Here are some tips on how to get A Ranks on levels, as well as tips for specific characters and levels. This may be added onto.
For more information, go to www.gamefaqs.com and look up FAQs for Sonic Adventure 2. There is an A-rank FAQ, but it does not offer tips/strategies, only requirements for scores and times. There are also FAQs for Lost Chao and 100 Ring levels (most of them).
Last Updated: 11/8/07
SCORE EXPLANATION
Scores are calculated by a few different factors. Each time you preform certain actions, your score is increased. The time you finish a level also affects your final score. Dying anytime in a level resets your score to 0. Needless to say, if you want an A-rank, don't die. There are very few exceptions (Lost Chao missions, for example).
Your score is raised whenever you kill an enemy, grab a ring, or preform certain tricks (such as grinding on rails or doing a trick off a ramp). Whenever you get the chance to do a trick, do it. Some levels depend on this for getting A-ranks.
Doing enemy combos and trick combos give you bonus points. These bonus points get added onto the points you already earned. For example, home attacking 2 enemies in a row with Sonic gives you 100 extra points on what you already earn for killing them. But if you only kill one at a time, you don't get that extra bonus.
A-RANK TIPS
1. Always kill the Golden Bot. These guys are worth 1000 points. They only appear once in every level, though. And they only appear when you are close to them. They also disappear if you take too long to kill it, and won't come back. Their positions are the same on each stage, except on some occasions on Hard Mode missions. So before you attempt A-ranks on a mission, find where the Golden Bot is so that's 1000 less points you have to worry about.
2. For Lost Chao missions, your rank depends on your time, rather than score. Use this to your advantage. It means you can die and still get an A-rank. Note that the time you have to get the Lost Chao in for the A-rank is different for each stage.
3. Go for combo attacks and tricks. These basically come into play with everyone except Knuckles/Rouge missions. For Sonic/Shadow, using the Homing Attack on multiple enemies in a row give you a nice big bonus ontop of the enemies normal score points. For Tails/Eggman, hold down the targeting button and get as many enemies locked on as possible before letting it fire. As for tricks, these mainly apply to Sonic/Shadow. Grinding on rails one after another can give you nice bonus points. The max amount of bonus points you can earn in one combo move is 2000 (called "Perfect"). These tend to only show up on Tails/Eggman missions though.
4. Be more concerned with your score instead of your time. Although you do get bonus points for completing a level fast, if you rush through levels too fast, you may miss ways of getting even more points. In some missions, you can get an A-rank even if you get 0 points for time bonus. A perfect example of this is Hard Mode missions for Tails/Eggman (Cosmic Wall and Eternal Engine as a perfect example). I personally got an A-rank on Crazy Gadget Hard Mode with a 0 time bonus, because I killed every enemy I could and preformed enough combos. So before you worry about speed, find out how large you can get your score without a time bonus. Who knows, you may even get an A-rank while doing that. If you've looked for every possible combo and score points you can earn without a time bonus and still fall short, then try to speed yourself up. Because sometimes you do have to rely on being somewhat fast (hey there Metal Harbor).
5. An alternate way to get A-ranks for any mission is to get all the rings on that mission. You will get a "Perfect" count for the rings and it'll give you the A-rank. While this may seem not too bad, keep in mind most levels have massive amounts of rings. You usually can't backtrack easily either, so if you miss ONE ring you may not even get the A-rank. I personally find it harder to do that than to actually do the mission normally for the A-rank. But if you're determined to get it that way, good luck on the levels with 500 rings. And good luck doing it on the 4th missions.
6. 100 Ring missions are like Lost Chao missions, based on time only. You have to get 100 Rings before a certain time to get that A-rank. So don't waste your time killing enemies unless they're blocking your path or a threat. Go right for rings fast as possible. These are usually fast and easy A-ranks, except the hunter stages (read more on that below). If you get hit during this, just restart.
CHARACTER TIPS
***Sonic/Shadow***
1. Home attack combo as much as possible. These gain you lots of extra points.
2. Grind every rail you can, they usually give you points, especially when you combo grind rails in a row.
***Tails/Eggman***
1. Hold down the targeting button and spin your laser target-er around to get as many enemies locked on as possible before releasing the button to shoot them all. These give you huge combos and these large bonus point combos are required for pretty much all their missions.
