Players have the luxury of controlling either of the game's highly marketable mascots. Sonic has his usual arsenal of speedy maneuvers and Tails has the same plus one: flying. This is the first time players are given control of Tails' aerial antics, allowing for better maneuverability and an altogether easier game.

Sonic the Hedgehog -- Sonic has exclusive access to Rocket Shoes and Special Stages, so if you want to collect the Chaos Emeralds and get the good ending, he's your hog. Unfortunately, he starts the game with only 3 lives and no Continues, a slightly smaller stock than young Prower.
	walk -- Push left or right on the D-pad to initiate Sonic's movement in either direction. As you hold the button down, Sonic gains speed.
	run -- Begin walking and hold down the button to make Sonic gain speed. After a few seconds, he'll break into a run.
	screech -- While running, quickly press and hold the opposite direction on the D-pad to make Sonic screech to a halt. He'll skid for a short distance, based on how fast he was moving.
	look up -- While standing still, press up on the D-pad to make Sonic gaze to the heavens. As you hold up, the camera pans upward, giving you a view of Sonic's overhead surroundings.
	crouch -- While standing still, press down on the D-pad to make Sonic duck. As you hold down, the camera pans downward, giving you a view of the stage beneath where Sonic stands.
	spin (回転) -- While moving, press down on the D-pad to make Sonic curl into a rolling attack. He'll remain in this position until you jump or slow down. The speed of Sonic's movement while in spin form is based on how fast you're moving when you launch it, and also on the terrain Sonic rolls along.
	spin jump (回転ジャンプ) -- Press 1 or 2 at any time to make Sonic leap into the air with a spin attack. The height of the jump is proportional to how long you hold the button down.
	Super Spin Dash (スーパースピンダッシュ) -- While crouching, tap the 1 or 2 buttons to have Sonic rev up with a stationary spin. Keep tapping the jump buttons to build up momentum, and let go of the D-pad to dash off with a full speed rolling attack.
	Strike Dash (ストライクダッシュ) -- While standing still, press up on the D-pad and hold button 1 or 2 to rev up with a stationary dash. When Sonic gains enough momentum, release the D-pad to have him zip off at maximum speed.

Miles "Tails" Prower -- If foxes are your preference, you'll be pleased to know that Tails has greater maneuverability than Sonic thanks to his Helitail trick. Note, however, that Tails can't access Rocket Shoes or Special Stages. Rocket Shoes Item Boxes are replaced with 10 Ring, and collecting 100 Rings simply awards you a 1up and resets the counter. Tails starts the game with 5 lives and 3 Continues, 2 and 3 more, respectively, than Sonic.
	walk -- Push left or right on the D-pad to initiate Tails' movement in either direction. As you hold the button down, Tails gains speed.
	run -- Begin walking and hold down the button to make Tails gain speed. After a few seconds, he'll break into a run.
	screech -- While running, quickly press and hold the opposite direction on the D-pad to make Tails screech to a halt. He'll skid for a short distance, based on how fast he was moving.
	look up -- While standing still, press up on the D-pad to make Tails gaze to the heavens. As you hold up, the camera pans upward, giving you a view of Tails' overhead surroundings.
	crouch -- While standing still, press down on the D-pad to make Tails duck. As you hold down, the camera pans downward, giving you a view of the stage beneath where Tails stands.
	spin (回転) -- While moving, press down on the D-pad to make Tails curl into a rolling attack. He'll remain in this position until you jump or slow down. The speed of Tails' movement while in spin form is based on how fast you're moving when you launch it, and also on the terrain Tails rolls along.
	spin jump (回転ジャンプ) -- Press 1 or 2 at any time to make Tails leap into the air with a spin attack. The height of the jump is proportional to how long you hold the button down.
	Super Spin Dash (スーパースピンダッシュ) -- While crouching, tap the 1 or 2 buttons to have Tails rev up with a stationary spin. Keep tapping the jump buttons to build up momentum, and let go of the D-pad to dash off with a full speed rolling attack.
	Helitail (ヘリテイル) -- While standing still, press up on the D-pad and button 1 or 2 to have Tails whirl his dual butt appendages together and take to the sky. While airborne, Tails can be maneuvered with the D-pad. He'll get tired and fall to the ground after a short while.

