Wacky Workbench-Sonic the Hedgehog CD
Wacky Workbench
Undeniably an all-time classic contender for the much sought after "stupidest level name" award. In appearance at least, this is a prime example of the mechanical zone type, set inside an industrious Eggman factory. Long checkered bars stretching along the bottom of the stage hurl Sonic up almost across the entire height of it when he touches them, making it difficult to squeeze under the low gaps beneath a series of hanging pillars in Zone 1. Also beware of wide networks of electrifying conduits that light up the background when active, and blasts of freezing air that turn Sonic into a popsicle. The factory is being built against a backdrop of desert canyons in the Past, while the Good Future offers a brighter, fun-factory style experience.

Game: Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Stage Number: 5

Level Division: 3 Zones

Boss: End of Zone 3

Playable Characters: Sonic

Difficulty Rating: 4

Music:
- Very industrial and mechanical is the Japanese Present tune, with a strong feeling of clockwork motion and hardcore machinery. The same goes for the Bad Future version, which is very similar, only more serious and pronounced. The Good Future features a much more "twinkly" remix that's suitable for the time zone's appearance, and includes what sounds like phone dial tones. The Past music retains the same tune with a slightly more aquatic feel, despite there being no water here.
-Spencer Nilsen seemed insistent on making this level a slightly happier place than the Japanese composers would have it, so he's gone and made the US Present theme very upbeat, moreso than Quartz Quadrant but in a similar sounding style, though without too much to do with anything industrial or mechanical. Doesn't really wash for me, but as a piece of music, it's ok. The Good and Bad Future tracks feature a bit of industrial clanging and hissing, but both still sound quite upbeat.

Typical Length:

Zone 1: 1 minute, 45 seconds - 3 minutes
Zone 2: 1 minute, 15 seconds - 2 minutes
Zone 3: 1 minute, 15 seconds - 1 minute, 45 seconds

Available Items:

Rings Checkpoints Past Posts Future Posts 10 Ring Item Box Shield Item Box Invincibility Item Box Speed-Up Item Box Extra Life Item Box
Zone 1
Present 176 3 6 5 7 3 1 1 1
Past 176 0 0 6 6 1 0 1 1
Good Future 176 0 3 0 9 1 1 0 1
Bad Future 176 0 3 0 9 1 1 0 1
Zone 2
Present 190 4 5 5 6 3 1 1 0
Past 187 0 0 5 7 1 0 1 1
Good Future 187 0 5 0 6 1 1 0 1
Bad Future 187 0 5 0 6 1 1 0 1
Zone 3
Good Future 59 0 0 0 5 1 1 1 1
Bad Future 59 0 0 0 5 1 1 1 1
Top Tips
- The series of low hanging upside down pillars of ground in Zone 1 are a trademark of Wacky Workbench, and usually only allow you to pass by squeezing through the gaps underneath. Touching the checkered floor that stretches across the stage makes this difficult however by throwing you upwards a great distance, where you're likely to land on a high up ledge and have to meander your way back down. This can be a deadly cycle as it's very easy to drop down from there back onto the floor and have to go all the way back to the top. Don't lose your cool, take it nice and carefully and use the various vertical platforms to safely get back down to the floor area and then the horizontal ones to pass underneath the pillars. Careful platform hopping is essential to avoid touching the floor again and also beware of blasts of cold air coming from beneath the pillars that freeze and drop you off of your platform. When you come to them, try and read their pattern to see when you can best make your move to pass by. Point #2 in the Guidance section shows you how to bypass a few of the more challenging ones.
Zone 1 is little else but a series of low hanging pillars that you must pass underneath. Not easy when all you have to is touch the ground to be thrown all the way to the higher ledges at the top.. over and over again.
- When jumping between the common round-ish platforms, look out for the ones that have their sirens flashing underneath, as this means that their surface is rotating. Try and land on these in the center because the closer you are to the edge, the shorter amount of time it'll take before the rotation throws you off your balance. It may also be difficult to jump off of them as precisely as you would like.
- Zone 2 partly consists of huge, open rooms to bounce around in, and the other parts are vast mazes of narrow corridors winding their way back and forth in short distances. Through these, beware of lines of small blocks that will crush you into the floor or ceiling and swinging chains of spikeballs. In the Past, most of the corridors form brief vertical shafts to drop down or spring back up, and in addition to those traps, these are loaded with various badniks, particularly the springing grass hoppers and spiky things that drop down from ceilings. Using a spring with these nearby will leave you prone to attack, so watch out.
- Knowledge that is essential for getting to the machine in Zone 1, be aware that those big grey crushers found in corridors don't kill you, but actually just allow you to drop through them when they lift you into the ceiling, and there's usually a transport tube or hidden area below.
Crushers are deceptively harmless. Rather than killing you, they actually force you through the ground below, along a hidden tunnel.
Each section of this page allows users to add their own notes to fill in any missing details or supply additional research etc.
View general notes for Wacky Workbench (5)
#1. Comment posted by david on Monday, 5th April 2010, 4:42pm (UTC)
don't take this because personaly i hate swear words but you can hear the male vocal saying "you-u-u idiot-t then you hear a female vocals speaking gibberish (even though i'm pretty sure just goofing around then the male repeats what he said before then in a really low voice he says you bitch
#2. Comment posted by david on Monday, 5th April 2010, 4:43pm (UTC)
in the bad future
#3. Comment posted by chicobo329 on Tuesday, 27th December 2011, 7:48am (UTC)
One of the achievements for the 2011 rerelease of this game is finding the statue in the past in Act 1, called 'Status Savior'. It appears they specifically mean the Past statue instead of the Present statue as the achievement icon features the angel rather than the Eggman statue in the Bad Future.