2. Don't get hit when trying to do a combo. If you get hit during the combo, you won't get the bonus points. This is mostly an issue for Cosmic Wall for Eggman. Those blasted blue enemies have massive range of attack. The fact that the GC version requires you to get 100,000 points as opposed to the Dreamcast version's 50,000 points makes it all the worse.
3. Try to milk groups of enemies for points if possible. As stated before, 2000 is the max bonus points you can get from a combo. If you target the required amount of enemies to get 2000, try to leave any extra enemies alive so you can gain even MORE points after you kill off the first wave. Eggman's Weapon Bed level is a perfect example of this with the stationary enemies you see at the beginning and throughout the level. If you target too many you'll get less points in the end than if you only go for 2000 bonus points at a time.
***Knuckles/Rouge***
Note: I refer to the 3 objects you have to get as "items". So just replace item with "shard/gem/key/whatever". Mostly they're shards of the Master Emerald though.
1. The amount of bonus points you get when you find an item depends on two factors. One is time. If you take too long to find it, your bonus points go down. The second depends on how many hints you use. You can use up to 3 hints per item you're hunting. Not using any hints and being fast for each item can give you 2000 bonus points an item. That's 6000 points right there if you get them all fairly fast. And assuming you got all 3 fast, you'll get a nice time bonus too, giving you almost a guaranteed A-rank. Even if you miss one 2000 bonus point, as long as it's a decent amount you can still get an A.
2. Golden Bots do exist on the hunter levels, so go for them. Assuming the Golden Bot isn't too far out of a levels basic path, 1000 points can save you if you happen to have a little trouble finding an item.
3. Don't be afraid to kill enemies in your way. Don't forget you still get points for killing regular enemies. While there really aren't that many enemies in these type of levels, you might as well kill most things in your way to get those points. You never know if you'll have needed them.
4. Hard Mode mission items are always in the same place. The hard part about the Hard Mode missions is finding the items the first time. Once you find them, just Restart the level and speed run your way to them. Don't use any hints and be somewhat fast and you'll easily get 2000 bonus points an item, for an easy A-rank. I personally find the Hard Mode A-ranks easier than the normal ones. Although, finding them initially is the hard part. But you can look up the Hunter FAQ on Gamefaqs if you're totally stumped on where they are.
5. It's hard to find items outside of Hard Mode missions without using hints. I find the best method is to glide around basic parts of the level until you start detecting one. If you haven't detected the first one for about 15 seconds, just restart. After you find the first item, it's a safe bet the second item isn't near you. Try gliding to another basic area.
6. Keep in mind it's still possible to get an A-rank while using a hint or two. So if you've gotten the first two items with 2000 bonus points each, don't ruin it by never finding where the last one is. Just grab a hint and find it quickly. The time bonus may save you if you're under 3-4 mins.
7. Alternately, you can memorize (writing down is easier) what all the hints point to. So going to 3 monitors per item and writing down where they all go to means you can do the A-rank attempt by using only one hint per item. It's a fairly safe method if you don't mind writing things down. Just remember to pause while you're looking up where the hint tells you to go so you don't waste your definite needed time bonus points for this.
8. For 100 ring missions, you are ranked on time. The time is very slim on these. It would be wise to search the entire level for all the rings you can find while recording it. Then watch it and write down the best order to get all the rings in. Also note that you CANNOT dig up rings on the 100 Ring Missions. Alternately, you can look up a FAQ if you don't mind doing it that way. I personally find the Knuckles/Rouge missions to be the hardest of the 100 Ring missions, only because the rings are rare.
LEVEL TIPS
**Metal Harbor**
Description: Metal Harbor can be one of the hardest Sonic missions to get an A-rank on, right up there with Final Rush, if not harder. This is because you MUST get as many points as possible AND be fast enough to get enough time bonus points. And most people don't know all the tricks to it.
Mission 1 & 4 score tips: There are a few overlooked chances to increase your score in this level. The biggest one is near the final part with the space rocket. Instead of going off the bouncer onto the rocket, if you jump off to the left of the rocket when you reach the top, enemies will appear. Homing on them gives you a pretty big combo of bonus points. The downside is that you must do this flawlessly. When you kill the last enemy and fall back on the platform, you take the speed booster up the ramp and you'll see rings that you can Light Dash or whatever it's called up to the Bouncers. Trust me when I say you have to be perfect. You will be down to the last second. But it is basically the only way to pull off an A-rank. You need these points. Practice rushing up to the top without getting caught on any walls.
