Sonic Colors Walkthrough

Sonic Colors is a 3D platform action game and the latest installment of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The game was released for the Wii and Nintendo DS on November 16, 2010 in North America, with earlier releases in Asia and Europe. The game plays in a combination of 2.5D and 3D gameplay. Players can charge through “race game”-type levels or hop and bop through 2D sections in classic Sonic game-style. Racing sections will require quick reflexes and advanced planning, while the 2D sections will challenge the player to use Sonic’s classic abilities to find secrets.

The game also introduces a new race of creatures to the Sonic series, known as “Wisps”. The Wisps come in a variety of colors and can grant Sonic several powers that will help the player reach new areas and find new secrets, such as turning Sonic into a living laser or a giant, all-consuming creature. Sonic will still retain his trademark moves such as boosting, spin jumps, and of course, his incredible speed. Long-time fans will also recognize several mainstays to the Sonic series such as Eggman and Tails. The plot is classic Sonic fare; Eggman seeks to plunder the universe of Wisps and use them in the creation of a mind-control device, and only Sonic is willing to stand up to the mad doctor and bring the nefarious plan to a halt. The game currently has an average score of 78 at Metacritic. Some reviewers have praised the increased quality of this new entry to the series and enjoy the tighter gameplay and level design. Other reviewers were critical of what were perceived to be still-less polished gameplay than what is expected for a Sonic game, and that this title still cannot match the success of the original Sonic games from decades earlier.

Eggman, Sonic's arch nemesis and frequent villain, has seemingly retired from his long-time quest of world domination and instead has recently opened an "interstellar amusement park": a series of planet-sized rides and attractions. Sonic the Hedgehog and trusted sidekick Miles "Tails" Prowler immediately travel to the "amusement park" to investigate. They quickly discover a stranger alien creature they dub "Yacker". Tails builds a device to translate Yacker's speech, and they learn of Yacker's race, the "Wisps". The heroes soon learn the true secret to Eggman's amusement park: Eggman is ravaging the Wisps' homeworld, known as "Planet Wisp", with the intent of harvesting all living Wisps and using them for fuel for his crazed devices and contraptions. Worse yet, Eggman is intentionally transforming some of the captive Wisps into deadly "Nega-Wisps", for a mysterious, nefarious plot that may finally realize his dreams of conquest, unless Sonic can stop him.

This 3D Sonic game concentrates more on classic 2D gameplay elements, including 2D platforming and unique power-ups. The power-ups come in the form of the "Wisps", alien creatures held captive in pods scattered throughout the levels. If Sonic discovers a captive Wisp, he can collect it for a one-time use power. The Cyan Wisp turns Sonic into "Laser Sonic", whom can be fired like a literal laser. Laser Sonic will bounce around obstacles and fired into antennas and laser crystals to warp to secret areas. The Yellow Wisp turns Sonic into "Drill Sonic", whom can dig through dirt and earth to find underground secret areas. The Orange Wisp turns Sonic into Rocket Sonic, whom will blast off high into the sky, and then skydive back down to earth. Exclusive to the Wii version of this game are four special Wisps: the Pink Wisp, the Blue Wisp, the Green Wisp, and the "Nega-Wisp". The Pink Wisp transforms Sonic into Spike Sonic; a pink ball of spikes that can travel up walls and ceilings. The Blue Wisp transforms Sonic into Cube Sonic, whom can change special "blue rings" into blue blocks that Sonic can stand on, and vice versa. The Green Wisp will grant you Hover Sonic, basically "Sonic-as-spaceship" whom can fly around and travel rapidly on trails of rings. The Nega-Wisp will change Sonic into a fearsome creature called "Frenzy Sonic" that can devour all it its path, growing larger the more it consumes. It addition to the Wisps, Sonic retains his classic moves and new abilities, including a double jump, a "homing strike" that allows him to automatically slam into any target in front of him, and a "boost" power that allows Sonic to dash at supersonic speeds, even in mid-air. Boosting requires energy to perform, however, Sonic can collect special White Wisps to restore this energy.

After examining user feedback and criticism from earlier 3D Sonic titles, long-time developer Sonic Team decided to introduce more 2D and 2.5D gaming elements to what is otherwise intended as a 3D Sonic game. Past 3D Sonic games had also included gimmick twists to traditional Sonic gameplay, such as the Werehog form in Sonic Unleashed or the sword in Sonic and the Black Knight; Sonic Colors does contain a similar gimmick in the form of the "Wisps" that grant Sonic various powers. However, the Wisps are mostly relegated to "power-ups" that are often used for one-time effects or puzzle solving; the gameplay otherwise concentrates on classic Sonic gameplay elements, including fast, 2D platforming. This and the DS release mark the debut of the Wisp characters.

Info:

1. This is the first level in the game and extremely basic. Get used to the controls as they can be pretty confusing, especially for a Sonic game. It's highly advisable that you use the Classic Controller or a Gamecube Controller for best play control.
2. This level introduces the typical hazards in the game: enemies (kill them with homing strikes; the robots carrying props like welcome signs will raise your boost meter when you kill them), grind rails (leap back and forth between them to avoid falls and grab items), and hoops (often you'll need to leap into these to reach new areas and/or avoid falling to your death).

S Rank:

1. Don't bother going for this until you unlocked the Yellow Wisp. You need it to enter the underground area for Special Rings and regular rings. Even still, you will have to get around a 2:30 clear time, 250+ rings, and at least four of the Special Rings to have a chance.
2. The only Special Ring worth skipping here is #4, as it's very risky grabbing it and it does consume lots of time. However, you will need to have a great clear time and lots of rings if you intend on skipping it.
3. There's plenty of ways to pad out your score. One is to be constantly boosting; this draws nearby rings to Sonic like a magnet as well as obviously speed up your overall pace through the level. Another is to grab the Cyan Wisp just before the drilling area and fire it at an angle so that you get 5000 Color Bonus points per refraction, making for an easy point gain in the tens of thousands.

Special Rings:

1. Near the start of the level is a grind rail you can jump onto to snag a Special Ring. If you've already encountered the balloons you can homing strike, you've passed it.
2. Once you come across the Yellow Wisp, grab it and immediately drill down and to the left to find this one in the underground area above some balloons. It's best to drill onto it from above.
3. From Special Ring #2, follow the underground area until you find another Yellow Wisp. Grab it and drill into the ceiling, avoiding the bombs around the ring circles and look for a green warp pipe somewhere in the dirt, to the right. Take it and Sonic will be warped to an area with balloons, rings, and a Special Ring nearby.
4. From Special Ring #3, climb onto the grind rail above it and follow it leftward to a Yellow Wisp. Grab it, then go to the checkpoint near Special Ring #3 and drill into the small patch of ground there. Avoid the bombs and collect every single ring you find in this tiny drilling area; the Special Ring will then magically appear in the center.
5. On the final grind rail sequence, stay on the rightmost grind rail. When you're almost near the end, you should spot a hoop above that you can jump into to get flung into the last Special Ring.

Info:

1. More of the same here; sort of a warm-up to the real action in later levels. Much of the real level is closed off until you start unlocking Wisps. Instead, you'll be learning more about how to use boosts, mainly that they can be used in mid-air and to give Sonic extra air time when boosting on a launch ramp.
2. Another tip on boosts: they run on a limited amount of energy and require that you find "White Wisps" to keep it full. White Wisps can be found in Wisp containment units and are sometimes dropped by specific enemies after you kill them.

S Rank:

1. Once again, you will need the Yellow Wisp unlocked. The Cyan Wisp and Yellow Wisp will be used constantly especially if you intend on getting all five Special Rings. If you do so, you'll get so many bonus points from their constant use that you won't need any rings at all to get an S rank.

Special Rings:

1. Grab the first Yellow Wisp right past the fountain near the start and drill straight down. Search for the Special Ring in one of the vertical tunnels below.
2. From Special Ring #1, follow the underground area out, either normally or use the Cyan Laser shortcut, then use the flagpoles by the laser shortcut exit to jump onto the three platforms above the small spike strip.
3. Continue playing through the level past the long roadway until you reach a Cyan Wisp and a laser crystal above it. Ignore it and head forward onto the platforms with the Yellow Wisps. Keep going past them to find rows of fans that you can ride to a Special Ring above them.
4. From Special Ring #3, float up to the top of the hill and use a Yellow Wisp to drill down the peak. Enter the first tube you see on your right and search through the dirt areas and tubes ahead until you stumble upon an area that holds circular formations of worm robots. Destroy all the worm robots and the Special Ring will magically appear.
5. Hidden right behind the Wisp Containment Unit you must break to end the level.

Info:

1. You will finally unlock one of the Wisps that grant you powers: the Cyan Wisp. What this does is turn Sonic into a living laser that smashes through enemies, refracts off walls, and can follow trails of "laser crystals" into secret areas. It's not used much as far as beating this level, but it's definitely one of the handier Wisps.
2. Cyan Wisps are also incredibly useful for shortcuts. Some involve simply shooting Laser Sonic across the field, skipping major parts of the course. Others involve firing Laser Sonic into glowing "laser shortcuts", wall and floor-mounted antenna-like devices that teleport Sonic from one end to the other if he hits it in Laser Form.
3. The Cyan Wisps are also a huge help in getting S Ranks, as you make 5000 points from a "color bonus" every time you refract off a wall; you can enter a tight corridor and fire Sonic into the walls and have him refract everywhere for huge point gains.

S Rank:

1. As often the case for Tropical Resort, you will pretty much need the Yellow Wisp unlocked first. And once again, you can pretty much ignore rings and time as long as you go for every single Special Ring and make the most of your Cyan and Yellow Wisps. For example, if you grab the Cyan Wisp at the start and fire it down the tight corridor where you learn Quick Step, you will rack up loads of 5000 color bonuses. Spending your time drilling also adds loads of points to your score.

Special Rings:

1. At the start of the level, look for a welcome sign robot above and to the right. Nail him with a homing strike so that you can land on his ledge. Follow his ledge to a pull line you can homing strike to, which will lead to the Special Ring.
2. It's hidden underneath the platform holding the Cyan Wisp tutorial message. This means NOT taking the shortcut at the start via the ledges from Special Ring #1.
3. Continue playing through the level until you reach the big dirt area after the first checkpoint. Grab the Yellow Wisp; your goal is to drill below and find the right tube leading to this Special Ring. The easiest route is as follows; drill straight down from where you get the Yellow Wisp and enter the first tube you see on the left. It will dump you out of another tube below; enter the very tube next to it. This tube will dump you into a tiny room with a Yellow Wisp; grab it and drill out of the left-hand side of the room. Look for another tube and enter it to finally warp to the area with this Special Ring.
4. From Special Ring #3, enter the nearby tube to exit its hidden area and make your way back to the room with the Yellow Wisp. Now your goal is to drill straight down below through the black blocks, avoiding all the tubes and enemies in your way, as far down as you can go until you finally reach this Special Ring.
5. There is one last laser crystal in plain sight right before the zip line you ride to the level exit. Make sure to save a Cyan Wisp for it so you can laser it and get warped to the Special Ring. If you have trouble finding it, make sure to mash A during the aerial stunt sequence to land on the upper ledges of the final section of the level, then stay on those upper areas as you progress and you should eventually see the crystal.

Info:

1. This is an extremely short level, and it's mostly lifted from certain segments in Act 1. The only difference is that there's a few pesky flying robots that drop spike balls on you, however, they can't really cope with Sonic's speed. To get to the level exit easy, jump on the grind rail near it and leap over the boosts on the rail as they are facing the wrong way.

S Rank:

1. Once again you will need the Yellow Wisp, as well as the Nega-Wisp. The name of the game here is to forget time and score as always, and just concentrate on collecting the Special Rings and racking up as many color bonuses as you can. Frenzy Sonic can gain 8000 points just for existing, and more points for eating enemies and black blocks. You also want to spend at least a little time killing the driller enemies after getting the Yellow Wisp near where you get Special Ring #4.
2. Don't forget also to get Special Ring #3 before drilling down to get #1 and #2; for some reason, the game considers that ring #3 even though you obviously want to grab it first.

Special Rings:

1. Get the first Yellow Wisp and go back to the left to the very edge where the dirt meets the road. Drill straight down and grab the Nega-Wisp, then go into Frenzy Mode and chomp your way to the right, grabbing two Special Rings along the way.
2. See above.
3. Use the group of balloons to the right of the first Yellow Wisp near the start of the level to reach it. Get this before you go get Special Ring #1 and #2.
4. From where you get Special Ring #2, follow the underground path to the next Yellow Wisp and drill down into yet another underground area. Avoid the spike ball-tossing robots and keep moving until you spot the Special Ring.
5. Take the grind rail that shortcuts you to the level exit; you will spot it on the rail almost right away. If you came from the tube near Special Ring #4, you'll have to jump onto the rail and backtrack along it to the left.

Info:

1. This level is all about Cyan Wisps. You will need to learn how to use them by this point, in this case, refracting Laser Sonic into laser crystals to get around obstructions. The key is to always look for telltale ring trails that you can line your shot up with, either directly or by banking off a wall or block.
2. Watch out for spike pits in this level towards the end; use the balloons to cross the pit quickly to the other side as the balloons will not regenerate.

Rank S:

1. You will need the Pink Wisp this time. The reason is that you'll want to roll around with it as much as possible to rack up color bonuses and grab a few Special Rings. The Special Rings in this level tend to be a pain to get; try to play it safe and use Spike Sonic to collect them whenever possible. It's also a good idea to avoid trying for Special Ring #5 unless you are really good.
2. Be sure also to shoot as many "targets" (the fat bullseye-like target symbols) with the Cyan Laser as you can; these are worth 10000 color bonuses a piece. Spike Sonic only gets 3500 for destroying these and regular Sonic gets nothing.

