In these segments, the player controls Sonic in an auto-running game using an isometric perspective, and must collect rings while dodging oncoming hazards.

The player must collect a target number of rings in order to advance to the next phase of the interrogation, with these minigames rising in difficulty as the game progresses.

[1] To celebrate Amy Rose's birthday, she and her friends Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Espio, Vector, Rouge, Blaze, and Shadow gather in the Mirage Express, a train designed for special events, to participate in a murder mystery game.

Shortly after the game is meant to begin, the train speeds up suddenly and causes Barry, Amy, and Tails to be thrown back into a storage closet and knocked unconscious.

Using evidence they gathered along the way, Tails and Barry determine that Espio was the villain of the murder mystery game, and knocked Sonic out with a blowdart.

Unbeknownst to Espio, he had been following instructions given by the train itself, which is revealed to have been converted into a giant badnik by Doctor Eggman as part of a scheme to take control of various cities' infrastructure.

[6][7][8] The game was inspired by the Victorian murder mystery party theme, and characters were matched to roles that the development team felt made sense for them.

[2] Cream the Rabbit and Charmy Bee were considered for inclusion as suspects in the game, but the team ultimately decided against it, believing they would be too young to participate.