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8.3/10
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Sonic and Tails attempt to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Knuckles the Echidna, who is working with Doctor Robotnik after Robotnik's space station, the Death Egg, crash-lands on a mysterio... Read allSonic and Tails attempt to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Knuckles the Echidna, who is working with Doctor Robotnik after Robotnik's space station, the Death Egg, crash-lands on a mysterious floating island.Sonic and Tails attempt to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Knuckles the Echidna, who is working with Doctor Robotnik after Robotnik's space station, the Death Egg, crash-lands on a mysterious floating island.
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Did you know
- TriviaSEGA originally hired Michael Jackson as composer for the music on the game but later dropped him over the infamous allegations of child molestation. However, his song writing team carried on without him and it is believed that part of what he had written remained in the game. There are notable similarities between the music recorded for Sonic 3 and music from Jackson's previous recorded tracks from the Dangerous album, and a track from the later released HIStory album (which was composed during the time of the game). For example, there is a sample in the Carnival Night Zone's music that is taken directly from the song "JAM" and the credits theme parallels Michael Jackson's later song, "Stranger in Moscow".
- GoofsWhen you get to the boss at the end of Hydrocity Act 1, it plays the Dr. Robotnik music rather than the mini-boss music. (This goof was fixed for "Sonic 3 & Knuckles".)
- Crazy creditsThe ending credits vary depending on how many Chaos Emeralds you collected throughout the game:
- If you collected all 7 Emeralds, then dolphins are seen following Sonic and Tails' plane. At the end, Sonic and Tails stand beside the Sonic 3 title.
- If you didn't collect them all, birds follow the plane (but no dolphins). At the end Robotnik and Knuckles will be happily juggling the Emeralds you missed over the words "TRY AGAIN."
- ConnectionsFeatured in What's Up Doc?: Episode #2.25 (1994)
Featured review
I would have greatly preferred to have reviewed this and "Sonic & Knuckles" as "Sonic 3 & Knuckles" (as one game) instead of doing them separately, but I guess it's nobody's fault except the limitations of the otherwise awesome Sega Genesis. With that said, I'll do my best in reviewing them both concisely. Anyway, after the monumental heights Sonic 2, it was a bit tricky to determine how to bring the blue blur to even higher heights. Sonic 2 already balanced the great level design and speed, as well as did everything else wonderfully. What could be done? Well, it appears that the answer was to just go nuts and go all out. Make the game as big as can be and make it unforgettable.
And, if you ask me, they not only did it, but also made, if you ask me, the absolute best game(s) on the console, period. The visuals are a lot more varied and full of life than ever before, the music is some of the most diverse and jam packed in a Sonic game ever, the levels are, in my opinion, some of the best ever designed in a Sonic game, the boss battles are inspired and fun to take down, and the blue sphere special stages are easily the best in a Sonic game to date.
While the half pipe special stages in Sonic 2 were fun in their own right, I really wasn't a fan of how big the difficulty spike was. I thought it made the game feel a bit too unbalanced (especially at the end), making for some slightly artificial difficulty, which I cover more about it in my Sonic 2 review. Shameless plug aside, none of these complaints apply here, as the blue sphere special stages have a near perfect difficulty curve. That's not to say they don't get really hard (they most definitely do by the end), but not one of them felt like they were asking too much of the player at once, and the way each blue sphere level is designed is not only fun, but also gradually more challenging with each stage, and is incredibly satisfying to fully grasp and complete-something that I can't quite say about any of the special stages in past games.
Speaking of which, how do you access these ones? Well, instead of hoping you have enough rings at a checkpoint (which still grants you access to mini games for power ups and rings in this game(s)) you find secret areas in each level where you can access the special stages. This brings me to level design. In my eyes, this game(s) has the best levels in any Sonic game to date. Because not only does it focus on speed, but it also incorporates exploration and thoughtful tropes like the wonderfully executed elemental shields that not only protects the player from one hit, but also gives them an ability based off of that element. They're not only fun, but also fit perfectly with the more natural environment aesthetic this game has, and it's a shame that we'd have to wait until "Sonic Mania" to see them again.
All of this helps each level to work wonderfully, as they're not only big and fun to speed around in, but they're consistently interesting, and if you mix that with the fun special stages that'll hook you to keep trying again, these levels are just excellent all around.
Really, the only "flaw" I can think of is that this game, on its own, feels maybe a touch too small (not by a lot, this would still be an okay length if this were it). Though, because this is all technically one half of a much more grand package, I don't really think it counts nowadays, especially what with how easy it is to play the full thing.
Overall, up until "Sonic Mania", this and "Sonic & Knuckles" together would be the closest to perfection the blue blur has seen yet. Sure, one could argue they'd rather just go super fast and not worry too much about exploration like in Sonic 2, but I feel all of what this game(s) brings and improves upon, this game(s) still reigns supreme as one of the best of all time. Plus, who doesn't like Knuckles, who would become one of the most iconic, memorable, and kickass video game characters of all time?
And, if you ask me, they not only did it, but also made, if you ask me, the absolute best game(s) on the console, period. The visuals are a lot more varied and full of life than ever before, the music is some of the most diverse and jam packed in a Sonic game ever, the levels are, in my opinion, some of the best ever designed in a Sonic game, the boss battles are inspired and fun to take down, and the blue sphere special stages are easily the best in a Sonic game to date.
While the half pipe special stages in Sonic 2 were fun in their own right, I really wasn't a fan of how big the difficulty spike was. I thought it made the game feel a bit too unbalanced (especially at the end), making for some slightly artificial difficulty, which I cover more about it in my Sonic 2 review. Shameless plug aside, none of these complaints apply here, as the blue sphere special stages have a near perfect difficulty curve. That's not to say they don't get really hard (they most definitely do by the end), but not one of them felt like they were asking too much of the player at once, and the way each blue sphere level is designed is not only fun, but also gradually more challenging with each stage, and is incredibly satisfying to fully grasp and complete-something that I can't quite say about any of the special stages in past games.
Speaking of which, how do you access these ones? Well, instead of hoping you have enough rings at a checkpoint (which still grants you access to mini games for power ups and rings in this game(s)) you find secret areas in each level where you can access the special stages. This brings me to level design. In my eyes, this game(s) has the best levels in any Sonic game to date. Because not only does it focus on speed, but it also incorporates exploration and thoughtful tropes like the wonderfully executed elemental shields that not only protects the player from one hit, but also gives them an ability based off of that element. They're not only fun, but also fit perfectly with the more natural environment aesthetic this game has, and it's a shame that we'd have to wait until "Sonic Mania" to see them again.
All of this helps each level to work wonderfully, as they're not only big and fun to speed around in, but they're consistently interesting, and if you mix that with the fun special stages that'll hook you to keep trying again, these levels are just excellent all around.
Really, the only "flaw" I can think of is that this game, on its own, feels maybe a touch too small (not by a lot, this would still be an okay length if this were it). Though, because this is all technically one half of a much more grand package, I don't really think it counts nowadays, especially what with how easy it is to play the full thing.
Overall, up until "Sonic Mania", this and "Sonic & Knuckles" together would be the closest to perfection the blue blur has seen yet. Sure, one could argue they'd rather just go super fast and not worry too much about exploration like in Sonic 2, but I feel all of what this game(s) brings and improves upon, this game(s) still reigns supreme as one of the best of all time. Plus, who doesn't like Knuckles, who would become one of the most iconic, memorable, and kickass video game characters of all time?
- MegaWatOfficial
- Jul 26, 2022
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