| Sonic The Hedgehog 3 |
Article Index for Sonic The |
Shopping Hedgehog |
Website Links For Sonic |
Information AboutSonic The Hedgehog 3 |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 | |
| 1994 video games | |
| sega mega drive games | |
| cooperative video games | |
| sonic the hedgehog games | |
| tiger handheld games | |
| virtual console games | |
''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'', often abbreviated and officially known in Europe as '''''Sonic 3''''', is a Platform Game in the '' Sonic The Hedgehog '' series. It was developed by Sega Technical Institute and published by Sega . The game debuted worldwide in the first half of 1994 on the Sega Genesis in America and the Sega Megadrive in Japan and Europe. The game is closely tied to its sequel '' Sonic & Knuckles '', as the two games were originally one until time constraints and cartridge costs forced the game to be split into two interlocking parts. Combined, both games have sold over 4 million copies. STORYLINE The storyline picks up a little while after the end of Sonic 2: Dr. Eggman's Space Station , the Death Egg , has fallen out of orbit after Robotnik’s mech suit exploded in his final showdown with Sonic, causing critical damage to the ship. However, instead of impacting on the planet, the Death Egg crash-landed on Angel Island Angel Island is referred to in the English game manuals as "Floating Island", but the name has since been Retconned back to Angel Island as of '' Sonic Adventure ''., a mystical floating landmass previously believed to exist only in legend. As Eggman repairs the ship he meets up with the Island’s sole inhabitant, Knuckles The Echidna . Knuckles is the last surviving member of an ancient civilization, whose ruins and relics are scattered throughout the island. He is also the guardian of a second set of chaos emeralds, which are the source of the island’s levitation powers. Knowing Sonic and Tails will try to track him down, and realising he can use the Chaos Emeralds to power the ship, Eggman deceives Knuckles into believing Sonic is trying to steal his emeralds, and he’s come to help him. Shortly after, Super Sonic and Miles “Tails” Prower land on Angel Island in their bi-plane The Tornado , in search of Eggman. No sooner than they have arrived, Knuckles ambushes Sonic from underground with such force, he knocks both the Chaos Emeralds and residual chaos energy from him. Stunned and untransformed, Sonic can only watch as Knuckles steals the emeralds and disappears inland. Once recovered, Sonic and Tails set off in a race against time to stop Knuckles, Eggman and the re-launch of the Death Egg. GAMEPLAY Changes Based on a faster, more flexible game engine, ''Sonic 3'' included more scope than any other game in the series to date: The play fields were 3 times larger than previous games, with multiple paths for different characters, more environmental elements to interact with, faster top speeds, more bosses, and more Set Pieces , all without any of the Framerate issues that plagued certain parts of ''Sonic 2''. The game introduced many staples to the series, such as a more story-driven game, the use of in-game Cut Scenes to create a feeling of continuity, multiple shield types, a double-jump manoeuvre (forerunner of '' Sonic 3D’s '' blast attack, and '' Sonic Adventure’s '' homing attack), more diverse bosses, the end of zone fanfare, used in all games from ''Sonic 3'' to '' Sonic Heroes '', and introduced Jun Senoue to the series, who would later become sound director of the 3D Sonic games, lending them their signature rock-inspired soundtracks. Unlike previous games, each first act seamlessly connects to the second act, and each zone is connected to the next via a cut scene to maintain continuity. This helps the game feel like it's set in a real geographical location, as opposed to separate, disjoined zones that for the most part had no correlation with the zones around them (as in previous Sonic games). Knuckles has also become a firm fan favourite, alternating roles between rival, antagonist, and partner. Overview of play In single player mode, the player can choose to play solo, as either Sonic or Tails, or as a team, controlling Sonic and the AI, or with a second player controlling Tails, which is the default configuration. The object of the game is to progress through six zones, each comprised of two acts, a mini-boss (otherwise known as a ''mid-boss'' or an ''Act 1 Boss'') which does not involve Eggman , and a main boss, piloted by Eggman. In order to completely finish the game, 7 Chaos Emeralds must also be collected from the Special Stages . The gameplay builds on the formula laid down in '' Sonic The Hedgehog 2 ''. Sonic and Tails are now equipped with special moves that are activated by pressing the jump button a second time while in mid air. Tails will fly if he’s out of water, or swim if he’s in water, both for a limited amount of time. In a team game, a second player can use Tails to "airlift" Sonic for a short amount of time. This technique is essential for beating the Marble Garden boss, though the flight time is unlimited. If Sonic has no shield equipped, he will generate an Insta-shield, giving him split second burst of invincibility. Instead of a single shield power-up, there are now three elemental shields:
All three shields have the ability to deflect small projectiles, such as the shots from badniks in Hydrocity Zone and Marble Garden Zone. ZONES Levels There are 6 levels in Sonic 3, each made up of two acts. They are:
