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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles/Comparisons

From Sonic Retro

Back to: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles.

After work was completed on the "first part" of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the developers mainly concentrated on finishing the remaining stages - those which would appear in Sonic & Knuckles. While one might assume the locked-on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles would just bridge the gap (and let Tails/Knuckles play in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 levels, respectively), Sonic & Knuckles also acts as a "patch" to Sonic 3, fixing several of its bugs and also making adjustments to levels to increase or decrease difficulty.

Most importantly, code in Sonic & Knuckles finishes the Sonic 3 routes intended for Knuckles. From the very beginning, Sonic 3 stages were designed with Knuckles-only areas (visible in that game through edit mode), but progress was put on hold when the game was split in two.

General comparisons

Sonic3 title.png
Sonic 3
Sonic3&Knuckles title.png
Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles favours the Sonic 3 title screen and menu system, but substitutes the Sonic 3 jingles, Knuckles and boss music for their Sonic & Knuckles counterparts. The title screen is amended as the game's name has now changed.

Sonic3 MD DataSelect.png
Sonic 3
Sonic3&K MD DataSelect.png
Sonic 3 & Knuckles

The Data Select gets extra information for lives and continues. The number of save slots also increases from 6 to 8.

Sonic3 MD AIZ1 TitleCard.png
Sonic 3
SonicandKnuckles MD MHZ1 TitleCard.png
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic3&K MD AIZ1 TitleCard.png
Sonic 3 & Knuckles

All title cards are amended to show Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Sonic3 MD Continue.png
Sonic 3
Sonic3&K MD Continue.png
Sonic 3 & Knuckles

The font on the Continue screen was changed to the one used for the credits in Sonic & Knuckles.

Sonic3LevelSelect.png
Sonic 3
SK level select.png
Sonic 3 & Knuckles

The level select is expanded to include all the Zones, culling the Competition Mode levels and the Sonic 2 level icons in the process. The Sonic & Knuckles level select screen is identical, just with half of the levels disabled.

Gameplay comparisons

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Sonic 3
Notavailable.svg
Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Monitors hit from underneath will break instead of fall down.

Notavailable.svg
Sonic & Knuckles
Notavailable.svg
Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Giant Rings in Sonic & Knuckles stages become a means of teleporting to Hidden Palace Zone to obtain Super Emeralds.

Level comparisons

References


Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Sonic3 title.png

Main page (S3&K)
Comparisons (S3&K)
Maps
Achievements
Credits


Manuals
Promotional material
Magazine articles
Video coverage
Reception
Merchandise


Development
Hidden content (S3&K)
Bugs (S3&K)
Region coding
Hacking guide
Bootlegs