Kronos Island

Sonic Frontiers Kronos Island

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Kronos Island^[1] (クロノス島^[2], Kuronosu-tō^?) is the first Open Zone area in Sonic Frontiers. One of the Starfall Islands, Kronos Island features several ancient ruins of a past civilization, most notably a graveyard, as well as verdant fields and forest areas across a mountainous terrain. During the events of the game, Sonic arrived here shortly after getting separated from Tails and Amy on their journey to the islands, where he set out to rescue his friends and collect the Chaos Emeralds.

Description

Kronos Island is a mossy island. Its terrain is made of tall mountains, forests and fields. The climate of this island varies, often changing from rainy to sunny and vice-versa. This Open-Zone field is surrounded by water. Water can also be found on the island itself, with a giant waterfall near Giganto's second boss fight, alongside a river.

This island is filled with ruins left by the Ancients. Tall towers can also be found, which can be climbed by the use of different gimmicks, most notably Black walls, and Grind Rails. The ruins aren't the only structures left by the Ancients, as the island contains 8 Cyber Space Portals, which send the player either to Cyber Space stages or Fishing Spots, and four Chaos Emerald Vaults. Kronos Island is also filled with parkouring sections, which use gimmicks from previous games, such as Springs, Dash Rings and Grind Rails returning, the majority having a new design.

Besides the buildings left by the Ancients, there are also structures left by other characters, notably the base left by Dr. Eggman and the Cyber Cages, set by The End in order to trap Sonic's friends, in this case, Amy Rose. Small structures or gimmicks related to Challenges, such as Hourglasses, rocky base structures that spawn Target spheres and Ancient light panels can also be found.

Even though the island seems abandoned, it isn't devoid of inhabitants, with Kocos, Hermit Kocos and Elder Kocos living, alongside enemies such as the Guardians and the island's Titan, Giganto.

History

Past

Not much is known about Kronos Island's past, besides the fact that the Ancients inhabited this island, alongside the other four Starfall Islands, before being wiped out by The End. Notably, a girl from this island, which was looking for her true love, would be later helped, as a Koco, by Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose.^[3]

Sonic Frontiers

Prior to the events of Sonic Frontiers, Dr. Eggman arrived on the Starfall Islands, setting up a base on Kronos Island. He later received a video call from Cubot and Orbot, the latter telling him that Sonic and his friends defeated D3-COY, a robot created by the doctor in order to distract the hedgehog. Fearing that Sonic and his friends are coming to the islands, Eggman rushes his plans, even though his AI advises not to, since it was untested, which he ignores, claiming his coding is impeccable.^[4]

One night shortly after, the doctor uploaded the AI into a Cyber Space Portal. As the Ancients' technology was coming online, his AI glitches, trapping him into the digital dimension.

After being separated from his friends, Sonic finds himself alone on Kronos Island. A mysterious voice calls out to him him, stating that the blue hedgehog is the first entity to ever escape Cyber Space. When Sonic asks if he can save his friends, the voice gives him three main goals: find the Chaos Emeralds, defeat the Titans and tear down the walls between dimensions. Guided by the voice, Sonic re-enters Cyber Space through another portal. After collecting the blue Chaos Emerald, he finds Amy Rose trapped in a Cyber Cage. Upon freeing her, Sonic is infused with an unknown Cyber-like energy. Amy, worried, asks him if he is okay, but Sonic insists that there is no problem. Sonic encounters Amy on numerous occasions, talking about the latter's experiences being trapped in Cyber Space, or the Ancients' ruins.

Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman wakes up in Eternal Highway^[5]. He remarks that this dimension is far more advanced than anything he has seen before. On Kronos Island, after Sonic collects the red Chaos Emerald, Sage spawns Giganto. Sonic disregards her warning to not attack the Titan, resulting in the hedgehog's resounding defeat. Recovering from the Titan's attack, Sonic concludes that he will need all 7 Chaos Emeralds and maybe a little bit of luck in order to succeed.

