SONIC ADVENTURE: Millennium Ring FAQ Ver 1.3+  CREATED 29/9/00
--------------------------------------------   UPDATED 6/01/01
For the Sega Dreamcast
FAQ by Dr.Eggman ([email protected])

Just to start things off...
Sega, Sonic the Hedgehog and all other Sonic the hedgehog
Related characters are trademarks of SEGA. Dreamcast is a
trademark of Sega. Mega drive, Mega CD and Sega CD are
copyrights of Sega. All other copyrights that were not
specifically written in this FAQ are acknowledged now.
This FAQ cannot be used for any purpose other than
private, non-commercial use. It cannot be used for your
own personal gain (even if no money is made). It cannot
be used as persuasion to purchase something (game, book,
video etc). And cannot be reproduced in any way, shape
or form without written permission from the author. It
also cannot be used by any business, including (but not
limited to) publishers of books, magazines, game sites
and any other medium not specifically mentioned in this
FAQ. It is a crime to copy and/or illegally re-circulate
work protected by international copyright law. And don't
go putting this up on your site and say that it's yours!

This work is (c) 2000-2001 Dr.Eggman
Phew! Now on with the FAQ

=======================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
=======================================================

1. INTRODUCTION

2. INFO ON THE MILLENNIUM RING
   - How to obtain the millennium ring
   - What the millennium ring does

3. WHY FIND ALL THE RINGS?

4. LOCATION OF THE RINGS!

  - ADVENTURE FEILD
  - Station Square
  - ACTION STAGE
  - Sonic the Hedgehog
  - Miles "tails" Prower
  - Knuckles the Echidna
  - Amy Rose
  - Big the Cat
  - E-102 "Y"
  - MINI-GAME
  - Sonic the Hedgehog
  - Miles 'tails' Prower

5. MISCELLANEOUS
  - Attract mode
  - VMU 'trick'
  - Web page summary
  - Knuckles climbing
  - Station Square posters

6. REVISION HISTORY

=======================================================
1.    INTRODUCTION
=======================================================

Sonic Adventure! (referred to as SA from now on) In my
opinion one of the best Sonic games ever. It's fast,
fun and the graphics are amazing! I was really impressed
with this game, so I set out to write a FAQ about it.
Unfortunately I was a little late, and missed the boat
as far as SA FAQ writing was concerned. I found that FAQ's
had been written on almost every aspect of the game.
So, as I was trudging back to the drawing board,
I remembered one part of SA that had not been written
about at all: The Millennium ring download. While it
may not look like much, it adds a whole new dimension to
the game, in much the same way as the Sonic emblems do.
I was unimpressed with the download at first, but I found
that once I got into looking for all the rings, it could
be quite fun! So to quote Sonic "and away we gooo!"

=======================================================
2.    INFO ON THE MILLENNIUM RING
=======================================================

-------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO OBTAIN THE MILLENNIUM RING
-------------------------------------------------------

Getting the millennium ring is easy. To obtain it all you need
to have is an Internet connection for your Dreamcast. This
should have come with the actual DC console, so consult
the manual if you are unsure about anything Internet related.
To get started, put SA in and boot it up. From the title
screen, select the 'Internet' option and zip over to the
SA home page. Now go to the 'community' page and select
'events', then you will be able to download the file from
the 'special events' category. The download uses 62 blocks
of space on the VMU.

-------------------------------------------------------
WHAT THE MILLENNIUM RING DOES
-------------------------------------------------------

Okay, so you've downloaded the millennium ring, now what?
Good question! Choose a character and go to 'Adventure
mode' (Sonic is probably a good place to start). In Station
Square (called SS from now on) you will notice that a series of
Sonic 2000 posters, and a large gold ring now decorate the
central station. That large gold ring is the first of many.
Upon examination, the ring will play a song (the little
tune it plays is the background music of Palmtree Panic zone
from Sonic CD for the MegaCD/SegaCD). The ring will also
display a message. In this case the message it displays is
"Try to find it! It's also in the action stage", but in the
action stages it displays the message " A happy new year in
2K! Please support Sonic in 2K." The aim of this little Y2K
ring mini-game is to find all the giant millennium rings
hidden in the action stages. Some stages have rings that are
easy to find, some rings are well hidden, and many stages
even contain multiple millennium rings!

=======================================================
3.    WHY FIND ALL THE RINGS?
=======================================================

Good question! At this point in time there has been no reward
discovered for finding all the millennium rings. If you have
found any changes to the game or evidence to suggest a reward
for finding all the rings, please E-mail me! Although you are
probably thinking "why the hell would I want to find all these
rings for nothing?" Remember that it does add a lot more to the
game. Just like the Sonic emblems do, and don't try to tell me you
didn't at least try to get all 130 emblems!

