The Rock Drill [note 1] is a robot built by Dr. Robotnik , that appears at Lava Reef Zone in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic Mania . The robot serves as an minor obstacle during the gameplay, as it seems to be a larger variation of the Tunnelbot seen in Marble Garden Zone with four drill attachments.
Game appearances
Sonic & Knuckles
Knuckles encountering the Rock Drill in Lava Reef Zone Act 1.
In Sonic & Knuckles and its add-on game Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles , the Rock Drill appears three times in Lava Reef Zone Act 1, once in Sonic 's story and twice in Knuckles ' story (depending on if the player takes the upper pathway behind the robot). In both stories, when the player faces it in the open area, the robot is about to start the drilling process, which makes the ground below collapse. The player can hit it with a Spin Attack an arbitrary number of times but cannot be defeated this way.
In Sonic's story, the robot falls into the lava pool, and in Knuckles' story, it attempts the same process but stays on the edge of the upper platform where it remains intact.
Sonic Mania
In Sonic Mania , and its expansion Sonic Mania Plus , Rock Drills appear again in Lava Reef Zone Act 1. Once again, the player can land numerous hits on it, but the Rock Drill cannot be defeated by regular means.
In gameplay, the player faces off with the Rock Drill in the iron fence area. Once again by drilling at one place, the drone causes the floor to crumble, while falling down to the lava pool. Midway through Act 1, one Rock Drill is seen causing the lava pool to raise, as the player has to escape it, while the Rock Drill once again falls down to the pit.
The boss of Lava Reef Zone Act 1, Drillerdroid , is an advanced model of the Rock Drill with a heavily-armed head drone and bulkier parts around its drill attachments.
Trivia
If the player manages to pass through the Rock Drill safely, the player can usually find an item or something else from the other side. In Sonic & Knuckles , an extra life (Sonic ) or alternative pathway (Knuckles ) can be found.
See also
Notes
↑ While not listed in any instruction manuals, the internal files in the PC release of Sonic Mania refers to this enemy as "RockDrill".
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Zones
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Zone bosses
Doctor Robotnik's Flame Craft | Doctor Robotnik's Waterspout and Depth Charge Machine | Doctor Robotnik's Jet Drill Pod | Doctor Robotnik's Energy Ship | Doctor Robotnik's Freeze-O-Matic | Ball Shooter | Beam Rocket | Big Arm | Jet Mobile | Hang Mobile | Egg Golem | Hot Mobile | Knuckles | Mecha Sonic | Mecha Sonic's Super State | Great Eggman Robo | The Doomsday Zone
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Items
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Other
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Playable characters
Sonic the Hedgehog (Super Sonic ) | Miles "Tails" Prower (Super Tails ) | Knuckles the Echidna (Super Knuckles ) | Mighty the Armadillo * (Super Mighty )* | Ray the Flying Squirrel * (Super Ray )*
Non-playable characters
Dr. Eggman | Hard Boiled Heavies (Heavy King , Heavy Gunner , Heavy Shinobi , Heavy Magician , Heavy Rider ) | Phantom Heavies (Phantom King , Phantom Gunner , Phantom Shinobi , Phantom Magician , Phantom Rider ) | Metal Sonic (Giga Metal ) | Animals (Becky , Cucky , Flicky , Locky , Micky , Pecky , Picky , Pocky , Ricky , Rocky , Tocky , Wocky ) | Jimmy
Zones
Angel Island Zone * | Green Hill Zone | Chemical Plant Zone | Studiopolis Zone | Flying Battery Zone | Press Garden Zone | Stardust Speedway Zone | Hydrocity Zone | Mirage Saloon Zone | Oil Ocean Zone | Lava Reef Zone | Metallic Madness Zone | Titanic Monarch Zone | Egg Reverie Zone | Special Stage | Bonus Stage | Pinball Stage *
Enemies
Armadiloid | Aquis | Asteron | Ball Hog | Batbrain | Blaster | Blastoid | Bloominator * | Bugernaut | Bumpalo | Buzz Bomber | Cactula | Canister | Catakiller, Jr. | Chopper | Clucker | Crabmeat | Dango | Dragonfly | Eggrobo | Fireworm | Flasher mk.II | Gohla | Grabber | Hotaru | IceBomba | Iwamodoki | Jawz | Jellygnite | Juggle Saw | Kabasira | Kanabun | Madmole | Matryoshka-Bom | Mega Chopper | Mic Drop | Monkey Dude * | Moto Bug | Newtron | Octus | Pointdexter | Rattlekiller | Rexon | RhinoBot * | Robot Bee | Robot Beetle | Roller mk.II | Scarab | Sentry Bug | Shutterbug | Silver Sonic | Spiny | Splats | Sweep | Technosqueek | Toxomister | Tubinaut | Turbo Spiker | Turbo Turtle | Vultron | Woodrow
Bosses
Mini-bosses
DD Wrecker | Amoeba Droid | Heavy Gunner | Big Squeeze | Shiversaw | Hotaru Hi-Watt | Dive Eggman | Uber Caterkiller | Meter Droid | Drillerdroid | Egg Pistons mk.II | Crimson Eye
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Moves/Techniques
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Gimmicks and obstacles
Beanstalk | Bomb | Bumper | Bungee Rope | Bumper wall | Conveyor Belt | Crusher | Dash Panel | Electrical conduit | Fan | Fireball Cannon | Flipper | Flywheel | Goal Plate | High-speed warp tube | Ice Spring | Iron ball | Jump Panel | Platform-raising Wheel | Pulley | Ruby Mist | Seesaw | Size Beam | Snowblower | Spikes | Spring | Switch | Transport | Vine | Zip Line
Objects
Air Bubble | Capsule | Chaos Emerald | Giant Ring | Giant spear | Item Box (1-UP , Blue Shield , Bubble Shield , Character *, Hyper Ring , Eggman Mark , Fire Shield , Invincible , Lightning Shield , Player Swap , Power Sneakers , Random , S , Super Ring ) | Little Planet flowers | Master Emerald | Metal Sonic Projector | Medallion | Ring | Robot transporter | Schrodinger's Capsule * | Sphere | Star Circle | Star Post | Time Warp sign | UFO | Warp Point
Music
Sonic Mania (vinyl album) | Sonic Mania Original Soundtrack (Selected Edition) | Sonic Mania Plus Original Soundtrack
Other
Angel Island | Auto Running | Continue | Death Egg Robot | Debug Mode | Egg Mobile | Freeze | Hang Glider | Klepto Mobile | Level Select | Little Planet | Mega Mack | Perfect Bonus | Phantom Ruby | Rock Drill | Shuttle loop | Sonic Mania Adventures (Sonic Returns , Sonic and Tails , & Knuckles , Mighty and Ray , Metal Mayhem , From: A. Rose , The Complete Mini-Series ) | Time Attack | Time Over | Tornado | Winding Tunnel
*Appears in Sonic Mania Plus only