Special Rings:

1. At one point you'll hit a high wall and will either need to use a Cyan Wisp to climb up using laser crystals, or a Pink Wisp in the pit with the two robots below to climb the wall. Do the latter and you will be able to collect a Special Ring amongst the various objects up on the wall (the Cyan Laser will just shoot you over it).
2. After getting past the checkpoint and the long stretch of road with all the robots on it, you will encounter an optional Laser Sonic puzzle. Jump into the air and fire Laser Sonic so that he banks into the line of rings leading to the left, and you will get warped to a ledge holding this Special Ring.
3. Not long after Special Ring #2, you will encounter a shaft filled with balloons leading upward. Use a stomp to reach the bottom of the shaft where this Special Ring sits.
4. Right next to Special Ring #3 is a series of blocks with targets on them (right above the spike pit with the balloons). You must either make a perfect shot with the Cyan Laser so that Sonic perfectly bounces into the Special Ring, or better, use the nearby Cyan Wisp to break open the black blocks a ways back that keep you from reaching the nearby Pink Wisp. Once you have the Pink Wisp, use it to climb the ceiling and make your way over to the Special Ring.
5. Literally right next to Special Ring #4 is a laser shortcut. You want to fire Laser Sonic into it so that he warps behind the level exit where the Special Ring is. It's possible I think to use Spike Sonic to crawl over the level exit via the ceiling but likely not easy. The best thing to do is to get a Cyan Wisp, jump towards and below the laser shortcut and fire Laser Sonic at it from mid-air (or at least try to bank into it).

Info:

1. This level is ridiculously basic. There's little here except for small ferris wheel-type platforms that rotate around over gaps below. Some rotate only when you are actually standing on them, so keep this in mind as you jump and try to make sure they are rotated into a position where you can make it back to them if you need to. Otherwise this level is very simple.

Rank S:

1. As with Act 5, you'll need the Pink Wisp here, in this case to blast through nearby blocks to reach a secret area holding a 1-Up and Special Ring #4. Otherwise, collect all the Special Rings; this will be very easy as they are all in plain sight and require nothing fancy to reach them.

Special Rings:

1. Located on the hub of the second ferris wheel-type platform in this level.
2. Located just a bit ahead from the first Special Ring. You need to use the nearby ferris wheel platform to safely reach it.
3. Located just a bit ahead from the second one. It's on the hub of a ferris wheel platform.
4. Grab the Pink Wisp and break the black blocks next to it to enter a secret area. Explore it for the Special Ring.
5. This one is in plain sight right before the level exit, amongst the ferris wheel platforms leading up to it.

BOSS:

1. This boss is extremely simple; use the rotating platforms to hop up to the eye in the center, and smack it with a homing strike. Careful standing on the ring's edge as you may get struck by the hands.
2. As it takes more damage, it will start sending out homing ninja stars. Just stay away from the ninja stars and keep concentrating on the eye to take it out.

S Rank:

1. One of the red platforms circling the boss' eye has a Cyan Wisp; run along the ring to reach it quickly and use the Laser attack to take down the boss quickly. If it survives your attack, hurry and finish it off. You want to end this level with 36 seconds on the clock to get S rank.

Info:

1. This level unlocks the Yellow Wisp after completing it. The Yellow Wisp lets you drill through ground and earth, however, note that Sonic will instantly die if he runs out of Boost power while drilling underground. The ability will also instantly disappear as soon as Sonic exits the ground.
2. The Yellow Wisp is among the best Wisps for point farming; you get a lot of points just for drilling around in the earth, and killing enemies while in drill form also racks up big points.
3. Mostly this level is simple; drill wherever needed and take whichever pull lines appear to reach the next area(s).
4. The giant rockets can be a pain to dodge sometimes and eat at your timer; make sure to avoid them as best you can by staying low to the ground and avoid any trap plates and pull lines that will attempt to throw you into their line of fire. Boosting is a big help in covering a lot of ground so that they don't eat up your time. You'll also be forced to use aerial stunts to avoid one of the rockets, so be ready to mash A when this happens.

S Rank:

1. As usual, you will want to grab the Special Rings as well as get as many color bonuses as you can. Use boosts to speed through the rocket sections. There's also two secret locations of Cyan Wisps you can use to rack up the points (listed below). You'll also want to have ideally 250+ rings on hand to make sure you go over the top.
2. At the start of the level, once you reach the first rocket launcher tube, go left through the construction barriers and look for a bumper on the cliff nearby you can homing strike onto (sort of requires a leap of faith to get to it). It should knock you over to a Cyan Wisp. Use it on the nearby laser shortcut to wipe out all the robots below for a big point bonus.
3. After getting Special Ring #3, use the nearby Yellow Wisp to dig below ground. Look for a Cyan Wisp surrounded by blocks and grab it, then drill straight upward. You should end up in an area with flying robots and laser crystals; use the Cyan Laser here for a massive point bonus.

Special Rings:

1. After dodging the first giant rocket launching bay, you will come across a pit filled with robots that you can cross on foot, via zip line, or by shooting Laser Sonic through a laser shortcut. The Special Ring is on a ledge located in the far side area of the pit.
2. Once you reach the tutorial message regarding the Yellow Wisp, grab the nearby Yellow Wisp and drill straight downward until you hit the bottom edge of the drill-able ground below. Go right from there; the small rooms will give you more Yellow Wisps if you stop to enter and collect their goodies inside. When you spot a tube you can enter, IGNORE IT, and go up and around the underground cavern ahead. You should drill your way above the underground cavern and spot the Special Ring surrounded by black blocks; drill through the blocks and collect it.
3. After getting Special Ring #2, drill straight to the right into a tube. It will dump you directly into the underground cavern where you can kill enemies in the background by jumping on buttons to trigger spike traps. Keep going to the right for a long time until you reach a Yellow Wisp that lets you drill out of the area; once you, ignore the Yellow Wisp and walk back to the left underneath the candy cane grind rail. Follow the slope down until you spot the Special Ring in between two gingerbread men.
4. After getting through the drilling sections, you will end up in another rocket gantlet. Right in front of the rocket launching tube at the end are two sets of bumpers, one on the left and one on the right; the Special Ring is sitting next to the right-side bumpers. It's easy to accidentally homing strike into the bumpers while grabbing it, so be careful.
5. Similar to Special Ring #4, this one is sitting in front of the last rocket launching tube in the level, next to the bumpers that will launch you up to the Wisp Containment Unit. Be careful not to accidentally homing strike into the bumpers in front of it or you will lose it (thanks Team Sonic!).

Info:

1. There's plenty of secrets to get on this level if you've unlocked the Green Wisp. Use the trail of rings as clues as to where and when to use them; they lead through secret areas and shortcuts that offer a lot of rings (albeit some that challenge you to fly through a field of spikes). This level also uses a lot of pull lines, some triggering only after you've hit a button or killed nearby enemies.
2. Other secrets included in this level include the area with the Yellow Wisp. You can dig through the ground beneath to find several tubes you can enter. Most of them are pointless but a couple are big shortcuts; one of them (the upper tube in the lower leftmost corner) leads to the hamburger roadway near the level end, and another (lowest tube in the lowest rightmost corner) leads to an area behind the level exit.

S Rank:

1. The point threshold for S Rank is really low here; just collect a few Special Rings and try to rack up a lot of Drift Bonuses and color bonuses from using the Yellow Wisp, and you should get this. Maximizing use of the Green Wisps also help.

Special Rings:

1. After the aerial stunt sequence you will encounter the first Green Wisp. Grab it and use it to fly straight up to another Green Wisp. Grab that and fly through the spike gantlet below to the first Special Ring.
2. Just a bit past Special Ring #1, you'll reach a section where you must step on a blue button to trigger a group of robots to drop down to you, then kill them to trigger a pull line that slings you into a series of bumpers that bump you to a boost pad. Once you hit the boost pad, stop Sonic and go to the left, past the boost pad, to find this one buried under a pile of popcorn bits.
3. First, you must get past the Yellow Wisp area by regular means (through the candy cane grind rails, not by shortcutting using a Green Wisp or the tubes underground). If you went the right way, you will end up on a pull line above a spike trap. Now make your way forward and you'll eventually make your way across a bridge of collapsing platforms. The Special Ring is in plain sight, on a platform by a Wisp Container.
4. After getting Special Ring #3, go back the way you came and destroy the white crate that was amongst the robots you just took out (use a stomp to break it). This will reveal a button underneath; stepping on it will lower a pull line to the left, above the shaft with the spike trap. Grab it to get pulled up to a Green Wisp, then transform into Hover Sonic and float upward, following the rings leading up. They lead up to a long trail of rings; boost into the rings and Sonic will follow the trail all the way to a Special Ring.
5. Before the final, long grind rail to the level exit is a collapsing bridge with a wall overhang (you will automatically land there after grabbing Special Ring #4). You have the choice of getting around it by pull line or by sliding under it; slide under the wall and you will grab this Special Ring.

Info:

1. This level unlocks the Orange Wisp for use on other levels. Using this Wisp will turn Sonic into a literal rocket, blasting off extremely high into the air. Sonic will then float back down to earth slowly, allowing you to collect objects as he falls. You cannot conrol the rocket's ascent, but you can decide where to launch it, as well as give it extra height by firing it in mid-ir.
2. There are a lot of drifting sections in this level; if you haven't noticed, you deal with these by holding B to "drift", steering Sonic like a car. The catch with this level's drift sections is that some of the tracks have no side rails to keep Sonic from falling off to his doom, so be careful.
3. The giant rockets also return, this time falling from the sky. They land in the same spot each time, are slow, and land infrequently, and so are pretty easy to avoid as long as you are careful, especially around floating platforms.
4. This level is notable for splitting into two routes, an "easy route" and a semi-secret "hard route". The hard route is accessible from the second checkpoint; to get to it, you need to fire Rocket Sonic at the column of rings near the checkpoint, or use Spike Sonic to roll up to said area above. If you need a Pink Wisp, boost Sonic up the small ramp to the left of the checkpoint to get the one hanging in mid-air. The hard route is ultra-cheap, as falling is instant death and rockets are constantly raining directly on top of you as you hop on tiny islands and chain homing strikes on flying robots to cross the gaps. Going for Special Ring #3 lets you skip most of the troubles, but even still, you'll have to survive a grind rail section afterward with lots of spike traps on it. Also, watch out for the section where you must ride a floating platform underneath an overhang; slide at the last second underneath the overhang so that Sonic doesn't slide off the platform nor get pushed off.

S Rank:

1. The requirements for this are very light, if you have the Pink Wisp. You will only around 120 or so rings, 3:30 on the timer, a couple of Special Rings (Special Ring #1 and #2 will suffice), and destroy as many black blocks as possible with the Pink Wisps. It's probably advisable to skip the hard route as it can be aggravating trying to keep Sonic from losing his rings. You definitely don't need it to get Rank S.
2. There's plenty of Pink Wisps hidden about this level. In the shaft with the three robots and the falling rockets above, you can carefully leap over to the leftward wall to the structure nearby for a Pink Wisp and a bunch of rings. Also, when you get to the falling rocket section in the easy route, you can drop down and use a Pink Wisp at the bottom to wreck all the black blocks for extra points.

Special Rings:

1. Sometime after the Orange Wisp tutorial, you will eventually use a trio of bumpers to launch Sonic upwards to a trio of crumbling platforms. You can use them to reach the Special Ring, which is sitting on the middle one in plain sight. If you fall, just kill the nearby enemies and use the pull line nearby to sling up to the cliff above the crumbling platforms and jump to it.
2. Same area as Special Ring #1. Stand in the shaft with the trio of bumpers and use an Orange Wisp to blast straight upwards, colliding with a Special Ring high in the air.
3. You need to take the hard route to the end of this level. Follow these steps: first, get to the second checkpoint. Get a Pink Wisp; you can get the one high above by boosting off of the small ramp to the left of the checkpoint (there's a pod of White Wisps to the left if you need some). Use the Pink Wisp to collect the Orange Wisp above the black blocks, then travel as Spike Sonic through the chute above and follow the walls and ceilings upwards till you spot a lone floating platform. Jump on that platform; it will start moving to the left, underneath the hard route course, where you can collect more Pink Wisps and rings. Eventually it will drift to a nook where Special Ring #3 sits.
4. This Special Ring is essentially a reward for getting through the rocket areas of the hard course and not missible (unless of course you took the easy route).
5. You must have taken the easy route instead of the hard one. If you do, play till you reach the drifting section and smash through all the barrels on the right. One of them is hiding a bumper; if you hit it, you'll get launched onto the grind rail above. Ride it and look for a second grind rail to appear to your left. Jump to it and it will deposit you in a secret room filled with barrels; the Special Ring is hidden amongst them.

Info:

1. The gimmick to this level are the rotating "hot bars". Stepping on a nearby button will cause them to rotate; you obviously want to rotate them out of the way so you can progress.
2. Later in the level, things are switched up when you use button-activated elevators to ride them up a shaft while at the same time avoiding more hot bars. Fortunately, these hot bars do not rotate themselves and are locked into position, so it's simple to avoid them.

S Rank:

1. You'll need the Nega-Wisp unlocked for this. First play through the level and collect either Special Ring #1 or #2. It seems you can't collect both in one playthrough, but either will do (Special Ring #2 will possibly give you more points, while Special Ring #1 doubles as a shortcut).
2. Next, grab Special Ring #3 and use the nearby Nega-Wisp to grab Special Ring #4 and smash up a bunch of black blocks and robots. Finally, get Special Ring #5 and complete the level. If you do this and beat the level with around 3:00 on the timer and 100 rings, you should get an S Rank.

