Ring Collection DX (as in the Roman numeral)

In the steps toward creating an idealized game save file, one thing I've done is go for perfect rings in as many stages as possible. So far I've managed to do this in more than half the game's levels, and it may yet be possible to get even more, but of the ones I've completed none is as hazardous to a hedgehog's (or fox's or echidna's or bat's or evil scientist's) health as Final Chase 1. 510 rings is a lot to track down, and while there are plenty of places to gain lives, there are even more places to lose them.

Note that the figure of 510 was obtained on Dreamcast; the maximum for GameCube players is 504 and I don't own that version to see which rings are missing. If you're using GameCube and I describe a part where there should be rings, but aren't, just ignore them.

After a long rail ride, you land next to 10 rings and a checkpoint. Why do they have a checkpoint so meaninglessly close to start? I don't know, but it's only going to help you. No, don't hit it yet.

A word about checkpoints. While a perfect is still a perfect with or without them (any rings they add to your total are also added to the out-of total), it's worth something to get a maximal total from them. If you don't hit any checkpoints and get 480, you have perfect, but not first place on the chart.

The payoff schedule from a checkpoint varies with the number of rings you have when crossing it:
0-19 rings: Nothing
20-39 rings: +5 rings
40-59 rings: +10 rings
60-79 rings: +20 rings
80-89 rings: Speed Shoes
90+ rings: Shield, or Lightning Shield if you already have a shield

There are two things to keep in mind with this information:
If you can pass up a checkpoint and get enough rings to increase your payoff level, and still be able to backtrack to the checkpoint, do so; and
If there are more than 79 rings before a checkpoint, and it's possible to backtrack to the rings from that checkpoint, then collect only 79, get your +20, then go back for the rest.

So if you cross the check right now, with 10 rings, you'll get nothing. What a waste.

Instead, jump over it and walk down the steep slope. It starts with 5 rings on the left side, and a meteor (which explodes a short time after you get within a certain proximity to it) on the right; these positions then reverse further down. You might see blue tentacles fly onto the screen as you collect the second 5; they can't hit you unless you jump or stand in a certain spot.

So you have 20 rings, and are nearly at the bottom of a steep slope with boost panels and a drop-off at the end. What now? Work your way up! Either a spindash, cancelled after you start moving by pressing B an additional time, or a series of jumps and homing attacks will get you to the top. You could cash in on the checkpoint now to go to 25 rings, but don't. Instead, stand next to it and take a spindash jump over the slope. In midair, you'll see the blue Chaos enemy that took a shot at you earlier, plus a 20 box. It's possible to blast these in either order, and still make another blast back to the slope (random hazard: sometimes you'll hit the Chaos enemy in the wrong spot, taking a hit, or after hitting it you'll blast THROUGH the 20 box instead of bouncing off it, making it impossible to return to the checkpoint). You have 40, so go back up the slope as before, and now you can get 10 from checkpoint 1! Now you finally get to go all the way down the slope. There are 6 rings on the walkway down here, but before getting them, I suggest charging a Light Attack so that you can take out the Chaos enemy on the ground with little risk. Go up the first drum, attack the hunter there, then charge another light attack. Hit the spring and the rings (61), then blast toward the Chaos enemy and release for an easy kill. Spring up, somersault into the shielded enemy, and drop off to the left. You don't have to get these rings now, but I do so anyway because there's also the first 1-up of the level here, and if you mess up between now and the time you return to this spot you'll at least get the life back.

With 71 rings, head forward, jumping over all the rings on the drums. There are 5 more on the next solid path, followed by a Chaos enemy. Don't use the light attack here, or you'll zip down to the 10 box after destroying it (this pushes your ring total into the 80s, which is no good by checkpoint rule 2). Just take it out the way you used to do, a long time ago, then go up. No rings for a while. After the horizontal drums and the Hornet, work your way up. There are rings here, but make sure you don't go over 79 before hitting the checkpoint. Go back and get any you missed (I have 102 at this point), then it's time for some fun. Face the screen at the edge of that platform, then turn 45 degrees right, and get ready to do a huge spindash jump back down. Anything on the walkway below, between the blast panel and the vertical drum, works as a landing. Go down one level (it's a 90-degree turn) and another (straight on the other side), and get ready to get more rings. There are 14 on the drums, and you can get them in either direction: jump to the left from the blue walkway, blast into the 5, blast again to the drum and get the four loose rings, then get the other 5; or just go to the first drum, land on the square platform past it (don't try to jump over it unless you want to die), then get the 5 on that side first. Now go forward again, and drop down to get 10 before going up the drum (126). Proceed back to checkpoint 2, without incident. You'll find another steep slope, this time with 8 rings in a line down the center. There's a meteor dangerously close to #130, so either sneak under it carefully with a precise line, or stop when you get close to it, wait for it to explode, then proceed. Go back up to the top after 134, and do a spindash jump forward to the floating drum.

