Chemical Plant-Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Chemical Plant Zone
Toxic chemicals are being produced in this grimy factory, under the bright lights of the city. A high-speed level, and in fact, the fastest of its time, with long twisting paths and loops. Near the bottom of Act 2 lurks the dangerous pink chemical which acts as water, so tread with care.

Game: Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Stage Number: 2

Level Division: 2 Acts

Boss: End of Act 2

Playable Characters: Sonic & Tails, Sonic, Tails. Knuckles is playable when connecting Sonic 2 to Sonic & Knuckles.

Difficulty Rating: 3

Music: Same music for both acts. Lively and energetic. Effectively captures the fast-paced and technological nature of the zone, and is something of a classic.

Typical Length:

Act 1: Around 1 minute
Act 2: 2-3 minutes

Available Items:

Rings Checkpoints 10 Ring Item Box Shield Item Box Invincibility Item Box Speed-Up Item Box Extra Life Item Box
Act 1 195 3 13 3 2 0 1
Act 2 157 5 14 1 2 0 2

Chemical Plant Zone Downloads:

Level Maps: Act 1 map (.png)
Act 2 map (.png)
Art: Official badnik art (.jpg)
Unofficial level artwork for Zone: 0 (.jpg)
By artist Ricky Earl
Top Tips
- This is a fairly straightforward, fun stage, until you get to the lower regions of Act 2. This is a speedy level, but you need to be careful when dealing with that long pool of pink chemicals along the bottom. Look before you leap across it, and just take extra care when travelling along moving platforms or ones that regularly disappear. If you're inexperienced, take them slowly and don't rush, because there's usually instant death awaiting at the bottom of these pools.
Artwork by Ricky Earl, for Zone: 0.
Each section of this page allows users to add their own notes to fill in any missing details or supply additional research etc.
View general notes for Chemical Plant Zone (8)
#1. Comment posted by Nicolás on Thursday, 23rd December 2010, 4:57pm (GMT)
I just discovered some interesting glitch. If you take the short cut you mentioned in act 2, after the last zipper there are 4 loops in a row (before falling in a room with 3 item boxes). If you time your jump just right when finishing the first loop (after the long down-hill pipe), you can hoop over the four loops and end up in an otherwise unaccessible "roof" (on top of the third loop). You can then walk all the way to the right, after some point you won't be able to go back (as is usual near the end of any map), and finally drop in a well you can't get out from. I didn't have Knuckles in Sonic 2 to test, but I thought it would be possible to climb the last wall and skip the boss altogether! However, today I got to test knuckles in the emulator, and an "invisible barrier" prevents him from getting on the last loop roof, no matter what...
#2. Comment posted by Nicolás on Thursday, 23rd December 2010, 4:58pm (GMT)
...btw, I really hope they include some kick-ass Chemical Plant Zone-clone in the next episode of Sonic 4. This is the best stage ever!
#3. Comment posted by Anonymous on Saturday, 25th June 2011, 1:03am (BST)
Tip:
When The Chemical Liquid Starts To Rise , Don't Rush , The First Time I Played , I Rushed , Because I Thought It Was A Long Section , And Guess What? I Died , I Kept Falling , And Then I Saw The Top , But I Died Anyway , I Only Had A Couple Seconds Left....So Don't Rush , So You Don't Fall And Die
#4. Comment posted by Cody on Thursday, 20th October 2011, 5:16am (BST)
I don't know if this has been added or not, I can't tell on my Android phone....but during the boss fight, you can easily avoid robotnick's blue goo by ducking. The spikes on sonic's back effortlessly spray the funk aside without harming him. Simplest fight ever. Even more so than act 1.
#5. Comment posted by Face-F*ck on Sunday, 23rd October 2011, 1:13pm (BST)
Knuckles can f*ck up this level if you play it right!
#6. Comment posted by Anonymous on Friday, 7th June 2013, 6:54pm (BST)
In act 2, you are able to get infinity (256) lives :>!!! It's pretty hard to do, but trust me! First, next to the spike pits in act 2, (the ones near the end) there's an extra life. Get it. Next go on the edge of the spike pit (be careful not to fall in!) Wait for sonic to start losing his breath.. When the countdown is on one or two, (Don't try this at home!) fall into the spike pit! You will die (T_T), but soon when you respawn you will notice that the life counter is messed up. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! XD
#7. Comment posted by Anonymous on Thursday, 13th June 2013, 7:57am (BST)
hard level
#8. Comment posted by Da RoMan!!!! on Sunday, 23rd June 2013, 12:35pm (BST)
Like many others I used to die a lot in the water section of act 2. But now I've discovered the shortcut I can finally relax when the title card comes on screen without any worries of what lies ahead! By the way, I think the T-shirt is awesome.
Hide Notes
Appearance
The Chemical Plant is set around an active cityscape at night. In the background, detailed 3D-looking sky scrapers give off a healthy red glow into the night sky, with windows lit up and bright lights ablaze. Lower buildings are green, while down at the bottom of the background, you've got the presence of the grimy factory, with all manner of technology going on. There are thick black and grey funnels and railings, and even lower, a grungy, sickly green metal wall filled with moving air vents, pipes, tubes, meters and flashing doo-hickeys. Between the two contrasting settings appears to be an interesting white coloured section of water, which also reflects the green buildings at the top. The factory is possibly sitting on a polluted lake in the middle of the urban environment.
