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SONIC R
Complete Token, Emerald and Shortcut Guide
by Glenn Broderick
(Tips & Tricks Magazine - Feb 1998)

As with all Sonic titles, Sonic R is loaded with secrets and shortcuts that could keep you playing forever. But being the killjoys that we are, we decided that maybe you need a little hand finding said secrets. That's where I come in. I played this game until I actually thought I was Sonic. In fact, when I went to MailBoxes Etc. to mail this strategy to the Tips & Tricks offices, I ran all eight miles. It was weird. Anyhoo, check out the game-spoiling fruits of my labor and be prepared to race at unreasonable speeds.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

General Tips & Strategies
Secret Characters
Tracks

General Tips & Strategies

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  • Learn to use the drift buttons! I know they seem unwieldy at first, but believe me, they're vital.
  • Get an analog controller, for crying out loud! Trying to race with the normal D-pad is difficult at best and a royal pain in the patootie at worst.
  • True to the Sonic legacy, you MUST collect as many gold coins as you possibly can. In addition to supplying you with groovy power-ups, they're also vital for getting the most out of accelerators. Speaking of accelerators...
  • Learn the location of ALL accelerators! They are absolutely essential to beating the other characters (especially the hidden ones). 40 rings is pretty much the max for getting the most speed from an accelerator.
  • Use Sonic all the time. The game is balanced in such a way that the title character is your natural choice; he's quick, he has the double jump and he's also a great dancer.

Secret Characters

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When you start the game, you have your selection of a scant five characters. As you go along and do some of the game's more difficult tasks, you get access to more. Listed below are all of the hidden characters, how to access them and their strengths. Remember what I said before, though: Stick with Sonic (or Super Sonic, as the case may be).

Super Sonic

How to Access
Get all seven of the emeralds in the game and place first on every track.
Description
Looks like Sonic, only in gold. He's very fast and simply a souped-up version of the Sonic we all know and love.
Strengths
Naturally, he's the quickest character in the game. If you have a handle on the controls, this is the best character to use. Oh, and he can also walk on water.

Metal Sonic

How to Access
Get all five Sonic Tokens and place third or better in Resort Island. Beat him in a race.
Description
You'll remember him from Sonic 2 and Sonic CD. A metal distortion of the original with wacky speed at his disposal.
Strengths
A by-product of the metal abomination's speed is his ability to jump very long distances. This is especially useful in spanning long areas (i.e. the first lake on the right in Resort Island) with a single jump.

Metal Tails

How to Access
Get all five Sonic Tokens and place third or better in Radical City. Beat him in a race.
Description
Tails on steroids. Fast, furious, and exponentially more difficult to control.
Strengths
Metal Tails has one of the pimpiest (if I may use the vernacular) abilities in the whole game: He can glide over water. This ability almost balances out the almost uncontrollable nature of the character.

Metal Robotnik

How to Access
Get all five Sonic Tokens and place third or better in Regal Ruins. Beat him in a race.
Description
I'm not actually sure this is supposed to be a Metal Robotnik. It's a skinny robot thing that has similar abilities to the original, so I'm assuming (and we all know what assuming does, don't we?)
Strengths
The only real advantage that Metal Robotnik has over the regular Robotnik is his speed. Before you start choosing him to race with, though, be aware of the fact that his speed makes him almost uncontrollable.

Metal Knuckles

How to Access
Get all five Sonic Tokens and place third or better in Reactive Factory. Beat him in a race.
Description
Knuckles, looking like death warmed over!
Strengths
Speed, speed, speed...and the ability to glide over water. This one should be low on your priority list.

Robotnik

How to Access
Place first in all four tracks.
Description
Everyone's favorite mad scientist and Sonic-hater. He's big and burly and ill-dispositioned.
Strengths
His girth allows him to pick up a lot more rings than most others. In addition, he can glide over water which makes him very useful in water-heavy courses.

Tracks

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Including the hidden Radiant Emerald track, Sonic R boasts five huge and beautiful tracks. While all of the tracks boast some nifty shortcuts, only the four main tracks contain Sonic Tokens and Emeralds. Listed below you'll find the path to all of the Tokens, all of the Emeralds and the key shortcut in each level. (There are several shortcuts in each track, but one in each stands out as the one to know.)

