Guide – The Sonic Stadium

Sonic Runners recently launched worldwide for those who’ve been out of the loop – it’s an endless free to play running game where you aim to get the highest scores possible. Higher scores push you up the Runners League and get you better rewards, companions, and bragging rights among your peers.

So you want to be a Runners expert? Say no more. Here’s our tips and tricks on how you can bag those big scores.

1: Use your boosts!

First off, before you even start your run – let’s go over some important stuff. Booster items are pretty great for helping your score. Primarily the Score Boost and Character Switch. Score Boost is an obvious choice and will really aid your total, and Character Switch will give you a second chance to keep your run going by switching to your sub character selected through the character menu. And for a limited time(?) you’ll be able to use these for free once a day, so take advantage!

2: Level up, go far

This is pretty much the only place where rings come in handy.

Sonic Runners sports a level up system on the characters you use, applied through spending rings or earning EXP on runs. It’s important to keep at least a single character high up to make sure that your overall bonuses help you hit the high marks. Wisps and power-ups will last longer when you use them too as an added bonus to it all. But your Score Bonus, Animal Bonus and Ring Bonus are what you want to increase – this is why I normally opt to just focus on one character at a time. Sonic easily adapts to most level environments which is why my primary focus is on him.

3: Crack the Eggman

Wait, so where does Sonic keep his rings?

Though it can get pretty repetitive, it’s best to make your confrontations with Eggman last as long as the timer will allow. Not only do you have the possibility of seeing Red Rings pop out of him, but the rings he’ll drop will boost your score with the help of your Ring Bonus quite a bit. This can be used in turn to help level up your characters and increase your overall boosts. Not to mention, you can get quite a few score gems which increase in value the further you are into the run.

4: Do a trick!

What, you thought you couldn't be stylish on these? — What, you thought you couldn’t be stylish on these?

Something the game neglects to tell you is that Runners sports a small trick system within similar vein to that seen in Sonic Colours. When you approach these red spring-esque contraptions, make sure you tap the screen to leap high into the air – but don’t stop tapping once you’re flying high! Repeatedly tap the screen to do up to five trick poses, giving you that familiar “good, great, awesome, outstanding, amazing!” response!

5: Be an animal advocate

Like always, defeating the classic badniks throughout the stage will earn you points and release the little critters inside. But unlike the old games, they’ll bounce around on screen until you manage to catch them. You might want to try reaching out for them before they vanish off screen if you can. They’re worth quite a few points, and those points only increase with the Animal Bonus you level up.

6: Keep that combo

It can be difficult to maintain, but do your best!

An extremely important aspect of any run is the combo and bonus number you can see above. Combos are maintained through collecting score gems, rings, and animals (not badniks!), and once you get over 1000 you’ll have the maximum bonus of +50. This will go a long way once you reach higher scores. Combos can be broken through damage or too much time between collecting combo items listed above. Power ups can help you out – the shield will prevent damage from ending your combo, and Combo Bonus will prevent damage and time from doing so.

7: Wisps are wonderful

This is probably one of the best score increasing sections of the game.

Wisps return in Sonic Runners, and they’re mostly a fantastic help to boosting your scores. Asteroid is arguably the weakest as it moves slow and provides no multiplier to your bonus, but in can tear through all obstacles in your path. Laser lets you blast through sections of the stage at lightning speeds and collect every gem, ring, and animal on screen by tapping. Drill could arguably be the greatest score increaser, as it multiplies your bonus massively. At its max, you can gain +500 – combine this with magnet, and the specific Drill designed sections which can appear in levels (seen above), and you’re looking at a gigantic overall score boost.

8: Companions are key

Unfortunately, this is the only way to get them.

Companions could be your life saver when it comes to runs. They can provide anything from boosting the overall length items last, granting you a wisp when you reach a certain combo number, or giving you the last boost at the end of the level. They can level up to increase the effectiveness of their abilities too – sadly, the only way you’ll be able to earn them is through the premium roulette wheel. To spin, you’ll need Red Rings you earn through placing on the Runners League, completing story events, or other promotions.

Outside of that, there are a few other ways to earn some helpful buddies to help push your scores up:

You’ll earn Shahra every time you advance a rank in the Runners’ League. Each rank has three levels before you advance a letter, but she’s completely free and provides a great ability – granting you a random item when you hit certain combo numbers.
Look out for promotions held by Sonic Team where you’ll be able to earn Buddies through normal gameplay. For example, the Sonic Birthday event has you collecting cake to unlock the Genesis buddy and various other power ups and items.
Finally, completing a Showdown without taking dying once will give you a Special Egg – collect ten of these, and you’ll be able to spin the premium roulette wheel for free with increased odds on better eggs.

9: Aim high

Sonic can't fly, but he can jump three times. Which is almost as good. — Sonic can’t fly, but he can jump three times. Which is almost as good.

