Sonic Runners Tips, Cheats and Strategies

Sonic Runners is an endless runner from SEGA. In this game, you’ll control Sonic and friends as they race through levels packed with gems, power-ups, and robotic enemies in an attempt to stop Eggman’s numerous, devious plots. Gamezebo’s Sonic Runners …

Read the story events. Sonic Runners takes place on an episodic map path featuring five plot points per “episode.” Some of these events merely progress the story, but a lot of them contain valuable tutorial information or general tips on how to do better while playing. We’ll include some of these tips in this guide, but you can also learn them directly by simply progressing through the game.
Use the Sonic help site for basic gameplay info. We aren’t going to cover all the basics, which are learned by playing the game, but you can brush up on this info anytime at the Sonic Runners website.

Use your roulette spins. Every day you login earns you three free spins on the item roulette wheel. You are guaranteed to win something, and if you land on the “Big” and/or “Super” spots, your roulette chance will be upgraded to a wheel with even better prizes. These items are extremely useful when trying to achieve high scores. To access the roulette wheel, click the leftmost icon on the bottom of the map page.
The score needed to reach the next stage is cumulative. This means if you need 50,000 points to reach the next map point and you earn 75,000 in a single run, you will reach the next stage and the remaining 25,000 will be put towards the map point after that. With a really high scoring run, you can progress through all of the map points in a single attempt.

Showdown levels have to be entered manually. If you’ve reached a “Showdown” level at the end of an episode, clicking the “Play” button in the bottom right corner will merely send you to a standard level. You need to actually click the “Showdown” button and then “Begin boss battle” to fight the boss.
…but sometimes it’s beneficial to hold off on Showdown levels. Every time you finish an episode—whether you play a Showdown level or merely the fifth story point—your revive tokens are replenished. If you’re about to go into a Showdown with more than one life, use those extra lives on standard levels to rack up extra rings. Then go into the Showdown to refill your lives.
Rings are safe once banked, but you aren’t. When you cross a checkpoint, any rings you’ve collected so far on the level are banked. This means that even if you die, you will still receive those rings. However, banking rings takes them from Sonic and he is left without their protection. Focus on collecting new rings immediately after a checkpoint to protect yourself.

Piggy bank companions send rings directly to the bank. If you’re using a piggy bank companion and you get hit, you’ll be rewarded some amount of rings—however, these are sent straight to your bank, not to your current inventory. This means piggy banks don’t offer backup protection, they just provide a type of insurance reward for injury.
…but they award these rings every time you get hit. If you just want to earn some easy extra rings, play a level with a piggy bank companion and intentionally injure yourself. Then collect at least one ring in the level and injure yourself again, repeating as often as necessary. You’ll earn free rings from the piggy bank every time.

Relax during the mid-run boss battles. During standard stage runs, you’ll encounter Eggman at certain distances (500m, 1,800m, 3,500m). He’ll float ahead of you and drop non-dangerous springs to slow you down. While a very poorly-timed jump could cause injury, it’s almost impossible to actually be hurt or killed during these sections. Use this time to recharge and prepare for the next part of the run, while raking in lots of extra rings and points.
…just try not to jump over Eggman or run past him. During the aforementioned boss battles, if you simply ran straight ahead, jumping over his springs, you would quickly overtake Eggman and run past him. This ends the “boss” section without earning you the extra rings for hitting him. Similarly, you can jump over him for the same result. So take these sections easy, but still pay some attention and be sure to hit him whenever possible.
Bonus items are saved during mid-run boss fights. If you collect a bonus right before reaching the Eggman part of a stage, its timer will stop counting down and will only continue once you reach the next running section. This is only true for items that don’t benefit you during the Eggman portion, like springs. An item like the magnet will remain in effect.

