6. Sonic Generations Collection Challenge Acts (Classic)

After finishing both Acts to all three Zones in an "Era", 15 Challenge Gates will appear in the White Space, with five for each Zone. Switching from Classic to Modern Sonic, and vice versa, will also swap the Challenge Acts available to you, meaning that there are actually 30 different challenges unlocked whenever this happens. For the sake of getting all the achievements, you will have to complete all 90 of them, but the ranking you earn is inconsequential. You could intentionally do terribly, but as long as you finish, it will be beneficial towards your completion. Most of these S Ranks aren't hard to get anyway, so tips on getting them will be provided as well.

Sonic Generations | Classic Sonic Challenges (S Rank)

Green Hill Zone Challenge 1: Doppelganger Race!

For this challenge, you just need to beat the Doppelganger that appears in a race to the finish. If you've had any decent amount of practice trying to get the Greased Lightning achievement (earned by finishing the level in under a minute), you should have no problem with both beating the doppelganger and getting an S Rank, especially since the limit for an S Rank is 20 seconds past that of what the achievement asks you to do.

Green Hill Zone Challenge 2: The Buzz Bombers' Revenge!

You'll now have to complete a good chunk of the level, now with some paths just completely unavailable, but with a new twist: those hornet-like enemies you've seen from playing through the stage before. It's not exactly challenging, but the addition of new wooden structures and blocked paths will still make things interesting.

Green Hill Zone Challenge 3: Knuckles: Horde of Enemies

Knuckles will challenge you to a race in Green Hill Zone, and will usually burrow underground to get ahead. Like with the first Challenge Act, you can check how far you two are in the level by looking at the top of the screen. Beating Knuckles is pretty easy, but getting an S Rank might take a few tries. If you decide to go for it, practice is going to be the most useful thing you can do; play through the challenge a few times so you can get used to the level and where things are.

Green Hill Zone Challenge 4: Swingset Circus

The fourth Challenge Act contains a large quantity of swinging platforms, which you've most likely seen in a brief area as part of the main Act. You'll have to navigate through these pendulum footholds to reach the end. If you decide not to bother with picking up the time bonuses, you should be able to get an S Rank pretty easily.

Green Hill Zone Challenge 5: High Speed Challenge

The last challenge Green Hill Zone has to offer you will let you toy around with speed power-ups. Lots of these are scattered throughout the Act, and will help you get to your destination faster. Again, your ranking doesn't matter when it comes to achievements, but getting an S Rank definitely requires that you find and use these power-ups effectively.

Chemical Plant Zone Challenge 1: Tails: Toxic Skies

For this challenge, Classic Tails will help you out whenever you need to scale tall distances, or excessively long ones. Unlike the original games, Tails won't become exhausted after a short amount of time, so you can have him fly through the entire level if you wanted to. If you want to go for an S Rank, you might not want to do that for some portions of the first half of the challenge, because Tails may be slower in some places.

Chemical Plant Zone Challenge 2: Which Switch is Which?

The chunk of Act 1 that this challenge takes place in has now been fitted with numerous switches, and objects that react to those switches. All you have to do here is activate them to continue through the level, so you shouldn't have any trouble here.

Chemical Plant Zone Challenge 3: Aqua Shield Challenge

The third Challenge Act will unlock a new Skill once you beat it, and it's pretty useful for platforming. All you have to do is use the abundant Aqua Shield pickups to get through the level by busting through objects and reaching new heights by bouncing with the bubble you're in. An S Rank isn't too out of the way, either; you might even have 15 seconds left on the clock at the end of the challenge.

Completing this Challenge Act will unlock the Aqua Shield Skill in Omochao's shop, and it costs 2500 points. As long as the shield is active in a level, you'll be able to breathe indefinitely underwater and use it to bounce higher.

Chemical Plant Zone Challenge 4: Doppelganger Race!

Another race against a transparent foe. By now, you should be well-acquainted with the level, and finishing before your doppelganger shouldn't be a concern whatsoever. Even the S Rank time qualification isn't all that challenging if you know what you're doing and stick to the higher paths.

Chemical Plant Zone Challenge 5: Invincibility Challenge

Chemical Plant's final challenge is going to be a pretty easy one. A bunch of invincibility pickups are going to be scattered around a good portion of the level, and all you have to do is hit them so you can safely make it to the next one, and so on, until you reach the end.