Special Rings:

1. After you get the Cyan Wisp near the start of the level, progress forward until you reach a point where you move aside the rotating hot bars. You should notice a trio of rings leading diagonally upwards; aim the Cyan Laser so that Sonic banks upward, following the trio of rings into a series of laser crystals that drop you off on a ledge. Follow it to the first Special Ring. Alternatively, you can drop down, get through the hot bar gantlet below, and fire Laser Sonic into the laser crystal at the end of the gantlet.
2. Same area as Special Ring #1. Instead of using the Cyan Wisp to blast your way towards Special Ring #1, go to the launch pad that will send you down the loop-de-loop to the next section. There's a small, out of reach passage above the launch pad with a laser crystal inside it. Fire Laser Sonic into that passage and you will be warped into the next section, grabbing this Special Ring. It doesn't seem possible to get both this and Special Ring #1 in one playthrough.
3. After the section with Special Ring #1/#2 you will ride a makeshift button-powered elevator upwards past a pair of hot bars. Keep moving the elevator up past where you are supposed to jump off to find this Special Ring.
4. Same area as Special Ring #3. In this case, you'll spot a Nega-Wisp in plain sight on your way up to it; grab the Nega-Wisp, go into Frenzy Mode, and smash through the trail of black blocks and robots to the right till you reach this one.
5. Near the end of the level you will ride another button-powered elevator, similar to the last section but longer and more complicated. Stay by the left-hand side of the elevator as it travels up so you don't miss the last Special Ring sitting in a nook.

Info:

1. This level has a few gimmicks. One are giant lollipops that sling Sonic upwards. Boosting into one will launch him very far. They seem to glitch a lot, causing Sonic to fall straight down after jumping off one. Try holding in one direction as you board one; this seems to prevent the glitch from occurring. Note that Sonic will always fall straight down if you try to jump off from the opposite direction he jumped onto the lollipop.
2. Another gimmick are annoying trap spikes; grey floors that pop up spikes as you approach them. The spikes do NOT ever retract, so watch your footing around them. The last area will have you climb a vertical shaft with trap spikes at the bottom; be very careful around there as there are crumbling platforms and lollipops to deal with.

S Rank:

1. The points needed for S Rank are astronomical. You want to maximize the point gains from using Blue and Pink Wisps, and even then, you'll want to finish the level with all five Special Rings, around a 4:10 completion time and 300 rings to stand a chance. Try following the tips below.
2. Start the level and get Special Ring #1, then head to the first Blue Wisp. Get it and collect all the rings there, then progress to Special Ring #2. Do not bother using the bumper to launch to the blue rings/blocks above if you intend to use them as blocks, as they lead to nothing special.
3. From Special Ring #2, progress to the next Blue Wisp. Let the robots congregate around it, then kill them all with one boost for a 30000 pt Slam bonus. Collect the Blue Wisp and use it to collect the blue rings below you, as many as possible.
4. Progress to Special Ring #3 and collect it, then progress to the first Pink Wisp. Collect it, then walk right and use it on the overhang wall you must normally slide under to climb it to a secret room with tons of rings. Exit the room from the other end and progress to Special Ring #4, making sure to knock out the black blocks around it and the nearby Pink Wisp.
5. From Special Ring #4, climb the nearby mountain of black blocks and use the Pink Wisp. Now head to Special Ring #5, destroying as many black blocks and enemies as you can on the way. Afterward, finish the level, destroying the robots on the road leading to the exit with a single boost for another Slam bonus.

Special Rings:

1. As soon as you gain control of Sonic, run backwards along the main course (i.e. towards the camera, opposite direction of where you are supposed to go) and you will find the first Special Ring.
2. After the quick step segment at the start of the level, you will get your first Blue Wisp, then cross a gap using homing strikes on wasp robots. Further beyond you'll spot a launcher buried by Blue Blocks/Rings that you can use to launch to more blocks/rings above you. Keep going to the right past that launcher (i.e. do not launch upwards) and you will spot this Special Ring by a pull line and a spike trap.
3. In the next section past Special Ring #2, you will get to an area where you need to use the giant lollipops to fling Sonic upwards. This Special Ring will be in plain sight as you move upwards, on a moving platform and you'll either need to use a giant lollipop to fling Sonic onto it or a mid-air boost jump from the leftward platforms.
4. After Special Ring #2, you will eventually get another Blue Wisp and will have the choice of using it to go upwards or dropping down to get a Pink Wisp. Drop down and get the Pink Wisp, then go to the right from where you find it to encounter a wall you must slide under; use Spike Sonic to roll up the wall itself into a secret passage holding plenty of rings. Roll out of the secret passage to the other side to end up in the final shaft with the lollipops. Continue rolling upwards and then to the left to find a pile of black blocks and a Pink Wisp and the Special Ring buried amongst them.
5. From Special Ring #4, use a Pink Wisp to go into a visible small tunnel in the nearby ceiling leading upwards. Follow the small tunnel, smashing through black blocks in your way, to its end where the Special Ring will be sitting, surrounded by a ring of black blocks.

Info:

1. Like a lot of Act 6 levels, this one is extremely brief and straightforward. The only thing special here are the gold blocks; Sonic can not only use them as stepping stones, but can also stomp or boost through these, collecting the goodies inside. Destroyed gold blocks will eventually regenerate on their own after a few seconds (unless Sonic is standing in their place).
2. The level is also populated with gunner robots that will shoot at the gold blocks. This can be annoying for a few reasons, especially if shoot them out from underneath Sonic, or otherwise manage to disrupt your flow. The robots can't destroy any other kind of blocks, including blue blocks affected by Blue Wisps.

S Rank:

1. Even with all the Special Rings, you'll still need the Pink Wisp unlocked to get S Rank, as there's just not enough scoring opportunities otherwise. And even with the Pink Wisp unlocked, you'll likely need clever usage of Spike Sonic to get enough for an S Rank. If you are having trouble, try following the tips below.
2. Right by Special Ring #1 is a Pink Wisp; backtrack to the first point in the level where the gold blocks appear, and use boost to smash your way all the way to the first candy cane grind rail for big points.
3. Keep moving from the candy cane grind rail to get another Pink Wisp in a valley filled with gingerbread men; use it to slaughter the robots ahead and dig through the gold blocks in the area with the blue and gold blocks. Grab the Blue Wisp while you are at it.
4. Use the Blue Wisp to kill the two robots guarding Special Ring #3. Collect the Special Ring and the Pink Wisp. Collect any blue rings you can, then once the Blue Wisp expires, use the Pink Wisp to wipe out the next few squadrons of robots ahead.
5. Keep rolling along with the Pink Wisp. You want to get into the area with Special Ring #4 and #5 with Spike Sonic still going, and roll your way to the gunner robots at the end and kill them. After doing so, use the Blue Wisp to get Special Ring #4. Try to collect as many blue rings as possible as well, then collect Special Ring #5 and end the level.

Special Rings:

1. Near the start of the level, you'll spot this one surrounded by gold blocks. Use a mid-air boost to smash through the blocks and reach it.
2. You'll spot this one in plain sight not much farther from the previous one, sitting under a small platform guarded by gunner robots.
3. Further ahead is an area with gold and blue blocks. Use the nearby Blue Wisp to turn the blue blocks to rings and grab this Special Ring, sitting in a corner by some gunner robots.
4. The last section of the level sees you climbing up rows of gold blocks while gunner robots try to shoot them out from underneath you. There's blue rings sitting at the end of each row of gold blocks; you'll want to use a Blue Wisp to turn those into blue blocks (the gunners can't destroy these blocks), then climb up them to the topmost blue block. Once at the top, long jump to the left and use a mid-air boost to snag a Special Ring amongst the blue rings before they turn back into blue blocks.
5. Before using the boost pad to speed to the donut loop and the level exit beyond, jump onto the nearby candy cane grind rail and follow it to the Special Ring.

BOSS:

1. This boss is pretty simple. First run through the brief cannon gantlet by simply homing strike any cannonballs out of your way. Note that the pink cannonballs drop Wisps and Rings when destroyed. You will need to occasionally use a series of cannonballs to reach higher areas.
2. Once you reach the end of the gantlet, smack the blue lever to take the boss on personally. He will jump around the area while flying marshmallow peeps get in your way. Simply wait for him to land, then hit him with a homing strike. Three hits will restart the cannon gantlet sequence.
3. Get through the cannon gantlet a second time (this time the cannons are much more aggressive), then when the boss appears once more, take him down one more time to end the battle.
4. Alternatively, if you ever get a Yellow Wisp from one of the pink cannonballs, you can take down one "round" of the boss instantly, in one hit, by using the Yellow Wisp's drill form to burrow into the boss' bottom from below. Be careful while drilling as Sonic will be under constant assault from drilling robots.

S Rank:

1. You must get the Yellow Wisps both times during the cannon gantlet sequences, and must also kill many of the drilling robots as you can during each use of the Yellow Drill form, hopefully enough earn enough of a score for S rank. The cannons that shoot out pink cannonballs containing Yellow Wisps are very specific, so read below.
2. For the first cannon gantlet sequence, move forward until you get past the series of cannons shooting upwards at an angle. Just past them are a pair of cannons, one on a platform high above, and one below that you must climb up to the reach the next area. The latter always shoots out pink cannonballs containing a Yellow Wisp.
3. For the second cannon gantlet sequence, get to the same exact area where you got a Yellow Wisp. This time, the cannon you want is the lone one on the platform high above; it shoots a regular cannonball, then a pink cannonball that always contains a Yellow Wisp. The best way to reach it is to gain enough air using the row of cannons shooting upwards at an angle to snag the pink cannonball, however, it is possible to snag it from the ground if you are good enough.
4. Once you reach the boss itself, immediately use the Yellow Wisp and burrow below in circles, killing as many enemies as you can. You want especially to take out the giant black driller robots; note that it takes a while for Sonic to drill through one. Kill as many as you can, then quickly hit the boss before the Yellow Wisp's energy meter runs out. Don't worry about losing all your rings as you do this, but if you do lose all your rings, try to collect as many as you can from the dying boss to make up for it.

Info:

1. This level introduces you to the Pink Wisp. It gives you the Spike Sonic form, which makes you invulnerable and lets you crawl along walls and ceilings. It's extremely handy and lasts for a very long time, and you get big color bonuses just for using it. It also lets you safely touch spikes. The drawback is that the controls are often a pain to use with it. Note that you can also boost with it, which is a useful way to cover ground quickly, but eats up a lot of energy.
2. The level has a lot of exploration in it. Keep an eye out for ring columns leading upward; this is usually a cue for you to use an Orange Wisp to fire Rocket Sonic upward to secret areas. If you wish to just straight-up beat it, just use the myriad amounts of Pink Wisps they give you to quickly cross through the terrain. Keep an eye out for glass floors and ceilings you can smash through with a stomp or with Rocket Sonic.

S Rank:

1. You can get an S Rank easy, without worrying about time or rings, or even Special Rings. Just abuse the constant supply of Orange Wisps and Pink Wisps scattered around the levels. The Orange Wisps give you an absurd amount of color bonuses for using them, and will often launch you into lucrative secret areas. Use the Pink Wisps as well to explore the walls and ceilings, racking up lots of rings and color bonuses.

Special Rings:

1. You must get this one on the way to the first platforming section with the Pink Wisp tutorial message. When the drifting section starts, look for a line of launch pads and use them to launch Sonic into the curve of the half-pipe ahead. There's a corridor of launch pads on the side of the curve; hit them and they will propel Sonic into White Wisps, giving him boost power. Now continue ahead until you pass through a loop-de-loop. Use boost as soon as you do and Sonic will get some massive air when he hits the launch ramp ahead, propelling him through hoops onto a collapsing bridge. Quickly cross the bridge and use a homing strike on the bumper there to land on the wall. Now you'll be going through a brief quick step section on the side of the wall; dodge the spikes and grab the Special Ring when you see it (it will be on the right). If you hit spikes or are too slow, you'll fall to your death, so avoid the hazards and use boosts if it feels like you are slowing down.
2. After passing the Pink Wisp tutorial, keep going forward until you see an Orange Wisp in an area where the camera pulls out very far. You'll see above you a floating robot and a moving platform; fire Rocket Sonic so that he avoids the platform and hits the robot. Rocket Sonic will continue skyward; when he starts freefalling, guide him into the columns of rings, with a Special Ring at the bottom.
3. This is in the section where the second checkpoint spawns you. Make your way through the middle route; you should encounter an overhang wall you must slide under to reach a shaft with moving platforms and miner robots guarding them. Instead, use Spider Sonic or wall jumps to climb up the chute in front of and above the overhang wall into a small secret room with the Special Ring.
4. Located in the topmost floor of the Quick Step section of this level, where you have to Quick Step on thin walkways while watching out for robots. Keep left as you cross the walkways and you should easily spot the launch pad that will boost you to it.
5. Once you get to the last checkpoint, you should spot a launch cannon. Have it point rightward and fire Sonic onto the ledge ahead. Make your way forward (do not use the elevators to go up)until you spot an Orange Wisp. Take it and launch off on the floating platform to your left (you should see a column of rings if you haven't picked them up already). This will land you on a platform above that holds a Pink Wisp. Take the Wisp and use Spike Ball form to ride the ceiling to the right and onwards and upwards until you find the last Special Ring, high above the level exit.

Info:

1. Another brief level, but this has a few tricky spots, depending on whether or not you are trying to keep all your rings intact. The big problem are the flying robots that throw spike balls.
2. For the tight room that holds two spike-throwing robots, what you should do is immediately jump and mid-air boost to the ledge holding Special Ring #2 and hit the button below it. If you delay, they will flood the room with spike balls. Once you hit the button, use the ledges above you as cover to reach the pull line that will tow you out.
3. In the area with the moving platform with spike strips on them, carefully make your way through them by standing in the center of the platforms, slipping through a pair when they intersect. You want to follow the sequence of platforms to the upper right corner to be able to continue.
4. After the spike strip platforms, you'll enter an area where you'll need to hit two buttons located on the right-side walls to get tiles above you to move back and forth. You want to use them to climb to the exit in the upper right, where there's a column of grey crates you must smash through with a stomp to get launched to the final stretch.

