Sandopolis Zone - Sonic Metropolis

Information about the Zone

First appearance : Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994)

Game appearances : Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994), Team Sonic Racing (2019).

Different versions : Sand Road ; Boo’s House ; Clockwork Pyramid (Team Sonic Racing (2019)).

Type : Action Stage, Racing Track.

Zone description : An incredibly hot, deadly desert located somewhere on Angel Island, the Sandopolis Zone is one of the most dangerous places on the mysterious island. In the middle of Sandopolis Zone is a pyramid hidden in the sands, filled with riddles, darkness, ancient mechanisms and evil ghosts. Here, in this pyramid, is the entrance to the Lava Reef Zone, and later to the Hidden Palace Zone, where the most powerful artifact, the Master Emerald, is hidden. No wonder that this place is filled with traps, hostile spirits and stone guards designed to fence off the sacred place from intruders.

OSTs used in this Zone

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994) [Act 1]

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994) [Act 2]

Events

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994)

After his defeat, Dr. Robotnik lands on Angel Island, where he finds an energy source even more powerful than the Chaos Emeralds, namely the Master Emerald. However, it was protected by the powerful guardian Knuckles the Echidna. Despite his power, Knuckles is rather gullible, so Robotnik convinces the echidna that Sonic and Tails are trying to steal the Master Emerald, thus turning Knuckles against the heroes. Soon, Sonic and Tails arrive on Angel Island and are immediately attacked by Knuckles, who takes the Chaos Emeralds from the heroes and hides them in Special Stages portals around the island. Sonic and Tails have to search all over Angel Island to find the portals in the form of giant rings while chasing Robotnik and Knuckles along the way. After successfully collecting all the Chaos Emeralds and destroying the Launch Base Zone, Sonic and Tails followed Knuckles into one of the portals, but it did not lead to the Special Stage. Instead, it led them to the Master Emerald altar. After placing the Chaos Emeralds around the Master Emerald, Sonic and Tails find the portals to the Special Stages again, where they energize the Emeralds, turning them into Super Emeralds with the power of the Master Emerald.

After Sonic and Tails destroy the Flying Battery Zone, they and Dr. Robotnik crash into the center of the Sandopolis Zone. Robotnik, trying to reach the Master Emerald’s altar, awakens an ancient pyramid filled with ghosts and dark secrets from the sands. As they make their way through the deadly sands of the Sandopolis Zone, Sonic and Tails are getting to the pyramid, where they defeat the stone Guardian who was guarding the entrance to the pyramid. Once inside, the heroes encounter impenetrable darkness, hostile spirits and dangerous traps, but still make their way deep into the pyramid’s darkness, where they find Dr. Robotnik in his new machine, the Egg Golem. After the destruction of the Egg Golem, Dr. Robotnik escapes from the pyramid into the underground network of Lava Reef Zone caves in an attempt to get closer to the Master Emerald, while Sonic and Tails follow the villain.

After upgrading all Chaos Emeralds to Super Emeralds, Sonic and Tails finally defeat Knuckles and Robotnik, returning peace to the Angel Island and making it fly in the sky again.

Sonic & Knuckles (1994)

After the defeat of Dr. Robotnik, however, many of the evil doctor’s robots and machines remained on the island. One robot, called Egg Robo, had enough intelligence to replace Dr. Robotnik and rebuild an army of robots and weapons itself. After dropping bombs on Knuckles, Egg Robo steals the Master Emerald, forcing the echidna to go in pursuit. Like Sonic and Tails, Knuckles also visits the Sandopolis Zone, which pyramid was awakened again by Egg Robo, where the echidna also battles the Guardian and the Egg Robo itself in the Egg Golem.

On the way, Knuckles finds seven Chaos Emeralds and absorbs them, activating the form of Super Knuckles. After destroying Launch Base, Knuckles enhances the Chaos Emeralds on the Master Emerald altar, turning them into Super Emeralds. Using their power, Knuckles transforms into his Hyper Knuckles form. Eventually, Knuckles catches up with Egg Robo at Sky Sanctuary, defeats Neo Metal Sonic and retrieves the Master Emerald. After his victory, Knuckles returns Master Emerald to its altar and restores peace to Angel Island.

Team Sonic Racing (2019)

Team Sonic, Team Rose, Team Vector, Team Dark and Team Eggman participate in car races arranged by Dodon Pa. Sandopolis was used as one of the main places for building racing tracks. Desert sands with a small oasis have been adapted for the Sand Road track. The interior of the pyramid in the center of Sandopolis, which is the home of the Boo ghosts, has been turned into the Boo’s House track. The outer rim of the pyramid has been mechanized and turned into the Clockwork Pyramid track.