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Sonic the Hedgehog 3C (prototype 0408)

From Sonic Retro

Revision as of 20:01, 1 October 2017 by BSonirachi (talk | contribs) (Level Differences: Consistency with the 0517 article)

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Sonic the Hedgehog 3C (prototype 0408)
System(s): Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
ROM size: 4 MB
Genre: 2D Platform

Sonic the Hedgehog 3C Prototype 0408 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis was released by drx during the February 23rd, 2008 proto release. A later in development beta with a compilation number of 0517 was also found. When this beta was obtained by drx the file was labeled 3C indicating this was a unreleased version of Sonic 3. Due to the late development date (dating after Sonic 3's release), it's obvious this isn't Sonic 3 before it was split into 2 games.

This is a prototype for the canceled Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles compilation called Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Limited Edition.

Download.svg Download Sonic the Hedgehog 3C (prototype 0408)
File: Sonic 3C (Prototype 0408 - Apr 08, 1994, 17.29) (hidden-palace.org).zip (2.2 MB) (info)

Cheat Codes

  • Level Select: Enabled by default. Just scroll down on the title screen and select "Sound Test".
  • Debug Mode: At the sound test screen, play songs 01, 03, 05, 07. The ring counter will be replaced with a player sprite/frame counter. Or hold A+Start while selecting a level in sound test and you will start the level with the ability use debug
  • All Chaos Emeralds: At the sound test screen, play songs 02, 04, 06, 08.

Various Differences

  • Knuckles is selectable in 1-player mode.
  • Some of Super Sonic's sprites are garbled when interacting with certain objects in the S&K zones.
  • Tails and Knuckles have incomplete Super forms, since the art has yet to be implemented, thus Knuckles cannot turn Super by normal means. Likewise, Hyper Sonic is not in the game yet.
  • Due to Hyper Sonic not being in the game yet, "S" monitors will only transform you into Super Sonic, and will still play the incorrect sound effect like in Sonic 3.
  • The ending sequences have yet to be implemented.
  • The Super Sonic water shield bounce glitch from Sonic 3 is still there.
  • No glowing special stage rings have been implemented in the S&K zones.
  • The save format is identical to the one found in Sonic 3. You can play a saved game past Launch Base Zone, but when you exit the game the save will be indicated as "Clear" and only zones 1 through 6 can be selected. There are also only 6 save files as opposed to 8 in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and lives and continues are not saved or shown. (The final Sonic 3 actually had 14 save images; 6 for S3 only, 8 for Sonic 3&K.)
  • Knuckles has a different underwater palette.
  • Pressing A while the game is paused returns you to the level select screen instead of the Sega screen.
  • Monitors placed with debug are Lightning Shield monitors instead of Super Sonic monitors.
  • Blue Knuckles still appears on the goal signpost when playing as Sonic or Tails. Likewise, a red Sonic is shown on the signpost when playing as Knuckles.
  • Knuckles's palette overwrites the black stripe on the bottom of starposts. This causes it to appear red instead of black.
  • Monitor behavior is the same as in Sonic 1-3 in this build, where you have to jump on a monitor to break it, and hitting it from underneath makes it fall.
  • The following levels cannot be accessed in the level select. Enabling debug mode removes these restrictions, allowing you to enter them:
    • Lava Reef 3 & 4 (Act 2 Boss & Hidden Palace)
    • Sky Sanctuary 2
    • The Doomsday 1 & 2 (Doomsday & Death Egg Final Boss)
    • Bonus 1 & 2 (S&K Bonus Stages)
    • Special Stage 1 & 2
  • On a Japanese system, the trademark symbols are not removed from the SEGA logo and title screen, and Tails' life counter does not become "Miles" even though the results tally changes to "Miles".

Audio Differences

  • The music for the title screen, mini-bosses, Knuckles, invincibility, and collecting 1-ups are all from Sonic 3.
  • Many sound effects are missing, especially in the Sonic & Knuckles Zones and when playing as Knuckles.
  • Has additional unused sound bytes of music at the following sound test codes: 24, 23, 32, 2D, 22, 21, 20, 1E.
  • Sound test numbering is different for most sounds. Lots of empty slots for sounds in the sound tester.
  • The Data Select music bug from Sonic 3 alone is still there.
  • If Lava Reef act 4 (Hidden Palace Zone) is accessed via Level Select it will use Sky Sanctuary music.
  • The lead echo track of Flying Battery Zone's Act 1 music will go off sync after the first loop, and will increasingly gain drag behind after every loop.

