Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Bugs
From Sonic Retro
This page documents bugs/glitches that have been found in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, as well as specifying whether each bug was ever fixed in a subsequent version of the game (i.e. Sonic 3 & Knuckles or Sonic & Knuckles).
Contents
- 1 General bugs
- 2 Level-specific bugs
General bugs
Vertical wrap glitch
In Acts where the level wraps vertically, the player can duck, wait for the screen to scroll down, then immediately jump, causing the screen to mistake the player's position and make the screen scroll all the way around. During this time, the player can move through certain objects, including kill planes, allowing access to otherwise restricted areas.
Acts affected:
- Marble Garden Zone Act 1
- IceCap Zone Act 1
- Sandopolis Zone Act 2
- Sky Sanctuary Zone Act 1
Not fixed in any version.
‘Blue Knuckles’ appears on the signpost
When the signpost is falling, you can see Blue Knuckles on the post.
Fixed in Sonic & Knuckles and by extension Sonic 3 & Knuckles: rather than merely fixing his palette, Knuckles was removed from other characters’ signposts altogether; so, when playing as Sonic and/or Tails, the only characters who appear on the sign are those two characters and Dr. Robotnik.
Bugs specific to Super Sonic
Note that Super Sonic can be involved in other bugs that are specific to certain levels, which are described in the relevant sections below; this section is only for those that span the entire game.
Rolling causes Super Sonic to slow down
If playing as Sonic or Sonic and Tails, becoming Super Sonic and rolling will cause the player to slow down.
Fixed in Sonic & Knuckles.
Super Sonic can bubble-bounce
Super Sonic can perform the bubble shield bounce. This is incorrect because Super/Hyper characters are not supposed to, and in all other circumstances do not, gain shields’ visual adornments or additional powers (although they do collect and ‘store’ them and will gain the graphics and power as normal upon exiting their Super/Hyper state).
Fixed in Sonic & Knuckles.
Glitches specific to the level select/sound test
Cheating via the combined level select/sound test screen enables various other glitches.
Checkpoints make the game freeze or cause various errors
By using the level select and passing a checkpoint in any zone, then selecting Angel Island Zone (Act 1), the game will freeze. This is because if you get a checkpoint, and pick another zone, the water level will be set to 00. The game can also crash if water covers the whole screen in Angel Island (Act 1), thus making it freeze by this checkpoint glitch.
Various other glitches are caused by passing a checkpoint in any zone using level select and then picking another zone via level select. It causes the title cards to be wrong (often referencing the first level picked in level select) and Sonic/Tails get spawned in very odd places within the level, including walls. Also, objects sometimes don't load or they don't work properly.
Fixed in Sonic & Knuckles.
Strange title cards
By using the level select, it is possible to get strange title cards in the bonus stages.
Fixed in Sonic & Knuckles.
Strange palette for Knuckles underwater
By using the level select, it is possible to see Knuckles with strange palettes underwater in various places.
Not fixed in any version.
Flying Battery Zone Act 1’s music loses synchronisation
In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the music for Flying Battery Zone is present in the sound test, since the Zone was originally intended to exist in this game between Carnival Night Zone and Ice Cap Zone. In this version', the echo track of the Zone’s Act 1 music will go off sync after the first loop, and slowly gain more and more delay behind the lead melody.
Fixed in Sonic 3 & Knuckles final, in which the Zone was actually playable.
Level-specific bugs
Angel Island Zone
Invincibility music does not end before forest is ignited
In Act 1, if you are invincible, and you go up to where you meet the Act 1 boss before it engulfs the Zone in flames, but don't trigger the cutscene, even after the invincibility wears off the invincibility song keeps playing. The only way to stop it is by meeting the boss and continuing with the level.
Not fixed in any version.
