You might recall in Sonic 2 and 3 whenever Tails would get tired, he would start to come back down to the earth. It is imperative that Tails collect as much candy as possible to keep his life meter full, which is actually more like a flying meter. This life meter only protects Tails against damage from spikes, enemies, and other damaging items but not from walls or the ground. I could be wrong, but that’s what it looks like. But in Skypatrol, Tails collects what I can only describe as candy wrapped up in little plastic wrappers to boost his life meter.

In previous Sonic installments, players would collect rings as a sort of life meter. He does not land, in fact touching the ground or walls and fixtured-objects kills Tails right away. Skypatrol plays much more like a flying game than a platformer as Tails is tasked with staying afloat through the entire game. After 3 deaths, I was slapped with a Game Over! Okay, so now that we have that out of the way, we can restart the game and not die immediately. The words “Training area ready?” pop across the screen, so I didn’t think much of it when I died a couple times, thinking it was strictly a training area. Skypatrol kicks off with a “training area” set in the Green Hill Zone (or so it looks). She runs off on her railcart and Tails, determined to put a stop to all evil, chases after her. He stumbles upon an old witch who casts spells that fill the island with traps, enemies, and crystals. The island has him intrigued so he decides to breeze down for a looksee. Tails was flying around in his plane day (remember when Tails and Sonic are flying around in Sonic 3… yea… you remember… that was freegin’ awesome) when he sees an island below him.

Originally released as a Japanese Game Gear exclusive, Skypatrol would later be released on the Sonic Gems Collection for the GameCube, as well as being an unlockable game in Sonic Adventure DX, also for the GameCube. While technically a spin-off and a prequel, Tails’ Skypatrol is not created by Sega or the Sonic Team, instead being created by the Japanese gaming company JSH. Tails’ Skypatrol is Miles “Tails” Prower’s first spin-off game from the Sonic the Hedgehog games of which he is known.

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