storyline.

  • When playing as Sonic and Tails, Sonic can stay to the very left of the boss arena while the second player defeats the boss using Tails. When this is done in the standalone Sonic the Hedgehog 3, it locks up the game.
  • Marble Garden Zone holds the game's largest amount of Giant Rings, with eight Rings to be found in Act 1 alone. A good player can obtain all seven Chaos Emeralds in one Act by exploring this Zone. However, in order to explore every corner of the Zone, it is necessary to lose a couple of lives.
Tails and Knuckles Against the Drill Mobile

Tails and Knuckles against the Egg Drillster Mk. II in the Sonic storyline, Tails storyline, and Sonic and Tails storyline.

  • When playing as Knuckles in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it is possible to take the route normally reserved for Sonic or Tails in Act 2 without using Debug Mode. This allows Knuckles to battle against Sonic's version of the Egg Drillster Mk. II boss at the end of the Act and is assisted by Tails (who can be controlled by the second player as when playing as Sonic). This is the only way to play as Tails and Knuckles at the same time. After defeating the boss, Tails will airlift Knuckles into Carnival Night Zone though he will start the Zone from his normal location. This can be accomplished by the following methods:
    • The player uses the top to reach the fork in the path as normal but continue to stay on it, moving to the right and then start gaining height to reach the wall above the Relief (which is still climbable). By attacking the Relief from the wall and re-attaching to the wall after each hit, Knuckles can defeat the Relief and access the other route.
    • Another way is for Knuckles to clip through the wall near the spring that is located along the path the player would have ridden along the spinning top to reach the fork in the previous method. Once Knuckles is stuck in the wall, by pressing left he will be ejected to the right where he will end up on a hill in Sonic's route that precedes the rising terrain section (despite having avoided the Egg Drillster MkII pre-encounter).
  • A remix of Marble Garden Zone Act 1's music is unlockable in Sonic Generations.
  • The first Act contains the most Rings of any Act in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, with 636 in total.
  • Entering the Act 2 boss area as Hyper Sonic causes the game to glitch; instead of Tails airlifting Sonic to fight the boss, Sonic simply dies. Entering his Hyper state while fighting the same boss also glitches somewhat; the large sparkles around Hyper Sonic glitch, but Tails will still catch Sonic if he falls.
  • This is the only Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 to have its music composer confirmed.
  • Marble Garden Zone is the only Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 not to feature water in either act.

Gallery[]

Concept artwork[]

Music[]

Name Artist(s) Version Length Music Track
Marble Garden Zone Act 1 Miyoko Takaoka Sonic 3 & Knuckles 2:09
Sonic & Knuckles Collection "FM Synthesizer" 2:02
"General MIDI" 0:58
Marble Garden Zone Act 2 Miyoko Takaoka Sonic 3 & Knuckles 2:08
Sonic & Knuckles Collection "FM Synthesizer" 2:03
"General MIDI" 0:59

See also[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Sega Mega Drive) Japanese instruction manual, pg. 42.

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