The nearby ground is in typical mechanical style, with a pale grey colour to it, but looking fairly dirty in some areas, and the separate rectangles of material are all bolted down. There are various pieces of machinery embedded within it, plus blue, red and yellow piping, see-through framework and patches of yellow and black "danger" stripes, to spice it all up a bit. The speedy slopes and curved roads work independently of the grey structuring, and are made up of long tubes containing blue chemicals, with a yellow road surface on top, whereas the straighter sections have no particular road surface as such. Adding more confusion to the already busy atmosphere, clear piping, which your character will spin through at speed when he reaches the entrances, covers certain parts of the level, and like Star Light Zone, there are also large grey girders and chunks of structural framework behind and in front of your view of the character. A very active place.
#1. Comment posted by Anonymous on Saturday, 3rd December 2011, 11:10pm (GMT)
Like a Hard Core "Flying Battery Zone".
#2. Comment posted by Anonymous on Monday, 9th December 2013, 1:41pm (GMT)
does anybody else wonders how sonic and tails were on peacefull and natural hill in the first zone and then just appear in a busy factory in the middle of a polluted lake in a city in the next one?
Hide Notes
Structure
Large and in charge, this zone takes you all over the place, and you get the feeling every bit of space has been covered as Sonic and Tails leg it from one direction to another. This is probably the first, really huge type of Sonic level that's filled with a complicated array of routes that separate and converge across an intricate design, which is a bit of a headache for someone like me who's given himself the task of deciphering it! There's a good blend of extremely high-speed paths and also slower, more complex areas which rely on good timing and accurate platform hopping. The high-speed paths are probably the fastest in the 16-bit era, and contain weaving, intertwined pairs of roads that each lead to a separate route at the end, very steep diagonal slopes, and of course the ever necessary loop-de-loops (often two or three in a row, leading downwards) and curved ledges. If you go fast enough through these, you'll actually find that the screen may have a hard time trying to keep up with your character. The structure is fairly thin, containing groups of small blocks of ground floating around the map, with thin, sloping and twisting paths that provide all the speed, connecting one piece to another. There's usually a fair amount of open space around because of this, but there are also some small corridors of both horizontal and vertical nature, though not many.
There's a network of tubing all over the place which allows you to hop in from one spot, and come out in a whole other area of the act. These entrances usually have two different pipes going out of them, and which one you go through seems to be decided at random. That said, from what I've researched, Sonic usually goes through the same one for each occasion, and when playing Sonic 2 + Sonic & Knuckles, Knuckles invariably goes through the other, but Tails isn't quite so partial to either tube. Pretty strange. Sometimes both tubes lead to the same place, while other times they can take you to two completely alternate routes. Act 1 has three main routes, generally occupying the top, middle and bottom areas respectively. They're separated from each other near the very beginning (described in Point #1), but rejoin at various places near the end, also splintering into short sub-routes too. Act 2 meanwhile is laid out a little differently in that it mostly has one main route through it that branches, on three or four occasions, into two sub-routes that rejoin shortly afterwards, although one particular separation is quite long, taking up the most part of the left side of the map. Unlike Act 1, which mostly leads to the right, Act 2's main route weaves back and forth over large areas to take up most of the map, making for a fairly lengthy act.
Only Act 2 features the harmful chemical that this factory has been producing, sometimes known as "MegaMack" (involved in the production of McDonalds burgers? We don't know, but I wouldn't put it past Eggman, nor that slimy clown). It lurks down at the bottom of the act and it's pink, but it's no different from when you go in regular water, so your movement is slowed down, and if you spend too much time in it, a scary ten second countdown will begin, followed by you drowning and losing a life if you're still in there by the time it's over. Fortunately you don't have to hang around in it for too long, so there's no need for air bubbles in this stage, but what time you do spend is famous for being rather hard. Unlike in Act 1, you can also fall off the bottom of the stage at several points across this long chemical pool, so be very careful. This stage pretty much has a bit of everything, but is best known for its incredible speed, and that one single tricky chemical spot near the end, described in Point #5 below. Fortunately there is a shortcut that bypasses it just beforehand, but it's very well hidden. Read on...
#1. Comment posted by Sonicfan32 on Saturday, 7th August 2010, 7:33pm (BST)
when i play Sonic 2 with Knuckles, i just climb the wall when the mega mack starts to rise, i usually beat it to the top.
#2. Comment posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 16th February 2011, 11:52pm (GMT)
the clear tubing conundrum- when you jump into them hold left or right. left dictates the lower route, right dictates the higher route
#3. Comment posted by Sonic Master on Thursday, 23rd June 2011, 3:59am (BST)
The pipes in Chemical Plant Zone work in accordance with the timer. When you entire a pipe, if the timer displays an odd number the player will be sent in one direction an even number will send the player in the other direction.
