first i just want to get this out of the way, the box art is seriously one of the coolest box arts of all time!, but anyway this game always confused me as a kid, it looked just like sonic 3 but it didn't have save states and you could play as knuckes in this one, keep in mind i grew up with the mega collection versions of these games so it took me awhile to unlock sonic 3 and knuckles, so i was rightfully confused. a great sonic game with the same praises as 3 but lack of save states kinda keeps me from replaying it as often.

On its own, Sonic & Knuckles is a really short experience. This game is really not meant to be played on its own. It's still good by classic Sonic standards, but it's even better when combined with Sonic 3.

Most zones are fun to play in, and the power ups introduced in 3 really help make the most of exploring the zones. The new mini-games are not as fun to play. The slot machine combines the slot machine from 2 and the bonus stage from 1, and it's a mess. Only useful for getting an extra life or two and a continue. The orbs stage is a little better and still helps to get power ups, rings, and lives, it's just a giant hassle compared to the gumball machine.

The zones range from great (Lava Reef and Sky Sanctuary) to kinda bad (Sandopolis).

Played the Sonic Origins version

Sonic & Knuckles is probably one of the first DLC ever created and also the second half of Sonic 3's story.

I honestly can't like this game, I do respect it a lot with how ingenious the cartridge works but as a Sonic game this isn't what I'd call fun. Most of the stages keep the slow platforming approach instead of doing the hold-left speed sonic stage we all love so much, it really feels like the team behind this game wanted to make a unique platformer game instead of just making what makes Sonic in a Sonic game, it has great and also bad ideas that would work in a more linear game and most importantly, a game that doesn't rely on speed.

I think this second part of the game actually does rely on Knuckles more where he doesn't really focus on speed and rather on his more competent set of movements akin to slower platformer's heroes and it's fine on its own, I personally just played with Sonic because he's in the damn title, it's Sonic 3! With the game being focused on Sonic I just can't help to get angry whenever the game forces me on long stages where the speed boost move is useless and that's literally Sonic's only move! He can jump and dash and if you remove his dash he's just Mario but with clunky physics...

This game served as the conclusion arc of the Sonic The Hedgehog tetralogy (or hexalogy if you count Sonic the Hedgehog 4), it's honestly far from my favorite 2D platformer franchise but I do respect it for some of its gorgeous stages that you can just zoom right through with no hassle it's really what makes the franchise so unique and I wish they spent more time working on that kind of stage than whatever the desert stage was about.