The bosses were fun
Gameplay was ight minus the carvinal stage because they didnt know how to explain how to move the platform up and down

Music was bop

and the final boss was a letdown

Sonic 3 and knuckles is a pretty great sonic game and a fantastic conclusion to the original trilogy of games, but that's not to say this game doesn't have its shortcomings, one of which is the levels in this game.

The first couple are great, it's just when we hit mushroom Hill zone that I have issues. This level and every level after it up until Sky sanctuary are just SO BORING, the levels are stupid long and have nothing memorable or special about them. So thank God for Sky sanctuary, and the two levels after it.

One thing I absolutely LOVED about this game is knuckles himself, at the start of the game he knocks sonic OUT of his super state which instantly tells the player just how strong knuckles is, and then throughout the remainder of the game you see knuckles be nothing bully who gets in sonics way.

This is until the end of the game when you find out that he was just trying to protect the master emerald, and through eggmans lies he thought that stopping sonic would save the emerald. It's when eggman betrays knuckles and steals the master emerald, you truly see how much he cares about it.

Immediately he springs up and goes after eggman with the help of sonic. It's crazy to me how they told such a great story in a game that has no dialogue. As usual, the music in sonic 3 and knuckles is spot on, it's great throughout even in the bad levels.

Another thing that is fantastic in this game is the boss battles, I kid you not every single one of them is amazing, and whilst the giant eggman robo is nowhere near as good as the death egg robot from sonic 2, it still makes for a great boss fight.

Overall sonic 3 and knuckles is an amazing sonic game that sadly isn't quite as good as sonic 2 due to it being weighed down by some of its weaker areas.

shovelware yuck ahh level transitions but it's enough that they exist! That's how I feel mentally rn so Sonic 3 might pave the path to self-acceptance I've been reaching for. If only with a bit of validation. I lied tho it ain't do shit to my mental health anyways they smoked the whole pack last time so Sonic 3 is free of some of these insane levels we had to suffer through in 2. No more 7_7 just >.< on another note these levels fall under a questionable game essence bcuz it feels apparent in hindsight the game's development was rocky and its actually a best-of levels compilation, albeit the veil is thick enough to hide that fact unless you actively knew this fact.

Sonic hit the slay button and got a big makeover! Tails too I suppose. I'm not even sure tbh he might be keeping me company but he ain't even no factor tho he been surprising me hitting the boss in my stead sometimes, this is the cowardly way we know real mfs just hit their bosses with their own hands. um pauuuse that was outta pocket. Have you seen these bosses? Now you have. The well of ideas hasn't run dry yet and you're free to cook some of them to your liking, if you dare try a riskier approach to speed things up.

I wanna have a little break here to mention the music. Now, I'm a great VGM enthuthiast but I keep that shit away from reviews since my list and compendium are enough for me. However, it's understated to say how colossaly fucked Sega got themselves the exact moment the fanboy side of the psyche beat the rational side in a cerebral tug-of-war, yes I'm talking about MJ. He owns his music at any rate, and played a big part in the Sonic Origins fiasco, I aim to be this problematic post-mortem.

Well, for the lack of a better term, that's Sonic in a nutshell. We got a sizeable entry that doesn't outstay its welcome. Is it the first game that needs two "discs"? Whatever the case, it's an awesome hour inside the hedgehog. I mean controlling him. Fuck I mean-

The absolute peak of fast-paced platformers.
The level design, sprite work, soundtrack (be it Sega Sound Team or Brad Buxer / Michael Jackson)... It just feels like they learned all the kinks of the previous games, got what made Sonic CD work and improved from there. Making Sonic feel faster and having a lot more power to himself was also a fantastic decision on their part.
Knuckles is a neat addition, and Tails is a LOT more useful this time around.
And honestly, I love the special stages in this. I feel like when I fail, it's generally my fault for being too greedy or not understanding the overall design. It's not as good as CD's, but it does something right.
Revisiting this one after a couple years (and watching a friend play it) just reassured me that this and Sonic Adventure 1 will always fight for that sweet number one spot in my absolute favorite Sonic game.

Yeah, this game is a fucking masterpiece, obviously. It's Sonci 3, nobody needs to be told how good this game is. It's easily the most packed game in the entire classic Sonic series, and I love how much of a journey it really feels like, it's something that was seriously rare for a 2D platformer of its time. That, and I think the scale and design here are definitely the peak of the series. The locales are so grounded and detailed, with so much attention taken to making them feel real and alive that you just wanna explore these places inherently, and the rewards for doing so are genuinely substantial. It hits a near perfect balance of high speed and exploration that I don't think any of the previous games really managed to achieve, it's always kind of been either one or the other. Here it's the best of both worlds, and it feels great. Also Knuckles is awesome, I love that guy