Sonic Frontiers Guide – How to Earn Treasure Tokens, Gold Cards, Purple Coins, and Vault Keys

The various currencies in Sonic Team's "open zone" title form a core part of the gameplay loop. Here's how to easily earn them all.

In Sonic Frontiers, you’ll come across various collectibles. Treasure Tokens are a form of currency, and can be traded for Memory Tokens, Red Seeds of Power, Skill Pieces, Blue Seeds of Defense, and much more.

To collect them, you’ll need to play Big the Cat’s fishing mini-game. Each fish and object earned can then be traded to Big for Treasure Tokens. Here are all of the things you can catch and their worth:

  • Crayfish – One Treasure Token
  • Flying Fish – One Treasure Token
  • Goldfish – One Treasure Token
  • Medaka – One Treasure Token
  • Tadpole – One Treasure Token
  • Black Bass – Three Treasure Tokens
  • Carp – Three Treasure Tokens
  • Poison Dart Frog – Three Treasure Tokens
  • Red Can – Three Treasure Tokens
  • Ring – Three Treasure Tokens
  • Chopper – Six Treasure Tokens
  • Marlin – Six Treasure Tokens
  • Red Stingray – Six Treasure Tokens
  • Elder Koco’s Scroll – Eight Treasure Tokens though it also unlocks fast travel to the Elder Koco if returned.
  • Hermit Koco’s Scroll – Eight Treasure Tokens, though it also unlocks fast travel to the Hermit Koco if returned.

If you fish out some Treasure Boxes, you’ll receive Gold Cards. These can be for items like Memory Tokens, Seeds, Portal Gears and Lost Kocos.

How to Get Purple Coins

Of course, before you can even participate in Big the Cat’s fishing mini-game, Purple Coins are required. These are found throughout the different islands while exploring. Alternatively, collecting Star Pieces during the Starfall event every few nights will initiate a slot machine which can randomly reward Purple Coins. Depending on the island, the price of renting Big’s fishing hole varies, so explore as much as possible for Purple Coins.

How to Get Vault Keys

Vault Keys are necessary for obtaining the Chaos Emeralds, which Sonic will need to harness to transform into Super Sonic. Digital Deluxe Edition owners automatically get 10 Vault Keys to start with but obtaining more forms the core progression loop of the game.

Vault Keys are located in Cyber Space Stages. Each stage has four “missions” or objectives, like reaching the goal, clearing with S Rank time, finding all Red Star Rings, and so on. Completing one mission awards a single Vault Key, but clearing all of them provides bonus Keys.

You can also purchase them from Big the Cat with 15 Treasure Tokens or Gold Cards. If you discover a Treasure Box icon while roaming the map, performing Cyloop could also unearth a Vault Key. Upon obtaining the requisite number of keys, travel to the Chaos Emerald Vault on that island. It will become unsealed, and Sonic can claim the Chaos Emerald inside.

Vault Keys are unique to each island, so excess Keys collected on Kronos Island are useless on Chaos Island. You’ll need to earn Vault Keys from the latter to unseal its Chaos Emerald Vault.

Sonic Frontiers is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Stay tuned for more guides, and check out our official review here.

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