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Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island
From Sonic Retro
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| Fast Facts on Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island |
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Publisher: Sega Developer: Sonic Team / Traveller's Tales System(s): Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, Windows PC ROM Size: 4 Megabytes Released in US: November 1996 (Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn) September 25, 1997 (PC) Released in EU: November 1996 (Mega Drive/Genesis) February 1997 (Saturn) September 30, 1997 (PC) Released in JP: October 14, 1999 (Saturn) Genre: 3D Platform |
Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island, also known as "Sonic 3D Blast", was released on the Sega Genesis and Saturn in 1996, and also released later on the PC. In the opinions of many, this was a fairly mediocre Sonic game, due to the sluggish gameplay and rather boring aspects that haunt the stages of the game. The music in the Genesis version, however, is widely considered to be some of the greatest in the series, and has spawned numerous remixes across the web. Co-composer Jun Senoue was later brought back to do the music for Sonic Adventure, often using arrangements of Sonic 3D's music.
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Gameplay
The game places Sonic in an isometric projection view in a de facto 2D environment. He must collect Flickies and bring them to the big warp ring in order to advance in a stage. There are 10 or 15 Flickies to rescue in each Act, except Act 3 of each zone, where you face Dr. Eggman.
Flicky Types
The Flickies Sonic rescues in each level come in four different colors. Each color has its own path of travel.
 Blue Flickies make a conscious effort to find Sonic. If they cannot find him, they fly around in a tight circle, making them easy to locate. |
 Pink Flickies act largely like blue ones, but fly around in bigger circles if unable to find Sonic. In the Volcano Valley Zone in the Mega Drive version, the pink Flickies are replaced with bright orange, flaming Flickies, presumably due to color palette limitations. |
 Red Flickies constantly move between two close points, not making any effort to find Sonic. Their movement range is small, but they jump very high and can thus be hard to catch. |
 Green Flickies wander randomly with no interest in finding Sonic, they even sometimes appear to try to avoid Sonic. |
Versions and Release History
The game was released in Europe for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in November 1996. The Sega Genesis version was released in North America later that month.
The game was released on the Sega Saturn in North America in the very same month to make up for the cancellation of Sonic X-treme; the game was ported less than two months with FMVs, highly spruced up graphics and special effects, such as fog. It also included an all new 3D special stage, which is considered by many fans to be the best special stage in the series, and an entirely new, Red Book audio soundtrack, including the ending song You're My Hero. It was then released in Europe for the Saturn in February 1997. The game was eventually released for the Saturn in Japan on October 14, 1999, the same day as Sonic Adventure International.
PC's eventually got a port of the Saturn version in North America in September 1997, with the videos and soundtrack intact, as well as the notable addition of a save feature, but lacking some of the Saturn's effects (like the fog in Rusty Ruins) and a less graphically complicated special stage, using sprites from the Genesis version but with the basic concept of the Saturn version. The PC version came to Europe on September 25, 1997. It was re-released with Sonic R in the Twin Pack: Sonic 3D Blast & Sonic R bundle in 2002.
The Mega Drive/Genesis ROM used on both sides of the pond is exactly the same. The title differs depending on which country the game is in. In North America, the title is Sonic 3D Blast. In Europe, the title is Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island. There never was a Japanese release of the Mega Drive/Genesis version, but if the game is played in a Japanese console, it displays the North American title. The Japanese Sega Saturn version, on the other hand, officially uses the European title. The PC version, if minimized (for instance, if a user Alt+Tabs), uses a combination of both names, though the combined name is rarely used, with people generally favoring one region's name over the other.
Archie Comic Adaption
Published in January 1997. Dr. Robotnik roboticizes the Flickies, and instead of helping him track the Chaos Emeralds, they prevent Sonic, Tails & Rotor from heading to the Flickies' Island until they were returned to normal with salt water.
Manuals
- Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis) US Manual (no manual scan)
- Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (Mega Drive) EU Manual (no manual scan)
- Sonic 3D Blast (Saturn) US Manual
- Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (Saturn) EU Manual
- Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (Saturn) JP Manual
- Sonic 3D Blast (PC) US Manual
- Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (PC) EU Manual
- Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (PC) JP Manual
Also Released On
- Sonic 3D Blast for Tiger LCD (1997)
- Twin Pack: Sonic 3D Blast & Sonic R for PC (2002)
- Sonic Mega Collection for Nintendo GameCube (2003)
- Sonic Mega Collection Plus for Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox (2004)
- Sonic Mega Collection Plus & Super Monkey Ball Deluxe for the Microsoft Xbox (2005)
- Virtual Console on Nintendo Wii (2007)
- Sega Fun Pack: Sonic Mega Collection Plus & Shadow the Hedgehog for the Sony PlayStation 2 (2009)
- Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (2009)
- Sonic PC Collection for the PC (2009)
Production Credits
Credits
Program Design and Implementation: Jon Burton (Travellers Tales)
Head Artist: James Cunliffe (Travellers Tales)
Program Conversion: Steve Harding, Neil Harding (Travellers Tales)
Head Designer: Takao Miyoshi (Sega Enterprises Ltd.)
Producer: Kats Sato (Sega Europe Limited), Mike Wallis (Sega of America Inc.)
Senior Producer: Yutaka Sugano (Sega Enterprises Ltd.)