For the act 3 boss, the weight of Sonic does indeed weigh down the block you're riding on. However if you quickly jump to another fallen block while the electricity is running but JUST before the blocks are launched, the block you're standing on won't be weighed down by you, enabling you to jump up to the next platform above quicker. Eggman also oddly takes two hits from Sonic when on the second and third levels, rather than one (unless I'm not remembering the MCD original clearly).
#4. Comment posted by chicobo329 on Tuesday, 27th December 2011, 9:13am (UTC)
My apologies the achievement is called 'Statue Savior' not 'Status Savior' ;^P
#5. Comment posted by Ratchet 0203 on Monday, 13th October 2014, 9:28pm (UTC)
David, are you sure he said that? Sounds a little intense for this game, not that I disagree.
Hide Notes
Appearance
Though its name sounds suspiciously like a course from an old Micro Machines game, Wacky Workbench is an all-business industrial factory level set inside a huge bustling warehouse. Following in the footsteps of previous large mechanical levels, the background in the Present is largely a dark blue/green wall of technical stuff. At the top, the ceiling consists of rows of structural beams with inactive lights popping up across it. Below this is your wall of stuff including but not limited to large pipes, circular lights, bending wires, yellow and black danger signs, railings, large mesh panels, tanks, valves, switches and general doo-hickeys. Phew. Interestingly, the colour of this wall and ceiling starts off a dark turquoise colour but after a certain point in both Zones 1 and 2, it suddenly changes to dark green and remains that way no matter where you go from then on. When the electrical conduits that spread across large areas of the stage begin lighting up, the background flashes quickly between these two colours for a brief period. Foreground structures are made of solid purple material with cylindrical golden generators and various bolted panels and flashing things. The pathways feature long strips of black and yellow just below them, and on their surfaces you will regularly find posts with flashing red siren lights on them, and thin segmented pillars connecting floors to ceilings. There are also many strings of chains hanging around too.
In the Present, the foreground is a fairly bright purple colour, filled with various panels, pipes and vents etc. The occasional
The background is a solid wall of machinery. Higher, you can see a series of girders supporting the roof of the massive warehouse. Additional pathway decoration come from the likes of sirens and hanging chains.
Things get quite a bit more colourful when venturing into the Past. For one, the mechanical wall that normally occupies the background has yet to be built and we can actually see outside. It would appear these Wacky Workbench factories were built on a rocky desert canyon location, which until more recently is a curiously unusual backdrop for a Sonic level. It's sunset here, and the huge stubby red rocks engulf the horizon, and the sky is mostly mauve, quickly turning yellow as it meets the ground, with small pinkish clouds floating by. Just as the colour of the background suddenly makes a slight change in the Present, the sky becomes darker after a certain early point in each zone, and will light up when the electrical conduits do. Below, cranes are already at work establishing the structures that will grow to encompass the land, all reddish and orange in the fading sunlight, and a couple of long green horizontal bars are much closer to the foreground. The foreground is as bright green as the Present is purple, so it makes for quite a bright appearance in general, but it still contains the same sort of variety of technical stuff, including tanks, bolted panels, pipes and flashing things. The small flashing siren posts and strings of chains along the paths are here too.
In the Past, the boring old wall of tech is gone, as the factory is still being constructed by cranes, under the backdrop of mighty desert canyons at sunset.
A slightly odd choice of colour, all of the foreground is a very vibrant green! Some panels are missing, but held up by framework.
What's this? In the Good Future, Wacky Workbench has turned into a kind of children's fun factory, the sort of place that would make a fine and more unique bouncy/pinball zone for a future Sonic game. The background wall is quite dark, but all the technology is done away with, in favour of various childish shapes and symbols. The ceiling beams are now made up of blue and green semi-circle shapes, and the dark blue wall begins just below, with spiralling poles, cloud-like shapes, lit capsules and moon and star symbols, arches on poles and strangely, checker patterned dark green shields on display. There are also arrangements of light green cubes towards the bottom, but everything else is mostly various shades of dark blue and a bit of purple. The primary foreground colour is now shiny pink, with bits of light blue thrown around for good measure, such as in most of the pathways which also occasionally feature short railings along the surfaces. There's still a bit of technical gadgetry amongst the large plain panels in the ground, but it's more about fun, brightly coloured shapes and patterns that any young child will appreciate. This also goes for the pathway decoration, as the siren poles have been replaced by a variety of coloured shapes, including blue and red lolipop-like spheres on sticks and triangles on straight or zig-zag poles, some with flashing circles and other decorations on them.
The Good Future is an amazingly colourful 'fun factory', filled with abstract shapes in the pink and blue foreground.
The background wall has loads of oddities like shield shapes, and unusual lolipops and signposts decorate the pathways of this children's dream world.
Essentially, the Bad Future is pretty much an old rusty, decrepit version of the Present, with the same visual contents, but everything is broken and worn down. The beams running along the top of the warehouse feature broken and dislodged lights, and below, generators and tanks have gaping holes in them, pillars have fallen or rotten away in places and wires and pipes are left hanging and severed. Small lights are flashing in dark corners to indicate electrical sparks, and other features of the large mechanical wall are similar to that of the Present, focusing on a largely black and grimy green colour scheme. The foreground is now an old, rusty bronze colour and features all the usual contents except everything is predictably cracked and damaged, with dark orange bits and pieces. The siren poles are still with us (and surprisingly still working, although occurring less frequently), as are the thin networks of pillars and posts and hanging chains and any previously yellow and black danger signs are now red and black.
The Bad Future is a dilapidated version of the Present, where the factory is rusting and corroding away.
Everything in the now rusty bronze foreground is cracked and broken.
View Notes(2)
Go to..
#1. Comment posted by David on Tuesday, 8th February 2011, 1:50am (UTC)
Hi Don't Copy Please
Past Crazy Construction
Present Crazy Computer
Bad Future Technical Terror
Good Future Research Rumble
Delete If Not Wanted
#2. Comment posted by Ratchet 0203 on Monday, 13th October 2014, 9:18pm (UTC)
So I can stop commenting on this, only YOU can copy this and no one (even you!) can delete them. Why are you saying this obvious stuff anyways?
Hide Notes
Structure
The whole of Zone 1 is a massive long room with a floor almost completely lined with checkered bars. Touch them and they'll throw you right up toward the ceiling..
