Sonic Generations - High-Rise Balloon Climb

Rooftop Run Classic Challenge 2 High-Rise Balloon Climb Song: Special Stage - Bonus Challenge (Sonic Heroes; comp. Naofumi Hataya) We're into the last ten Sonic Generations videos now, unless extra stuff pops up, at least. This one is High-Rise Balloon Challenge, which features a gimmick not seen anywhere else: They're these helium (or hot-air, I don't know) balloons that rise up out of pumps in the ground. They're not the same kind as the sort for Sonic to Homing Attack and pop, nor are they those big hot air balloons you see in Rooftop Run's background like what I expected. Instead, they're entirely different, probably because they need to be of a size no other balloons in the game have. These balloons do double duty as gimmicks: Sonic can bounce upon the tops of them slightly by jumping up onto them (or standing on a pump when a balloon inflates), or he can grab onto the handle at the bottom. Personally, I prefer the handle, as there's more control over Sonic that way, and he can properly jump off instead of bouncing off, the extra distance covered being required many times here. You'll see the S-Rank time limit is 2 minutes 10 seconds. Let me tell you that this is one of the strictest time limits in the game and, to me, the hardest one for Rooftop Run. The stage is deceptively long; Sonic has to spend much of the time traveling up with these slow balloons, and one mistake can set Sonic back by a lot. That's because the stage goes upwards, the Goal Ring near the spires at the top of the clock tower. The most difficult part for me is easily the last one, where Sonic has to dodge the Aero Cannons (or take the hit; he won't flinch but he'll lose Rings) as he's traveling up a long column of balloons. You'll see Sonic has about 30 seconds left by the time he reaches this part, but it's pretty time-consuming, almost as much as the Rouge mission in Seaside Hill. This song plays in Sonic Heroes's Special Stages when accessed from an odd-numbered stage. You try to score as many points as possible and gain extra lives by doing so. Requested by BlackBeike