The center of Angel Island

I might have a go at sketching an above-view map later this eve to go along with the side view we've got at the moment. Might help maybe. (or not, but whatever). Also, when do we scratch our heads a bit more by throwing SA1's Angel Island Ice Cap/Red Mountain layout into the mix?

 

I'd have Mushroom Hill closer to Launch Base, remember that Knuckles fell into the zone, so it must be close by.

 

I always get a kick out of Flying Battery resembling a Duracell battery. Someone needs to actually put batteries in that zone. Maybe Sonic Mania will actually deliver on that...

 

Made a new map, clean and consistent.
First one is just a map of the zones, second one includes the path of the games. Blue is Sonic 3, red is Sonic and Knuckles.

There's some leeway with these locations. Flying Battery must be descending and ascending. Sky Sanctuary may be a lot lower. Carnival Night and Ice Cap may be lower. Lava Reef and Hidden Palace could be below "sea level" but it seems more likely to me that they're in the upper interior. The pyramid of Sandopolis is on a higher shelf, thus Lava Reef may be directly below it, and the Death Egg is visible just above Hidden Palace in an open crater.
Plenty of room for the competition zones. Azure Lake could be on the left end where the lake nestled in the mountains is. Desert Palace obviously just below Sandopolis. Balloon Park somewhere near Carnival Night. Endless Mine in the interior possibly near Lava Reef or below "sea level". Chrome Gadget could be anywhere, possibly towards the right or left end behind the mountains.

 

That's a pretty decent map, everything seems to fit into its place.

However, are we sure that Angle Island Zone isn't actually where we think Mushroom Hill Zone is? There's a waterfall next to those trees, it could actually be Angle Island Zone.

Another possibility, according to this video here at around 3:16, Sonic and Tails are flying out to the left of the island, and at 3:28 is a scene of knuckles in a part of the level, where you can see them flying out to the left which is also the left (and start) of the level, so I'd argue that Angle Island is on the left of the island, not on the right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL9rAVYFdJU&t=3m16s

Interestingly, you can also see the background at 3:28 drifting down slowly as the island is rising, almost as if it's not connected =S (probably an oversight)...

 

Come to think of it, you could flip the whole mess around horizontally and the layout could still be consistent, since the two areas marked Marble Garden and Launch Base can be interpreted as either. It's hard to say; the area near the bottom right marked Mushroom Hill resembles a forest if anything. This leads into Sandopolis which has the pyramid on the left side. The game's progression matches the geography in either direction of the island (Marble Garden above the falls where Hydrocity might be, Mushroom Hill could be the foliage area where Hidden Palace is marked). I would say, for the sake of consistency, it might be best to attempt to fit the map from left to right. I should mention I was basing this on the map this thread started with in an attempt to "correct" it based on its idea. I'll take a crack at a reverse layout.

 

Yeah, I think you're right.

An additional note I'd like to add before I give this a rest, is that from HCZ to MGZ, they are blasted via a water blast into the air. Likewise with MHZ to Sandopolis via FBZ (which is a flying ship), additionally with CNZ to ICZ where a cannon was used. In all cases, the characters were blastes or flown into the air, they could have gone a really far distance, therefore, those levels don't necessarily need to be next to each other on the map, right? You could argue Sandopolis being next to Mushroom because of the original level order, but then I'd argue that the island map as we see it, wasn't seen until Sonic & Knuckles (after the level order was arranged differently), so it was likely designed after the order correction, with FBZ in mind.

 

Wasn't it on the Sonic 3 title screen?

 

No, it's three tall mountains and some foliage.


(Sonic 3 Complete only because it gives us a better, unobstructed view)

So unless we're supposed to take this as Angel Island being submerged to the point that a good chunk of the mainland is underwater...

 

Fair enough then. I did look at the standard S3 title screen but couldn't see enough of the island to tell whether it was different or not.

 

However, looking at the S&K title screen, it appears like the Death Egg crashed on the West (or left) side of the island - near to what could be Sandopolis.

 

Well it should be close to Sandopolis, since it is the roof of Lava Reef, and this latter one is somewhat under Sandopolis.