Let’s be honest. When Sonic Frontiers first launched, that final encounter with the moon-sized entity known as The End felt like a slap in the face to a lot of people. You spend twenty hours running across massive islands, upgrading your speed, and engaging in some of the most high-octane combat the series has ever seen. Then, you get to the "climax" and it's... a hacking minigame.
It was weird.
If you played the base game at launch, Sonic Frontiers The End felt less like a final boss and more like a Galaga clone that someone forgot to finish. The community was, understandably, pretty loud about it. Sonic Team clearly heard that noise, because the Final Horizon update changed everything. Now, we have two very different versions of the same entity. One is a meditative, slightly frustrating bullet-hell segment, and the other is a multi-stage mechanical nightmare that requires every ounce of skill you've built up.
What Sonic Frontiers The End Actually Is
In the lore, The End isn't just a big rock in the sky. It’s a sentient, primordial force of destruction. It’s the thing that chased the Ancients from their home planet all the way to Earth (or the Starfall Islands). It doesn't have a "form" in the way Chaos or Mephiles does. It just manifests as whatever the observer perceives as death.
For the Ancients, that was a moon.
If you’re playing the vanilla version of the game, you encounter Sonic Frontiers The End after defeating Supreme. You’re suddenly shoved into a vertical scrolling shooter. It’s basically Ikaruga-lite. You switch between light and dark shots to absorb incoming projectiles while chipping away at a massive health bar. It's not bad, but it lacks the scale of the Titan fights like Giganto or Wyvern. The dialogue is actually the best part here. The End taunts Sonic, claiming it has destroyed countless worlds and that Sonic is nothing but a "finitude" trying to stop the infinite.
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The Final Horizon: A Total Overhaul
Everything changed with the Third Update. If you take the portal on Ouranos Island to start the "Final Horizon" story, the encounter with Sonic Frontiers The End is completely replaced. Forget the hacking minigame. This is a full-blown Super Sonic 2 (or Cyber Sonic) showdown.
It is significantly harder.
This version of the fight is a mechanical gauntlet. You aren't just hitting a giant orb anymore. You’re fighting a resurrected, empowered version of Supreme that serves as the conduit for The End. You have to manage your rings—which drain faster than ever—while performing perfect parries and switching targets between Supreme and the literal cord connecting it to the moon.
The Mechanics of the New Fight
You’ve got to master the "Perfect Parry" here. In the base game, you could just hold the shoulder buttons and be invincible. Not here. In the Final Horizon version of Sonic Frontiers The End, the timing windows are tight. If you miss, you lose precious seconds and rings.
One of the most confusing parts for players is the "plug" mechanic. You’ll notice a giant purple energy cord. You can't just mash the attack button on Supreme's face; you have to target the cable, pull it out, and then go for the core. It’s chaotic. It’s fast. It’s exactly what the original ending should have been.
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It’s also surprisingly buggy if you aren't careful. Some players have reported the lock-on system getting wonky when Supreme starts firing its laser arrays. The trick is to stay close. Distance is your enemy in this fight because it gives The End more time to fill the screen with projectiles that you simply cannot dodge without losing your rhythm.
Why the Disconnect Matters
The reason Sonic Frontiers The End is such a massive talking point in the Sonic fandom is because it represents a shift in how SEGA handles feedback. Usually, when a Sonic game has a bad ending (looking at you, Sonic Forces), it stays bad.
But with Frontiers, they basically admitted the original boss was a letdown. Morio Kishimoto, the game's director, was very active on social media during the post-launch period, acknowledging that the team wanted to push the hardware further but ran into "circumstances." That's dev-speak for "we ran out of time and budget."
The "True" End we got in the DLC is a response to that. It’s a masterpiece of spectacle, even if the difficulty spike is enough to make you want to throw your controller into the ocean. It’s the first time in a long time that a Sonic boss felt genuinely threatening. You actually feel like you might lose.
How to Prepare for the Final Encounter
If you’re heading into the Final Horizon version of the fight, don’t go in with base stats. You will get cooked.
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- Max out your Ring capacity. This is non-negotiable. The fight has multiple phases, and your rings act as your timer. If you go in with 400 rings, you’ll likely run out during the final cinematic QTE.
- Practice the Perfect Parry on the map. Don’t wait until the boss to learn the timing. The Ninjas and other Guardians on Ouranos Island are great for this.
- The Cyloop is your best friend. Even in the air, using the Quick Cyloop can help break through defenses or generate a small number of rings in a pinch.
Honestly, the best way to handle Sonic Frontiers The End is to treat it like a rhythm game. There is a flow to Supreme's attacks. Once you see the flash of the laser, you wait a half-second, then parry. Don't spam. Panic-tapping the buttons is the fastest way to a Game Over screen.
The Lore Implications
There’s a lot of debate about whether The End is truly gone. In the original ending, Sage sacrifices herself to stop it. In the new ending, things play out a bit differently, but the result is the same: the threat is neutralized.
However, The End mentions that it is "eternal." In the world of Sonic, "eternal" usually means "see you in five years for a spin-off or a mobile game cameo." But the connection to the Ancients is the real meat of the story. The End isn't a demon or a robot; it’s an eldritch cosmic horror. By defeating it, Sonic effectively finishes the war the Ancients started thousands of years ago. It’s a massive moment for the series' power scaling.
Actionable Tips for Success
To wrap this up, if you’re struggling with the Sonic Frontiers The End boss—specifically the updated version—here is your checklist for victory:
- Lower the Difficulty if Needed: There is no shame in it. On Hard mode, the Parry window is literally frames long. If you just want to see the story conclude, drop it to Easy. The parry becomes a hold-button mechanic again, making the fight 100% more manageable.
- Focus the Cord: When Supreme starts glowing purple, stop attacking the body. Look for the energy tether. That is the only way to open up the "vulnerability" window for massive damage.
- Watch the Ring Count: If you drop below 100 rings, stop being aggressive. Play defensively and wait for the scripted moments where you can recover or push to the next phase.
- Complete the Master King Koco’s Trial: You can't even get to the new ending without doing this. It's a boss rush that forces you to fight the previous Titans with only 400 rings total. If you can pass that, you are technically skilled enough to beat The End.
The End is a polarizing finale to a polarizing game. Whether you prefer the weirdness of the original hacking game or the sheer brutality of the Final Horizon update, it stands as one of the most unique moments in Sonic history. It’s messy, it’s loud, and it’s incredibly ambitious. Just like the rest of Frontiers.