The Launch Base

The Launch Base--the sixth level of the game "Sonic the Hedgehog 3"--is another one of the examples of architectural genius left behind by the lost echidna-people on the Floating Island. Although it DOES have spiraling minarets of stone (rather Arabian-style, actually) in the background, the main body of this area is very, VERY high tech. There is machinery EVERYWHERE, not just scattered amongst the marble and grasses. The floors are made of metal and cement; there are levers to catapult a person, spinning cup-shaped rides, huge rotating metallic cylinders, automatic defense systems in the form of laser beams, fire-throwers, electrical fences and fields, alarms, attack robots that come when the alarms go off, turbolifts, teleporters, conveyor belts, moving stairways, and more. This is a prime example of exactly how advanced the echidna-people were. Why more technology survived in this area than in others is anyone's guess. But survive it did, making one heck of a futuristic city--even if it IS dead and populated only by robots.
"The Launch Base" is the name given to it by Robotnik, a Mobian, when he saw it for the first time. (Note: The preceeding sentence was NOT canon, it was my own version.) But was it actually meant to be a place to launch spaceships (as it certainly CAN be used for)? Or something else? My guess is, that as complex as this thing was, it was either going to be a generational ship or a space station. But they never got around to covering it up and getting it out into space.
Whatever it is, it's very impressive and more than a bit creepy.



Click HERE to return to the Floating Island Tour Route.

Click HERE to return to the Chaotix Clubhouse.

Click HERE to return to Sandopolis.



curious tourists have tried to sneak into the Launch Base and poke around in our machinery since June 27, 1999. Of course, they were all shot to death with lasers when the fly-bots came after them, but hey...