How to Earn Keys for Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Frontiers

Since the start of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the seven Chaos Emeralds have been recurring MacGuffins, vital in Sonic’s endless and assorted quests to plant his foot in a bad guy’s face. The Emeralds have returned in Sonic Frontiers, though this time around, there’s an extra layer of protection between them and Sonic. Here’s how to earn Keys for Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Frontiers.

How to Earn Keys for Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Frontiers

In Sonic Frontiers, each of the Open Zone exploration areas plays home to one or more Chaos Emerald Vaults. As the name probably tipped you off, these Vaults contain one of the seven Chaos Emeralds, the acquisition of which is vital to progress through the game’s campaign. These Vaults are locked up tight, but they’ll open up for a certain number of Vault Keys.

Related: How to Level Up and Get Skill Points in Sonic Frontiers

Vault Keys are your primary mission collectibles in Sonic Frontiers, roughly analogous to Stars in a Mario game. You can see how many Vault Keys Sonic has on hand on the top-left of your game screen, and if you check the locations of Vaults on your map, you can see how many Vault Keys are required to crack one open. When you’ve got enough Keys, you’ll need to physically venture to the Vault to open it, claim the Chaos Emerald, and open the way to further exploration.

The Key to the Future

The primary way to get Vault Keys is by completing missions in Cyber Space levels. Every Cyber Space level has four missions for you to complete; the more missions you complete, the more Vault Keys you get. For example, if you clear two missions on a Cyber Space level, you’ll get two Vault Keys. If you clear all four missions on a particular level, you’ll get four Vault Keys, plus some extra Vault Keys for the completion.

Besides Cyber Space, you can also get Vault Keys by performing a Cyloop in spots marked with a treasure chest icon in the Open Zones, as well as by playing Big’s fishing minigame. As you succeed in the fishing minigame, Big will reward you with Treasure Tokens and Gold Cards, both of which can be traded for stacks of Vault Keys in his trade shop.

If you want to obtain the Chaos Emeralds and proceed with the story, you’ll need to hunt down the entrances to Cyber Space and clear their missions! Hope you’ve got a big keyring for all those Vault Keys.