Special Stage (Sonic the Hedgehog) (8-bit)

Special Stage
Sonic in the first Special Stage, from Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit).
Overview
Game appearances	Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit)
Description	Special Stages with a night-themed setting.
Statistics
Players (story mode)	Sonic the Hedgehog
Number of acts	8

If you collect a certain amount of Rings turn up the Exclamation Point, you can warp to the Special Stage where you'll ricochet off rainbow-colored bumpers and springboards as if you're in a real pinball machine. You must clear this Stage within a certain time limit. If you run out of time, you'll lose the items you grabbed in this Stage.

— United States instruction booklet, Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Game Gear)

The Special Stages (スペシャルステージ, Supesharusutēji^?) in Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit) are a series of eight extra levels. To enter them, the player must be holding fifty to ninety-nine Rings when running past the Bonus Panels that appear at the end of the first two Acts of each Zone. It should be noted that holding more than ninety-nine Rings at that point will reset the player's ring count to zero and grant an extra life instead of sending the player to the Special Stage.

Unlike its 16-bit counterpart, the Special Stages do not award a Chaos Emerald after completing them. Instead, they are used for getting extra points, lives and Continues.

Description

Special Stages in Sonic the Hedgehog feature a night-themed background with a large yellow crescent moon and differently-sized stars. The terrain tiles are purple with numerous differently-colored Springs, Bumpers and Bumper Pillars set everywhere.

Gameplay

Upon entering a Special Stage, the player will find Sonic bouncing around the area on numerous Springs. When entering them, the Special Stages have a time limit; a minute on the Master System version and two minutes on the Game Gear version. In a Special Stage, the player's objective is to reach the Bonus Panel at the end of the stage before the time limit runs out, all while obtaining points via Rings. Like in regular Zones, collecting a hundred Rings in a Special Stage grants an extra life, but it will also reset the Ring counter.

A floating Video Monitor that contains Continue.

Special Stages include several features. They have a number of bouncy yellow and green pillars, Bumpers, and Springs whose bouncing height depends on their color: green Springs bounce the highest, yellow Springs bounce with medium-height and purple Springs bounce the lowest. The Stages also have floating Video Monitors containing either extra lives or Continues. The fourth and eighth Special Stages also include Flippers for launching the player.

There are a total of eight different Special Stages, but only the first four include a (mostly) linear level design. The last four Special Stages are like the first four, but with moving purple platforms that ricochet the player off like the Bumpers and Bumper Pillars. These platforms make completing these Special Stages much tougher. Although Special Stages are mostly optional, the final score at the end of the game will be affected by how many Special Stages the player has cleared perfectly (clearing one Special Stage adds 50,000 points to the final score). Every special stage has a timer that ranges from thirty seconds to one minute, encouraging the player to make it to the end quickly before the stage ends while collecting as much Rings, 1-Ups, or Continues, or they don't get any bonuses.

Trivia

• In the first and fifth Special Stages, one of the Ring formations (where the Continue monitor can be found) form the word "SEGA".

Gallery

Screenshots

Gallery

Maps

Gallery
The map of the first Special Stage. The map of the second Special Stage. The map of the third Special Stage. The map of the fourth Special Stage. The map of the fifth Special Stage. The map of the sixth Special Stage. The map of the seventh Special Stage. The map of the eighth Special Stage.

Music

Name	Artist(s)	Length	Music track
N/A	Yuzo Koshiro	3:05

See also

• Special Stage (disambiguation)

References

Special Stages

Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit)

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