During one of Sonic's encounters with Amy, she introduces him to a Koco looking for their one true love. In the process of helping the Koco, Amy is sidetracked when she meets a mother who lost her children. Sonic decides to help them, starting the Family Gathering quest, which results in the acquisition of the green Chaos Emerald. As the mother celebrates the reunion with one of her children, a strange light emits from the two Kocos and shoots up towards an unknown symbol in the sky. The mother and child fall lifelessly on the ground. Amy notes that none of the other Koco seem to care about what just happened. Sonic is unsure if even he and Amy know what happened.

Sage confronts Sonic and Amy, warning that Sonic's actions will endanger the world. Amy angrily refutes Sage's claim, pointing out that Sonic is helping the Koco reunite with their true love. Sage scoffs at the concept of love and dismisses the two hedgehogs as ignorant before vanishing. During another encounter with Sage, the strange girl wonders how Sonic can travel from the real world to Cyber Space so easily. While Sonic assumes he is awesome and thinks that Sage would know more, she refuses to talk further.

Continuing their search for the Koco's love, Sonic and Amy encounter a field overrun with wild brush. Amy suggests Sonic use his new-found ability to clear the weeds. This begins Spring is in the Air, which ends with Sonic gaining the cyan Chaos Emerald. In Cyber Space, Eggman tells Sage to both keep tabs on Sonic and find a way out of Cyber Space. Sage admits that while she is extending the range of her control, she is only able to command a few of the Ancients' relics. Though Eggman is impressed, he still wants an update on when he can leave the digital dimension. Sage states that, having run over a million simulations, she has not found a safe way for him to leave. Flying away in his Egg Mobile, Eggman demands that Sage make finding a way out her number one priority. Sage says that keeping him safe is her priority as she watches him leave.

On Kronos Island, Sonic argues with Amy about whether they should keep helping the Koco or look after Tails. Amy concedes that finding their friends should be their priority, but continues to follow the Koco as they skip across the field. A strange barrier appears in the sky, seemingly transporting Sonic and Amy to the same place in a different time—a place where Amy's body is tangible. They witness an unknown, humanoid figure running across the field, which is being bombarded with bombs. The Koco they had been following can be seen through the figure's chest. Amy tries to warn the Koco that it is dangerous, but Sonic holds her back to prevent her from being injured herself. They watch as the figure is united with another of their kind, also with a Koco in their chest, before an explosion transports them back to the present, where Amy remains digitized. Amy finds her Koco friend laying lifeless on the ground next to another lifeless Koco. She states that the two lovers were reunited right before the end. Sonic gives Amy time to grieve while he goes to explore more of the island. When Sonic finds Amy again, she admits that while she is confused about what happened, she is certain she saw a transcendent love, and she wishes to share that love with the world when their adventure is over, even if it may take her far away from Sonic. Sonic requests that she tell him about her journey when she comes back.

Amy notices that a region previously locked up became unlocked. There, Sonic finds Sage, who informs him that the puzzle is far beyond his modern understanding. Sonic solves it, however, unlocking a new path beyond the waterfall that leads to Giganto. Sonic scales the Titan and collects the last Chaos Emerald, turning into Super Sonic. After defeating Giganto, Super Sonic sees a strange vision. The voice informs him that the next Titan awaits on Ares Island. Before disembarking, Sonic speaks with Amy, who is disappointed she is still digitized but states she is starting to feel more like her old self.

Other game appearances

Sonic Forces: Speed Battle

In Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, Kronos Island was pictured in the background of the main menu during the "Sonic Frontiers" Event.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Kronos Island is mainly 3D, with little to no 2D sections. Platforming sections, located all across the island, are filled with gimmicks such as Springs, Dash Panels, Dash Rings, Grind Rails and many other gimmicks, which work similarily to how they did in previous games, even though they sport a new design.

In order to progress through the story, the player will have to collect the 7 Chaos Emeralds. Four of the Emeralds are collected through Chaos Emerald Vaults. In order to unlock these Vaults, the player will need Vault Keys. The Vault Keys are unlocked by completing missions in Cyber Space stages. There are seven Cyber Space Portals on this island, which theme vary from Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Sky Sanctuary and Eternal Highway. There are four missions the player can complete, each one rewarding a Vault Key:

• Complete the stage.
• Complete with S-Rank.
• Collect X Number of Rings.
• Collect all five Red Star Rings.

