- Back to: Sonic & Knuckles (prototype; 1994-05-25).
General comparisons
The "& KNUCKLES" additions to the title screen and level title cards have not been implemented.
The save files on the Data Select screen have been lengthened downward to accommodate for the life and continue counters which have yet to be implemented, but not upward. The selection cursor hasn't been resized yet.
The Data Select screen does not record Chaos/Super Emerald data correctly.
Knuckles is not selectable from the save data screen: he is usually only available in level select, but can also be accessed by loading a save (e.g. from the final) which already has a Knuckles save, however it must be in the third slot or later, as this prototype only has six save slots, as per Sonic 3 alone.
In addition to only having six save slots, lives and continues are not saved. However, game progress is now tracked beyond Launch Base Zone.
When debug mode is active, the debug counters are always shown, unlike in Sonic 3C 0408 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles when they are only shown when in object placement mode. The timer displays the number of on-screen sprites.
Debug causes all sorts of graphical glitches, such as at Sonic staying as a garbled up monitor after changing back, which goes away when completing an act.
The "S" monitor makes the characters take their Hyper form like in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, rather than Super as in Sonic 3 alone and Sonic 3C 0408.
Super forms accessed with the Chaos Emeralds still seem to act like incomplete versions of Hyper forms like in Sonic 3C 0517:
- Super Sonic uses Hyper Sonic's rainbow palette and also gets the dash attack, but doesn't get the star effect around his body or the flash and sparks when the dash attack is performed. He doesn't get the ability to breathe underwater, either.
- Interestingly, Tails is able to achieve a Super form with only the Chaos Emeralds, but he doesn't get Super Flickies or the trailing sparks. However, using an "S" monitor will give Super Tails the Flickies (perhaps there was a Super and Hyper version of Tails planned at one point).
- For Super Knuckles, he gets the ability to set off earthquakes by latching onto walls at high speed, but the trailing sparks aren't replaced with afterimages. He cannot breathe underwater, either.
Hyper Sonic's stars around his body are still completely different than in the final and has no afterimages. Hyper Knuckles has afterimages, though.
Unlike in final versions, if the "S" monitor is used with Knuckles, Hyper Knuckles WILL cause an earthquake when gliding for a distance into a wall.
Pressing A while the game is paused returns you to the level select screen rather than the SEGA logo screen.
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 comparisons
The exclusive Sonic & Knuckles themes have not been fully implemented, so some tracks still use their Sonic 3 variants:
- Title Screen - Sonic & Knuckles
- Invincibility - Sonic 3
- Knuckles' Theme - Sonic 3
- Act 1 Boss - Sonic 3
- Extra Life- Sonic & Knuckles
- Credits - Sonic & Knuckles (though the sting at the end is from Sonic 3)
- All Clear - Sonic & Knuckles
The Data Select music bug from Sonic 3 alone is still there.
The Title Screen theme is an earlier version with a slightly different end.
Although the "Game Clear" jingle is the Sonic & Knuckles version, it's actually an earlier version of the tune. Though the pitch is lower, the melody sounds pretty much identical up to the final note, but the timing for that note is very different and there's no background jingle echoing off afterwards like in the final version. Sonic & Knuckles final has a version of the Game Clear jingle as well as sound 32 on the Sound Test menu.
The actual credits music (now located as sound DC on the Sound Test menu), however, uses the extended Sonic 3 Game Clear jingle at the end of the song from the Sonic 3C 0517 prototype. The entire song before that is the same medley used in the final version of Sonic & Knuckles.
Level comparisons
References