#4. Comment posted by Anonymous on Monday, 26th September 2011, 12:32am (BST)
*A series of tubes jokes*
Whats cylindrical, carries blue spiky things, and is at a chemical warfare zone?
#5. Comment posted by Mastadon689 on Wednesday, 5th March 2014, 2:23am (GMT)
Restating comment #3, if the total time elapsed in the stage is odd (ex: 1:23), the first character to enter the tube will go up. Conversely, if the total time elapsed in the stage is even (ex: 1:24), the first character to enter the tube will go down.
#6. Comment posted by A k i r a on Saturday, 30th September 2017, 10:07pm (BST)
FACT TIME. Those downhill run sections and those spinning disco Toei socks get Sonic tm to MachSpeed. tat means he goes faster than the camera, and even faster than Super Sonic. i think Debug mode is the only thing that can get sonic at that speed.
Hide Notes
Obstacles and Features
Despite everything that's going on in the level, obstacles actually aren't as varied or numerous as you might expect. The moving platforms are designed kind of like Robotnik's egg-mobile, and feature regularly. You'll often find two of them side by side, moving up and down in opposing directions in a narrow, vertical passage, and also pairs of little ones that move around each other in a circle. Horizontal springs and the very first black spinning-disc zippers send Sonic or Tails speeding along the pathways in one direction as soon as you lay a foot on them, and the clear glass piping all over the place makes for a great, quick transportation method to get you from A to B. Just jump and break into a square grey entrance when you get to one, and you'll be sent spinning through them, to end up at an entirely different point in the level. At the end, the exit hatch closes, and these are fitted with springs on top. In corridors, groups of strange, harmful blue chemical bubbles will travel up and down from one tube entrance to another, which are positioned along the floor and ceiling. Watch their patterns and walk across at a safe opportunity. In open areas where both tube entrances are on the ground, the blue bubbles will actually jump across the air from one tube to another. Yellow and black doors will close in corridors where you are only permitted to travel through from one particular direction.
Like Star Light Zone again, there are bridges made of small yellow and blue square platforms that move up or down upon contact, creating steps for you. These can also be found separated, acting as single, small platforms that move slowly in a certain pattern, or in a group, where they will slide back and forth in diagonal formations. Don't take them too lightly, as they can crush you into the ground or walls in some sections. Some chunks of the thin yellow road disappear at regular intervals by moving to the bottom of the chemical tube they're placed on, where you can't land on them. These chunks are usually in a row of two to four, switching one after the other, and you'll fall through if you make your move at the wrong time, which could be fatal. The road can also sometimes be broken up, leaving small yellow platforms that move back and forth across the gap, offering you a lift from one side to the other. These are positioned over the pools of chemicals, so be very careful when boarding and leaving them, as it often means death if you fall in where there may not be anything underneath to support you.
Spiny and Grabber are the two badniks you'll encounter. Spiny's are strange, ground-hugging bots who move back and forth slowly, usually in pairs, spurting out little energy balls from the opening spikes on their heads. They also hang out on walls near entrances of transport tubes. Grabbers are the spider bots that cling to the ceiling. Pass under them and they'll drop via a line of web and try to trap you in their legs, and pull you back up with them. They'll then start flashing for a few seconds, still holding you, before exploding. Once caught, you can't get out of these yourself, so your only hope lies with the artificial intelligence of a nearby two-tailed fox... so it's probably best not to get caught. Bop them on the head, instead.
#1. Comment posted by Bender on Sunday, 13th July 2008, 1:20pm (BST)
Just an FYI about the grabbers: You CAN get yourself out of them, which is handy if you're playing as a solo character. You need to rotate the d-pad as quickly as possible in either direction. Doesn't matter if it's clockwise or reverse. If you start as soon as it grabs you, and you do it fast enough, you'll drop down to safety unharmed.
#2. Comment posted by Sonicfan32 on Saturday, 7th August 2010, 7:32pm (BST)
thats a nice tip, i always hated getting trapped in those gay things.
#3. Comment posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 30th March 2011, 8:58pm (BST)
Regarding the grabbers, I've found that you can control Tails and make him jump into them while you're captured. That technique always worked best for me.
#4. Comment posted by Anonymous on Saturday, 17th November 2012, 6:18pm (GMT)
Those Grabbers may be annoying, but the Spinies are my nightmare ... when I try to jump, they always shoot at the last minute .... forcing me to spindash them. Also the music is one of the best tracks of the game.
#5. Comment posted by Anonymous on Monday, 26th February 2018, 4:20am (GMT)
The small yellow platforms are even smaller when playing as Knuckles.
Hide Notes
After the first sprint from where the middle route begins (see Point #1), it's possible to be thrown from the curve up to this goody-filled ledge. You have to have just the right amount of speed though - not too much, not too little, so use a similar strategy to that described in Point #2.
