Zone Menu Challenges, Walkthroughs, Act Statistics, Giant Ring Locations, Badnik Profiles, etc... General Gameplay Info Angel Island Zone | Act 1 | Act 2 Hydrocity Zone Marble Garden Zone Carnival Night Zone Ice Cap Zone Launch Base Zone Mushroom Hill Zone Flying Battery Zone Sandopolis Zone Lava Reef Zone Hidden Palace Zone Sky Sanctuary Zone Death Egg Zone Doomsday Zone Special Zone Glowing Spheres Special Stage Slot Machine Bonus Stage Gumball Machine Bonus Stage Azure Lake Zone - Time Attack Balloon Park Zone - Time Attack Chrome Gadget Zone - Time Attack Desert Palace Zone - Time Attack Endless Mine Zone - Time Attack Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic 2 Secret Special Zone Game (Lock-On With Sonic 1, Sonic Spinball, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Ecco 2, or Dynamite Headdy)

Code Bank Level Select / Debug (Different For Each Version) Level Select / Sound Test (Sonic 3 & Knuckles, or Sonic & Knuckles Alone): Start Mushroom Hill or Angel Island. For Angel Island grab a vine - For Mushroom Hill grab a Pull-Up machine. (An easy one to find is in Sonic and Tails' version of Act 1. It's just after the box with the power sneakers and the Madmole.) Hang from the vine/machine and press left left left, right right right, up up up. You should hear a ring sound. Pause the game and press A to reset to the title screen. Construction / Debug Mode (Sonic 3 & Knuckles): To activate Debug, siply do the Level Select code in both Angel Island and Mushroom Hill. Debug is not quite the same as it was in the previous Sonic games. You still press B to use Debug, A to place items, and C to cycle between items. However, when Debug isn't being use, the game timer is not messed up, and pressing A will cause gravity to reverse like it does in Death Egg Zone Act 2. Level Select / Sound Test (Sonic 3): When the Sega logo comes up, just after the "Sega" theme is sung and the screen begins to turn black, quickly press: Up, Up, Down, Down, Up, Up, Up, Up to the beat of the drums. You should hear a ring chime if you did it correctly. A new Sound Test option should appear at the title screen. The Flying Battery, Mushroom Hill, and Sandopolis Zones are visible on the Level Select screen, but can't be played without Lock-On. Those levels were originally intended for Sonic 3, but were pulled in order to release the game on time. Construction / Debug Mode (Sonic 3): Enter the Level Select code, then press A + Start to choose your starting level. Once the action starts, press B to change into an item, A to cycle between the available items, and C to place an item. Alternatively, turn on the Genesis and press Up, Up, Down, Down, Up, Up Up before Sonic gets fully on screen. Sonic 2 -> Sonic 3 Cheat (Sonic 3 - duh): If you can't do the super-tough Level Select code for Sonic 3, there is an alternative. (WARNING: I'm not sure if this code is healthy for your Genesis or not, but it is not representative of recommended use, so I strongly recommend that you do not use it. Keep trying the regular Level Select code, or just do the much easier Sonic 3 & Knuckles Level Select instead.) Insert Sonic 2 and enter the Sonic 2 Level Select (play sounds 19, 65, 09, and 17). Return to the title screen, hold A and press Start. To transfer this to Sonic 3, hold A and carefully remove the cartridge without turning off the Genesis. Insert Sonic 3 and press Reset. Finally, release A and press Down twice at the main menu. Other Codes (Same For S3&K, S3, and S&K) Easy Emeralds / Superness: To gain all the chaos emeralds, enter the Level Select code, then highlight "Special Stage" and press C + Start. After receiving the emerald, press A + Start and repeat the process until you have them all. Alternatively, enter the Sound Test code and play sounds 2, 4, 5, 6 in order. If you did it correctly, the Emerald sound will play. Nightime Play: Enter the Level Select code, then press C + Start to choose your starting level. The Missing Special Stage: Access a special stage not found with Sonic and Knuckles!!!!!! For an all new bonus stage, enable Level Select, then play tune 1F. Finally, highlight stage 2 and hold A while pressing Start. Bonus Boards Unlimited: Enter the Level Select code, then highlight the "2P Vs" option and press START. You will enter a series of bonus stages that last until you reset the system or press A+START. Special Controls - Escape, Slow Motion, Frame Advance: After the Level Select / Sound Test Code has been entered, pause in any level. Press A to escape to the game's title screen, B to advance several frames ahead in time (repeatedly for slow-motion), or C to advance one frame ahead in time. Animation Gallery: After the Construction / Debug Mode Code has been entered, enter a level, and press B while holding C. Your character will start cycling very quickly through every animation he has. Use the Pause-C "frame skip" to see every frame of every animation. There are several that were not used in the final game, including Sonic whistling and Sonic falling asleep. Cheats Unlimited Rings and Unlimited Super/Hyper: Enter Debug Mode then select a stage. Choose