Sonic 3 Complete

Sonic 3 Complete
Version: 100404
Last release: April 4th, 2010
System: Sega Mega Drive
Original game: Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Credits: Tiddles, Hayate

Sonic 3 Complete is a hack by Tiddles which alters the musical configuration of Sonic 3 & Knuckles to more closely resemble the original Sonic 3. It also contains bugfixes and other additional features. Recent versions provide additional patches to reverse some of these changes, or make others, to provide a version to match the player's own preference.

Initially developed privately for his own use, it was posted to the public in December 2009 following positive reaction to a similar hack posted by Hayate. Hayate's later hack Sonic 3 Customizable is based upon the Sonic 3 Complete code, and bugfixes are shared between these hacks.

Hack Additions

Sonic 3-ification

• Tracks for title screen, invincibility, Knuckles' theme, miniboss, 1UP, Sonic 3 ending, continue/race results, and data select are the Sonic 3 versions.
• Various music cues are flipped around to work with this:
  • Marble Garden 2 boss for Knuckles plays the standard zone boss theme.
  • Flying Battery 2 sub-boss plays the Sonic & Knuckles miniboss theme.
  • Hidden Palace plays Sonic 3 miniboss for Knuckles fight, Sonic & Knuckles miniboss for Emerald theft.
  • Sonic 3 credits plays during the ending before the main credits begin (replacing Sky Sanctuary)
  • The Blue Sphere difficulty screen now plays the Gumball Bonus music.
• Music no longer fades out before the Got Through screen
• Act music no longer resumes after the Got Through screen before a zone transition.
• Credits music has been replaced with the Sonic 3C 0517 version.
• Sonic/Tails have their final Launch Base 2 boss restored, with its Sonic 3 sweeping behaviour.
  • The ability to hit characters out of their super form has not been reintroduced.
  • Knuckles' version is unaffected.
• Flying Battery shows up with its unused Sonic 3 icon in Data Select.
• All references to "& Knuckles" removed, title screen positioning realigned to original setup. Zone title cards restored to Sonic 3's style.

Bugfixes

• Tails alone no longer has extra tails in the Launch Base Zone 2 ending cutscene. (Sonic 3 & Knuckles regression)
• The egg prison at the end of Hydrocity is now correctly centred for Sonic and Tails. (Sonic 3 & Knuckles regression)
• The correct music will resume after a drown timer while fighting the Hydrocity bosses.
• The boss music gives way to the act music at the end of Sandopolis 1 and Lava Reef 2.
• The correct music will always resume when coming back from a special stage or bonus stage (Angel Island Zone 1, IceCap Zone 1).
• Workaround added to Mushroom Hill 2 and Sandopolis 2 bosses to prevent Knuckles from sometimes seeing Eggman.
• Knuckles now fights EggRobo in Flying Battery 2.
• You will no longer lose barriers if hit from the blue spinning platforms in Marble Garden.
• SONIC text is no longer backwards when the Tornado flies left during the ending.
• Sonic's exit from Lava Reef to Hidden Palace is now blue rather than red.
• The music tempo glitch at the beginning of Doomsday has been removed.
• Collecting extra lives will not increase the counter past 99.
• Fixed possible Marble Garden 2 boss corruption after killing a Spiker with hyper dash.
• The normal super transformation sound effect is now used in Doomsday.
• Fixed HUD shadow colour in burnt area of Angel Island.
• Fixed spring artwork occasionally not being loaded for the Gumball Bonus Stage.
• Knuckles no longer shifts forward a pixel when looking up.
• The underwater character palette now reverts properly when losing Tails or Knuckles lose their super form.
• It is no longer possible to gain additional lives for having 100 and 200 rings in the Lava Reef boss area if those lives were already earned earlier in act 2.
• The Lava Reef and Death Egg boss areas will remember their starting timer if you die and restart (unless you die from a time over)
• Robotnik's bald shine on the save screen is no longer red.
• Stopped running animation being displayed in place of victory or super transform animation when in front of a solid object
• The Launch Base music now only restarts once after Knuckles defeats the Act 1 boss.
• Debug: Hyper Knuckles can now wall smash when turned hyper by a monitor.
• Debug: Tails' ring counter now falls in Doomsday.
• Debug: Characters other than Sonic appear correctly in Doomsday.
• Debug: Knuckles exits Doomsday to the title screen instead of a broken Sonic ending.

Features/Misc.

