Chapter 14: S-Rank on the First Clear
[Nen Ability Name: Little Tyrant's Endless Amusement — Entertainment Mode]
[Ability Type: Conjuration]
[Activation Conditions and Description: Little Tyrant's Endless Amusement in Entertainment Mode operates as a standard game console. The console requires a power source and a television as the necessary output medium. Gameplay varies depending on the power source the player selects.
When the player uses "electricity" as the console's power source — the Little Tyrant is treated as an ordinary console with no additional effects, but a simulated score is generated for reference.
When the player uses "their own aura" as the console's power source — each time the player clears a game, Little Tyrant's Endless Amusement will conduct a comprehensive rating of that playthrough. Evaluation criteria include: clear time, route selection, collection rate, damage output, number of times taking damage, number of deaths, and other factors. Ratings run from lowest to highest: E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS. Upon completion, the console generates at least one reward item based on the rating. Reward forms include but are not limited to: treasure, Nen tools, Nen beasts, and exclusive skill experience books. The reward pool is limited to the scope of the corresponding game's setting.
If the player's aura runs out during a clear attempt, the attempt is automatically counted as a failed clear. If the player switches power sources mid-run, the attempt is likewise automatically counted as a failed clear.
In principle, each independent game's rating reward can only be obtained once per rating level. When a higher rating reward is obtained, the corresponding lower rating rewards are obtained simultaneously — for example, achieving a "B" rating simultaneously grants the C, D, and E rewards. Only when a player's clear rating reaches "S" or higher will a "Secret Realm Key" be issued alongside the clear reward. The Secret Realm Key is a required prerequisite for running Secret Realm Mode.
When the game being cleared is in an "incomplete" state, the rating, reward, and Secret Realm Key rules remain unchanged, but rewards will be reduced and Secret Realm areas will be locked proportionally to the game's completion rate.
When the player uses "another person's aura" as the console's power source — the base rules remain unchanged, with two additional rules added: "Voluntary" and "Forced."
Under Voluntary conditions: the aura provider may also obtain the right to use the rewards earned by the player upon clearing, but the minimum rating required to obtain a Secret Realm Key rises to "SS."
Under Forced conditions: when the player clears or the aura provider's aura runs out, both parties are forced into a mandatory Zetsu state lasting the same duration as that gaming session. Additionally, the minimum rating required to obtain a Secret Realm Key rises to "SSS."
Because you do not currently hold a 2P controller, rules related to two-player mode are not yet unlocked.]
Ross was not in any rush to switch to his own aura as the power source. He ran the console on electricity first, treating it as a chance to reacquaint himself with the flow of the game.
He knew Sonic 3 well enough, in the sense that he had absorbed a thorough understanding of it over the years — but actually sitting down and playing through it to completion was something that had last happened a long time ago. His most recent encounter with anything in the Sonic franchise had been Sonic Frontiers, about a year back.
He pressed Start. The game opened on the save file selection screen.
Sonic 3 had saves, as it turned out. Not just saves either — it also let you choose your character before starting.
Under normal circumstances, the playable options were four: Sonic and Tails together, Sonic solo, Tails solo, and Knuckles solo.
Sonic and Tails together was arguably the strongest combination by most measures. While 1P controlled Sonic, 2P could control Tails on the same screen simultaneously — the two-tailed fox who could use his tails as a propeller to fly. In that setup, 2P Tails had the same damage rules as 1P Sonic, but the critical difference was that when Tails died, he respawned quickly, which made him effectively usable as a meat shield in boss fights — spending his lives freely to keep Sonic alive.
Due to what was presumably the incomplete state of the cartridge, none of that was on offer. The character select gave Ross exactly one option: Sonic, standing there alone.
Fair enough. AI-controlled Tails was basically artificial stupidity anyway. No Tails was no Tails.
Character selected, save file set, the game began in earnest. The opening cutscene played right on cue.
Tails piloted the Tornado biplane toward Angel Island with Sonic aboard. Before reaching land, Sonic jumped off the plane voluntarily, transforming in midair into the golden, full-body radiance of Super Sonic — like a Super Saiyan pushing through a power ceiling — and then flew across the water surface at speed with complete disregard for gravity. If rendered in realistic terms, the image would have come close to Superman skimming the ocean surface in Man of Steel, breaking the sound barrier on the way.
And yet this Sonic, for all that — seconds after landing on the island — took a single punch from Knuckles the echidna warrior who came drilling up out of the ground, had his golden form shattered, and watched all seven Chaos Emeralds that had been powering his transformation scatter across the ground. Identical to the way rings flew outward in every direction when he took a hit in normal form.
Classic Sonic moment.
The younger version of Ross had complained about this opening more than once. Protagonist arrives in full godmode, gets one-punched by a frenemy who pockets all his gear. It was hard to enjoy. But time and experience had a way of recalibrating things. After working through Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, God of War, and several other games that made a habit of stripping the protagonist of everything at the opening, a power-reset start like Sonic's had become something Ross accepted without complaint.
Stripped of the Chaos Emeralds — powerful both in the game's lore and its mechanics — the game transitioned smoothly into the playable state.
Forward and backward. Jump and curl. Crouch and hold to charge, then release for the spin dash. That was the complete list of Sonic's standard moves.
Unlike most side-scrollers, Sonic had no dedicated attack button. His offensive options came down to the crouch-charge spin, and the collision impact of jumping while running at speed. But looking back at the era when Sonic first appeared, the kind of speed it was built around was genuinely ahead of its time — something nothing else was doing. Once running speed built up, the camera sometimes couldn't scroll fast enough to stay on him.
"Just a rough run-through first..."
Ross said it, and meant nothing by it. He was already completely in. Brain, muscle, and vision all at full focus.
Things he had assumed were gone with time — the routes, the patterns, the positioning — came rushing back as the game progressed, at a speed that was difficult to explain. Not so much coming back as being unlocked. Muscle memory, re-engaging.
He didn't have to consciously recall any route or hidden location. When he arrived at the relevant point and faced a choice, his fingers on the d-pad had already made the call before his brain got involved.
Angel Island Zone ran two acts. Two set encounters with stronger enemies, one forced horizontal-scrolling section, one zone boss. Ross cleared every section without losing momentum, and along the way he hit the Giant Rings hidden in the stages, completed the special stage minigames they led to, and collected four Chaos Crystals.
Then, timing it precisely, he finished Dr. Eggman's Dive Blimp through eight consecutive hits and cleared the zone. The timer froze at nine minutes.
A massive simulated rating filled the television screen.
[S]