Sky Sanctuary Zone Challenge 1: Doppelganger Race!

Every Zone has a Doppelganger Race, and they're all the same thing: Get to the end in a certain amount of time. That certain amount of time is how long it takes for the doppelganger to finish, but since it's so slow, there's really no need to worry about that. The S Rank is very lenient too; I personally finished with about 40 seconds left on the clock.

Sky Sanctuary Zone Challenge 2: Eggrobo Rush

The Egg-Robos (or Eggrobos) have swarmed Sky Sanctuary, and the stage has changed as well. Many of the enemies have been placed in positions so that their lasers will directly run right into you if you're hanging on to certain poles, so don't assume any non-moving poles are safe.

Sky Sanctuary Zone Challenge 3: Aerial Paradise

This challenge centers around the red orb-teleporter structures seen around the sanctuary. This time, there are tons of these things all over the place. Don't worry, none of the teleporters will send you backwards; if you ever see one, jump into it, and you'll be pushed further into the maze.

Sky Sanctuary Zone Challenge 4: Ring Time Challenge

For this Challenge Act, you're given a taste of the Ring Time Skill, which turns enemies into rings for a short time. You'll also need to pick up and keep 80 rings by the end of the level. There are plenty of rings, and plenty of enemies to turn into rings, so there's really no need to stop and pick up every single one. Just use Ring Time whenever possible and you'll be fine.

Completing this Challenge Act will unlock the Ring Time Skill in Omochao's shop, and it costs 3500 points. Using the skill temporarily creates a weird aura around you that turns all the enemies on screen into rings for a short time.

Sky Sanctuary Zone Challenge 5: Amy: Topsy Turvy

If you've played the third Challenge Act in Green Hill Zone, then you'll be familiar with what this challenge is about. Amy is going to be racing you instead, but you're also going to be restricted to using the spinning mechanisms found in Sky Sanctuary. They control very easily, and Amy shouldn't be moving too fast anyway. I don't know if this happens all the time, but for me, Amy got stuck about 1/5 of the way through the race, and remained there for the rest of the challenge. Hopefully the same happens to you as well, making things even less complicated.

Speed Highway Zone Challenge 1: Cream: Chao Hunt

All you've got to do here is race Cream to the end of the level, but you'll also need to collect at least 11 Chao along the way. This is really easy to do, and once you have 11, you can start to make a mad dash towards the end. Getting an S Rank might take some practice, though; I found myself cutting very close to the time limit.

Speed Highway Zone Challenge 2: Hot Pursuit

If you've already played through the previous 15 challenges for Modern Sonic, you should have come across a sprinkler spraying rings all over the place in Chemical Plant Zone. The same type of machine will be spraying bombs on you here; it must have some kind of grudge. You'll have to dodge the bombs and make it to the end as fast as you can.

Speed Highway Zone Challenge 3: High Speed Challenge 2

Similar to the fifth Challenge Act for Green Hill Zone, a bunch of speed power-ups will be laid across an altered Speed Highway Zone. Use them to reach the goal as fast as you can. An S Rank should become a lot easier to obtain after you learn the course.

Speed Highway Zone Challenge 4: Resisting Arrest

Tons of the police car enemies will be patrolling the second part of the level, which has changed to accompany the number of enemies. Getting to the end is pretty easy, and so is earning an S Rank. You could be hit by four or five police cruisers and still make it with ten seconds on the clock at the end of the challenge.

Speed Highway Zone Challenge 5: Doppelganger Race!

You'll have to race the embarrassingly slow doppelganger once again. There's not much to say for this Challenge Act, other than that the course is exactly the same as it is in the standard Act for this Zone.

City Escape Zone Challenge 1: Lord of the Board

This challenge focuses on the skateboard power-up, which appears only in this level (unless you use the respective Skill in a Skill Set). You've got to shred as much as you can to reach the end of the level faster than you normally would. Don't be afraid to make big leaps of faith forward whenever you're at a high point in the level; if you haven't been doing that, now would be a good time to test out how useful it can be in certain situations.