The bubble-filled bottom route is treacherous. There's a grabber enemy on the way that you can sometimes get caught by immediately after having lost your rings on one of these.
Three routes can converge at this point up top, via the tube exit or the corridor.
Shortly afterwards, you're pinged to-and-fro by alternating roads (common throughout the zone) and springs.
No notes have been posted in response to this section.
Hide Notes
Point #1
This stretch of two intertwining paths near enough kicks off Act 1. You can either take the top one or go the low road, through the little tunnel. You can't switch between them while they twist and turn around each other afterwards, so make your mind up first. The higher road leads to the high route and the lower one leads to the middle and lower routes, and all three link up towards the end. If you take the low road, you'll be sent down a slope and through a loop-de-loop, which has a horizontal spring at the end of it that sends you back through the loop, and then down to the lower route. If you want to take the middle one, avoid the spring and carry on to the right.
No notes have been posted in response to this section.
Hide Notes
Point #2
Round about the half way mark, at the bottom of the act, you'll come to this area that features a couple of noteworthy points. As well as finding it along the bottom route, you can also drop down into it from the middle. There are two ten ring item boxes and a shield on a top left hand ledge that's quite difficult to get to. You have to build up your momentum on the way in and hit a curve in the road at just the right speed to sail up high enough, yet maintain enough control that you can move to the left in mid-air. The path beforehand features a zipper, then a couple of loops. What you want to do is maybe aid the zipper by holding right at the start, and then let go of it a few second later, and don't roll through the loops, run. The interesting thing about this hidden ledge though is that it also contains an exit hatch to some tubing that appears to be completely impossible to enter, as it doesn't seem to have an entrance anywhere in the level. The tube itself goes around in a square and if you just try and smuggle yourself into it using debug mode, you'll go around the tube and then just come back out the exit. It's entirely useless.. or is it? Do you know the reason for its existence? Let me in on it please.
There's a zipper back down on the floor that actually throws you to the left instead of right, putting you back through the second loop that you came in on. If you keep going back through it, the path will actually lead you to a different area that culminates in a checkpoint and an entrance to a different pair of tubes. One tube takes you to an earlier point on the bottom route (allowing you another attempt at reaching that hidden ledge again, if you failed the first time), while the other brings you straight to the top route, directly above.
#1. Comment posted by Monty Eggman on Tuesday, 7th September 2010, 4:25pm (BST)
I'd say the pipe was probably put there as decoration and nothing more.
#2. Comment posted by Super Volcano on Friday, 22nd October 2010, 4:56am (BST)
That's what I was going to say! Maybe they just forgot about it? Maybe it was to inspire players to look for 'that secret path'! Maybe there is a secret path that no-one has found?
#3. Comment posted by Michael on Sunday, 19th August 2012, 6:01pm (BST)
You can also reach that ledge by spin-dashing from the moving platform.
#4. Comment posted by Anonymous the 4th on Sunday, 25th November 2012, 8:25pm (GMT)
Sorry, LiquidShade. I know not why that exit hatch of an "Impossible-to-get-to-tube-why-the-hell-is-it-there". What I can tell you is I got to the twenty rings and the shield fine.
#5. Comment posted by Name on Tuesday, 18th October 2016, 10:26am (BST)
This tube is open on Sonic-2-Delta
Hide Notes
Point #3
Famously, Knuckles has access to three extra lives along the very top of Act 1, when you're playing as him in Sonic 2 + Sonic & Knuckles. They're positioned on three separate high up ledges towards the end of the act. All you have to do is climb the wall when you exit the last transport tube, a little way before the end. At the top, grab the life and glide to the left to find another, and then another further on to the left.
#1. Comment posted by Mike Lindeen on Tuesday, 22nd March 2011, 8:13am (GMT)
And it can be six! :) If you have 50+ rings, after the 3rd free guy, fall down to the right. Hit the signpost for the special stage. When you come out, guess what? You can get all 3 free guys again
#2. Comment posted by provingapoint on Monday, 27th January 2014, 6:08am (GMT)
For those of you playing the 2013 mobile re-release (by Taxman and Stealth) this part has been changed and an entirely new route has been added. I'm not sure why, though. Probably has something to do with Tails being able to fly in that version.
Hide Notes
A classic life. Use your momentum early on to sneak into the hidden entrance on the side, then leap back across to the right to resume your quest.
'Quiet Tails, I'm admiring the picture quality of this TV.. marvelous, isn't it?'
This is a nasty one. Be careful when leaving the platform, because if you step off, the unstable pair of panels there might drop you to your death. Leap to the stable ground on the far right instead.
There's an extra life over on the far right, across these spike pits. This submerged area can be found beneath the first pair of yellow platforms that move across the top of the water, before Point #5.
#1. Comment posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 30th March 2011, 9:00pm (BST)
>This is a nasty one. Be careful when leaving the platform, because if you step off, the unstable pair of panels there might drop you to your death.

