A Question for Sonic 3 And Knuckles Experts

[Minecat256]

Bonus Stages were a nice addition, but the slot machine angers me with how many rings I can potentially lose to it and the gumball machine can be annoying in that getting a ton of rings is usually not likely. And I've noticed that specific checkpoints are seemingly random with what bonus stage they take you to. So to any Sonic 3 and Knuckles experts out there, is there any known way to determine what bonus stage you get taken to?

[Ikagura]

Slot machine is basically gambling (like in a casino).

Gumball is good mostly for getting shields but rings and the only 1-UP are very rare, not worth getting more once you got a good shield.

Bonus stages are according to the number of rings you got

Check Sonic Retro for more info. https://info.sonicretro.org/Bonus_Stage_(Sonic_the_Hedgehog_3_%26_Knuckles)

[Minecat256]

I swear, some of the times I have encountered certain bonus stages did not match up with the ring quotas detailed on the Sonic Retro page. For example, I have sometimes found myself entering the slot machine stage with over 50 rings. And I have been able to enter the glowing spheres stage with over 100 rings. But I appreciate the help.

[joshuabaker121]

Originally posted by Minecat256:

I swear, some of the times I have encountered certain bonus stages did not match up with the ring quotas detailed on the Sonic Retro page. For example, I have sometimes found myself entering the slot machine stage with over 50 rings. And I have been able to enter the glowing spheres stage with over 100 rings. But I appreciate the help.

I've not had a proper look at what it says on the Sonic Retro page, but I think I've noticed the pattern when playing it myself:

20-34 rings - slot machine;
35-49 rings - glowing spheres;
50-64 rings - gumball;
65-79 rings - slot machine;
80-94 rings - glowing spheres;
95-109 rings - gumball;
etc.

It seems to cycle around the three bonus stages (in order) every 15 rings, starting from 20.

So to determine which bonus stage you'll enter, you can find the smallest non-negative integer equivalent to your ring total (modulo 45) - basically just keep subtracting 45 until you reach a number between 0 and 44 inclusive - and see which range it falls into:

20-34 (mod 45) - slot machine;
35-44 or 0-4 (mod 45) - glowing spheres;
5-19 (mod 45) - gumball.

For example, if you have 132 rings as you pass a checkpoint, then you can take off 45 to get 87. But 87 > 44, so we need to subtract another 45 - leaving you with 42. (Or you could've just subtracted the full 90 straightaway, if you'd already noticed that the first 45 wouldn't be enough.) Now 0 < 42 < 44, so we can stop there; we've found that 132 = 42 (mod 45). Since 35 < 42 < 44, this tells us that you'll be going to the glowing spheres bonus stage.

I can't say I've ever confirmed that this works for every possible ring total, but I've never noticed it not work; it might be worth checking it a few times for yourself just to make sure.

In the meantime, the "sparkles" above the checkpoint will be coloured differently, depending upon which bonus stage they represent. The white/silver gumball ones are the easiest to distinguish between for me, but the orange/red of the other two look quite similar to me.

Hope this helps! :-)

[Minecat256]

Originally posted by joshuabaker121:

Originally posted by Minecat256:

I swear, some of the times I have encountered certain bonus stages did not match up with the ring quotas detailed on the Sonic Retro page. For example, I have sometimes found myself entering the slot machine stage with over 50 rings. And I have been able to enter the glowing spheres stage with over 100 rings. But I appreciate the help.

I've not had a proper look at what it says on the Sonic Retro page, but I think I've noticed the pattern when playing it myself:

20-34 rings - slot machine;
35-49 rings - glowing spheres;
50-64 rings - gumball;
65-79 rings - slot machine;
80-94 rings - glowing spheres;
95-109 rings - gumball;
etc.

It seems to cycle around the three bonus stages (in order) every 15 rings, starting from 20.

So to determine which bonus stage you'll enter, you can find the smallest non-negative integer equivalent to your ring total (modulo 45) - basically just keep subtracting 45 until you reach a number between 0 and 44 inclusive - and see which range it falls into:

20-34 (mod 45) - slot machine;
35-44 or 0-4 (mod 45) - glowing spheres;
5-19 (mod 45) - gumball.

For example, if you have 132 rings as you pass a checkpoint, then you can take off 45 to get 87. But 87 > 44, so we need to subtract another 45 - leaving you with 42. (Or you could've just subtracted the full 90 straightaway, if you'd already noticed that the first 45 wouldn't be enough.) Now 0 < 42 < 44, so we can stop there; we've found that 132 = 42 (mod 45). Since 35 < 42 < 44, this tells us that you'll be going to the glowing spheres bonus stage.

I can't say I've ever confirmed that this works for every possible ring total, but I've never noticed it not work; it might be worth checking it a few times for yourself just to make sure.

In the meantime, the "sparkles" above the checkpoint will be coloured differently, depending upon which bonus stage they represent. The white/silver gumball ones are the easiest to distinguish between for me, but the orange/red of the other two look quite similar to me.

Hope this helps! :-)

This was very much helpful! I appreciate it more than you know!