So SuperSnoopy posted about this in the General Projects Thread and Overlord quite awesomely made a post on the front page - but felt this deserved a dedicated thread also. In short it's Sonic 3 and Knuckles by the Sonic fan Eukaryot in widescreen 16:9 with a beautiful remastered soundtrack and the Drop Dash as an unlockable plus much more like adjustable options and achievements. Feedback has been quite glowing elsewhere given everyone has wanted this for a long time and this might be the closest we ever get to this given Taxman and Stealth's efforts were shot down. If you remember a few years back Big Smile did the Sonic 3 Remastered campaign and I contributed a lot to that (as did he and many others) and whilst we managed to get coverage on IGN and other awesome milestones it never came to be. So for a fan to take up the torch and produce something as lovingly crafted as this - it's just amazing. The announcement is here - along with a couple of download links. The Steam version of Sonic 3 and Knuckles is required to play. You just need to have it purchased/installed on Steam. No additional work than that from what I've read. Have any of you guys tried this? Enjoying it? Ell678 has tried it and had this to say: Personally I think this is up there with Sonic 3 Complete as one of the best fan created remasters ever. Thoughts everyone?
What you see is what you get, it's as simple as that. I made it to marble garden zone so far and it's been a blast. The achievements and unlockables are also a nice touch.
It's pretty fantastic. It has lots of love put into it and is a great time overall, and I highly recommend it. This game has a bunch of (mostly-) optional extra features and quality of life changes. Slightly modified layouts (you can use Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, or Sonic 3 AIR layouts), smooth rotation, 60fps special stages, camera outrun (defaults off, but you can turn it on if you want it), a couple of styles of one-controller Tails-assist, the option to disable the Sandopolis ghosts, the option to have every character fight Big Arm (defaults to on, I think) and a few other things. Best one is an alternate version of the Angel Island Act 2 bombing run where you have to actually dodge the bombs to survive rather than merely holding right and waiting. Many objects push faster (spikes, switches, those platform rocks in Sandopolis), and some objects have extra details (more ring animation frames, and Doomsday missiles smoothly rotate). On the note of modified layouts, he made a few levels less annoying and fixed up a path in Death Egg Zone that went nowhere. At the end of Marble Garden act 1 at the high path right before the boss, he removed a lot of top-only breakable floors and turned them into regular collapsing platforms so you aren't SOL if you break one platform and then jump off your top. In Carnival Night act 2, in the falling-water section after Knuckles turns the place dark, the red spring was removed from the bouncey pit so you aren't always flung back into it. My only gripe with it is a bit minor: Some sounds are just off. Play Sonic 3 on a Genesis, then play this; the boss group-of-explosions boom sounds are not quite right. Same with the Death Egg's loop at the end of Sky Sanctuary. Also, there's a weird click in the Carnival Night Act 2 boss's lightning phase lightnings.
Huh. Apparently I actually do own S3K on Steam. I actually had no idea. Guess I'll give this a try when I get home.
I completed playthroughs of this as Sonic and Knuckles and it's a gem. I love all the qol improvements and the subtle layout changes. My experience so far has been really smooth but I have encountered 2 bugs - pressing the super button in Doomsday zone will actually make Sonic revert back to normal, thus killing him - if playing as Sonic & Tails in Hidden Palace, if you dick around with Tails flight in that area right before the teleporter you can potentially soft lock the game as Tails won't fly back to you and you'll be stuck waiting. Besides that though this is fantastic. Only things I wish made a comeback from Sonic 3 Complete are FBZ as zone 5, the PC port songs, and the ability to use Sonic 2 sprites instead of Sonic 3 ones. But even those aside this is now the definitive version of Sonic 3 for me. I really hope someone finds a way to mod Mania sprites into this
lmao get out of my head With this finally out, I'm gonna start replaying all the remastered classics on the big screen in one gauntlet. Should be a great time. EDIT: Oh yeah, the custom title card icons for the different levels in S3C were cute as fuck too. I do hope all that stuff finds a way in one way or another, we're this close to the perfect Sonic 3
Oh good call! With the Amazon Fire stick I have I can play Sonic 1 and 2 mobile on my TV with ease, and having those and Sonic CD I finally have a way to play the original series enhanced. What a time to be alive :v: Also random note but this coming out has reminded me how weird Knuckles' sprites can be sometimes. His crest is skin colored most of the time instead of white and the shine on his head isn't consistent between running sprites. It looks kinda sloppy. I wouldn't mind seeing someone take a crack at a like "Sonic 3 consistent sprites" mod or something but that has nothing to do with this as much as it does with the original game.
