This page has received 4 replies. Click here to view posted replies or add your own.
Essentially Act 2 of Sky Chase Zone, this single act is based on Robotnik's first flying battleship. It hangs in the air so throughout the whole thing, there's a constant threat of falling to your death off the thin ledges and platforms. The paths take you all the way around the mighty ship, filled with propellers, many types of platforms, guns and speed launchers. Though fairly brief and with a simple appearance, this is one tough stage that demands the highest degree of skills.
Game: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Megadrive, 1992)
Stage Number: 10
Level Division: None
Boss: End of Act
Playable Characters: Sonic, Tails. Knuckles is playable when connecting Sonic 2 to Sonic & Knuckles.
Difficulty Rating: 
Music: Very dramatic, with trumpets, big drums and set at a fairly slow pace. Not your typical Sonic-sounding tune, and has a hint of appropriately precarious danger about it.
Typical Length:
3-4 minutes
Available Items:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Act 1 | 196 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Top Tips:
- Falling off of the ship is always going to be your main danger in this level. Being a flying fortress, it simply just hangs in the air, with no solid ground connecting it to the bottom of the stage, and many open platform hopping sections where it's fairly easy to slip through. Take the advice listed below for best results.
The background maintains its sky colour from Sky Chase Zone, with a few little idle clouds floating past, but there's not much to see beyond the ship itself, on which all the action takes place. When you look at the map of the level, it actually does look a bit like a flying ship, with a long, thin bulk along the middle, and loads of huge fins at the top. The outer coating is a kind of shiny light brown colour, with bolted down material, little circular windows, doors and big white numbers and symbols written on the fins and various extruding parts at the top. There are also large jet engines and boosters at the bottom keeping the whole thing in the air. The ground you walk on around the ship is either based on the brown material itself, or additional pieces of structural framework, in either red or grey colour. There are also odds and ends of machinery everywhere, but this seems to be one of Robotnik's smaller battleships that relies on fairly old fashioned-looking technology. The whole stage is set outside, except for the end where you fight the boss. Inside, the walls behind you are grey and resemble shutters, with large windows and the ground below is filled with all sorts of flashing technical gubbins.
Sonic 2's final full level is based underneath, on the side, and on top of the Wing Fortress battleship. When you're on top it's not so bad, but at many other times you need to be incredibly careful not to fall off the various platforms and ledges, because if you do, chances are you'll fall right off the ship to your immediate death. The structure isn't particularly enclosed, but it is multi-directional, with paths leading right, then taking you up and going left, and winding back and forth at several intervals before the end. There's only one main route so it doesn't get too complex, but if you know the nature of the map, then you might be able to cheat a little and figure out (or just read about them below) some nifty shortcuts where two different sections of the path are aligned near each other.
The top of the ship is filled with bumps and slopes, where some decent speed can be obtained, whereas mid and lower levels contain straighter pieces of ground, and a lot more platform hopping too. The end of the stage is much more broken up, and made of multiple levels of thin crane structures between large narrow chunks of the bronze fortress bulk. Where the edges of the bronze parts of the ship are lined with metallic rims, you can usually step inside them, either straight through a corridor, or just a little way in, where there's just enough space to hide an occasional item box that you'll only know is there if you inspect and jump inside. A relatively simple, straightforward structure, but this level is notorious for its high degree of death from falling off to the bottom, which is what makes it one of the toughest 2D stages around.
Groups of a number of these objects have a tendency to only appear in one specific place in the level, so read below for details about each particular spot. You don't want to hit the giant, side-mounted propellers facing left, mostly found on the fins at the top, but horizontal ones are harmless and keep you floating in the air a little way above them. Moving platforms operate the same as usual, though you'll most often find them in the standard group of four, circling an invisible central point. Also, long bars suspended from the bottom of the ship can be used for hanging from when you jump up to them, but although they're long enough to be able to jump to different specific points along them, you can't shuffle your way across once you're on. Use a jump button to drop off, and you'll more than likely want to have jumped straight to the far side of it, for the best chance of landing on the next platform. Small, downward-facing round cannons are positioned in various places above the ground, and will fire in your general direction when you come by, and they're especially annoying when in groups. They're indestuctible, but if you run past them fast enough, they won't catch you out.