Zone Differences

Angel Island Zone

  • Act 1 will still play Act 2 music when returning from a Bonus Stage after the Zone has been set on fire, like in Sonic 3.
  • Because Knuckles can't shatter the rock that allows access to Sonic's path, he can go that way. However, the boss always spawns at Knuckles' path, causing him to get stuck.
  • Knuckles' route in Act 2 still has its object layouts from Sonic 3.

Hydrocity Zone

  • Knuckles' route in Act 2 has no rings, enemies or checkpoints.
  • When fighting the Big Shaker, the game plays the Sonic 3 mini-boss theme instead of the Act 2 boss theme (Sonic 3 final plays the Act 2 boss theme, but switches to the Sonic & Knuckles mini-boss music if the drowning timer starts and you get out of the water; Sonic 3 & Knuckles final plays the Sonic & Knuckles Act 1 mini-boss theme.)
  • The spring that sends you backwards at the beginning of Act 2 is replaced with a 1-Up, which is the same as Sonic 3 & Knuckles final but not Sonic 3 final.
  • The Screw Mobile's twister can still glitch out Super Sonic like it did in Sonic 3.

Marble Garden Zone

  • The Act 1 miniboss crash glitch from Sonic 3 that can be achieved with a second player is still there.
  • The start of Sonic's segment in Act 2 does not have a wall to prevent Knuckles from defeating the Relief and instead has an extra set of spikes. Knuckles can hurt himself, stand on the spikes during brief invincibility time and jump into the Relief's eye and destroy it, allowing access to Sonic's segment.
  • Knuckles can climb on walls during the moving walls sections in both his route and Sonic's.

Carnival Night Zone

  • Knuckles' route in Act 1 still has its object layouts from Sonic 3.
  • Knuckles can climb the walls during the Bowling Spin boss fight. In the final version, he can't.
  • In the room where Knuckles would go through the breakable wall to his own path in Act 2, there is still a spinning barrel. This was removed in later prototypes and the final and replaced with spikes to stop Knuckles from taking Sonic's path instead.
  • Knuckles' route in Act 2 does not end with a Prison Egg, but the teleporter that goes to IceCap Zone is functional anyway.

IceCap Zone

  • In Act 1, when Tails first descends while playing as Sonic and Tails, the graphics are screwed up: the snowboard intro overwrites Tails' tiles with the snowboard's, and when the snowboard disappears, Tails' tiles should load. However, Tails' AI doesn't allow this to happen fast enough, and thus proceeds to draw Tails with some of the snowboard's tiles still remaining. Only when Tails lands does the tile swap complete, and Tails return to normal.
  • The floating icicle spheres in one of Knuckles' routes can hurt Super Sonic, just like they did in Sonic 3.

Launch Base Zone

  • The background in Act 1 is a little glitchy.
  • The object layouts for both Acts have been changed to the ones seen in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
  • The elevator poles at the end of Act 1 are not removed when playing as Knuckles.
  • As soon as Knuckles defeats one of the Twin Hammers, the normal Act 1 theme resumes while the other Twin Hammer is still alive.
  • A suspension pole near two submerged teacup elevators near the end of Act 2 isn't solid. It was made solid in later prototypes and the final to prevent Knuckles from riding the elevators and taking Sonic's path.
  • Knuckles does not fight the Big Arm boss at the end of Act 2, and the boss music does not stop playing when the Prison Egg appears.

Mushroom Hill Zone

  • The level layout of both Acts is different, and the differences are very noticeable at the start of Act 1. Knuckles starts at the top of the level with Sonic and Tails starting lower down instead.
  • Sonic and Tails just drop down in their standing poses instead of Tails lifting Sonic into the zone.
  • Knuckles does not run into any giant rings at the start of his Act 1.
  • The giant ring in Sonic's area in Act 1 does not flash.
  • If you enter the aforementioned giant ring without all the Chaos Emeralds, you'll be sent to the Hidden Palace emerald chamber with Death Egg Act 2 music playing, then instantly get sent to a different Special Stage.
  • The lever that Knuckles pulls down repeatedly in Act 2 has a blue handle. In Knuckles' game, the lever doesn't appear at all.
  • A giant ring at the start of Sonic's Act 2 (after the Knuckles cutscene) is missing and has a bit of Russian Roulette action in its place. There are two monitors wedged in the ceiling, and one of them is a ring monitor while the other is a Robotnik monitor.
  • There is no giant ring near the pulley that takes you to the boss in Act 2.
  • The Act 2 boss's starting position is shifted to the left slightly from the final. This allows you to score endless hits on the boss without destroying the satellite, and the battle won't start until you hit the satellite itself, thus it was changed in the final so the player cannot do this. These hits also don't count toward defeating the boss.
  • The Act 2 boss does not explode when killed until he crashes into the tree, and you must hit him 6 times AFTER he has zoomed off.
  • During the zone transition to Flying Battery with Sonic and Tails, Tails won't stop running to the right and will kill himself in the pit.

