Sonic Generations Ranking Attack

There were two things that I was looking forward to with the release of Sonic Generations:
1) Getting the platinum trophy
2) Competing on the Leaderboards.

Compared to Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Team was nice enough to tone down the difficulty of the Generations Platinum. You do have to complete all the challenges, but you do not need S ranks in any of them! If you did, the trophy rating would go from a 4/10 to 7/10, as some of the challenges are a total pain. After getting all of the challenges, each level has ten red star collectibles(five in each Act) that you have to find. Sonic's friends outside of each zone will give you a hint on how to find them, but I do admit that I used Youtube for at least two of them. Finding the red stars is also your first method of finding shortcuts in levels, as MOST stars are found on "pro paths." Once you finish obtaining all of the collectibles, there is nothing left to do for trophies except for some minor clean-up. Learning all of Sonic's skills, clearing levels without touching the water, etc. The worst of those is the trophy for the final boss, but not because of the boss's difficulty. It is especially annoying because you must do it in story mode with whatever amount of extra lives you have stored. When you run out of lives, no thanks to restarting the level, you have to afk the game until Sonic is ready to kill himself.
The trophies are only half the fun, as spamming Zones for your best time in Ranking Attack is where the real entertainment lies. Just as it sounds, Ranking attack is a game mode for performing time trials, with your time being compared to that of your fellow playerbase. It does have some flaws in overall "replayability", but it does exactly what you would expect for time trials. It is important to say that the gameplay for Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic are VERY different when it comes to getting top scores. My Classic Sonic isn't very good, but I do have top 30/50/100 scores in many Modern Sonic levels. I like both Sonics equally, but when it comes to skill, I like to think that Modern Sonic rewards skill a little more than Classic. So how do you get top scores in each Act?
Classic Sonic
Monster layout in Classic levels are specifically designed to propel you through the level. A good example is in Sky Sactuary, Spin jump onto one eggbot and a high momentum will place you on the "pro path." For optimum speed and momentum, you can spin dash and jump shortly after to guarantee that you hit the enemies at the correct speed. Spin Dashing is actually the most important part of Classic Sonic Time Trials, as several levels reward you for it. A good example is Green Hill, there is a small hill in the beginning of the level that can act as a ramp. The PERFECT launch off of this ramp will have you land on an enemy, then land onto the pro path of that area. Even average spin-dash-launches can allow you to skip the ledge that would typically slow you down.

Obtaining the best time for Classic levels usually involves finding these spots where you can spin dash and skip as much of the level as possible. Later levels like City Escape and Crisis City make spin dashing a little more risky, which is when you have to decide it the dash is worth it or not. Casual players can find great shortcuts for spin dashing in every level. Usually, just a few good launches can get you into the top 500 in the world(for now). To get into the top 100, you will have to do quick dashes (Briefly holding the Spin Dash button) to keep your speed as high as you can manage. Hold the dash for too long and you will go too fast to platform reliably. Even at the minimum spin dash speed, you will have to jump VERY early as Classic Sonic's "weight" is more than the speed he can generate (he's pretty chubby after all).

A ramp? Might as well jump!

Modern Sonic
It goes without saying that Boosting is the most important part of Modern Sonic levels. Even across 20' of distance, 1 Boost could be .5 seconds off your overall time. This is especially true if you jump right after boosting, allowing you to jump over gaps without losing as much momentum. Of course, you have to be careful of boosting into the gap in front of you or just losing your meter. When you are on the ground, you should be boosting almost 100% of the time. In "3-d mode" there is almost no excuse not to boost as you can see everything coming at you in almost every level. In "2-d" mode, before you start memorizing levels, the only way to predict what is ahead of you are by signs in the level itself. It is usually a visual cue to jump and could be a path of rings that are above your head (Chemical Plant), or the sound of an Enemy spawning (Crisis City). Some levels will even pan the camera around and show you exactly what is up ahead (Sky Sanctuary, Planet Wisp). If you weren't lucky to get any of that, you will have to rely on memorization.

Modern Sonic pro paths can be just as difficult to stay on as Classic Sonic. As Classic Sonic, you mostly need to jump whenever applicable and be ready to stop on a dime. Modern Sonic is the same way, except you are usually given a choice of direction that involves homing attacks. Just about all flying enemies for Modern Sonic are stepping stones for better paths. If you see a flying enemy, then you are probably in an area where your time could be greatly reduced. Unlike the past Sonic's, Generations has very few areas that use Light Speed Dash (which makes me sad). It may make more sense that once Sonic learned how to Boost(and Air Boost), there was really no need for Light Speed Dash outside of reaching impossible areas(Chemical Plant, Planet Wisp). I do wish that more levels had Light Speed Dash, but hey, that's one less thing to worry about.

