Sonic 3 Oddities, Strange Unexplained Things

I've been wanting to ask these questions for a long time and feel now is a good time to actually go ahead with it. When I was a little kid I think I accidentally got my hands on a Pre Release or earlier build of Sonic 3. Back in the day we were big Block Buster people gold cards and everything and were friends with the people who worked in the one in my area. Sonic 3 was expensive so at the time I just kept renting it over and over again to play it along with Sonic and Knuckles later on. Back when Sonic 3 was new and just came out I had by chance gone to a different Block Buster further up in town and there was a huge row of Sonic 3 copies to rent. I happened to of rented the right one out of that bunch because I experienced very strange differences I have not seen in any other versions, not the ones I own now, not the roms we play on emulators. The first thing I want to know if other people have experienced is when playing as Tails alone in Ice Cap Zone Act 1.

What I played and what we play in the roms or our final builds we own is very different. In the one I rented when playing as Tails Alone in Ice Cap Zone Act 1 you start on the "right" side of the screen and Tails is in his falling animation. He falls down on a steep icey slope going downwards in a slant. There are no rings and you have to be careful because as you slide down the icey slope there are icicles pointing upward that can hurt you and kill you. You even have to jump and maneuver yourself around quite a lot to avoid hitting them and it was kind of challenging and lasted as long as Sonic's snowboard segment did. This didn't just happen to me and the rented game I played, earlier I went to my friends house and was playing his Sonic 3 he owned and it was my first time playing Ice Cap Zone because I was one of those dopes stuck on the barrel and my friend is the one who showed me how to do the blasted thing.

When I selected his Tails alone file to play Ice Cap Zone he warned me at first to be careful because you could easily die and I didn't really know what he was talking about until I selected the stage. You die very easily and I actually got a gameover lol because you don't have rings while avoiding all the sharp icicles. When Tails falls down, he falls and hits the same wall Sonic does and then falls down where Sonic does to start the level. When I played Sonic 3 years later and did Ice Cap again as Tails alone I found it strange it completely skips this scene and goes straight to him hitting the wall and falling on the ground. The entire icicle scene is gone, I tried it on my games I own, my roms messed with the lock on trying it as Sonic 3 alone and Sonic 3 and Knuckles and couldn't get it to appear again. I know I wasn't imagining that I spent a good lengthy time playing it on more than one occasion.

I felt like I didn't have the complete game or something honestly because it was such a big difference and I wanted to know why that portion of Tails gameplay was missing. He starts on the right side of the screen falling down to where you begin playing as normal, while Sonic starts on the standard left side. Another strange thing that happened to me with this rented game as well is I think I saw a alternate and different or early credits screen. I was like 4-5 years old at the time and haven't beaten Sonic 3 yet and the rented game had a completed Sonic game file. You know the one, the black background with Sonic on it, it was a complete game file without any of the emeralds. I was all excited about seeing it and when I pressed start on that clear icon instead of showing me the final games credits...I got something completely different.

The screen was black and there was a road similar to Sonic Labyrinth's act complete score tally screen and there were sprites I haven't seen anywhere in the final build of the game. The sprites were Sonic, Tails and Eggman. Sonic was running and Tails was following him and in front of them was Eggman. He would fly and zoom in and out of the screen while Sonic would move around chasing him and Tails would alternate from flying to running behind Sonic. It was so amazing I remember being extremely excited over this, it was really cool stuff and the movements were very unique. While this is all going on the credits run as normal, and the Sonic 3 credits music is playing. When the credits finished though, the Song and the screen was on a endless loop. You can leave the game running for 10 minutes and it'd still be playing going on and you can watch Sonic, Tails and Eggman with the music on loop.

Eventually I pressed start and it brought me back to the Sega Logo screen and I went back into the file select menu to watch it again but when I tried again it didn't work. So it was a once only thing, I only got to see this happen once and was never able to see it again. For years I tried to figure out how that happened and even wondered if it had to do with the lock on and did various experiments with game files such as completing file 1 for example in Sonic 3 alone as Sonic without emeralds, then lock on with Sonic and Knuckles and beat the same file as Sonic without emeralds and try messing around with the lock on to see if I could trigger it again, that along with other experiments all failed. I was never able to replicate what I saw and me being a dumb kid have no picture or video of it to prove its real.

