Knuckles' Mine Hunt, also referred to as just Mine Hunt, is a mini-game featured in Sonic Battle, and the only mini game in the game that is available to the single player. However, players can send a copy of Knuckles' Mine Hunt to another Game Boy Advance system that does not possess a Game Pak with a Link Cable. It is unlocked after clearing Knuckles' episode in Story Mode.

Gameplay[]

Knuckles' Mine Hunt is essentially a Sonic-themed version of the classic Minesweeper. Taking control of Knuckles, the objective of the game is to clear a rectangular, Chao Ruins-based board containing hidden mines without detonating any of them.

Knuckles' Mine Hunt is divided into stages with their own rounds where the player has to uncover hidden mines. When starting a stage, mines will be scattered throughout the aforementioned board. This board is divided into square cells, which have three states: uncovered, covered and marked. A covered cell is blank and interactable, while an uncovered cell has a hole in it, either containing a number (the number of mines adjacent to it within a one-cell radius), nothing, or a mine. When turning a covered cell into a uncovered one, the player makes Knuckles dig into it, and if it bears a mine, the player receives a Game Over. A marked cell is similar to a covered one, in the way that mines are not triggered when a cell is marked, and it is impossible to lose through the action of marking a cell. However, marking a cell implies that a player thinks there is a mine underneath, which causes the game to deduct an available mine from the display.

If there are no mines adjacent to a particular cell when uncovering it, the cell will display an empty hole, and all adjacent cells will automatically be uncovered. Also, when marking a cell, a Neutral Chao will appear above it. Note though that marked cells are still covered, but cannot be be turned into an uncovered one. However, the player can remove the Chao from it again, thus turning it from a marked cell into an uncovered one again.

To progress properly with this mini game, players must logically deduce where mines exist through the use of the numbers given by uncovered cells. To win a stage, all non-mine cells must be uncovered and marked with the same number of Chao as there is mines. After that, the player will advance to the next stage. However, due to what appears to be a design oversight, there is no way to end Knuckles' Mine Hunt once it has begun. However, no data is lost by turning off the system while playing Knuckles' Mine Hunt, meaning players will not lose their highscore when they decide to end the mini game by turning off the power.

To move around on the board, use , and to uncover a cell, press . Also, to mark a cell with a Chao, press , and to unmark it, press again.