Ah, Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
This is the classic Sonic game everyone points to as the gold standard for 2D Sonic games, gameplay-wise, and 3D Sonic games, quality-wise. Personally, I’m more of a Sonic 2 guy - but that certainly doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy Sonic 3.
Just like with the previous two games I’ve talked about, my time with Sonic 3 began with the Classic Collection for Nintendo DS. I never got past Angel Island. I picked it up again in 2017 - couldn’t get past Marble Garden.
If you couldn’t tell, I didn’t get good at Sonic until more recently. In 2018 I bought the full Sonic 3 & Knuckles on Steam, and beat it in full. I went on to beat Sonic 3 alone, and Sonic & Knuckles alone.
Damn, it was fun.
Sonic 3 is widely considered the best of the classic games. As someone who doesn't feel this way, and didn’t have much of an attachment to it until a few years back, I want to dive in and take a look at what makes this game so lovable.
Just a word of warning, I’ll be splitting Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles into two parts. These analyses take a while to make, as I find myself replaying levels many, many times to truly learn them, on top of replaying the game in full, so yeah. Don’t worry, I will touch on Sonic & Knuckles in the not-so-distant future.
But for now, where better to start than the first level.
Aesthetics wise, Angel Island Zone is certainly not angelic. However, this is certainly a haven for level design. Angel Island is a lush tropical forest, full of swinging vines, pushable boulders, small ponds to dip your toes in, and plenty of badniks to bash.
It entices you from the get-go, with an in-game cutscene as Sonic and Tails arrive on the island. Knuckles suddenly bursts through the ground and punches Sonic out of his super state. He grabs the Chaos Emeralds and runs off into the forest, and thus our adventure has begun.
Angel Island is not dissimilar from Green and Emerald Hill, but this time it’s bigger in size and grander in scope. There’s much more running to be done, much more secrets to be explored, but it also works in an A-to-B format.
I’ve played a few Super Mario games in my time, and for those who want to go from Point A to Point B - they can, here. Of course, the other paths will always be there, tempting them. Hopefully, they’d eventually try some of ‘em out, but if they don’t want to, they don’t have to.
Halfway through, the forest is set on fire, making a drastic tonal shift. This is a great way to set up the two-act formula, and it really expands on what Sonic 2 started. The first act sets up the level, and then the second act ramps up the difficulty and the stakes.
You can help the forest burn with the Fire Shield, as there are now new Elemental Shields that take power-ups to the next level. The Fire Shield gives you a dash and burns wood, the Bubble Shields gives you a bounce and the ability to breathe underwater, and the Electric Shield gives you a double jump, which doubles as a little aura, killing nearby foes.
Is it hydro-city, or hydrossity?
(it’s hydro-city)
Naming semantics aside, this is by far the best aquatic Sonic zone. I sang high praise for Sonic 2’s Aquatic Ruin, as that allowed the player to entirely skip the water if they were good enough, but Hydrocity does something not thought possible.
It’s a fun water stage. Simple as that. It doesn’t have a completely waterless path, because it doesn’t need one. It does a brilliant job at being a water level without being boring, slow or just plain unfun.
I personally think that Marble Garden is the worst stage in Sonic 3. It’s filled to the brim with spikes, crushing blocks that will instantly end your life (and your controller’s durability).
Despite that, I can appreciate the boss here. It takes place entirely off the ground, with Tails flying you around - even if you chose to go solo, he’ll still help you out for this boss. What a kind guy.
This is a good time to mention the bosses. They added mini-bosses, which are found at the end of Act 1. They’re good at setting up the regular Act 2 bosses, and are often a fun little challenge - even if many lack the challenge entirely.
Most remember this one for ‘the barrel’, an infamous object that resulted in many Time Overs as many 90s kids couldn’t figure out how to get the damn thing to move. I suppose, the internet wasn’t really a thing so they couldn’t just look up the Sonic Wiki and figure it out.
Hey, some people still don’t know after 26 years, so here’s a little hint - press up and down. It’ll come in handy for a certain barrel.
Barrels aside, Carnival Night is fun. Casino Night level of fun? No, but still fun in its own right. Lots of fun gimmicks strewn about here, from bouncy balloons to shooty cannons to electrical power failure as the stage experiences a blackout in Act 2.
Ice Cap is certainly among the best zones in the game. It begins with a relaxing, cinematic snowboarding section. It's more of a set piece than anything, as all you can do is jump occasionally and grab rings on the way down, but it’s still a nice change of pace from the chaos that was Carnival Night.
Once you enter the underground, it becomes a little more complicated, but overall is a well-designed, ‘cool’ time. Not to mention the eggman in the room, the amazing music. It’s well-known at this point that this is a cover of “Hard Times” by The Jetzons.
That’s a good song, you should listen to it. Of course, I could talk about Micheal Jackson's involvement with this game, but I’d rather save that for another day, it’s a long story.
Wow, this is the last stage. That’s what happens when you split a big game in two, you get two small games. At the same number of zones at Sonic 1, but with less acts per zone, Sonic 3 handles pacing and the stages in general much better.
Launch Base is a huge improvement over Scrap Brain and Metropolis. Due to the game being split in two, its somewhat anticlimactic as the last level, but it works. There’s the cool MJ music, the threatening Death Egg in the background, we finally get to try out Robotnik’s Egg Mobile for ourselves.. and then there’s Big Arm.
The fight itself is fairly easy, but damn it’s cool. There’s the music, which is the definition of “why do I hear boss music?”, the design of the machine you fight is super cool, the dark background helps to really build the atmosphere, and then there’s the satisfaction as you send the Death Egg plummeting back down to Angel Island, kicking off the events of Sonic & Knuckles
The Special Stages this time are the well-known Blue Spheres. This is my personal favourite type of Special Stage, with the bopping music and fast-paced but fun action. I was never any good at it, and the number of frames per second you get in a 1994 game certainly doesn’t help.
Collect all of the emeralds and you can transform into Super Sonic again. Just as powerful as ever. Connect Sonic 3 to Sonic & Knuckles and this will play a greater role, but I’ll talk about that next time.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is famous for being split in two. If this and Sonic & Knuckles were one game in the end, this would have been a much longer experience. There also wouldn’t have been so many oddities surrounding this game, such as the differering music in the two versions (as well as the connected Sonic 3 & Knuckles).
The best way to play Sonic 3 is.. not the mobile port, because there isn’t one. Currently, the best official way to play is the full, connected Sonic 3 & Knuckles on Steam. It includes achievements, mod compatibility and a rewind/fast-forward feature. But that’s.. It.
But, with modding, things are completely different. Fan-made mods like Sonic 3 Complete and Sonic 3 A.I.R. are amazing upgrades, which I highly recommend you use. Heck, the latter arrived on mobile devices last month - which probably makes it the only way to get Sonic 3 on your phone without a dodgy emulator or installing 15 viruses, for the foreseeable future.
Well, I had a deep dive into the Hydrocity, and I can safely say that I understand why people enjoy Sonic 3 so much. It is classic Sonic gameplay at its highest point - this is Sonic at its most fun, for many.
As much as I enjoy Sonic 2, this is certainly the more varied game, with higher highs - and the lows aren’t as low. Sonic 3 has stood the test of time and proved itself to be one of the greatest Sonic games ever released.
..but that’s only half the story.
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