They aren't "unstable"; they rotate in a very regular pattern. Wait for them to rotate upwards, then hop onto them. Same goes for every other appearance that they make.
#2. Comment posted by tjmachado on Thursday, 23rd June 2011, 3:28pm (BST)
The first third of this act is just one huge annoying trick! Even though it may seem like a shortcut, if you go up to ledge opposite the first extra life, no matter what path you take, you'll end up going left in some way down one of 2 paths. The upper path takes you around a loop-de-loop, up a curve and into a tube. The tube has 2 ways to go, but the both take you to the same spot. That spot is at the beginning of another diagonal path going right. At the end of that path, you speed around another loop-de-loop and through a gate, ending up right back where you started! The lower path takes you up and around 2 loop-de-loops and up a small curve with rings floating high up in the air. You would then head right, and go down 2 moving platforms with the first use of the flipping ground at the bottom. After that, you go right and enter a tube that lies ever so slightly underwater, the first underwater moment in the level and end up next to a speed booster. That speed booster send you up a little curve and then the path joins the upper route, right before the gate! So, if you want to get a fast time, just take the lower path at the start!
#3. Comment posted by tjmachado on Thursday, 23rd June 2011, 3:29pm (BST)
Sorry, but i just noticed this. On the lower path, after the curve, you would go left, not right. Sorry for that.
#4. Comment posted by Jiggmin on Saturday, 3rd December 2011, 11:10pm (GMT)
Notice how Act 2 has vast water (or Chemical parts)? Using Knuckles "Gliding" technique this makes some parts easier than other.
#5. Comment posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, 4th June 2013, 1:19pm (BST)
It Miles not tails. :)
#6. Comment posted by Fans on Wednesday, 19th October 2016, 7:59am (BST)
You can visited both ways in left part of Act 2. After loop, base way sent down. If you jumping before the fork, you get on passed base way again (from the square steps to the first tube). Use this tube again and go on the second way on this Act.
Hide Notes
Point #4
There's an infamous hard bit towards the end of Act 2 that sees Sonic and Tails being chased up a vertical passage by a rising pool of the pink chemicals. See the next point for more details on that, but first, there is actually a way to bypass it completely, by taking a very well hidden (and not very well known) shortcut that drops you off right at the boss. To get there, you first need to land on the high ledge shown here, with the group of moving blocks on it, just after you've been blasted through a series of loops and slopes. If you miss, there is another route below, but you won't be able to get to the shortcut from there. Each of these two routes take you to one of the two winding paths that lead directly into the tricky bit afterwards.
So, you've made it to the high ledge? Good. Get past these moving blocks by hopping on the second or third one from the bottom, when they take the form of steps, leading upwards and facing you. Don't stay on the first step, or it'll crush you into the ceiling. Continue forward, but don't take the speed zipper, because the entrance to the shortcut is in a hidden alcove in the wall right above it. It's quite high up, in the framework part where you can see through to the background. You have to carry on a bit further right, across the bump in the road, and then come back and try to take a run up at it, and jump through. From there, head up the double curved wall and grab the checkpoint. Keep going all the way right, through the many speedy slopes and loops until you arrive at two ring boxes and an invincibility. To your right is another hidden passage through the wall. It's quite long, but at the end you drop through the floor and arrive just before the boss, to your right. This is not only quicker, it's a damn sight easier too, and you miss both of the following points this way. This is possibly one of the biggest level design secrets in the 16-bit era, and one I've only discovered relatively recently, so use it wisely!
#1. Comment posted by Evan on Monday, 27th July 2009, 6:42am (BST)
...I thought I only knew about this for a while. I found it out when I was young, and me and one of my friends (who was playing as Tails) screamed and jumped around the living room when we found this due to pure luck!