   The item collection covers most of the staples with a new 'un:

	Ring (リング) -- Keep the golden hoops flowing in to protect your spiny ass against damage. A sprinkling of Rings will be dropped upon taking damage, and as long as they don't go off screen, they can be reacquired. While playing as Sonic, collect 100 Rings in any Act to be warped to the Special Stage. As Tails, collect 100 Rings to earn a 1up. As either character, each Ring is worth 10 points at the end-of-Act tally.
	Item Box (アイテムボックス) -- In each stage, you'll find a number of these power-up bearing monitors. Pop them open with a spin to procure one of five power-ups: 10 Ring (10リング) - Worth 10 Rings Speed Shoes (スピードシューズ) - Temporary speed increase Rocket Shoes (ロケットシューズ) - Send you soaring through the air for a few seconds (Sonic only) Muteki (無敵) - Temporary invincibility 1up - Gives Sonic/Tails an extra chance
	spring -- Leap onto the broad side to catapult Sonic/Tails into the air. The horizontal ones can be used for a boost of velocity. Some are hidden in the ground for a surprise spring.
	spikes -- Don't touch the pointy side, stupid. Occasionally, they will slide in and out of the ground.
	dash -- Step into the miniature carwash for an instant burst of speed.
	Hopping (ホッピング) -- Leap onto the flashing platform to have a spring crazy glued to your furry feet. As you bounce around merrily, you can access places higher than a normal jump will reach. You'll lose the pogo if you jump or take damage.
	Bonus Plate (ボーナスプレート) -- These signs can be found at the end of each first and second Act. Cross them to end the stage. Your overall speed will be tallied (in kilometers per hour), apparently based on your completion time. If the number lands on 3 of the same numerals in a row (such as 777), you get a 1up. As with Sonic 2, you get a bonus based on what the sign displays when it stops spinning: Flicky (no bonus), Ring (you get 10 Rings, essentially amounting to a 100 point bonus in the score tally), Sonic (Sonic gets a 1up, Tails gets a Continue), or Tails (Tails gets a 1up, Sonic gets a Continue). If the Bonus Plate lands backwards, you must spin it again.

   Eggman's getting rather lazy with his robo army. This set's a bit sparse, featuring only seven different enemies that reappear with swapped color palettes.

	Bane Motora (バネモトラ) -- Spring-loaded Motora knockoffs that roll along the ground. They can only be damaged by rolling into them. The red ones are found in Turquoise Hill while the blue ones are exclusive to Mecha Green Hill, but palette aside, they're identical. ("Bane" is Japanese for spring.)
	Beeton (ビートン) -- This placid version of Beeton flies through the air and pauses to observe. He gets in your way, but he doesn't have anything to fire at you. The black ones are found exclusively in Turquoise Hill while the gray ones are found in Gigalopolis and Electric Egg. The ones in Electric Egg don't move, they simply hover.
	Dokabuton (ドカブトン) -- These kabutomushi beetle bots have dangerous looking hammer schnozzes, and based on their name you'd expect them to enjoy slamming it down on hedgehog feet, but they actually just roll along the ground like Motora.
	Frogger (フロッガー) -- Springy frog bots that hop around mindlessly. They don't actually look a thing like frogs.
	Tsuno-tsuno (ツノツノ) -- Pointy-headed rutabaga-looking bots that mindlessly charge in whichever direction they happen to be facing, even if it means walking over a ledge to their doom. ("Tsuno" is Japanese for horn.)
	??? -- The tiny chick bots that originally crowded Gachou Mecha in Sonic 2 are out on their own this time. They're always found in sets of 3, though they can be destroyed individually. They simply hop along the ground.
	??? -- Kamikaze bomb bots that trudge around, then self-destruct into a shower of flashing projectiles as soon as Sonic/Tails approaches. They can't be destroyed, only avoided.

   There are six Zones each with three Acts. The third Act, as usual, is just a short course followed by the boss. Unlike the first two games in the 8-bit lineage, Sonic & Tails is kind enough to provide a smattering of Rings for boss fights, as well as a hefty clear bonus for finishing each Zone.

Turquoise Hill Zone -- The requisite tropical stage, complete with Emerald Hill's corkscrew bridges and more floating platforms than you can shake a Ring at. Clear bonus is 5,000 points. Great Bane Motora Gold (グレート・バネモトラ・ゴールド) -- Despite its rather cumbersome name, this sickeningly easy boss simply rolls very, very slowly along the ground. Like the smaller Bane Motora, he can't be damaged from above, leaving the Super Spin Dash as your only option. Defeated in 5 hits.

Gigalopolis Zone -- Platforms in the city are connected by tilted bridges, like the one in the second screenshot below. If you don't hit 'em with enough speed, you won't make it across. Clear bonus is 10,000 points. Dangerous Ball Tower (デンジャラス・ボールタワー) -- The giant caterpillar wiggles around while sliding back and forth over the arena. He'll fling his spherical segments at you, momentarily reducing his height, but they sprout back after a couple of seconds. The bug's only vulnerable point is the top of its glass cranium. Defeated in 3 hits.

