Sonic 3 & Knuckles is one of the first games I remember playing, ever. I remember asking of the older guys in my incredibly small, rural Portuguese village to "put a Sonic videogame in my computer" after seeing an ad for a Sonic videogame in a magazine back then. This must've been back in 2010, 2011 - I was 8 or 9 - and I don't remember what specific game the ad was for, but the dude downloaded Sonic Mega Collection Plus onto my small Packard Bell laptop, along with Puzzle Bobble and Metal Slug bundled with the MAME emulator, and I spent most of the time playing on my computer circling through the first levels of those videogames.

I don't really understand people who say they beat games as kids; maybe it makes more sense if you had a console and your parents bought one specific game that you asked for (as it was the case with my 2DS and Pokémon X - I beat it!), but my parents barely ever gave me money for anything, let alone videogames, except for, I think, one or two instances. So, for me, it was mainly flash games, hacked Pokémon ROMs in VisualBoyAdvance, and pirated games that may or may not have not contaminated my poor and already slow little computer with adware and malware more than once.

But I digress. My memories of Sonic are mainly from the original classic trilogy, whose first levels I beat over and over again. I don't quite remember why, but with Sonic 3 and Knuckles, I have more memories from Mushroom Hill Zone than Angel Island Zone - I don't know if I triggered something to play Sonic and Knuckles instead of Sonic 3, but it must've been something like it. I liked bouncing around on the mushrooms, I thought the things that trapped you unless you spindashed your way out of their grip were annoying, and I was surprised to see Knuckles being evil.

That more or less sums up my experience with the game until I tried Sonic 3 A.I.R. I played a borrowed copy of Sonic Rivals 2 on my PSP, whose UMD broke and only the disk inside remains now, in one of my old closets. It was cool. In my early teen years, my gaming life was basically just Pokémon; later on, I explored more games and acquired tastes for different, less mainstream franchises, and I just mostly didn't think about Sonic. When I tried playing a Sonic game, I just didn't get the appeal. Sonic went fast, but I couldn't just press forward because I would bump into obstacles (like in the first few levels)? What the fuck? Where's the fun in this? I wanted to speed though everything without a second thought. The levels were confusing, there were just way too many obstacles going on. I just thought it was boring and, with the abundance of videogames to play, I didn't find any reason to press on. I remember Sonic Mania coming out, me installing it, and not feeling any particular feelings towards the game.

I mostly installed this out of curiosity, since it has such phenomenal reviews on Backloggd. I like fan made ports, localizations, videogame labors of love in general, even if I don't personally harbor an interest in the franchises or the like. I like messing around with this stuff. I recently patched a ROM of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere with the localization overhaul by Load Word Team, Just In Case I Ever Want To Play It™. Hence, I booted A.I.R., "just to see how it ran", I thought.

It ran beautifully. The game is incredible.

I was incredibly, pleasantly surprised to have a Sonic game finally "click" for me. First off, the port is obviously gorgeous and shows off an outstanding level of polish - Eukaryot clearly deeply loves the game, and they have my kudos. I'm glad that I ended having my "definitive" experience with such a spotless version of Sonic 3. Secondly, this is a fantastic videogame, full stop. Sonic 3 & Knuckles truly feels like a complete package, if that makes sense. In my experience with it, I don't think I felt like anything was missing or left the game craving any more levels or bosses or whatever - it's very densely packed with quality gameplay, setpieces, tunes (some composed by Michael Jackson, I hear?) boss fights, and all very nicely wrapped up in a little bow. As I paced through the first levels, I thought to myself: "wow, how did I NOT see the appeal of this before?"

Generally speaking, in videogames, you either choose to speed through a gameplay segment, or take your time exploring it to catch anything you might otherwise miss. But, in Sonic, exploration rewards you not just with knowledge about the level but, with it, the ability to more gracefully speed through it afterwards. The levels are sprawling in verticality, almost labyrinthic, and full of nooks and crannies with special stages and powerups. This might be a superficial analysis of "the point" of classic Sonic's gameplay loop, but realizing this by myself was key to be able to interpret the level layouts and the game itself as a little puzzle to be slowly deciphered and put together while bouncing around, instead of a mindless sidescrolling pseudo-racing track.