Flying Battery Zone

  • The echo track of Act 1's music will go off sync after looping, and will slowly gain drag behind the lead melody.
  • Various objects are missing in some places, such as badniks, hooks and rings.
  • There are no giant rings in either Act.
  • Some of the magnetic platforms are embedded in spikes. They can still hurt you if the platform isn't raised.
  • Gapsule's position is about 16 pixels to the left in comparison to later prototypes and the final. The coordinates are the same as in Sonic 3.
  • A double set of doors in Act 2 does not open completely.
  • A few level design differences. For example, the pendulums in Act 2 are missing, and in the area after the Act 2 miniboss there are two ring monitors in place of a red spring and there are no spikes.
  • Some of the elevator shafts do not have spikes, and some that go upwards do not crush the player at the ceiling, instead pushing them through it.
  • There is an erroneous chunk placement in the background near the end of Act 2.
  • Robotnik stops exploding as soon as he begins to fly away.
  • Your character does not automatically roll when he busts down the door during the transition to Sandopolis Zone. He appears to be rolling in the Sandopolis intro, though.

Sandopolis Zone

  • The player enters Act 1 in a rolling state, but does not get stuck in the sand. The controls aren't even locked at all, meaning you are permitted to move left or right before you land.
  • Some more object layout differences.
  • The first of Knuckles' alternate routes in Act 2 does not lead to the sand slides, instead forcing you to drop back down into Sonic's route.
  • The rising sand in Act 2 rises more slowly.
  • In the rising sand sections, all three shields and a 1-UP are tucked away in a corner. They are later replaced with a Super Ring and a Super Sneakers monitor.
  • The area where there would be a very long slide in the final is very different. It is a series of slides which also includes a loop-de-loop that uses level chunks which are completely absent in later prototypes and the final.

Lava Reef Zone

  • Even more object layout differences.
  • Knuckles doesn't run in at the start of Act 1. He just stands there.
  • Knuckles can destroy the four pistons of the driller robot by gliding into them before it begins drilling.
  • Shields do not protect you from the debris of the Iwamodokis.
  • The bonus monitors at the end of Act 1 are visible for some reason, and for some stranger reason, the monitors have reversed gravity when released by the goal sign. When Act 2 begins, any monitors that have gone off the top of the screen can be seen underneath the ground.
  • The lava at the end of Act 1 does not cool when Act 2 begins, but you can still walk on it.
  • Act 2's palette has yet to be changed to indicate a freeze-over.
  • The screen does not lock behind your character after having passed the first flamethrower.
  • When you encounter Knuckles, his theme does not play, and he laughs after punching the boulder at you. The boulder doesn't make any sounds and won't cancel your Super form.
  • The Act 2 boss area does not play the boss theme at the start. It plays it as soon as the boss pops up from the lava.
  • The Act 2 boss area does not have a Lightning Shield. The ring pattern is also different.
  • The lava in the boss area does not cool after breaking the Prison Egg. Instead, once the results tally has finished the platform you're standing on will drift to the right a bit, then you'll have to jump across more platforms as the lava can still hurt/kill you. The level music does not resume either.
  • The tunnel at the end of Sonic's Act 2 does not go to Hidden Palace, so you're basically stuck. Knuckles' exit to Hidden Palace works, though.
  • Without debug mode, the boss area cannot be accessed directly from the level select.

Hidden Palace Zone

  • This zone does not play Lava Reef Act 2's music, but Sky Sanctuary's instead.
  • The title card refers to this zone as Sky Sanctuary Zone Act 1.
  • The player does not run in at the beginning.
  • The screen locks the way back to the start after you pass the first set of spikes. The lock is set to happen at X coordinate 0500 where a foreground palette change from purple to green would occur.
  • A Fire Shield is present in place of a Ring monitor, near the teleporter that leads to Knuckles.
  • In the hidden area, there's a Super Sonic monitor instead of a ring monitor and three 1UP monitors instead of one.
  • The hole in the background isn't properly lined up with the teleporter before the Knuckles fight.
  • The Knuckles battle plays Sonic 3 miniboss music. After defeating Knuckles, the music doesn't stop and continues to play through the Master Emerald theft scene.
  • Knuckles can hurt you when you have any form of invincibility state, including invulnerability states after getting hit, an invincibility power-up, and Super Sonic. He can even hurt you if you're in Debug Mode placing an object, at which point Sonic's graphics might be corrupted.
  • Beating Knuckles does not cancel your Super form.
  • At the start of the Master Emerald theft scene, Knuckles just stands on the ground looking upward as Robotnik pulls up the Master Emerald. When Robotnik attempts to escape, Knuckles doesn't hit him and just grabs on to the emerald.
  • The controls are locked with Sonic looking upward when Robotnik electrocutes Knuckles, but if you use debug you can remove the control lock, but you can't hit Robotnik and you can stand on top of the Master Emerald.
  • After regaining consciousness, Knuckles will charge through the breakable wall instead of stopping in front of it and punching it.
  • When you approach the teleporter that leads to Sky Sanctuary, there is no cutscene. The controls and camera won't lock, and Knuckles won't jump on the teleporter. You can stand on it to activate it, anyway.
  • This Zone cannot be accessed in the level select without enabling debug mode.