S Rank:

1. This one can be rough as the requirement for S Rank is very high and there's few scoring opportunities. You'll want every single Special Ring, the Nega-Wisp unlocked, a completion time of 2:30 or so and around 250-300 rings to stand a chance.
2. A big part of all this is not taking a single hit from all the spike-throwing robots, so that you don't lose a single ring. Note that you can pass through their spike balls safely when they are flashing and about to disappear.
3. In the room with Special Ring #2, you'll want to mid-air boost straight to the Special Ring, then slip underneath the ledges to the pull line and get out of there before the spike throwers hit you.
4. In the area with the Nega-Wisp, you want to destroy all the black blocks and every miner robot (the spike throwers are invincible even to Frenzy Sonic). If you destroy all those miner robots as Frenzy Sonic, you will get a valuable Slam bonus.
5. If you are extremely fast using Frenzy Sonic, you can get the Slam bonus, hit the button to move the tiles, then turn around and grab Special Ring #4 without having to use the pull line (and risk getting hit by the annoying spike throwers). Once you snag Special Ring #4, boost like crazy to the left to get out of there without having to deal with any more spike throwers.

Special Rings:

1. Easy get; near the start of the level, hit the first bumper you find to get launched very high into the air into the first Special Ring.
2. It's in plain sight in the room with the two spike-throwing robots, where you hit the button to send a pull line down to tow you out.
3. Once you first reach the moving platforms with the spike strips on them, you spot this Special Ring on a row of blocks with 10-point rings next to it. You can easily use the moving platforms to reach this Special Ring.
4. After the first checkpoint, you'll find a Nega-Wisp. Use it to change into Frenzy Sonic and quickly bash your way through the blocks to the right to the button you hit to get the tiles above moving. After doing so, use the nearby pull line to reach this Special Ring.
5. In the area where you can get Special Ring #4, you will eventually leave the area by stomping through a column of grey crates and get launched by hoops into a shaft with bumpers that will send you to the final stretch. Don't take the bumpers though; instead, drop back down and look for the last Special Ring to the left of where the hoops launched you from.

Info:

1. The first section is all about quick stepping. Falling is not very much a problem other than the secrets you will miss out on; if you don't want to fall, avoid using homing strikes as this may accidentally throw Sonic off course, against your will (thanks Sonic Team!). Otherwise, just watch out for the cheaply-placed miner robots scattered around. The laser ships will also attack you near the start, at pre-set moments; learn them and speed to safety using boosts.
2. The second section is a brief interlude with the Blue Wisp. Not much to say here other than jump carefully and use the Blue Wisp to make blue blocks and smash black blocks when you need to. This can be easy or hard depending on whether or not you are going for the Special Rings.

S Rank:

1. Get all five Special Rings and beat the level with around a 2:00 completion time and 100 rings and you should get it. Key to this is collecting as many rings as you can during the quick step sections, without taking damage.

Special Rings:

1. You must get through the quick step segment at the start of the level without falling down to the lower levels. If you do, you will automatically snag this when you hit the last launch ramp.
2. You must get through the quick step segment at the start of the level without falling down to the lower levels, at least long enough to get the Cyan Wisp. It's the third Wisp you will encounter, located on the left, past a jump hoop; you need to jump through the hoop to get it. Once you do, finish the quick step segment; no matter which route you take, you'll spot a laser crystal in plain sight right before the end. Fire Laser Sonic into it for an absolutely mind-blowing amount of color bonuses and a Special Ring.
3. Once at the second section, grab any one of the respawning Blue Wisps and go down one floor as soon as you are able. From where you land, go leftward to the Special Ring; you'll need Cube Sonic to get through a couple of blue block walls in your way.
4. From Special Ring #3, head right and you will find two routes of blue blocks/rings, one leading to the middle then upward, and a second leading down to a respawning Blue Wisp. Get the Blue Wisp, then take the middle route and use the Blue Wisp when you can go no farther. Make your way up the blue blocks using Cube Switch to a platform holding three miner robots. Kill them and the Special Ring will appear.
5. After grabbing Special Ring #4, a new Blue Wisp will appear. Grab it and use it to make your way back down to the respawning Blue Wisp you originally used to climb to Special Ring #4. Use Cube Switch to smash away all the black blocks, going back to the respawning Blue Wisp for a recharge, then when you are ready, hop along the blocks and blue blocks up to a Special Ring and the level exit behind it.

Info:

1. This level has you scaling around a giant construction tower. The most annoying aspect about it is the "looping platforms"; tiny platforms that travel in a loop, filled with enemies. The first one is annoying in that you need to jump along them while waiting for an elevator to pick you up at the end of them; if you get carried to the lower end of the loop, you'll likely have to ride the platforms back to the start. The second looping platform set is before the level exit and goes in reverse, making you either have to ride them below or hop along them.
2. There's a few shortcuts in the level you can take; the best one being the Orange Wisp by Special Ring #3. Use it to blast Sonic up to a grind rail above and simply follow the path to an easy escape at the level exit.

S Rank:

1. You'll want all the Special Rings, and beat this level in under 3:00 and around 50 rings. You'll also definitely want to use the "Orange Wisp" shortcut next to Special Ring #3, so you can skip the annoying segments at the end, get two more Special Rings, and get big color bonuses.
2. If you are a good wall jumper, after grabbing Special Ring #1, you might want to back track after dropping down, going down the shaft with the ring column. Use a wall jump to get to the ledge to the upper left, and slide under the three overhang walls. There will be a Cyan Wisp nearby; collect it, then slide under one of the overhang walls and fire Laser Sonic against the cramped wall space between the overhangs. You will get an easy 40000 points in color bonuses. You can use wall jumps to go back up the shaft you dropped down.

Special Rings:

1. Once you get the first White Wisp horde in this level, immediately hit boost so that you hit the next launch pad hard. If done correctly, you will go flying through some hoops to a secret area with an alternate first checkpoint; the Special Ring is right behind it.
2. After the second checkpoint, you'll come across the first of the looping platform sets. Instead of using them to cross the gap, stand your ground and wait for the Special Ring to come riding by on one of the platforms.
3. One of the looping platforms carrying Special Ring #2 will also be carrying a Cyan Wisp (it will come before the Special Ring). Collect it, then make your way across the looping platforms to the other side, reaching an elevator. Ride it upwards to a laser crystal and fire Laser Sonic into it. You'll be teleported to a ledge above the second checkpoint that holds an Orange Wisp and this Special Ring.
4. From Special Ring #3, jump towards the nearest laser crystal you used to reach that ledge and use the Orange Wisp you just picked up to fire Rocket Sonic close to the laser crystal, straight upwards. If done correctly, you will land on a grind rail high above; follow the series of grind rails (bop the flying enemies with homing strikes to cross the gaps) and you will eventually reach a cannon you can aim upwards to fire Sonic into a Special Ring above.
5. From Special Ring #4, follow the grind rails till they end into an overhang wall. Slide under it and use the zip line to swing to the level exit, grabbing the last Special Ring along the way.

Info:

1. An extremely short and basic level. The gold blocks make a return, and as always, gunner robots are there to shoot them out from under Sonic's feet, so be ready for this.

S Rank:

1. Cheap way to get S Rank here is to get to the Orange Wisp you use to reach Special Ring #3 to launch Sonic into the very small platform a ways above it. You will still get the big color bonuses without launching very far, and since this Orange Wisp respawns, you can re-collect and launch several times to give you an S Rank without much effort.

Special Rings:

1. Once you reach the first pit with the gold blocks and the spikes lining the sides, drop straight down. There's an Orange Wisp at the bottom; fire it upwards and freefall Sonic through the spike ball gantlet to get the first Special Ring.
2. From exactly where you collect Special Ring #1, go right, hopping along the gold blocks to a 1-Up floating in the air. Collect it and drop straight down onto the next Special Ring.
3. Literally right before the checkpoint is a trail of rings leading straight downward from the nearby cliff. Follow them down to an Orange Wisp, and use it to blast off upwards to another spike ball gantlet to free fall through; you'll get another Special Ring for doing so.
4. At the checkpoint, grab the Nega-Wisp and plow your way below; a Special Ring is in the lower right corner, behind a massive pile of gold blocks.
5. During the last section, right before the final stretch to the level exit, you will hop on single gold blocks while avoiding enemies shooting at you from either side. A Special Ring is floating above the gunner robot in the upper left corner.

Info:

1. The first section of this level is a grind rail gantlet. After the grind rails, Sonic will be thrown in the air; you must use homing strikes to hop and bop along the flying robots to the open portal ahead, then mid-air boost into it for a big shortcut and grind bonuses. Otherwise, you will fall into the "lower route", which has a freefall section where you must avoid the electric robots; to survive it, you must guide Sonic around the hazards and onto another grind rail to the northeast. Either way, you will end up in another grind rail segment where you must dodge spikes on the rails as you proceed to the second section.
2. The second section has more of the same sets of looping platforms you've seen in earlier Planet Wisp levels. This time you can skip most of the annoyances via Green Wisp, if you've unlocked it. Keep a sharp eye out for Green Wisps and use them to skip the looping platforms via lucrative ring trails. Later on you can use a Pink Wisp to skip the second half of the second section entirely just by rolling up the overhang wall right where you collect it.
3. The third section has you climbing a difficult series of platforms to the level exit at the top. You can go the hard way by jumping and homing striking your way up the pull lines and platforms, or just grab the easy Green Wisp underneath one of the platforms, then fly up and to the left to get a Pink Wisp that will let you roll to an area above the level exit.

S Rank:

1. Once again, you can reduce the amount of Special Rings you need by simply spamming the Wisps. The Green Wisps in particular are very lucrative; try to fly around as much as you can as Hover Sonic for huge color bonuses. If you get enough color bonuses, you can get away with having only three Special Rings, 300 rings, and a 3:30 completion time (handy in case you miss getting the last two troublesome rings).

Special Rings:

1. You must go into the freefall segment found in the first section of this level. As you freefall, guide Sonic into the Special Ring, located almost above the grind rail you need to land on.
2. In the second section of the level, at the first set of looping platforms, grab the Green Wisp floating in the middle of the loop. Use it on the trail of rings ahead and you will be dumped at another set of looping platforms; the Special Ring is in the middle of this loop, amongst some rings.
3. After getting through the looping platforms of the second section, you will go through a tunnel and hit an overhang wall with a Pink Wisp next to it. Grab it and use Spike Sonic to climb the overhang wall upwards. You will end up in a mini-maze composed of blocks; make your way to the top of this maze where the Special Ring sits.
4. The very last segment of the third section contains a platforming sequence with a wide camera view; you are supposed to watch out for gunner and miner robots as you make your way to the elevator at the top. The center platform has a button underneath it that requires you to hit it as Spike Sonic or Hover Sonic; doing so spawns several rings, a 1-Up, and a Special Ring.
5. In the third section, before you reach the moving lift that takes you to the three pull lines, you'll spot a Green Wisp underneath your ledge. Drop down to it, hit the button above it to make two ring trails above you, then follow the trails upward. The trails actually curve backwards a bit, so you may want to avoid ring-boosting on them; you really just need them to lead you to a small ledge holding a Pink Wisp to the left of the topmost trail. Grab it and have Spike Sonic roll up the wall to a row of blocks up top. You need to get on top of the blocks and jump over the gaps with the black blocks (use homing strikes to cross that last large gap) and you will find a Special Ring on top of the blocks right above the level exit.

BOSS:

1. This boss is pretty much a clone of the Tropical Resort boss. You need to hit the eye in the center as before. The difference this time is that instead of platforms to ride around on, you have very small circle-shaped protrusions that are extremely difficult to stay on, unless you are Spike Sonic. This boss also has stronger attacks including a four-way laser that you will need to hide under the protrusions to avoid. Otherwise, this boss is easy to defeat, especially if you grab the Pink Wisp and take him out as Spike Sonic.

S Rank:

1. Grab the Pink Wisp, turn into Spike Sonic and crush this boss in under a minute and with 40 or so rings for an easy S Rank.

Info:

1. This level will unlock the Blue Wisp for use on all other levels. Pressing R will cause all the "Blue Blocks" and "Blue Rings" in the level to switch states; blue blocks become rings and vice versa. The switch effect will also take out nearby enemies. You can collect blue rings for 1000 points a piece, but keep in mind that you may need them as blocks later...
2. For the first section, use quick launch to avoid the lasers from the spaceships, then hold forward and mash A to homing strike your way across the void using the floating steel platforms.
3. You can use quick launch to ram the lady bug cars on a similar section later in the level (ramming the giant lady bug will kill all the others at once). Be careful otherwise not to let them slam into you instead.
4. Most of the platforming sections require you use Blue Wisps to transform a series of blue rings into blocks for you to climb. Always hustle through these areas and avoid collecting blue rings until you become familiar with the level.
5. Watch out for the final area with the descending ceilings; use wall jumps to chimney jump up between a pair of ceilings so you can travel quickly and safely over them, out of the screen.

S Rank:

1. This level is one long slog, filled with drawn-out automated sequences that might try your patience on multiple run-throughs. The S Rank requirements are also pretty high as well. Try these steps below. Try also to finish the level in under six minutes and with over 300 rings.
2. During the laser spaceship sequence, spam quick steps to rack up big bonuses. Boost once you are able to the next section.
3. Get Special Ring #1 and all the blue rings you can, then grab the nearby Pink Wisp and roll into the black block-covered duct. Grab the rings inside the secret room, then quickly roll out via the top duct and hurry to the top of the area.
4. Go right from the above to the grey crate maze, grabbing the Pink Wisp along the way. Go down and get Special Ring #2, maximizing all the color bonuses you can get along the way.
5. Hit the button near Special Ring #2 to open the airlock and dive out; freefall to the lady bug section. Spam the quick steps for more bonuses and don't forget to grab Special Ring #3 after you make the first automated jump. Hopefully you will get lucky and kill a few giant lady bugs for big points.
6. Once at the next section, grab the Blue Wisp, and climb up and get Special Ring #4, then head to the final section.
7. Get through the crushing ceilings and grab Special Ring #5 before leaving, then boost to the final freefall sequence.