Special Stages As in previous Sonic games, star posts are scattered throughout each act to save the player's progress. Furthermore, if Sonic has collected at least 50 rings and he hits a check point, a bright halo of stars will float above it, which Sonic can then jump through to access a bonus stage. The bonus stage is based on a Gumball machine. The sides of a bottomless shaft are lined with one-time-use bumpers, which propel Sonic upwards. Each time he passes the slot of the gumball machine, it releases a ball which Sonic can then grab. Bonuses include shields, rings, lives, bumpers, empty balls, and a one use set of springs at the bottom of the shaft. The stage ends when Sonic falls out of the bottom of the shaft. Note that star posts in ''Sonic 3'' are used to enter bonus stages this time instead of emerald stages, as in '' Sonic The Hedgehog 2 ''. The emerald stages are once again entered by jumping through a large golden ring. Contrary to the original '' Sonic The Hedgehog '' however, these rings are hidden in the scenery, and multiple can be found in each act. In addition, the player is not required to collect any amount of rings to enter the emerald stage. Each special stage is based on a 3-dimensional, checkered Sphere of which only a small surface portion is visible at any given time. The surface of the Orb is covered in blue, red, and "starred" white spheres, and rings. Sonic runs across the surface, following the edges of the chequer squares. At each corner, he can turn left, right, or carry on straight. The aim is to collect all the blue spheres, whilst avoiding the red spheres, which result in instant failure. White spheres bounce Sonic backwards. If blue spheres are collected in square patterns, they turn into rings. Earning 50 rings grants the player a continue, and collecting all the possible rings in a stage results in a perfect clear, which adds 50,000 points to the total score, worth a life. The stage ends when all the blue spheres are collected, awarding the player with a Chaos Emerald , or when the first red sphere is touched, which ends the stage on the current score. There are 7 stages, one for each Emerald. When all Emeralds are collected, Sonic can become Super Sonic by collecting 50 rings and performing a double jump. At this point, any additional giant rings found will add 50 rings to the player's total, instead of starting a special stage. MULTIPLAYER ''Sonic 3'' retained head-to-head racing introduced in ''Sonic 2'', although instead of using levels from the single player game, five entirely new tracks were created for competitions and Knuckles was added as a selectable character. Players can select to play a Grand Prix of all five tracks, a single track to race on, or race the clock in time trial mode. The five tracks are:
RECEPTION Although ''Sonic 3'' did not do as well as ''Sonic 2'' in terms of sales, the game was almost universally well received by gamers and reviewers, scoring in the high 80% range. The general consensus amongst fans is that the "true" ''Sonic 3'' (''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'') along with '' Sonic CD '' are the main candidates for best 2D Sonic game. ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' was that last 2D Sonic game in the main series until '' Sonic Advance '', 7 years later. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS The ''Sonic 3'' cartridge has a small amount of Non-volatile RAM built into it, allowing the player to save game progress. Depending on whether ''Sonic 3'' or ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' was being played, the save features were changed. ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' has 8 save slots instead of 6, and saves the number of lives and continues gained, as well as progress. Regardless of the game being played, all the save data is stored in the ''Sonic 3'' cartridge. ''Sonic 3'' was the second Sonic game to save game progress (after Sonic CD ), and would be the only cartridge-based Sonic game to do so until '' Sonic Advance '', '' Sonic Pocket Adventure '' notwithstanding. ''Sonic 3'' and ''Sonic & Knuckles'' were originally planned to be one game. However, as time constraints and the manufacturing costs of a 32 megabit cartridge with NVRAM would have pushed the price up, the decision was taken to split the game in half, giving the developers more time to finish the second game, and splitting the high cost between two cartridges. The second half of the game, ''''. Sonic designer Yuji Naka confirmed that this game is what ''Sonic 3'' was originally intended to be. Because the two games were originally one, and designed in tandem, a lot of extra data from ''Sonic & Knuckles'' is still present on the ''Sonic 3'' cartridge. Such as references to zones as far ahead as Lava Reef (Zone 10), and most of the music. When plugged together, the data from ''Sonic 3'' is appended to the data from ''Sonic & Knuckles'', as the two were designed to work together and correctly reference each other. In contrast, ''Sonic 2 & Knuckles'' works by Patching the original ''Sonic 2'' ROM. RE-RELEASES Since its original release in 1994, ''Sonic 3'' has been re-released several times, first in 1997 for the to simultaneously use MIDI and Wave output, a feature not available on all cards at the time. TRIVIA
NOTES AND REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|