Sky Sanctuary Zone

  • Once again, more level layout differences.
  • Both Sonic's and Knuckles' versions of this Zone are considered to be Act 2 as the above Zone counts as Act 1.
  • The air ducts are not active while Knuckles is going to enable the bridge in Sonic's act.
  • There seems to be some palette conflicts.
  • The bouncy clouds don't seem to animate.
  • The screen lock works differently in the GHZ boss fight and the teleporter emerges in a different positions.
  • After the MTZ boss has been defeated, the balloons don't pop until they reach the ground.
  • After beating the Green Hill and Metropolis bosses, the timer freezes and Sonic loses the ability to turn super. Dying or entering a Bonus Stage fixes the problem.
  • After defeating Mecha Sonic at the end of Sonic's act, the game cuts straight to Death Egg Zone with no results tally or cutscene.
  • Knuckles' act does not have any rings and the teleporter is absent.
  • Pausing and returning to the level select from Knuckles' act messes up the level select background slightly.
  • As soon as the final boss theme plays, the normal Act 2 boss theme starts up again.
  • Doomsday Zone music does not play in the second half of Knuckles' final boss fight.
  • The screen does not flash when Mecha Sonic becomes Super Mecha Sonic.
  • Some of Super Mecha Sonic's poses are a bit different.
  • When Super Mecha Sonic is defeated, he does not land on the ground and drops off the screen, and nothing else happens after that.
  • The Floating Island overlaps the Master Emerald.

Death Egg Zone

  • The player does not run in at the beginning.
  • The overscan border color for Act 1 is red instead of black like the other zones.
  • Red Eye overlaps the player, and its laser overlaps the floor.
  • Act 2 ends with a Prison Egg after the Death Ball is defeated, then the player moves on to The Doomsday Zone regardless of whether they have all of the Chaos Emeralds or not.
  • The final boss (accessible by selecting Doomsday Act 2 in the level select) is really incomplete, only having a background, a few rings and various poses of the final boss laid out throughout the act. There's no solid ground to stand on, so all you can do is fall to your death repeatedly.
  • There is also a prototype floor tile that is not seen in the final game located in the final boss area.

The Doomsday Zone

  • This Zone is really incomplete, only having the boss graphics and a background, and no super forms are available. As a result, the only thing you can do is fall to your death over and over again. You can use debug mode and fly over to a section with glitchy collision.
  • The background palette is the same as in DEZ2.
  • The HUD and ring palette is incorrect here.

Bonus Stages

At this point in development, the Sonic & Knuckles bonus stages are very unfinished. In normal play, Starposts will randomly send you to either the Gumball Machine or the Slot Machine when you hit them with at least 50 rings. The color of the stars is always white.

Glowing Spheres

  • This Bonus Stage is vastly incomplete, and thus does not appear in normal play. The only way to access it is via level select with debug mode active.
  • No collision, partially complete graphics, and a preliminary animating background. As a result, you can only really die there.
  • Since the graphics are partially complete, there are some that don't even appear in the final.

Slot Machine

  • The layout is vastly different, with more rings and no goal signs when starting the level (the borders still turn into goal signs, though).
  • The background is completely static. The little objects don't rotate and nothing scrolls.
  • There is a higher chance of getting 3 Robotnik/Eggman pictures on the slots than in the final version.
  • Using debug to fall out of the stage causes the game to crash. In the final, it takes you to a glitchy area with randomly placed tiles, a la Sonic 1.

Special Stages

The Special Stages for the Super Emeralds are completely different from Sonic & Knuckles. The colors are exactly the same as the Special Stages of Sonic 3, but the sphere arrangements are completely different. Some of the layouts would become different Special Stages, and some would be outright dropped altogether. For example, the planned third Special Stage in 3C became the hidden eighth in Sonic & Knuckles.

External Links

Sonic Retro
Sonic Retro discussion thread

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