I like the variety of Sonic sprites in the game, be it with him ducking, sprinting, rotating horizontally, vertically. That combined with the very good physics and some smart visual tricks makes for some real kinetic and dynamic gameplay. The opening of the Ice Cap Zone, for example, is hard as hell. Game's colorful and spritework is very good, and the sometimes almost abstract aesthetics of some levels like Marble Gallery or Carnival Night are a real treat to the eyes. I very much enjoyed the differences and gimmicks each level has to offer. I feel like Sonic Team really made the most out of what they could with the Mega Drive hardware. Level design is super solid, too - I don't understand too much about Sonic level design or level design in general, but I was never bored. I giggled a bit when I realized falling in Ice Cap looped into itself and I was waiting with my controller in my hand for nothing. My friend told me about the infamous Carnival Night barrel (I would've not figured it out otherwise). The Mushroom Hill bouncy mushrooms, levers and wind are awesome, the drifting sand and ropes in Sandopolis are awesome, Hidden Palace is gorgeous, etc. The game consistently stays pretty, varied, fresh, interesting, and the I thought the Blue Sphere Special Stages were super nice, as well.

The only level that I didn't enjoy as much, and whose difficult I felt was unbalanced compared to the rest, was Death Egg. Obviously, I know that the last level in a videogame is supposed to be a culmination of the difficulty in it, but I genuinely felt like it was a huge spike compared to the rest - probably about one third of my play time is just me hitting my head against Death Egg over and over again. It got to a point where I was one click away from deleting the game and marking it as dropped, which frustrated me immensely; this was being a great experience, this made Sonic click for me, so far the game was being so nicely executed in just about every aspect I could think of, why the hell was I getting stuck Now, so close to the end? Plus, I just hate dropping games just as I'm about to finish them. Uugh. Anyway, this level has some seriously frustrating elements. The enemies are the toughest and guys like Spikebonker (lol) can seriously kill you a few times if you don't pay attention to where you're going. It also has several sections where your movement is controlled by some sort of platform, like the light rights or the mechanical caterpillars, which makes progressing slower. And the bosses are a test to your endurance and to your patience. In the last one, where Eggman shoots you with a laser, if you die, you respawn with 0 rings, and get instakilled at the slightest mistake. It's frustrating.

And just as I was about to drop the videogame, one of my friends urges me to try one last time. I open the game and, with only a single death, I complete the level. I... beat it? I don't see many more people complaining about Death Egg. Maybe I was just mentally stuck...? Weird.

Anyway, I complete the game. As a treat, I try Doomsday Zone, which has just the right amount of space bravado for the actually-this-is-the-last-level level. I think my Sonic curiosity has been satisfied for a while, but I'm definitely checking out titles like Sonic CD and Sonic Mania Plus in the future. Please play this videogame, even if you've never understood the appeal of Sonic before, or have played other Sonic videogames but didn't enjoy them so much. I believe you're definitely going to enjoy it!!

Sonic Origins (S3K) $30
-Glitches
-Blurry Pixels (before update)
-No Lives in anniversary mode
-Shitty new music

Sonic 3 AIR Free
-No Glitches
-Pixel Perfect
-Lives optional
-Original Music

5/5 - Amazing

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, and especially it's fan made remake, Sonic 3 A.I.R (or the Origins version, great too), is the perfection of the Classic Sonic formula. This game is an evolution in every aspect. It takes the core of what made Classic Sonic what it is - the physics, the momentum, the alternate paths, the skill ceiling - and it cranks everything up to 11.

The levels in this game are among the most unique seen in the Classic series. Almost every stage is excellently designed, and made more memorable then ever before - Sonic 3's levels are all full of unique gizmos, special gimmicks and mechanics to help them stand out. And the 2 acts are also more unique then ever - alternate aesthetics, different gimmicks, their own minibosses and even remixes of the first act's song give them their own unique identity. These blend perfectly with some tightly crafted layouts that always get better the more you play them. Sonic 3 never gets old as you traverse it's colorful stages that have you bounce, flip, fly, roll, crash and burn, with amazing flow.