There are three boxes up here: at the left of the first drum (5 rings), on the right further ahead (1-up), and on the way to the second drum (5 rings, total 144). You can go ahead and get the beetle while you're here; it won't do much (except make it easier to get the so-called "Double-A" rank--510 rings and 12000+ points in the same run) but hey, risk-free points.

Go back from here and fall from the second drum, holding back all the way down. You'll land on a blue walkway, and hopefully dodge the meteor field. There are two 5 boxes here, and if you charge a light attack before getting on the drum then you'll get an easy kill on the Chaos enemy there. Use jumps to make it easier to dodge the electric barriers on the drum, take care in knocking out the Hornet, and light-dash through checkpoint 3 with 160 rings, soon to be 170 as you run right into a 10 box. You can just run up the drums, but I find it safer to use the light attack here, charging while you're safely out of reach on the ground and then releasing at the peak of your jump. In the colored pits, you don't need to fall into the red one (though it is worth a 1-up, useful if your past runs have been paying out what's called negative expectation). You do need to take the yellow path to get 5, and then fall into blue to proceed. Sometimes you'll go fast when you hit the rail, and sometimes you go slow; it doesn't matter. You'll still run off it into 6 rings, then you can blast the spring to bounce into 5 more (sometimes you miss some...make sure your ring counter reads 186 before moving on).

It's time for a very ring-friendly ascent. The first drum leads to 20 rings. Go from there to another drum that has 5 at the top. Move on, once again getting 5 at the top, then take out the Chaos enemy for security when you proceed up, but fall down and get two 10 boxes first. Go up to the top of the next drum again, blast the Chaos, then let yourself fall from here without touching the control stick and run around the circle for 8 more, total 244 (light dash here is a bad idea). Cut the trip up the next drum short; this Mystic Melody path offers nothing, and you can jump off to get 10 rings. Two boost panels lead you into a spring with an easy enemy, and now there's more Chaos drum crossing without as many rings. Blast through the first one and jump up for a column of 3, then repeat to go to 260 rings. The next drum doean't have any rings, but move to the spring up ahead and it shoots you to a high rail with 3 more rings. Fall down and hit the checkpoint (this gives you a lightning shield if you haven't been hit at all), and prepare for the trickiest grab of the run.

As you proceed through this rail, keep an eye on the various line segments that appear to form a curve. As you pass through the first hoop, look for the end of the segment you're on, make sure you're not touching the control stick (otherwise you perform a rail-transfer jump that's too short to be meaningful), and jump when you get there. Once you're in air, move right. Keep your eye out for a box floating over this void and blast it, to get 10 rings. After the bounce you have to move forward and get to another box, blasting it for a 1-up. And as if that wasn't hard enough, now you have to land back on the rail. This is by no means foolproof, but if you look for the right combination of up and right and just hold it in that direction as soon as you make that second bounce, you should land properly. It helps to pause and unpause rapidly here to check your progress, which may even allow you the reaction time to do a last-minute blast for extra distance into the rail, should you find that to be necessary.

If you survived that and got to the end of the rail, getting the rings up ahead for 279, you stand a good shot of going all the way (but, of course, nothing is certain in Final Chase until it's completed--there's always some way to get shafted). After the drop, don't take the spring set onto the next rail. Jump off to the right of it instead, and you'll land on a 20-ring platform. Another easy jump from there leads to 10 rings. Jump to the blue walkway and just let 8 more rings come to you, for 317 (there's nothing that could have conceivably taken away your lightning shield by this point). You can follow the rail up ahead just fine, and when you land on the railed platform, jump to another platform down below. Two sets of four successive drums await, with boxes on both sides. How fun.

