S3/S&K linkage confusion

Hmm, judging from what you have said, I would think that they originally were in the same cartridge, but split later. Bits and pieces of both games were left inside the ROMs, because Sonic Team did a lazy job with the splitting. Most likely different groups of people worked on each game, and they decided that it would be a good idea to add a feature to merge the two games together. This would get them extra money too, as consumers would need to purchase both games to experience the whole story. Its a sales gimmick mostly.

Also, I seem to recall the PC S&K being a port, with some extra features added.

 

My belief is, originally there was Sonic 3 only. For whatever reason, Sega needs to get Sonic 3 done quicker, so they split off a couple of zones to make each game more balanced on its' own, and introduced the concept of Sonic & Knuckles. That would explain why some of the S&K levels have leftovers in Sonic 3, but not all (as far as I know, there are no leftovers for Mushroom Hill, Sandopolis, Death Egg, or Doomsday)

Basically, I feel that at the original conception of Sonic 3, there was no thought of Sonic & Knuckles.

 

It all seems confusing yes. Yes indeedy...

One thing I've always wondered: I know that there are smaller two-player mode sprites for Knuckles in the Sonic 3 ROM, but are the full size (story mode) sprites all present? I know some must be there 'cos Knuckles appears throughout the game to attack Sonic and so on.

But are the gliding, climbing and hanging sprites there for example? I've never known that.

Also, is it possible to access Flying Battery Zone in Sonic 3 without hacking? Through a Game Genie for example? I've kinda come to the conclusion that Mushroom Hill (or Valley) and Sandopolis have no left-overs in the ROM.

Getting back to the 'was Sonic & Knuckles developed alongside Sonic 3' debate, why are all the S&K music tracks in S3? I can recall that someone mentioned that Sonic 2's music was probably composed without knowledge of the Zone themes. So, could all of the music in S3 and S&K been composed proir to Zone construction and before the two titles were 'split'? The title music, invincibility music, and Knuckles' theme was probably changed for S&K because someone in Sega thought the originals were unsuitable, maybe...

 

I proven that it was NOT designed at the same time!

And of course Flying Battery is in Sonic 3. It was supposed to be the level between Carnival Night and Ice Cap. So Flying Battery is just Sonic 3!

 

I think they were developed at the same time. Yes, you have given your proof, but I am still not convinced. Perhaps Sega realized they would run out of time or run out of space on a single cart, and decided to take the extra levels and put them into a separate game.

What explanation is there as to why the levels are in the level select, and those that aren't, such as Lava Reef, Sky Sanctuary, and Death Egg, all have their respective music in the sound test?

Plus, why would Knuckles's special paths be programmed into the game?

 

Knuckles's special paths are not programmed in Sonic 3. Only the maps are pre-made for Knuckles, but that's because he was supposed to be playable in the beginning, like he is in the 2P VS competition.

Believe what you want, like some people believe in Dust Hill being the desert zone. But proof says different!





Music development is not the same thing as game development.

 

I'm going to play the money-making scheme card here. While it's possible that at one point their intentions were to simply be one game (but with LOST's proof, I doubt even that), and then due to time constraints or otherwise, they split the game in two and marketed them seperately.