Part 1 of what many of us consider the pinnacle of Sonic came out 20 years ago today. Anyone going to play it today in lieu of the Commercial Bowl?
20th Anniversary of the best 2D Sonic (I will fight you) and it breaks my heart that it won't be getting a soundtrack release similar to its other Mega Drive brethren. At least, as far as I know. Maybe things changed? It IS Hedgehog Day now.
Oh shit really? I would play it if I didn't have this homework to do, so I won't be watching the Super Bowl regardless (That and I simply do not care about these teams playing). Maybe I'll play through the Sonic 3 side, as that's my favorite part of the game anyway. Sonic 3 you will always be my favorite game ever.
I was wondering when someone was going to make this topic. I was planning to do it myself if I hadn't been beaten to the punch. Yeah, so anyway, Happy 20th Anniversary to Sonic 3. I wouldn't necessarily call it my favorite Sonic game (partially because I've never been good at picking favorites), but I still consider it to be legendary, and I'll never forget the fun I've had with it and its other half during the past twenty years of their existence. Come to think of it, this also means that it's Knuckles' birthday, too.
Wow, geez, the best 2D Sonic is that old? Whoa. I wonder if a Taxman port of Sonic 3&K is gonna be announced soon, but I guess that's a bit overly optimistic.
I've been playing Sonic 3 for the last 15 years of my life, and that feels crazy to me. Eventually it is probably going to be one of the first games I introduce to my own kids when that time comes.
Hell yeah. My mother first told me that there was going to be a "Sonic 3" back in 1993, to which my reply was "NO WAY YOU ARE LYING." My reaction mostly stemmed from the lesson my father taught me that (in general) sequels aren't as good as the original. Then lo and behold one day I was at a store and there was a Sonic game playable on the Genesis stand... "This isn't Sonic 2" I exclaimed, quickly noticing that the level was unfamiliar (Angel Island Act 1, after the flames). I played around a bit, and finally realized my mom was right, this IS Sonic 3. Rented it the next day.
Sonic 3 is only my favorite game of all time, of course I'm gonna play the hell out of it today! Also, now's a good time for everyone to listen to Project: Chaos again. Use the first mirror.
Did it proper. Good god, have I memorized the game so well that it really only takes me 40 minutes to beat it? Also, fuck the Super Sonic Hydrocity Boss glitch. I triggered it four times until I realized I should maybe not immediately run into battle as Super Sonic.
Whoa, this one crept up on me. I'd sort of hoped I'd be peddling a new Sonic 3 Complete for the anniversary, but that's worked out even less well than any of my previous attempts to work to a date. Instead I will celebrate with some boring reminiscence. I was a Nintendo guy at the start of 1994. I'd played a bunch of platformy stuff on my cousin's SNES during Easter and summer holidays in London, enough to bully my parents into getting me one of my own one Christmas. But when I turned up for Easter '94, the SNES was gone, and in its place a Mega Drive with a newly purchased Sonic 3. I didn't really want to like Sonic. You know how it was - you had to pick your side and stick to it, especially if you weren't loaded enough to just buy everything. But there's something about Sonic 3 in particular that ended up being irresistable. Part of it is surely that it was my first Sonic, but even so, it has this particular style in the design of the levels, players, badniks, typography, music. Bugs though there may have been, it was a very slick presentation - it felt modern, and sort of mature and down to earth in a way that video games - platformers especially - generally weren't. I can remember leaving the competition menu or save screen playing its tunes in the background for hours. Data Select is best for sunny days, Competition for watching heavy rain out of the window. (This probably means I was among the first people to hear the Data Select music glitch, in the grand scheme of things). The rough edges were a part of the charm in a way. The stories I like best tend to give the impression there's more to the world than you're able to see, and those unreachable bits of Knuckles' routes, and whole locked levels on the level select, and their extra music, left you to wonder. (Finally seeing a "Sandopolis Zone" title card on a shop machine playing the S&K demos was quite a revelation from that point of view). Debug mode and the slightly wonky level select let you start to figure out how things tick, too; the debug numbers and title card confusion giving some hint that the joined-together acts weren't as seamless inside as they looked in a normal playthrough, for instance. And the readily accessible surfboard stuff, and the "Eiosian" spheres (because why does anybody call anything anything, anyway?) All these little fragments that made you wonder. Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles were fantastic, and it was obviously brilliant to have another half to the game, and to find out what all those locked off parts were for, but for me it never quite had the same impact as the original Sonic 3 - the few music and presentation changes were just a slight disappointment on the edge of an otherwise superb package. Even back then I used to imagine a more appealing combination of the two, although I didn't really imagine I'd ever be able to try my own hand at making one. By now, I wouldn't like to count the amount of time I must have poured into that game, both playing it and tweaking it. I should probably just go ahead and marry a Sonic 3 cartridge. A very happy birthday to you, my favourite software.
Exciting stuff. Count me among those who list Sonic 3K as their favourite game of all time. The music (of course), the big, explorable levels full of fun gimmicks, characters that make multiple playthoughs worthwhile, the tight gameplay and crisp artwork, it still ties together so well. I doubt we'll ever see another Sonic game so cohesive ever again, so it's good that this one holds up today. Hope to hear about a mobile port soon but I think I'll fire up Sonic 3 Complete for a bit today. *pops open Sonic 3 Lifesavers*
I've never really gotten the chance to do this so lemme gush for a bit: thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for making Sonic 3 Complete. The work you've put into crafting a truly definitive version of the game easily rivals the Retro Engine versions of the other games and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath. The only thing I hope is for it to one day truly be complete, as the moment it is so I will be immediately dropping whatever sum of money it takes on getting a nice, high quality repro cart to take center stage on my game shelf. I can't thank you enough for giving the complete Sonic 3 / Sonic and Knuckles, my favorite platformer of all time and one of my favorite video games of all time, the attention to detail and respect it truly deserves.
Much agreed. It's why I wanted to make that Japanese art for that game. I was very happy to contribute to my absolute favorite Sonic project on this board and would love to see a cartridge version.
I worked through most of the Mega Ultra Feetball game, and played through vanilla Sonic 3 afterwards. I had a good old time as always, got to reflect on a lot of memories with the game, and showed that barrel a thing or two about defying physics. I was so close to getting Perfects on all the Special Stages, but I fucked up 7 during the last sphere cluster (I jumped in from the other side and turned too soon). I fidgeted out of there though, and finished. Had the ol' heart racin', I tell ya what.
Wow, I can't believe it's been 20 years already. I can still vividly remember the very first time I played this game when I was just 6 years old, a few days after its release, when my parents let me rent it. All these years later, it still hasn't been topped. Sonic 3 and Knuckles, for me, is the pinnacle of Sonic games - and is also my favourite video game of all time.
Quite easily the greatest platformer of all time. Varied zones, stunning music, superb gameplay and physics.
The first Sonic game I ever beat. And who could forget the horror of the Carnival Night Zone barrels? :P I actually remember my brother being stuck on them until around the 9 minute mark when the timer starting flashing. He finally got off them, quickly ran to the left...and was promptly crushed by another barrel that was going downward. It's funny to look back on now but at the time it made him rage pretty good.