Special Rings:

1. Below the Blue Wisp tutorial message. Grab the Blue Wisp and use its powers to transform the Blue Blocks in the floor into Blue Rings, then drop down and use it a second time to turn the Blue Blocks surrounding the Special Ring nearby into Blue Rings.
2. In the same area as Special Ring #1, use the Blue Wisp to climb up to the top of the area using the blue blocks; move quickly before you fall. Once you make it to the top, use double jumps and mid-air boosts to cross the gaps ahead until you find a Pink Wisp. Grab it and make your way through the maze of grey crates below to the bottom, then use Spike Sonic to roll your way through the black blocks to the Special Ring in the bottommost pit of this secret area.
3. During the section with the the lady bug cars, keep right to snag a Special Ring; it's very easy to miss this one otherwise.
4. During the section that requires you to use Blue Wisps to navigate the maze of Blue Blocks/Coins over the void below (right after the lady buy cars), make your way to the section with the black blocks; you'll see it above and to the right. There's several ways to get this one, but the easiest is to double jump from the middle black block into the side of the blue block holding up the Special Ring, then wall jump off of it and chimney jump your way to the ring (this assumes you didn't accidentally collect said blue locks while ever they were blue rings).
5. The last one is on the last descending ceiling before the launch ramp that throws you to the level exit. You need to reach it with a Blue Wisp, either by bringing your own or dropping down from above from the top of the descending ceiling on the left (allowing you to grab a Blue Wisp). Either way, use your Blue Wisp and use the newly freed bumper amongst the blue blocks to get flung onto the rightmost descending ceiling. Now carefully walk forward and you should hear Sonic collecting rings from off-screen; he will eventually hit the Special Ring right before dropping onto the launch ramp. Again, you must hit the bumper to collect these.

Info:

1. This level introduces the "bomb block"; black-and-red boxes with Xs on them. If you touch them, they will flicker and then explode, taking any nearby bomb blocks with them. This is obviously dangerous to Sonic, in both that the explosions hurt and that they cause Sonic to fall.
2. This level will also require you to learn a new trick with Blue Wisp's Cube Sonic form if you haven't already; every time you use Cube Switch to switch blue blocks to rings and vice versa, it creates a shockwave that will also take out all the enemies and black blocks on the screen. You'll need to use this skill to smash your way to the level exit in the shaft that leads down to it.
3. Otherwise, the level is straightforward and short. Get to the shaft near the start of the level and start making your way up it. You can use buttons to open blast doors on the sides to either chimney jump up or reach zip lines. The shaft will then lead you to fields of black blocks and bomb blocks that you must navigate through. Remember that Cube Sonic can smash through black blocks, but not bomb blocks.

S Rank:

1. If you unlocked the Pink Wisp, it's really easy; you'll only need three of the Special Rings and possibly not need any regular rings at all. You can rack up the rest of the points by rolling around as the Pink Wisp, and smash through the chutes and vents sealed up with black blocks into secret rooms with extra rings to collect. It's easily possible to get S Rank without any rings and with a 4 minute completion time.

Special Rings:

1. At the start of the level, grab the Blue Wisp and change the blocks nearby to rings, so you can drop down the hole to a tunnel below. Use Cube Switch to blow away the black blocks around you, then go right and collect the Pink Wisp. Use Spike Sonic to roll into the black block-covered vent to the right of the bomb blocks. Follow it to a secret room with tons of rings; above the rings is this Special Ring.
2. Near to the Blue Wisp you use to get Special Ring #1 is another Pink Wisp. Grab it and start climbing the blocks above you using Spike Sonic (collect the Pink Wisps you find along the way to keep yourself charged up). They will eventually end in an area with bomb blocks and the Special Ring sitting on the ceiling; roll up to the ceiling and grab it.
3. From Special Ring #2, go directly right until you reach the shaft that leads down to the exit. You will spot the Special Ring on a ledge above blue blocks/rings. You can either use a Blue Wisp to switch the Blue Coins/Blocks amongst the bomb blocks and use the resulting blocks to wall jump up to the ledge holding this, or just roll your way up there using the Pink Wisp's Spike form.
4. Go into the tunnel where you get the Pink Wisp that lets you access Special Ring #1. Destroy the bomb blocks there and use the bumper underneath them to get launched into the main shaft that leads to the top of the level. Make your way upward and you should find a pair of spike plates blocking access to a button. You need to roll through the plates as Spike Sonic and hit the button, opening a blast door on the right. Go in and you end up in a bomb-filled shaft with this Special Ring in plain sight (roll along the ceiling to grab it out of its nook).
5. Get to the same bomb-filled shaft that has Special Ring #4. This time you need to make your way straight downward, in Spike Sonic form, avoiding the bomb blocks as well as falling to your death (the shaft has no floor). At the very bottom is a set of bomb blocks with a Special Ring underneath them; you need to land on the bomb blocks, use a boost to quickly snag the Special Ring, then jump back to safety before the bombs explode and send you falling to your death.

Info:

1. This level introduces the yellow moving springboard plaforms. Sonic can bounce up and down on these as they travel forward, allowing you to spring to out of reach areas. You can also stomp on them for big height boosts.
2. Later on you'll enter sections of the level where the springboards will carry you over a void. The springboards will match Sonic's forward momentum and make sure to always speed up and catch him if he's moving forward, but will not adjust to catch him if he's going in the opposite direction, nor catch him if he uses a mid-air boost.

S Rank:

1. You'll definately want to collect all five Special Rings here to help you get the S Rank. Start with Special Ring #1, then race to the bottom of the vertical shaft and use a double jump-into-mid air boost to get Special Ring #2.
2. Grab Special Ring #3 and complete the rest of the level, grabbing the last two Special Rings; if you can do the level in around two minutes and 300 rings, you'll get this for sure.

Special Rings:

1. Make your way to the first yellow moving springboard and use it to bounce up to the pull line on the left side of the ledge above you. There's a second springboard there; use it to bounce up to the area with the ring horde at the top of the screen (you'll need to use a stomp to gain enough height).
2. You can get to this in one of two ways; follow the first yellow moving springboard and use it to stomp-bounce up to it before it reaches its stopping point. If you mess up, or if you came from the route where you get Special Ring #1, you'll need to skillfully use a double jump and a mid-air boost from the platform above the grey box next to the stopped springboard onto the ledge it's sitting on.
3. No matter which route you take near the start of the level to go to Special Ring #1 or Special Ring #2, you'll end up in a shaft leading upwards, with a springboard heading up. Follow it and use it to bounce to the three-quarters loop at the top, then run up the loop.
4. After the shaft holding Special Ring #3, you'll head into the auto-scrolling gantlet where you need to bounce on springboards over a void below. After the springboard heads up for the first time, then leftward, you'll see the Special Ring above a row of crumbling platforms; you'll need the springboard to pass underneath the row of platforms, then quickly
5. During the auto-scrolling section, when your springboard heads upward a second time, you'll spot it in plain sight; use stomp-boosted bounces to snag the Special Ring sitting under the floating electrode.

Info:

1. This level has floating green orbs that fire off a ring of sparks that can damage Sonic. The rings of sparks always shoot off in a clockwise pattern, starting at "12 o'clock", so keep this in mind. Otherwise, this level is literally a minute or two long, and very simple and quick.

S Rank:

1. You have to basically nail all five Special Rings. This will require the Nega-Wisp to be unlocked, and this will not be easy as Frenzy Sonic has the worst controls around. Otherwise, once you pull it off, it will be an easy S ranking.

Special Rings:

1. The first one is hidden underneath the second green orb you spot in this level.
2. A little bit after Special Ring #1, the path leads upwards along a wall. You will see a column of rings leading down as well; follow them down and grab the Special Ring at the bottom.
3. Just above where you grab Special Ring #2 is a pesky green orb guarding the exit to the next section; the Special Ring is parked dangerously next to it. Avoid the green sparks flying around, and climb up to it using the first two pull lines. You'll be within jumping range of the Special Ring, however, Sonic has the annoying habit of using a homing strike on the third pull line if he's facing towards it, causing him to accidentally grab it and pull himself to the next area, losing the Special Ring for good (thanks Sonic Team!). That being said, make sure you are facing the other direction when you jump towards the Special Ring.
4. The last two require that you grab the Nega-Wisp by the checkpoint. Run forward and get to the first set of black blocks, then go into Frenzy Mode and chomp your way through the blocks. Frenzy Sonic will suddenly gain a burst of speed, so have him jump before it's too late and onto the next ledge. Keep chomping your way through the black blocks on the upper ledges, taking in more Nega-Wisps as you find them and you will eventually get this Special Ring.
5. The last one is above the level exit and requires that you make it all the way over there from Special Ring #4 as Frenzy Sonic. The best tip for jumping over the gaps as a giant-sized Frenzy Sonic is to press A VERY early as you reach the gap. Frenzy Sonic should by all rights fall through the gap, however, its teeth will strike the black blocks on the other side and pull itself over the gap in this way. This is the trick to making it across these gaps as a giant Frenzy Sonic.

Info:

1. This level unlocks the Green Wisp for use in the rest of the game's levels. They are key in this level for time-saving shortcuts, and there's two main reasons for this. One is that you can hold A to fly upwards into the air, short-cutting over complicated terrain. The other is that you can use them to "ring boost"; you do this by flying into a trail of rings and pressing B to cause Sonic to immediately follow the trail of rings at high speeds. This is extremely handy; not only does this save Green Wisp energy (Hover Sonic does not lose energy while ring boosting), but you can get huge color bonuses and lots of easy rings for doing so.
2. The lasers spaceship also return on this level; you'll want to speed through their sections using boost, so as to get through it more quickly and with less chances for them to get dangerous with their attacks.
3. The final section requires you to climb a tall tower to the level exit; it's one of the rare areas in the game that's fully 3D platforming, so be careful and try to use the Green Wisp whenever you can to climb higher. Use Hover Sonic to boost into ring trails that will quickly send you to the top.

S Rank:

1. The key is to maximize all the color bonuses you can get from the Green Wisps and Pink Wisps. If you have Hover Sonic boost into a ring trail, you will get 10000 points per second. The level is filled with big scoring opportunities from the Green Wisp.
2. Once you get Special Ring #4, you'll find a Pink Wisp near the launch pads that send you to the tall tower with the level exit. You might be tempted to use it to get the various rings in the areas above Special Ring #4, however, many should avoid risking it. Just maximize your color bonuses from Spike Sonic, then head to the tall tower.
3. Once at the tall tower, kill all the trumpet-blowing robots at the base and a Green Wisp will appear. Use it to boost into a ring trail that leads up to the tower's mid-section for a ton of rings and huge bonus points (if your Green Wisp runs out in mid-air, use homing strikes on the flying enemies to bop your way to the tower). There will be a second Green Wisp close to where you land that will let you get Special Ring #5 and more bonuses.

Special Rings:

1. During the free fall sequence, you can snag it by (carefully) falling through the small ring of spiked balls.
2. After the free fall sequences, you'll be on a stretch of road with lines of robots in your way. Take them out and stop at the first set of bumpers. There's a Pink Wisp nearby and above sitting on some blocks; jump to it and use Spike Sonic to climb the ceiling and roll to the left. You will eventually end up in a floating block maze; find the Special Ring before Spike Sonic's time runs out.
3. After Special Ring #2, make your way upward from the Green Wisp tutorial messages to a ledge with a second Green Wisp and some flying robots to the left. Use this Green Wisp to fly to the left, avoiding the annoying bomb throwing robot above; further to the left will be this Special Ring.
4. From the exact spot where you collect Special Ring #3, fly up and onto the ledge above with all the ring groups on it. Make your way directly to the right (do not climb upward) until you spot a ledge with a button. Press the button and a Green Wisp will appear; collect it. To the right will be a trail of rings, however, do NOT boost into them as Hover Sonic or you will likely miss the Special Ring. Instead, jump into them and turn into Hover Sonic to fly to the right and upward. You'll see the Special Ring above; grab it, then quickly boost into the ring trail so you can get carried to safety before Hover Sonic expires and sends you falling.
5. The level exit atop the giant tower at the end has a trail of rings below it that you can use in Green Wisp form to ring boost to it. If you do so, you will grab this Special Ring as the trail of rings curves around behind the tower.

Info:

1. This level is all about the Green Wisp. From where you start, you are supposed to float your way straight upwards, avoiding all the traps in your way. Note that the Green Wisp form CAN pass through the steel flying robots safely, and can destroy the bomb-throwing robots by touching them, but otherwise can be damaged by falling bombs and spiked balls.
2. Make sure to keep an eye out for ring trails when you are in Green Wisp form; these will be vital ring boost shortcuts to slip past the bomb-throwers and spiked ball gantlets. You can also easily grab a batch of rings as you fly through them by spamming ring boost.
3. To reach the level exit, you must fly upwards through a tight steel robot/bomb-throwing robot gantlet and get enough altitude to reach a group of steel robots; use your homing strike to bop your way amongst them to the level exit located in the nook.

S Rank:

1. Ignore Special Ring #1 as it soaks up too much extra time to get. Charge to the left right at the start of the level and make your way through the spike ball path to Special Ring #2.
2. Go right from Special Ring #2 to the main path and use the Green Wisp to head upwards, using the ring trails as shortcuts around the bomb throwers to the next Green Wisp.
3. Don't touch the button next to the Green Wisp yet. Instead, grab the Wisp, then hit the button, then immediately ring boost on the ring trail to automatically both get Special Ring #4 and slam the button that spawns Special Ring #5. Grab it as well.
4. Now make your way to the level exit and you should have enough, especially if you've been collecting rings without taking any damage (you'll likely have over 500). If you took a couple of hits and are low on rings, you could try getting Special Ring #3 before finishing the level.

