Alas, beating Mecha Sonic isn’t as simple as unlocking Mirror Mode. Thankfully, there are a selection of pro tactics to make this fight a lot easier in Sonic Origins.
And best of all, you don’t need lightning reflexes to defeat the final sub-boss. If you’ve got this far, you’ll be able to perform all the methods detailed below.
How to Defeat Mecha Sonic in Sonic Origins
Go for the Cheapshot
Believe it or not, Mecha Sonic isn’t all that tough to beat once you understand its attack patterns.
The first thing anyone wants to do is get in some cheap hits. Mecha Sonic will slowly descend along the right side of the screen. We can use this to our advantage.
Position Sonic under Mecha Sonic as it comes down, but slightly to the left. It only needs to be a few pixels to the left, and the reason being Mecha Sonic’s spikes on its back can damage Sonic. By moving slightly to the left, you avoid those spikes.
Now comes the fun part. Hammer the hell out of spindash. Just keep revving it. As Mecha Sonic lands directly into your spinning ball of death, it’ll take damage. With this method you can safely get three hits of the total eight hits in. You can actually get four, but it’s best to play it safe and release the spindash after three so you can speed away to the other side of the screen before it curls up into a ball again.
The Other Five Hits
With an average of three hits landed, you’ve now only got to hit Mecha Sonic another five times to beat it.
You’ve got a few options here. The most obvious one is when Mecha Sonic ends its spindash and unfurls, perform a jump attack onto its face area. Not the top of the head, the face area. Going for the top of the head means you could accidentally hit the head spikes at the back, which results in an instadeath. Don’t do that. It’s not worth the risk.
The next option, and this is safer than going for the face, is to charge to the area Mecha Sonic was last in. So if Mecha Sonic rolls from the left side of the screen to the right, you dive into the left-most corner.
Next, get a spindash readied and revved. As soon as Mecha Sonic opens up, let go of the button. Sonic will then spindash into Mecha Sonic and damage it, but Sonic will then naturally bounce back to his original positioning, meaning you’re at a safe distance and can react to the next attack.
The final tactic, and this is for those who like to live dangerously, when Mecha Sonic performs the rush attack, rather than jumping over it, instead wait for Mecha Sonic to get within a pixel of Sonic. Now just jump. That’s it. Really.
For some reason, this will damage Mecha Sonic as normal, but the game doesn’t register any of Mecha Sonic’s spikes hitting Sonic.
In practice, Sonic will perform a small jump, damage Mecha Sonic, and come out unscathed.
Of course, that method requires a certain level of practice and timing, but when you get it down, it’s a really easy way to get hits on Mecha Sonic. Especially if it does two of the rush attacks back-to-back.
Mecha Sonic’s Attacks
Rolling spindash: Mecha Sonic rolls up into a ball and spins directly from one side of the screen to the other.
Jumping spindash: A spindash attack but instead of rolling from one side of the screen to the other, Mecha Sonic spins vertically across the middle area of the screen.
Jumping spindash with projectiles: Same as the jumping spindash, but with small spike projectiles launched from the centre of the screen in a star formation.
Rush attack: Mecha Sonic revs its spikes then charges from one side of the screen to the other.
How to Dodge Each Attack
Rolling spindash: To dodge this move, simply stand on the opposite side of the screen to Mecha Sonic. When Mecha Sonic launches its attack, press the jump button when it reaches the middle of the screen with the intention of landing in the spot directly opposite to it.
Jumping spindash: The hardest thing about this attack is to not react to it in the same way you would the regular spindash. Mecha Sonic will jump through the middle section of the screen, so if you jump as well, you’ll meet in the middle. That’s very bad.
Instead, while standing in the opposite corner, wait for Mecha Sonic to launch the attack. Once you’ve made a snap decision as to whether it’s going to do the rolling or jumping spindash, that’s where you act. If it’s the jumping attack, the safest way to avoid it is to move to the middle of the screen.
Alternatively, and this is how I do it, charge a one-rev spindash and let it rip. This will move Sonic to the opposite corner, keeping him safe from getting hit and leaving him readied for the following attack.
Jumping spindash with projectiles: This attack is basically the same as the above but instead of just jumping, Mecha Sonic now fires out mini-spikes.
If you chose to run Sonic into the middle of the screen to avoid the jumping portion of the attack, there’s every chance the Blue Blur will get hit if you’re not careful. They are small though, so avoiding them is just a light tap to the left or right.
The safest way to avoid the spikes is to casually spindash from one corner of the screen to the other. It doesn’t need more than one rev to perform. Just hit down, rev once, then release. It’s that straightforward. Time it when Mecha Sonic first launches into the air and you’ll avoid both Mecha Sonic and its spikes.
Rush attack: This attack is the easiest to avoid by a clear mile. Either jump over it or wait until Mecha Sonic is within a pixel’s distance and press jump. Sonic will damage Mecha Sonic but won’t take any damage in the process.
How to Beat Mecha Sonic with Cheats
If all else fails, cheat. Mecha Sonic and the Death Egg Robot aren’t the fairest bosses in the world. They’d both be manageable if the player could collect a handful of rings to offset getting hit, but for some reason Sega thought otherwise and changed the fundamental laws of what makes Sonic boss fights work.
If Mecha Sonic is whooping you every which way from Sunday, there’s no shame in turning to cheats.
We’ve got a Sonic Origins cheats guide to walk you through the process of enabling level select, debug mode, and turning into Super Sonic without collecting any chaos emeralds, so once you’ve got the cheats up and running, this fight becomes a cakewalk.
If you want to play it fairly, use debug mode to give yourself three rings. This, in my opinion, is how the Mecha Sonic and Death Egg robot fights should have been. It’s much more balanced and doesn’t punish the player too harshly for slight missteps.
Alternatively, if you really want to break the game, why not use debug mode to drop a Super Sonic box? This is by far the easiest way to beat Mecha Sonic as it reduces the whole fight to literally standing still while Mecha Sonic damages itself. It’s awful, cheap, and immensely satisfying.
Sonic Origins review code provided by the publisher. Guide tested on PlayStation 5.