There are a variety of moving/changing platforms for you to hop gracefully across, including smaller propellers that alternate between horizontal and vertical orientation at regular intervals. You can only stand on them when they're on the horizontal, so hop across carefully if you don't want to drop through. More dangerously, you also get little gunners mounted on the side of the battleship, appearing through flaps that open and close. They don't fire at you, but there is a segment where you have to quickly hop across the open flaps before they close, which they do so one by one, from left to right. Multiple propellers have a thin, vertical conveyor belt between them that continually carries small thin platforms up or down it. Use them to travel up to a platform above, but remember that if it's taking you down, platforms on it will disappear when they reach the bottom of the conveyor belt, so make sure you can jump off to safety, or else it'll drop you down. If there's nothing to leap off onto yet, keep jumping up to the platform above.
There is but one badnik you'll find in Wing Fortress. Cluckers are chicken robots with headsets that man little gun turrets, found in regular places on the ground, across the stage. They pop out of their hiding places when you get close and begin firing what to appear to be eggs, rather regularly. They only face one direction though, and they're easily taken care of with a quick spin. When they're gone, the little stump they were sitting in will remain for you to use as a small boost up to a higher platform, if you so desire.
You'll start this level in the same place you finished the last one; on the wings of the Tornado plane, with Tails (Or Sonic, if you're playing as Tails) manning the controls. Before you know it, you're being fired at by rather large and frightening lasers and after a few shots, they hit the Tornado, which starts to smoke and plummet downward. Bummer. Fortunately, there's a ledge right there waiting for you to jump onto it to safety, but your partner will stay in the cockpit and go down with his ship. If you're playing as Sonic and Tails, then this is the end of their collaborative effort for this game and Sonic will have to take on this final level alone. If you stay on the wings, you'll get knocked off.
After a brief trip through some structural corridors, you'll meet the first Clucker badnik. Kill him and to the top right you'll notice a high ledge. If you want a quick shortcut, use the little stump that the badnik was sitting in to try and leap up to the ledge (it may take a few attempts - try adding some momentum). At the end of this, where you'll find a shield power-up, jump upwards and you should be taken up by a horizontal fan, and brought up to the higher level. To get here normally, you have to go all the way around, risking life and limb as you dangle below the ship. At the top, the correct way is left from there, where you'll meet point #5, but if you want to take another, slightly more risky shortcut, start heading right instead, and read up on point #4 below.
If you didn't take that shortcut, and carried on the regular path instead, you'll come to this bit, which is probably the trickiest in the level. Structural platforms will lead you to the bottom of the ship, with the jet engines and rockets, and you have to use a series of platforms and hanging bars to shift yourself across to stable ground over to the far right, and certain, immediate death awaits you if you fall while doing so. For starters, leap up to the bar that hangs above and hold on until you can jump off to the moving platform below you, to the right (don't worry about the flames from the rockets, they won't hurt you). Then repeat with another bar and platform, and a third bar will take you to a group of circling platforms and a single moving one, at the end. The hard part is catching hold of the bar in the correct place so that you can drop to the platform more easily. You want to latch on to it as far right as possible, because if you grab it too close to the left, you may not be able to make the jump. In this case, you won't be able to shift or jump over to the right, so accurate jumping is critical. Jump far enough to be in the right position, but not too far that you'll miss it completely. My advice: Take the shortcut in point #2.