The other overlooked chance to score some points is right after the Light Dash that brings you onto the platform where the air crafts try to bomb you. As soon as you land on that platform, touch the booster but jump over the second booster. To the left of the second set of boosters there's some enemies that will appear in a line. Home attack them up to the Extra Life. This will give you some much needed bonus points. You may be able to still get an A-rank without doing this assuming you do the trick in the combo above, but I wouldn't personally risk it. This ones much easier to pull off anyway.
**Death Chamber**
Description: This can be quite a frustrating level to get all A-ranks on.
Mission 1 & 4 score tips: Although I can't say this with 100% confidence, it still has always worked for me. In the attempts I've made for A-rank, it always appears as if a key is in each color area. In other words, there should never be a key in the same color area, such as two keys in the red area, or green area. This being said, it makes it much easier to get A-rank by gliding through the red area right away (which is where you start off). If you're lucky you'll find a key right away. If not, glide to the blue or green area. If you went through one of those areas and still haven't detected a key, restart and try until you find your first key in the first two areas you go through (red + either blue or green).
After the first key is found, note where you found it. If you found it in the blue area, go to red or green next. The key should be in either of the other two areas. It's a gamble, but it's a small level, so if it's not in one area you should be able to get to another area rather quick. Once you get the second one, simply search the last color area you haven't yet for that last key. I don't remember, but there's a small chance a key might show up in that center area. But even if it is you should still be okay, as you will most likely go through there anyway as you go through each area, since the center room connects them all. And as you already should know, you have to know this level really well. Getting lost is a good way to not get an A-rank.
**Meteor Herd**
Description: The biggest Knuckles level, and perhaps the most annoying Knuckles level.
Mission 1 & 4 score tips: Just like with Death Chamber, there is usually a pattern. I'd suggest immediately going towards the tower structure (where you fought Rouge) and taking the Rocket there up. If you're lucky you'll detect a shard right away. If not, keep taking rockets up until you get to the top. My theory is that only one shard will be at the top (if any). If you get to the top and haven't detected a shard, try Drill Clawing down until you detect one. If you hit the ground without detecting one, restart and repeat. After you find that first shard, chances are the second and third ones won't be near it. So finishing out the top of the level, aka hardest to get to area, makes it much easier to find the others. Again, you might want to do some practice runs to find some common patterns of where the shards may show up.
**Cosmic Wall**
Description: Eggman's final mission. If you're playing the Dreamcast version, this is probably a cakewalk level. 50,00 points or less are nothing. But for the Gamecube version, the required score has been DOUBLED to 100,000 points. I can see why they raised it, but 80,000 would have been more reasonable for such a long level.
Mission 1 & 4 score tips: Even though they raised the score to about 80,000 (I forget the actual score), it's still not too bad. This level gives you lots and lots of chances to pull off 2000 bonus point combos. Don't pass up too many of them if you want that A-rank. Also be careful about the blue enemies hitting you. It's not so bad here as in Hard Mode, but you don't want to lose 2000 bonus points from a fatass blue enemy hitting you last second.
Mission 5: This is hell. A level that is an average of about 7 minutes long is no fun for an A-rank run as it is. But now you have to get 100,000 points. The GOOD news is there's more enemies. The bad news is it's much easier to die, and 100,000 is pretty difficult to get to without pulling off lots of 2000 bonus point combos. On top of that, there are more blue enemies that try to hit you while you attempt to pull off combos. The only thing I can really say for this is to practice mission 5 until you memorize where most of the blue enemies that can attack you from a distance are. This will prepare you to take them out before they can stop your combos. otherwise, you'll lose lots of bonus points. Also let me state to NOT rush this level. Take it slooooow. You will get NOTHING for time bonus.
Good luck on this one, it was the last stage A-rank I went for. It took me only 4 attempts, but when you're doing a 7 minute level while freaking out at every jump and combo, you tend to dread it. I still think 80,000 would have been more reasonable for such a lengthy level.
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