=======================================================
4.    LOCATION OF ALL THE RINGS!
=======================================================

The following lists where to find all the rings hidden
throughout the game.

-------------------------------------------------------
ADVENTURE FEILD
-------------------------------------------------------

-STATION SQUARE
 DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY
As stated above, the first ring is located in front of the SS
central station. This is accessible with any character in the game.

-------------------------------------------------------
ACTION STAGE
-------------------------------------------------------

 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
 ------------------

-EMERALD COAST (Azure blue world)
DIFFICULTY: EASY
Sonic's first millennium ring is located on the boardwalk at the
start of the stage, just before the first loop-the-loop. You can't
miss this if you stick to the track.

-EMERALD COAST (Windy and ripply)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY-NORMAL
Sonic's next millennium ring is not so easy to spot,
but it not that hard to find. At the start of the 'windy and
ripply' section (the second part of Emerald coast) when you
are running behind the two big waterfalls, don't take the
shortcut with the extra life, up on the cliff. Instead take
the normal way (the low road) and when you reach the large pool,
don't jump on the platforms, just dive straight into the
pool, and you will see the ring floating down the far end.

-WINDY VALLEY (Windy hill)
 DIFFFICULTY: EASY
This is impossible to miss. It is lying on the ground right
before the collapsing bride
(the bridge is just beside the tornado you get sucked into).

-WINDY VALLEY (Tornado)
 DIFFICULTY: HARD
This is much harder to find, and tougher than any of Sonic's
previous rings. There are two ways to get to the ring:

The easier way:
---------------
To get to it, follow the tornado up until you get to the
numbered panels. Jump on all the panels until you get the
number three panel, don't jump to the next panel. You will
be standing on a wire mesh platform. Walk over to the bottom
right hand corner of the platform, and jump in that direction.
You should land on the platform with the Y2K ring.

The harder way:
---------------
To get to it, follow the tornado up until
you get to the numbered panels. Jump on all the panels
until you get to the next bit of stable land (the place with
the point marker and the trampoline) (If you had a sharp eye
you would have been able to catch a glimpse of the millennium
ring on your way up the panels). Now, Instead of jumping on
the trampoline, turn around and walk back to the edge of the
platform. You should see a broken piece of bridge hanging over
the edge of the platform. Stand on top of this broken piece of
bridge, and then jump of the platform. Hold UP on the analog
thumb pad as soon as you jump and you should touch the ring on
the way down. If you have any problems with this, E-mail me!

-WINDY VALLEY (The air)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
After the tough ring that was hidden in the 'Tornado' section
of Windy Valley, Sonic gets a rest here, as this ring is easy
to find. Play through the third part of Windy valley until you
reach the place in which Sonic gets shot up in the air, then
free falls down to a platform with a point marker on it. While
free falling, you can see the millennium ring on the platform
you land on. Once again, this ring is very hard to miss if you
just stick to the normal route, and remember keep on the look out.

-CASINOPOLIS (Dilapidated way)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL
Finding this ring isn't too tough.
To get to the sewer area where the ring is hidden, you need
to play a game of pinball and lose all your balls without
earning more than 99 rings. If you succeed in doing this,
you will be dumped into the sewer level of the casino
(called Dilapidated way). Reach the end of the sewer level
and you will see the giant ring buried in some trash to the
right of the last set of spiked balls and chains.

-ICECAP (Snowy mountain)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
At the very start of the level walk onto the speed ramp to get
shot outside. Now when you land, simply press down on the
analog thumb pad, and after a few steps you will come across
the ring! (check out the ring, it's all frozen over!)

-ICECAP (Snowboard)
 DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY
At the very end of the level (once Sonic has removed the
snowboard) walk over to the right of the egg-capsule (the
grey thing you jump on to finish the level) and you will
see the ring beside a tree and a log that has fallen on the
ground. Due to the white nature of the level, this ring is
quite easy to spot. Obtaining this ring is really easy,
because it is impossible to die during the snowboarding
sequence.

-TWINKLE PARK (Pleasure castle)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY-NORMAL
This is another ring that is harder to find than it is to
reach. The actual ring can be found in bottom of the pool
located the middle of the of Twinkle park. (This is the
pool that Big fishes in, when he plays the Twinkle park
action stage). To find the ring, look in the corner of
the pool closest to the castle.

-SPEED HIGHWAY (goin'down)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
After you have run down the sky scraper and smashed through
the glass, the ring is just beside you in the room where you
land. You can't miss this.

