Sonic & Knuckles Collection

n/a

Sonic & Knuckles Collection

System(s): PC
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team
Genre: Compilation
ESRB PEGI GRB

Sonic & Knuckles Collection is a compilation game for Microsoft Windows-based PCs released in 1997. Games included in the compilation are Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Blue Sphere (listed as "Special Stage Mode" in options mode). The ports have seemed to be slightly more buggy than their originals, and most of the original music is emulated in MIDI format.

This game is virtually impossible to play in windowed mode on any system with a CPU faster than 350MHz without any patches, because the game does not have proper speed-limiting routines in this mode. However, the timings used by full screen mode are based on the monitor's refresh rate, so the game can be played at the correct speed at a 60Hz refresh rate on any modern system. The framerate in windowed mode can be corrected with a patch [1] available from the Sega website, or by setting a value in the S3K.ini configuration file, described here.

Differences from console version

Some of the music in the game(s), which include Carnival Night Zone, Ice Cap Zone, Launch Base Zone, the Knuckles Theme of Sonic 3 and the Sonic 3 credits music, were all replaced with original music. One possible explanation for replacing these tracks is that those pieces of music used sound effects not supported by the MIDI standard, and some sound cards during this time were not capable of playing the MIDI patches as well as sampled sound effects in the music. Another explanation for the replacement is that the original tracks may have been composed by Jackson, and were removed in this remake due to legal reasons. Aside from the different soundtrack, the gameplay is identical to their Genesis counterparts.

Other things that are noticed is that the Sonic 3 & Knuckles Level Select Cheat works on Sonic 3 also in Angel Island Zone. This same code, input at Mushroom Hill Zone in Sonic & Knuckles, does not enable debug mode like in the original, though it does still allow characters to play stages they couldn't access otherwise from the level select. Examples of this include Tails in Doomsday Zone and Knuckles in Sky Sanctuary 1. When the level select code is performed in Sonic 3, and the first special stage option is selected (which unlike in the original accesses the blue sphere mini-game) enables the player to use Knuckles in the Sonic 3 levels, though they are incomplete and thus cannot always be beaten.

Sonic the Screen Saver

In the US and in Europe, "Sonic the Screen Saver" was included in the compilation. This disc allowed users to customize Windows with Sonic themes, wallpapers, icons, and play music from Sonic 1, 2, 3, S&K and the Japanese version of Sonic CD. In Japan Sonic the Screen Saver was sold seperately.