Egg Rock Zone 2

Egg Rock Zone 2 (MAP29) abbreviated as ERZ2, is the second act of Egg Rock Zone, the tenth zone in SRB2: TLL. It is the longest and hardest Normal Level. It uses many of the mechanics that were introduced in the first act in more complex and difficult settings, such as a room where the gravity flips back and forth at regular intervals. New mechanics are also introduced, including a contraption that shrinks the player and a room that threatens to suck the player into outer space.

Walkthrough
The level begins with gravity reversed, as you stand in the dark on an elevator on the ceiling that moves downwards. When the elevator stops, the starting room lights up. A door is on the floor of the room. Head to the left or the right to find switches that reverse gravity, putting you on the ground. Heading to the left makes getting to the switch a cinch, but requires you to return to the door by navigating over a bottomless pit using upward currents from large fans; heading to the right presents you with conveyor belts on the ceiling suspended over a bottomless pit, with panels sliding horizontally through gaps in the conveyor belts; after carefully jumping the gaps to reach the switch, the return trip to the door is relatively simple. After passing through the door, you will reach a Star Post and a path split.

Left Path
Pass the laser that moves up and down by running through just as it moves up. Don't worry about jumping, as you will run right over the gaps. Push the red button down to open the vacuum door, then go outside into the Space Countdown area. Look toward the back corner, and you will see a button with a ring in front of it. Push the button, and go through the door. You may wish to kill the Jetty-Syn Bomber. Then, with careful timing, jump past the lava fall. You will come to a room with floating platforms. Jump past them, taking a left, but move quickly, as they will crumble. Then you will find a series of crushers. Jump on each of them, being careful not to be crushed, to the gravity flipping sector. Go back through in reverse gravity, and go through the doorway. Then turn right, and jump the stairs. Jump on the bridge to your left and head to the the gravity flipper to return to normal gravity. Then head for the Star Post.

Head through the zoom tube, which will reverse your gravity, and then move onto the floor with the light blue fog coating it. If you jump or run off the foggy area, you will return to normal gravity and fall to your death. Run through the sequence carefully, then hit the springs and go through the zoom tube to the next Star Post. (Once the light blue fog stops, you cannot return to normal gravity here.)

Push the button here to trigger the gravity chamber. The area will reverse in gravity every 8 seconds. After the first gravity change, walk out either door and proceed until you hit a dead end. Wait for gravity to change, but be careful not to get shot by a Pop-up Turret. After the second gravity change (which reverts you to normal gravity) jump up the steps to the zoom tube. You should get out of the zoom tube right as gravity flips for the third time. If you are fast enough as Tails or Knuckles, you can run straight through here. As Sonic, you must wait for gravity to flip to normal, and then back to reversed. As it flips to reverse, jump towards where the arrows tell you to go. Run to the X and wait for gravity to flip again. Run to the end of this hallway and wait for gravity to flip one more time. Jump into the platform with the hole in it (Sonic needs to use the platforms beside it) and as you come out of the zoom tube, you will hit the next Star Post.

The next part is in 2D mode. Run past the first corridor and you will come into a space countdown room. One jump will get you to the zoom tube and into the next 2D section. Proceed through here. In the next section, jump past the lasers and wait in the blue area until the spike crushers are open, then go through. (Note that if you hit the lasers, you will be knocked back onto your platform with time left to go back to the safe area and regroup.) You will then exit the 2D area. Proceed to run to the next room and wait on the first stable platform until the Sharps launch themselves into the pit. Run straight through to the next Star Post.

Grab onto the bars and jump up to the ledge. Watch as the air lock sucks the boxes out, then the glass wall will lower. Jump over the pit, turn left, and jump onto the first bar. Jump as high up as you can before the air lock opens again. (You will hear four beeps before the air lock opens.) Proceed to the springs in this same way, and head to the next Star Post. (The Star Post is just out of the air lock area, so it is safe.)

Make your way through the crusher gauntlet. (One way is to charge a spindash and go while the the second crusher going down is down, then running through the rest.) Take a left at the next area. Head straight through and to the yellow spring. Push the button to send power to the laser, and the room will fill with lava. Use the platforms to head through the tunnel to the laser, and push the button. Watch as the laser clears the rock in front of you, then run past the Jetty-Syns to the teleporter. The paths merge here.

Right Path
Open the door and run past two Crawla Commanders to reach a room with a laser that spans the diameter of a circular room and slides from top to bottom and back. Carefully run to the opposite side of the circular room and head down the hallway. Gravity will reverse as you approach an opening to the environment outside, which will initiate a Space Countdown and low gravity. On the ceiling of the hallway, aim at the gray beam on the left of the outside area and jump to land on the bottom of it, where you can halt the countdown. From here, aim between the two lava falls for an opening to inside the building, then jump and thok/fly/glide into it to reach another Star Post.

Grab the two nearby Super Rings, then quickly pass through an opening in the four lasers that move down, right, up, and left (in that order). Round the corner to encounter two sets of blocks that fall at different rates and can crush you. Quickly pass through the blocks, then slam the brakes to avoid careening into a spike pit. Jump the spikes for a Super Ring and Super Sneakers if you wish, and pass down the new hallway. Notice the Jetty-Syn Bombers through the window as you run down the hallway, and when you reach the opening to the room they are in, lure them in and attack them on your terms. When the enemies are gone, head down the path in the new room, timing a jump carefully to avoid a laser beam. Ride a platform up and continue down the path into another set of hallways. Continue down the hallway. Jump the bottomless pit in the path, then turn to the right and run to the next Star Post.

