These zones are further sub-divided into acts, which usually all share the same examples of those elements within the zone, but take place on a new layout map, and it's impossible to return to an area of a previous act after having completed it, during a single play through the game. There are three acts per zone here, although it's since become more customary for a zone to feature only two acts in most other games. These ones however are generally a bit shorter, and take place on smaller maps to accommodate for this. At the end of the third act for each zone, a boss battle takes place inside an enclosed space where you will take on Dr Eggman, who floats about in his Egg-mobile and dishes out a certain pattern of attacks that you need to avoid, and hit him with your spin attack jump eight times in order to fully complete the zone. This is the traditional structuring of a Sonic game that has been followed to varying degrees of loyalty by most other games of the series since. It contains very little in the way of story scenes, as most of the game's plot takes place in the form of a prologue that's not really contained anywhere within it. There are a couple of occasions however, such as the ending, where Sonic will be controlled automatically as a short, simple scene of events plays out that involves no dialogue whatsoever.

Other than that, it's all action, and all you. There's a great deal of variety across the six zones, many of which have since become pretty common level types.

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