Sonic 3

is a 1994 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. Like previous ''Sonic'' games, players traverse side-scrolling levels while collecting rings and defeating enemies. They control Sonic and Tails, who attempt to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds to stop Doctor Robotnik from relaunching his space station, the Death Egg, after it crash-lands on a mysterious floating island. ''Sonic 3'' introduces Knuckles the Echidna, the island guardian, who lays traps for Sonic and Tails.

Development began in January 1993 by Sega Technical Institute in California, shortly after the release of ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2''. It was initially developed as an isometric game similar to what would eventually become ''Sonic 3D Blast'' (1996), but became a conventional 2D platform game due to time constraints. ''Sonic 3'' was developed simultaneously with ''Sonic & Knuckles''; they were planned as a single game until time constraints and cartridge costs forced the developers to split it. The ''Sonic 3'' cartridge can be attached to an adapter on the ''Sonic & Knuckles'' cartridge, creating a combined game, ''Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles''. Michael Jackson composed portions of the soundtrack, but left the project and went uncredited; sources vary on how much of his work was retained, and many tracks were replaced in rereleases.

''Sonic 3'' was released in North America and Europe in February 1994, and in Japan in May. As with its predecessors, it was a critical and commercial success, with critics seeing it as an improvement over previous installments. ''Sonic 3'' and ''Sonic & Knuckles'' sold a combined four million copies worldwide, placing them among the bestselling Genesis games. They have been rereleased in various Sega and ''Sonic'' compilations.

Gameplay

''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' is a 2D side-scrolling platformer. As with ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'', players can control Sonic, Tails, or both simultaneously. In the former choice, players control Sonic while Tails runs along beside him; a second player can join at any time and control Tails separately. ''Sonic 3'' adds the ability for Tails to fly for a short time by spinning his twin tails like a helicopter rotor. Unlike Sonic, Tails can also swim underwater.''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' (Genesis) instruction manual, pp. 8–9.

''Sonic 3'' takes place over six zones,''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' (Genesis) instruction manual, pp. 16–17. each divided into two acts. Levels are populated with "badniks", robots created by the villain, Dr. Robotnik; Sonic and Tails can defeat them by jumping on them or using the "spin dash" attack, which also gives the character a speed boost. The levels include obstacles and other features such as vertical loops, corkscrews, breakable walls, spikes, water that the player can drown in, and bottomless pits. There is a miniboss fight with one of Robotnik's large, powerful robots at the end of the first act of each level and a boss fight with Robotnik at the end of the second.''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' (Genesis) instruction manual, pp. 4–5. Reaching a new level saves the game to one of six save slots.''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' (Genesis) instruction manual, p. 10.

As with previous ''Sonic'' games, ''Sonic 3'' uses rings, scattered throughout the levels, as a health system; when the player is attacked without rings, is crushed, falls off-screen, drowns, or exceeds the act's ten-minute limit, they lose a life and return to the most recently passed checkpoint. Dying with zero lives gives the player a game over. The levels also include power-ups in television monitors that, when hit, grant the character an extra life, temporary invincibility to most hazards, a number of rings,''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' (Genesis) instruction manual, pp. 12–13. a shield that allows them to breathe underwater, a shield that allows them to withstand fire from enemy projectiles, or a shield that attracts nearby rings.

''Sonic 3'' contains two types of bonus stages. When the player collects at least 50 rings and passes a checkpoint, they can warp to the first type, which involves bouncing up a gumball machine-like corridor to earn power-ups by hitting a switch. Both sides of the corridor are lined with flippers, which disappear when the character bounces on them, and the switch drops when both flippers supporting it are removed. The corridor's floor contains a bounce pad, which also disappears after one use; falling afterwards causes the player to leave the stage with the most recent power-up collected.''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' (Genesis) instruction manual, pp. 14–15.

The second type, triggered by entering giant rings found in secret passages, involves running around a 3D map and passing through all of a number of blue spheres arranged in patterns. Passing through a blue sphere turns it red, and touching a red sphere causes the player to leave the stage, unless the player has just completed a cycle around an arrangement of blue spheres, in which case all of these spheres turn to harmless rings. Removing all of the blue spheres gives the player a Chaos Emerald; if Sonic (not Tails) collects all seven, he unlocks the ability to become Super Sonic, which makes him invincible to most obstacles. Failing to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds triggers a post-credits scene in which Robotnik and Knuckles taunt the player.

''Sonic 3'' includes a competitive mode: two players, controlling Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles, race through one or all of five stages that do not appear in the main game. In these same stages, a single player can compete against the clock in time attacks.''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' (Genesis) instruction manual, pp. 18–19.

''Sonic 3 & Knuckles''

''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' and ''Sonic & Knuckles'' were planned as a single game, but were released separately due to time constraints caused by a McDonald's promotion and cartridge size limitations. The ''Sonic & Knuckles'' cartridge features a "lock-on" adapter that allows other Genesis cartridges to be attached. Connecting the ''Sonic 3'' cartridge creates a combined game, ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles''. The lock-on function is available in most re-releases.

''Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles'' allows the player to play ''Sonic 3'' levels as Knuckles or ''Sonic & Knuckles'' levels as Tails, or both Sonic and Tails. Other new features are the ability to collect Super Emeralds, unlocking new "Hyper" forms for Sonic and Knuckles and a "Super" form for Tails; improved save options; access to areas that Sonic or Tails could not previously access; altered boss forms; and an additional ending that shows Sonic returning the Master Emerald to Angel Island.

Plot

After Sonic and Tails defeat Dr. Robotnik in ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'', Robotnik's space station, the Death Egg, crash-lands on the floating Angel Island. The impact from the Death Egg's crash causes the island to fall into the ocean. There, Robotnik meets Knuckles the Echidna, the last member of an ancient echidna civilization that once inhabited the island. Knuckles is the guardian of the Master Emerald, which grants the island its levitation power and has an equal power level of the 7 Chaos Emeralds.''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' (Genesis) instruction manual, p. 4. Robotnik dupes Knuckles into believing Sonic is trying to steal the Master Emerald, and that the launch base is Sonic's base, turning the two against each other while he repairs the Death Egg.

Sonic and Tails approach Angel Island in their biplane, the Tornado. Sonic uses the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic, but Knuckles ambushes him and steals the emeralds. Sonic and Tails travel the island hindered by Knuckles and Robotnik. At the Launch Base, where the Death Egg is under repair, Sonic and Tails fight Knuckles, but the Death Egg relaunches. On a platform attached to the Death Egg, they defeat Robotnik, causing the Death Egg to crash-land on Angel Island again. The story resumes in ''Sonic & Knuckles''.

Development

Like ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'', ''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' was developed in California by Sega Technical Institute (STI). After the completion of ''Sonic 2'', the producer, Yuji Naka, refused to develop another ''Sonic'' game with the Americans. STI split into two teams: one comprised Japanese developers, who worked on ''Sonic 3,'' and the other Americans, who worked on ''Sonic Spinball''. Naka and Hirokazu Yasuhara were the primary creators of the ''Sonic 3'' design document and project schedule. Naka selected the majority of the team, while the STI director, Roger Hector, oversaw development and Pamela Kelly led the marketing.

Development began in January 1993. The team initially used the Sega Virtua Processor chip, allowing for 3D graphics. They created a prototype with isometric graphics with the working title ''Sonic 3D''. The original special stage featured a polygonal Sonic in a figure eight-shaped stage. When it became apparent that the chip would not be finished by 1994, ''Sonic 3'' was restarted as a more conventional 2D platform game.
Translation
by Shmuplations. ). The designer Takashi Iizuka said the chip was an experiment to see if ''Sonic'' could work in 3D, and was abandoned due to its low polygon count. The isometric concept was eventually used for ''Sonic 3D Blast'' in 1996.

According to Naka, the team wanted a deeper story to expand the ''Sonic'' world, which greatly expanded the project size. As ''Sonic'' was an action game with international appeal, they told the story visually, using in-game cutscenes, instead of text. The levels are triple the size of those in ''Sonic 2''. Additional bosses, different musical arrangements and graphics were used to distinguish act 1 and 2 of each stage. Many elements were conceived during the development of ''Sonic 2'' but deferred to ''Sonic 3''.

''Sonic 3'' and ''Sonic & Knuckles'' were originally planned as a single game. However, the manufacturing costs of a 34-megabit cartridge with NVRAM would have been prohibitively expensive. Due to the game's scope and Sega of America's commitment to launch a major McDonald's Happy Meal promotion in February 1994, the team reluctantly split it in half, allowing more time to develop the second part and splitting the cost between two cartridges. The ''Sonic & Knuckles'' cartridge's lock-on technology was created, named and implemented so ''Sonic 3'' could be experienced as intended. Among other features, it allowed the developers to keep the paths designed for Knuckles in ''Sonic 3'', which were inaccessible on the standalone cartridge.

''Sonic 3'' features the debut of Sonic's rival, Knuckles the Echidna. Many designs for the character were considered; for the final design, Takashi Yuda chose the kind of animal, and Pamela Kelly chose the name. Yuda envisioned him as a supporting character for Sonic, and felt he would make a good playable character. Whereas Sonic symbolizes speed, Knuckles symbolizes power, and the emphasis of the character was to break walls. His shoe coloration was inspired by the flag of Jamaica. The original name for the character was "Dreds", referring to his dreadlocks. The design was tested with focus groups of American children. Knuckles' climbing ability allowed the developers to introduce more vertical gameplay.

Hector said ''Sonic 3'' had a troubled development. He recalled having to prevent the rest of Sega from bothering the team while simultaneously making sure the game would be finished in time. Additionally, Hector struggled to balance resources between ''Sonic 3'' and other projects, Naka was sometimes seen as a harsh leader, and American STI staff not on the ''Sonic 3'' team became jealous of the priority given to the game.

Michael Jackson's involvement

According to several sources involved in the development, Sega hired the pop musician Michael Jackson to compose music for ''Sonic 3'', but he left the project and went uncredited. Fans speculated about similarities to Jackson's music, but his involvement was not known until Hector mentioned it in an interview in 2005.

Jackson was a ''Sonic'' fan and had collaborated with Sega on the 1990 arcade game ''Moonwalker''. Jackson's tour director, Brad Buxer, assembled a team and worked for four weeks at Record One in Los Angeles in 1993. They developed fully fledged tracks, with extensive samples of Jackson beatboxing

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