Hidden depths!

Okay, I know Sonic the Hedgehog is full of secrets. I mean, I've been playing the game since 1992. Or even the year before, if you count a couple of times I got to play it before I owned a copy myself. But I'm really impressed to discover something brand new about the game in this video! Six minutes in, we get an astonishing revelation about the Scrap Brain Zone!

Yes, it's possible, with some VERY careful play, to have 50 rings or more when you enter one particular teleporter. And if you do, it takes you to a different, higher level! I never knew that! I did know the rest of the stuff in this video, although I admit it took the advent of the internet before I learned about the Labyrinth Zone secret route, but this new knowledge absolutely delights me!

It's not some kind of modern cheat, either - this video uses modern-day emulations rather than a real Mega Drive, so I thought it might be, but no, I checked on that 1992 cartridge that's been in my possession all these years, and it DOES work! Took me about a dozen tries to get past all those traps with fifty rings intact, and I don't think I've ever actually done that in all my years of playing the game before. They really don't make games like that any more, and I think it's a terrible shame.

I can take comfort in knowing that I knew all about the bonus for finishing a level in exactly 9:59 on Sonic 3 before everyone on the internet was talking about it - I discovered it myself inadvertently one day all those decades ago. And I know that the orbinauts/uni-uni/things-with-spiky-balls in Star Light Zone turn yellow and fire their spiky balls at you if you create them with debug mode, which nobody on the internet seems to be talking about anywhere. I should make a YouTube video of it. Sonic's the best, isn't he?