the monitor as your item. Place one (Ity will have an "S" on it) and collect it to get 50 rings and become Super. You can do this as many times as you want, meaning that you have unlimited rings and can remain Super as long as you want. Extra Lives At The Launch Base: To do this trick you must get to the first level of the Launch Base Zone. Set off the first alarm, stop Sonic in the middle of it, and do a Spin-Dash attack. The flybots will continue to attack, and eventually their value will increase to 10,000 points! Every five flybots will gain you a life and, if you're patient enough, you can earn up to 99 lives! Extra Rings For Tails: Enter Debug Mode then select a stage. Next press B, A (you must have Sonic and Tails on-screen.) When your cursor changes into a ring, paste it on Tails. Super Shortcut In The Balloon Park: Go to Competition and select Balloon Park. Instead of going forward, fall down backward to land on a yellow balloon. Hold LEFT, You should walk on the ceiling. You will disappear and keep going until you win! Turbo Tails !!!!! (Sonic 3 Only): Enable Level Select, then press Down to make sure you have the sound test (don't select it yet). Start a one-player game and choose Tails in the Data Select screen. When the timer appears, press RESET. Enter the Sound Test menu and choose any zone. Hold A and press Start. You should be Tails and be in debug mode. From here press B, then press A until you see a item monitor. Press C to select it, then press B to return to Tails. To enable Turbo Tails, jump on the box. Tails will look weird and can not be hurt or lose any rings. He can still get squashed and drowned, though, so be careful in the Ice Cap zone. You will have do this at the beginning of each zone. Robotnik can hurt him at the very end of Launch Base zone-act 2. Tricks Changing Identities: Use the debug mode cheat. Start any level that has a special stage ring. Next turn into your favorite object. As an object go to the center of a ring. Now hit B twice quickly. When you get out of the special stage you will look like that object for the rest of the level. Battle Music In the Hydrocity Zone: Just before Before you fight Robotnik in the Hydrocity Zone, act 2, the boss music will come. Keep Sonic's head under the shallow water until he is about to drown, then pop out of the water. You will hear the boss music from Sonic and Knuckles. Mecha Sonic and Mecha Tails: Use the Debug Mode code in Launch Base act 2. Beat the game. When Sonic or Tails jumps towards you, activate Debug Mode and get out of it immediately. You will be able to use Sonic or Tails in the background for a short time, but they will look like robots. Random Start: Enter the sound test menu choose a level. Look for a star post, touch it and hold A and press START. Then choose another level. If done correctly the title of the zone will change. Beware you might start out in a wall so use debug mode to fly out. Game Genie Sonic 3 Only AA6T-AAXC Level select AWHA-CA92 Don't lose rings SCGT-DJYL Rings worth 2 SCGT-DNYL Rings worth 3 SCGT-DTYL Rings worth 4 SCGT-DYYL Rings worth 5 SCGT-D2YL Rings worth 6 SCGT-D6YL Rings worth 7 SCGT-DAYL Rings worth 8 KRGT-CAE0 75 Rings needed for a free guy GLGT-CAE0 50 Rings needed for a free guy D4GT-CAE0 30 Rings needed for a free guy CWGT-CAE0 20 Rings needed for a free guy BLGT-CAE0 10 Rings needed for a free guy HCGT-DJZY Get 2 free guys for 100 rings instead of 1 HCGT-DNZY Get 3 free guys for 100 rings HCGT-DTZY Get 4 free guys for 100 rings HCGT-DYZY Get 5 free guys for 100 rings HCGT-D2ZY Get 6 free guys for 100 rings HCGT-D6ZY Get 7 free guys for 100 rings HCGT-DAZY Get 8 free guys for 100 rings AC5A-CAHN Super ring powerup worth 0 A05A-CAHN Super ring powerup worth 5 instead of 10 B85A-CAHN Super ring powerup worth 15 CW5A-CAHN Super ring powerup worth 20 DG5A-CAHN Super ring powerup worth 25 D45A-CAHN Super ring powerup worth 30 GL5A-CAHN Super ring powerup worth 50 NW5A-CAHN Super ring powerup worth 100 (1-Up every time AJZA-CA8N Super Sonic doesn't lose rings AJ3A-CA7A Infinite lives AG4T-AAH4 Start with 1 life AL4T-AAH4 Start with 2 lives A04T-AAH4 Start with 5 lives BL4T-AAH4 Start with 10 lives DG4T-AAH4 Start with 25 lives GL4T-AAH4 Start with 50 lives NR4T-AAH4 Start with 99 lives ACAT-CAB6 Shield can be activated multiple times AJRT-CA8R Invincibility power-ups last forever 986A-CAB6 Invincibility lasts almost twice as long KR6A-CAB6 Invincibility lasts half as long E06A-CAB6 Invincibility lasts 1/4 as long SCFT-BJT4 Only need 6 chaos emeralds SCFT-BNT4 Only need 4 chaos emeralds SCFT-BTT4 Only need 3 chaos emeralds SCFT-B2T4 Only need 2 chaos emeralds SCGA-BL0N + A4GA-A28T Blue spheres worth 2 SCGA-BR0N + A4GA-A28T Blue spheres worth 3 SCGA-BW0N + A4GA-A28T Blue spheres worth 4 SCGA-B00N + A4GA-A28T Blue spheres worth 5 SCGA-B40N + A4GA-A28T Blue spheres worth 6 SCGA-B80N + A4GA-A28T Blue spheres worth 7 SCGA-BC0N + A4GA-A28T Blue spheres worth 8 ACGA-AA8T 1 Blue sphere needed for chaos emerald TAYA-CRB6 Bonus jump AAYA-CWB6 Super jump AAYA-C0B6 Mega-jump ATST-CA38 Never drown (must switch off for some spring-pad jumps)