Now this is another, fairly substantial shortcut that utilises good knowledge of the layout of the map, but it's a bit of a cheat, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for first-time players. Only those that are looking to break personal best times. If you've got fairly quick reactions, and don't mind losing rings in favour of time saving, then listen up. Right after point #3, go up the curved road and you'll find some propellers on your right. If you took the previous shortcut in #2, head all the way right from there until you come to these propellers. On the other side of them is point #7, which is much later on in the stage. These propellers hurt when you touch them, to act as a deterrent, but if you walk into one and lose your rings, you can then quickly use your temporary flashing invincibility to pass by it unscathed. You'll then see the vertical conveyor belts with descending platforms, which disappear when they reach the bottom. From where you come in, you'll actually be at the bottom of one of these belts, so get ready to leap onto one of the platforms, and start jumping up to the ones above as soon as you land, otherwise you may fall to your doom. This is why you need fairly quick reactions and good skills, but if done correctly, you can then leap to the next vertical conveyor belt to the right and carry on with the stage from point #7, cutting a good minute or so off of your total time. Sneaky, but nifty.
Back on the regular route, you'll find four of these little mini propellers on the side of the ship, which don't spin, but they do alternate from horizontal to vertical, and they're out of sync with each other. When they're horizontal, use them to go upwards, to the top of the ship, by jumping onto the one closest to your ledge, and then up to the one above it, on the left. From that top one, take a leap upwards, and you'll end up on the roof of the fortress, which is probably the safest place in the level. If you fall off of these, you won't die, but you will land in an earlier point of the stage. Don't forget the shortcut in point #2 to get yourself back up there without fuss. When you get to the top, start heading right again, or use the vertical platform conveyor belt on your left to find an extra life at the very top of the rear fin of the ship.
After a bit of running, you'll find yourself in an area filled with red and grey constructional platforms and whatnot. Here, you need to head down to the ledge that's just above the bottom of this area, shown in the screenshot, and walk toward the wall on the left. It's open inside, and you can walk right through, where you'll be blown out of an external door on the side of the ship, just above one of the wings. Your character will automatically grab on to a series of four panels as he is thrown to the left. The panels will give way in a second or two, sending you falling back to the next set, but you can also release them yourself, simply by tapping a jump button. You can move up and down while you're grabbing on, but there's really no need, because after you've released all the panels, you'll just end up safely back on another ledge to the far left. If you go too far down while hanging onto them, you may miss the platform and fall to another death, so it's best to just stay where you are.
Immediately after being thrown from panel to panel, you'll find three vertical conveyor belts with platforms that lead downwards. Take the first one until you're able to leap over to the next on the right, which is followed by another on the right of that, and on this third conveyor belt, keep jumping up to the platform above you when you're at the bottom of it, to avoid falling off. On the right of that, you'll either see a grey gunner poking out of a flap on the side of the ship, or the closed flap itself. This is the first of seven, and they open and close continuously, but you can use them as platforms when they're open. For the sake of safety, stay on the conveyor belt platforms until you see the gunner actually come out (perhaps best not to just jump on it as soon as you approach the area, seeing that the gunner is already out - it might go back in again!). When you're sure that it's freshly emerged, allowing the longest possible time for you to stand on it, leap off onto this gunner platform. You'll find a series of them to the right of it, which you should use to make your way to the far right ledge. They'll always open and close one by one, from left to right, so the key thing is to be quick. Don't worry about one of them closing from under you, just keep jumping across them, without stopping. If you fall, then, yes you guessed it, there's nothing to catch you below.
On the far ledge of the gunner platforms, you'll find a much appreciated checkpoint and another little speed-up launcher. This part can quickly become very frustrating if you're doing it wrong, and can't figure out why. This speed-up doo-hickey is designed to throw you across a wide open gap to the ledge on the other side, but it won't work if you're holding the right directional button at the same time, in which case you just fall through the gap to yet another bottom-of-the-screen death. The trick is to leave the D-pad alone as soon as you touch the launcher. This will give you maximum speed and throw you safely across. Beware though, because there's another speed launcher facing the opposite direction on the other side, and if you touch this, it'll throw you back across the gap. If you leave the D-pad alone, then you'll just be sent back and forth between the two continuously, similar to when two horizontal springs annoyingly bounce you between them, in other levels. There's a fair amount of space between the edge and the launcher, so be ready to jump over the one on the right side, just before you get to it.