• Knuckles' introductory cutscene now plays in Angel Island rather than Sonic & Knuckles' Mushroom Hill.
• The Mushroom Hill demo sequence now plays as one of the Sonic 3 demos.
• Sonic's Angel Island intro can now be skipped using the Start button (only until Knuckles interjects).
• For Super/Hyper forms to be invoked, both and must be pressed when double-jumping (Megamix style).
  • Typically this can be invoked by holding one button to jump and pressing the other to double-jump, or pressing both buttons at once in mid-air.
  • This allows Tails/Knuckles to play without powering up after having all emeralds.
  • Sonic can now transform even if he has a barrier.
  • Added ability to return to normal with the same + double jump.
• While in super or hyper form, sped-up level music plays instead of invincibility music.
• Speed shoes monitors now have no effect when collected in super or hyper form.
• The existing Sonic 3 & Knuckles cheats work, plus:
  • + on 1 Player on the Sonic 3 title screen takes you to Sonic & Knuckles, with all the same changes, including music.
    • Restrictions on zone and character selection from the level select in Sonic & Knuckles are removed if debug is enabled.
  • + on the Sonic & Knuckles title screen takes you to back to Sonic 3.
  • + on 1 Player on the Sonic 3 or Sonic & Knuckles title screen takes you to Blue Sphere
    • Tails has been added as a playable character in Blue Sphere.
  • on Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles title screen menu switches region graphics (Tails/Miles, TM signs)
  • on Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles title screen menu enables level select.
  • 01 03 05 07 on sound test enables debug
  • 02 04 05 06 on sound test gives all Chaos Emeralds
    • This will not reset the status of anything done with Hidden Palace Zone/Super Emeralds
  • 12 14 15 16 on sound test gives all super emeralds
• "DEATHEGG" and "THE DOOMSDAY" changed to the more sensible "DEATH EGG" and "DOOMSDAY" in level select.
• Level Select now has the Data Select background, replacing the Sonic 2 SONIC/MILES pattern.
• Added entries to Level Select for the Gumball Bonus Stage and the Hidden Palace Special Stage entryway.
• Sound effect F3 will now speed up music as if speed shoes were active when used in the level select.
  • F4 returns to normal speed, as does starting another track.

Optional Patches

A selection of patches has been provided to allow some of the hack's changes to be reversed, or provide alternative configurations, according to player preference. The following options are currently available:

• Use the Sonic & Knuckles versions of the title screen, invincibility, game clear and 1UP tracks.
• Use the Sonic & Knuckles version of only the 1UP track (overrides the above).
• Use the Sonic & Knuckles midboss and Knuckles tracks exclusively. (Not compatible with the following patch)
• Use the Sonic 3 midboss theme when fighting Knuckles only. (Not compatible with the previous patch)
• Use the slower Sonic & Knuckles continue/race results/Blue Sphere music.
• Use the original ending music (Sky Sanctuary instead of Sonic 3 Credits).
• Use the original Sonic & Knuckles credits music instead of the Sonic 3C 0517 version.
• Bring back the Sonic & Knuckles-style music fadeout before the results screen.
• Resume Act 2's music after the zone results screen in cases where Sonic 3 & Knuckles did this.
• Use the original Sonic 3 & Knuckles double-jump/transformation button setup (any double-jump invokes a super form transformation, if available, unless Sonic has a shield, which prevents transformation).
• Disable the ability to cancel out of super or hyper forms with +.
• Disable the Big Arm boss in Launch Base 2 (use the Sonic 3 & Knuckles sequence).
• Start the Sonic 3 Credits music with the credit sequence (best used when the ending music has been changed back to Sky Sanctuary, otherwise the below patch is more useful).
• Allow the ending music to continue through both into the credits.

The full set of these patches in IPS format can be downloaded in a separate archive below. The 100404 patches were updated April 6th to fix a problem with the original super transformation patch. If you downloaded them before this point, and want to use that particular patch, please download the newer copy.

For Windows users, a command-line customizer (by Hayate) is also available, which provides a simpler interface to choose which patches to apply.

Downloads

Download Sonic 3 Complete File: Sonic3C 100404.7z (1.88 MB) (info) Current version: 100404

Additional Downloads

The following contains IPS patches for the 100404 version as documented above.

Download Sonic 3 Complete File: Sonic3C 100404 ips.7z (7 kB) (info) Current version: 100404a

The following contains the Windows customizer program for this version.

Download Sonic 3 Complete File: Sonic3C 100404 customizer.7z (16 kB) (info) Current version: 100404

Prior versions

• Sonic 3 Complete v091230 ^(info) (1.88 MB) (1.88MB, released 12/31/2009)
• Optional customisation patches for 091230 ^(info) (8 kB) (8KB, released 12/31/2009)
• Sonic 3 Complete v091224 ^(info) (1.88 MB) (1.88MB, released 12/25/2009)

External Links

• Release Thread