Sonic Lost World - Wii U - Silent Forest Zone 2

Описание: S-Rank Time: 3 minutes 35 seconds

This stage has my favorite music in the game. I'm sure much of it is because I had been waiting for a tango to show up in a Sonic game for a while. Heck, tango is a pretty underused genre in game music.

The only stage in Silent Forest that actually makes use of the "silent" part of its name, Silent Forest Zone 2 is set in more ancient ruins, this time in the nighttime of a forested area patrolled by three owls (non-robotic, it appears) and one gigantic robot owl that glares angrily at Sonic from beginning to end. That robot owl is under the command of Zor, but more on that later.

This stage introduces the Magenta Rhythm. There is no rhythm needed to control it though--you just tap on the Wii U GamePad to bounce Sonic there. This was before the update, so tappig the screen was the only way to go. (There is supposed to be music for Magenta Rhythm, but I had forgotten to mute the GamePad, so it plays through there instead.)

Playing the first part of this stage well requires a lot of really close calls and frame-precise jumping. You can play it slower to make it easier though. Heck, this whole stage is harder than its appearance lets on: I lost 25 lives the first time going through this, then lost count going for Red Star Rings. It took until my 18th attempt at Time Attack to even make it through without dying, when I spent about 5 minutes 20 seconds. Silent Forest Zone 2 was also the 18th stage I nabbed the S-Rank for, having spent about 4 hours total at it until I figured out some crucial stuff to finishing it fast enough for it. (Getting hit by that Ball Hog before the first Magenta Rhythm is intentional. It would take too long to wait for an opportunity to destroy it.)

The biggest thing to take note of is that the Magenta Rhythm is a real time-waster, like most of the other Wisps, and Sonic should only use it when he's required. There are two points in this stage where it's required, but the second one is debatable. The Magenta Rhythm is used to get through the loops in the middle parts of this stage. Those loops puzzled me for a while--Sonic cannot run through them normally. He has to do a Spin Dash from a standing position and roll to the end. This is, of course, much faster than using the Magenta Rhythm, and the second one even has a hidden spring conveniently placed to take Sonic across the huge gap that he couldn't jump across on his own.

The last third of this stage is a stealth segment, or at least it's supposed to be one. Now on the final circuit around the stage, the owl robot shines on its eye searchlights and tries to get Sonic within sight. The idea here is that if the lights are getting too close to Sonic, he should hide behind either the bushes or one of those red owls (they are harmless), then wait for the owl robot to look elsewhere. If Sonic gets caught in the lights, Zor's little bats come by and lift Sonic away, which is an instant KO. (You'll see these bats participate in the fight in Silent Forest Zone 4.) If Sonic travels fast enough though, the owl robot's gaze will never catch up to Sonic. I was not fast enough at one point and had to use the Magenta Rhythm, which for whatever reason causes the owl to look straight up until it finishes, but I still got Sonic to Zor on time.

Once Sonic completes the spiral path and reaches Zor, he will make the owl robot fight Sonic directly. The owl will shoot coconut-like capsules that circle around itself. They will harm Sonic if he jumps at them or Homing Attacks them, and if they reach the floor, they will break into blue sparks that travel across and around (much like the blue sparks you saw earlier in the stage). If he kicks them, however, the sparks will fly back onto the owl, jostling Zor. The owl must be hit once to knock Zor off the first time, then twice later. The owl is too high up for Sonic to immediately kick the capsules, however--they need to circle around at least once before they descend low enough.

Unlike most other boss fights, Zor will only allow one hit from Sonic before he leaps back onto the owl. Thus, you really have to knock him off at least three times to defeat him.

And look at how close I skirted the S-Rank time limit, even with Sonic being near unstoppable throughout the whole thing. You can tell someone at SEGA knew Sonic doesn't have to bother taking cover from the owl's lights. Stealth is so not him.

Anyone notice the moon scrolls through the sky faster than the stage itself?

Requested by phantom1053