Below you'll see a map for every stage as well as the general path that each character takes. You can click the maps to enlarge them. The routes assume full-game runs, not individual level runs. The paths are color coded:

Green = Default Consistent Path. If you don't see a character's color, they follow this path Purple = Backup/Yolo Path. This will be explained each level this shows up in. Blue = Sonic Yellow = Tails Red = Knuckles Pink = Amy

There'll be a strat overview (both in general and character-specific) below each map. If there's a trick/glitch involved, a setup of how to do them will be discussed as well.

Disclaimer: All initial maps taken from Sonic Center

[center]Neo Green Hill Act 1[/center]

This is overall a pretty simple level, the main difficulty being cleanly going over the curve after the long stretch of flat land at the first checkpoint.

Sonic & Tails: They generally follow the same path. Air Dash & Flight are needed to access the hidden tunnel cleanly from the land before the frog.

Knuckles: Before the first checkpoint, jump at the right spot along the wall to jump super high, then start gliding at the peak. He can then just glide to the end, which is the fastest way to beat this stage. This is more annoying than it sounds since he's completely off screen for both the initial jump and the glide. If you miss the glide or don't want to do the superglide, follow the green path and use his glide to access the hidden tunnel.

Amy: Amy takes a very unique route, as she's the only character that can access the first speedshoes quickly thanks to hammering the spring after the checkpoint. Making the jump after the speed shoes requires using a hammer flip after it takes full effect, then she can essentially jump over the rest of the stage. Navigating around the bee, second speed shoes, and spring can be tricky since she moves so quickly here, so you'll have to adjust accordingly and try to fall back down to where the other checkpoint is quickly.

[center]Neo Green Hill Act 2[/center]

This is a pretty straightforward level where all four characters take the same route. The two weird parts will be working around the platform cycle after the 5 ring box, and jumping over the hidden bush spring near the end.

To maintain speed with the bush spring, you want to jump as late as possible without hitting the spring. This is pretty lenient with Sonic since he can just do an air dash a bit early and still maintain a lot of speed. Tails and Knuckles can spindash if they miss. It's very punishing for Amy to miss the jump since she can't spindash.

[center]Secret Base Act 1[/center]

The general route is the same for most characters. You can skip the second pulley at the start with all characters, though it's unreliable to do so with Amy. Grabbing the speed shoes in the middle of the level is very important, as it's used ideally through the entire second half of the level and speeds up the ending section significantly.

Later, there's a pulley with a spring right after it. You'll just have to time jumpin just after getting off the pulley but before hitting the spring. You can mash A safely with Sonic and Amy, but you'll lose all your speed if you try to do that with Tails and Knuckles, even if you succeed.

At the end, keep following the green path if you still have speed shoes. If you run out of speed shoes, you want to take the upper purple path instead, as you can't make the big ending jump via the diagonal spring (unless you're Amy, who can just hammer the spring either way).

Sonic: If he still has speed shoes active, he should take the blue path. Being able to air dash out of spin makes this lower path faster for him than the center/upper path.

Tails: Follow the general green path. Tails should take the purple path if his speed shoes run out at that point.

Knuckles: Knuckles can abuse an out of bounds with a path swapper exploit at the start then glide to the very end of the stage. This is pretty unreliable and saves only a few seconds. If you choose not to do this, then follow the green & purple paths appropriately.

TODO: Explain setup for the out of bounds

Amy: Follow the general green path. She never needs to take the purple path, as she can hammer the ending diagonal spring and make the jump even without speed shoes.

[center]Secret Base Act 2[/center]

You want to wait at the start of the stage a bit, then jump to the second manhole when it's at the peak. This will let you cleanly get to the upper route early.

The first speed shoes are important as they let you navigate a long section of land much more quickly than without the speed shoes. Ideally you want to maintain them until you're past the later pulley section. Don't grab these speed shoes if you're using the path swapper glitch.

TODO: Setup for path swapper

The boss is pretty straightforward. You want to land 4 hits before his second jump, which will trigger his super jump pattern (if you fail, just hit him repeatedly until he does his super jump). When he's off screen, a reliable strat is to get to the side of the screen, face away from that side, then get hit. You can get the last 4 hits quickly before your invincibility frames run out.

