Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Aftermath: Learn about reaching Mushroom Hill Zone, Hidden Palace Zone, and the different endings based on Chaos Emerald collection.
Tails airlifts Sonic to Mushroom Hill Zone. If you're playing as Tails, he'll fly there on his own. Act 1 has been extended slightly with a new opening area. Go right a bit to see a short cutscene (a non-interactive cinematic the game plays automatically) of Knuckles locking away something in a hidden passageway. After he leaves, enter the passageway and jump into the Giant Ring inside. You'll be transported to the Emerald Chamber of Hidden Palace Zone. Check the Special Stage section for more information.
Upon returning to Mushroom Hill Zone, exit the passageway and go right for a while to end up in the area that you start from in Sonic & Knuckles alone. There is no difference between the levels in S3&K and S&K from this point. Since you can play as Sonic & Tails and Tails Alone, there are many routes you can take through the levels that were not possible in Sonic & Knuckles alone. For example, Tails can fly or airlift Sonic to once unreachable areas. The final Zone is The Doomsday for Sonic or Sonic & Tails and Death Egg for Tails.
Endings
If you collected all 7 Chaos/Super Emeralds as Sonic, Super/Hyper Sonic will bring the Master Emerald down with him from outer space. When Super/Hyper Sonic enters Mobius' atmosphere, Tails appears in the Tornado and grabs the Master Emerald. You turn back into regular Sonic and land on the biplane. Sonic and Tails return to the Floating Island and leave the Master Emerald in Angel Island Zone. As the island rises into the sky, Sonic and Tails leave in their plane. If you acquired all 7 Super Emeralds, Knuckles will see Sonic and Tails leave.
If you obtained 0-6 Chaos Emeralds as Sonic Alone or Sonic & Tails, Sonic will fall from outer space, but the Master Emerald will remain there. When Sonic enters Mobius' atmosphere, Tails appears in the Tornado. You'll land on the biplane and return to the Floating Island. The island remains in the sea as Sonic and Tails leave in their plane.
If you collected all 7 Chaos/Super Emeralds as Tails, Regular/Super Tails will bring the Master Emerald down with him from outer space. When Regular/Super Tails enters Mobius' atmosphere, Sonic appears in the Tornado and grabs the Master Emerald. If you're Super Tails, you turn back into Regular Tails and land on the biplane (Regular Tails simply lands on the Tornado). Sonic and Tails return to the Floating Island and leave the Master Emerald in Angel Island Zone. As the island rises into the sky, Sonic and Tails leave in their plane. If you acquired all 7 Super Emeralds, Knuckles will see Sonic and Tails leave.
When you complete the game, watch the credits roll and you'll eventually see a short scene at the end, depending on whether you collected all 7 Chaos/Super Emeralds. If you got 7 Chaos Emeralds, you'll see the wreckage of the Death Egg and an EggRobo emerging from it (this is the same EggRobo that Knuckles fights instead of Robotnik). If you acquired all 7 Super Emeralds, you'll see Sonic, Tails and Knuckles standing in front of the Sonic 3 & Knuckles logo. If you obtained 0-6 Chaos Emeralds, you'll see Robotnik with the Master Emerald.
- After choosing 1-Player on the Title Screen, select a Save File and choose which character(s) you want to control: Sonic & Tails, Sonic Alone, Tails Alone, and Knuckles Alone. You can select the No Save File if you don't want to save your progress.
- The walkthrough for the second half of the game, starting from Mushroom Hill Zone, is covered in the Sonic & Knuckles walkthrough.
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