The excellent level design and memorability are far from Sonic 3's only great traits, however - this game pushes Classic Sonic to new heights: the visuals and animations are immensly detailed and varied, pushing the Genesis to it's limits, the music is among the best on the entire system and outdoes all Sonic games that came before, the game features a grander scope with new act and zone transitions, more cutscenes, the affortmentioned unique act 2 aesthetics and songs, new power ups that make exploration even more rewarding, special stages that are the most fun both to find and to play, and a large quest that's bigger than almost any 2D platformer from that era.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is just marvelous, and I never get tired of it. I love almost every stage, it feels amazing to play and perfect, it's endlessly replayable with it's 3 unique characters, many alternate paths to take and different endings and collectables to find, and it feels immensly deep and complete. It's main detractors are a few stages I dislike such as Sandopolis Zone, but I even like levels like Marble Garden Zone with it's fun contraptions and wacky slopes, Carnival Night Zone and it's crazy bouncy feel, or Death Egg Zone and it's deadly but exciting traps - and those are among the game's weakest, in an all star roster of unforgettable locations.

The remake makes the game even better with additions like widescreen, the amazing drop dash move, and many new modes and settings, letting you tailor the Sonic 3 experience. But they're not even needed to win me over. This game is a winner.

This rating goes specifically to the work done on AIR, and not S3K itself.

God damn is this impressive. To the uninitiated, it might not be anything worth noting at first glance, but there are so many tweaks and optimizations that easily make this the definitive way to experience S3K. You can REALLY tell that everyone who worked on this really cared about the game.

This is the gold standard for re-releases. SEGA should be ashamed of putting out collections that barely reach a tenth of what AIR accomplishes.

30 Days of Sonic 2023
Day 5: Sonic 3 and Knuckles (AIR version)

The definitive example of a platformer that lets you play it your way.

Sonic 3 is a tough one to review. For one, it's the most substantial entry of the classic quadrant, spanning over a dozen colossal levels with three characters to play. With time constraints in mind, I was only able to play through the game once as Sonic & Tails (but hey since they're practically the same and Tails Assist is available in AIR technically giving me control of Tails as well it counts as two runs, right?) and half of Knuckles' stages.

Let’s start off with the outright negatives: I really, really don’t care for Blue Spheres. I personally find it daunting and stressful, and while yes, it’s definitely less bullshit compared to Sonic 1 and 2’s special stages and their casino bullshit and rote memorisation respectively; however, Blue Spheres in a way still requires that same memorisation to prevent yourself from veering out of control due to the speed increase. And the controls are weirdly stilted early on, there’s an odd delay between your input and your character’s turning.

The Special Stages of 3K in general are a low point in the game. It also brings forward the weakest aspect of this game’s level design since the Giant Rings are hidden in a way that 3K incentivizes players to hug every wall in sight in hopes of finding one of them. And while in larger levels like Carnival Night, Mushroom Hill and Marble Garden this strategy proves effective, in most other levels, more notoriously in the rest of the Knuckles half of stages, most searches for Giant Rings will often prove futile, and this ends up breaking the pace of the level more than necessary.

Right now time to shill the most obvious Sonic game to shill.

I like the clear distinctions between the three playable characters as well - Sonic has arguably the widest range of movement options thanks to his versatile array of shields, which if maintained throughout a level, can reward good gameplay with a good sense of flow when playing through the levels.

I’m very particular towards the Thunder Shield, which gives Sonic a double-jump (making it also the first Sonic game to give Sonic a double jump, albeit by technicality) AND attracts rings. It’s such a good utility tool in Sonic 3 in particular because it gives Sonic that extra boost needed to clear certain jumps that even Spin Dash jumps (yes, Spin Dash jumps) can’t. It’s also a really nifty platforming tool in general. However, my main cause of attachment is because the Thunder Shield’s double-jump quite literally gave me the inspiration for my Sonic OC’s toolkit. Laugh all you want, it’s a legitimate reason. That being said, there’s also viable uses for the Fire and Bubble Shields, with the Fire Shield in particular being a useful asset for level speedruns due to the burst of momentum this shield’s forward dash provides.

