Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles/Comparisons

Back to: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles.

After work was completed on the "first part" of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the developers mainly concentrated on finishing the remaining stages - those which would appear in Sonic & Knuckles. While one might assume the locked-on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles would just bridge the gap (and let Tails/Knuckles play in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 levels, respectively), Sonic & Knuckles also acts as a "patch" to Sonic 3, fixing several of its bugs and also making adjustments to levels to increase or decrease difficulty.

Most importantly, code in Sonic & Knuckles finishes the Sonic 3 routes intended for Knuckles. From the very beginning, Sonic 3 stages were designed with Knuckles-only areas (visible in that game through edit mode), but progress was put on hold when the game was split in two.

General comparisons

Sonic 3

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles favours the Sonic 3 title screen and menu system, but substitutes the Sonic 3 jingles, Knuckles and boss music for their Sonic & Knuckles counterparts. The title screen is amended as the game's name has now changed.

Sonic 3

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

The Data Select gets extra information for lives and continues. The number of save slots also increases from 6 to 8.

Sonic 3

Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

All title cards are amended to show Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Sonic 3

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

The font on the Continue screen was changed to the one used for the credits in Sonic & Knuckles.

Sonic 3

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

The level select is expanded to include all the Zones, culling the Competition Mode levels and the Sonic 2 level icons in the process. The Sonic & Knuckles level select screen is identical, just with half of the levels disabled.