..The objective of Zone 1 is to cross the perilous floor by using the many platforms just above it. However, the room is segmented by a series of long hanging pillars. The only way to get through them is to pass carefully underneath..
This is the area that I think Wacky Workbench is most intriguing - moreso than most of its fellow Sonic levels, and it's best to consider one zone at a time here. Although the structure of Zone 1 and the way it uses its objects can be frightfully annoying, you (by which I mean just me, I'm sure) can't help but be impressed by its innovative and interesting design, if nothing else. It's basically just one long "tricky bit" that keeps throwing the same problem at you, but within several instalments, and not much else really. Almost all of the bottom floor, which is broken up into chunks of different heights, is encased in checkered bars that will instantly throw you all the way to the top of the zone as soon as you touch them. Satisfying the first few times, yes, but you'll soon learn to loathe them. This zone is very open, with huge wide spaces above these bars, except for 12 thin vertical strips, or upside down pillars of foreground that hang from the ceiling, and a number of straight horizontal pathways that connect them across the middle and upper portions of the zone. Mostly, these hanging pillars only allow you enough space to get past them at the very bottom. When you touch the checkered floor and get thrown upwards, chances are you'll go up through the many horizontal paths at the top, but you won't fall back down through them. You'll be placed on one of the paths, often laden with traps such as those electrifying conduits, and then have to wind your way back down to the bottom and hope that you don't touch the floor again, or you'll be sent all the way back up there within an instant. In order to progress horizontally through the level, you must squeeze through the gaps at the bottom of these long pillars, using a range of moving platforms spread across the zone, just above the checkered floor, so essentially, it's all about precise platform-hopping. And patience. A lot of patience. Be careful of jumping on the wrong platforms too, as many of them also go up and down, intended to help you with getting down from the horizontal paths above. It doesn't all have to be this way though, sometimes there are brief routes through the tops of the pillars, and Point #2 even indicates a very handy secret passage through some of the most challenging parts. In the Past, the pillars are no longer much of an obstacle at all really as there are many holes within them that you can sneak through, so everything is much more accessible.
..The pillars are linked above by various alternating ledges and traps, so if you're sent flying up between them by the floor, you'll have to meander your way back down..
Traps such as electrifying conduits and fields and platforms all appear between the pillars and make the whole task all the more annoying.
The whole thing is made much easier in the Past because many gaps have opened up in the middle of the pillars, allowing you to work your way through across a number of routes.
Fortunately, Zone 2 is not more of the same, and goes back to a more regular kind of structural balance and variety. It's still quite interesting in that several times, it switches from huge, open spaces with the bouncy checkered floor at the bottom, to mazes of very tight, narrow corridors, all short and winding and rife with traps. More reminiscent of the kind of structure employed by a pinball style level than the later factory stage that it actually is. The map literally goes from a huge, open room to a large chunk of ground filled with corridors that occupies the whole height of it and then another huge room follows to the right of it, etc. The tight corridors offer several brief multiple routes within them, depending at which point you enter from the previous large room, and there may be three or four available. Some of these routes meet within the maze of corridors, though there are still several different exits into the following large room. There are still a few of those annoying long pillars of ground hanging down, but they're rarely a nuisance this time. Most of the paths in the level as a whole are all perfectly straight and end quickly, often creating numerous alternating ledges going up and down, but there are occasional winding, curving tunnels within the ground that you'll automatically spin through, as with many Sonic CD levels, and also the odd curved corner path or two, but no long slopes. You can also step inside the foreground in a few places to be sent tumbling through the factory's piping system, which drops you off in another area. It has its moments but it's generally not a very fast level, making time travelling a challenge, in Zone 1 at least.
Zone 2 has massive open spaces, with no more long hanging pillars in your way, so you can bounce around and go nuts, to your heart's content!..
..The vast open areas are split by massive chunks of ground filled with winding, elaborate corridors and interesting routes. Take them carefully all you'll fall victim to the many traps that occupy them!
In both zones, transportation tubes through the ground are present and often your best bet for time travel. They can often be entered at opening tubes like this.
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Obstacles and Features
As discussed in the Structure section, the key object is probably the long stretches of checkered ground, which throw you up extremely high whenever you touch them, along with a very satisfying, low-pitched "oowwp" sound. It does have very brief periods of inactivity where you can actually stand on the floor, but these last less than a second at a time, between periods of flashing activity that last about 3 or 4 seconds, so even if you do manage to land on it, you won't be there for long. In the Past, many smaller chunks of bouncy floor can be found arranged at various heights just above it, and its period of inactivity may be just a little bit longer as well. Also bouncing up and down on the floor are medium length yellow platforms, usually appearing alongside each other in small groups and are one of three different types of platforms that you can use to cross the perilous floor. They're a bit heavier than our hedgehog friend so they don't go up nearly as high as he does, and only bounce a little when they land on the floor during its brief inactive moments. You can get crushed underneath them too, but that's not a situation you're likely to get in too often.
The Workbench's key feature - checkered blocks on the floor that throw you straight up an extremely tall distance. These are often very segmented into steps.
Also bouncing on the floor are these platforms. Different colours per timezone. Crushing underneath is possible, but not a big issue.
In a huge supplies, these small circular platforms always move back and forth either horizontally or vertically over a short, always equal distance.