Sonic: Sonic has the hardest time doing the pulley skip in-bounds since it requires maintaining speed shoes to that point. If you do get the skip, follow the lower blue path since his air dash is well suited for that area. If you fail it, follow the green path.

Tails: Tails can use the path swapper trick and save a few seconds (follow the green path if you don't want to use it). If you grab the hook, hit the speed shoes, then fly after falling a bit, you have plenty of time to reach the red diagonal springs before he tires out. With the incorrect path active, there's a small invisible floor that he can jump off of below the pulley. Feel free to mash A for this, since you can easily adjust his flight accordingly. Be sure to fly low below the horizontal red spring, since there's an invisible wall there. After that, just land on the boost pad and you're back in bounds.

Knuckles: Knuckles can use the path swapper trick and save a few seconds (follow the green path if you don't want to use it). You want to glide low after hitting the speed shoes to avoid the risk of hitting the two lava pools. Stop gliding when he's over the vertical yellow spring. With the incorrect path active, there's a small invisible floor that he can jump off of below the pulley. You'll need to time pressing A at the right time while having speed shoes active, adjust, land and immediately jump off of the horizontal red spring, then superglide off of the 5 ring box, then land on the boost pad.

Amy: Amy unfortunately doesn't have anything interesting in this level, since her high jump and hammer abilities aren't particularly useful, so follow the green path. She does have the easiest time hitting the boss before his super jump, thanks to her hammer's huge hitbox.

[center]Casino Paradise Act 1[/center]

This level is heavily cycle-oriented and very sensitive to minor mistakes, so learning all of the relevant moving objects and learning how to adjust is very important. You also want to wait a bit at the start of the stage for the proper cycles to line up.

When falling out of the warp hole, you want to move a bit left but still land on the steep slope, then hold left when you land. This lets the character land with a lot of speed, then carry that into a jump to hit the balloons.

There is a clip you can use which involves a spindash into a frame perfect jump upon hitting the flipper. This saves a few seconds, and is noted via the purple path, but isn't recommended since it's very unreliable and inconsistent. Amy can't do this since she can't spindash.

Sonic: Sonic can skip across the first giant gap using well-timed air dashes. If you don't want to do this, follow the default green path at the start. You want to then grab the speedshoes then run through the middle section of the stage. Moving objects are on global cycles so you have to adapt to them. Near the end, Sonic can't take the warp path since he can't increase his height directly in the air, so he has to take a lower route.

Tails: Follow the standard green route. The main notable strat is that he can fly over the spike pit, which is faster if you know how to maintain his flight speed appropriately.

Knuckles: Follow the standard green route. The main notable strat is to glide over the spike pits.

Amy: Hammer the first spring at the start to gain the height needed to access the green route. Amy's Hammer Twirl is very handy for halting her speed, which is useful in two spots to drop down vertically in this level.

[center]Casino Paradise Act 2[/center]

This is a pretty straightforward level where everyone follows the same general path. For the two sets of rotating platforms, you can either jump across the platforms, or land on a spring below to cross it, just be careful of the annoying ball clown right after that.

The boss is completely random, and you have to improvise depending on where eggman comes out, and where the spike ball comes out. Sonic and Knuckles should either be waiting on the lip of a bottom tunnel or on the central platform, since neither of them can reach the central platform from the bottom floor. Tails can reach the boss from anywhere since he can fly up and hit eggman with his tails. Amy has a huge hammer and can jump to the middle platform from anywhere, so she has the easiest time with this boss.

[center]Ice Mountain Act 1[/center]

Another really simple level in terms of general route. All characters follow the same general route, and grab the set of speedshoes in the middle.

Sonic & Tails: At the top of the first giant slope, by using a spindash into air dash / flight, both characters can essentially fly across the two lower loops.

[center]Ice Mountain Act 2[/center]

All characters follow the same general route. The jump after the pulley to avoid the diagonal spring can be tricky, it's best to hold left to give yourself a much bigger window to avoid the spring. Jumping over the second pulley can be tricky and depends on if you jumped off of the flat spot before the yellow spring or the slope before it. If you're not confident in that jump, feel free to take the purple route instead (this is a good backup too). Just make sure you don't fall into the water area.

Sonic: Air dashing helps guarantee making it over the second pulley. Sonic has the hardest time with the boss since he has no means of staying high nor hitting the boss from below, so he has to rely on the falling icicles. Use air dashes on the icicles to gain horizontal momentum, and insta-shield to help reach the boss.

