At long last, Sonic Frontiers is finally here! If you were one of the fans scared by the trailer that looked more like a tech demo than a game, worry no more. While the game is definitely far from perfect, I think we can safely say it’s one of the bet 3D Sonic games in years. If you’re looking for tips and tricks on mastering the blue blur, you’re in luck. We’ll be going over 10 beginner tips for Sonic Frontiers to help you maximize your enjoyment of the latest entry in the Sonic franchise.
Let’s get started!
10 Beginner Tips For Sonic Frontiers
Without any more delays, let’s get right into the 10 best beginner tips for Sonic Frontiers!
1. Collect the Maximum Amount of Rings for a Speed Boost
Sonic games have always centered around two things: going fast and collecting power rings. This is just as true in Sonic Frontiers as it was in the very first game that was released so long ago. Throughout your adventures in the open world, you will encounter a lot of rings scattered across the landscape and along all the different platforming challenges. You’re going to want to collect as many as you can carry.
Not only does carrying rings prevent you from dying in one hit, but they are also important in Super Sonic boss fights for maximizing the amount of time you have to fight titans. More importantly, carrying the maximum amount of rings you can hold allows you to get a speed boost! That’s right, you can go even faster playing as Sonic if you happen to be holding max rings.
This is really useful for getting around the map fast and for clearing out challenges effectively. It’s also just a lot of fun being able to zoom around the map like its nobody’s business. By the end of the game, you will be able to fully upgrade your speed boost which will make this buff permanent. But until you can do that, you are going to want to make sure you’re always fully stacked up on rings.
2. Go Fishing with Big the Cat
For our next tip on this list, we recommend that you go fishing with Big the Cat. That’s right, everyone’s favorite big furball has returned to Sonic Frontiers! You can first encounter him in cyberspace. Just look for the fishing icon on the map and head there. Once you arrive, you’ll find a big chair-looking thing that looks exactly like the other ones that lead you to the cyberspace levels.
But this time, it should be purple instead of red. Simply interact with it and you’ll enter a tranquil space perfect for fishing! If it’s your first time talking to Big the Cat, he will explain to you how fishing works. It’s laughably easy. All you need to do is cast your line and press a button once the white line passes inside the red circle surrounding your catch. Sonic will then real it in, easy as can be.
Just keep in mind that fishing will cost you a purple token that can only be found in the overworld. Make sure to collect as many of these as you can! Fishing is not only relaxing but a valuable way to get better stuff in the game. You can earn treasure tokens which are needed to purchase items from Big the Cat. These items can help you complete the game’s story faster and make your journey easier.
3. Uncover Parts of the Map ASAP
Throughout your exploration of all the different islands, you will often come across red holographic question mark icons sticking out of the ground. These are places where you can complete a challenge or puzzle of some kind in order to reveal more of the map. The challenges/puzzles are always very easy and quick to complete, which means that doing them should be a no-brainer.
The benefit of revealing more of the map is that it helps you navigate where you are and keep track of what you have and haven’t completed yet. It will reveal the location of memory tokens that are needed to progress the story and talk to various NPCs. It will also show off locations where you can complete cyberspace levels, among many other important things for you to do in the open world.
Last but not least, completing these challenges will unlock new metal rails for Sonic to grind on. These are really fast and efficient ways for you to move around the map in style! It’ll get you from one area to the next in a breeze, which is especially helpful if you are trying to 100% complete the game. This is because you may need to revisit areas that you have already been to before in order to get something you missed.
4. Talk to NPCs Often
Next on our list of beginner tips for Sonic Frontiers is to talk to the various NPCs in the game often. Throughout the game, you’ll run into both new and old characters to talk to, including Amy Rose, Knuckles, and the new villain, Sage. Certain characters will require memory tokens in order for you to talk to them. In the first zone of the map, you’ll need to collect hearts in order to talk to Amy and complete her quests.
Talking to an NPC will provide you with a unique interaction. You don’t need to complete every single one of these interactions to complete the story, but it’s still worth doing as many as you can. They provide you with interesting lore about the world, as well as some tips for Sonic. Not to mention these characters are written well in Sonic Frontiers and feel a lot more like themselves than they did in past games (*cough, cough* Forces *cough*).
That alone justifies talking with NPCs as often as possible, as the writing is pretty good and it’s always great to listen to these characters interact with each other. To find where these NPCs are, first pull out your map. You will see a little head icon of an NPC that you can converse with. Simply travel to them and interact with them. If the NPC needs memory tokens to interact with, it will tell you exactly how many you still need.
5. Get the Sonic Boom Skill ASAP
Sonic Frontiers includes a small but important skill tree that gives Sonic new abilities and powers. In order to start unlocking skills from the tree, you must first acquire skill points. These can be earned by defeating enemies, cracking open boxes, and a variety of other ways.