The latter challenges of the game are very tough, so it might be worth your while picking up every extra life you can. This one seems somewhat risky, but it's actually quite safe. Just after the last point, head upwards by four platforms and crane hooks etc. You'll come to a speed launcher that will throw you through the wall to another crane area on the other side. You'll land right in front of another launcher, but don't touch it, instead jump over it to the left. Drop down to the lower level and at the end you'll see a crane hook above a gap in the floor. Take it. It'll lower you down to the bottom of the wall and there's a hidden corridor inside, marked by a circular window, so carefully hop inside it. You can't see it, but the extra life is in the middle of this corridor. Now, how the hell do you get out of here? Quite simple, just drop out of the corridor from either the left or right side. An invisible current of air will safely carry you across to the left, to another alcove that you'll fall into, and which has a platform moving up and down next to it. Take the platform up to another crane hook where you'll be taken back to where you started. That current seems to protect you from falling no matter where you drop in this area.
Boss:
This boss is what I consider to be one of the hardest, but before you reach it, you'll find a little black explosive contraption in your path. Jump on it, and it'll open up the floor for you so that you fall into an inner section of Wing Fortress. Walk forward and down the steps and you'll find yourself caught between two long, thin yellow rays that trap you in. Eggman is standing on the far side, safe behind the ray, chuckling at your inevitable demise as a round thing attached to the ceiling starts moving across it. What's worse is that a hatch in the middle is releasing three small floating platforms armed with rotating spikeballs underneath. They move around the arena randomly, bouncing off the side rays. Jump on top of them and they'll carry you with them, but don't get hit by the spikes underneath, obviously. Back to that round thing. When it stops to open up and starts flashing, that means it's charging up a mighty laser blast, but is also vulnerable to your attack. Use one of the platforms to reach it and hit the big flashing orange part. For once, you don't hit Eggman at all in this, he just stands there giggling like a mental patient all the way through. It'll charge up for about five seconds, so you should be able to get more than just one hit in at a time. After that, it'll emit a large blue laser that goes all the way down to the floor and it'll start moving towards you for about 3 seconds before closing itself up and repeating the sequence, so you should be able to avoid that fairly easily. It's the spiked platforms that are normally the biggest bother. Eight hits to destroy this infernal contraption.
After that, the Eggman will retreat downwards via the platform he's standing on. The rays will disappear after a moment so hop over there (there's a 1-up hidden over to the far right, past the flashing stuff and behind a wall, by the way) and fall down the gap. You'll land on a long platform and Sonic will go into autopilot as he runs along it, catching Eggman escaping in a small rocket. He'll stand on the edge, looking stumped for a moment as the rocket departs from the launching bay, before Tails returns in the Tornado! He's cleverly fitted a spare rocket he had handy (or nicked from Wing Fortress) to the bottom, allowing the plane to function as good as new! Sonic hops on the wings and they give chase to Eggman's rocket as it climbs higher and higher into the atmosphere. Eventually, Sonic leaps and grabs hold of it tightly and Tails, unable to force the humble Tornado into orbit, returns back down. Finally, the rocket reaches space and docks into the Death Egg, Eggman's massive satellite of destruction, with Sonic clinging on for dear life. Let the final showdown commence!.. See the Story and Stages page for a guide to the final bosses.
Can't find what you're looking for on this page? Got a piece of information that I've missed here and you want to add? The Page Reply feature allows further discussion about this level, open to any visitor to read or add to. No log in required.
4 replies have been posted for this page. View page replies for Wing Fortress Zone.
Contents of this page were last updated on 18th May 2008.
