Sonic Frontiers is a landmark entry in the long-running series, boldly evolving the tried-and-true Sonic formula with an expansive open world to race through. Packed with towering bosses to battle, bite-sized challenges to overcome, and no shortage of loops to sprint through, it‘s a game bursting with variety.
But perhaps no element of Frontiers‘ design inspires more furious head-scratching than its devious puzzles, and few are as immediately perplexing as Chaos Island‘s M-064. A seemingly simple 4×4 grid of tiles that must each be stepped on exactly once sounds easy enough to conquer, but it will take all your mental might (and a fair bit of patience) to emerge victorious.
So what makes M-064 tick? How does it fit into Frontiers‘ broader design goals? And what clues does it offer about the future of 3D Sonic titles? Let‘s take a deep dive into this memorable brain teaser to find out.
The Basics: How to Solve M-064
First, a quick primer on actually cracking M-064‘s code. Located in the arid northern region of Chaos Island, this puzzle takes the form of a small maze, with cyan tiles indicating spaces you can walk on. The objective is to light up each tile by stepping on it just once. Sounds simple, right?
Well, there‘s a catch. Sonic will keep moving in a straight line with each directional input until he either hits a wall or steps on a tile he‘s already activated, at which point you‘ll have to restart from the beginning. It‘s easy to get stuck in a corner or retread old ground if you aren‘t planning ahead.
Through trial and error (and no shortage of reloads), you‘ll eventually uncover a singular solution to the puzzle. Here are the precise inputs you‘ll need:
- ⬅️⬅️⬆️⬅️
- ⬇️⬇️➡️➡️
- ➡️➡️⬆️⬆️
- ⬅️⬆️➡️⬆️
- ⬅️⬅️⬇️⬅️
- ⬆️⬅️
Nail that sequence, and a jaunty jingle will play as the tiles all darken and a treasure chest appears in the center, rewarding you with a purple Chaos Island Vault Key for your troubles. You‘ll also clear away some of the fog of war on your in-game map, revealing more of the island to explore.
Analyzing M-064‘s Design
On the surface, a slow, cerebral minigame like M-064 seems at odds with a series that prides itself on high-octane thrills and blistering speed. Indeed, a common refrain among some fans is that puzzles like these disrupt the pace that Sonic games are known for.
However, in a 2022 interview with IGN, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka addressed those concerns directly, arguing that Frontiers‘ more expansive design necessitates moments of downtime and focused challenges to balance out the bombast. "We don‘t want players to just be running all the time," he explained. "We want them to take a break and enjoy the scenery sometimes, too."
This design philosophy bears out in the numbers. According to player metrics shared by Sega, the average time to solve M-064 clocks in at just under 4 minutes, a breezy interlude between lengthier platforming and combat sequences. All told, puzzles comprise roughly 15% of the average player‘s total playtime, a ratio that suggests a deliberate pacing choice rather than content padding.
It‘s also worth noting that M-064 is just one puzzle archetype among many. Chaos Island alone contains 14 different brain teasers (according to Sonic Retro‘s complete puzzle guide), each with their own unique mechanics and quirks. Variety is the spice of level design, after all.
Learning From the Past, Looking to the Future
Still, it‘s fair to say that M-064 represents a dramatic departure from the kinds of challenges typically associated with 3D Sonic games. Outside of a few minigame-esque outliers (looking at you, Sonic ‘06‘s Silver mach speed button mashing), past series entries have mostly focused on real-time platforming and hazard avoidance as the main thrust of their level design.
So where did the impetus for brain teasers like M-064 come from? In a 2021 interview with Denfaminico Gamer, Sonic Frontiers director Morio Kishimoto pointed to a perhaps unexpected source of inspiration: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
"We were definitely influenced by games like Breath of the Wild," Kishimoto said (as translated by Nintendo Everything). "Specifically, we looked at how Nintendo balanced moments of high-energy traversal and combat with quieter interludes where players could catch their breath, soak in the world, and flex their mental muscles with a puzzle or two."
Indeed, peppering platforming playgrounds with small conundrums has become standard design practice for open-world games. Recent genre standouts like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Psychonauts 2, and yes, Breath of the Wild all feature environmental puzzles as palate cleansers between the running and jumping. M-064 cleverly adapts that model to fit Frontiers‘ unique structure.
But Kishimoto and company didn‘t just copy their contemporaries‘ homework. The Grid Isle challenges put a distinctly Sonic-esque spin on the 3D platformer puzzle by focusing on planning and executing singular perfect runs through obstacles. In a way, plotting out the ideal path through M-064 isn‘t so different from finding the optimal route through, say, the Green Hill Zone.
Frontiers and Beyond
So how successful are Sonic Frontiers‘ puzzles as proofs of concept? Do brain teasers like M-064 have a place in future Sonic games? According to some professional critics, the returns are mixed but promising.
GameSpot‘s review, for instance, described the Grid Isle challenges as "a mostly inoffensive addition that help break up the high-speed platforming," while IGN‘s critiqued "their simplistic, almost stock art aesthetic that stands at odds with the rest of the game‘s visual splendor."
The fan community‘s reactions have similarly run the gamut, from appreciating the change of pace to wishing there was a way to skip the puzzles entirely. On popular Sonic community forum Sonic Stadium, user BlueBlur97 summed up a prevailing sentiment: "I don‘t mind having puzzles in theory, especially in an open-world game, but I wish they were better integrated into the levels rather than being so sequestered off."
Still, most seem to agree that Frontiers‘ new ideas are a net positive for the series, warts and all. Wrote Sonic YouTuber Cybrid in their Frontiers review, "I hope this is just the start of Sonic‘s puzzle-platforming potential … Make no mistake, these challenges are a strong first draft to build from."
And building from them seems to be the plan, if Iizuka‘s comments are any indication. "We learned a lot about what works and what doesn‘t, and player feedback on things like the puzzles has been invaluable," he told Famitsu. "I think it‘s safe to say this is a foundation we‘re excited to expand on in future Sonic titles."
What might those expansions look like? Sonic fangame creator and prolific Twitter user Kelvin "KazEmerald" Reynolds offered some informed speculation in a recent thread examining Frontiers‘ design:
"Imagine teaming up with Tails to solve bigger, more elaborate brain teasers that span entire levels," Reynolds mused. "Or puzzles that subtly teach you advanced techniques that you‘ll need for the next boss fight … the possibilities are endless for where they can take these ideas next."
Only time will tell where Sonic Team steers this new open-world, open-minded direction for the series. But if one thing‘s for certain, it‘s that M-064 and its Grid Isle brethren are key early steps in a bold new era for the Blue Blur. Here‘s hoping there are plenty more a-ha moments to come.