In order to access Cyber Space, the player needs to collect Portal Gears. Portal Gears are collected by defeating Guardians. There are four Guardian types on this island: Ninja, Tower, Squid and Asura, each one being encountered two times on the island.

Another way to progress is by collecting Vault Keys from Fishing Spots. In order to access this minigame, the player will need Purple Coins, which are found through the Open-Zone areas, as well during Starfalls.

In order to collect the other three Chaos Emeralds, the player will have to progress through the story. The first two are unlocked by completing story quests. The story quests are unlocked by freeing Amy using heart-shaped Memory Tokens, usually found at the end of platforming sections. The seventh Chaos Emerald is only available after collecting the other six, being located on the back of Giganto.

On this island, the player can also complete different Challenges in order to unlock pieces on the map. The missions differ from one to another, with different goals such as arrive at the specified location until the timer runs out, get the Target sphere to pass through the blue Rings and activate the Switches. Completing all Challenges will unlock the whole map, 100% the map.

Overview

Kronos Island is the first Open-Zone field, being unlocked after completing 1-1. As such, similarily to many first stages in the series, contains a tutorial. The tutorial consists of learning the basics: Completing the first Challenges of the island, defeating enemies, unlocking Cyber Space stages and using Cyloop. This section ends by collecting the blue Chaos Emerald. After it, the player has to complete two main objectives:

• Collect the remaining three Chaos Emeralds from Chaos Emerald Vaults by using Vault Keys. After collecting enough Keys from Cyber Space stages, a beam of light will appear above the Vaults.
• Collect enough Memory Tokens in order to free Amy and complete the two story quests. In order to progress to the story, the player will have to give Amy more Memory Tokens, which will unlock new cutscenes. Using Memory Tokens, the player can also unlock Side Stories. If the player has the map unlocked, Main Stories, as well Side Stories locations will be seen.

After collecting six of the Chaos Emeralds (Blue, Red, Cyan, Green, Yellow and White), a puzzle will be unlocked. After completing the puzzle, the boss fight with Giganto will be unlocked. After collecting the purple Chaos Emerald located on his back, Sonic will turn into Super Sonic and defeat the Titan.

Character Conversations

Trivia

• In Greek mythology, Kronos was the youngest titan, the offspring of Gaia and Uranus. He defeated Uranus and ruled over Ancient Greece until Zeus dethroned him in a coup and imprisoned him, and the other titans, in Tartarus forever.
• In the Nintendo Switch version of the game, there is a unused variant of Kronos Island in the files that incorporates the landmasses of Rhea Island and Ouranos Island into one giant landmass. This implies that at one point in development they meant to be just one island.
  • Additionally, both Kronos Island and Rhea Island share the same map (with only some portions removed). Interestingly, the island itself, as well as Rhea Island, can both be accessed from each other by doing a Super Launch to bypass the invisible wall that prevents the player from going through.
  • According to director Morio Kishimoto, the islands were split due to feedback from playtesters, who claimed the island was too big and boring.^[6]
• Within the game's code, Kronos Island and Rhea Island are a single landmass. This is a consequence of the early development of Sonic Frontiers, where the game was planned to take place on a single giant island. The player cannot normally travel between the Kronos and Rhea sections because of various barriers such as sheer cliffs or invisible walls, though glitches have been found to skip past them.
• Much like Ouranos Island, the player is completely unable to reenter the area where they fought Giganto. However, unlike Ouranos Island, which has the area blocked off by default because Frontiers autosaves right before the player collects the final Chaos Emerald and therefore before they fight Supreme, the area in Kronos Island is completely blocked off. The initial spring that launched Sonic up the waterfall is covered by a rock, and the one on the platform right above is covered by an invisible box—while the player is able to get up the waterfall by precise physics glitches, they are ultimately blocked by an invisible wall at the very top of the waterfall.
  • This may be because the Giganto boss fight takes place in close proximity to the Rhea Island area of the game, so the springs leading to Giganto need to be blocked to prevent the player from traveling between the Kronos and Rhea sections.

Music

References