Controlling the wisps / color powers: There are three special power-ups in the game that turn you into another creature (wisp) for a short period. They are the indigo asteroid, yellow drill, and cyan laser.
- The indigo asteroid destroys everything it touches and also has a large magnet ability. It will continually float downward, floating back up whenever you tap the screen. Use him to destroy as much landscape and enemies as possible, as sometimes you’ll find hidden treasure underneath the ground.
- The yellow drill will automatically burrow underground and continue along this trajectory, emerging above ground only when you tap. Try to time your taps when you see arches of gems or enemies.
- The cyan laser shoots forward through the sky automatically. You have no control over his movement, but when you tap, all gems or rings on the screen will be pulled into him automatically. You cannot hold your finger down but should tap frequently to collect as many items as possible.
Tails is more vulnerable to attack than Sonic. We find Tails to be the hardest character to use successfully due to his limited attack range. When Tails is helicoptering (his double- and triple- jump ability), he is vulnerable to enemies. In this position, he can only kill them by landing on them from above. Unlike Sonic, whose spin jumps let him injure enemies from any direction. When using Tails, stay aware of enemies in front or above you.
Some gifts / bonuses must be collected from your gift box. If you’ve earned a reward but don’t see it in your inventory, be sure to check your gift box. It’s the third icon on the bottom of the map screen.
Level up your characters as much as possible. To get to the level-up screen, tap the right arrows on the map menu. From here, you can view your available characters and companions, and level characters up by selecting them and spending rings. When you level up, a random stat will increase, but all of these stats will greatly help during your runs. This is the best way to consistently improve your high scores (especially since some of the stats directly increase your score total).
…and focus on leveling up Sonic the most. Although Tails and Knuckles “specialize” in certain stages, Sonic is ultimately the most well-rounded character and easiest to do well with. And since you have him from the very beginning of the game, he’s the easiest to get to a high level early. At a high enough level, Sonic will still do better than the other characters even on their own stages.
Pick up animals that drop from defeated enemies. When you kill an enemy during a run, an animal will jump out of it and bounce a ways ahead of your character. To receive points for these animals, you actually have to catch up to them and touch / collect them. Animals are worth 2,500 points apiece (compared to, for example, rings which are worth 70 points each), so catching them should be a focal point of each run. Using a companion that increases the animals received, like Skull Chao, is an easy way to earn lots of bonus points.
There is a max speed per stage. After you’ve fought Eggman three times in a standard run, you will reach “top speed.” At this point, there are no more rings available and tons of hazards in your way. You will die in this area; it’s only a matter of time. Ideally, you’ll have a shield and/or invincibility upon reaching this point, but that’s always preferred.
Follow the paths presented by gems and rings. Gems and rings will often be arranged in single lines that arc in certain directions. Just like in normal Sonic games, following these paths are usually safe ways to progress through the level. In the image above, the blue gem arc would have led us to jump on top of an enemy which would have bounced us onto the upper platform.
Pits, spikes, and walls show up often after loops. The game loves to put dangerous hazards immediately following one of the boost loops. Since you shoot out of these loops at high speeds, it’s easy to be caught off guard by spikes or a wall right afterward. Always be aware and ready to jump after exiting a loop.
What red star rings will buy you: Red star rings are the premium currency of Sonic Runners. They can be earned in very small batches during a run or boss fight, but will mostly be received through daily bonuses and completing episodes. You can use red star rings to spin the companion roulette wheel, to buy normal gold rings, or to continue a run once after death. We recommend spending your star rings on gold rings for the following reasons: first, you will earn eggs during the game that will let you spin the better, rare version of the companion wheel. Second, you should only continue after death if you’re close to reaching a new high score. Third, normal gold rings are used to level up your characters and buy in-game items, two of the most important aspects of earning a high score.
If you do use star rings to come back during a run, be aware of what that means: When you die, you’re given the option to spend 5 red star rings to come back to life. You can only do this once per run: if you die again, you won’t be given this choice. You will lose any power-ups you had equipped before dying, such as shields, combo boosts, etc. And you will come back as the yellow drill for a brief period. If you purchase a continue during a boss battle, you will receive a shield instead of coming back as the yellow drill, and if you win the victory will still count as “flawless” (but, like standard levels, you can only purchase one continue per attempt).