-RED MOUNTAIN (symbol of thrill)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL
Just before the section of the level where Tikal tells
you to "move forward by attacking the enemies" you can
plainly see the ring. I must be sounding like a broken record,
but... You can't miss it if you follow the path!

-RED MOUNTAIN (Red hot skull)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL
For Sonic's second Red Mountain ring, follow the path until you
come across a large machine, with many cogs etc. Near the machine
(to the left)is a long row of prison cells that contains three
inmates (there are two tall inmates, and one short). In front of
their cells is the ring.

-SKY DECK (Sky deck a GO! GO!)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL
At the start of the level run along the walkway, while avoiding
the cannons, and climb up the ladder at the end. Now, instead
of jumping onto the spring, look to the left. See the bladed
spinners? Good! Now use the homing dash on them to advance
forward to the next platform. Once you reach the platform your
reward will be waiting for you!

-SKY DECK (sub level after the first section)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-(HARD if you suck at this zone)
For Sonic's second Sky deck millennium ring, work through
the sub-level as normal, listening for the warning siren to
alert you when to grab on to something. When you reach the
first horizontal ladder (I think it is the only ladder in
this sub level) use it to get up on to the red platform,
now immediately run over to the left. Near the edge of the
ship you will see the ring. Again, you can E-mail me
with any problems.

-SKY DECK (general offensive)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-(HARD if you suck at this zone)
At the end of the level, the millennium ring is in between two of
the catwalks that you run on to get to the egg-capsule.

-LOST WORLD (Tricky maze)
 DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY
At the beginning of the level, the ring is just in front of the
entrance to the long winding tunnel. If you can't find this I
suggest giving up on videogames altogether :)

-LOST WORLD (Danger! Chased by rock!)
 DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM
This ring is hidden in the pitch-black room. Here are some
rough directions on how to get to it: At the start, walk
forward, light the mirror, move forward and kill or avoid
the fire badnick, light the mirror at the end of the path,
move forward, jump to the next platform, forward, avoid the
spikes, move forward, jump to next platform, jump forward
again, light mirror, kill or avoid another fire badnick,
forward, light torch. The ring is located to the right of
the mirror you have just lit. Remember to take you time
with this level (I lose more lives here than any other
level in SA!).

-FINAL EGG (Mechanical resonance)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
After the room full of conveyor belts, look to the right
just before going into the rotating tunnel, and you will
find the ring stuck to a pillar.

-FINAL EGG (sub level after the first section)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-MEDIUM
To get to Sonic's second Final Egg millennium ring, take
the first elevator you come across (just after the swinging
hammers) down to the next level. Instead of going right, past
the three spiked balls, down to the point marker, go left
and turn the corner. You will see the ring in front of three
item cylinders.

-FINAL EGG (Crank the heat up!!)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-(EASY when you know how to do it)
Play through the level until you reach the point marker just
before Gamma's shooting range. Stand in between the point markers
facing the range (you will see a ramp on the other side of the
room), and rev-up a light speed dash. Just before the dash has
finished charging, release it and press the analog thumb pad
FOWARD, along with the jump button. The momentum from the dash
will cause you to jump all the way over to the ramp on the other
side. Spin up the ramp on to the ledge, to find the ring sitting
there, waiting for you!

 MILES "TAILS" PROWER
 --------------------

-WINDY VALLEY (The air)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
This is in the same place as Sonic's 2K ring.
Play through the third part of Windy valley until you get to the
part in which Tails gets shot up in the air and free falls down
to a platform with a point marker on it. While free falling, you
can see the millennium ring on the platform you land on. Once
again, this ring is very hard to miss if you just stick to the
normal route.

-CASINOPOLIS (Dilapidated way)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
Unlike Sonic, Tails starts in the sewer so finding the ring on
this level is even easier. To get to the ring, simply reach the
end of the sewer level, and you will see the giant ring buried
in some trash to the right of the last set of spiked balls and
chains.

-ICECAP (Snowboard)
 DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY
At the very end of the level (once Tails has taken of the
snowboard) walk over to the right of the egg-capsule, and you
will see the ring beside a tree and a log that has fallen on the
ground. Obtaining this ring is really easy, because it is
impossible to die in the snowboarding segment of the game.

-SKY DECK (Sky deck a GO! GO!)
 DIFFICULTY: ???
I cannot find a ring anywhere in this level! Any help would be
greatly appreciated!

