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3.05 - Ice Cap Zone
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Act 1
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When you start the level, Sonic bounces onto a snowboard and shuffles his way
down the mountain. Don't press any buttons on the controller while he does this
though. You should end up grabbing forty rings on your route before eventually
colliding into a wall and falling to the ground, with an avalanche falling on
top of you. Jump out of the snow and you can regain your control of Sonic and
proceed with going through the stage.

To your right you'll see three ice blocks blocking your path. Face them and do
a quick Spin Dash to break the bottom ice block and go through the tunnel,
getting four more rings, and you'll fall off the ledge onto an area with a
Starpost to record your progress. Use the springboard in the wall to your left
to get a good, speedy run and when you run against the ice swing to the right,
it'll make a 180-degree arc upwards, and you can jump onto the ledge to the
right (the part sticking out crumbles when you step on it, so watch out).

As you go right, you'll find a stack of four ice blocks. Spin Dash against them
so that you destory the bottom one. You should now be able to jump onto the top
of the stack of blocks and leap onto the ledge to your right. Go past the Star
Pointer and you'll see a switch encased in a huge ice cube - however don't
break it just yet - instead, move to the right of it and you'll notice you can
go inside the wall where there is a secret alcove with a Giant Ring in it! When
you have used the Giant Ring, go back left, jump onto the ice cube to shatter
it, then jump onto the switch to make part of the ground to your right
disappear. You can now go down the slide.

At the bottom of the slide, when you are dropped to the ground, as you go right
you will see some kind of contraption in the ceiling of the tunnel that shoots
out ice clouds. Be careful not to stand in these ice clouds, or you will be
frozen, and this will do the equivalent damage of one badnik attack. You need
to get through the tunnel, avoiding three of these ice cloud shooters, and you
will come to another slope you need to go down.

You will go down a series of slopes. When you are on the fourth slope from the
one you started on, jump to the left so that you land on an ice block hanging
out the wall. If you miss it, don't worry because the slide repeats itself and
you can eventually get it. Anyway, once you do manage to get on the ice block,
stand still on it and it goes down another slope and destroys a wall and goes
through the tunnel, smashing some ice pillars blocking your path.

When the ice block stops, head right and carefully get under the crusher when
it is raised, and jump over the little stump of ice in the ground to the right
of it (don't stand on it though!), and then you'll see a springboard encased in
an ice cube with three rings above it. When you jump on this spring, maneuver
to the left so you can get the Lightning Shield so that you attract the rings
that are directly above the spring. Once you have gotten all this paraphernalia
you can then jump on the spring and move to the right to land on the ledge and
carry on.

Go up the slope and take out the Penguinators and Star Pointer. Smash the ice
cube with the springboard in it, jump on the springboard and move to the left
in the air so as to land on the ledge. Perform a Spin Dash against the swing to
the left so that it goes up the wall, and quickly leap onto the next ledge to
the left. Do another Spin Dash up the swing to the left here, and when the
swing is up, jump over to the wing to your upper-left. Use the springboard in
the wall to get a good speed up, and jump onto the ledge to the right (watch
out for the crumbling part).

Get past the Penguinators and start running to the right at full speed. You'll
go over a load of pillars with two rings on them, then come to an end with two
large ice pillars moving up and down in the pit. To get past here, stand on top
of the pillar on the right, and when it falls down, move to the left so that
you go under the bottom of the left pillar and fall to the ground, then QUICKLY
run to the right so that the pillar does not come down and crush you.

Go down another set of steep slopes and at the bottom when you touch flat
ground, get the Super Ring encased in ice and cross the spiky pit using the
icicles in the ceiling (they fall when you get near them, so when they plunge
into the spikes you can simply jump on their flat tops and easily get across
the pit). You need to get past another of those ice shooters, then across a
second spike pit, using the icicles again.

After that, shatter the ice cube and jump on the springboard inside it and
after collecting all the rings above, move to the right and land on the ledge.
Go down the slopes and you'll land on another slope which isn't so steep so
that you can actually walk on it. Go left and you'll see an ice block
accompanying a Starpost and some rings. Deal with these, then stand on the left
side of the ice block and push it to the right until it starts sliding down the
slope. Quickly jump onto the ice block when it begins to slide, otherwise you
can't reach the next area.

The ice block goes down some slopes, across a spike pit, and after destroying
some ice pillars blocking your path in another tunnel, it reaches the end of
its course and disappears, and you'll fall onto a springboard left where it was
so that you can be propelled into the air and move to the right to land on the
ledge. Run to the right over another set of pillars and you'll come to a switch
inside an ice block. Push this switch so that the ground wears away and you can
go down the slope below. At the end of the slope, begin running to the left so
that you go across the icy pillars with rings on them, and drop down a little
gap at the end.

Now carefully advance past the ice shooter and run down the slope, gaining
speed so at the end you hit the swing that goes up, and you can jump onto the
ledge to the left. Be careful not to touch the wall though, as the spring
inside will send you all the way back down. From this ledge, jump over to the
swing on the right and use the spring to the right of it to make it go up. Then
jump over to the next swing, to the left, and use the springboard in the wall
to the left of that so that you go up again. Jump onto the ledge to the right
and use a Spin Dash on the next swing to make it go up, jump onto the ledge to
the left (don't touch the wall) and then jump onto the higher ledge to the
right.

When you Spin Dash against this next swing however, it comes to pieces in
midair and hits the ground in a tunnel. Jump off of it and run to the right.
Touch the Starpost, go down the slope and get the rings then go up the flick
and then to the right, after this you'll come to the Mini-Boss area. For help
with beating this Mini-Boss, please refer to the "Boss List" section of this
guide. See you in Act 2 =P.