It's the foreground where the carnival theme of the zone really comes into play, full of colour and wacky shapes and styles. This background is, for once in Sonic 3, exactly the same for both acts. Looming over that are the dark silhouettes of tall, slightly angular mountains, which seem to be adorned with yellow flashing lights, and the top of the screen has a blue glow over the horizon, which rapidly fades into a black starry night sky. There are also big, futuristic pod-like buildings and what appears to be a haze of blue evening mist just below. Behind that, in the distance, the structures are harder to make out and mainly consist of a series of lights that fade on and off like a Christmas tree, though some are shaped to vaguely represent various rides and attractions. At the front, you've got rows of towers and structures, all extremely varied in bright neon colour and shapes. There's a somewhat familiar cityscape scene, though just a tad more abstract, with tall towers and buildings that create a vast, somewhat futuristic carnival night-time environment. Think Casino Night, and you're not far off with this, at least as far as the background is concerned. Robotnik, trying to get the Death Egg back up and running and all, it would seem he's still been able to find the time out of his busy schedule to construct a giant carnival theme park on Angel Island for no obvious reason. Knuckles, on the other hand, has far far less to worry about this time around.Īt a time of great strain for Dr. Failing that, careful use of the insta-shield or Tails' helicopter tails should do the trick, with practice. If you'd rather not take the penalty of a loss of one of your precious lives, use the guide and map to find shortcuts, and as Sonic, try to take a lightning shield into the boss with you and make use of its double jump. It's not unusual for a new player to spend almost the entirety of, or perhaps even surpass the standard ten minute time limit, due to the sheer length of the act, and the fact that playing safe against the boss can be very time consuming. One of the biggest concerns in Act 2 is something that, in most levels, you never even really have to think about: time. Here, you just need to use good timing and patience. The worst ones are where a series of fans are holding you in the air, but groups of bumpers above them are pushing you back. If you're on the ground, use the opposing directional buttons to try and maintain control, or to jump your way out of it. As is common with all the best 'bouncy zones', there are an awful lot of cases where you'll be bouncing back and forth between objects, desperate to get out and progress onward, and this is despite its speedier-than-usual level design.

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