Tails does not dodge bombs and then falls behind
At the end of Angel Island Zone Act 2, playing as Sonic and Tails, you are chased by Robotnik's "Flying Fortress", which drops bombs that are easily avoided simply by running at full speed. Tails however will catch up with Sonic and then slow down to avoid overtaking Sonic, and will therefore be caught by the bombs. This occurs in Sonic 3 alone and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Tails is repeatedly hit by bombs; however, in the former, after being hit by a bomb Tails will remain running at the very far left of the screen.
'Fixed' (behaviour altered) in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Act 1 plays Act 2 music after death or Special/Bonus Stages
After the Zone has been inflamed in Act 1, the Zone continues to play Act 1's music. However, if you enter a Special Stage, Bonus Stage or die, when you return the game will play Act 2's music. This is due to the game switching from Act 1's layout to Act 2's layout while the flame covers the screen. This tricks the game into thinking it should play Act 2's music, even though this doesn't happen at first.
Partly fixed in Sonic 3 & Knuckles (It only happens when returning from Special Stages).
Hydrocity Zone
Ramp glitch
When travelling around Hydrocity Zone Acts 1 or 2, after rolling at speed up a 90 degree ramp transfer from floor to wall, the player character will sometime glitch inside the wall. It seems to happen more often if the character is rolling rather than running, and if the player is holding "down" on the controller during the roll.
Fixed in Sonic & Knuckles.
Sonic & Knuckles mid-boss music
While fighting the Hydrocity Zone’s boss or mid-boss, if you stay underwater long enough to trigger the drowning countdown, when you jump out of the water, the music for Sonic 3 & Knuckles’ mid-boss fights is played instead of the correct track. Even without the drowning glitch, the track normally played for the Hydrocity mid-boss is the act 2 boss music, which may be a bug or oversight in itself. This is changed in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, so that the mid-boss plays the regular mid-boss music for that game; however, the bug causing mid-boss music to play after a drowning countdown during the second act's boss fight remains.
Partly Fixed in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Floor glitch
In the section where you go through a loop that leads to a vertical corkscrew that darts underwater, and is followed by a small tunnel and then a thick blue floor that curves up and then back down, Tails can swim through the blue floor in this area if he jumps as soon as he exits the tunnel and then starts swimming at a 45 degree angle to the hill in the floor. Under the floor is nothing but the eventual bottom of the level. Incidentally spikes were placed under other supposedly inaccessible places of the level, just not here.
Not Fixed in any version.
Act 2’s boss can be skipped, but then the level will not end
After being swept through the tunnel into the cavern to face Robotnik in Hydrocity Zone Act 2, it is possible to skip the boss battle by quickly running through the area to the right, where the animal capsule can be found and activated. The end of level music will play, and the points will be added up. However, the bomb drop and blast sounds can still be heard from the boss, and the water spout will not appear to take Sonic and Tails (or Sonic and Tails playing solo) to Marble Garden Zone. Also, the character name in the score tally will sometimes glitch. But all is not lost: if the console is reset and the player re-enters the save-select screen, their saved game will have been updated to Marble Garden Zone and will allow them to progress as normal.
Fixed in Sonic & Knuckles.
Act 2 boss causes Super Sonic to revert to normal Sonic’s sprites
While fighting the Hydrocity Boss, if you allow Super Sonic to be drawn to the water plume, Super Sonic will lose the custom sprites and will appear as regular Sonic (spikes pointing down instead of up) though the yellow color is retained. Furthermore, once this has happened, defeating the boss will result in Sonic retaining the Super Sonic yellow color even after bursting the robotizing chamber open. The score tally will also appear with Sonic's name in yellow instead of blue. Here is the glitch in action.
Fixed in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Marble Garden Zone
Mid-boss can be defeated early, causing a crash
It is possible to defeat the mid-boss by using 2 player Tails before it has been activated properly. By stopping Sonic before the screen has been locked for the mid-boss fight, and killing the mid-boss using Tails, the act 2 loading sequence will be out of position and crash the game once the end-of-act sign has landed.