Start by going to the right here, jumping to drum 1 and then to 2. Bounce off the 10 box, then blast back to 2, then work your way back to 1 and then (with enough height) the platform you came from. Then go left, this time getting a 5 box after drum 1 and an optional 1-up after 3. You can choose to take out the enemy ahead or avoid it, as long as you live. Cross the next checkpoint with 332, then interspersed between boost panels there are 6 rings in a line on the ground and a whopping 24 as you go up the wall. After taking a spring from the top, you'll find 8 more moving forward.

Now you get to cross the scattered horizontal drums. There are no rings to be had here (at least in normal mode), but the top path is of course safer. Cross and land on the blue walkway at the end, then go back to the beginning of that walkway and charge a light attack. Release it to hit a 5 box floating off the edge, and hold Up to return to safe ground. Run back down the slope and get the rest of the rings for 388.

After the rail, run down from the first drum onto the second. There's a Chicken game going on here; just below the edge of the top drum, there's a 10 box hovering dangerously close to an electric barrier. Inch ever closer to it, not putting yourself at risk of getting hit, until you hit the box for 398. Now you can finally run back ahead. Get the trail of 6 rings, then take the rail they point to (there's nothing exclusive to the top path here). You'll land on a series of horizontal drums that transfer you automatically. From the second drum, jump and blast to grab a 5 box, for 409, then proceed up as usual to the vertical drum. 5 rings await off the top of this, but this box has a notorious history of stranding you in a fall down to nowhere after you hit it. Be careful. Get to the horizontal drum (which is where the top path at the rail junction intersects with you again, after some useless run-ins with electric barriers) and get 9 rings ahead for 423.

You'll bounce out of another set of colored pits. A tip to make life easier: If you still have a shield at this point, run up to the Hornet enemy to attract its attention, and let it shoot you with bombs! Go back to the pits. The yellow one is empty here, so don't bother, but the red pit has 7 loose rings. If you don't hit them on the way down, don't worry; the spring recenters you automatically so you'll get them on the way up. Go forward and run off the edge; the right side here hides 15 rings and a 1-up. Cross the last checkpoint with 445 rings (439 for GameCube players?), and you'll get your (non-lightning) shield back so that you can safely absorb one more hit. Just a bit longer and you'll be home free!

You can use springs here, or you can jump between drums. If you spring to the right side, you'll land on a drum with a 20 box (cue the Sonic 2 special stage home-stretch text: 45 RINGS TO GO!). There's a 1-up to the left, but as far as rings go that 20 is all you get here. Go forward to the pulley, wipe out the Chaos enemy at the top, and blast to the drum.

Of course there's another pulley at the top here, and it leads to the mystic shrine. Play it (this is why you should have taken that hit to lose the shield--lightning shield doesn't really work here). Remember to wait about 4 seconds after the first rings appear, or else the light dash will only take you through 7 and you'll be abandoned over a void and left to fall and die. After the second half appears, take the light dash (30 RINGS TO GO!) and get the 10 box at the bottom (20 RINGS TO GO!). Now head up, getting the first 10 and the second which is just beyond an electric barrier (0 RING TO GO!). There are some more barriers to deal with before getting to the top. You already have all 510 (504) rings, and there's a 1-up here. Now all you have to do is get to the end.

You have three choices, standing on what seems like the top of the world (except it's the middle of almost-empty space).

1. Spindash jump backwards in the level, hoping to land somewhere among the complex of drums, then proceed forward as you did before. Tilt the camera so that you know which way you have to aim, and let fly. It's a long way over there, a distance of 15 light-dash rings and then some, but you have a long way to fall, and you can make it.
2. If you're going to be making long jumps into blackness, why not get a more immediate reward? Try jumping forward in the level instead. The problem here is it's a completely blind jump, and you run the additional risk of crashing into a meteor (just think of how you'd handle the loss of 510 rings after blowing your shield on an electric barrier).
3. Go down slowly. Head back to the drum and run down it, then get off at the bottom and spring back to where you came from. It's not a risk-free option--there are still electric barriers you have to avoid--but you have a lot more control this way.

If you got back safely, then just rocket down to the long double drum, with no chance of meteor strikes, then just blast the spring at the bottom. You've made it, and if you followed this guide then you'll have the All-Ring A and possibly even a Double-A! That's 10 minutes you'll never have to go through again (plus however long is accounted for by failed runs). But aren't you glad you did it, just once?