I think this and the waterfall secret in Sonic 1 are the best secrets in the series. (The easter egg in Wacky Workbench, and the strange 1 up in Wing fortress come close, though.) :)
#2. Comment posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 9th February 2011, 9:14pm (GMT)
Thank goodness for this shortcut. I could never get past this zone, and the day I found out about this, I got all the way to metropolis zone. WOOHOO!!!
#3. Comment posted by Michael on Sunday, 19th August 2012, 6:36pm (BST)
There's another way into this shortcut, and it's key to getting the perfect bonus for this Act. Get all the rings on the usual route first, then backtrack to the two moving platforms at the top of the Mega Mack. Jump down. You'll land on the lower of the intertwining roads. To get to the upper road, spin-dash up and left, and jump from the last peak onto the long slope of the upper road. You'll have just enough momentum to keep running up it to the gap, which you can jump over. Then (probably just as the drowning music starts!) do an almighty spin-dash up through the two loops, and you reach the road from which you can jump into the shortcut.
#4. Comment posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, 11th December 2012, 2:59pm (GMT)
In S2 + S&K, Knuckles can get the shortcut easily by climbing in the passage.
#5. Comment posted by Anonymous on Monday, 26th February 2018, 3:46am (GMT)
This is my favorite Sonic level of all time. I seriously may have played it 1000 times and had no idea about the secret route until I got the Sonic 1 & 2 Strategy Guide. A whole ROUTE! Absolutely blew my 11 year old mind!
Hide Notes
Point #5
If you didn't take the shortcut I just described in the last point, you'll inevitably wind up here, in one of the most notable "tricky bits" in the early games. Near the bottom of Act 2, you'll find that you have to make your way up this vertical passage, by hopping up the moving blocks. There are three groups of four at the bottom, in those tricky diagonal formations, and two pairs of single blocks at the top, moving in rectangular paths around each other. The big problem is that as soon as you step into the area, your entrance is immediately sealed off and the watery chemicals start to slowly rise up all the way to the top, meaning that unless you're quick, you'll have to do some of it while submerged. That means much slower mechanics so you'll have to adjust your timing on the jumps, etc. There are no air bubbles to keep you going, so if you slip and fall off one of the blocks and land on a lower one, it could be fatal for you when you begin to run out of air. Remember, you only get 30 seconds to survive under the liquid before drowning. It's also possible to get crushed between the blocks, so be very careful of that, too.
There's no big secret to beating this bit (other than taking the shortcut), just practise, and very good platform hopping control and timing. However, bear in mind that the route immediately leading to this phase is composed of two, intertwining roads, which make up two different entrances into it. In order to skip the two lower sets of four moving blocks completely, and thus increase your chances of success by a little bit, take the road that starts lower. It actually ends as the higher entrance, but which one you take is dependant on whether you blasted your way up to that upper ledge I mentioned in the Point #4, or instead took the lower corridor, which eventually leads to the higher entrance.
After tackling that, you need to be very careful as you proceed left. Two platforms move across the top of the now fully risen pool, and if you fall off them, you'll land back on the twisting paths and have to repeat the whole thing, fully submerged the whole way through this time. Again, after the platforms, there are four small chunks of ground that disappear and reappear, two at a time. Falling through will set you back to the submerged roads below as well, so wait until the first pair become stable, then use them to jump up to the ledge on the left, and continue up the platforms.
#1. Comment posted by mercury on Saturday, 14th February 2009, 3:04pm (GMT)
There is actually another way to avoid the tricky bit, as well. Directly after the series of two vertically stacked loops near where point #4 is marked on the map, the ground curves steeply upward. By taking the loops rolled up, and jumping at the apex of that incline, you can sail up underneath the row of four rotating platforms, bypassing the whole area. It's a neat trick to show off with - but once you know about it it's not actually hard to pull off.

