The third Sonic platforming video game for the Mega Drive/Genesis! I have many memories of this one and FOR YOU GUYS I went down the rabbit hole of Sonic 3’s development. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did making it!
I apologize for the frame rate differences, I literally have no idea how that happened.
Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro
1:59 – Development
8:58 – Story & Levels
18:25 – MICHAEL JACKSON & Music
26:49 – Graphics & Gameplay
42:45 – Characters & Enemies
54:55 – Ports & Legacy
1:01:54 – Conclusion
Sonic 3 A.I.R. (Angel Island Revisited):
https://sonic3air.org/
Music used:
“File Select” by Pejman Roozbeh
“Elevator Music (Launch Base).” by Gecko Yamori
“Sonic 3 Prototype_PC – Carnival Night Zone Act 1 ~Chill Remix~” by SuperChaosControl
“Sonic 3 – Marble Garden Zone ~Chill Remix~” by SuperChaosControl
“Hydrocity Zone” by Funk Fiction
“Flying Battery Zone – Act 1 (LoFi)” by Nate Rendon
“Sonic & Knuckles – Death Egg Zone (Funk Remix)” by mundiaxis
“Sonic 3 Competition Menu Hip Hop Remix” by Magicmusic06 and Stylez T
“Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – Ice Cap Zone” by Lofi Lia
“Crash Twinsanity – N Sanity Island ~Lofi Remix~” by SuperChaosControl
“Sonic 3 & Knuckles – Chrome Gadget 2 – Lofi” by Bukson
“Sonic 3 – Launch Base Zone (Chillhop Remix)” by mundiaxis
“No Longer Alone – For Storm Station Act 1” from Sonic: After the Sequel
“Fluid Air – For Fortress Flow Act 1” from Sonic: Before the Sequel
“Marble Garden Lounge (Sonic 3 Lofi) ” by Mercurius FM
“Endless Mine (Reprise)” by Ubergrau
“Sonic 3 – Ice Cap Zone (Prototype_PC) ~Chill Remix~” by SuperChaosControl
“Sky Sanctuary & Chill Sonic Lofi Beats【 ＲＥＭＩＸ】Sonic 3 & Knuckles” by Hotline Sehwani
I have a Sonic blog!RobotnikHolmes’ Sonic Blog: http://robotnikholmescomicblog.tumblr.com/
45 Comments
A new RobotnikHolmes video on a Friday night!?!?! Best. Day. Ever.!!!!!!!!🤘🏻
They need to hire some artists to write new replacement tracks for Carnival Night, Ice Cap and Launch Base that captures the essence of the 90's version of the game.
Amazing script and editing! particularly love how the video is over an hour long. One of the greatest Sonic 3 & Knuckles videos i've ever seen. I did notice a few oddities like in the music section the drum samples were very clean sounding not how they sounded on original hardware so they must have been ripped from Sonic Origins or something else, also it was a bit of a shame that ''Sonic 3 Complete'' a Mega Drive hack from 2013 never got a mention, aside from those two hiccups the video serves as a true documentary to the classic lock-on game. Well done sir RobotnikHolmes! 😊
I had NO idea you could push the spikes!!!!
babe wake up i found another small making sonic retrospectives that we can watch 6 times for comfort
Rank SS for Sonic 3 and Knuckles I do agree. 😎👍✅
Angel Island falls into the ocean and has nice sandy beaches.
This is my favorite of the Classic Era, don't get me wrong Mania is good but it just can't beat the stronger storytelling and characterization of 3&K. I don't mind calling main villain by Ivo Robotnik since that is his real name or by vice versa calling him by his nickname Eggman. Though weirdly Mobius does bug me a bit, even though I wholeheartedly support the term Mobians for Sonic's species and Mobius in Archie and SatAM was just a future version of Earth anyway. I guess its because I really like how in the main continuity Sonic is set on Earth and how there is a mixed culture due to it, while the name suggests something more alien. One interesting tidbit is that why Hyper Sonic has not returned the same can not be said of the Super Emeralds, the make a small cameo in the past of Sonic Adventure and their husks that Chaos Emeralds broke free from once they returned to normal are found in Knuckles' route of Sonic Mania.
Really enjoyably chill video dude. Just love listening to you talk about stuff haha
First video of the morning, here we go.
16:33 Oh, I've never noticed that. That's amazing!
OK. I laughed at buckling my f*ckles
55:20 Yep, I remember this from my childhood as well. It was definitely quite the sight.
Just such a great game. I'll forever treasure my memories of playing it as a 9
yearold in the 90s. Also where can I see that S3&K cartoon? ha6:01
Meanwhile at Ken Penders.
You mean flawless third goal?
17:14 I've heard, along with Robotnik having a unique sprite for that boss fight, Flying Battery wasn't originally intended for Knuckles' route. However, when the game was split into two, they gave him that level so his route in standalone S&K wouldn't be so short.