Tails: Doing a short 1-tap flight helps Tails guarantee making the jump over the second pulley. For the boss, Tails can simply fly and hit Eggman repeatedly with his tails (just make sure you're above water surface, since he can't hit the boss while swimming). Tails will tire out after ~4-5 hits, so after that hit, try to land on a higher icicle so you can refresh his flight more quickly.

Knuckles: Knuckle's glide isn't well suited for making it across the second pulley without losing speed since his horizontal speed resets upon gliding, so use the backup purple path if needed. When fighting the boss, reach the surface of the water as quickly as you can so Knuckles starts floating. Then simply jump into eggman and keep floating. Make sure you hit Eggman on the descent of each jump, because if you hit him on the ascent of any jump out of water, Knuckles will rebound downward and back to the floor.

Amy: Amy doesn't have any aerial abilities to make it across the giant gap for the second pulley, but she can use her hammer on the purple path's spring. Amy has the easiest time with the boss, since she has the highest jump and her hammer can hit the boss at the peak of her normal jump.

[center]Angel Island Act 1[/center]

This level is completely broken using a path swapper glitch at the first loop, and every character can take advantage of it, which saves almost a minute for all characters. The setup and backup strats will be discussed for each character, since this level works differently for all characters. If you don't want to use the path swapper, you can follow the in-bounds green route instead, but note that the level takes almost twice as longer.

Sonic: Crouch at the appropriate spot until the screen scrolls down, then do a 2-tap somersault without the skid. He should now be on the wrong path. Get on the platform, then on top of the loop (don't touch the side of the loop or else you'll reset the path). From the left side of the loop, do a 2-tap spindash into a jump, then insta-shield at the peak to regain air control, keep holding right, bounce off the yellow spring, then land on the brown platform. Hold left just before sonic runs off of it. If timed properly, he should land on the now-falling platform again, and eventually he'll be standing in the air.

Once he's standing in the air, keep running right and to the goal. There's a vertically moving block near the end, so slow down before getting near it and make sure you don't touch it. If you got the wrong initial height from the glitch (which is effectively random, you'll know if a diagonal spring is in the way), then hit the diagonal springs and try to land on the highest diagonal spring in the series without actually using the top spring. Do a 2-tap spindash off of it, hold right until you get a ring, then hold left to hit the checkpoint and die. You should respawn from the checkpoint, in-bounds, then follow the green route to the end.

Tails: Tails is the only character who cannot instantly move a set short distance without the screen scrolling, so he has the hardest time getting out of bounds. Crouch at the appropriate spot until the screen scrolls down. As quickly as you can, do a 1-tap spindash into a jump then start flying. The inputs for all of these are very tight as you have to do the jump before the game's path swaps; if he starts flying through the left slope, you got it. If not, try again. Then simply fly to the brown platform, then to the speed shoes (get it), then fall to the checkpoint and suicide to get back in bounds. After the death, follow the green route from the checkpoint. Note that checkpoints don't work in Time Attack, so you have to use a different strategy for individual level runs.

Knuckles: Crouch at the appropriate spot until the screen scrolls down, then do a triple punch combo. Immediately do a short jump left then start gliding right. Keep gliding until you're over the ending checkpoint then fall into it, suicide. After the death, follow the green route from the checkpoint. Note that checkpoints don't work in Time Attack, so you have to use a different strategy for individual level runs.

Amy: Crouch at the appropriate spot until the screen scrolls down. Do a giant step left then immediately hammer flip before falling through the left slope. If done correctly, you should be able to gain enough momentum to move right and on the floor without falling to your death. Get on the platform then on top of the loop (don't touch its side or else you'll reset the path trigger). Get on top of the diagonal spring without using it, then do a giant step right and keep holding right. Amy should generally hit the yellow spring then land on the brown platform. The moment she runs off of it, do a hammer twirl to halt her horizontal speed then land on the right tip of the now-falling brown platform. She'll now be standing in the air

Once Amy is standing in the air, just start running right and to the goal. There's a vertically moving block near the end, so slow down before getting near it and make sure you don't touch it. If you got the wrong initial height from the glitch (which is effectively random; you'll know if a diagonal spring is in the way), do a faceplant to lower her height without falling to her death, then keep going.

[center]Angel Island Act 2[/center]