And I'm pretty sure MegaMack is a translation error - the short "u" and round "a" sounds are interchangeable in Japanese, so it's probably supposed to be MegaMuck, as it's said in the cartoons.
#2. Comment posted by Paul.Power on Saturday, 14th February 2009, 3:06pm (GMT)
Oh my, Chemical Plant Act 2. The bane of my life as a kid, and even now it's still a tricky experience. I even made a "tribute" video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXL-mTkqPN8
#3. Comment posted by Sonicfan32 on Saturday, 7th August 2010, 7:37pm (BST)
This Mega Mack really is easy to avoid if you know how. when you go on the intertwined tracks before you encounter the mega mack, DO NOT jump on the red spring, it will take you lower towards the bottom, you must hurry along the moving blocks as stairs quickly, and you'll reach the top without touching the mega mack!
#4. Comment posted by JDCalvert on Sunday, 25th October 2015, 7:57pm (GMT)
If you fail the trick in note #1, and you end up on the intertwining tracks just before the hard bit, you can go back to the speed up spring (at the beginning of the lower track leading to the upper part of the hard bit). If you hit that rolling, you can jump from the apex of the first steep slope and bypass the hard bit. If you fail you can just try again.
Hide Notes
Point #6
After that, hit the checkpoint and go through the two loops, but it's crucial that you be very careful with your speed. When you fly off a piece of broken road that has a springboard on the end of it, start grinding to a halt along the lower road beneath, before you reach the next part. Walk up the slope and you'll find a horizontal spring on the other side, but if you want to play it as safe as possible, do NOT use it. There's a small yellow platform moving across the gap to the right. Use that instead. It is possible to run all the way across, either from your original momentum or the spring, but it's not particularly safe because there's instant death in the pool below. There is a group of four stairway blocks directly below the right side of the gap, which will take you back up safely if you land on them, but don't rely on it.
#1. Comment posted by Anonymous on Sunday, 24th October 2010, 5:33pm (BST)
You can spindash into the spring and then jump at the end of the platform and you will clear the whole gap.
Hide Notes
Boss
Boss
Be careful when you even step into the arena. The middle section is made of stable ground, but the right and left sides are unable to give you consistent support, disappearing and reappearing regularly, and there's MegaMack chemicals and certain death lying immediately below. Given that you come in from the left, be very aware of this. Robotnik will pop in from the right with a big contraption above him. Turns out, he's sucking up the blue chemicals from under the road, storing them in his tank, and then dropping the contents across the arena as he moves from one side to the other, which then spread out into smaller, harmful blobs. Fortunately though, he is, at no point, in a safe position from your onslaught, so there's no excuse to not give him hell, and be sharpish with your 8 hits. Just stay on the middle chunk, and you'll be fine. Remember though, upon defeating your egg-shaped nemesis, the ground to your right will still remain unstable regardless, so jump over it to get to the animal capsule on the right.
#1. Comment posted by Paul.Power on Sunday, 13th July 2008, 1:20pm (BST)
One nice tip for dealing with the boss: if you duck, the Mega Mack that the Doc drops on you will bounce harmlessly off your spines. Particularly handy if you have someone playing co-operatively as Tails, as you can just sit there and duck while the Tails player fights the boss.
#2. Comment posted by Sonicfan32 on Saturday, 7th August 2010, 7:41pm (BST)
you know, playing this level's music is difficult, it took me awhile to learn the complex but lively tune on the piano. but i got the general bass line and generic melody down. it is just a matter of making it sound like it is in the actual game.
#3. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Thursday, 5th January 2012, 2:32am (GMT)
Which site did you get the music from? Game music themes? Appolomix, or Nin sheet music. GMT is hard, Appolo is medium, and Nin's version of chemical plant is DEAD EASY. (although it's version of hydrocity (act 2) is the hardest thing ever.)
#4. Comment posted by Anonymous on Sunday, 8th January 2012, 2:22pm (GMT)
The ducking trick only works for Tails.
#5. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Sunday, 19th February 2012, 8:12am (GMT)
The trick works for sonic too!
#6. Comment posted by Anonymous on Monday, 23rd January 2017, 3:43am (GMT)
However, ducking will NOT work on the mobile port.
#7. Comment posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 22nd February 2017, 4:38pm (GMT)
This may be the toughest boss fight as Super Sonic, so it is recommended to not use him, or else you may fall through either side of the platforms.
Hide Notes
Miscellaneous Notes
One day, I will have this shirt and I will be the envy of all. One day.
- While developing Sonic Gems Collection, the current members of Sonic Team had a go on Sonic 2, and rather embarrassingly, got stuck on this level. Specifically Point #5, the classic "hard bit" which none of them could do without losing a few lives because they kept drowning or falling off the bottom of the screen. It inspired them to create a T-shirt sporting a "Zone 2 Act 2" motif, accompanied by a small sprite of Sonic drowning. Too bad this site wasn't up at the time, else they could have found out about the shortcut.