Classic Sonic games usually sport a level design which has both a high and low path – the higher path providing better goodies but harder to stay on, and the lower being easier to stay on but less rewarding. That concept carries into Sonic Runners, since all the best rewards are usually found by keeping on the higher paths. Though the obstacles you face are more dire and will test your ability, you’ll get much better results if you manage to keep on that upper road.

10: Practice, practice, practice

A certain element of Runners will always come down to memorisation, and the only way you’ll memorise these zone layouts is to keep playing. Knowing what’s coming will instantly put you in a better position to prepare yourself and make each run go further – you’ll soon come to recognise familiar placements of the slopes, hoops, enemies and score gem trails. It might be difficult to play for long sessions due to its design, but playing a few times daily will go a long way. It’s all a learning curve and soon you’ll be able to do Top Speed without breaking a sweat, trust me.

Have you got any helpful advice for your fellow Runners players? Or did you find some hand advice in our little guide? Sound off below and let us know. Happy running!

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xxOLDColumns, xxOLDInformation, xxOLDMerchandise

A Not so Little Look at: Sonic The Hedgehog 2014 Classic Style Guide

3rd November 201425th June 2015

JonoD

Hello all! It’s Jono, here again to provide a very unique instalment of ‘A Not so Little Look at’.

Today, we’re going to be looking in depth at something that many people who know about the Sonic franchise won’t normally get to see: A style guide. In this case, a style guide to Classic style Sonic the hedgehog.

A style guide is a book, that is sent to merchandise companies to help them create products and packaging that will fit within the brand requirements set out by the license holder. This ring-bound style guide contains many things on how to go about creating Sonic merch; including character artwork, slogans, borders, typefaces, packaging ideas, and even a character height chart as well as a whole host of other information.

With so much information, the book is actually fairly weighty (about 80 pages in fact), and is certainly comprehensive. It’s really a fascinating thing to look through, and to notice all the little touches mentioned in this book seen in real-world products. Paladone certainly would have used this guide when creating their lines of Sonic gear.

You may also notice that this guide contains no references or images of Modern Sonic at all. This is because there is in fact a separate style guide dedicated exclusively to Modern Sonic products (which would you believe, is even more extensive than this guide!) In fact, this guide specifically requests that the Modern and Classic Sonic be kept entirely separate from each other.

Below is a complete set of scans from the book (with some blank pages omitted). Have a read!

xxOLDCommunity News

Let Me Tell Ya ‘Bout A Place, Called “Zone: 0”

31st March 20091st April 2009

Slingerland

7 Comments

zone0

Community projects and cool websites are one of the few reasons I bother to like Sonic anymore, aside from the adoration of the character at a young age. When amazing sites within this community pop-up, I take notice and rush to tell everybody about it. So, now, I’m tell you to visit Zone:0, the most comprehensive guide and analysis of the classic Sonic titles. The site can best described on its about page:

This rather colossal project of mine aims to combine the detail and accuracy of a well written FAQ with the visual features and organisation of an official printed strategy guide, all mangled together into a series of web pages. The ideal, although probably unrealistic goal (either way, we’re talking in terms of years here), is that every single game in the series will one day be covered within this website. The biggest emphasis here though is on the levels of the Sonic platformers, and each one, for each game, will have its own page personalised and dedicated entirely to it. Information will not only relate just to the specific obstacles and tricky bits you’ll encounter but also details surrounding its structure, appearance and tons of other trivia, relying on specific and consistent methods of organisation and analysis. Where possible, complete maps with the most detail you can find anywhere, as well as a load of screenshots will help illustrate the entire stage for you.

I’ll talk about it briefly, because I want you to go over there and see for yourself!

Zone:0’s administrator, LiQuidShade, recently put up a new ad here at Sonic Stadium to promote the redesign of the site. Not only is the design slicker and more appealing to the eye, but Sonic the Hedgehog CD joins the party, as guides for only Sonic 1 & Sonic 2 were the only games up before. There are also improvements within the image viewing department and comment boxes, which allow you to add content to a game’s page.

I was hooked on Zone:0 when I saw a count for the amount of rings in a given act. When I saw that statistic, amongst the dozens of pictures and details, I knew that I could trust this site for a comprehensive breakdown. Plus, the site hosts level maps, which have been hard to find, in my opinion, as of late. While the Sonic Research Zone is also a great resource, half of their maps are down. Sonic fangamers should frequently visit this site to read about how each level is constructed, in order to create the best possible level for their own game.

Zone:0 provides breakdowns and analysis of each zone’s appearance, level design, and strategy. Do you want to find the best path to time travel in Sonic CD? Zone:0 has got you covered. Do you need to know where all of the star checkpoints in Sonic 2 to create the best method of collecting the chaos emeralds? Zone:0 is on it. There is just so much information, it will make your head spin with joy.

Visit Zone:0