Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles chronology and endings/Character Icons
From Sonic Retro
When one of the save slots in Sonic 3 & Knuckles is completed, the space usually reserved for the level icon turns into a character portrait, according to the number of Chaos Emeralds and Super Emeralds collected by the player, and to the character used. The table below describes all the possible combinations; playing as Sonic and Tails together will yield the same results as playing as Sonic alone. The portrait is updated when the game is completed, not when the emeralds are collected. For example, to display the "7 Super Emeralds" icon if the game was already completed once when the player didn't have all the emeralds, the player should play through the last level for the chosen character (Doomsday, Death Egg, or Sky Sanctuary) and display the credits roll again, otherwise the portrait won't change.
7 Chaos Emeralds |
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and less than 7 Super Emeralds |
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Sonic 3
When playing Sonic the Hedgehog 3 not being locked on the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge, the table gets simpler:
7 Chaos Emeralds |
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