And I want that T-shirt. If anyone has it, they must send it to me. As my reward. For being special.
View Notes(5)
Go to..
#1. Comment posted by Anonymous on Monday, 27th July 2009, 6:39am (BST)
One of my friend's has that shirt...
#2. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Tuesday, 28th July 2009, 1:53pm (BST)
Really? Interesting... I might consider offering to buy it off of him if it's big enough and in good condition. Do you think he'd be interested..?
#3. Comment posted by Anonymous on Thursday, 20th May 2010, 10:25pm (BST)
You could probably create a custom shirt online. Most of the ones I've been running into use templates but you could probably find one that allows you to upload images from your computer (drowning Sonic sprite, the "Zone 2 Act 2" text, etc). Just a thought.
#4. Comment posted by Anonymous on Saturday, 10th August 2013, 3:52pm (BST)
It should have been Game 2 Zone 2 Act 2...
#5. Comment posted by Anonymous on Thursday, 2nd January 2014, 8:06pm (GMT)
I really don't know what everyone's problem is with that "hard bit". I always get past it easily and without losing a single life.
Hide Notes
Each section of this page allows users to add their own notes to fill in any missing details or supply additional research etc.
View general notes for Chemical Plant Zone (8)
#1. Comment posted by Nicolás on Thursday, 23rd December 2010, 4:57pm (GMT)
I just discovered some interesting glitch. If you take the short cut you mentioned in act 2, after the last zipper there are 4 loops in a row (before falling in a room with 3 item boxes). If you time your jump just right when finishing the first loop (after the long down-hill pipe), you can hoop over the four loops and end up in an otherwise unaccessible "roof" (on top of the third loop). You can then walk all the way to the right, after some point you won't be able to go back (as is usual near the end of any map), and finally drop in a well you can't get out from. I didn't have Knuckles in Sonic 2 to test, but I thought it would be possible to climb the last wall and skip the boss altogether! However, today I got to test knuckles in the emulator, and an "invisible barrier" prevents him from getting on the last loop roof, no matter what...
#2. Comment posted by Nicolás on Thursday, 23rd December 2010, 4:58pm (GMT)
...btw, I really hope they include some kick-ass Chemical Plant Zone-clone in the next episode of Sonic 4. This is the best stage ever!
#3. Comment posted by Anonymous on Saturday, 25th June 2011, 1:03am (BST)
Tip:
When The Chemical Liquid Starts To Rise , Don't Rush , The First Time I Played , I Rushed , Because I Thought It Was A Long Section , And Guess What? I Died , I Kept Falling , And Then I Saw The Top , But I Died Anyway , I Only Had A Couple Seconds Left....So Don't Rush , So You Don't Fall And Die
#4. Comment posted by Cody on Thursday, 20th October 2011, 5:16am (BST)
I don't know if this has been added or not, I can't tell on my Android phone....but during the boss fight, you can easily avoid robotnick's blue goo by ducking. The spikes on sonic's back effortlessly spray the funk aside without harming him. Simplest fight ever. Even more so than act 1.
#5. Comment posted by Face-F*ck on Sunday, 23rd October 2011, 1:13pm (BST)
Knuckles can f*ck up this level if you play it right!
#6. Comment posted by Anonymous on Friday, 7th June 2013, 6:54pm (BST)
In act 2, you are able to get infinity (256) lives :>!!! It's pretty hard to do, but trust me! First, next to the spike pits in act 2, (the ones near the end) there's an extra life. Get it. Next go on the edge of the spike pit (be careful not to fall in!) Wait for sonic to start losing his breath.. When the countdown is on one or two, (Don't try this at home!) fall into the spike pit! You will die (T_T), but soon when you respawn you will notice that the life counter is messed up. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! XD
#7. Comment posted by Anonymous on Thursday, 13th June 2013, 7:57am (BST)
hard level
#8. Comment posted by Da RoMan!!!! on Sunday, 23rd June 2013, 12:35pm (BST)
Like many others I used to die a lot in the water section of act 2. But now I've discovered the shortcut I can finally relax when the title card comes on screen without any worries of what lies ahead! By the way, I think the T-shirt is awesome.
Hide Notes
Last Updated
Content for this page last edited:
3rd January 2012

Files last uploaded for this page:
3rd January 2012

Recent Notes
Features and Obstacles
Posted by Anonymous on 26th February 2018

Point #4
Posted by Anonymous on 26th February 2018

Level Struture
Posted by A k i r a on 30th September 2017

Boss
Posted by Anonymous on 22nd February 2017

Boss
Posted by Anonymous on 23rd January 2017

56 notes posted on this page in total