-SPEED HIGHWAY (Speed highway)
 DIFFICULTY: HARD
Follow Tails' normal track until you come across a building
that has a satellite dish tower on both sides, and a rocket
over to the right hand side. There are also three badnicks as
well (spiky spinners). In front of this building is a yellow
platform, use it to jump over to a skyscraper, where the
millennium ring is waiting. Sorry I can't be more descriptive,
but there are no other land marks in this area. Any problems,
you know what to do!

KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA
--------------------

-SPEED HIGHWAY (at dawn)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
At the start of the level, jump into the fountain and let it
shoot you over to a passage in the building opposite to the
bell-tower, now all you need to do is turn the corner, and
the ring is right there!

-CASINOPOLIS (Main hall)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL
To get this ring, go just outside the vault (the place
where Sonic stores his rings) and you will se a tilted
spring. Jump on it, and let it spring you up onto the
mast of a pirate ship. Now glide down to the stern of
the ship (the back of the ship) and the ring is yours
for the taking!

-RED MOUNTAIN (symbol of thrill)
 DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM
Okay, from the start, go forward and glide to the next
ledge (the one with the bridge), then walk across the
bridge and follow the track down around to a set of springs.
Jump on the springs and let them take you to the next segment
of the path. Keep following the path and kill or avoid the
fire badnick. When you come to a rocket (close to a large
hammer) use it to fly up to a cliff top with a pool of lava
in the middle. There are two small hills on the left and right
hand sides of the cliff-top, climb up the one to the right and
the ring is stuck on the wall in between two large hammers.

-LOST WORLD (Danger! Chased by rock!)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
>From Knuckles' starting position, walk to his right, and climb
up the wall you come across. Eventually you will get to a
hole in the wall. Climb into it, and you will see the ring half
buried in the sand/water.

-SKY DECK (general offensive)
DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-(MEDIUM if you suck at this zone)
The ring is in the same place as Sonic's (in between two of the
catwalks that you run on to get to the egg-capsule as Sonic). It
is quite easy to reach. All you need to do is climb up one of
the walls on either side of the sky deck, then climb or glide
over to the ring.

AMY ROSE
--------

-TWINKLE PARK (Pleasure castle)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY-NORMAL
This is another ring that is harder to find than it is to
reach. The actual ring can be found in bottom of the pool
located the middle of the of Twinkle park. (This is the
pool that Big fishes in, when he plays the Twinkle park
action stage). To find the ring, look in the corner of
the pool closest to the castle. If you have found Sonic's
Twinkle park Y2K ring, you will have noticed it is in the
same place.

-TWINKLE PARK (Mirror rooms)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY-NORMAL
Keep following the path and it is impossible to miss this ring.

-HOT SHELTER (Bad taste aquarium)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
Right above the emergency drainage switch. Another one of those
impossible to miss rings.

-HOT SHELTER (Crank the heat up!)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
In the monitor room, where you must put the four blocks in the
slots to turn the monitor on. The ring is stuck to the monitor.

-FINAL EGG (Mechanical resonance)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
Blocking the path to the escape balloon at the end of the level.
Man, Amy's got it easy!

BIG THE CAT
-----------

-TWINKLE PARK (Pleasure castle)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
This is another ring that is harder to find than it is to reach.
The actual ring is located in bottom of the pool that Big fishes
in. To find the ring, look in the corner of the pool closest
to the castle.

-ICECAP (Limestone cave)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL-MEDIUM
This is Big's hardest to find millennium ring.
>From the start, take the angled spring up onto the path, then
follow the path around the until you get to a small pool. Dive
in the pool, and swim through the underwater passage until you
resurface. Take the only path over to the frozen lake and break
the ice using the boulder. Then jump in the water to see the ring
floating to the left had side of the screen.

-EMERALD COAST(Big fishin')
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
Simply walk over to the opposite end of the sand bar you start
on to find the ring sitting out in the open.

-HOT SHELTER (Bad taste aquarium)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
Big's last millennium ring is located in the same place as Amy's
Hot Shelter ring. Look for it right above the emergency drainage
switch. Yet another one of those impossible to miss rings.

E-102 "y" (or just Gamma)
--------

-FINAL EGG (Mechanical resonance)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL
Although this ring is in the same position as Sonic's second
Y2K ring, the method of reaching it is different. To get to
the ring, go through the level as normal, until you reach a
set of two springs. Use the springs to get on to the ledge
above, then do a 180 degree turn. Now press UP on the D-PAD
to look at your surroundings, and tap LEFT a few times so you
can get a good view of the ring (which is on the opposite ledge).
Now simply jump over to the ring. (The jump is made easier with
the jet booster power up, but it is not necessary).

