The final hurrah to the final hurrah of the Sonic Sega Genesis games.
“Sonic & Knuckles” is the second half of “Sonic 3,” creating “Sonic 3 & Knuckles” due to lock-on technology with the “Sonic & Knuckles” cartridge on the Sega Genesis.
Although, on the "Sonic Classic Collection" for the Nintendo DS, you can just select "Sonic 3 & Knuckles" or play both halves separately. I did the latter for Sonic, and the former for Knuckles.
This is also the final classic Sonic the Hedgehog platformer for the Sega Genesis. Since this is the second half of "Sonic 3," it follows the same story. I recommend reading my "Sonic 3" review before reading this review, some things may not make sense without proper context.
Presentation (S)
There’s only one thing to add, that being each act is different in terms of appearance and colours, which adds a lot of cool visuals.
There isn’t much else that can be added from before though. I mean, just look at the pretty colours. They’re so pretty.
The soundtrack feels right on par with “Sonic 2” with a ton of killer tracks. Flying Battery Zone Act 1, Sandopolis Zone Act 2, Death Egg Zone Act 2, and more. The minor boss theme is still present and annoying though, but a better minor boss theme plays in “Sonic 3 & Knuckles.”
Gameplay (A+)
“Sonic & Knuckles” improves on a lot because of the improved zone quality. I like every zone strongly.
Sandopolis Zone and Flying Battery Zone are amazing, although I must admit my bias for desert levels for the former, I adore desert levels.
There aren’t any low points, with Mushroom Hill Zone being one of my favourites in the series, it’s such an amazing intro zone.
I’m so confused because these zones are so amazing to the point where “Sonic & Knuckles” and “Sonic 3” feel like different games because of their zone quality. These are two halves of the same game; how does this even happen?
Existential confusion aside, because of the improved level design, the Flame Shield has more substance.
More levels use fire obstacles, which the Flame Shield is immune to. This turns the Flame Shield from just a shield with a hindrance to an actual power-up. Characters can even stand on lava with the Flame Shield! That’s so cool!
The Bubble Shield is unfortunately more useless as none of the levels have underwater sections. Still, two out of three useful power-ups is better then only one useful power-up.
There are also two new bonus stages, entered the same way as “Sonic 3’s” bonus stages. The first is reminiscent of “Sonic the Hedgehog’s” special stages.
Instead of getting a Chaos Emerald, the goal is to reach the slot machine in the middle, roll the slots, and to get as many rings as you can. The player is booted out when they hit the goal marks/fall off the stage.
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The other version involves spheres Sonic travels in a circle around and can jump off to go to another sphere. The goal is to try to get power-ups like shields before the rising electricity beam hits the character.
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The slot machine bonus stage is great way to reuse a special stage to make it fun while removing the frustrating elements. It’s also easy to get 50 rings in this stage to get Continues. The latter bonus stage on the other hand isn't good, the mechanic is annoying and awkward. I miss the gumball dispenser.
There’s also a new character added to the roster, Knuckles the Echidna. The addition we don’t deserve, but the one we need.
Knuckles climbs up walls, glides, and punches breakable walls. However, this comes at the cost of being slower, a lower jump, and only being able to use the shields as regular shields like Tails.
For Knuckles, it’s worth it due to how well-designed his climbing and gliding is.
His campaign is even better than Sonic’s due to some annoying parts being ignorable by gliding and having no overabundance of bosses in zones. The maximum amount of bosses per zone is three.
Carnival Night Zone is also far shorter, although instead of being annoying like in Sonic’s campaign, it’s bad in Knuckles’ campaign due to how short and unnoteworthy it is. Still an improvement though.
Knuckles even has a super form: Super Knuckles. It functions similarly to Super Sonic but increases gliding and climbing speed as well.
Knuckles’ campaign is shorter, ending at Sky Sanctuary Zone rather than Death Egg Zone.
The ability to collect the Super Emeralds in the special stages, which are unchanged from “Sonic 3,” is also unlocked by connecting “Sonic 3” with the “Sonic & Knuckles” cartridge.
If they’re all collected, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles can become Hyper Sonic, Super Tails, and Hyper Knuckles, respectively. Tails got the short end of the stick.
Still, it’s good all the characters have super forms and superior forms on top of that. There’s even a new final boss for Sonic if Death Egg Zone is reached with all the Chaos Emeralds/Super Emeralds, known as Doomsday Zone.
Speaking of bosses, one improvement the game didn’t make from “Sonic 3” was the boss quantity and miniboss quality.
Granted, there are more good bosses this time around, such as Mecha Sonic (not the same as “Sonic 2” Mecha Sonic), Sandopolis Act 2’s boss, and more.
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However, the minibosses are still mediocre and too plentiful. There are 20 bosses in “Sonic & Knuckles” in total, including phases, over a third of them are in Death Egg Zone.
Also, while this isn’t a gripe, it does bear asking: What happened to Dr. Robotnik’s inventions this time around? A good portion of them are poorly designed, not as bosses, but as machines.
One boss fight involves him shooting a laser into his own airship whenever he misses Sonic, damaging his own airship.
Is Dr. Robotnik okay? Is he doing well? I'm concerned.
The final criticisms are that there is no saving in “Sonic & Knuckles" with the "Sonic 3 & Knuckles" version. Thankfully the collection has a save function, but it's still frustrating it wasn't included when it was present in "Sonic 3."
Tails is also not a selectable partner/character in “Sonic & Knuckles,” only in “Sonic 3 & Knuckles.”
Overall (A+)
This was a pleasant surprise. I went into this pessimistically, but I ended up loving “Sonic & Knuckles.” The improvements to the zone quality, Flame Shield, Knuckles, and new additions made the game a ton of fun and better than “Sonic 3.”
I did enjoy “Sonic CD” a lot more, but I would argue “Sonic & Knuckles” is the best Classic Sonic game technically for its level design and only having one major flaw, that being the bosses.
Now there's one final stop on this marathon, "Sonic Mania."
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