Big Squeeze

The Big Squeeze is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is a giant trash compactor onboard the Flying Battery that Dr. Eggman used as a trap for Sonic and his friends twice.

The Big Squeeze's main components are two large flat blocks with yellow and black hazard stribes on the edges. These two blocks each have a large hydraulics mounted on their backside. On top of these two blocks are a rail that carries a gray and yellow mechanism with a blue electromagnet. This mechanism moves along the rail via wheels.

As per its purpose, the Big Squeeze can compress trash into manageable and wrapped bales. In terms of strength, it can squeeze already dense piles of scrap metal from various Badniks and other devices into even smaller blocks. The Big Squeeze's electromagnet gives it a degree of magnokinesis. The magnetism the Big Squeeze creates and its ability to control it is advanced enough to let it manipulate Badnik parts into forming new robots, which the Big Squeeze holds together and moves through magnetism.

Sonic Mania
In Sonic Mania, the Big Squeeze was used as a trap by Dr. Eggman after Sonic, Tails and Knuckles go onboard the ship. With the press of a button while the heroes were stuck on the other side of a force-field, Eggman dumped Sonic and co. into the Big Squeeze to be crushed. While the trio stopped the Big Squeeze in time, it still managed to compress enough of its scrap to deposit both it and Sonic and his crew from the Flying Battery. Fortunately for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, they were saved in the last moment by a crate mover.

Sonic Mania Plus
In Sonic Mania Plus, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty and Ray had managed to catch up to Dr. Eggman onboard the Flying Battery, only for the doctor to drop them into a rebuilt Big Squeeze while they were stuck behind a force-field. Before the machine could crush them however, the group stopped it. Still, the Big Squeeze had compressed enough trash to initiate its deposing procedure, resulting in Sonic and co. being deposited from the ship. Fortunately for Sonic and his friends, they were saved in the last moment by a crate mover.

Boss Guide
The Big Squeeze is the mini-boss of Flying Battery Zone and the seventh overall boss of Sonic Mania and Sonic Mania Plus. It is fought at the end of Flying Battery Zone Act 1.

In Sonic Mania, the Big Squeeze is fought with Sonic, Tails or Knuckles. In Sonic Mania Plus, it is fought with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty or Ray.

The battle begins once the player is dropped into a pit of discarded robots by Dr. Eggman. The battle is against the electromagnet on the ceiling, which attracts pieces of the broken robots and turns them into functional Badniks. While it is forming the Badniks, touching the electromagnet will damage the player. The strategy is to jump on these Badniks it creates to gain enough height to hit the electromagnet.

Each time one of the Badniks is destroyed, the blocks of the pit will close slightly, decreasing the amount of available space and eventually crushing the characters if the boss is not defeated quickly enough, resulting in a loss of a life. With less space however, the pit piles up in height, which will eventually allow the player to hit the electromagnet with just a jump. Once it has been hit six times, the player has beaten the mini-boss. The player can then touch the Goal Plate that drops from the sky and finish the Act.

Knuckles will have to wait longer to be able to hit the boss due to his gimped jump. It is also impossible for him to climb on the blocks. However, it is possible to gain altitude by gliding into the reanimated Badniks and potentially score early hits.

Using a Lightning Shield will allow one to bypass the electromagnet without taking damage even as it creates Badniks. Thus if playing as Sonic, the player can easily defeat the Big Squeeze due to the Double Jump ability granted by said shield.

After its defeat, the playable character will be dropped into a pit by the Big Squeeze, only to be rescued by a Grabber-based gimmick which carries them to safety.