The more common platform throughout the whole level though is the smaller, circular-looking platforms that will always operate on a left/right or up/down pattern of movement, and they'll often meet each other during these cycles so that you can switch between them. They all have a siren at the bottom of them, and when you see a platform where the siren is flashing (less common, but there are enough of them to be a pain), that means its surface is rotating, so it'll be harder to stay on it. Sonic will spin around with it, so pay attention to how close he is to the edge as he rotates, as this is where he is likely to fall off if you let him stay there. When jumping onto them, try and aim for the center. Their sirens don't activate or deactivate, each platform will always be either stable or spinning all the time. The third and final platform that tends to lurk near the floor is the constantly adjusting sets of blocks, again similar to an object more commonly found in a pinball style level. Several groups hang out near each other, each consisting of four small square blocks that aim to spread themselves out in a line by moving one block at a time, fairly slowly. Their pattern is difficult to describe but they start out going in one direction, and when they've formed a line, they change their direction by 90 degrees, the end block retreating behind the one next to it whilst reappearing out at the other end, heading in the new direction. In Zone 2, these are more commonly found as crushers that move up and down within two stacked horizontal corridors.
Platforms that have active sirens have surfaces that rotate for eternity. You'll turn as you go around, gradually winding your way to the edge, at which point you'll fall off.
These groups of blocks move in odd patterns as the two end ones retreat and re-emerge at different sides of the formation.
In Zone 2, the groups of blocks are used as crushers across two stacked corridors
These icy exhausts are found at the bottom of low hanging pillars or in corridors and capture Sonic in a solid block of ice, that then falls to the floor. You can jump out as they then break, to avoid being hurt.
Networks of electrical conduits across the whole level light up at regular intervals horizontally, vertically or diagonally, illuminating the background and causing damage if you touch the bright bits. Stay in front of the mine-like junctions to stay safe.
Typically placed on the very tips of those long hanging pillars and on the ceilings of tight corridors, thin grey icy exhausts emit huge blasts of cold air. Upon contact with this blast, Sonic will be encased in a solid block of ice in a rather cartoon-y fashion, and he'll fall to the floor. When you hit the floor, the ice will break and cause you damage, but if you jump as it breaks, you'll come out unscathed. The ice blast will be fully powered for a few seconds but then start to splutter until it eventually deactivates, allowing you to pass it safely until it comes back on another few seconds later. A platform may often pass underneath it close enough that the blast will touch you, so getting your timing right with these can be very tricky. Covering large areas of the upper horizontal paths in Zone 1 and the large rooms in Zone 2, diamond-like arrangements of electrical conduits appear behind the foreground, held up by circular mine-like objects. Horizontal, vertical and diagonal conduits connect them to each other, and about every 8 seconds, all the conduits that go in one of those directions will light up, harmlessly for a second, but then they'll start flashing brightly for about 3 seconds, also illuminating the whole background of the stage and are dangerous to touch at this point. If you're caught up nearby, try and stand in front of one of the circular mine-like objects they're connected to, as these won't hurt you. In the Good Future, the whole network of these things are completely inactive.
Corridor crushers defy their own traditional nature by not actually killing you. They force you straight down to the area below at the vital moment, usually leading to a transportation tube
This object will descend slowly, unless you hop onto the higher of the two platforms to raise the other one, like a see-saw. Use this mechanism to climb higher and higher on it.
Sonic can hang onto these poles. Press left or right to shimmy along them, above the fields of electricity. Jump to drop off.
Speed launchers occur at a couple of points. Hop on and it will blast off across a long stretch of straight ground, until eventually throwing you out at the end.
Big grey crushing blocks in the corridors are in fact, not crushers at all. Unless you're trying to lose a life, this is something you could only find out yourself by accident, but although they display all the hallmarks of a mean old crusher by moving down slowly and coming back up very quickly to lift you up into the ceiling, you don't die, you actually just fall through it to a hidden area below. This is essential for getting to the hidden machine in the Past, just don't apply the same logic to any other Sonic level, because this is truly a one-off. Used for ascending, see-saw like objects have a platform on the end of either arm. Stand on one platform to make the other instantly move upwards, and a jet at the bottom of the center of the object ensures that the see-saw keeps going up as you jump between the platforms. Stay standing on it though and it'll slowly begin to descend back to the ground. Sonic shows off a new sprite when he shimmies along an overhead horizontal pole in corridors, usually over a long field of electricity on the floor that never deactivates and also appears in smaller instances elsewhere or as an occasional alternative to the bouncy floor in Zone 2. Just jump on the pole to attach to it, and press left or right to move across, and you'll drop off of it when you jump or reach either end. Large speed launchers pop up occasionally and allow you to leap into them, at which point the launcher blasts across a long straight path and throws you out with speed at the end, into an open space. Hidden transport tubes can also be found within the foreground walls in some places, which will take you inside the foreground and through piping systems, and you'll eventually be ejected through an opening hatch on a wall. These may be your safest bet for time travel in Zone 1.
Time travel handed to you on a plate! You can roll through these huge spinning things, round and round. They come either singularly, or in a pair, in which you'll travel round in a figure-8 motion.
Corridor nasties. Watch out for these lengthy strings of spikeballs orbiting a central point slowly, as they moderate your journey through.
May be mistaken for crushers, these are actually huge doorways that move down for you when you approach from the left, but don't allow backtracking from the other way.
Long spinning poles appear within the huge open areas of Zone 2. Sonic goes up and down them, spinning along with the rotation and when you press jump, he'll leap off to whatever side he's on at the time. The rotation is quick, so accurate hopping is tricky.
The maze-like corridors of Zone 2 are home to a few of their own objects, namely huge spinning contraptions that you can roll around with, making them ideal for very easy time travel. They can be found either on their own or one on top of another, creating a figure 8 path for you to go in as one delivers you to the next. Enter from one path and jump out at another exit when you're ready. Where the corridor leads up or down using short, alternating horizontal paths, beware of long strings of spikeballs rotating slowly around a ledge. The direction of their orbit suggests that the route is only one-way and their length generally increases in the Future. Not to be confused with crushers, huge doorways normally at the bottom of the stage, block the path until you come along from the left, and they will then move down smoothly to allow you to go through. They're perfectly safe to stand on, and will only move up again once you've proceeded onwards, but coming from the right, they won't open for you, so it's another one-way deal. In the large open rooms, you'll find several very long, vertical spinning poles lined up with some distance between them. When Sonic hops onboard he'll curl in a ball and spin around the pole, going either up or down it, and when he reaches either end or hits a wandering badnik in a certain way, he'll reverse his direction. Getting off on the side you want is a bit tricky as when you press jump, Sonic will get off on the side he's facing at that time and because he's circling the thing pretty quickly, this requires careful timing.