Same for the Tails and icicles thing, I tried everything to try and play that segment again and can't I know it exists, my friends game is proof of that because his also had that segment in it. Did by some strange chance Pre releases or earlier builds of the game get sold? I mean the cart I rented and my friends cart looked like the final, the American art and all, and the gameplay and all the stages look identical to the final. There is absolutely nothing different I can physically spot the only difference is the Tails on icicles segment and that strange Credits screen. Really strange stuff and I've searched the internet for pictures or anyone at least saying anything about these two things so I could at least know it wasn't just me and my friend. I even checked Youtube videos for Tails gameplay in Ice Cap and just there's nothing about the icicle scene.

I have a very good memory and I will never forget what I saw, I know what I saw and it was very real, it was on two different Sonic 3 games so surely there has to be more out there. My question to you guys is have you seen or experienced anything similar? Has anyone seen the icicle scene in Sonic 3 as Tails alone? Or the Credits segment? I just want to at least know if others have also seen and experienced these besides myself because there is just nothing on the internet about them and its driving me crazy. I can tell you guys every detail for both the Tails segment and the Credits screen. The sprites were nothing from any actual gameplay, it kind of reminded me of D.A Garden's random Sprites in Sonic CD. I still keep in touch with my friend who had the Sonic 3 game with the Tails icicles segment I'm thinking of asking him if he may still have his Sonic 3 and if he could let me borrow it.

 

Yeah that's not what I'm talking about at all. I'm talking about when you start the stage literally the very beginning of the stage you start outside the cavern on the right side of the screen falling down and falling on a icey cliff slope falling downwards avoiding icicles pointing upwards and actually having to jump and avoid some and then falling down to the area you start in and Sonic starts in after falling off his snowboard. Also these Eggman sprites remind me of what I was saying earlier he would zoom in and out of the Credits screen and would get smaller like these sprites here.

 

That's the thing though, I remember it like yesterday. My memory isn't distorted I know what I saw and remember being extremely excited over it and was on the verge of tears when I exited out of it and then couldn't see it again. I don't know if it was a Pre Release, earlier build of the game or a Hack or what because I never was able to recreate it or see it again and nobody seems to of seen or heard of it either. It was very unique and different than the regular Credits we see in the normal game. I plan to try and draw a recreation of what I saw or maybe animate a series of drawings for it to try and show you guys what I'm talking about. I plan to try and paint a sketch of Tails falling too so you guys have some sort of visual to go by. I remember it all so clearly I can sit here and tell you all the details. As for my friends Sonic 3 game, I'll ask him if he still has it. He is a childhood friend of mine that I haven't seen in a while and a very nice guy.

 

I'm not lying, this is why I didn't want to make this thread, if anything I just wanted to ask if anyone else out there might have seen or experienced the same things, at least the damn Tails in Ice Cap Zone Act 1 segment. Honestly I thought that was normal since it was on my friends game so then when I played Ice Cap Zone on mine and didn't see it I felt confused like I missed something. All I was looking for was answers, since its the Retro Community I figured at least somebody who's played Sonic 3 a thousand times may know something or have seen it as well.

 

Lol, it was just a real freak thing. Even though I can vividly remember this you guys are making me doubt the Credits thing a little bit. Back then Hacked versions of games were around a lot and after telling a friend this story he really thinks the game I rented could have been a hacked version. I'm starting to think that was the case since I was only able to see it once and couldn't watch it a second time. The Tails thing on the other hand I have absolutely no doubts in my mind on because I had several game overs cause of it and spent long periods of time playing with it with my friend.

And remember him telling me how to do it without dying. I'll definitely ask my friend if he still owns the game and hopefully he does, we grew up as major Sonic fans together but I don't know if he's still a Sonic fan or has the game I haven't spoken to him in a good while. I'll ask him if he still has the game and will let me borrow it for a while and if that's the case I'll gladly take pictures of the Tails segment I'm talking about and try to get it dumped. Just as long as dumping doesn't ruin the game because its not mine.