Sonic the Hedgehog platforming of the main levels. The 16-bit "Sonic the Hedgehog " consisted of a giant rotating maze, which many considered a major technical achievement. The most common special stages, however, were segments with the character running through a long tunnel to collect certain items. 3D "collect item" levels, as in "Sonic 3" and "Sonic & Knuckles", used the same perspective but had Sonic collecting all the blue-colored orbs on the surface of a giant sphere. Finally, "Sonic Advance 2" employed a 3D ring-collecting stage, and "Sonic Chaos" ("Sonic and Tails" in Japan) used a variety of gimmicks for its levels.
Sonic the Hedgehog player to control him in a limited fashion. This game also introduced Sonic's "spin dash" maneuver, an ability which allows Sonic to burst forwards quickly from a complete standstill, unlike the previous game, where Sonic could only gain speed with momentum. "Sonic 2" was followed in 1993 by an arcade game, "SegaSonic the Hedgehog", featuring new characters Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. The next console game, "Sonic the Hedgehog 3", was released in 1994. The game introduced a temporary shield maneuver, often called the "insta-shield", added new shield types to the series, and allowed Tails to be