The Other Islands of Sonic 3

Maybe only some mere embellishment?

 

Reading through the euro manual, it says nothing of the other islands anywhere and I think it's just a simple design to give the feeling of distance, if you see an island on the edge of the water, the sea will appear bigger and things appear further away

 

It's possible that those are merely South Island and Westside Island (the larger ones). Or they're just decorations - actually, I'm almost certain that's probably it. I do remember wondering what a map of the Sonic world would look like as a kid, though.

 

Probably decorations, but we could argue that they're just Carnival, South and Westside Island, as they're meant to be near each other. In fact, I remember somebody once googling for pics of them (as they were based on real life islands), and they turn out to make a circle where Angel Island would fit perfectly o_O

 

Y'know, I did the same thing once, hence why I've always thought Angel Island once connected them. That, and they all have Echidnian ruins on them

 

Are you sure about that Sik? I just Googled those islands myself, and seemingly there is no real Westside Island or Carnival Island. However, there is a real South Island and Angel Island, except that they're not close together at all; South Island is in New Zealand and Angel Island is on the US Pacific Coast. =P

On-topic: Like said before, I just considered them decorations, or random islands. Could be near where Station Square / the Mystic Ruins are.

 

Angel Island wasn't considered, the other three were.

I was gonna post a link to the topic where this was discussed, pic included, but SoST's board was taken down...

 

I don't think the islands in the BG mean anything. They are just part of the level design, as you would see in so many other games with water in the background like that.

 

Yeah, they are likely there for decoration, or the fact that there are islands everywhere in the ocean. I doubt they are anything critical to anything.

 

Then up comes the issue of what island is in the title screen, as it most certainly isn't Angel Island, and I highly doubt they would place some random island in the title screen.

 

The angel island from Sonic adventure? :p

 

Well, for one thing, they originally only named the first zone of S3 Angel Island, they called the entire island Floating Island as far as I can remember.

Probably just decoration.

 

Yes, that. The island is referred to as "Floating Island;" "Angel Island" is a reference to an island near to what was then Yuji Naka's Sonic Team's headquarters (just like Emerald Hill) — you may remember it as the Ellis Island of the west.

Also try removing the layer with the 1 PLAYER text from the title screen to see if they are really two islands. Some emulators can do that (the ones I can use ATM don't).

 

One of them is Atlantis. :v:

Nah, I think, if a reason must be made, they're just other zones. If you don't want to go for a total in-universe reason, they're just decoration.

 

Angel Island is already on the ocean when Sonic 3 starts, so it's most likely Angel Island.

Otherwise we'd have to argue about Sonic 1 and 2 too. Not Sonic & Knuckles because it's blatantly obvious what island is it.

 

When I was a kid, I used to think the track seen in the background of Mystic Cave Act 2 was supposed to be Act 3, and spent so long trying to unlock it

Yeah, the islands are nothing more than decoration. You could probably say they're some part of Angel Island that was partially submerged, giving the illusion of multiple islands

 

There's two islands

Boy, the Death Egg did more damage then I thought.

 

okay I don't mean to be rude but....actually yes I do.


Why are you trying to find an explanation for a background.

Why are you trying to piece it together, when the answer is simple:

It's just a fucking background.

Do you think Sonic Team thought long and hard about those small little islands in the distance and weather people would understand blah blah blah no. No they didn't. They just drew a background.

Why do people start the most trivial discussions about the meaning of unexplained details in such a simple franchise when they could be discussing solid things that everyone agrees on, like sprites and programming and things that do not require bullshit theories.

WHY. TELL ME.

 

Because people give a crap about these things.

BlackHole's image proves that there were really two islands in the background, but the US manual shows they intended one: the Floating Island. Angel Island is at the shore of that island, Sik. Angel Island and Emerald Hill are names of places near San Francisco, where Sonic Team worked during the development of Sonic 2 and 3. Proof? Sonic Jam Strategy Guide: Yuji Naka reveals that about Emerald Hill.