Editing Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) (section)

==Zones==
''Sonic the Hedgehog'' has seven [[Zone]]s. The first six of these Zones contain three full-length Acts, with the third having just a battle against a boss. The final Zone only consists of the final boss fight.
#[[Green Hill Zone (Sonic the Hedgehog)|Green Hill Zone]]
#[[Marble Zone]]
#[[Spring Yard Zone]]
#[[Labyrinth Zone]]
#[[Star Light Zone]]
#[[Scrap Brain Zone]]
#[[Final Zone]]

===Special Stages===
{{Main|Special Stage (Sonic the Hedgehog) (16-bit)}}
[[File:Come_to_papa.png|thumb|225px|A Special Stage in ''Sonic the Hedgehog''.]]
Should [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic]] finish the first or second Act of any of the first five [[Zone]]s with at least fifty [[Ring]]s, a [[Giant Ring]] will appear. If the player jumps into it, they will warp into a "[[Special Stage]]", which conceals one of the six [[Chaos Emerald]]s. In these stages, Sonic falls through a series of rotating mazes while constantly [[Spin Attack|spinning]] himself.

The player's goal is to guide Sonic through the maze whilst avoiding the deceiving "[[Goal (obstacle)|Goal]]" obstacles that kick them out of the Special Stage empty-handed. Along the way, they will find different gimmicks that might either assist or hinder their process, such as [[Bumper]]s, [[Up and Down (obstacles)|Up and Down]] blocks that change the maze's rotating speed, or [[Reverse]] blocks that make the level revolve clockwise or counterclockwise. [[Color Block]]s that change color and eventually disappear when touched enough times are common as well. At the end of the Special Stage, there is a Chaos Emerald encased in said Color Blocks. The stage will end in a success when Sonic touches the Emerald.

There are a total of ten opportunities to get Chaos Emeralds, meaning the player can fail a Special Stage up to four times if all six Emeralds are to be collected before the end of the game. While obtaining the gems is not necessary to progress through the game, it is needed to do so to unlock the good ending.