So how do you get into the top 100 for Modern levels? I'm playing Sonic Generations on the PS3, and I will say that getting into the top 500 is pretty easy and anyone can do it if you take all of the pro paths without taking damage. Getting into the top 200 is just about the same, except you need to Boost the entire time. Getting into the top 100 takes a bit more skill, but is mostly knowing where and when to do specific actions:

1) Air Boost must be on deck at all times. Air Boosting allows you to skip some of the platforming that would otherwise slow you down. Many of the levels place roadblocks along your path, so Air Boosting over a gap has a pretty high chance of not sending you flying to your death. In certain areas where the game expects you to land on a surface, run for some distance, then jump, you can usually land and then Air Boost. A good example of this is Sky Sanctuary. Just before the Indoor Area is a ledge that you can only reach if you take a pro path about 8 seconds beforehand. At the end of the ledge are TWO rainbow rings, one that sends you to pro path A, and another to pro path Z(the better one). A rank 200 player would do something like this:
-Boost through the triple orange rings to land on the first platform.
-Jump and Homing Attack the 2 sets of enemies, then land on the next platform.
-Run or Boost for a short distance, then jump into the Z ring.
A top 100 player can do this faster by:
-Boost through the triple orange rings to land on the first platform.
-Jump through both enemies with enough momentum to land on the next platform, removing the need to Homing Attack.
- Immediately Jump and Air Boost. If you are at the correct distance, you can hit the Z ring, which is higher that the A ring.
Air Boosting does arc downward, so you can never expect to hit a target directly in line with Sonic unless you are close enough. The farther you are, the higher you will have to jump with Sonic, which can be a .2+ second difference in time.

See the ledge before the Cloud? You have to Air Boost->Stomp to reach that without risking Time

2)Stomp, when combined Air Boost should also be used to clear all large platforming gaps like the moving towers in Seaside Hill. The platforms you land on are so big that it is easy to Air Boost and land on them. If you think you may overshoot the platform, you can Stomp and ensure that you land on it. The Stomp does technically slow you down when used this way, but that difference is made up by the Air Boost you used to clear the gap. One of my favorite examples is the very first cannon in the forest area of Planet Wisp. A high risk/high reward manuever, you can ignore a tedious platforming section by Air Boosting OVER the Cannon (there is almost no way to reliably Air Boost and land on the Cannon) and Stomp onto it. If you aren't Air Boosting, Stomp needs to be used to finish free falls faster. Most of the best paths for Modern Sonic don't even have sections where Sonic must succumb to gravity, but for all other normal paths, each Stomp will save you some Boost power that you may need later.

3) Eventually, you will notice that some ramps, boost rings and springs actually SLOW Sonic down. I'm actually starting to believe that any spring or ramp that doesn't take you to some place you couldn't reach normally, is slower that getting there yourself. I believe we all know of the set of 3 grind rails in the beginning of Green Hill. The pro path grind rail on the far right has a spring at the end that launches you to the middle rail. This spring will slow Sonic down and you can easily jump to the next rail AND keep your Boost up. Timing it correctly will even give you the set of 10 rings as a reward! Another excellent example is the 2nd(?) rail in Planet Wisp. After taking the rainbow ring or destroying the bees to get to the final platform, you will find ramps that launch Sonic to the next grind rail. The ramp is nice because it will take you to the rail no matter what direction you run at it. Believe it or not, it is faster to just jump over the ramp and Air Dash directly to the grind rail. It is just far enough to end your Air Boost over the rail; this means you can adjust your free fall if necessary, but only by small amount. If you hit that rainbow ring to get to the platform, you will be in-line with the rail for an easy landing.

4) As dangerous as it sounds, Homing attack to clear distance will slow you down. top 500 players will use Homing attack in Crisis City to make sure they land on the correct ledge. Luckily for top 100 players, the gaps are spaced out just enough for Sonic to clear with no assistance. At high speeds, Sonic can clear almost any running-jump gap in the game. The chances of you landing on the platform lies solely on your timing. Top 20 players will even Air Boost and Stomp over areas you may have typically used "Homing Dash" to reach.

Keeping these things in mind, it isn't too difficult to get into the top 100 for all levels. This is ultimate goal and I check back daily to make sure I am still there. If you wish to find me on the PS3 Leaderboards, you can see my rank under the name Ealdnarche.