(* The machine that drills towards the core. Towards his doom.)
* ...Tense.
----
i like this one a lot too. from sonic 2: return of shadow to ashuro or sparkster, it's a really good melting pot of inspirations.

22. Grand Drill - Act 1

(* The machine tunnels around the speed of light. As it would take 8 minutes for one from Lemniscate to realize that the Sun has exploded, it would only be so long before Mandamus reaches the Core Crystal.)
(* I am faster.)
----


primordial

23. Grand Drill - Act 2

(* The Grand Drill has been stopped. Realistically, Oxus should be stopped, but he's nowhere to be seen.)
(* His will sickens me.)
* ...Still headed for the Core Crystal, isn' he Sonic?
(* Down.)
* Either way, here's our pit stop. An ornate desert in the mantle of the earth. [Lemniscate]
-----
ideally, the fell multiplayer stage would be a modified sandopolis.

24. Desert Palace - Act 1

(* The suits of ancient echidna armor that lined the outer section have come to life. Specters think they're funny.)
(* As we get further into the earth, the palace becomes less florid. Hotter, and probably more deadly.)
(* Closer. To it.)
* Now that I see all these armours, haven't seen that echidna in a while. I'd suspected he was in kahoots with the big scourge, but nothin' really. Just a thorn in our sides.
* ...Your side.
-----
outer mantle still. this uses drums from a song that's based off penumbra phantasm (sfihy) that i ended up not using, so the buildup isn't that prevalent. unless i get to remaking the new version already.
notice the sparkster inspiration

25. Desert Palace - Act 2

* The deepest known civilized area in Infernum. A dead language is strewn across the walls.
(* Antediluvian Scriptum.)
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based off of Karl Brueggemann's Moon Factory Zone (Sonicesque: Flashfield)

this area concept has always been a little iffy to me because it turned into either a more intense lava reef or chaos ridge act 3 constantly in my head (can even be heard in the old version) due to the fact that it is another underground cavern, just closer to the core.
so it's got some iron, i suppose. i'll refine this a lot more when i come back to it with fervor.

wish i had one of those people in the comments here that would narrate dialogue based off their own interpretation of the song's meaning so i could steal ideas...

26. Terra Precipice - Act 1

The natural iron is blended and overshadowed with crystals. Pressure has been exponential.
Certainly, the core is near.

* ...what the fuck
-----

the other reference is not intentional i swear penumbra is not the final boss theme

27. Terra Precipice - Act 2

there's nothing here.
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remix of my sonic 2 alternate hidden palace. not out of laziness, but just because i think it fits well.
im aware sonic 3 doesn't have a hidden palace specific track, but idrc... it's also very short. but i'll try to extend its level length in the game.

i imagine it looks almost exactly the same as the original sonic 3's hidden palace, just different colors and accessories. maybe triangles instead of rectangles, here and there...

28. Lost Frontier

> So it's settled.
> This battle will determine who will write the end of this fate.
> No holding back, hedgehog.

(* I can see he's confused, but I'll have to take care of him by force.)
(* Perhaps he's forgotten the second bout of that prophecy.)

-----

check "mus_prelude"s description i changed it


this was kinda hard to make bc i forgot i wanted a plot point like this until just a week ago and i hadn't quite thought out a full style for knuckles' themes in this ost unlike oxus' (drums).
so for the 2nd half of the song, i wanted it to hearken back to the boss theme and the oxus fight theme, just to give a sense of familiarity (and also 'cause i really like that pattern how does igor do it)

for the record, it's called that because if knuckles wins, he becomes the savior of a dying world; but if sonic wins, he becomes the savior of a 'waking' world. knuckles is ultimately not fit for this position at this point in time.

29. Savior of What World?

(The 'Dyna Spear' leaves him incapacitated. There may be no coming back from it.)
(* ..!?)

+ By all accounts, this does not make sense.
+ One can crumble landscapes and fissure engines, yet he cannot do the same to a single hedgehog.
+ My point still stands after all...
+ Or... does it?
+ Because, with your help, the last defender of the Core Crystal is DEAD.
+ An improvement, don't you think? From Southwest Island, to Dwarf Planet...
+ And now... the entire balance of Lemniscate in the palm of my iron hands.
+ So thank you, Sonic and Knuckles, for proving me wrong.
(Upon disappearance, the aura visible is more charged than usual.)

(* ...No.)
(Sonic drills as far down as he can with his own ability.)

(But one last dying force breaks the last surface.)
------
oxus deals a fatal blow on knuckles here if you played as sonic or tails.
probably important to note that no, knuckles was never working with oxus. he just wanted knux to kill you himself.

30. Quatsch

Crying World
Outer Core

* No way we came this far to give up now.

-----

this is a relatively older song, so if you hear a certain thing it doesn't really mean anything i just thought it sounded cool in this. i like the song too much to rearrange it, anyways.

also first MILES illustration on this account, sry it took so long for me to make a drawing with him in it proper.

31. Altitude Altar

an "underfell" version of sonic 3, 'loosely' based off of igorsantusa's SwApFell: I Hate You.
kinda leaning towards the swapfell, but i assure you it's just fell.

owned by zane (zaneunderscoreuhh)

small note: the thing i use to make music kinda has a lower volume in nature, so just turn ya stuff up a bit when you put these on.

currently stuck on reworking doomsday.

idea conceived july 24, 2024

New tracks tagged #sonic and knuckles