Wasp robots, new and old.
Flying bug robots, new (in flight) and old.
Grass hopper robots, new and old.
Spiky enemies, new and old.
Yellow and black wasp robots patrol open areas. Like similar badniks from the series, they buzz back and forth, fairly slowly in this case, and occasionally stop to point their stingers in a diagonal direction and fire a flashing projectile. Damaged ones are slower and skip the old stopping and firing shtik. Joining them are odd yellow flying bugs that cling to the foreground just above the bouncy floor. When you arrive they will begin to hover along left or right, and continue in this direction, and healthy ones will drop small spiked mines which fall to the ground and start flashing red, exploding after a few seconds. Green grasshopper enemies use springs mounted on their underside to leap enthusiastically around the horizontal paths, except for the damaged ones of course which are a lot less enthusiastic with their age and as a result can't bounce as high or as far. Finally, thin yellow and red robots hang stealthily from corridor ceilings, although you can still see the bottoms of them. When you get too close, they drop down via a thin line and show off some spikes that will slot in and out a few times before they go back up again. Bet you can't guess what feature the broken ones lack.. Flowers here have green stems, pale yellow petals and orange stigma.
View Notes(1)
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#1. Comment posted by Anonymous on Monday, 9th November 2009, 1:49am (UTC)
The Yellow and red robots resemble Bagworms, to go with the bug theme for the badniks.
Hide Notes
Zone 1
Zone 1 Present Map (PNG format)
Zone 1 Past Map (PNG format)
Zone 1 Good Future Map (PNG format)
Zone 1 Bad Future Map (PNG format)
Zone 1 is structured in such a way that you must pass underneath a series of twelve long, low hanging pillars, by way of platforms, and without being thrown upwards by the floor. Not easy, but check out the level structure section and Point #2 for tips.
This is a common trap high up between the pillars, a rotating platform perilously above an electrifying floor. Make sure you stay in the middle of the platform as it spins, otherwise you'll slip off.
This see-saw thing isn't quite wide enough to fit up this gap, but it can still be used by just teetering on the edges of the platforms, as you jump between them.
In the Futures, a set of horizontal poles at the top, accessible between the seventh and eighth pillars hide an extra life, over to the left.
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Point #1
In both the Past and Bad Future only, there is a hidden room early on in the level that features a very mysterious statue. This is a rare, really odd thing that only appears once and is very unusual compared to the rest of the level. Kind of a hidden "Easter Egg" if you will.
The mysterious room can be accessed through a hidden passage to the left, above a curved wall, just after the first pillar.
In the Past, you'll find a room completely unlike anything else in the level. It's an ancient shrine with a mysterious statue of an angel figure..
..Jump into her outstretched hand and streams of rings will flow from it, for the next 10 seconds or so.
In the Past, progress forward and in the first open area, get up to the high ledge on the right with the Future post on it, mentioned in Time Travelling Tips. From the top, drop down the left side of this ledge, past the little block sticking out of the wall just below it and past the ledge below that, you want the next one down - the much longer ledge that leads in through the pillar in a passage to the right. Through this passage to the next area, drop down to the very bottom and find the curved wall on the left of the lowest area of the floor. There's a secret passage inside this wall that will lead you into a very green room with a statue of a goddess/angel type figure, holding her arms out. When you touch the statue, rings will begin to appear out of her hands and bounce around the place, constantly spawning for about 10 seconds. Extremely odd.
The Bad Future is the only other place that the room is accessible. The angel has been removed and replaced by a bronze statue of Dr Eggman..
..It's a trap! If you jump into it to explode it..
..Exploding spikeballs will come raining down from the ceiling. As they come in progressively faster waves, they're very tricky not to get hit by, sooner or later.
Come to the same place in the Bad Future, and you'll find that having taken over, Eggman has not only found this hidden little gem himself (probably by using this guide, I bet) but has also seen fit to ignore his duties of preserving it and has replaced it with a statue of his favourite subject. From the start of the first area, you'll have to use the platforms above the checkered floor to pass underneath the first hanging pillar this time, rather than taking the higher route, and then drop down to the secret passage. In it you'll find a bronze statue of Eggman himself on a pedestal, arm pointing up in the air in a dictator-ish fashion. Jump into it and it'll explode, but seconds later, a handful of flashing red spikeballs (the same ones that those yellow bug enemies drop) will begin to fall from the ceiling and explode on the ground, coming in three or four waves at increasing speeds covering varying areas, so it's not easy to avoid while you're still in there. Curiosity killed the hedgehog I guess.
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#1. Comment posted by david on Monday, 5th April 2010, 5:00pm (UTC)
by the way u can do this as many times as you like just go in the room again and touch the angel statue to get more rings. and ps i personaly think that the angel statue should be there in the good future 2 you know like having plants and the zones flowers next to her.
#2. Comment posted by adam on Saturday, 26th January 2013, 6:03pm (UTC)
If you find her in the xbox/ps3 version you get a trophy/achievement.
#3. Comment posted by adam on Saturday, 26th January 2013, 6:03pm (UTC)
If you find her in the xbox/ps3 version you get a trophy/achievement.
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Point #2
As explained in the Structure section, the whole of Zone 1 is built around 12 hanging pillars, suspended above a very segmented floor that simply throws you up all the way to the top of the paths above that connect the pillars. You're constantly having to weave your way back down these paths to try and get underneath each pillar in order to progress and avoid being sent upwards over and over again. Except for the Past, where the pillars have gaps going straight through them, there's no way to avoid this process completely, but in the Present, there's a very well hidden route through some of the most challenging sections that will not only save a few headaches but is probably a good bet for cutting down your personal best time too. In the Futures, it's not quite so effective.
Find this crusher at the top of the fifth low hanging pillar and just stand on it, you'll survive unscathed and will be pushed down below it.. Honestly, you will, try it!
The transport tube below the crusher leads into a series of long bridges that link the pillars, and in which you can run along, completely avoiding the tricky bits on the floor below them.
A hatch at the end is your exit, at the ninth pillar.