Once you have enough skill points, you can start spending them on whatever you think will benefit you the most on your journey. Let me say that one of the most important skills that you can get early on in the game is called Sonic Boom! Don’t let the name scare you away — this one actually works as intended.
Sonic Boom is a ranged attack that Sonic can use. After locking onto an enemy, you can unleash a never-ending wave of sonic attacks at them! The damage is lower than melee attacks, but it has no cooldown and can be spammed absolutely. This attack is very good for taking down certain enemies in the game quickly, and it is a safer way to deal damage to bosses from a distance. So be sure to get this one the next chance you get!
6. Be on the Lookout for Koco
Like most 3D platformers, Sonic Frontiers is a collect-a-thon that sees players gathering a huge number of different items to progress the story and unlock new content. From collecting memory tokens, to purple coins, to chaos emeralds, and everything in-between, there is no shortage of things to find and collect. It’s honestly pretty overwhelming at times.
One collectible that many players may be missing out on is Koco. The Koco are a strange race of beings native to the island archipelago that Sonic Frontiers takes place on. They look like small, circular statues with plants decorating the top of their head. They also have a habit of blending into the environment, as they don’t have the same vibrant colors that other collectibles tend to have.
On your journey, you will meet an NPC named Elder Koco. He will reward you for finding the Koco by either increasing your speed or your ring capacity! The latter is very important for taking on Titan boss fights, and if you max out your speed, you’ll get a permanent speed boost!
While I would say that red power seeds and blue defense seeds are the more important collectibles, you tend to find those pretty easily just by exploring and platforming around. But since the Koco tend to blend in with their surroundings more, you’re more likely to miss them. Because of this, you should keep your eyes peeled for them when exploring.
7. Adjust Sonic’s Movement in Settings
Sonic Team has made Sonic Frontiers one of the most accessible Sonic games ever released. This is thanks to the huge variety of different options for how you want Sonic to play and control. At the start of the game, you can choose between Action Mode and High-Speed Mode.
Action Mode gives players a more slowed-down experience that is a lot easier to react to. High-Speed Mode allows you to play Sonic as intended — he moves a lot faster and you’ll need better reaction times. You can swap between these two modes at any time, so you can very easily switch things around to whatever is most comfortable for you! I recommend trying High-Speed mode first, as that is the way the game is meant to be played.
Players can also fine-tune different things about Sonic in the game’s settings. You can tweak individual things about his speed, from turning speed to initial boost speed. This is a really great system for getting the game to play exactly how you want. So feel free to mess around with it! And don’t worry, this is the most advanced of our beginner tips for Sonic Frontiers.
8. Turn On Auto Combo
Another really good skill that you can get early on in the game is called “Auto Combos.” Once you acquire this skill, Sonic will automatically use certain skills and abilities you’ve unlocked in battle. In practice, your game will become much easier, as Sonic will automatically decide what attacks to use when you get combos.
This makes the game easier to play, and combat becomes less of a hassle. On the other hand, it makes the game not as challenging and engaging as it could be. You can toggle this skill at any time by going to Settings > Game Settings. Just check or uncheck the box, and you’re good to go!
9. Use Cyloop to Destroy Groups of Enemies
One of the newest and most interesting powers in the game is the Cyloop! This power draws out a light trail around the ground that has a variety of effects if you make an enclosed circle. You can use this to solve the different puzzles you’ll encounter on the islands of Sonic Frontiers, dig up rings from the ground, and even use it in combat.
More specifically, you can use it to target and quickly dispatch whole groups of enemies. Many enemies spawn in large groups, so you can use Cyloop to sprint around them and close up the circle. Wait for the light trail to turn red, then let go and watch as they take a ton of damage! They’ll often survive the attack, so you may have to follow up with some melee attacks to finish them off. Still, it’s faster than fighting them each individually!
10. Visit the Hermit Koco & Elder Koco Often
For our last tip in this article for 10 beginner tips for Sonic Frontiers, we advise you to visit the Hermit Koco and the Elder Koco as often as you can. As you explore the world, you will gather a wide variety of collectibles. The Red Power Seeds, Blue Defense Seeds, and Koco are some of the most important ones that you’ll find on your adventures in Sonic Frontiers.
These three items are needed in order for you to upgrade your stats. Red Power Seeds will increase your attack capabilities, allowing you to deal more damage in combat encounters. Blue Defense Seeds will increase Sonic’s defense stat. But these upgrades will only be applied to you if you give the Seeds to the NPC Hermit Koco.
As mentioned before, Koco can be brought to Elder Koco to increase either your speed or ring capacity. Oftentimes, after lots and lots of exploration, I find myself forgetting to drop by these NPCs and give them what I’ve collected. Make sure you visit them fairly often, especially before doing any boss fights!
Join the High Ground
We hope you learned something from our beginners guide for Sonic Frontiers! Do you have any other Sonic Frontiers beginner tips for us that we didn’t include? Fire away down below, and make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more regular content on Sonic Frontiers and other great open-world games.
Happy gaming!
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