Sonic Adventure

I didn’t intent to write a guide for everything, but I got carried away. This game isn’t that hard aside from fighting w/ the camera and some leaps of faith here and there. Go ahead and run through the game w/ each character and I’ll point out a few things to speed along the A rank emblems.

General tips:
Try to make sure you are familiar w/ the course and keep track of what time you can complete it in. If you know a difficult section in the level is coming up, don’t get the checkpoint right before it or after it so you can restart at a more advantageous part.

Specific characters:
-Sonic;During areas where there are no obstacles or such, tap the X or B button as fast as you can. The initial burst after a Sonic Spin is the fastest you can go w/ out outside influence (speed strip, speed shoes, etc). Keep in mind when you are done Sonic Spinning, you want to be running, don’t let Sonic stay in his rolling ball state, he’ll generate a lot of friction. Unless you are totally proficient w/ shortcuts I don’t recommend them, you are prone to more hazards. And try to stay on the walls in stages like Emerald Coast and Speed Highway, if you don’t make it to the top of the level you should just restart.

-Tail; Get his flying upgrade from under the sewer behind the Twinkle Park entrance and fly as much as possible in his stages. Always fly through the floating rings. Tails’ A ranks are by far the easiest.

-Knuckles; Also easy. I guarantee you’ll land on a hint orb at least once, so just try to avoid these areas if you remember them to snag the B emblem. For his A rank locate all the shards w/ out touching them. Once you’ve laid out a plan to streamline collecting them, restart the stage w/ out exiting. The shards will be in the same place and can be collected within a minute easily.

-Amy;You can hit Zero, but only a certain amount of times before he becomes invincible. When you are at a dead stop or use your hammer when Amy’s not running, immediately jump. You cannot pick up speed very quickly by just running. Jumping is the fastest way to gain speed. When you come across a slope, make sure you are running and use your hammer to leap. This saves you time from running up or down a slope and maintains a lot of momentum.

-Big; I hate fishing and I hate Big, but at the very least I‘m here to offer some 'insight' (I use the term loosely because this is all conjecture on what seems (to me) to work) on how to fish w/ Big.Get all your power ups (locations provided by the generous Xtreme Nights)
Then hop into Trials and enter Twinkle park. The methods I've found useful for fishing are as follows; don't bother w/ X or B, just use A to reel. You can press Down, Left, and Right w/ you LS to tug on the line, but I don't recommend it unless the fish is aggressively swimming away. Now... what I had to actually look in the tutorial for was how to catch the fish once it bites. You have to tug on the line (Down on LS (not the button, the direction), you also have to do this in Hot Shelter to get to the additional area (the plug bit). Now that you have a 'HIT!' on the fish he will swim uncontrollably for a while (until a certain distance or until it runs into some environment). It seems that tugging on the line helps guide the fish and restrain his progression at least a little bit. Now this next part could take 10 seconds or 10 minutes depending on the fish. He will go through bouts of running away and becoming lethargic. When he stops trying to run away reel in as much as possible because this is the only time you can minimize the distance between you two. Also, don't tug on the line. It just seems to me that when you do, you only make the line slack and your fish will gain the courage to run away again that much faster. When he does run away, take it easy on the reeling and try to tug on the line. Try to place yourself at an advantageous spot, forcing the fish to initial swim into a wall and such. All of the fish seem totally random and it may be hard to spot a 2000g fish. Just go for the biggest fish. The pool in Twinkle Park is pretty small and won’t generate that many fish. If you catch the biggest fish in there and he’s only 1900g, exit the level and try again. The levels get bigger and so do the fish. Bare in mind that 2000g+ fish won’t always be in the hidden spot of the level either.

-E102 Gamma; I haven’t played this part recently (since 1999?), but I remember these being easy to obtain. Grab his power-ups before gunning for A rank and you’ll be fine.

I hoped that helped a little bit, guys.

For this achievement, you will have to complete A Rank on all levels with all characters. You will have to go through "C,B, and A Rank" missions. The "C Rank" missions shall be done by simply going through that character's story. The "B and A Rank" missions will be done by going to "Trial" mode. The "B Rank" missions will be done by "Collecting 50 Rings" every time. The "A Rank" missions will always be finishing the level in a certain amount of time.

The only exceptions to these are Big's and Knuckles missions, where you have to catch a 1000G(B Rank) fish and 2000G(A Rank) fish. The only way you can get the B and A Ranks done is by getting all FOUR lure power ups and the Power Rod.

For Knuckles, the "B Rank" mission is getting all the pieces without an orb to help you find it. The "A Rank" missions will always be "Find All The Pieces In 1 Minute", except for "Sky Deck", as that gives you 2 Minutes.

NOTE:You must catch A fish that is 2000G in weight for Big's missions.
Power Up Locations for Big:

Power Rod:This will be located under his bed in the forest.

Lifebelt: This will be located at the part of the Mystic Ruins HUB area where you go to "Ice Cap". Right before you get into the pool of water, take a left and you will see the Life Belt.

Lure 1: This is in the sewer behind the Twinkle Park Entrance.

Lure 2: This will be located in a forest "Cave" in the Mystic Ruins Forest area. Just keep looking for areas that are surrounded by trees that you can travel "Into" and one of them shall have the power up.

Lure 3: This will be located in the "Ice Cap" Action Stage. Break the ice at the start of the level and travel through the cave that is under the ice. Keep going until you see Dinosaur bones.

Lure 4: This will be in one of the Prison Cells where Amy the Hedgehog was held captive in the Egg Carrier.