Last week, we brought you a walkthrough of Tropical Resort, Act 1. Today, we’re moving on to Act 1 of Starlight Carnival, again using the Sonic Colors strategy book as our guide. This zone has some really cool stuff in it, including roads made of light energy, new Wisps, and new enemies. Let’s get to it!

Level Details

You’ll start off with 685,000 points. To get a C rank on this level, you need a score of 650,000. To get a B rank, you need 1,000,000. For an A rank, you need 1,350,000 and to get the much-coveted S rank, you need 1,650,000 points. This is a longer act, with time over at 8:09.

As with the other acts, if you play well you will get a no-miss bonus. If you have no lost tries, you’ll get 650,000 bonus points. For 1 lost try you get 487,500 points, for 2 lost tries you get 422,500 points, for 3 lost tries you get 130,000 and for 4 lost tries you get 65,000. If you have 5 or more lost tries, you don’t get any bonus points.

There are three Wisp powers available in this act. The White Wisp is your boost. This act introduces the Blue Cube, and once you’ve discovered it, it’s always available here. If you’ve cleared Planet Wisp, Act 1 then you have the Pink Spikes, which you can also make use of in this act.

There are four enemy types in this act: Egg Chasers, Egg Pawns, Spiny, and Motobugs. The Egg Chasers are 2,000 bonus points, the Egg Pawns and Spiny are 1,000 points, and the Motobugs are 1,500.

Level Map

See a full-size map here.

Walkthrough

This act begins with Sonic sprinting down a cool-looking road made of light energy. As it unfurls ahead, a pair of Egg Chasers drop down in his path. Use your quick step to avoid their lasers. The Egg Chaser spins its arms just before it shoots, so you can use that as a signal to get out of the way. When the road ends, Sonic is flung into space. Use homing attacks on the floating debris to bounce into a rainbow ring and some dash rings. Sonic will end up inside a big space vessel.

Run into the Blue Wisp capsule to acquire the Blue color power for the first time. Look for some nearby spinning blue rings, which are collectible items, and solid blue blocks, which are indestructible objects. When you activate Blue Cube, all blue blocks transform into rings and vice versa. Two other important things to know about Blue Cube: first, its color gauge runs out fairly quickly, so you have to move fast to use it. Second, you can toggle rings and blocks back and forth until the gauge runs out.

Stand directly on top of the four blue blocks in the nearby floor, and activate Blue Cube. The blocks turn into rings and Sonic drops through them to the chamber below. The transformation also wipes out the Egg Pawns below, which is a nice side effect! Head right and slide through the three blue rings on the bottom row underneath the special ring, and keep sliding to nail the Spiny that is shooting mines at Sonic. Now use the Blue Cube again to change the blue blocks that encase the special ring into blue rings. Jump through all of the rings to collect them.

If the nearby Pink Wisp capsule is empty jump up into the red dash ring and bounce up the narrow shaft. If this is a replay after you’ve unlocked the Pink Wisp, then collect it before you bounce up the narrow shaft. Hold on to the Pink color power for now, as you’ll be able to use it in a few minutes.

Get the Egg Pawn on the platform to the right. Step on the blue button to open the security door across the shaft to the left, then jump through. Ride the lift up and hop over onto another lift to the right. Ride that one up to another security door. The button to open this door is across to the left.

If you don’t have Pink power available yet, hop across to step on the button, but watch out for the bombs dropping from the Spiny attached to the wall above! Then hop back through the now-open security door. Continue down the corridor and jump off. Sonic goes into a freefall down the ship’s exit tube.

But if you do have Pink power available, don’t open the security door! Instead, activate the pink spikes and attach to the door, then start rolling upward. Sonic’s spikes destroy the Spiny on the wall. Roll up to the top of the structure and stop. Don’t roll over the edge into the gap or Sonic loses the Pink Spikes form and goes into a freefall. You will make this descent later, but first there’s a special ring to find.

After Sonic returns to normal, run to the right toward the gap, then jump and use air boost to reach the far platform. Sonic shoots through another Pink Wisp capsule. Hop across crates all the way to the far wall, and drop down the wall. He lands on a destructible white crate. Stomp on it to slam down through other white crates and land on a black crate.

The black crate is destructible too, but stomp won’t work. You must activate the pink spikes to bust through the black crate and drop. Roll to the left to collect a super ring, then keep rolling down through more black crates to the next platform where Sonic can roll up the stacked boxes to the special ring. After that, use the blue button to open the security door and hop off the edge into a freefall down the ship’s exit tube.

Guide Sonic’s descent through rings to a landing on another light road where he runs automatically. Soon, Sonic is joined by a crew of Motobugs. These robot racers damage Sonic if they bump him. Knock bugs off the three-lane track by using quick step from the side or boost from behind. And don’t miss the special ring in the far right lane.

Sonic ends up inside another star cruiser. A catapult shoots him up above your view, and he lands on top of a massive press. Push the stick to the right to walk him until he drops back into sight. Run through the checkpoint, nail the two Egg Pawns, and snag the Blue Wisp.

Now comes a fairly difficult maneuver to reach the next special ring. Hop up to the impassable stack of six blue blocks and activate the Blue Cube to transform blocks into blue rings. Sprint through those rings and run across the bridge of blue blocks beyond. Hurry! At the bridge’s end, turn and hop up on the block stairs, first to the left, then to the right. Then before the blue color gauge runs out, leap left onto the blocks under the special ring.

After the Blue Cube wears off, jump left through the blue rings and collect the Blue Wisp, then take out the two Egg Pawns. Walk out to the leftmost blue block and activate the Blue Cube again. Hop up the newly created blue blocks, working your way to the right. When Sonic’s path is blocked by a tall stack of blocks, use blue cube again to change them into blue rings. Hop through them and use the last blocks to reach the special ring. After blue cube wears off, jump to the platform at the right.

This platform is the first in a series of catapults that eventually shoots Sonic over to a checkpoint and a blue button that opens the next security door. This puts Sonic at the edge of a series of four massive presses.

Run underneath the press as it lowers. Hurry to the Blue Wisp capsule on the safe, white tiled section. Run under the second press to the three blue rings and, above them, a single blue block that encases a spring. Activate the Blue Cube and hop onto the three blue blocks to reach the now-accessible spring.

The spring shoots Sonic up out of sight atop the third press. Walk him (unseen) to the right until he drops onto more blue blocks, a Blue Wisp capsule, and another spring. Activate the Blue Cube and let the spring bounce Sonic out of sight atop the fourth press.

Walk Sonic (again, unseen) to the right, through rings and the hidden special ring. You’ll hear Sonic collect these items. Keep walking rightward until Sonic drops on the dash panel at the end. This propels Sonic down one last light road. At the road’s end, be ready to launch homing attacks at more debris to bounce into a freefall down to another vessel. Descend through the line of rings into the ship’s hold, and watch Sonic make an automatic dash to the goal ring!

Upcoming Walkthroughs

As I mentioned last week, we’ll be posting a walkthrough from each act in the coming weeks. I try to pick acts that I think will have the most value for new players as well as people who have already finished the game. If you have a particular zone/act combo you’d like to see a walkthrough for, please leave it in the comments! I can’t promise that I’ll fulfill everyone’s wish (remember, we’re only doing one act per zone, and I don’t want to give the *whole* thing away!)  but if there’s a lot of people requesting one particular act/zone, then I’ll do my best!