It starts at the top of the fifth hanging pillar from the start. If you head upwards just in front of either the fourth or fifth pillar (both signified by a checkpoint on the alternating pathways towards the bottom of them), you'll be able to get to it, as the two connect at the very top, where there are both Past and Future signposts and a crusher inside a short corridor. As you'll know if you've boned up on the Features and Obstacles of this zone, and also if you've already reached the Machine in the Past, these crushers aren't crushers at all, they instead force you into the area immediately below, at the moment of impact with the ceiling. You'll tumble down through the fifth pillar and find yourself running across otherwise inaccessible bridges between the next four pillars, all of which are particularly low hanging and annoying. You'll pop out through a hatch not far from the end. This little journey is also handy for time travel.
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Time Travelling Tips
Time Travelling Tips
Safe time travelling opportunities are scarce in this zone, and once you've activated a post, you won't necessarily get a warp going just by being flung through the air by those checkered floors. It is possible, usually by running from a ledge into the floor, but this is very unsafe because chances are, you'll land on another path high above or straight into an electrifying conduit, etc. Paths don't tend to be anywhere near long enough to simply run across either, so the best way is to make use of the transportation tubes that start in one place, hidden in the wall, and take you across to somewhere else, while maintaining your speed. You just have to hope the tube lasts long enough - a particular concern when playing the original Mega CD version.
The first Past Post to grab in the Present is on the bouncy floor, just after the first low hanging pillar.
After grabbing the post, backtrack to the right side of the first pillar and bounce all the way to the top of it. Avoid the badniks and more importantly, the Future post that's also on this ledge!
Go past the crushers to the right (there's an additional Past post just underneath them if you need it , if you allow yourself to be 'crushed').
In the Present, here's what I recommend you do right from the start.. Proceed into the first huge area, but don't go all the way up to the top ledge on the far right just yet - you need a Past post first, which you can obtain by crossing the various low platforms from the start. Use these to go along the lowest route, underneath the first large hanging pillar (with a freeze-blasting exhaust), and just after this you'll find a Past post sitting on the checkered floor. Having got that, go back the way you came, to the left, and then use the bouncy floor to go all the way up to the top of this first hanging pillar. Should be a Future post on the highest ledge up there, and a couple of springing green mantis robots, and then crushers further in to the right. Beyond these crushers, a curving tunnel will throw you into the transportation tube, allowing a nice and easy time warp.
At the end of the corridor is a twisting tunnel that takes you straight into a transportation tube system, allowing ample room for a warp.
Another Past post and time travel opportunity can be found at an intersection between pillars 4 and 5, at the very top. When dropping down from this perch, below the ice blaster, land to the left, or you'll hit a Future post. Then see Point #2 for an additional warp area.
Still in the Present, if you need another Past post, look to Point #2, which explains where to get one and then what to do with it immediately afterwards. Just go upwards just before the fourth hanging pillar and there's a Past post on a ledge to the right of a gap at the top of the pillar, guarded by an ice blaster. When you drop down, through the gap just below, make sure you drop straight to the left to avoid touching a Future post lurking just below (unless you actually want it that is). Then follow Point #2's instructions to find another easy time travel method on suspended bridges through the pillars on which you can just keep running. If you need it, another Past post is on the checkered floor, just after the sixth low hanging pillar, and there's two more on the left sides of each of the final two pillars at the end of the zone.
In the Futures, the same transport piping is still open to you, albeit slightly altered, but Past posts are a bit more well hidden than in the Present. There's one in the same place as described in Point #2/the above paragraph. Another is to the top left of the second to last pillar in the zone. Somewhere in the middle, below the fifth, sixth and seventh low hanging pillar is a long tunnel just underneath the ground with a speed launcher on the far left side. On the far right is another Past post.
The Past is rather limited for time warp opportunities, but this one is open to all. There's a straight long corridor at the bottom/middle of the zone, and a Future post at the right end. Charge up a peel-out to the left..
..Keep a dash going to the left..
..On the far left end, you'll hit a speed launcher, which will immediately force you back, but maintain your time warp..
..Dash out the other end into the open space, hopefully dodging the obstacles long enough to complete the sequence.
Time travelling from the Past is kind of the opposite, because there are loads of Future posts lying around everywhere, but the transport tubes are altered or simply inaccessible. The first one, mentioned in the first paragraph is still there and even has the exit hatch at the end, but as far as I can see, there doesn't seem to be any way of entering it in the Past. The tube that leads down towards the machine (see Machine Location section) will be able to warp you for over 3 seconds, which is fine and dandy for the PC/Gems version of Sonic CD, but it won't work for the Mega CD version, which requires 5 seconds. If you're in that boat, go to the area I just talked about in the Future, with the long underground tunnel in the middle of the zone. Go to the far right side of this straight path (a Future post will be there) and charge up a peel-out by holding up and pressing jump, while facing left. Release up and keep running left along this path. At the end, you'll hit the speed launcher which will propel you back to the right, but your speed will be maintained and hopefully you'll warp soon after you come out of the tunnel. This is also available to use in the Present and Futures too.
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#1. Comment posted by Ratchet 0203 on Monday, 13th October 2014, 9:24pm (UTC)
On the far left picture, Sonic's legs are not a figure-8. Is that one of his figure-8 leg sprites?
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Metal Sonic Hologram Location
Metal Sonic Hologram Location
Metal Sonic's hologram is standing inside the cutting through the middle of low hanging pillar number 5. These pillars are organised a bit differently in the Past, but it's near the middle of the zone, above the long tunnel beneath the ground with a speed launcher in it.
Metal Sonic is found goofing around inside pillar 5.
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Machine Location
Machine Location
Your hunt for the machine must begin along the top of the zone. Take the highest route you can toward the top of the second to last low hanging pillar..
..Here, a crusher. The big secret is that if you allow the crusher to force you up into the ceiling, you don't die, you simply fall down behind it, through the floor below..