Special Rings:

1. At the start of the level, go to the right and through the open gap in the wall. Drop down and use a Green Wisp at the last second, then float leftward underneath where you started the level, along a gantlet of platforms and spiked balls. Make your way to the left to a dead-end with a Special Ring. Grabbing it spawns a Green Wisp, however, do NOT use it yet. You will need to go back through the spiked ball gantlet on foot to its end, then use the Green Wisp to float back up to the gap in the wall you dropped down from.
2. From where you start this level, go left and follow the path until you've reached the end of the road. Use a Green Wisp and float your way to the left to another Green Wisp, then follow the path above you through the spikes and traps till you eventually spot the Special Ring amongst four diamond-shaped groups of rings.
3. Reach the very top of the level where the exit is, then drop down onto the blocks below. Follow the trail of rings as they lead leftward and downward to a pit with grey blocks you can stomp through. The Special Ring is nearby; use wall jumps to snag it.
4. From Special Ring #2, go right, bouncing along the steel flying robots, until you get back on the main path leading upwards. Grab a Green Wisp and head upwards, using the ring trails to move upward quickly past the bomb-throwing robots. Up top, you will find the next Green Wisp and a button mounted on the right side of one of the blocks. Trigger the button to make a ring trail, then quickly ring boost on this trail to speed through a gantlet of spiked balls, grabbing a Special Ring along the way. Be quick as this ring trail will shortly disappear after the button is pressed.
5. After grabbing Special Ring #4, progress upwards until you get to a point where there's a pesky bomb-throwing wall-mounted robot guarding an overhang along the main path. There's a button on the bottom-side of the overhang the wall-mounted robot is clinging to; ram it while in Green Wisp form and a group of items will appear above and to the left, underneath a spike-covered ceiling. If you were fast enough while grabbing Special Ring #4, the ring trail will automatically send you into this button without you having to find it. Anyway, carefully float up and grab the goodies, one of them a Special Ring.

BOSS:

1. You'll be chasing this boss down in "quick step mode". The machine gun fire it fires out is extremely easy to dodge using a simple quick step, however, the real goal is to hold up on the analog so that Sonic closes the gap quickly, putting you in range of damaging it (otherwise, this boss fight takes forever).
2. Once you are in range, spam homing strikes on the boss to damage it. After a chunk of the boss is destroyed, it will dump a bunch of crates that will contain rings, Wisps, or a spike ball (avoid the latter).
3. Occasionally the camera will swing into a 2D view and you will need to dodge spark balls fired at you (along with any spike balls falling out of crates). Don't get too hop-happy; just dodge when you need to, otherwise, damaging it remains the same; run up to it and smack it with homing strikes. After enough damage all around, the boss will go down.

S Rank:

1. You must be constantly speeding towards the boss and grabbing the Cyan Wisps that fall out of the crates. Once you got a Cyan Wisp, immediately use it and aim for the red eye in the center of the boss (it's on the center structure in between the two blimps). This will do massive damage to it, saving you loads of time.
2. You will also need to grab around 100 rings. Collect them from the crates and avoid the spike balls. Also, every time you first damage the boss, it will always drop a pair of crates, one of them holding valuable 10-point rings, so make sure to snag these.

Info:

1. Lots of introductions here. First is the multitude of underwater sections; these will introduce you to all the aspects of underwater play in Sonic Colors. Get used Sonic's controls underwater; he is slower and much floatier (than usual...) and can swim by mashing A. Boosting and stomping/sliding still work (assuming he still has energy for the former).
2. Sonic has a limited amount of air underwater; if he starts running low, a countdown starts, and if it hits zero, he drowns. You must either surface periodically or find air bubbles that generate from air pockets and touch them to refill your air supply. You can touch air bubbles however you wish, including boosting and stomping into them.
3. Enemies are a real pest underwater. They are fast, plentiful, often respawn soon after being killed, and the camera tends to be too tight on Sonic to let you react fast enough to them. Try to always be swimming at all times; Sonic "swims" in spinball-form, meaning that the enemies will likely die crashing into him. Stomps and boosts will also kill them.
4. Yellow Wisps are plentiful in the underwater areas and Drill Sonic functions just as well as a torpedo as a drill. Try to use Drill Sonic to get around underwater wherever possible.

S Rank:

1. The point threshold for S Rank is ridiculous, some 2.5 million points. The level gives you tons of Yellow Wisps, however, even spamming them until they run out of color bonuses won't give you enough. You'll want to beat the level in around 5 minutes, with over 700 rings, and at least three or four Special Rings to ensure you make S Rank.
2. The level gives you quite a few Cyan Wisps and you should maximize their bonuses whenever you can. For example, if you grab the Cyan Wisp on the quick step section at the start of the level, you can rebound Sonic into the laser shortcut in the area with the samurai robots for 20000+ points. Doing this will also land you next to another Cyan Wisp; you can have Sonic drop down the tight shaft in front of him and then fire Laser Sonic halfway down for huge color bonuses as he refracts around the walls.

Special Rings:

1. It's located near the start of the level, in the area where they introduce the samurai robots, and there's several ways to get to it. If you used the laser shortcut, just hop backwards from where you land to get vaulted into it via hoops, otherwise, search for bumpers below and snag it.
2. This one is in the first deep underwater section; it can be pretty tough to find as it's vast and deep down there. From where you find the Yellow Wisp tutorial message (regarding underwater travel as Drill Sonic), go right until you hit a wall, then go down, then right again at the first opportunity. It will be to the right of a circle of rings surrounding a spike ball, sitting on a ledge next to a wall.
3. Special Ring #3 is in a secret room with a few ways to access it; this route is the simplest and will let you rack up the most color bonuses and rings along the way. As Drill Sonic, from where you get Special Ring #2, go straight down and follow the bottom of the ocean floor to the right. Depending on how exactly you travel the bottom, you may need to climb up and over a structure with pull lines, then progress downward again; you should be collecting plenty of Yellow Wisps and rings if you are going the right way. At any rate, if you stay near the bottom of the deep as you travel right, you will eventually encounter a black block wall you can drill through, However, do NOT do so, instead, go straight up from the wall and look for a pipe above to enter as Drill Sonic, just above the black block wall. It will take you into an aquarium with a giant jellyfish. Collect the rings if you wish, then exit via the pipe in the upper right corner. You will get a Special Ring as you leave.
4. As with the other Special Rings, there's plenty of ways to reach it, but this is the simplest. Instead of exploring the deep underwater sections, stay on dry land throughout the level. You know you are going the right way if you have to slide under an overhang wall. Make sure you have a Cyan Wisp with you as you do; if you continue going the right way, you'll find crab robots shooting homing missiles, and there's a Cyan Wisp for the pickings near them. At any rate, you will come across a long elevator leading down; ride it down to the bottom, killing all the enemies in your way. At the bottom, once the elevator stops, go all the way to the left to hit a button to make a trail of rings appear, and the blocks above to shift to the right a bit. Now fire Laser Sonic so that he banks through the corridor the blocks into the laser crystal near them; you will collect all the rings plus a Special Ring if you hit the crystal.
5. The last Special Ring is in the final underwater area around the level exit, in a secret air-filled room in the lower left. As Drill Sonic, swim to the lower left corner and then upwards underneath the Special Ring; once you surface, Sonic will go flying into the air, with enough height to reach the Special Ring. You must hit the surface as Drill Sonic as he will have enough momentum to reach it.

Info:

1. Another brief, very straightforward level. There's loads of blue blocks/rings you can affect with the Blue Wisp. Mess about with them if you like, otherwise, you can simply head straight to the exit, killing any samurai robots in your way.
2. The ferris wheel platforms make a return here, and they are often guarded by samurai robots. Homing strikes take them out just fine, however, if you haven't noticed, the shockwave Cube Sonic makes when he uses Cube Switch will kill all robots on screen; it's a handy way of getting rid of these enemies. The same shockwave will also smash any black blocks in sight.

S Rank:

1. You only need 600000 points for an S Rank. Try to collect all the Special Rings, including Special Ring #5. If you miss Special Ring #5, you can still get it if you smashed a lot of the black blocks using Cube Sonic's shockwave, and have a completion time of 1:45 and 120 or so rings.
2. You can also get a Slam bonus in the first section. Make your way to Special Ring #2, then quickly climb up to the ledge above it with the three robots sitting on the black blocks. Kill them all with one shockwave from Cube Sonic for a Slam bonus.

Special Rings:

1. In plain sight in the first section, just after the Blue Wisp.
2. From where you get Special Ring #1, use a Blue Wisp to turn the blue rings below to blocks. Follow the blocks to the left to Special Ring #2, underneath the ledge with the three robots and black blocks.
3. In plain sight in the second section, in between two of the ferris wheel platforms.
4. In plain sight of the level exit, above the five-limbed ferris wheel platform.
5. You must move very fast and skillfully to get this one. At the start of the second section, past the first group of ferris wheels, are three rows of blue blocks and rings. Grab the Blue Wisp and Cube Switch them so that Sonic can run across the middle row to a tiny platform. Get on that platform and switch blocks/rings again so that you can climb on the two blue blocks high above. Do so and jump into the rings above you to get warped to a set of ferris wheels above. Grab the Blue Wisp there and Cube Switch the row of blue rings ahead to blocks; now you must really be moving fast at this point. Boost across the blocks and jump the gap so that you land on a pair of blue blocks sitting against a wall of black blocks, with a pair of blue rings underneath them. Stand on the blue blocks and use another Cube Switch; Sonic should smash all the black blocks aside while landing safely on the rings-turned-blocks. Move forward past the destroyed black block wall and you should find a similar pair of blue blocks sitting on blue rings. Once again, use Cube Switch while standing on the pair of blue blocks to shift all the rings ahead to blocks while landing safely on some new blocks yourself. Now very quickly hop along the last set of blue blocks and you should see Special Ring #5; you should just have barely enough time to grab it before Cube Sonic's energy runs out.

Info:

1. We're now back to water levels, although if you wish to simply beat the level, you hardly need to go into the water. The underwater areas mostly just contain Orange Wisp you can use to blast off for goodies.

S Rank:

1. The S Rank requirement is extremely large for this, some 2 million points I believe. You must blast off with every Orange Wisp possible, collect every Special Ring, complete it in around 4:30 and have close to 900 or more rings.
2. One big help here is if you unlocked the Nega-Wisp. If so, you can rack up mad color bonuses and rings in the last section. The key is to quickly eat as many blocks as possible to make Frenzy Sonic grow large asap; not only does this make him easier to control, it makes it easier to reach objects to eat (including other Nega-Wisps) and he starts attracting rings like a magnet to him the larger he grows.
3. You can also get an easy Slam bonus if you take out the four robots guarding the level exit

Special Rings:

1. Drop down into the water from the start of the level and look for Orange Wisps below. Use any one of them to get launched into a spike ball gantlet you will freefall through. At the bottom of the gantlet is this Special Ring.
2. From Special Ring #1, go down underwater and travel the sea floor to the right, using any air bubbles and pull lines you find. You will eventually drop/be pushed down into another sea trench and find a harmless angler fish swimming around; nearby is an Orange Wisp. Grab it and blast off up the ring column above and freefall through the corridor of spike balls to find a Special Ring at the end of it.
3. Right after you grab Special Ring #2, you should land on one a few floating platforms. Hop along the platforms to the left as far as you can go, then drop down. You should land near a checkpoint. Now make your way towards the right, hopping along another set of platforms with rings between them. When you hit water again, dive in, and look for an Orange Wisp near a tube. Grab it and blast off up the trio of ring columns to the right. You'll freefall through another spike gantlet and another Special Ring.
4. After getting Special Ring #3, you'll land on a grind rail. Follow it until it ends, then go to the left underneath it into the water. Look for yet another Orange Wisp and yet another ring column to blast off into yet another spike gantlet for this Special Ring.
5. The final section of the level sees you riding down a long elevator past black blocks and various robots. If you have the Nega-Wisp unlocked, you can destroy them all and find a Special Ring inside one of the groups of black blocks.

Info:

1. This level is unique in that it has a mini-boss, of sorts. At the end of the level, a giant crab-like robot will chase after Sonic. If its fist glows purple, you must boost immediately to avoid getting punched. If Sonic puts enough distance ahead of it, two of the top three lights on the mini-boss will glow and then fire lasers. You must quick step to the middle or sides of the track to avoid the lasers. After running from it long enough, it will crash and die on its own. You will need to ration your boosts if you are low on boosts or respawning from the checkpoint as they give you a limited amount of White Wisps to work with.
2. The level is otherwise one big water level. Just use the Yellow Wisps to cruise through it. The waters are filled with robot fish, so watch out for them. There are also annoying "torpedo robots" that will injure Drill Sonic if he collides with them from the front, so watch for them and avoid them if an incoming collision is imminent.

S Rank:

1. Just spam the dozens upon dozens of Yellow Wisps to get an instant S Rank as you beat the level. The time to beat this level is very generous. You may want to finish with an extra 100-200 rings and one or two Special Rings, as well as get in a few color bonuses using the Cyan Wisps.

Special Rings:

1. Right at the very start of the level, go left. Unlike most levels, you'll find a whole new area to explore to the left of where you start. The Special Ring is on the leftmost shore of this area.
2. This one is very tricky to get. Progress through the level until you get to the first checkpoint. Dive into the water and explore the ocean floor to the right until you find a long ledge with a Yellow Wisp and a Cyan Wisp. Grab the Cyan Wisp and swim straight up. There's a group of laser crystals here; fire into them to land in a new watery area, and swim to the right to dry land. You will encounter an overhang wall; ignore it and use the flagpole on it to climb up to another area with a bunch of rings and a Cyan Wisp. Grab it and go forward until you find a bunch of floating blocks and a couple 10-point rings. You want to fire Laser Sonic so that he banks off a block into the closest 10-point ring; if aimed correctly, he will land safely on another ledge with a Cyan Wisp. From there, fire Laser Sonic so that he will once again bank towards the next closest 10-point ring, and you should land safely on another platform with a Cyan Wisp. The Special Ring will finally be in sight, but you'll have to make a perfect shot with Laser Sonic to rebound off the floating blocks right into it, and there's no marker to help you. What you want to do is fire Laser Sonic so that he banks off the right side of the underside of the lone block floating highest above the group; this should send Laser Sonic dead center into the Special Ring. It's possible to get that Special Ring using other methods, but this is the simplest if you know where to aim.
3. There are a few way to get to this Special Ring. From the overhang wall you climb up to get to the Cyan Ring for Special Ring #2, you can jump into the water to the left and use Drill Sonic to enter the tube just underneath the water's surface. You can also slide under the overhang wall and follow it a small pool you can dive into, or reach the same pool by getting Special Ring #2. Whichever route you choose, get into said small pool and follow the underwater tunnel to the left to reach the Special Ring at the dead-end.
4. After getting through the first large underwater section, you will follow a road into the next underwater section, which takes place in a giant undersea city with spike balls and hopping fish robots on the surface and schools of fish robots patrolling below. As Drill Sonic, hug the aquarium floor below until you spot a chasm leading down; follow it into a tube to end up in a secret area with the Special Ring sitting inside a circle of regular rings.
5. No matter how you cross the giant undersea city, you'll end up in a hallway with a water fountain you must hop on to get launched into a shaft leading down to the mini-boss. Halfway down, you'll see the Special Ring, trapped by blocks; you must shoot through the black blocks above the Special Ring using the Cyan Laser. If you need a Cyan Wisp, you can jump down into the water in front of the water fountain to find one sitting there.

