Sonic the Hedgehog 3

aka: Sonic 3
Moby ID: 6612
Genesis Specs
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Description official descriptions

Dr. Robotnik's Death Egg has crash-landed on Floating Island, so called because it harnesses the power of the Chaos Emeralds to float in the air. Robotnik needs them to repair the Death Egg, so he tells the guardian of Floating Island, Knuckles the Echidna, that Sonic and Tails are there to steal them. With Knuckles tricked and trying to stop the heroes at every turn, will they be able to stop Robotnik in time?

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the third in the Sonic series of games. As with the previous games, it is a side-scrolling platformer based around speed. The basic game remains the same - players collect rings to earn extra lives, which are also used for protection, and scatter everywhere when Sonic is hurt. Sonic can jump on enemies to defeat them, and Spin Dash by holding down and the jump button, then letting go of down.

New to Sonic 3 are three different types of shields - the Fire Shield (which protects you from fire but disappears if you enter water), the Water Shield (which lets you breathe underwater infinitely) and the Electric Shield (which pulls nearby rings towards you). Sonic can use extra abilities when he has these shields by pressing jump while in the air - either a horizontal fireball dash, a vertical bubble bounce, or an electric double jump. If Sonic has no shield active, he can activate a brief energy shield, also by pressing jump in the air. Tails cannot use the shields' special abilities, but he can instead either fly or dog paddle (in water) for a limited time. He can also carry Sonic with him while doing so.

There are now two types of bonus stages - one is available by collecting 50 or more rings, running past a checkpoint lamppost and then jumping into the stars (as you could in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This stage give you the chance to earn bonus rings, lives and power-ups. In this stage, there is a giant gumball machine. By hitting the crank, you'll spit out a bonus item that can either be rings, lives or bonus shields. The stage is over when you fall down the bottom of the screen.

The other, more important, Special Stage can be accessed by jumping into giant rings that are hidden away in secret areas in each level. In these stages, you must collect all the blue spheres while avoiding the red ones (which end the stage early). Collecting all of the outer blue spheres around square or rectangle sphere formations will turn them all into rings - if you collect 50 or more in this stage, you can earn a continue. Once you collect all the blue spheres in the stage, it clears and you earn one of the seven Chaos Emeralds.

Sonic 3 features six different Zones, which are made up of two Acts. At the end of each Act is a boss that must be defeated to complete the stage and rescue Sonic's animal friends that Robotnik has captured to turn into Badnik robots. The zones in Sonic 3 are approximately three times bigger than those in Sonic 2, and feature multiple, branching paths.

As with Sonic 2, there is a two-player Vs. Mode, which plays in a split-screen horizontal style. There are special monitor pick-ups in this mode which do things like swap player positions, lose rings, or cause a Badnik to appear. You can also race against the clock in a time trial mode.

Spellings

  • ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ3 - Japanese spelling

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Screenshots

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Credits (Genesis version)

100 People (91 developers, 9 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 89% (based on 36 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 169 ratings with 6 reviews)

One of the best Sonic games!

The Good
On its own, it's a good game, but when locked on with Sonic & Knuckles it becomes 100 times better. By locking on to Sonic & Knuckles you get to play the full version of Sonic 3, the way it was meant to be. You get more levels, mini games, the ability for all characters to turn super or hyper, the ability to play as Knuckles, and several other cool features. Sonic 3 is only the first half of the game; Sonic & Knuckles is the other half. Lock them both together and you get the complete version of Sonic 3.

The Bad
Sonic 3 by itself has some bugs, but locking it on to Sonic & Knuckles fixes them. So, there really isn't anything bad about the game. Just play both games together and all the bugs are gone.

The Bottom Line
If you liked Sonic & Knuckles, you should definitely get this game. It's the other half of the game. Remember, you haven't really completed a game yet if you've only played half of it.

Genesis · by Neocube (140) · 2003

Sonic Can Jump Sharks Too!

The Good
Having completely missed this title at the time, (I was busy playing my Super Nintendo), this Genesis (or Megadrive, as it was called in my region) title has a great reputation, and was surely worth investigating for my Wii Virtual Console. I must be in the vast minority, but I've always believed that the original Sonic was and is the best hedgehog-themed game out there, and that each sequel represents a kind of step aside from Sonics initial adventure.

I have a soft-spot for 16-bit platform-games, and so it was fairly inevitable that I would be downloading at least one of these colourful titles by the Sonic Team. Reviews and the like give Sonic 3 nothing but praise, so it seemed logical that this game, full of "various little improvements" was bound to be the height of the blue mascot's quests. But, after playing through this title twice now, I'm still struggling to see these improvements. But more on that later…

The title screen, introduced by a quick 3D animation of Sonic himself (surely consuming half of the cartridges ROM!) is played – this hints at an all new take on the Sonic series, as if some sort of new technology or game-play has been busted out for the third in the series. Sadly, this is not how it turned out. Sonic 3 is (at best) a "lite" edition of Sonic 2, it's a less convincing attempt at continuing the series.

One true improvement that was made for this sequel was the inclusion of a save system. Yes, this means that for those players who like to complete games fully, there is now hope for attaining every Chaos Emerald without having to perform the ungodly task of a flawless play through. And, switching off your Megadrive would have no longer had the heart-breaking implications that it once had.

