Jonny: Buy a strategy Guide.

Or don't, it's not like it's hard.

Give it about a week and GameFAQs will be full of "guides"

Later edit: However I don't have time to wait. Having a lot of trouble with the purple emerald from Johnny. Any suggestions anyone or any hints?

Upgrade the bike; to do so you need to talk to Tails after beating the game.

What was Sega thinking? There is a major character flaw with Blaze that conflicts with the game. SPOILERS HIGHLIGHT TO READ Spoilers (Select To Read): When you get to the Sky Babylon level (which Sonic can't remember ever being there in Sonic Riders), we find out Blaze is afraid of heights. Considering she can run up the side of a building and do loop-de-loops hundreds of feet in the air, how is this possible? UGH!

I don't see it much of a problem. spoiler Her phobia was introduced in Rush 1, and you face its sky high level shortly after its phobia scene. I'd say that it's not a critical phobia and she's the kind of character that does what she has to do, though it is still kind of odd.

Edit: it's not the same place as in Riders

I don't see it as a full-blown phobia, as she's obviously able to function despite its presence.

So, I played Hidden Island 16, and I swear it has the same exact layout as one of the acts of the first level of Sonic Rush... any other extra levels like that?

The music is alot better than I expected without Hideki Naganuma. With the exception of that fruity title song.

16 is Leaf Storm with less walls and floors; all the other hidden islands are completely original.

Thank god. It just seemed a bit lazy to me at first.

Whoever is doing the music seems to be trying to imitate Naganuma, at least. Well, from what I've been able to hear so far.

The music was pretty good. Not as discordant as some of the previous games tricks, but not as catchy either.

Am I the only one who sucks at using the submarine? This thing's killing me. Why can't they just let me use the first vehicle through the whole game?!

Don't worry. I kind of suck at the sub and the boat.

But I LOVE the Jet-ski. It's a load of fun.

The Hovercraft is the one I suck at the most. XD But once you start doing some upgrading, it gets a little better.

My copy just arrived. Loading it up. Back with opinions later. High scores much later. World records eventually.

It's on!

When and how can I start upgrading my vehicles? Because I haven't been able to reach the last level because I can't use the submarine to save my life.

You have to beat the game. It's possible that you only need to beat a single act of the last level since Tails mentions the material you get there, but that really is the epitome of "same difference". It's a kick to the teeth, too, since upgrading the submarine doubles/triples/quadruples its lifebar.

A kick in the teeth indeed. Guess I'll just have to keep practicing, but man is this the most frustrating bit of the game so far.

Though I'm a bit disappointed I'm so close to the last level already. None of the levels in this game have seemed all that memorable. Bosses have been, for the most part, fun though.

Music's... okay.

Only thing I can say so far is that Marine makes me laugh because she just never stops doing whatever. She's like the Energizer Bunny. The music isn't the greatest but the Machine level had some nice music. I was disappointed in the music for Plant Kingdom...such a nice design though.

C'mon people, share your FC's!

Mine's 098895 749965

Your pride is ON, Craig :"> D

Just made the submarine and I'm enjoying the crap out of it.

Marine is annoying the heck out of me, and the level design is a bit hard to decypher, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually.

The replaying levels thing isn't annoying yet, fingers crossed it wont be.

Bosses are an unparalelled delight, each time.

Gonna try take my time, complete it sometime this weekend.

Ah, if it's one thing that can be agreed on is that SRA has some great bosses, gameplay-wise. Dimps got much more inventive in that regard, using both screens at the same time. Medicine Ball Droid is my personal favorite.

I'm still amazed that the DS can pull off 3D on both screens at once.

So I completed the game (light ending, no emeralds yet) and caught the Dimps logo.

I was overjoyed to see it, especially as Sonic Team's was the first, but... didn't they fall out with Sega a while back? I thought Sega Tech were incharge of this.

I'm confused... someone school me on the backstory.

So what is everyone's favorite level? I've only completed three so far but Planet Kingdom is still my favorite...the music has somewhat grown on me and I love the background to it...

I hear people love Coral Cave but seeing as water levels always leave me tense, I couldn't enjoy it.

So far my biggest geek out was the Ghost Ship level, if only because it's not been done in a 2d Sonic before (think the Pirate stage of Secret Rings), the chemical plant style machine stage may end up becoming my favourite, though.

Well, besides Leaf Storm Act 1. That level is made of love and win and insta S rank.

I loved Coral Cave. Cool look, and nice music. I wish the jewels in the mine cart weren't such dead ringers for chaos emeralds, though.

Craig, Im glad you thought that the Machine Stage smacked of Chemical Plant. I definitely got those vibes at several points.

So, I've got all the Chaos Emeralds and am collecting Sol Emeralds. Gordon gave me the Rex, Kraken, Whiskers/Johnny and Ghost Titan fights, but I don't have the rest.

Do I need to do anything special to gain access to those missions?