Resort Island

Tokens

  1. Right after you start this level, you'll go through an underpass. If you jump on top of this underpass, you'll find the first Token.
  2. From Token 1's location, drop down to the left and go through the tunnel you see there. You'll find the second token there.
  3. After you leave the tunnel from Token 2, you'll pass a 20-ring door. Open this door and enter the tunnel beyond to find the third Token.
  4. Just past Token 3's location, you'll see an item panel and your path will take a 90-degree turn to the right. Go straight into the water out to the far island; that's where you'll find the fourth Token.
  5. After the accelerator, the path will fork. Go up the path on the left to find the last Token.

Emeralds
  1. There's only one Emerald in this track and it's located behind the 50-ring door (just to the left of the accelerator).

Key Shortcut
If you follow the path from Token 1's location and past the 20-ring door (through the little town), you'll save yourself much, much time.

Radical City

Tokens

  1. After the first item panel, the path will split. Go to the left and drop down the hole in the path. Here's your first Token.
  2. Continuing across after Token 1, you'll come to another item panel. Right after that on the right is a barrier; bust through the barrier and drop down into a pinball table with a Token at its center.
  3. The 20-ring door just before the accelerator hides the third Token.
  4. Jump across the hole in the road from Token 1. You'll come to a barrier on your left. Smash through this barrier - make sure you're going full speed - and drop down to the fourth Token.
  5. Go the same way as in Token 4, but this time just follow the path instead of smashing through the barrier. When your path takes a 90-degree turn to the left, you'll see the fifth Token.

Emeralds
  1. The 20-ring door right near Token 1 hides the first Emerald.
  2. The 50-ring door just past the item panel mentioned in Token 2 hides the second Emerald.

Key Shortcut
The way to the second Token is also the most kick-butt shortcut in the whole game. Smash through the barrieer down onto the pinball table and go to the far right corner. Follow it out and to the right. You're ahead of the game, baby!

Regal Ruin

Tokens

  1. Right after you start, you'll pass between two sphinxes. After passing through the sphinxes, go diagonally right and on top of the island you come to in order to grab the first Token.
  2. Right next to Token 1 is a bridge with and item panel on it. Just beyond it are two springs. Jump on the spring to the right and you'll automatically grab the second Token.
  3. After getting the second token, go right and take the backtracking ramp down. When you reach the first platform, you'll see arrow signs. Face them and move to the right and take the hall that you see. At the bottom of the hall, look to your right for the third Token.
  4. After looping back to the starting point, move to the left of the sphinxes and take the ramp you see there to pick up a bunch of coins and the fourth Token.
  5. Instead of taking the hidden hall on your way to Token 3, simply continue down the ramp and over to the left. You'll eventually go up another ramp with the fifth Token on it.

Emeralds
  1. Just past Token 4 there's a 50-ring door. Open it to find the first Emerald
  2. After you get the second Token, instead of going down the backtracking ramp, look to the left and go through the 20-ring door. That's the way to the second Emerald.

Key Shortcut
The path you take to get Token 3 is also the most expedient way to finish the level. You can literally come back from fourth to first place is you navigate these tight hallways quickly enough.

Reactive Factory

Tokens

  1. Right after you start, you'll see an arrow sign on your right. Just past the sign on the right is a shortcut with a Token in it.
  2. Right after you start, you'll see cone barriers guiding you to the right. Go straight through them, out onto the peninsula until you see the sub on your right. Jump on it to grab the second Token.
  3. Right after the accelerator, you'll come to a spot where you can either go right or jump across some water. Jump across the water and then go right. Your path will fork. Go down the path on the right to get the Token.
  4. Continue on your way through Token 3 until you can't go any further. Now go left; there's the fourth Token.
  5. If you take the fork on the left in Token 4, it'll take you up past a 20-ring door. Open it to find the fifth token.

Emeralds
  1. Right after the loop, you'll see a 50-ring door on the right. Open it and an Emerald will drop down on the island in the center of the water.
  2. To the left of the accelerator is a narrow path you can take. Walk straight down that path until you come to a 50-ring door. Open it and go to the sub to grab the Emerald that drops down.

Key Shortcut
On the way to Token 3, take the path to the right instead of jumping across the water. Follow it over and to the left. You'll have cut out a huge chunk of time.

Radiant Emerald

Since this is the hidden level, there are no Tokens or Emeralds on it. It's simply here for your enjoyment. What you will find, though, are two shortcuts that you absolutely must use in order to beat the hidden characters in a race.

Key Shortcut

  1. The 50-ring door you come to just after starting brings you over to the huge oval a lot quicker than simply going down the normal path.
  2. The second 50-ring door will get you across the finish line several seconds quicker. During one race I came back from a fifth-place position to first place through the use of this shortcut.

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