Jump underneath the yellow beam to grab it and be ferried across the pit, but be sure to jump over the pole at the end of the beam to avoid falling to your death. Head into the room made of rock. There is a Super Sneaker behind the blue wall on the left. Jump over the lava and avoid the flames to enter a large, windowed room. Notice the small pipe that leads outside, where you will be under space countdown. To prepare for it, look out the window and survey the area. Notice the device that flips gravity outside, with nothing above it but empty space, and notice the large rock overhang beside it. When you are familiar with the layout, head through the opening to the outside, then quickly jump the small pit, trigger the reverse gravity, and move under the overhang to avoid rising to your death. Run up the small steps on the overhang to reach an air pocket. Face the rings leading down the rest of the path. Run forward, carefully stepping over the edge of the pit so as to see a place to land, then follow the path to a zoom tube that will carry you back inside. After exiting the tube, follow the path back through the room before the previous Star Post, running through the now-opened door at the end. Jump down the columns at the end to reach the next Star Post.

Follow the path, jumping over the two pits on either side of the row of spikes, and stop as you enter the next room, optionally grabbing the Super Rings to your left and right. Listen for the Turret, which will aim for you but will shoot the tall wall in front of you. When it stops, jump to the right of the wall, avoiding the pit below, and land on the next ledge. Run to the opposite side of the ledge, and repeat the process until reaching the stairs leading down into the next room. Maneuver past the Snailers in this room to reach a zoom tube to the next Star Post.

Head a short ways down the hallway and turn left to head through a small doorway. Step on the ledge next to the doorway, jump up to the small ledge above you, then jump up to the next platform. Navigate across the platforms and ledges in this room, aiming for the passage with the down arrow inside it. Drop into this passage to land in a room with a switch; press it to open a path to the hallway with the previous Star Post. The platform room is now closed, but an elevator next to it opens. Head into the elevator and step on or pass over the small switch in the center to head up to the next area (if you exit the elevator after hitting the switch but before getting locked in, or if you are in Co-op and another player uses the elevator, a zoom tube will open near the previous Star Post that leads to the next area). You will enter a higher area of the room with the Jetty-Syn Bombers (any that you killed earlier on this life will still be dead). Enter the room, jump on the platform to reach a higher path, then run out of the room. In the new room, step on the floor with the Sharps, which will rise and carry you to the next Star Post.

Step onto the conveyor belt, then run under the crusher and immediately jump the bottomless pit to land on the next conveyor belt. At the end of this conveyor belt is another belt off to the right, blocked by two laser beams that move up and down at different rates over a bottomless pit. Backpedal slowly to stay on the belt, then jump to the next belt when you feel the time is right. On this next belt, run past the horizontal crushers, then slow down as gravity flips, putting you on the next conveyor belt. The belt passes through a room with two Pop-up Turrets, and three vertically moving laser beams positioned over the belt. Again, backpedal until the time is right, then run forward to land in a teleporter.

Activate the Star Post in the next room and face the pit in front of you. Platforms will appear two at a time, with the oldest one disappearing each time a new one appears. Additionally, the platforms will become narrower as you reach the end of the room. Sonic will be forced to carefully jump on each one to cross, Tails can spindash-jump and then fly between the many walls to make it across the pit (you may wish to jump on a few of the easier platforms first, to see around the corner without wasting flight time), and Knuckles can stick to the wall next to the Star Post and then edge left to the first corner before gliding the remainder of the distance (the rest of the walls in the room are not climbable). After reaching the end of the platforms, hit the switch, then jump through the door when it opens. Here the paths merge.

After the Paths Merge
Run down the hallway, dodging the Sharps, to enter a room with a few crates with Eggman logos on them. Look between the second and third crates to spot an air duct in the wall that you can't fit into. Follow the red arrows on the floor to jump into a zoom tube; halfway through the tube, you will be shrunk to half of your original size. The tube will deposit you back into the same room: run past the relatively larger Egg Guards and enter the previously mentioned air duct. Run to its end, then turn left in the next room. Pop-up Turrets shoot at you while a bottomless pit looms below. Aim to the ledge on the left, then jump across the two ledges with turrets and onto the ledge with spikes (the Whirlwind Shield will help). Jump to the next ledge with spikes, up two small steps, and into the next hallway. The room at the end of the hallway contains Jetty-Syn Bombers, Eggman items, and a set of crates too tall to jump onto. Turn right upon entering the room to find smaller boxes; jump on them as makeshift steps to reach the top of the crates, then drop off on the other side. Now enter the green barrier to return to normal size and reach the next Star Post.

At the end of this corridor is a conveyor belt. Board it, and run under the three crushers. The belt runs under two large gears that can crush you between their teeth; look for the two areas where teeth appear to have broken off, and run between them to reach the other side of the gears. The belt ends in a bottomless pit with three lasers moving vertically at different rates. Jump between the lasers and enter the zoom tube. The tube ends in a 2D area with a laser beam that tracks your movement and then fires à la Flying Battery Zone Act 2 from Sonic & Knuckles. When the charging sound nearly ends (for reference, the same sound was heard earlier in the teleporter on the right path), move out from under the laser to avoid it. The room will become narrower each time the laser fires, until eventually the walls are removed and you can exit the room into another zoom tube. In this next room, follow the path of rings to an elevator (or not). Upon exiting the elevator, you enter a red room with a conveyor belt back to the beginning of the level on the left and the Level End Sign on the right.