We now arrive to Sonic's final hurrah on the Sega Genesis, well, the first half of his final hurrah.
"Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” or better known as "Sonic 3" is the final numbered game in the "Sonic the Hedgehog" series of games for the Sega Genesis. Released in 1994 and developed by Sega Technical Institute, who developed "Sonic 2."
This is one half of the full game, due to hardware limitations. The second half being “Sonic & Knuckles” released later in 1994.
I contemplated whether to review “Sonic 3” and “Sonic & Knuckles” together, considering they're two halves of the same game, but I decided to make separate reviews in the end.
Like with "Sonic 1," I'll be playing this on the "Sonic Classic Collection" for the Nintendo DS. I also played "Sonic 3" on this collection when I was a child too, along with "Sonic & Knuckles," but like with "Sonic 1," I barely remember anything about it.
Story (A)
“Sonic 3” has the best story so far, or the best way of communicating it to the player. The beginning cutscene is just perfection.
It’s a great introduction that communicates everything the player needs to know: the conflict, the antagonist, the protagonist, and the objective through visuals and music alone.
Presentation (A+)
From the gif above, you can see Sonic got a makeover to his sprite. Going from adorable to “your daughter gives me the gravy at the dinner table first.” I do prefer the older design, but the new design does fit Sonic’s attitude a lot better.
The other praises I’ve given before are still here and improved on, minus sound quality since it’s hard to compare to “Sonic CD.”
The game looks and sounds spectacular, easily having the best visuals in the Genesis line-up of Classic Sonic games.
A great addition is that zones have transitions. The player sees how Sonic ends up in Icecap Zone and how that leads to Launch Base Zone. Finishing Act 1 immediately transitions to Act 2 with no cutaway like in the previous games.
The music is also excellent too, this time each zone has two songs, one for each act. Hydrocity Zone Act 2 and the final boss theme being my favourites.
Although, I do find Sonic 2’s soundtrack more memorable and better overall, but that's just music preference.
The minor boss theme is annoying though.
Gameplay (D)
“Sonic 3” adds a lot of stuff, just like its predecessors.
One of the four major additions are powerup shields. There are three types: the Bubble Shield, Flame Shield, and Thunder Shield, which are found in boxes like 1-ups.
The Bubble Shield allows Sonic to drop faster to the ground when pressing jump mid-air, to bounce when dropping faster to the ground, and grants the ability to breathe underwater.
The Flame Shield lets Sonic boost forward in mid-air and makes him immune to fire.
Finally, the Thunder Shield lets Sonic double jump and attract nearby rings towards him. All shields also tank one hit without the risk of losing any rings.
On paper, the shields are a cool idea and in execution, the Thunder Shield is a well-designed power-up.
Unfortunately, the Bubble Shield’s bounce is never all that helpful and I'm never underwater long enough to reap the underwater breathing benefit.
The Flame Shield’s fire resistance is never utilized as far as I recall, ironic since the first zone is set on fire. The boost got me hit often so I just never used the boost. Although, I admit I could've used the boost at the wrong times.
These two just turned into different coloured shields for me.
Another way to get the shields outside of boxes is through the bonus stage if the player reaches a checkpoint with 50 rings. They enter a minigame where they can get shields, 1-ups and more through a gumball dispenser.
To get the gumball dispenser to dispense, Sonic/Tails needs to reach the dispenser handle by using the bumpers to the left and right walls to ascend them, although the bumps disappear after being used. When Sonic/Tails falls to the bottom, the bonus stage ends.
This is a good addition and allows the player to get extra 1-ups and shields anywhere in the stage.
Although how does one enter the special stages this time around? Giant floating rings. They're hidden in the levels, but can be found by exploring, which is quite satisfying.
The special stages are completely different again. This time, Sonic/Tails explores a grid to get rid of all of the blue spheres by turning them into red spheres.
In large batches of blue spheres in the shape of a square, if all the outer spheres are made red, all the spheres in the square shap turn into rings to collect. 50 Rings in special stages earns a Continue.
Make all the blue spheres red to get the Chaos Emerald. Touch a red sphere and Sonic is booted out. Touch a spring and Sonic will move backwards, touching a spring again makes Sonic's movement normal again.
Like before, getting all seven Chaos Emeralds unlocks Super Sonic.
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This is challenging but well-designed.
Another addition is the new Instant-Shield that can be performed when the Player presses jump in the air again as Sonic without the elemental shields. The shield is only for a tiny bit, but it can be a lifesaver.
Not much else has been changed or added though: Tails is the same as in "Sonic CD," although all of his abilities there originated from "Sonic 3." So I'm giving points to "Sonic 3" for that.
He can’t use powerup shield abilities, they just act as normal shields for him. Game saving, spin dash, and so on from the previous games are still present. The Super-Peel Out has been removed, but that isn't really a big deal.
As for the zones themselves, they’re… Mixed. My favourite was Launch Base Zone, even if the Ribots are annoying, the gimmicks of the zone are fun and well-designed.
However, out of the six zones, I only like half of them and loathe one third of the stages. Those I loathe being Carnival Night Zone and Marble Garden Zone with their annoying obstacles, aggravating enemies, boring gimmicks that were a pain to use.
Carnival Night Zone is also the longest stage in “Sonic 3,” making it even worse. It’s not as bad as Labyrinth Zone from “Sonic 1,” but it’s close.
If I had to name one common thing the zones had that kept them from being amazing, it was their gimmicks. They were either annoying or boring, excluding Launch Base Zone.
There’re also only six zones in comparison to “Sonic 2” which had 10 zones (nine excluding the final boss zone), making the game shorter.
One final addition is the minibosses. After each zone, instead of running past a sign, Sonic faces a miniboss in Act 1 and then the boss in Act 2. Another great concept on paper, but only the final boss and Hydrocity Zone’s Act 2 boss are good.
The minibosses are all mediocre, while Robotnik’s boss fights mostly range from massive pain to massive pushover.
The worst of it is in Launch Base Zone Act 2 where there are three bosses in a row. The first two are absolute pushovers. Additionally, three is just far too many bosses in a row. Quantity doesn’t automatically equal quality.
Overall (C)
This was… Brutal. I genuinely didn’t enjoy my time with “Sonic 3.” It controls well, the presentation is exceptional, and the story is told well…
Unfortunately, compared to its predecessors, it doesn’t add that much to really make an impact on gameplay, there aren’t as many zones, and the zones are fine for the most part, but nothing exceptional. In fact, Marble Garden Zone and Carnival Night Zone are dreadful.
This is my least favourite Classic Sonic game, but not technically the worst. “Sonic 1” takes that title for its pacing and not having as many mechanics as “Sonic 3.” Both games felt as though when I beat it, I finished a chore.
Which makes me afraid of “Sonic & Knuckles.”
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