21:59 I've also heard it suggested the prototype tracks were used because PC hardware at the time wouldn't be able to properly convey the "vocal" samples in the MJ tracks. The "original" tracks were then used in rereleases after that version and up until 2011. It wasn't until MJ's death in 2009 that Sega may not have had the same rights to use those tracks, either due to the Jackson estate or possibly Brad Buxor. I've heard he may have been the one after Sega for royalties.
when i played sonic 3 for the first time i thought the game was created in like 2008 or something because of how good it looked (compared to other games that ive seen). to me it was crazy to figure out the game is older than myself
Love these vids of yours, man 😀 keep up the amazing work! God bless ya and Jesus loves ya 🙂
Thank you for these videos! I've been looking forward to this one for a while! My favourite Easter egg about the lock on, is if you put in Sonic 1 the characters were vibrant and colourful but any other game they were darker. It knew sonic 1 was different 🙂
For the replacement music, I really wish they'd composed some new tracks that were more tonally consistent with the original release instead of the beta tracks.
It's hard to say if it's nostalgia or simply knowing what aural vibes those zones are "supposed" to have, but I just can't stand the replacement music.
The "endless mine" music sounds a little like the "city escape" song from SA 2
12:01 even that guide doesn't tell you the input required to make the barrel work though 😂
While I understand why people think this, I think it's clear that it's wrong after you look at some details. Mushroom Hill is not changing seasons, it's losing its life and dying by the Boss at the end of the Zone. That's why it gets all its color back once you destroy it
Always a good time watching your videos and listening to your voice 🥰
Ah yes, the wacky European box art for the thumbnail. Wonderful. 😉
[will probably post a full comment later, once I'm done with uni for today]
30:35
WATER! WATER! WATER! WATER!
WATER! WATER! WATER! WATER!
WATER! WATER! WATER! WATER!
WATER! WATER! WATER! WATER!
You put so much tremendous effort into your videos! This was tremendous! I love the little touches with your art and the amount of depth.
36:10 two minor notes in this section:
The gambling is from Sonic 2's Casino Night, but it is merged with the Sonic 1 special stage.
The Glowing Spheres is probably the best. As you get higher up, the probability of getting a 1up increases, and also, the higher you get, the more the "rings" ball is worth. Right near the top they are worth 80 rings (they go up 10, 20, 40 & 80). Throw in the 1ups and it makes this stage easily the best. Especially if you have unlocked "Super" on that characters save file.
Get 30 rings, jump in the Red Stars, get to the top and you are probably walking out with at least 100 rings and an additional 1up. And since Sonic3&K saves your lives and continues as well, you can quickly have a savefile with 99 lives.
I hour let's go! ❤
My best friend loved sonic 3 and knuckles so much i bought him a sega Genesis and a copy of Sonic 3 and knuckles he loved it and played it more than I can count. Now this game that I love now holds a dark reminder because my friend committed suicide Christmas 2024.
New rank should have been S & Knuckles instead of SS. No other notes.
6:03 Man, that's just ridiculous. Who'd ever take a green Knuckles seriously?
Changing the music in Sonic 3 was a crime against humanity
American copyright law sucks ass
If i remember correctly, Wonderman isnt that good, and you can tell it wasnt written specifically for sonic 😂
1:29 "GAME VIOLENCE: What action is being taken to protect you?" I wanna read this article so bad just to see how dumb it is lol
Sonic 3& knuckles will always be the classic goat
You didn't mention the level transition cutscenes. 0/10, absolute trash.
(Kidding, obviously)
You know what? Story time! You talking about the Sonic & Knuckles Collection brought back some memories that I had long forgotten.
It was around the mid 2000s. I had been introduced to the Sonic franchise through a friend, and I played both Rush games and enjoyed them. I wanted more, and I had a very bad computer with which I started to look up games I could play. And the main ones I came up to were the classic and Advance trilogy, and I quickly went to download the latter because I already knew how to emulate GBA as a Pokémon fan. But I also wanted to play the classics, so somehow (the memories of how I got there exactly are long gone) I ended up with what I only can assume was a pirated copy of the PC port installed. And I never understood why, but the game went insanely fast, to the point of being borderline unplayable. I never understood why it was the case, over the years I came up with the theory that it was a mistake on behalf of whoever pirated the files. All these years later and today watching this I learn of the actual explanation behind this occurrence, which is insane.
In the end I ended up playing Sonic 3 in its full glory years later, through the rom hack Sonic 3 Complete (which for the uneducated, since it wasn't covered in the video, was the main Sonic 3 overhaul fan project before Sonic 3 AIR overtook it), so in the end I was able to finish that game that had eluded me for so long, there was always this air of mystery around that one game where I wasn't ever able to get past the first zone because of the insane gameplay speed, so playing it at the intended pace lifted that out of my conscience.
On a separate note, someday I want to read the Archie comics. I've heard so many things about them both good and bad (thanks Ken Penders I guess xD) so the curiosity is there. I only have read IDW so it would be neat to see how things used to be and how some ideas were possibly translated from one comic to the other.
Gotta love Knuckles the Enchilada, one of my favorite characters!! Also my second favorite game for classic Sonic next to Sonic Mania
Thank you for explicitly mentioning the ost and leaving the music tracks playing long enaugh to get an idea.
Can’t wait for the 10+ hours review of Sonic Eraser
youve easily been one of my favorite content creators 2024, i look forward to every video drop