City Escape Zone Challenge 2: Thunder Shield Challenge

Similar to the Aqua Shield Challenge, you're going to have to utilize the Thunder Shield to pass through a good chunk of the city by using the shield's double jump capabilities. This shield also attracts rings, which is pretty convenient. This is a particularly difficult S Rank to earn, and you'll have to really be smart about how you jump. You could alternately just check out the playlist link at the top of the page if you really wanted the S Rank here.

Completing this Challenge Act will unlock the Thunder Shield Skill in Omochao's shop, and it costs 4000 points. As long as the shield is active in a level, you'll be protected from any electrical attack and attract rings towards you, and you'll also be able to double jump.

City Escape Zone Challenge 3: Rouge: The Bombadier

Rouge's going to be dropping a TON of bombs all over the level, but fortunately all you have to do here is get to the end alive. This challenge can be much more frustrating than most of the others before this one; S Ranking it is a whole different level of anger-inducing mania.

City Escape Zone Challenge 4: Doppelganger Race!

Another time attack-ish type of Challenge Act. It's super easy to beat the doppelganger; even getting the S Rank for this challenge shouldn't be a concern.

City Escape Zone Challenge 5: Rite of Spring

Here, you'll find that the original start of City Escape Zone has been fitted with springs and alternate pathways. This Challenge Act isn't really so bad; since springs send you in the direction you're supposed to be going, there's really not much room for you to mess up in.

Seaside Hill Zone Challenge 1: Rescue the Animals!

If you've ever played any of the original Sonic games (or Sonic Adventure, Sonic Mania, and other titles), you should find this challenge's goal very familiar. A bunch of capsules are laced throughout the Zone, which all contain the same number of animals. You'll have to jump on the top of them to release the creatures inside, and do so until you've freed at least 140 in total. If you're going for an S Rank, you'll have to really know the level and get to the tops of these capsules as quick as you can.

Seaside Hill Zone Challenge 2: Doppelganger Race!

The sixth of the easiest type of challenge. Like the five before it, this one needs no introduction either.

Seaside Hill Zone Challenge 3: Espio: Way of the Ninja

Some grappling points have been added to Seaside Hill this time. Espio can use his gear to swing on these to help you get ahead, so call on him whenever prompted, and hold that button until you're at the peak of your swing (you can swing faster by moving back and forth). The end of the challenge can be pretty annoying if you're aiming for an S Rank, but if not, there are checkpoints that will remove this problem completely. The last bit of the level asks you to swing in a chain of grappling points, and sometimes you just can't see them right away.

Seaside Hill Zone Challenge 4: High-Speed Hijinks

If you've done the challenges for the previous Era, you should have seen this kind of challenge in Sky Sanctuary for Modern Sonic. All of the platforms and enemies, as well as their projectiles, have doubled or so in speed, making things a lot more interesting. Fortunately, the enemies here aren't really all that deadly to begin with, so this speed increase won't make things too much different when fighting them.

Seaside Hill Zone Challenge 5: Underwater Challenge

Like the title of this challenge suggests, most of the level will be taking place underwater, so you need to get to air bubbles in a timely manner as you traverse the stage. The underwater fans vary in usefulness; sometimes they make you rise very slowly, while other times they shoot you up at a good speed. Jumping from the ground and into the stream of water in front of a fan tends to work fairly well in making yourself get pushed forward properly.

Crisis City Zone Challenge 1: Doppelganger Race!

From here on out, the Challenge Acts start to actually get fairly difficult, especially if you're going for S Ranks for whatever reason. The doppelganger is likely going to be right on your tail for most of the race, as opposed to leagues behind you.

Crisis City Zone Challenge 2: Goal Post Juggle

One of the most tedious levels to S Rank. You have to jump and hit a goalpost to make it move a little bit forward, and you need to push it all the way to the end of the stage so you can actually finish it. Keeping it on the ground for too long will make it settle, and if it manages to do so, you'll gain five seconds against your time. Completing the level without worrying about the ranking is still probably going to be at least a little bit frustrating.

Crisis City Zone Challenge 3: Vector: Through the Storm

For this friend challenge, Vector will help you get ahead by tossing you as if it were an Olympic sport. Call on him whenever you can't seem to travel ahead, and aim up your shot so you can go wherever you need to.