I saw this on Twitter and was so amazed. I'm really happy about this!! This is my favourite 2D Sonic game, omg I'm going to go play it right now lol. It's about time this game got itself a proper remaster!!
Idk why I was tempted to press Y to cancel, I think I was just curious. And I did indeed get what I deserved :v: But still I'm just surprised that button isn't locked during that level.
Yeah, Sonic 3C is still more...complete(lol), but this version has a 16/9 ratio, achievements and native Bluetooth controller support. We now have two amazing versions of the same game, but we can't play both at the same time. ...is this what they call a first world problem?
Oh it's definitely a 1st world problem lol. Sonic 3 Complete's bonus features spoiled me for all these years. I would say that this version does what it aims to do almost perfectly though. All the additional features are exactly those you'd expect from a Taxman remake, including the drop dash (with the added bonus of Knuckles & Tails mode being unlockable, something I always wanted in Sonic 1, 2, and Mania even). However I think people may come along and mod this game eventually. You can replace music in this so that means the PC songs can be used eventually, one of the things the creator apparently wants to add is the ability to edit sprites so Sonic 2 or Mania sprites could come eventually, and the rest I bet people will find a way to dick around with eventually.
Thanks for all the replies everyone! Very happy everyone's enjoying this and thinks it's great. Presumably this is just the first "1.0" full release of the game meaning it'll likely evolve and be updated over time if the developer holds that intention and feels so inclined. Meaning some of these issues could be addressed in future updates. It'd be amazing if he borrows some of the better ideas from Sonic 3 Complete to make this the ultimate and definitive version - and I hope he does so.
Yay! It's about time a widescreen version of the game is available. Terrific mod! Also love how you can place your own music to replace the game's music, and loop them if desired. It's something I've been hoping for, given I wanted to make the zone music to sound more varied with its instruments. EDIT 1: Here are some examples of music with alternating instruments I came up with long time ago, particularly if you're in the zone for a long time, and the loop becomes somewhat repetitive (all in .OGG format, as per Sonic 3 A.I.R.'s instructions): Angle Island Zone, Act 1 (loops at the 43.766 second mark) Hydrocity Zone, Act 2 (loops at the 0.097 second mark) Flying Battery Zone, Act 1 (loops at the 39.685 second mark) Lava Reef Zone, Act 1 (loops at the 15.756 second mark) Also using Sonic R's instrumental version of Super Sonic Racing as the character's transformation music: Transformation Music (loops at the 126.353 second mark) Now the loop sections are in the mod file and tells the game which part of the those music to loop at.
*edit* I did some tests, and it's definitely my gamepad that's causing me to go wrong in the Special Stages I'm loving this so far, I hope we get a Sonic 1 and 2 as well! Ps. I know this is technically 'spoilers', but how do you get the drop dash unlockable?
Spoiler Looks like you have to get 7 achievements. At least I think it's decipting the Drop Dash in that pic. Loving this so far. I'll leave out all the things I hope they borrow from Sonic 3 Complete and just say this: Spoiler I'm very surprised that they chose to tweak the level layouts, and not touch the barrel. Maybe a case could be made that it's too famous to remove, but I still think it should be altered. I'd give it elevator-like movement myself.
Spoiler Yep that's correct. 3 achievements for Knuckles and Tails mode, 7 for the drop dash, and 10 for debug mode
It's an overall excellent enhancement of Sonic 3K. It just has to be compared to Complete. This is probably the closest we'll ever get to an official remaster, with 16:9, cheevos, and unlockables. Though it doesn't have the breadth of customization and features that Complete has. Not to mention split-screen multiplayer, for those who want it. Congrats Eukaryot, this project rules.
