- Marble Garden Zone

Your guide to Sonic & Knuckles' Marble Garden Zone! Learn how to navigate the floating island, use Spin Dashes effectively, and overcome the TunnelBot mini-boss.

Alright, so after all that swimming in Hydrocity, we're finally back on solid ground – well, floating island ground, anyway! Welcome to Marble Garden Zone. This place is all about using your Spin Dash to reveal hidden paths and platforms. Keep an eye out, because both the TunnelBot and Robotnik himself are gonna be causing some earthquakes here. We'll be dealing with stuff like rising platforms, those annoying flying spinners, rotating bits, pulley lifts, spikes from above, arrow machines, spiked balls on chains, and some sticky mud pits.

Act 1 Walkthrough:

1. When you land, just run down the slopes and drop off the edge. You'll want to Spin Dash right through that wall in front of you, then jump over the chained spiked ball that's rolling around.
2. See that TunnelBot? Don't worry about it right now. Just wait for it to drill upwards, then head right. You'll need to Spin Dash to reveal a bunch of platforms. Hop across them carefully.
3. Use the blue flying spinner to get some height, then head left. Follow the signs you see – they're helpful! You'll need to Spin Dash again to uncover more paths.
4. Climb up the platforms and then run down the hill. Spin Dash through the next wall you see, and then use another flying spinner to blast through the one after that.
5. Keep going right past the Starpost. Run up the hill and wait for the 'maize' (it's like a maze of rising platforms) to go up before you Spin Dash through the wall.
6. There's an arrow-shooting machine here. Hit it three times – this will cause the floor to drop, letting you descend.
7. Run down the hills and use your Spin Dash to reveal two more platforms. Use the flying spinner to break through the walls ahead.
8. Head right, and you'll find another wall to Spin Dash through. This leads you straight to the Mini-Boss!

Mini-Boss Battle: TunnelBot

This guy takes 6 hits to defeat. He's basically a drilling machine that causes earthquakes. Just keep dodging his attacks and hitting him whenever you get an opening. The Spin Dash can be useful for getting close quickly.