Sleeping Egg Zone -- This unusual stage is filled with breakable blocks, false walls, and some interesting optical tricks. Falling off the bottom of the stage frequently proves to be the greatest danger. Clear bonus is 15,000 points. Hopping Egg Vulcan (ホッピング・エッグバルカン) -- This bouncing Eggman bot wants nothing more than to fill Sonic/Tails full of lead. Its hopping movement is simple, but its bullet attack is difficult to avoid. Defeated in 5 hits.

Mecha Green Hill Zone -- Metallic palmtrees drop coconut bombs as you pass underneath. You can run over the surface of molten metal, but keep jumping or you'll sink. The stage also includes the tilted bridges of Gigalopolis and vertical corkscrew ramps. Clear bonus is 20,000 points. Kamado MAX (カマドMAX) -- The trunk-hugging bot on the right side of the screen scoots up and down its palm tree buddy and attacks in two ways: sometimes he'll fire off a single powerful blast and sometimes he'll shoot three scattering bullets. Its only vulnerable point is its squarish cranium. Defeated in 8 hits. (The name is probably a play on the phrase "kamadome" which means, roughly, "do not cut the trees".)

Aqua Planet Zone -- These stormy ruins represent the subaqueous contingency in S&T. If you find yourself stuck in a submerged room, push on the door until it opens to be swept out with the current. As usual, be sure to keep Sonic and Tails' lungs filled with oxygen. Clear bonus is 25,000 points. Boss: Clear out a group of mini penguin guards and the sphere bot reveals itself. In the first phase, it just jumps around the arena firing bullets. After taking 16 hits, the top half of the sphere explodes and the bottom half flies off the screen. It cuts loose with a series of missile showers, lowering itself just within jumping range between rounds. One more hit and it's history.

Electric Egg Zone -- Lasers on the ceiling chase you down, so keep moving, though that may not help you on conveyor belts. Run quickly over buttons, as they usually trigger a laser blast from above. Mine carts only travel downhill and there isn't usually a rail at the bottom, so be prepared to jump. The whole stage is laced with vacuum chutes as seen in Scrambled Egg. Killer Turkey-gou (キラーターキィ号) -- Eggman attacks in a walking machine with chicken legs. He simply hobbles back and forth slowly with an occasional jump, firing swirly bullets and ricocheting laser blasts. As laughable as it sounds, those laser blasts are difficult to avoid, and the machine can only be damaged from directly above. After taking 16 hits, the Turkey morphs into a streamlined UFO. In this phase, Eggman simply dashes across the screen at high speed. He's still only vulnerable from above, and if he plows into you now, you'll die instantly even if you have Rings. Landing that last hit is tricky, but one more spin and he's through. If you've already collected the other 5 Chaos Emeralds, Eggman will drop the 6th as he's escaping, leaving you to enjoy the good ending. If you're missing any Emeralds, Sonic trips and falls on his face, leaving Eggman to escape and you with the bad ending. (Tails, who can't access Special Stages, gets the good ending either way.)

   After a break in Sonic 2, Special Stages have returned to whittle years off your life. If you're playing as Sonic, collect 100 Rings in any Act to be warped away to Emerald land. Each of the five Emeralds is protected by a short obstacle course. The goal is to reach the gem within 60 seconds. Collect Rings for points and pop the Time Stop (タイムストップ) Item Boxes to freeze the countdown for a bit. The stage ends when you run out of time, fall off the screen, or ideally, grab the Chaos Emerald (which also earns you a Continue). Once you've collected the 5 Emeralds, grabbing 100 Rings rewards you with the usual 1up. The final Emerald (and the good ending) is yours after defeating Eggman. Here's a rundown of the five Special Stages:

• In the first stage, Sonic jets through the sky on a pair of Rocket Shoes with unlimited air time. There are no obstacles at all, just big clusters of Rings in both normal and jumbo sizes. Big Rings are worth 10 normal-sized ones.
• In the second stage, the Chaos Emerald is way up high. Hopping pogos are sprinkled around the hills to aid in your ascent.
• The third stage takes place in an underground cavern. Once again, there are no obstacles, just alot of chutes and Muteki Item Boxes. The path to the Emerald is hidden in a vertical pipe that's easy to pass right by, so hold up on the D-pad while in each chute to avoid missing the passage.
• Things finally start getting hairy in the fourth stage, a long horizontal course filled with springs to slow your progress. The only way to make it to the Emerald in time is to use the Rocket Shoes boxes scattered throughout the stage.
• The final Special Stage is a labyrinth of chutes. There's no good way to get through it except trial and error.

• Game Gear: When "Press Start" appears on the title screen, press: 1 2 START. While in the sound test menu, move the D-pad in a quarter circle and tap button 1 or 2 to make Sonic fire a "hadouken" fireball.
• Master System: When "Press Start" appears on the title screen, press: 1 2.

Level select:

• Game Gear: When "Press Start" appears on the title screen, press: START.
• Master System: When "Press Start" appears on the title screen, press: 1 or 2.