Info:

1. The yellow springboard devices make their return. This time, the course is much tougher, with crumbling ledges and bomb blocks everywhere.
2. In the horizontal scroll sections, the bomb blocks will often get in your way (or double as stepping stones to higher areas). During the vertical scroll sections, trigger the bomb blocks as soon as they appear so that they explode before they can crowd around you.
3. The section section of the level will also have strange energy balls falling from the sky; they come in a set pattern, so plan your moves accordingly.

S Rank:

1. Get all the Special Rings (they are in plain sight), and beat the level in around 2:00 and close to 300 rings and you will get S Rank.

Special Rings:

1. All of this level's Special Rings are in plain sight; you'll just need the skill to get them. For the first one, you need to jump onto the row of bomb blocks, then double jump onto the crumbling ledges with the Special Ring.
2. For the second Special Ring, you'll need to either anticipate it and jump onto the ledge to the left and punt the movable block out of the way, or go underneath it using the springboard and high jump to it, then jump to back to your springboard before it leaves without you.
3. Follow these steps to get the third and fourth Special Rings. At the first checkpoint, ride the springboard until you spot your first group of bomb blocks high in the air. Jump into the bomb blocks and wait on the crumbling platform to the left of them. When the bombs are about to blow, jump away from the platform to the left to avoid the explosion, then mid-air jump back to the crumbling ledge. Now jump to Special Ring #3 and then jump again in mid-air onto the next set of bomb blocks. Run along the groups of bomb blocks, scoring a ton of rings, and eventually Special Ring #4.
4. See above
5. The last Special Ring is during the vertical scroll section. Try to trigger each batch of bomb blocks as soon as they scroll onto screen; not only will this ensure they detonate away from you, but you will also be able to access Special Ring #5 as one group of bomb blocks is encircling it.

Info:

1. More of the same underwater gameplay. There are a couple of new features; one of them are friendly schools of red fish that cling to Sonic. Sonic cannot drown while the red fish cling to him; they will also take a hit for them if any enemy strikes him.
2. The other new feature are the giant moray eels that bite at Sonic. They are completely invincible and will damage even Drill Sonic, so steer clear of them.
3. This level is otherwise unique for the "Green Wisp secret route". This is found after the first checkpoint; play until you spot the first Green Wisp in the level. Nearby is a open pagoda window you can bounce into using a nearby bumper set. Inside is a secret checkpoint where you can rack up huge rings and bonuses using Hover Sonic.

S Rank:

1. Make absolutely sure find the secret area with the Green Wisps. To reach it, play your way to the first checkpoint and up to the first Green Wisp. Instead of flying upward using the Green Wisp, use the nearby bumper to vault Sonic into the window on the right for a secret route and an alternate second checkpoint. If you can get through the Green Wisp gantlet to the other side of this area, you will be drowning in bonus points and rings. It's probably a good idea to skip Special Ring #3 in exchange for the massive ring bounty you get by doing the Green Wisp secret route normally.

Special Rings:

1. It's in the first section of the level, but it may be difficult to find due to the maze-like nature of this area of the level. Begin by running straight ahead from the start, sinking into the water until you hit the ocean floor. When you find a ledge above you, jump onto it, and follow it to a bumper that will vault you up and to the right. Keep swimming up through a school of robot fish and you should find a Yellow Wisp. Grab it and torpedo along to the right, progressing until you are forced to go up or down. Go up and look for a block on your right you can drill through. Do so and keep going to the right into a tube. From where you exit the tube, go left and downward, then make another left at the first opportunity. You should spot the Special Ring sitting in front of a pair of fans; normally you must collect it as Drill Sonic, however, it is possible to collect it as regular Sonic, but just barely, if you swim towards it during the brief moments the fans shut off.
2. If you are proceeding along the normal course from the second checkpoint (i.e. you skipped the Green Wisp secret route), you will automatically get this during the aerial stunt sequence.
3. This one is very tricky, and you will need boost power. First, you must get to the secret checkpoint that begins the Green Wisp secret route (again, use the bumpers to jump into the window near the first Green Wisp). Next, grab the Green Wisp next to the secret checkpoint, and dash up the column of rings, then onto the trail of rings in front of the two samurai robots. This will give Hover Sonic enough distance to fly through a hole in the ceiling ahead; fly as high as you can until Hover runs out of energy, then mid-air boost to the ledge ahead to land on a platform with pots. Climb up using the pull line and make your way across the platforms and the massive shower of enemies using Green Wisps to reach the Special Ring at the end.
4. Normally you get this by getting through the Green Wisp secret route; at the end of that route is a bumper that will launch you into a freefall sequence. As you drift down, look for a ledge with a launch pad you can land on. It will send you into a zip line that drops you off at the main path and with a free Special Ring. However, you can also just play through the course normally, use the nearby bumpers to climb up to the ledge near the Special Ring, then double jump to it (the camera angle will this harder than it should be, but not impossible).
5. It's below in a nook behind the level exit; watch out for the giant moray eels.

BOSS:

1. This is somewhat of a retread of the Sweet Mountain boss. You go through a brief obstacle course, and then attack the real boss when he appears. There are three major differences though. The first is that this battle takes place entirely underwater, which means you'll constantly have to worry about air supply; memorize the location of those air bubbles.
2. The second difference is that instead of cannonballs to dodge, you will be dodging homing torpedoes instead. These are explosive to the touch and will pursue you relentlessly, and tend to be much faster chasing you from below than from the sides, so keep that in mind and mash the swim button furiously to keep ahead of them. Note the glass bubbles floating in the water; you can get a torpedo to crash into them for free rings.
3. Finally, unlike before, you can't just simply homing strike the switch at the end of the obstacle course as it's protected by a glass shield. You must get a torpedo to crash into it to destroy the glass shield, then stomp or swim into the exposed switch. This won't be easy as there's giant rockets that fire from out of the floor, getting in your way. You'll have to lead the torpedoes through the rocket gantlets into the glass shield (they will make the glass shield a target priority if they get close enough).
4. Once you've hit the switch, you will take on the boss himself. He will chase you around the arena, stopping to hum a tune and look through his periscope. That's your cue to swim into him or hit him with a stomp. You otherwise cannot touch him while he's swimming around. Three hits will take him out; you'll need to repeat this one more time to win.

S Rank:

1. Like with the Sweet Mountain boss, there's a hidden Yellow Wisp on each version of the obstacle course, and it's in the same location each time. Just progress to the second set of torpedo launchers, and wait for the first white torpedo launched from the center launcher to crash into an object; you'll automatically get a Yellow Wisp no matter how far away you are (if the torpedo hits Sonic, you will get nothing and will need to wait for another white torpedo to be launched).
2. Once you reach the boss arena, cruise around as Drill Sonic to rack up the bonus points and then take out the boss in one hit with Drill Sonic's ram attack; you can hit the boss even if he's not humming. The only problem though is that this boss is smart enough to swim the hell away from you when you are in Drill Sonic form, so you may have trouble striking him with it. If you can rack up enough Yellow Wisp color bonuses and beat the boss in under 3 minutes, you will get S Rank.

Info:

1. You will unlock the Nega-Wisp in this, the first level of Asteroid Coaster. It will turn Sonic into the "Frenzy Form", which lets him chew through everything in his path. The more he eats, the larger he grows and the slower he moves. Frenzy Form can also destroy the otherwise indestructible black boxes that proliferate this game's levels.
2. This level also introduces roller coasters that Sonic can ride in. You can jump while inside a roller coaster, and will often need to to reach rings and other items you will pass by, as well as ball out of roller coasters if they are going to crash. Often a second roller coaster will be riding along side you and you will need to jump between the two.
3. Finally, watch for the gravity-switching areas. In these, the gravity will reverse depending on where in the area you are standing. There doesn't seem to be any cue as to where the gravity reverses (other than the moving platforms), so move carefully.

S Rank:

1. You don't need much to get an S Rank for this one. Try to score under 4 minutes, get over 120 rings and collect at least Special Ring #4 and #5, and you should get it (you can skip the other Special Rings).

Special Rings:

1. Once you reach the Nega-Wisp tutorial message, eat your way through the blue cylinders to the very end of the road. Devour through the cylinders on the right-hand side corner to uncover a bumper that will launch Sonic to a zip line. Ride the zip line and use boost at the end of the ramp to launch Sonic up to the Special Ring at the top.
2. After getting the first Special Ring, you'll end up on another set of roller coasters. Ride them and watch for a set of red hoops above you you can jump into. Do so and you will end up in an area with some fans. Ride the fans upward to another area and carefully hop your way through the ring-filled platforms ahead to a set of launch ramps; take the middle launch ramp to get flung into the Special Ring.
3. After getting through the second section via the second roller coaster track, you have a choices of three launch ramps that will launch you into an asteroid field you must use homing strikes to navigate through. Hit the right-most launch ramp and aim your homing strikes for the right most asteroid trail; if done correctly, you should wind up landing on the rings of a small planet where you can collect this Special Ring before being blasted back onto the main path.
4. Once you reach the area with the moving elevators and the gravity switches between normal and reverse, make your way to the end and ride the last set of elevators upwards. You will spot the Special Ring above; jump into it to snag it.
5. When you land on the final planetoid that holds the level exit, ignore the exit and drop down the sides of the planetoid to find a ring circling its hemisphere. Grab a Nega-Wisp and look for a pile of black blocks sitting on the edge of the ring; destroy them and you will find a bumper that launches you up to a zip line. Homing strike the zip line to ride it, then use another homing strike to snag a second zip line that will net you the Special Ring and lead you back to the level exit.

Info:

1. This level introduces the annoying wall trap. There are two variants of them; one are the glowing-blue wall panels. If Sonic lands on the platform in front of it, it will glow red, then extend, killing Sonic if he's in the way. Note that the traps for these are only triggered if you actually step on the platform, not if you simply cross it, so keep that in mind and use double jumps and boosts to skip platforms or buy yourself some time before you are forced to touch it.
2. The other wall trap variant are those that simply extend and retract on their own. They are chiefly used in the "wall trap maze", an annoying section where gravity reverses for no real reason at times and you must weave your way through extending and retracting wall traps. To get through the first section of the wall trap maze, make your way right, then downwards until gravity resets to normal, then follow the path to the right and out. For the second section, just follow the trails of rings and enemies, jumping ahead to the next retracted wall trap.
3. One thing to remember about the wall traps; Sonic can climb on them when they are extended. This is useful in the wall trap maze for reaching Special Rings and shortcutting.
4. Finally, there's also the yellow disappearing platforms. You may already know of these from Game Zone; they disappear a few seconds after you touch them, then reappear again a few seconds later.

S Rank:

1. Maximize the point gains from using the Nega-Wisps. There's two sections with them, one at the start and another right before the wall trap maze. Killing all the warrior robots nearby the Nega-Wisps with one go using Frenzy Sonic will get you Slam bonuses as well. Before heading into the wall trap maze, you may want to take time out to destroy all the blue cylinders as Frenzy Sonic for more bonus points.

Special Rings:

1. Once you reach the first set of wall trap platforms, look for a yellow disappearing platform beneath them. Jump on it, then homing strike towards an off-screen target to the right (Sonic should target it if you jump close enough towards it). This will send Sonic into a bumper sequence, getting a Special Ring in the process.
2. As you progress past where you got Special Ring #1, you will spot a yellow disappearing platform in a divot in the floor. Step on it and travel down the series of platforms an disappearing platforms to a Special Ring at the bottom.
3. After getting through the sequence where you eat through the blue cylinders as Frenzy Sonic, you will hit a big bumper to get launched up to the next section. The Special Ring is high above the bumper; you need simply to collect it as you travel up from getting launched by the bumper.
4. In the first section of the wall trap maze, before taking the elevator that leads down to the corridor with the last checkpoint, go left until gravity reverses again, then follow the reversed gravity through the disappearing platforms and warrior robots until you find the Special Ring.
5. After the last checkpoint, drop down into the final wall trap maze. Make your way "upwards" as far as you can go (actually downwards as the gravity is reversed) to a ledge, then look to the right from the ledge for a length-wise wall trap you can jump onto as it extends. Do so, then jump further to the right into a Special Ring floating in mid-air.

Info:

1. This is one odd level. You are given no rings (at least until later), and must make your way to a yellow moving springboard gantlet, where you must avoid wall traps and spikes below. At the end of the gantlet is a button you press that will spawn a Pink Wisp and a Blue Wisp; use these to double back to the chamber with the level exit and enter it however you can.
2. To get through the springboard gantlet, stomp the springboard to give you enough height and distance to avoid the wall traps. The later sets of wall traps have several lined up in a row; you'll need to either be quick or stomp the springboard at the last second so that you are vaulted over the wall traps just as they start extending, landing Sonic safely on top of them.

