Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebook 4 is the fourth and final Adventure Gamebook published by Ladybird in the United Kingdom.
Synopsis[]
In a direct continuation of the plot beginning in the previous book, the story takes place in the zones of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, dealing with the troublemaking Knuckles the Echidna. Instead of Dr. Robotnik stealing the Master Emerald as he does in the game, the doctor has stolen all of the Floating Island's colors. Thus, many of the pages in the book are left black and white, leaving the reader to color them.
As with other gamebooks in the same series, readers need to count rings, Chaos Emeralds and other objects to determine what page they progress to. This is unique from other gamebooks that have a reader simply pick an option and go to the page that shows the outcome.
In a different tactic from the previous books, each puzzle doesn't challenge the reader/player to find the correct answer; rather the reader/player is asked what they think about the answer (eg. if some objects are more or less than a certain number) and change page accordingly.
Sonic and Tails are painting parts of the Zone, as Robotnik had stolen colors from the Zones in their last adventure. Knuckles steals three buckets (with magenta-red, orangy yellow and reddish orange paints) and leaves, and the reader is asked to find which objects won't be painted. If the reader can find 3 or more such objects (eg. the violets, the coconuts, the pavement) sends him to Arctic Zone (10) otherwise to Hydro City Zone (16).
7 Blastoids and 14 Batbots are hunting Sonic and Knuckles. The reader has to go to the page corresponding to the number of the flying badniks, and go to Marble Garden Zone (14)
Sonic and Tails are exhausted looking for Knuckles and they need gold rings. There are 18 on the left page and 10 on the right page. If the reader counts an odd number, goes to Hydro City Zone (18) otherwise to Arctic Zone (24)
Robotnik had zapped the color from this b&w zone, leaving several badniks behind; Bugernauts, RhinoBots, Turbo Spiker and a Ribot hunt Sonic and Tails, who need sneakers to run away. The reader has to find and count Sonic's and Tail's shoes (1 and 3 on the left page; 5 and 1 on the right). If the player thinks Sonic has more sneakers goes to Floating Island (22) otherwise to Launch Base Zone (28).
Knuckles runs after Sonic and Tails who try to lose him entering an ice maze surrounded by Penguinators. They also have to rescue 3 animals on the way to the exit. A Chaos Emerald is stuck at the entrance of the maze. There are two exits: one leading to Carnival Zone (6) and one to Arctic Zone (24).
Sonic and Knuckles are racing on two platforms of balloons, to the power switch, with Sonic trying to stop Knuckles from turning off the lights of the Zone. The reader must count how many balloons they are each going to leap (46 for Sonic, 47 for Knuckles) and determine who will reach the switch first. If it is Sonic, the player goes to the Special Stage (26) otherwise goes back to Hydro City Zone (4) in the dark.
Knuckles has stolen and hid 3 paint pots behind the pillars, leaving some messy and tracks among them, some of which lead to dead ends. Sonic is trying to find the pots in the order Knuckles left them. If he finds the red paint pot second, he goes to Arctic Zone (10), otherwise to the Bonus Stage (20).
There is a chaos emerald on the green part of a pillar on the left page.
Sonic and Tails, looking for Knuckles, are stuck on a platform. A string of backwards letters and numbers floats in the water, wondering where to go next: E8TAROY8RGP1S. Whatever the message is supposed to be, the logical assumption woult be that it directs them either to Marble Garden Zone (8) or to Hydro City Zone (18).
Sonic is surfing on the water surrounded by Jawz until Tails rescues him (17 fins on the left page among the waves, and 18 on the right). The player has to count the fins, and go to Marble Garden Zone (14) if they are more than 40, otherwise to the Special Stage (26) if they are "above 35".
There is an emerald on the middle pylon on the right page.
Bonus Stage (20): Tails needs to pass through a maze of letters spelling out his name MILESTAILSPROWER, once over each, to reach one of the gumballs on the right. If he does, the player goes to Hydro City Zone (16), otherwise back to the Carnival Zone (6).
Knuckles had painted several fake Tails'es and Sonic has to spot the real one out of the small different details; he is on the top row, 3rd from the left. The reader then is redirected to Arctic Zone (10) if they think is on the bottom row; Carnival Zone (12) if he is on the middle row, or Special Stage (26) if he is on the top.
The chaos emerald is on the right page, on the middle row.
Sonic needs to chisel some ice blocks to find Tails among some badniks with an ice pick. The reader has to shade the dotted areas to form their silhuettes. There is a Blastoid, a Bloominator, Tails, a Turbo Spiker on the left page; a Penguinator, a Catakiller, Jr. and Mantis on the right page. Once the reader finds Tails, they go to Marble Garden Zone (8); if they found an odd number of badniks, they go to the Carnival Zone (12).
There is a chaos emerald on the empty ice block on the right page.
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are entering the stage racing for the chaos emerald at its end. The double page has the form of a tabletop game where 1 or more players throw a die to move their counters; special squares have some rings (move forward as many squares as there are rings), red spheres (miss a turn), green stars (back 1 square) and purple stars (back 3 quares). The winning player then, depending on whether they have gathered 5 or more emeralds, is asked to move to Launch Base Zone (26), otherwise back to Hydro City Zone (4).
In this b&w level Sonic and Tails are after Robotnik and find their way out among some numbered tubes, guarded by numbers of rings. The reader is asked to count each group of rings and determine the one with the highest even number of rings next to the correct exit. This happens to be tube #30 (with 14 rings), sending the player to the next page.
Launch Base Zone (30): A maze Sonic and Tails must traverse: without backtracking, they must find the way to Robotnik to destroy his vehicle, then to Knuckles and chase him away, and then the way to the animals (Pocky, Chirps, Tux, Joe, Porker, Flicky and Sally) who are waiting the heroes for the victory party.