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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Limited Edition

From Sonic Retro

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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Limited Edition
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2
Status of prototype(s): Two prototypes discovered and released

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Limited Edition, referred to as Sonic 3+ in notes for Sonic Mars, was going to be a compilation of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles for the Sega Mega Drive. This would be similar to what happens when locking the two games together with Sonic & Knuckles' Lock-On Technology. It would essentially be Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, but it would have been contained in a single cartridge and thus probably would have had a cheaper price. It is unknown whether it would have had a port allowing for Lock-On Technology so compatibility with other cartridges is also unknown. If that port were not included, then playing as Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or playing the extended Sonic 3 Special Stage called Blue Sphere would not have been possible. Ultimately, the game was canceled.

Two gaming magazines, SEGA Magazin[1] and Famitsu, refer to the game. Sega Magazin mentions that the game would be released in addition to the standard Sonic 3 game. Famitsu mentions that the game would be 24 Megabits. The game was also mentioned in an issue of Mean Machines Sega.[2]

Two prototypes of this game were released by drx on February 23, 2008. The earliest can be found here and the later build can be found here. Judging from the prototypes, the game was meant to include an extended version of the Sonic & Knuckles ending theme with music from Sonic 3 mixed in. It also may have used Sonic 3 boss music exclusively.

Gallery

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 59d23df5
MD5 332e7f919b3f49c05b0a977b25af6c26
SHA-1 5f96ddccff1e95d82201687b939973c642a05394
4MB 1994-04-08 CD-R disc[3] 0408 prototype Download.svg (2.2 MB) (info) Page
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 766c4b81
MD5 07b35dcc19166dad91e9487031bfac88
SHA-1 d6012af0f7856476892982e50b3d512d606dcb96
4MB 1994-05-17 CD-R disc[4] 0517 prototype Download.svg (2.35 MB) (info) Page

References

  1. [segamagazin, issue 3, page 84 segamagazin, issue 3, page 84]
  2. [mms, issue 24, page 16 mms, issue 24, page 16]
  3. Hidden Palace: Sonic 3C (Apr 8, 1994 prototype)
  4. Hidden Palace: Sonic 3C (May 17, 1994 prototype)


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