Travellers Tales
Program Design and Implementation: Jon Burton
Head Artist: James Cunliffe
Code Conversion: Neil Harding, Steve Harding, Jon Burton
Graphic Conversion + Additional Artwork: Neil Allen, David Burton, James Cunliffe, Jeremy Pardon, Jon Rashid, Alex Szeles, Barry Thompson, William Thompson
Utility Programming: Gary Ireland, Neil Harding, Gary Vine, David Dootson, Andy Holdroyd
Project Management: Jon Burton
Production Support: Karen Roberts
Moral Support: Helen Musk
Sega
Game Concept Design (SOJ): Kats Sato, Takao Miyoshi, Kenichi Ono, Takashi Iizuka
Playfield Design (SOJ): Takao Miyoshi, Hirokazu Yasuhara
Saturn Version Enhancement Design (SOJ): Takashi Iizuka, Hirokazu Yasuhara
3D Modelling (SOJ) : Toshiyuki Mukaiyama
Special Stage Development
Game Designers (SOJ): Takashi Iizuka, Daisuke Mori
Programmers (SOJ): Tetsu Katano, Yasuhiro Takahashi, Atsutomo Nakagawa, Kazuhiko Hattori
Artists (SOJ): Kazuyuki Hoshino, Yuji Uekawa, Nobuhiko Honda, Shinichi Higashi, You Nishiyama, Sachiko Kawamura
Movie Development
Movie Creation (SOJ): Norihiro Nishiyama
Movie Processing (SOJ): Yuji Sawairi
Music (SOE): Richard Jacques
Sound Effects (SOE): Richard Jacques, Thomas Szirtes
Closing Theme "You're My Hero": Richard Jacques (Music), Debbie Morris (Voice)
Technical Support
Additional Programming (SOE): Ed Hollingshead, Thomas Szirtes
Additional Support (SOE): Tamer Tahsin, Colin Carter
Document Translations (SOA): Osamu Shibamiya
Lead Tester (SOE): Jason Cumberbatch
Assistant Lead Testers (SOE): Dave Thompson, Roberto Parraga
Lead Tester (SOA): David Wood
Assistant Lead Tester (SOA): Mark McCunney, Ian McGuiness, Tony Borba
Marketing (SOE): Andy Mee, Jo Bladen, Mark Maslowicz
Marketing (SOA): Chrissie Kremer, Eric Dunstan, Kristin McCloskey, Mark Subotnick
Advisors (SOJ): Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima
Special Thanks To Genesis Version Music SFX Composers: Tatsuyuki Maeda, Jun Senoue, Masaru Setsumaru, Seirou Okamoto
Producers (SOJ): Yoji Ishii, Yutaka Sugano
Producers (SOE): Kazutoshi Miyake, Kats Sato
Producers (SOA): Manny Granillo, Mike Wallis
Executive Producer: Shoichiro Irimajiri
Music Tracklist for Genesis/Mega Drive
- Info found hidden in game by IceKnight.
01 Green Grove Zone Act 1: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
02 Green Grove Zone Act 2: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
03 Rusty Ruin Zone Act 1: Song by T.Maeda, Arrange by T.Maeda
04 Rusty Ruin Zone Act 2: Song by T.Maeda, Arrange by T.Maeda
05 Volcano Valley Zone Act 2: Song by T.Maeda, Arrange by T.Maeda
06 Volcano Valley Zone Act 1: Song by T.Maeda, Arrange by T.Maeda
07 Spring Stadium Zone Act 1: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
08 Spring Stadium Zone Act 2: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
09 Diamond Dust Zone Act 1: Song by T.Maeda, Arrange by T.Maeda
0A Diamond Dust Zone Act 2: Song by T.Maeda, Arrange by T.Maeda
0B Gene Gadget Zone Act 1: Song by T.Maeda, Arrange by T.Maeda
0C Gene Gadget Zone Act 2: Song by T.Maeda, Arrange by T.Maeda
0D Panic Puppet Zone Act 2: Song by T.Maeda, Arrange by T.Maeda
0E The Final Fight: Song by M.Sets, Arrange by M.Sets
0F Sonic 3 Bonus Stage: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
10 Special Stage: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
11 Intro/Panic Puppet Zone Act 1: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
12 Boss Fight 1: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by M.Sets
13 Boss Fight 2: Song by T.Maeda, Arrange by T.Maeda
14 Intro movie: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
15 Credits: Song by S.Okamoto, Arrange by J.Seno
16 Game Over: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
19 1-UP: Song by H.Drossin, Arrange by M.Sets
1A Chaos Emerald: Song by Y.Makino, Arrange by Y.Makino
1B Invincibility: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
1C Menu: Song by J.Seno, Arrange by J.Seno
?? (1D? In the game but not referenced/used.): Song by J.Seno, Arrange by M.Sets
Resources
Original Sound Version Recordings
See Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island OSV (Genesis) or Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island OST (Windows/Saturn) for a download page.
Scans
Mega Drive
 US cover |
 US cart |
 EU cover |
 EU cart |
 BR cover |
Saturn
 US cover |
 US back cover |
 US disc |
 EU cover |
 EU disc |
 JP front cover |
 JP back cover |
 JP disc |
PC
 US cover |
US disc |
US spinecard |
 EU cover |
 EU rear |
 EU disc |
 EU Xplosiv cover (EI-1304) |
 EU Xplosiv disc (EI-1304) |
 EU Xplosiv cover (XP-1304) |
 EU Xplosiv disc (XP-1304) |