So, after beginning the game, you notice that the graphics themselves are not dissimilar to either of the previous entries – the landscapes and robots themselves all look pretty familiar. Sure, Angel Island may be the first act, but it's not that different to Green Hills. You could certainly argue that the levels themselves are denser with obstacles, ramps, platforms and loops – if this is what you like about the series then Sonic 3 will surely be impressive to you, (at least initially).

The Bad
My problem with this game is in two main areas: the level-design, and the game length. Firstly, the level-design itself is at odds with Sonics abilities. What do I mean? Well, throughout the series, we were constantly encouraged to speed through levels, rolling and jumping at crucial moments either to gather rings or avoid traps. In Sonic 3 however, you can gather rings as in any other Sonic game, but you're constantly booby-trapped and ambushed by the increasingly frustrating and hostile environment. I feel like the level-designer(s) had a mean-streak, and must have felt that the series needed some tweaking with the various level-structures to add a new facet of game play. However, this fails the spirit of the previous games, where a nice mix of beneficial and treacherous roller-coaster-like rides alike were available, and sometimes even selectable!

Add to this problem the shameful length of the game, (since when does a sequel provide less content?), and you have an almost reprehensible mix of qualities. All of this may be forgivable for hard-core Sonic enthusiasts, but for curious Wii Virtual Console shoppers, it's bound to come off as an affront to a modern gamers taste. Also, the inclusion of countless mini-boss battles (that are not and never were the highlight of any Sonic title) and the several long self-scrolling story moments (running under a gunship, watching Knuckles mess around etc.) only decrease the limited enjoyment. And, to my distaste, what I consider a cardinal sin and the pinnacle of laziness in video-game design, this game features sections where the levels repeat indefinitely. Miss that jump? Well, repeat the last ten or so screen-lengths until you get it just right. Ugh. It's the Möbius strip of level-design.

Fans surely regard Knuckles as a worthy inclusion, but I find that the more they include this character, the less personality Sonic himself seems to have. It's almost like it varies inversely: add Knuckles to Sonics detriment. Remember when Poochy visited Itchy & Scratchy? I was hoping for a suitable role in this game for Tails, but he has been downgraded to mere cameo appearances between levels. It's kind of sad.

The Bottom Line
So in the end, Sonic makes a little bit of sense as a third game in a series, but makes you feel a little foolish if played in isolation. And, thanks to inflated ratings and poor referrals, those who download it separately may secretly pine for Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Essentially, this game took what Sonic 2 established cosmetically, but ignored what it proved in terms of clever, fluid game play.

Wii · by So Hai (261) · 2008

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is one of the best Sega Genesis games ever created.

The Good
I liked that in this game, the levels were made larger than the previous games and the graphics better. I also like that you can connect this game with Sonic and Knuckles to make the game even larger and more fun to play. When you connect, you can also play the game with Knuckles or Sonic and Tails at once.

The Bad
I didn't like that the storyline was basically the same. I think that they should've expanded on it more.

The Bottom Line
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the best of the Sonic Series for Genesis. I can't say for the other systems because I haven't played them. It has advanced gameplay with improved graphics and levels. Over all, I give this game a 4.6 out of 5.

Genesis · by Dark Lord (31) · 2005

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

Glitches

SEGA included a rather lame excuse in the manual to try and cover up the game's many glitches. It states: "Don't run to fast or you might fall into one of Eggman's traps". This is obviously referring to the infamous wall glitch; if Sonic runs to fast and hits a wall, he gets trapped in it with no way out.

Knuckles

This game features the first appearance of Knuckles the Echidna, who would become as much a main character as Sonic, Tails and Eggman. He was the fourth most popular character in an official Sonic Team poll, after Tails, Shadow, and Sonic.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson, along with some of his musicians, was originally going to do the music, but when legal scandals broke out SEGA didn't want him involved anymore. The completed songs were used and Howard Drossin finished the soundtrack, later used in Sonic & Knuckles.

Some of his tracks are still in there. The Ice Cap Zone theme, when slowed down, sounds like Who is It, five seconds of the Carnival Night Zone theme resemble Jam, etc.

Saving

This is the first Sonic game in which the player can save their progress.

Scrapped content

Due to time constraints, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 had to be released before it was completed. The extra material that was intended to be in this game became Sonic & Knuckles. This is noticeable on the stage select screen; stages such as Mushroom Valley, Flying Battery and Sandopolis were later in Sonic & Knuckles. By plugging Sonic the Hedgehog 3 into the top of the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge, the full game can be played as it was meant to be.

Tails

This is the first game in which the player is able to control Tails' flight ability. If there are two players, Tails can give Sonic a lift and carry him over short distances. He can also swim, though he cannot carry Sonic while doing so.

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • March 1994 (Issue 56) - Game of the Month* Retro Gamer
    • September 2004 (Issue #8) – #57 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by havoc of smeg, MegaMegaMan, Robbb, sheldon codling and Tracy Poff.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Bahz.

Windows added by Havoc Crow. Xbox 360 added by Ben K. Wii added by samsam12.

Additional contributors: Satoshi Kunsai, Sciere, Alaka, j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Thomas Thompson.

Game added June 7, 2002. Last modified January 31, 2024.