The first line of business is to select your character from a roster of three: the highly marketable Sonic or one of his new pals, the significantly less-marketable Ray the Flying Squirrel or Mighty the Armadillo. Second and third players may join in at any time, defaulting to either of the two characters you didn't pick. (All three characters are identical except for color, so it doesn't matter who's who.) Once the game begins, the object is to maneuver a rather bulbous, slip & sliding Sonic sprite through a series of isometric peninsulas by rolling the trackball: the faster you roll, the faster Sonic runs. You are usually hounded from behind by some great catastrophe (an avalanche, landslide, crushing steamroller, etc.), meaning there is no time to give your aching arm a rest. Occasionally, there are obstacles which can (or must) be destroyed by spinning through them.

   Robot enemies are sparse and usually invulnerable. The biggest danger is whatever doom might be trailing from behind. There are, however, various obstacles sprinkled around each platform, ranging from electric rods to quicksand to miniature tornados. These obstacles have any number of adverse effects on your progress: they'll slow you down, bump you out of control, or slice a chunk off your power bar. If the power bar hits empty, you lose one of your oh-so-coveted credits. Run out of credits and you're given 10 seconds to insert more coinage and continue your journey or thrust your hands into empty pockets and suffer the humiliation of a public Game Over. To avoid this scenario, replenish your character's life bar by collecting Rings. Rings can be found hovering around in midair, as usual, but can also be attained by bashing destructable objects such as crates or snowdrifts. At the end of each stage, the game calculates what percentage of that stage's Rings you managed to nab: walk away with 50% or more and you're awarded a Ring Bonus and replenished health gauge.

   There are a total of seven short stages with only one boss to speak of. The whole game should take no more than about 15-20 minutes to clear.

Volcanic Vault -- After escaping a crushing death in a prison cell, Sonic and the boyz are shot from a geyser and dropped into the heart of a smoking volcano. Be fast or be barbecue courtesy of the lava avalanche on your tail. Run on the conveyor belts to raise walls blocking your escape route. Look for sparkling gold between cracks in the walls and spin to release a sprinkling of Rings.

Icy Isle -- Falling stalactites threaten to skewer stragglers in Sonic's first ever ice stage. Spear traps can be seen beneath the transparent layer of ice, and dig those 32-bit reflections! Spin through snow drifts for Rings.

Desert Dodge -- This aerial sandbar falls apart around you like a big swiss cheese while a group of mighty midwest cyclones tears up the rear. Keep moving in the sand whirlpools, because there's a giant ant lion in the middle waiting to prey on colorful corporate mascots. Avoid the flying sandworm bot: he can't be destroyed. Toward the end of the stage, you'll find yourself wading through waist-deep quicksand.

Trap Tower -- A giant, crushing gear chases you down the halls of the tower. Spiked walls slam into the ground... dash under them while they're up, or jump over them while they're down. Electrical columns cause damage and crates must be pushed out of the way with a few spins. Near the end of the level, the floor ends and you must resume your escape on a wall laced with mines.

Landslide Limbo -- The plateaus are high and unstable, and a nasty death awaits those thrillseeking rodents who dare to stand still long enough to enjoy the scenery. At one point in the stage, the horizon isn't actually the horizon but a giant mural Eggman has very meanly set up. If you slam into it, roll the track ball in the opposite direction to shake loose. At the end of the stage, you must defeat a guard machine: avoid the flame-throwers and buzz saws and bash the vulnerable core 10 times to blow open the path to freedom.

Wild Water Way -- Of course it figures that the door to Eggman's tower is locked, forcing our furry heroes to plunge into the moat below. A giant propeller looms behind to turn stragglers into fish bait through this watery obstacle course. Don't let Ring trails lure you into clam traps... if you get caught, roll the trackball in the opposite direction to shake free. The sea snake bots can only be destroyed at the base (which awards you with a sprinkling of Rings). Disturb the sea turtles' slumber and they swim away, spouting Rings on the way out.

Eggman's Tower -- Eggman's taken matters into his own hands as our hapless heroes make their final mad dash through the corridors of the Doc's home base, dodging guillotines and buzz saws. Make it to the end and Eggman, being the good sport that he is, decides he'll just blow the whole darn island up. You now have 20 seconds to escape from the crumbling tower: screw up here and it's Game Over, even if you have credits remaining. (You don't lose your remaining credits, but if you've a mind to continue, you'll start back at level 1.)

   Whether you finish triumphantly or die and neglect to continue in time, your total points are added up. The top 15 players get their initials and end score displayed in the attract mode for all to admire their achievement.

   Arcade operators can adjust several of the game's options via the service menu:

• The number of credits required to play can be set at 1 or 2 (1 is default)
• Game difficulty can be set from 1-4 (2 is default)
• Character vitality can be set from 1-4 (2 is default)
• The attract mode BGM can be toggled on or off (off is default)
• The cabinet can be set to 2 or 3-player mode