Crisis City Zone Challenge 4: Flame Shield Challenge

This challenge centers around the Flame Shield Skill, which you can purchase after you finish the level. This acts just as you'd expect it to, preventing damage from fire (which there is plenty of), but you can also use it to perform a meteor-like charge forward. The time for an S Rank is a bit tight, but it's nothing a couple rounds of practice can't accomplish.

Completing this Challenge Act will unlock the Flame Shield Skill in Omochao's shop, and it costs 4500 points. As long as the shield is active in a level, you'll be protected from any fire-based attack. You can also perform dashes in mid-air.

Crisis City Zone Challenge 5: Ring Time Challenge 2

This is going to be just like the other Ring Time challenge in Sky Sanctuary Zone; whenever your current use of the skill wears off, immediately use it again. The enemies should all give five rings each, is there's no need to go out of your way for any.

Completing this Challenge Act will unlock the Ring Time Skill in Omochao's shop, and it costs 3500 points. Using the skill temporarily creates a weird aura around you that turns all the enemies on screen into rings for a short time.

Rooftop Run Zone Challenge 1: Doppelganger Race!

Like in Crisis City, the doppelganger is actually fairly okay at going through the stage. It kind of hits a snag about halfway through the level, but it's still nothing to laugh at like it was in the Genesis and Dreamcast levels.

Rooftop Run Zone Challenge 2: High-Rise Balloon Climb

This is another Challenge Act that, if you're shooting for an S Rank, will be incredibly difficult if you're not using any Skills. If you do decide to use Skills, go with the Thunder Shield. The way the challenge works is that you progress by hanging on to the handles at the bottom of the air balloons that rise along the stage. It's a simple concept, but the timer is not generous at all when it comes to the S Rank cutoff.

Rooftop Run Zone Challenge 3: Dash Ring 1-2-3

This is just like the challenge of the same name for Modern Sonic, where all you have to do is pass through all of the boost rings to reach the end. Other rings won't appear until you pass through the one before it, so there's really not much of a chance of you missing any of them.

Rooftop Run Zone Challenge 4: Charmy: Don't Bug Me!

Charmy has decided to make the most annoying version of the Zone possible by placing tons of water spouts and other hazards all cross the level, and he'll tend to activate them when/before you get close to them. Getting caught by any of them is sure to slow you down.

Rooftop Run Zone Challenge 5: One Ring Challenge 2

Similar to one of Modern Sonic's challenges, you're only provided with one ring at the start of the level, and you've got to make it to the end. You don't have to keep the ring, and you can take a hit as long as you have the ring on you, so this isn't as hard as it may seem.

Planet Wisp Zone Challenge 1: With Your Powers Combined

Now that you (probably) have done the challenges for the three elemental shields that you can use, this challenge will test your resourcefulness in using these shields to progress through the level. It's a pretty simple concept, but if you ever get stuck, try to remember the secondary effect each shield has.

Planet Wisp Zone Challenge 2: Doppelganger Race!

The final race against the doppelganger is about as hard as it was in the last two Zones, which is to say that it's not that difficult unless you want an S Rank. The faker hits a snag around the 3/5 mark of the level.

Planet Wisp Zone Challenge 3: Goal Post Juggle 2

Fortunately, this juggling Act is a lot more forgiving and a lot easier than the one in Crisis City. The S Rank time has been expanded to two minutes, so you might even get one of those without having to try too hard.

Planet Wisp Zone Challenge 4: Chase After Blaze

Blaze is going to be flying around the interior of the factory seen in the original Act, and you have to catch her by using the Spikes power-up effectively. It's not really that hard, but two things stand in the way. The first is that the flaws of this power-up really shine here, and you'll probably get caught on various things and might be sent the wrong direction at times. The other problem is that Blaze can be pretty hard to keep track of, but you just need to keep your eyes on the whole screen to fix that problem.

Planet Wisp Zone Challenge 5: Rescue the Animals 2!

Another challenge where you have to rescue animals inside large capsules, just like you have to do in Seaside Hill Zone. It's not too hard to do, but it can be if you want to get an S Rank. There are just enough capsules in the level that let you miss just one, so if you miss two of them, you'll have to restart.

• Halfway Point

  Cleared half the missions.