Between Tails and Knuckles, I’d say Tails’ gameplay is the least interesting, personally. Sure, the ability to fly is nice but overall I’d say it takes away the lack of challenge in platforming when it’s made much easier to do so when you can literally fly past chunks of level without much effort. It feels much less engaging than, say, reaching the same platform with Sonic using a well-timed Spin Dash jump or using any of his Shields to his advantage. However, there is merit to using Tails alongside Sonic, as with Tails Assist, Sonic is provided another option of movement (albeit a janky one since Flight Cancel works weirdly in 3K and Mania) that allows him to reach higher areas that he can’t reach, even with shields.

Knuckles, meanwhile, from the limited timespan I had with him, was impressive in his own way, with his glide compensating for his jump by being a superb momentum cancel option that if used correctly, allows for precision platforming and a stopgap method of avoiding being hit due to a badly angled jump. There’s also a really advanced technique that can be learnt with Knuckles that involves him gliding immediately after bouncing off an item/Badnik that apparently gives him massive air time, but unfortunately I never really got the hang of it. I do think that Knuckles runs of levels is interesting because with glide momentum cancel, spindashing with Knuckles becomes more frequent and much more consistent since you come to a complete halt when landing from a glide (not the skidding animation). And while I do have to move on to the next series of games tomorrow, a Knuckles run of 3K is definitely on the cards.

Alright, let’s talk about the level design now.

What the fuck this is… something.

What really catches my eye with most of 3K’s levels are how gigantic they are in scale, sprawling with countless amounts of pathways that my eyes can barely comprehend. They are a lot more vertical in size, most likely in consideration of Tails and Knuckles being playable alongside Sonic (with Knuckles even getting his own individual parts of the level that the other 2 can’t) Items are scattered adequately throughout the levels as well, giving players more incentive to explore the level and find these power ups to help them progress further into the level. This is especially true in Sonic’s case, as a change of shield radically changes how one approaches the game. IDK if this is the right way to put it, but this really feels like… a platformer with strong Metroidvania-esque roots in its level design.

And as a platformer, it absolutely works. There’s a really strong balance of speed and platforming segments throughout every level, and while I do wish both aspects were harmonized in a way that more of the level utilized a hybrid of both, this is a culmination of CD and 2’s best aspects, and going through these levels is incredibly fun. With so many pathways and so many options, and the level design being so open in nature, Sonic 3K, more than any other Sonic game before and after it, encourages the player to play it their way. Whether it be to find the Giant Rings (yeah sure break the pace of the game its your choice), or to beat the level as fast as possible, or to simply explore the near endless possibilities each level provides, the game allows you to choose. I think that’s the clear distinction of what makes 3 and Knuckles so special to most Sonic fans, as well as myself (even though I do like what other Sonic games bring to the table).

Oh yeah and the story is pretty great too, one of the best told video game stories in an era, completely presented through visual storytelling and not a single line of dialogue. Magnificent.

Final rating: 9/10

Marathonned the whole Sonic series in a year for the 30th anniversary.

This review is less about the quality of Sonic 3&K as a game and more about the excellent work done by Eukaryot to make a perfect Sonic game even better. The sheer amount of features and options put into remastering the game, by remastering the game's music, incorporating the originally unused prototype music as an option (the benefit of not being legally obligated to replace your music like Sega mandated for Sonic Origins), 16:9 screen space, and LOTS of mod support. I personally like to play this game by implementing many of the unused sprites, music, and level order found in the November 1993 prototype as possible, because I've played the vanilla version of the game so many times that it's fun to spruce up a new playthrough with new details you don't normally get to see.

If you had a copy of Sonic 3 & Knuckles from Steam prior to its delisting, A.I.R also actively encouraged people to legally buy Sonic 3 from a digital storefront because it runs using the Genesis ROM as a base. It's super impressive how that was done, and I commend Eukaryot for his work. I can never go back to playing any other version of Sonic 3 thanks to this port.

Best way to play this game. Definitely top 3 Sonic games ever, and in my opinion, just a fun game to replay from time to time. Whenever I just want to wind down, and relax, I just throw this on and listen to a video essay, or lecture in the background. Multiple characters with their own playstyle, and mods to create the best Sonic 3 you want, you can't go wrong with this version.

If you can, though, support the official release. Origin's version of Sonic 3 is a good alternative, thanks to the Ultrafix mod, so if you're willing to throw down some cash, get it on Steam and install that mod.

This, and Sonic Mania, are 2D Sonic at it's finest.