Primary Collection of Cheats
Radiant Emerald course
Finish in first place on each normal course.
Play as Dr. Robotnik
Finish in first place in the in the Radiant Emerald course. Alternately, successfully complete all levels.
Play as Super Sonic
Collect all seven chaos emeralds from the first four courses.
Play as Hyper Metal Sonic
Collect all five coins on Resort Island.
Play as same character
Select multi-player mode, then highlight a character, hold [Change View] and press [Action].
Play as robot form character
Get the five Sonic coins in the following levels:
Metal Sonic: Resort Island
Metal Tails: Radical City
Metal Knucles: Reactive Factory
Metal Robotnik: Any level with Robotnik
Course close-up:
Press Up and Down to zoom in and out at the course selection screen.
Control title screen logo
Press the direction controls at the title screen to rotate the "R". Press [Change View] to change the color.
Skip credits
Hold [Action] + [Accelerate] + [Change View] and press [Start].
View demo
Press [Action] + [Accelerate] to view the demo, or bypass the Sega and "Traveler's Tales" screens.
Slow characters down
Go to the options menu and select "Controls". Set them to whatever you are comfortable with, then when you get down to "Drift", set X for left and V for right. Then when you want to slow a character down, Amy works well, go to their side and drift into them. It will slow them down considerably. They will be left in the back to accelerate again while you are hurrying past him/her.
Radical City shortcut
Select any Sonic form (Sonic, Super Sonic, Mecha Sonic) and go to Radical City. When you get down to the dip in the track, turn left and keep going. Pass the 20 rings door and you should see a line of rings. Keep going and jump past the barrier in the bend of the road on your left. Then, go left again. If you look at the map, you should see that you skipped a chunk of the level.
Use Knuckles at the start. At the dip, jump and float. Go down the stream until reaching a ledge and a road below. Go to the road and turn left to find the pinball area. Float above that at the drop. Jump up the gamble bit and take the boost. It is possible to get a time of 32:00 seconds by doing this trick.
Purple Chaos Emerald without opening the gate
With Sonic (requires double jump), Mecha Sonic, and perhaps Mecha Knux, go to location where you would normally get the Purple Chaos Emerald. Do not open the door. Instead, pass it. When you reach the 90 degree right turn, make a 90 degree left turn instead. You will see a road. Jump up there and you will see the Purple Chaos Emerald.