Fixed in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Tails sometimes does not appear to fight Act 2’s boss
Sometimes, Tails won't turn up for the Marble Garden Zone boss, when playing as either Sonic & Tails or Sonic alone. This is currently believed to happen at random.
Accessing this boss as Knuckles (only accessed by using cheats or glitches) in Sonic 3 & Knuckles will randomly cause the same issue. Another effect that may be related is sometimes you cannot move Tails up and down; that is most likely due to Tails spawning too early, so when EggRobo digs into the ground, stay on the ground and wait for Tails.
Not fixed in any version.
Carnival Night Zone
Tails’ strange appearances in Act 2
If Sonic, playing alone, reaches the end of Carnival Night Zone Act 1 without dying since the start of the zone, Tails will be heard and then seen suddenly dying after the mini-boss is defeated. After the sign falls and Act 2 begins, Tails will reappear and fall into the stage, but will be unable to move, and must be left behind. Should Sonic manage to also then reach the end of Act 2 still without dying, Tails will be seen dying again after defeating Eggman, and will spawn again on the screen after the "Act 2 completed" messages complete. When moving to enter the cannon, Tails will be crushed against the ledge as the screen is forced to the right.
Presumably, this occurs because after loading Tails for the start of the zone in which he delivers Sonic from the end of the previous zone (Marble Garden), Tails is not properly unloaded until Sonic dies or reaches the next zone (IceCap).
Fixed in Sonic & Knuckles.
Carnival Night boss can drop its weapon out of the arena
It is possible for Graviton Mobile to drop the "ball" into the shaft that was used to get up to the boss fight. This is because the shaft is just to the left of the boss fight area and the ball follows the normal set of physics, so it isn't affected by the screen lock. This uses debug to show what happens.
Ice Cap Zone
Super Sonic can be hurt by icicles
In Act 1, by using the vertical wrap glitch, Super Sonic can gain access to Knuckles' area. While in this area, there are icicle spikes that harm Super Sonic, thus the player loses all of their rings and Super Sonic transforms back into Sonic.
Fixed in Sonic & Knuckles.
Tails dies when descending the first slide
In Act 1, Tails will lose a life when going down the first slide past the first star post in the initial run of the act. This can be avoided if you can manage to re-enter the act, such as returning from a Bonus Stage or Special Stage (a giant ring can be found just above said slide), or after losing a life and respawning from the checkpoint. After returning in one of these manners, Tails can go down the slide without issue, however dying and returning to the beginning of the act, and not from the checkpoint, will not fix the issue.
The bug is caused by an oversight in the code. The vertical looping flag on the initial run is set during Sonic's snowboard sequence at the beginning of the act. Since this sequence is not triggered for Tails, the flag is not set when entering the zone for the first time. When Tails goes down the slide, which happens to be at the bottom of the level, the lack of the looping flag treats this as Tails falling into a bottomless pit.
Fixed in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Act 1 can ‘wrongly’ play Act 2’s music
In Act 1, returning to the final starpost in the act (after leaving the cave) results in the music from Act 2 playing instead of the one for Act 1. The same occurs when returning to the starpost or giant ring locations in Angel Island Zone Act 1 after the mid-boss has set the island on fire; this is because everything beyond this point is actually part of Act 2. Sonic 3 & Knuckles fixes this specifically for the first starpost after the Angel Island fire, but not for the special stage or Icecap.
Partly Fixed in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Launch Base Zone
Super Sonic can glitch through elevators in LBZ
When playing as Super Sonic in Launch Base Zone Act 1, if the player holds left whilst Super Sonic is inside a "spinning elevator", he will glitch outside the elevator in the "push" pose before the doors of the elevator open.
Not fixed in any version.
Super Sonic can be hurt by the final boss
In Launch Base Zone Act 2, when the final boss slams Super Sonic against the ground, he can still lose rings.
Fixed in Sonic & Knuckles (the character gently bounces off while making a spring sound).