S Rank:

1. Follow these steps to get an S Rank; you'll need to move ultra-fast as the timer expires very quickly here. Start by hurrying over to the springboard gantlet. Make sure to kill all the enemies on the way; a gunner robot will drop valuable White Wisps after it's killed.
2. As you cross through the springboard gantlet, use a stomp-boosted jump to reach Special Ring #5 in mid-air. At the last set of wall traps, stomp-boost jump into the center of them to trigger them, then stomp again into the air and mid-air boost to safety to the platforms with the button.
3. Step on the button to trigger the Pink and Blue Wisps. Ignore the Blue Wisp and grab the Pink Wisp. Use it to climb the wall to the ceiling and make your way to Special Ring #4. Get Special Ring #5 too if you missed it.
4. Go back to the Pink Wisp by the button, recharge, and boost across the spike bed below, racking up the blue rings along the way. Continue back to the checkpoint.
5. Go down the shaft to the left of the checkpoint back to the level exit chamber. Clean the shaft out of 10-point rings and black blocks.
6. By now the Pink Wisp will run out of energy. Get the nearby Blue Wisp before it does, then use it to reach Special Ring #2. Do NOT grab any of the horizontal blue rings, just get the blue rings that prevent you otherwise from reaching Special Ring #2.
7. Soon after, the Blue Wisp will expire. Jump onto the horizontal row of blue blocks and get the Pink Wisp (the black blocks around it should be gone thanks to the Cube Switching you did). Boost along the blue blocks, grabbing Special Ring #1 along the way.
8. Jump onto the wall opposite of Special Ring #1 and boost along it into the ceiling and the ring-filled shafts that lead down to Special Ring #3. Grab it and head into the level exit before time expires.

Special Rings:

1. It's in the shaft that leads down from the level start to the level exit chamber. It's on a small spike bed and you must use Spike Sonic to grab it.
2. It's in the black blocks to the right and just below the level exit. Use Cube Sonic to change the obstructing blue blocks to rings, then destroy all the black blocks and enemies in your way until you find it.
3. This one is right behind the level exit. You need to use Spike Sonic to climb up the shaft holding Special Ring #2, then roll past where you started the level, then downward and burrow through the black blocks to reach it.
4. After getting through the springboard gantlet, hit the button to trigger the Pink Wisps and Blue Wisps. Use the Pink Wisp to climb the ceiling and follow it to a secret area with a 1-Up and a Special Ring.
5. This is actually the very first Special Ring you can collect. During the yellow springboard bit, you will spot this one above the third set of wall traps. There's any number of ways to get this, but the best is to just stomp the springboard and high jump up to it. If you miss it, you can still use Spike Sonic to simply climb the ceilings and grab it.

Info:

1. Laughably easy and short level. It's basically one brief quick step section that takes place on a ring around a planet. Kill the lady bug robots as you run around the ring and look for a button on the far right that you can press. This will spawn the level exit in the center of the ring.

S Rank:

1. You'll need to beat 600000 points; not a problem. Rack up the quick step bonuses, kill as many of the lady bugs as you can, collect all the Special Rings, 60 or so rings, and do it all in 1:20 and you will get this.

Special Rings:

1. The first four Special Rings can be found in plain sight as you race around the ring; if you miss one, just wait for it to reappear as you continue your loop around the ring.
2. See above.
3. See above.
4. See above.
5. The last Special Ring will appear only after you step on the button to trigger the level exit; it will appear along with the loads of new rings on the track. As with the above, if you miss it, try for it again on the next loop.

Info:

1. Yet another ultra-brief level. Guess they were hitting deadlines at this point. The hot bars make a return, and later on they show up in a mini-maze of sorts. Just make your way to the bottom of the maze and use the Nega-Wisp you find there to bulldoze all the black blocks out of the way; this will make the level exit appear.

S Rank:

1. Once you reach the first Cyan Wisp in this level (the one you are required to use to refract up the robot-filled shaft to the checkpoint), spam the heck out of it. It respawns after each use, and firing Sonic up the shaft gets you around 40000 points or so each shot. Other than that, make sure to grab the Special Rings and make the most of the Nega-Wisps (you can get a Slam bonus for the second Nega-Wisp if you kill all the warrior robots with it).

Special Rings:

1. It's above the first Nega Wisp you can get in this level (to the left of the third rotating hot bar you find). To reach it, you must jump on the nearby warrior robot to get propelled up into the air. If you've already killed him, you must make a perfect double jump using the black blocks near the Nega Wisp to the very lip of the wall above and to the right, so that Sonic wall jumps off it onto the ledge with the Special Ring. Remember to hold A as long as you can to increase the maximum height of your jump.
2. Grab the Nega-Wisp near Special Ring #1 and smash apart all the black blocks on your way to the first Cyan Wisp. It will be underneath one of the blocks.
3. To the right and a bit above from the checkpoint is a button to move the nearby hot bars and a Cyan Wisp. Fire Laser Sonic so that he banks up the shaft above and to the left of the Cyan Wisp and you should grab a Special Ring.
4. Special Ring #4 is in the hot bar maze, in the upper right corner. There's several ways to get to it, but the easiest (if you are a good wall jumper, that is) is to wall jump up to the Cyan Wisp above the Nega-Wisp you use to smash up the black blocks and free up the level exit. From there, you can wall jump to Special Ring #4; just be careful to pull back on the analog if it will look like you'll collide with the hot bars above you.
5. Get to Special Ring #4's location with a Cyan Wisp, then jump down and fire Laser Sonic in mid-air so that he is pointing straight at the black blocks on top of the platform ahead. Laser Sonic should burrow through the line of black blocks into the Special Ring at the end.

Info:

1. This level is unique for having a real mini-boss, and not anything like the pseudo-boss from Act 6 Aquarium Park, but a real boss you must defeat to continue. It's an eyeball-like robot that generates a gravity field around it and has spinning shield plates in front of it. To defeat it, enter its gravity field and homing strike at it when its shields plates are not blocking it from Sonic (otherwise you will take damage). Three hits and it will go down.
2. Aside from the mini-boss, the level includes a roller coaster maze (jump into the hoops above you any time you see a warning message) and some tomfoolery with the Nega-Wisps again (nothing new you haven't seen before).

S Rank:

1. Try to boost up your score in the last Nega-Wisp segment (before you reach the mini-boss) by racing around the area as Frenzy Sonic; the Nega-Wisps respawn here and you cannot fall down, so spam away. You'll also want to get all the Special Rings, and beat the level in under 5 minutes and with 100+ rings to ensure an S Rank.

Special Rings:

1. It's hidden deep in the roller coaster maze. To get to it, follow these steps. Ride the first roller coaster until you spot the first set of hoops. Jump into them to get vaulted onto another roller coaster. Now STAY on this roller coaster even as it heads downward; the roller coaster will run under a hidden set of hoops below before it falls, so jump into them. These hoops will launch you towards an asteroid field; make your way straight through the middle using homing strikes on the asteroids until you hit a bumper that launches you onto another roller coaster. This roller coaster will be rolling around the inside track around another planet, then drop down to another set of hoops. Jump into the hoops to get launched into Special Ring #1, then launched into space towards another asteroid and bumper; do whatever it takes to homing strike into the bumper so that you land in the roller coaster that will take you out of the maze.
2. After getting through the roller coasters and the shafts with the platforms that push you into spikes, you'll end up in a "water field" with spikes and fans inside it. Just swim through the water field to the right (it's not hard to avoid the spikes) to get the Special Ring on the other side.
3. In the second aquatic tunnel, use the Nega-Wisp before it to smash all the black blocks; the blocks near the giant robot fish will give up a Special Ring.
4. Right after getting Special Ring #3, you'll free fall into a cavern with tons of caterpillar robots and bomb throwing robots firing shots at you. Grab the Nega-Wisp near where you land from freefall and chew through the group of blue cylinders in front of you. This exposes a bumper that will vault you up to a zip line; ride it to get another Nega-Wisp and land in front of a group of caterpillars and cylinders. Use the second Nega-Wisp and eat through them all to uncover a Special Ring.
5. After the last segment with the Nega-Wisp, you'll free fall down to the mini-boss. On the way down you'll find this Special Ring, to the left.

BOSS:

1. This boss is a rehash of the Starlight Carnival boss, right down to the light road you run around on. He has a one unique trick though, described below. Otherwise, the same exact tactics will work.
2. This boss' unique gimmick is his various warp attacks. First, he will periodically disappear in a warp after taking enough damage, then the camera pans around to 2D view, the another warp opens and dumps asteroids on you. You'll want to position Sonic in the center of the road so he avoids most of the asteroids, and have him adjust to avoid any asteroid that might clip him. After this, the boss will swoop by for a strafing run you can easily avoid by just walking from left to right, after which, the scene returns to quick step mode where he lets loose one last shower of meteors (use homing strike to smash through any that come close to Sonic) before resuming his normal attacks.
3. You can cut short his warp attacks if you are fortunate enough to pick up an Orange Wisp whenever he drops a load of crates. When he tries for the strafing run after the asteroid warp attack, fire Rocket Sonic into his cargo bay for huge damage and a massive amount of bonus points.

S Rank:

1. As with the Starlight Carnival boss, you want to collect the special Wisps from the crates (In this case, Orange Wisps) for huge bonuses and to cut the fight short. Follow these steps for S Rank. You'll also want to beat this in under 2 minutes and over 120 rings.
2. As the start of the fight, race to the boss and destroy either one of the machine guns. This will always cause him to drop an Orange Wisp. Collect it, then run up to him again and destroy an engine.
3. The boss will start his warp attacks; dodge the asteroids and when he appears for a strafing run, blast him with Rocket Sonic for huge points.
4. The boss will dump a massive load of crates, rings, Wisps, and spike balls; avoid the hazards and clean up on the Wisps and rings.
5. Repeat the above pattern; destroy the other machine gun to get it to drop an Orange Wisp, collect it, and destroy another part of it to get it to start another warp attack. Blast it with Rocket Sonic when you get your chance.
6. As it dies, boost to collect as many rings as you can while spamming quick steps for extra points.

Info:

1. This is basically one long quick step level; that's it. The first section has you dealing with laser spaceships; evade them with quick steps as usual. This time there's three of them, and there's steppes in the road later on that may trip Sonic and cause him to get hit.
2. After this comes an extended lady bug robot segment. Deal with them as before. Later on the crab mini-boss from Aquarium Park will join in the fun; you'll have to dodge him as before while avoiding the lady bugs as well. Make sure you save all your boosts for when the crab mini-boss shows up.

S Rank:

1. You'll need around 250 rings or so to get this, so don't get hit! Make double sure to save your boosts for the crab mini-boss; when the lady bugs show up along side him, you may want to consider boosting like mad to stay ahead of them.

FINAL BOSS:

1. This vehicle Eggman is riding in is the final boss in the game. The format is basically a quick step sequence, similar to the bosses of Starlight Carnival and Asteroid Coaster.
2. To defeat Eggman, just approach him and when he runs towards you to use "Frenzy" (described below), just spam the homing attack until Sonic knocks him down. Immediately after knocking him down, hold boost as soon as you land so that Sonic runs forward and crashes into Eggman, delivering even more damage. You will quickly take him out this way (this fight goes on for a long while otherwise).
3. After doing enough damage to Eggman, he will curse at Sonic, then you will be asked to summon your Wisps (R button, for example, if you are using the Classic Controller), then after the animation, do a homing strike when prompted to finish Eggman for good.
4. Meanwhile, Eggman has a slew of attacks for you to dodge as you attack him, based on the various Wisps found throughout the game. He might have more than the other attacks below, though I haven't seen them; if they exist, they're so rare you might as well not worry about them.
5. Cube: this is probably his most annoying attack. He will create a gantlet of deadly cubes for you to dodge. It's possible to jump over them but not very easily. Later on in the level he will make the cube gantlets longer and harder to dodge. When Eggman starts building the cube gantlet, watch carefully where he sets the cubes closest to Sonic, then start dodging from there. Later in the fight, you want to dodge very quickly when you have to as the cube gantlet will move very fast.
6. Spike: not much of a dangerous attack. Eggman will throw two sets of three spike balls down the track; Sonic must jump over them. Jump earlier than you normally would so that Sonic will not land on the second set after hopping over the first. If it looks like you will land on a spike ball, boost to avoid landing on it. Later on in the fight, he will throw three sets of them; the rules for avoiding them are still the same.
7. Laser: his weakest attack. Basically he will sweep a laser across the track, firing it again and again back and forth. Just stand in the center of the track and jump over it. Later in the fight he will start spamming it, firing it faster and faster each time, many times in a row, but dodging it is still not hard to do.
8. Cube Combos: Sometimes Eggman will swoop behind Sonic and use Cube in combination with Laser or Spike. For "Cube Laser", he will set three or more cubes on the ground and fire a laser that will refract between them. It might be just me, but I find that the laser doesn't hurt Sonic unless he's airborne, so just don't jump or touch the cubes. "Cube Spike" however is very annoying. Eggman will create a mini-cube gantlet and send spike balls towards it; the spike balls will roll around the cubes in Sonic's direction. Just concentrate on getting through the cube gantlet and jump over any spike ball rolling towards Sonic's direction.
9. Frenzy: this is your chance to damage him. After doing enough moves (moreso the more you damage him), Eggman will rush towards you, then use Frenzy and start gnashing at Sonic. However, he'll be vulnerable to homing strikes as he runs towards you. This is your chance to damage him; you should be pounding on Eggman long before he has a actual chance to use this move.

S Rank:

1. Just make sure after every time you damage Eggman with the homing strike, you hold boost as soon as you land until you crash into Eggman again. This will not only ensure that you collect all the rings he drops, but he will go flying after Sonic runs into him, taking double damage and dropping more rings. This will kill him in no time, ensuring that you don't have to put up with his worst moves and scoring you loads of rings (if you don't take any hits). Be sure also to rack up as many quick step bonuses as possible.

Info:

1. This level is 35 seconds long and a breeze. Just quick step or jump over the gaps in the floor. When the warning marker appears, be ready to jump over the chasm that appears in your path. When the camera shifts to Sonic's front, the game will end shortly.
2. After beating the game, and watching the ending, you will be treated to a very, very long interactive credits sequence. You can use the Wisps and Sonic's standard moves to destroy the scrolling letters in the credits themselves. After the credits end, you will be awarded six 1-Ups. If you wish to replay the interactive credits again, just visit the glowing rainbow star on the map screen.

S Rank:

1. There's no ranking at all for this level.