Those of you in #srb2fun are probably familiar with recent attempts to try to perfect every stage in the game. I've done it in every stage where it's currently possible, and am moderately curious how many others have bothered with such an insane task of trying to collect every ring in the game.
While a lot of the stages are generally pretty easy to perfect, I've been noticing a few are just absolutely brutal to the point of being one of the hardest challenges available in SRB2. It's also notable that most stages are impossible to perfect as Sonic, so these challenges require you to play as Tails or Knuckles. Be especially careful with the Attraction Shield, as it's attraction isn't quite perfect and that can lead to problems, especially in cramped quarters like zoom tubes. Perfect bonus is also wonderful for getting insanely high scores for score attack purposes, so it's a good idea to clear out enemies and 1-Ups while you're at it for massive scores.
Some notes by stage, along with the perfect requirement:
While a lot of the stages are generally pretty easy to perfect, I've been noticing a few are just absolutely brutal to the point of being one of the hardest challenges available in SRB2. It's also notable that most stages are impossible to perfect as Sonic, so these challenges require you to play as Tails or Knuckles. Be especially careful with the Attraction Shield, as it's attraction isn't quite perfect and that can lead to problems, especially in cramped quarters like zoom tubes. Perfect bonus is also wonderful for getting insanely high scores for score attack purposes, so it's a good idea to clear out enemies and 1-Ups while you're at it for massive scores.
Some notes by stage, along with the perfect requirement:
- Greenflower Zone Act 1 (285) is trivially easy and can be done as all three characters.
- Greenflower Zone Act 2 (339) is also pretty damn easy, although doing it as Sonic requires some pretty insane bounces.
- Techno Hill Zone Act 1 (597) just requires backtracking the character route you didn't take.
- Techno Hill Zone Act 2 (737) is large and takes forever but is generally simple. Make sure to check every slime puddle for ring boxes. A notably easy to miss ring box is hidden right before the big "Egg" sign in a tiny pool near the electric floors.
- Deep Sea Zone Act 1 (762) requires playing as Knuckles because there are rings on his route. Otherwise it's pretty trivial.
- Deep Sea Zone Act 2 (576) requires playing as Knuckles because there are rings on his route. The underwater waterslide is a one-way passage; there are 335 rings before the waterslide and 5 rings on it. There are also quite a lot of rings hidden in the block room so you'll probably want to actually clear it to make sure you don't miss any.
- Castle Eggman Zone Act 1 (497) is trivial, although Tails is HIGHLY recommended over Knuckles because Knuckles's route is stupidly hard currently.
- Castle Eggman Zone Act 2 (1247) is large and somewhat tedious, but it isn't particularly difficult. Knuckles is required because of the hidden passage from the water switch room to the dining room. The other hidden passage for Knuckles actually has zero rings, but if you're going for a high score you'll want to grab the 3 1-Ups in it.
- Arid Canyon Zone Act 1 (705) has nothing notable preventing a perfect, but a lot of easy to miss rings. A notable spot is the hidden Armageddon Shield with eight rings in the quicksand area near the start.
- Red Volcano Zone Act 1 (431) has a hidden route that was added in the patch cycle that's rather hard to reach. It's easiest to bring the Elemental Shield from the end all the way back, but it's also possible to just get hit with a shield and dash in with the temporary invincibility. Otherwise the stage is pretty easy.
- Eggrock Zone Act 1 (620) is actually far worse than ERZ2. Tails is preferable because you can break the Knuckles route exit with a spindash and fly back along Knuckles's route with attraction. The zoom tube on the left route that leads to the space room on the left route is one-way. Because of the way the routes are structured, I suggest taking the left route first to the zoom tube, backtracking all the way back to the start, and then taking the right route to the end, detouring into the space room for the last few rings. Be aware that there are rings on the speed gauntlet, which is very hard as Tails or Knuckles, even with the Super Sneakers box hidden before it. This stage requires Attraction for a significant amount of stuff, so be very careful not to let Attraction break.
- Eggrock Zone Act 2 (712) is pretty brutal, but with only two routes and a loopback from the end to the beginning, all you have to do is complete the stage twice without losing your rings. Note that there aren't any rings in the disco room so you shouldn't enter it.
- Eggrock Zone Act 3 (134) has an Attraction Shield hidden behind a pillar near the Tails/Knuckles Super Sneakers box. It's also notable that the timer disappears after clearing the race, so it's easier to just clear the race and then backtrack onto the race track and collect every ring on the track before entering the zoom tube to the boss. Obviously even with the shield you need to be good at the boss or you'll lose your rings.
- Pipe Towers Zone (422) has three one-way passage pipes. At the transitions, you should have 163, 248, and 313 rings respectively. Other than the one-way passages this is trivial.
- Aerial Garden Zone (1921) is absurdly large and filled with little hidden alcoves that often contain rings. As the guy who made this stage it's a bit hard to me to make a list of easy to miss rings, since I hid them all, but there are no one-way passages so there shouldn't be a huge issue other than just the pure size of the level.
- Azure Temple Zone (906) requires Knuckles because of rings hidden on his route. Multiple routes cannot be backtracked and therefore must be done in order. Complete the puzzle route before the current route or it will become impossible to backtrack. The Armageddon Shield secret contains twenty rings, so that's necessary as well. While people frequently forget, remember that you can move many of the gargoyles to disarm them for backtracking purposes. I have a replay of my successful run uploaded on the record site here which would be quite helpful for anyone who wants to see what the sanest path through everything is, as even doing everything I could this is easily the hardest thing I've ever attempted in SRB2.
- The other boss stages have no perfect bonus, but they do count towards the cumulative total rings on the statistics screen. They're all trivial once you know how to beat the boss easily.
- Greenflower Zone Act 3 (12)
- Techno Hill Zone Act 3 (8)
- Deep Sea Zone Act 3 (12)
- Castle Eggman Zone Act 3 (12)
- Eggrock Core Zone (5)
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