Retro|Spective 061R: Sonic the Hedgehog

[Asura]

Game 06 - Sonic Chaos
A good Sonic or sheer Chaos?

Loved this one. Remember playing it on a friend's master system, and really enjoying it, though I don't remember a great deal about it.

Almost all of these Game Gear Sonics were pretty bad. Not completely unplayable but they had no charm and just didn’t feel good to play.

Can't agree with that; I honestly think that Chaos and Triple Trouble are fantastic handheld platformers. I even liked Tails' Adventure, though that's a weird proto-Metroidvania thing.

Game 07 - Sonic the Hedgehog 3
We're only three years into the series long history and already the third entry of the main series arrives. Initially planned as an isometric title, STI reverted back to 2D for this super sized entry that would find itself chopped down to standard size for its final release to meet deadlines and memory limits. Featuring another rotation effect bonus round and a revised visual style. From Michael Jacksons involvement to promoting it using Right Said Fred, the game was a major event for the system with many critics finding it to be the best of the trilogy.



How did Sonic 3 land for you?

Here we go. The daddy. The big man on campus. My favourite Sonic title by far, and the one I remember whenever someone mentions the games.

I loved Sonic 3. I got it for my birthday that year and just lost hours in it. Played it daily for months, to the exclusion of any other videogame. It was bigger, brighter, bolder, with longer stages, each with so many little gimmicks and widgets that made them a fun time. It had a stage select. It had multiple special stage types. You could get all the Chaos Emeralds and have that saved, ready-to-play. Even the two-player mode was fun.

Honestly it's hard for me to express how much Sonic 3 means to me. It came at a formative time in my life, so Sonic was as much part of my childhood as Captain Nemo, or the crew of the Enterprise. Angel Island was as much a place in my imagination as the battles of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, or Redwall Abbey. Objectively, I think I can get with the general consensus, that Sonic 2 is the better game, but for me, Sonic 3 will always be my Sonic, I guess in the way Brosnan is my Bond and many people have their Doctor from Doctor Who.

And that's before you talk about the mysterious stage select, with zones that didn't exist (yet), and the talk of what that meant in the playground.

Sonic 3. Love me, believe me, never ever leave me.

[Dogg Thang]

I remember a magazine printing the level maps as a guide and my eye was instantly drawn to a whole bunch of places that were totally inaccessible. Of course they would later become relevant in S&K but that mystery was huge for me when 3 was released. And I spent way too long trying to find ways to reach some of them.

[wakka]

When I read Asura and Dogg Thang talk about Sonic 3, I wonder what went wrong for me with it. It never grabbed me in the same way as the earlier games as a kid - I never finished it. I'm not sure why it didn't click.

I definitely need to give it another, properly concerted effort, perhaps in its S3&K guise (I've never played & Knuckles at all, for whatever reason).

I wonder how I should do that. Part of me thinks I should I add it to my increasingly long list of games to play on my eventual Analogue Pocket, as there'll no doubt be a Megadrive core by the time I get my unit. Or maybe I should buy Sonic Origins. Although £33 seems a bit bloody rich. I don't know. It needs to be played though.

[Dogg Thang]

When I read Asura and Dogg Thang talk about Sonic 3, I wonder what went wrong for me with it. It never grabbed me in the same way as the earlier games as a kid - I never finished it. I'm not sure why it didn't click.

It is a little different and has more level design gimmicks that, for me, worked but I could also see how they might not work for everyone. And also it might be a tiny thing in the grand scheme of things but the redesigned Sonic sprite is a little less cool and I do actually think that may have had an effect. But yeah, worth a revisit just in case... but maybe not at £33.

[Neon Ignition]

I love this Sonic sprite more than Sonic 2's, especially the figure 8 run animation

[Asura]

When I read Asura and Dogg Thang talk about Sonic 3, I wonder what went wrong for me with it. It never grabbed me in the same way as the earlier games as a kid - I never finished it. I'm not sure why it didn't click.

I can factually say that for me, some of it came from how the game has the little interstitial cutscenes between each stage. It's easy to forget that the earlier games didn't.

[Dogg Thang]

I can factually say that for me, some of it came from how the game has the little interstitial cutscenes between each stage. It's easy to forget that the earlier games didn't.

Yeah, they made a big difference to me too. Such a small thing but added a sense of continuity to the journey.

[Baseley09]

Sod Sonic 3 I don't like how the sprite looks and that's enough to put me off. Music sounds like it was made by Americans too.

[Dogg Thang]

The music is superb! Heathen!

[wakka]

I love that 'sounds like it was made by Americans' is an insult in the Bordersdown retro folder

[dataDave]

When I read Asura and Dogg Thang talk about Sonic 3, I wonder what went wrong for me with it. It never grabbed me in the same way as the earlier games as a kid - I never finished it. I'm not sure why it didn't click.

I definitely need to give it another, properly concerted effort, perhaps in its S3&K guise (I've never played & Knuckles at all, for whatever reason).

I wonder how I should do that. Part of me thinks I should I add it to my increasingly long list of games to play on my eventual Analogue Pocket, as there'll no doubt be a Megadrive core by the time I get my unit. Or maybe I should buy Sonic Origins. Although £33 seems a bit bloody rich. I don't know. It needs to be played though.

I said this before not so long since, but I felt utterly ripped off. It wasn't until Sonic and Knuckles was ham-fisted in there that it became totally obvious Sonic 3 by itself was only half a game. The save system felt like an exploit more than anything, as the game never felt epic enough to warrant one.

Sonic 3 + S&K is pretty great, at least I remember it being. I'm almost afraid to play through it again, each time I try it now I'm already on a full set of emeralds by Carnival Night Zone and everything else becomes trivial. I'm not at all interested in exploring the nooks and crannies of all the stages again, that's for sure.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I might be wierd (definitely am) but I really dislike the first level of Sonic 3. I have no problem with the rest, but that starting level just feels off. Its not platformy or Speed runny. It's just a bit messy.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 08 - Sonic & Knuckles
Arriving just a few months after Sonic 3, this interlocking cartridge offered up the second half of the game and allowed players to play this part on its own as well as connect it to the initial release. Likewise it could be connected to other games to offer bonus rounds or allow Knuckles to be inserted into Sonic 2.








Did Knuckles make or break the Mega Drive Sonic saga?

[Neon Ignition]

Completely counter for me here given I like Sonic 3. I should therefore like S&K but I never have.

It feels like cut content, there's no flow to the levels and the addition of Knuckles detracts from the gameplay rather than adds. If you merge the two you get the full uncut experience but it retroactively makes Sonic 3 weaker by adding lesser level 'fat' to the experience. Always fine with skipping it but the game is notable to me because one of the first times I ever played it was on Arcade in Skegness where the operator had fudged it into a unit which was odd to see.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep, I find myself agreeing with that. Playing as Knuckles is a great novelty but I find he doesn't play as well as Sonic. And the new levels for me feel much more repetitive than the original Sonic 3 levels. I can't say it's what happened but it feels to me almost like the best of the levels in development were pulled out for Sonic 3, leaving the weaker ones to be added later for S&K.

Still, the lock on feature was pretty cool and it's overall a good experience.