Knuckles the Echidna is the boss of Hidden Palace Zone in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the tenth boss overall of Sonic's story in Sonic & Knuckles and the twenty-second of Sonic and Tails' stories in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. In Sonic & Knuckles, Knuckles can be fought by Sonic and in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, he can also be fought by Tails. In Sonic Origins Plus, he can also be fought with Amy Rose.
Boss guide
Knuckles attacks include:
- Using the Spin Dash.
- Knuckles jumps up and glides towards the player, ending it when he is above the player.
- If the player gets too close to Knuckles, he may use a two-punch combo to attack the player.
If the player attempts to use the Spin Attack or Spin Dash on Knuckles, he will crouch to deflect the attack, causing the player to bounce back in the opposite direction. To defeat Knuckles, the player must Spin Jump on Knuckles' head while he is standing, or from beneath him if he is gliding; Knuckles will also suffer damage if he falls on the player while they are using the Spin Dash. Between attacks, Knuckles will idle for a brief period though he will immediately attack if the player successfully hits him.
After eight hits, Knuckles is temporarily knocked out, thus ending the battle. The ominous sound of a disturbance from the Emerald Shrine, however, wakes him up; Sonic and Tails follow Knuckles to watch Eggman steal the Master Emerald in his Egg Mobile. In a vain attempt to save the Master Emerald, Knuckles then gets shocked by Eggman.
Trivia
- This was the first Sonic boss that is not a Robotnik robot (with the possible exception of Sandopolis Zones' Guardian).
- This is the only boss that cannot be fought by the player if they are playing as Knuckles, even with Level Select and Debug Mode enabled due to the fact that Knuckles himself is the boss and the object spawns are different when the playable Knuckles is loaded.
- In Angel Island Zone from Sonic Advance, the player fights Mecha Knuckles in a similar manner to the Knuckles boss fight.
- During the battle at Hidden Palace, a mural in the background can be seen depicting a spiky, blue creature surrounded by a fiery aura fighting a large, mustached, humanoid figure for possession of the Master Emerald. This alludes to the final battle of Sonic & Knuckles in The Doomsday Zone.
- This boss is very similar to the Knuckles fight from Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure.
Music
| Name | Artist(s) | Version | Length | Music Track | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Knuckles Appears (Sonic & Knuckles)" | Sega | Sonic & Knuckles/Sonic 3 & Knuckles | 0:39 | ||
| Sonic & Knuckles Collection | "FM Synthesizer" | 1:04 | |||
| "General MIDI" | 1:06 | ||||