How to tell stage types: There are three types of stages in Sonic Runners: field, sky, and lava. Each stage is designed with one of the characters in mind: field for Sonic, sky for Tails, and lava for Knuckles. You don’t need to use characters on their preferred stage types, but certain sections will be easier with the appropriate character. (We still use Sonic on every stage because of his high level.) Before starting a stage, you can tell what type it is on the map screen: there will be an icon next to the episode name (shoe for Sonic, wing for Tails, fist for Knuckles) and the background will reflect the type of stage as well.
Pay attention to your route bonus. On the map screen, you’ll sometimes see icons below the path Sonic is walking, with either “+50” or “+100” next to them. These indicate a route bonus while you are standing in that area: whenever you play within the vicinity of that icon, at the end of your run, you will receive a bonus to the indicated score. In the image above, we’ll earn +50% to our animal total score when traveling between the first two nodes, +50% to our total score when traveling between the third and fourth nodes, and +100% to our ring total score when traveling between the fifth and sixth nodes. These provide significant boosts, so when you’re receiving a route bonus, try to maximize its related score (e.g., try to collect as many animals as possible for the +50% to animals, etc.).
Don’t waste bonus items on boss stages. Until much later in the game, boss stages are extremely easy. And to earn the egg for a “flawless” victory, you need only beat the boss in one attempt—you can get hit/injured numerous times and it will still count as “flawless.” Additionally, since boss stages don’t contribute to your score total, there’s little reason to use items on them.
Walls kill Sonic, but ceilings don’t. If Sonic gets stuck on a wall, even with rings or a shield, he will die. However, ceilings are not walls, and Sonic can jump onto platforms by jumping into them from below. Don’t be afraid to jump into platforms.
Run into cannons and springs. Stage items like cannons and springs may look like something you’ll want to jump onto, but it’s much easier to use them by running onto them instead. Cannons have a very small collision window, and springs are often positioned next to a wall: if you over-jump a spring and hit the wall, you’ll die. Just run onto it instead.
Take your time when inside a cannon. There is no time limit to shooting yourself out of a cannon. It will continue to oscillate back and forth indefinitely. This is a good chance to take a breather and give yourself a break while lining up your shot. Also, if you’ve passed by some rescued animals and entered a cannon, you can wait in the cannon until they catch up to you and often they will be collected by your companions (who float outside the cannon).
Run onto flatbed springs and then jump. The flat red springboards Sonic comes across can catapult you into the air, but only if you time your jump correctly. You’ll want to jump right when Sonic (or whichever character) is in the middle of the board, just past the white line. It takes some practice to get the timing down, but you’ll know you’ve succeeded if Sonic is thrown very high into the sky.
…and get bonus points while in the air. When Sonic is flying through the air after a flat springboard catapult, he cannot jump out of the trajectory. But tapping the screen will award bonus points while he is flying and tapping repeatedly will award even more. This is one of his aerial “tricks”; another is tapping as soon as you hit the ground while in a Sonic boost (super-fast blue burst of speed you get from areas like loops). If you time it right, the boost will continue and Sonic can boost-jump across a lot of the map.
Run under bouncing items during boss fights. The general rule for any Eggman battle: if he throws something at you that bounces, just run under it. You’ll only need to jump over items at ground level. Otherwise, most items are timed to bounce over you.
How to use equippable items: You can select up to three equippable items to take with you into a run. These are one-time-use items like shields, magnets, etc. Boost items are separate and do not count towards your three item limit. When you select items, they will be queued up in the order you pick them: first, second, third. These items will be automatically activated at the start of each section of the run.
- So, for example: if you chose a shield first, magnet second, and cyan laser third, the shield would automatically activate at the very start of the run. The magnet would automatically activate after the first Eggman battle, when the speed increases. And the cyan laser would automatically activate after the second Eggman battle, on your second speed increase. If you die before reaching a point where an item is activated, you will still lose the equipped item. So, in the above example, if you died before the first Eggman fight, you would still lose the shield, magnet, and cyan laser from your inventory.
Points values: Collectable items are worth different amounts towards your final score. Combos, companions, and other factors may increase these amounts, but their base values are:
- Small blue gem: 5 points
- Small green gem: 10 points
- Small red gem: 15 points
- Large blue gem: 50 points
- Large green gem: 100 points
- Large red gem: 150 points
- Gold ring: 70 points (note: only visible on end-of-run scoreboard)
- Rescued animal: 2,500 points (note: only visible on end-of-run scoreboard)
- Regular enemy: 10 points
- Golden enemy: 300 points

Jillian Werner

Jillian will play any game with cute characters or an isometric perspective, but her favorites are Fallout 3, Secret of Mana, and Harvest Moon. Her PC suffers from permanent cat-on-keyboard syndrome, which she blames for most deaths in Don’t Starve. She occasionally stops gaming long enough to eat waffles and rewatch Battlestar Galactica.