-WINDY VALLEY (Windy hill)
 DIFFFICULTY: NORMAL-HARD
NOTE: You must have the jet booster power up to reach the ring
in this level. First, it is a good idea to locate the ring,
so to get a good view of it, walk forward on to the first bridge,
and press UP on the D-PAD. You should see the ring up ahead
on top of a pillar. To reach the ring, cross the first and second
bridges, then when you are at the end of the second bridge,
walk to the left. You will see a break in the fencing. Jump
off the platform at this break, and you will land on a small ledge
with a spring and an item cylinder containing speed sneakers. Take
the sneakers if you want, then jump on the spring. At the peak of
your jump, use the jet booster to glide over to the top of the pillar
where the ring awaits.

-EMERALD COAST (Azure blue world)
 DIFFICULTY: EASY
Gamma's third millennium ring is located on the boardwalk at the
start of the stage, just before the first loop-the-loop (which is
boarded of in Gamma's version of the level). You can't miss this if
you stick to the track. This is located in the same place as Sonic's
Azure blue world ring.

 -RED MOUNTAIN (Red hot skull)
 DIFFICULTY: NORMAL
For Gamma's Red Mountain ring, follow the path until the end of
the level, where you can see the millennium ring on a round
platform close to where you fight E-104 "e".

-HOT SHELTER (Red barrage area)
DIFFICULTY: EASY-NORMAL
You can find this ring on the front of the cargo train that Gamma
has to ride (it's blocking the button you need to press to stop the
train). You need to get the ring before you stop the train, because
it will disappear when the train is stopped.

-------------------------------------------------------
MINI GAME
-------------------------------------------------------

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
------------------

-ICECAP (Snowboard)
DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY
At the very end of the level (once Sonic has taken of the
snowboard) walk over to the right of the egg-capsule and
you will see the ring beside a tree and a log that has fallen on
the ground. Obtaining this ring is really easy because it
is impossible to  die in the snowboard section of the game.
This is exactly the same as Sonic's action stage version
of the level.

MILES "TAILS" PROWER
--------------------

-ICECAP (Snowboard)
DIFFICULTY: VERY EASY
At the very end of the level (once Tails has removed the
snowboard) walk over to the right of the egg-capsule and
you will see the ring beside a tree and a log that has
fallen on the ground. This is exactly the same as Tails'
action stage version of the level.

=======================================================
5.    MISCELLANEOUS
=======================================================

-In the 'attract mode' (the demo when you leave the game going at the
title screen) sometimes
has millennium rings in it (e.g. Big's Emerald coast stage).
The ring can also be seen in several FMA's (full motion actions), such
as Sonic's, Knuckles' and Big's intros.

-If you pull your VMU out while playing, all the millennium rings will
disappear from the adventure fields and action stages.

-The paragraph below is taken from the SA web page, it gives a brief
description of the download:
"Here it is folks the dreaded Y2K! Okay, so it's not really the new
millennium, truth is, the  millennium does not officially begin until
2001! However, to usher in the three zeros, Sonic Team  presents the
millennium download! Enjoy! Sixty-Two (62) Blocks".

-Knuckes can climb up the outside of any Y2K ring (this serves no
purpose, though).

-If you examine the posters that appear on the SS central station,
they give you little messages.
The following is a list of the messages:

-FAR-LEFT POSTER:
A happy year in 2K
Knuckles digs through 2K

-LEFT POSTER
A happy year in 2K
Tails smiles through 2K

-MIDDLE POSTER
A happy year in 2K
Please support sonic in 2K

-RIGHT POSTER
A happy year in 2K
Sonic runs through 2K

-FAR-RIGHT POSTER
A happy year in 2K
Wish you a good new year

=======================================================
6.    REVISION HISTORY
=======================================================

- 1.3+ Changed layout slightly

- 1.3 Added the easy way to get Sonic's windy valley
     tornado ring.

- 1.2 Added Amy's second Hot Shelter ring
     Added info about Gamma's Hot Shelter ring

- 1.1 Added Kunckles' Speed Highway Y2K ring
     Fixed info on Sonic's first Final Egg ring
     Added info about posters to miscellaneous section
     Fixed loads of spelling and grammatical errors
     Added Knuckles climbing info to miscellaneous section
     Added badnick names
     Corrected web page info
     Added web page summary to miscellaneous section
     Added section on Sonic's second Final Egg ring
     Edited Sonic and Tails snowboard sections for the Mini-Game category

- 1.0 First version, not much to say really!

 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------|
 |Please feel free to e-mail comments, and additions to me, at [email protected]|
 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------|

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