I'm content time attacking and score hunting until I find out, but I'd rather not go through like 70 thankless missions and still be stuck. ^^;

You need to find more hidden islands. Once you find a "right" one, the game will tell you.

Gah... Found one of them... now another 3 to go.

Damn 4th Sol Emerald >>;

Anyone know which challenges unlock the music to the levels?

Each challenge has an icon of the person who assigned it. Mizy is the music guy, so you'll have to select the ones sent to you by him.

*Completed main game now and working on missions, 55-60 complete so far*

I've completed the game. I've gotten all the missions and all the emeralds. The 100th mission is to beat the other 99 missions...so once you beat the other 99, the last one is automatically revealed and awarded to you. Kinda lame if you ask me.

And I was a bit disappointed in the music. Tomoya and Ohtani did a serviceable job trying to emulate the handiwork of Naganuma...but these tunes just aren't as memorable as Sonic Rush's.

Finished all missions and started time attack mode.

If I could get this baby online, I'd take on THE WORLD.

I agree with the music complaint. I'm still upset that New Venture doesn't actually feature in the game outside of the intro.

Dang, you guys already got through this thing and I haven't even bought it yet. Kudos!

Anyway, I'm thinking about picking it up to play in my spare time. Is it actually this short or would you say it's a good time-killer? See, I'm in college and kinda wanna graduate in the spring. *crosses fingers* So I can't put hours upon hours into a game like I used to.

The game's as long as want to make it, really. Completing the main story itself is fairly short, and the missions don't take much more time either. The real time killer for the rest of the game's life afterwards is in the time attack and the wifi... so it depends on whether you're interested in doing them or not.

Sweet. I'll most likely look into it then. Thanks much.

Almost completed all the missions. Just need to beta the time limit mission of Pirate Island Act 2, the damn sailboat and hovercraft missions and #100. 4 to go!

Nerd moment:

I read somewhere that the Japanese version of Marine the Raccoon apparently spoke in Kansai-ben and that the localization writer decided to go with Australian as a form of making a connection english speakers could identify with. Paraphrasing here, the Japanese immediately recognize where a person who speaks Kansai-ben hails from, so he decided to go with Australian since we all know Aussie accents by ear apparently.

He went with 2 Australian speaking contacts for help writing Marine's dialogue. Localization guy claims that the character was also just as annoying in the Japanese version as she comes off as in the English version. Apparently if Marine is soul-injuringly annoying, then the man did his job.

Aside from Marine making me want to destroy myself, I'm rather interested in getting the game in a couple of weeks.

Oh good Geddy, yes. Her being annoying IS part of the story. Blaze has no patience for her crap and that effects the outcome of the game.

So, it's good work that they made her like that... but she's still ANNOYING.

At least she didn't have a voice actress...

I actually liked Marine... :O Her relentless energy and annoying of the other characters actually made me laugh. 😀

I'm quite interested in seeing Marine's annoying-ness... but not before I get the new Zelda for DS. ^^
Of course, I know I'm probably gonna cave in and get SRA anyways. XD

I agree. I hate when reviewers claim Marine is a detriment to the series because she's so obnoxious. That IS her character. Even Sonic and Tails think she's a bit much.

Does anybody have an odd break in the song "New Venture" when it cuts from the opening cinema to the title screen?

Yeah, that's normal. Only way to hear New Venture properly is to have Mizy play it.

Well, just got done beating the game, sans most of the missions, upgrade, etc. It was a cool game but the one thing I hate about the Rush series is how the rings fly farther and farther apart each time you get hit; it drove me up a wall when I tried to get the last Sol Emerald.

When you lose rings, Rayzor, they fly farther with each consecutive hit you take with THAT ring. Get hit without picking up any of your lost rings and collect new ones. They will return back to before, and not fly as far. At least, that's how it was in the previous Rush. Don't know if they changed anything.

That part only bothered me when trying to beat the Ghost Titan when it was powered up for the last Sol Emerald.

I don't know...outside of say Sonic 3 or perhaps Sonic 1, this seemed one of the easiest Sonic games to get all the emeralds in. I'm actually glad you had to get the Sol Emeralds as well because the Chaos Emeralds were easy.

Also, a trick combo, what in the world is that? I really suck at those ones. The time based ones don't seem that bad since a few practice runs in Time Trials can help you master them...well except for the Hidden Island/Leaf Storm Act 1...that's pure evil. (I miss stages where I could blast through in under 25 seconds...)

Leaf Storm becomes alot easier if you realise you can jump during the swingy things with the spring in the middle, which saves a few seconds, also that you can R+Right out of those rainbow loops.

Getting under a minute on there isn't too difficult, so long as you stop for nothing and don't let Sonic have to wait for anything.

Also... the Chaos were hard for me because I didn't realise you could upgrade until about 2 left.

I've got all S Rankings...and am two races away from getting that Viking Cup.

Uh, could someone refresh my memory as to which islands the three tablets needed to unlock Pirate's Island are on? I already hit them (as well as half the hidden islands as well) beforehand, so I can't go by where on the map I haven't been yet.