If you have no idea about the fact that corridor crushers in Wacky Workbench don't kill you, but rather force you into the area directly below them, then you'll only be able to find the Past's machine purely by accident because it's impossible to get to without using one of these non-crushers. If you've been desperately searching the place trying to figure out how to get to the damn thing, I can assure you I've felt your pain. The particular non-crusher in question is found at the top of the last low hanging pillar before the end of the zone, but you can also get to it coming through from the left by, at pretty much any point once the zone gets going, getting all the way up to the top of the zone and following along this highest path that cuts through all the pillars and chunks of ground. There'll be twisting tunnels, platforms and a few overhanging poles to climb across to get there, but just keep going on the highest route that you can find at every junction, and before you get to the end, ensure that you don't have a Future post activated if you're playing the PC/Gems version. At the end of this route, steps will lead up to a single crusher lifting up sharply into the ceiling of the corridor. Stand on it when it's down and let it lift you up, only to find that you'll fall down behind it and be sent through a winding transport tube (that'll inconveniently teleport you out of the time zone if you have a Future post going). This will take you down to the bottom of the stage where you'll find yourself in a small hidden room standing on the machine, and an extra life item box is thrown in as your reward for having to work a bit harder for this one. A door on the left can be opened by pressing the button next to it to get you back into the large arenas, and of course, this prevents you from just walking in from the other side.
..The route takes you down through a transport tube. Beware if you're playing the PC/Sonic Gems Collection version of the game, and have a Future post activated. The tube is long enough to teleport you away, which, if you're after the machine, is not what you want!..
..At the end, you'll find yourself standing atop the machine in a hidden room at the bottom of the level. With it is an extra life and a button that opens a doorway out to the left. Definitely the hardest machine to find, in the game!
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Zone 2
Zone 2 Present Map (PNG format)
Zone 2 Past Map (PNG format)
Zone 2 Good Future Map (PNG format)
Zone 2 Bad Future Map (PNG format)
The start of the zone sees Sonic being flung across the huge open room by a speed launcher. Rings accompany your route downwards.
In the Past, if you exit the first large corridor area, there's an extra life hidden in a room just between the top and middle exits.
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Time Travelling Tips
Time Travelling Tips
In the first, huge open area of Zone 2, duck under a hanging pillar (this is the only significant one here though, I promise!) on the right and go up to the top to find a Past post.
Just head right from the post to roll straight into a huge spinning contraption, perfect for time travel.
While anything to do with time travel was a bit of a tough nut to crack in Zone 1, in Zone 2 it's so easy even your Grandma could do it, and there are loads of very easy opportunities in all four time zones. Kicking off in the Present, and the zone launches you into a huge, pretty empty room, and time travelling here just by using the floor to bounce around the place would be easy enough. There's a transport tube that begins at a high up ledge on the tall right wall of this room that'll do the trick, but you'll be needing a Past post. To get the first one, go underneath that tall right hand wall, just like you would get under the low hanging pillars of Zone 1. There's a Future post on the floor here if you would prefer that, but if not, continue into this next room, which you'll notice has a floor of dangerous electricity fields rather than the usual bouncy business. Use the platforms to proceed up to the top left hand corner where a spring will launch you up into the beginning of the following corridor network, where you'll immediately find your Past post. To make good use of it, you only need to walk right to be thrown into the first large colourful spinning circular contraption. When inside, you'll constantly just spin around until you feel like jumping out into the corridor on the right, so just sit back and wait for the warp to do its thing.
There are two large mazes of corridors in the zone, and they're separated by another large open room in between. You'll find four more of these big colourful spinning machine things within either of the mazes and they all feature two wheels this time, so you'll be going around in a figure-8 motion. All are available in all time zones, and they're not even the only way to go about time travelling. That transport tube near the beginning that I mentioned in the first paragraph is also available to the Good and Bad Futures too, but not the Past it would seem. In the large open rooms of all time zones, the long thin rotating poles in this zone can also be used as a pretty effective time travelling device if you attach to them with your warp already activated, and you shouldn't be interrupted as you'll continue to go up and down, and your spinning state will ward off any badniks. Finally, there's a good old curved wall at the highest route into the second large corridor maze, and in the Present and Past, there's a horizontal spring facing it on the ground which you can use to repeatedly dash up the wall. Posts of either applicable time travelling directions are pretty abundant no matter where you are, so you shouldn't be having any problems.
You can find a long enough transport tube on the right hand wall of the first massive room. Present and Futures only, mind.
Another little time travel trick can occur if you hit these long spinning poles with a warp going. You could do a peel-out into it from a nearby platform if you like.
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Machine Location
Machine Location
The machine is all the way back near the start, on a platform just at the end of the first long straight. There is a convoluted route up from the lower left side to it, but some pieces of the bouncy floor in the large room on the right are elevated in the Past, which will give you sufficient boost straight up there.
The machine is actually all the way back at the start, as you'll have noticed while you were being thrown into the first huge room by a speed launcher, if you have observant eyes. It's on a platform just below the end of the first path, so when in the Past, head back to the first big room and use the bouncy floor to get your spiny ass up to the top left corner. The floor extends up into smaller platforms above the very bottom in this time zone, allowing you extra height to get straight up there. You can also find a secret passage in the very bottom corner of this far left wall that leads into a tall, enclosed room with an electricity field at the bottom, and platforms and springs leading upwards, culminating in a couple of twisting tunnels that throw you into the machine. This would be your route if you wanted to get back to the start in the Present or Futures (there's a Past signpost there), but in the Past, it's a lot easier to just bounce right up there.
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Metal Sonic Hologram Location
Metal Sonic Hologram Location
Metal Sonic's hologram can be found bullying the local animal residents next to a curved wall tucked away at the bottom of the middle large room, between the two corridor mazes.
Smack bang in the middle of the zone, at the bottom of a large room.
