Disclaimer: This is my first post on this forum; I am using some of the info from the Retro Wiki but will try to type it in my own words instead of just copying. Sonic 3 & Knuckles is my favorite game when it comes to the first 4 games (1, 2, CD, 3&K) and when I found out about Sonic 3 Complete from the dead man Cybershell from his "Best Way To Play Sonic 3" video in 2016, I fell in love with this hack! When I looked up some more info online and found the Retro Wiki(S3C Link), that's what started my journey to joining this forum! Sonic 3 Complete delivers more than just adding 3 & Knuckles together on the same cartridge, it fixes some problems that came with splitting up the game, makes Tails more of an involved character (new intro, “Continue?” screen, etc.), adds the music changes from the PC release S&K Collection and a lot more that there is a big list of every change that has happened on the Retro Wiki (Here's The List). I made this review because I really wanted to address the amount of effort that went into this hack. They fixed the sprites for when Knuckles is fighting the Flying Battery Act 2 Boss, fIxed the Super/Hyper sprites to now show Sonic's change in form, added Tails’ flight without a second player, made it so that Super forms have a second button to push for transformation by default, added the Super Peel-Out move from CD and more features that you can change in the Options menu. My favorite changes are the removal of speed caps and the ability to do a peel-out, shield, or both. I am very glad that added that to the game because it makes it a lot more fun for me to try and speedrun the game. I am also glad that they added Battery Night since Flying Battery was supposed to come after Carnival Night Zone and before IceCap Zone with a cutscene to give a new explanation of how Sonic got the snowboard(Now a door that Sonic broke off the FB stage). I could go on and on describing the different changes that came with this hack but that would basically become a list and there is already one made on the Wiki. Congrats to Tiddles, Neo, That One Jig, ValleyBell, Flamewing and Hayate and everyone else apart of the project for making such a great hack that combined the two halves of my favorite game and added much more to it in a big bundle of awesomeness. Thank You Very Much!
No, hacks and modification of existing games, such as the Mega Drive / Genesis titles, are discussed in the engineering & reverse engineering subforum. You should look for the Sonic 3 Complete topic and post your comments there. However, beware that posting in a topic which has been inactive for several months, an action commonly known as "bumping", is frowned upon if you're not adding something extremely meaningful to the conversation. To further clarify, a "fangame" isn't a hack or a modification of an existing game, but rather an original product, either written from scratch in a programming language of choice, or something written within a framework such as Game Maker Studio, Unreal Engine, or whatever, I don't really know anything about these things. There are a few gray area cases such as Clownacy's recreation of Sonic 2 which might be considered a fangame by some, but such cases are rare, the bottom line is that if someone edits a Mega Drive / Genesis game and the outcome is still a Mega Drive / Genesis game, then it goes to the E&RE subforum.
Sonic 3 doesn't have any speed caps. S3C adds speed caps when using the classic control options: air only for Sonic 2 and both air and ground for Sonic 1.
Quick derail, but it's a port, not a recreation. A recreation would be the TaxStealth remasters. Edit: My point was that it'd be weird to call a port a fangame but okay.
I agree with you about the meaning of this hack. Congratulations to all programmers. In addition of these, it is a pity an Android remastered version didn't come to light, all because of MJ legal issues. I still don't know why Headcannon didn' used SKC music for replacement, or composed brand new ones. On other side, it would be amazing that S3K would include only MJ-BB tracks. Maybe it would be interesting making a contest to recompose tracks in their styles for all stages. Thank you for your post //forums.sonicretro.org/public/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.png