

Zones in this game are modified versions of the zones from the original game, but much longer, with new colors and textures, and different music for each act (some of which are borrowed from other games, for example, Starry Night Zone Act 2 uses Smooth Criminal from Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, and Misty Maze Zone Act 2 uses music from Columns 3). The monitors in this game are all the ones seen in 2D Sonic games, 10 Rings, 4 types of shields (Normal, Fire, Bubble and Lighting, the latter three have special abilities that only Mighty can use), Speed Shoes, Invincibility, 1-Up, Eggman (damages the player) and S monitor. After collecting the Chaos Emeralds from the Special Stages (which are similar to the originals but with new textures and music, not to mention much harder), they can transform into their Super forms that have special abilities never seen before in 2D Sonic games, such as flying or using special powers by the cost of rings. It has five playable characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty and Shadow) which are very differentiated by their special abilities (Tails and Knuckles play similar to the original games, Sonic has a homing attack and peel-out, Mighty can use a insta-shield attack and is the only character that can use the special abilities of the shields, Shadow plays similar to Sonic but can double jump).


Gameplay is the same as the original Sonic The Hedgehog, but, as of the latest versions, it has evolved to incorporate elements from more recent Sonic games.