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Big ring bonuses can be found in a hidden room on the top, far left side as you come up from the bottom.
As you head down towards the boss room, take a left into another hidden room just behind a curved wall for this 1-up.
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Boss
Boss
The area leading up to the boss is comprised of five long vertical shafts lined up across, but to head directly to the arena, you only need to go up one and drop down another, the other shafts are just dead ends where you can collect rings or various power-ups, so its worth exploring a bit if you're a newbie. Be sure to at least grab the shield item in the bottom right corner of the first shaft, from which you'll be heading upwards using the bouncy floor or platforms, but be careful of small electricity fields on ledges in the Bad Future. Well over 50 rings are available here, and when you're all set, head through the passage all the way to the right.
In the arena, as is often the case, you need to hit Eggman to get things rolling.
He'll blast off and in his wake, leave crumbling rocks falling down on top of you as, off-screen, he burrows into the floor above. The only ones that harm you are four large square pieces of debris that disperse themselves equidistantly along the floor..
There's not that much to this boss, but it does require some pretty fine tuned and well timed platform hopping skills. In the arena, you'll find yourself on the checkered floor, but it's inactive for the moment. Dr Eggman drops down from the top in a rather large machine with an obviously dangerous flame coming from the bottom. Hit the machine to get things started, and he'll retreat back up top, where rumbling will ensue and harmless bits of the ceiling will begin to fall, followed by four larger heavy crumbled chunks which should be avoided due to painful undersides, but they won't crush you if you get caught underneath. These sit equidistantly along the floor - pick one and stand on it while a dangerous electrical field is being generated just below. In a moment, all blocks will be thrown high into the air, but probably because of your added weight, the one you're standing on won't go as high as the other three, so at the highest point you need to carefully jump onto one of the other blocks, and then immediately to the next floor above, which consists of a ledge on either side of the wall and a gap between them. Do so quickly before the blocks begin to fall back down again and you miss your chance to get up there. Eggman is waiting here, so hit him again and the pattern will repeat. Two blocks will fall on either ledge, so dodge them and then jump on top of one. Also avoid falling down the gap as you'll return to the area below and both the electricity field and the blocks will be on the floor, so you could land on either surface.
Stand on one of the blocks. An electrifying beam will be generated below, harmful to you, that will throw all four high into the air..
..You'll notice that the block you're standing on doesn't go as high as the others. You need to reach the next floor, so you'll have to jump off to one of the others, using it as a stepping stone to the ledge before they all fall back down again.
On this higher floor, the process will repeat, so you must hit Eggman again.
On the next floor up, spikes from the top of Eggman's machine begin to rain down on you just before the blocks do, but only the side that you're standing on. As they fall, just jump to the other side and you'll be fine.
After three rounds, Eggman has no where left to go, so administer the final shot, while he's stuck in the ceiling.
You'll both fall to the top floor and his machine will start puffing large amounts of white smoke, before the whole thing fades to white and he makes a run for it.
Using the same pattern, get up to the third and final floor, which also consists of two opposite ledges and a gap in between. Hit Eggman, then leap over to the opposite side that you're on when small upside down spikes begin to fall from above, but they'll only come down on one ledge so just get over to the other one. The blocks will follow afterwards and use the one closest to the gap to get to Eggman, who's got himself stuck in the ceiling, in the middle. Administer the final blow and his machine will fall, puffing out lots of white smoke from the funnel at the top. It lands in the gap below while you remain standing on your block and the screen will eventually fade to white. When it returns, Sonic will be standing on the wreckage while the doc escapes on foot. Now, to Stardust Speedway to finally confront Metal Sonic!
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#1. Comment posted by Ajavalo on Saturday, 20th June 2009, 9:23am (UTC)
You missed an important note: at the third floor, if you don't jump soon enough to hit Eggman, you will get crushed with the ceiling!
#2. Comment posted by Hyper Emerson on Monday, 22nd June 2009, 4:05pm (UTC)
You only get crushed if you're in the blocks far from Eggman. Also, you can avoid the spikes and blocks just by staying in the corners.
#3. Comment posted by Ajavalo on Tuesday, 23rd June 2009, 3:09pm (UTC)
Hyper Emerson is right. Sorry for my lack of information... ^^
#4. Comment posted by Cf on Saturday, 5th May 2012, 10:24am (UTC)
This boss is actually a one hit KO. You don't need to hit him apart from right at the top. Just leave him to it and he will fly up on his own without being hit. Doesn't take him too long either.
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View general notes for Wacky Workbench (5)
#1. Comment posted by david on Monday, 5th April 2010, 4:42pm (UTC)
don't take this because personaly i hate swear words but you can hear the male vocal saying "you-u-u idiot-t then you hear a female vocals speaking gibberish (even though i'm pretty sure just goofing around then the male repeats what he said before then in a really low voice he says you bitch
#2. Comment posted by david on Monday, 5th April 2010, 4:43pm (UTC)
in the bad future
#3. Comment posted by chicobo329 on Tuesday, 27th December 2011, 7:48am (UTC)
One of the achievements for the 2011 rerelease of this game is finding the statue in the past in Act 1, called 'Status Savior'. It appears they specifically mean the Past statue instead of the Present statue as the achievement icon features the angel rather than the Eggman statue in the Bad Future.

For the act 3 boss, the weight of Sonic does indeed weigh down the block you're riding on. However if you quickly jump to another fallen block while the electricity is running but JUST before the blocks are launched, the block you're standing on won't be weighed down by you, enabling you to jump up to the next platform above quicker. Eggman also oddly takes two hits from Sonic when on the second and third levels, rather than one (unless I'm not remembering the MCD original clearly).
#4. Comment posted by chicobo329 on Tuesday, 27th December 2011, 9:13am (UTC)
My apologies the achievement is called 'Statue Savior' not 'Status Savior' ;^P
#5. Comment posted by Ratchet 0203 on Monday, 13th October 2014, 9:28pm (UTC)
David, are you sure he said that? Sounds a little intense for this game, not that I disagree.
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Content for this page last edited:
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General Notes
Posted by Ratchet 0203 on 13th October 2014

Time Travelling Tips
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Appearance
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Point #1
Posted by adam on 26th January 2013

Point #1
Posted by adam on 26th January 2013

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