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Sonic 3D Blast 1996
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30 Days of Sonic 2023
Day 7: 3D Blast (Saturn)
There are two types of difficulty: There's difficulty, and then there's a sub-machine turret in a 2.5D isometric platformer treasure hunting game with poor depth perception.
The Gimmick of the Week
3D Blast has an interesting design philosophy. Most games in this era implemented Badniks as obstacles, and most of the time players got to choose how they dealt with this obstacle; they'd either kill it, evade it, or sometimes even use it as an extra footstool for speedruns. However, as my earlier statement implied, Traveller's Tales and SEGA decided that for 3D Blast, they wanted to create the world's most frustrating isometric scavenger hunt experience of all time. And thus the game released, and lo and behold, save for one level, every level is reduced to a mini treasuring hunting map, where players have two options: kill Badniks and collect Flickies, or quit the game. Binary options in my Sonic game? No fucking way.
Granted, the level designers at least had the restraint of making the player search for these stupid fucking birds 5 at a time, and thus each level is split into 2-3 mini segments where the objective is always the same: find the birds, go through the hoop, onto the next part. On paper this doesn't sound too bad - with only 5 Badniks per area, all I have to do is platform, kill them and get to the hoop, right?
Well, obviously that wouldn't be the case, doing this would make the game far too easy. So the game designers had a few decent options:
Make each Badnik its own miniboss that requires 3 hits to defeat, then you get a Flicky. Simple, and you can get really creative with the miniboss design. This is an option that Frontiers would later adapt when it came to their enemy design.
Have the player use their brains while navigating these mini-areas: maybe have a more difficult platforming segment that leads to the Badnik? Or maybe stash the Badnik away behind a visibly cracked wall? This option DID make it into the finished product, actually… for the special stages.
So you may be asking: what was Eggman cooking?
Well, to deter Sonic’s progress through Flicky Island, Eggman deviously concocted three things: a whole lotta fucking traps and natural hazards, baffling movement physics, and the worst depth perception known to mankind.
The Three Musketeers of Frustrating Isometric Platformer Design
It’s impossible to discuss any particular topic separately, as in reality, pointing the blame at one aspect tends to tie heavily to the others anyway. On paper, these traps aren’t too bad. You’ve got exploding mines, exploding snowmen, electrified floor tiles, spears protruding from the ground, lava, rotating fans- wait, rotating fans? This game is fucking weird man what can I say. And for the most part, you’d be right! You can dodge the exploding everything as well as the electrified floor tiles and Spring Stadium spike traps by simply jumping past them. And that’s mostly owing to Sonic’s superb air control, since his air speed is so fast you can actually jump past entire pits at will, much like in the Genesis titles!
Unfortunately, I should emphasise ‘for the most part’. Because while you can jump past these obstacles, you will get hit by the exploding mines, you will get hit by the spears, and unless you have a Red Shield, you will constantly lose rings in Volcano Valley. And that’s primarily owing to the depth perception in this game, because holy fuck is it as awful as you’d expect a 2.5D isometric platformer to be. Usually, in a full 3D game, you have a clear view of what’s ahead of you, and can therefore react accordingly and do exactly what you need to cross a certain obstacle.
However, that luxury is taken from you when you remove ½ from that number, and most times it’s hard to predict Sonic’s trajectory off a jump. You could randomly get hit by an exploding mine projectile you’d think you cleared, or miss a platform entirely and be forced to redo an entire platforming section. As you’d expect, the shadow quality does not help in the slightest, so Sonic can even struggle with basic things such as jumping on an item box. Or a Badnik. Which can still damage you if you land too close to it after missing a jump. Yeah no this shit’s fucking terrib-
Fear not, because Sonic’s toolkit actually helps make things easier! For once, rolling is actually the optimal method of defeating Badniks, since you don’t risk the chance of missing your jump and getting hit for it! And it’s pretty easy, too - simply press the B button while moving and you’ll be dunking straight into the Badnik! Hell yeah! Those nasty platforming sections in Rusty Ruin? Don’t worry, the Spin Dash jump also works in this game! Just hold B in a standstill and Sonic will automatically rev up his Spin Dash for the first time in Sonic history (hey that’s something SA1 and SA2 adapted!), and with a well-timed jump those platforming sections are solved in one fell swoop!
If only Sonic’s ground movement was good! Sonic’s stellar air physics might be compensation for how awful he feels on land. One word: slippery. Half the time Sonic would be skidding all over the map without much of the restraint that made him fun to control in the main Genesis games, and due to this he’s much more prone to the aforementioned hazards and traps unless he opts to Just Jump. Which honestly feels like the biggest bit of advice I could give to a newcomer who wants to play this game. When in doubt or in danger, just jump. It’s much better than actually running.
Which is genuinely unfortunate, because this game actually has… slope physics?! Sonic’s movement speed on the ground is actually relative to the indent of the slope he’s on, much like in the Classic 2D games - he slows down uphill, goes faster downhill, yada-yada. And this somehow simultaneously gives this game much more realism and speed, but also further hampers your movement more because even the smallest indent can cause Sonic to slide ever so slightly, possibly even getting hit in the process. And then this net positive completely falls apart when you realise Sonic’s momentum physics do not translate when he rolls - he still rolls at that same awkward speed unless it's one of those automated sections that transition you between parts of the level.
This gets even fucking weirder when you find out that the fucking Special Stages have momentum physics as well! And they’re even more accurate since Sonic actually gains massive speed down a slope! Tragically this doesn’t even get put to good use unless you’re passing through a speed gate, because while the music fucking slaps and the halfpipe design is much better than in Sonic 2 (there’s much more bells and whistles like the aforementioned slopes, high paths and low paths, speed gates and speed boosters, as well as stellar sound design because the sound effects actually get muffled when you’re in a tunnel), the problem of limited field of vision still persists and you’d wind up accidentally careen into a row of bombs at high speeds, possibly even costing you the special stage in the process.
Speaking of accidentally careening into traps, honestly Eggman should just quit the Badnik industry and focus instead on these inhumane ass traps since those seem to do a much better job at getting me to press Alt + F4. See, these traps don’t just hit you, they can hit the Flickies you collected as well. And after you get hit, they scatter. The Blue and Purple Flickies aren’t much of a hassle to recollect since they stay close to Sonic anyway, but then there’s the Red Flicky. Fuck him. Fuck his emo looking hair and the way he constantly jumps around. You wanna pick him up? Have fun trying when the depth perception constantly gets in the way and you’re constantly missing his obnoxious ass. The Green, fat bastard can also fuck off too, for similar reasons.
Now to actually discuss the traps in question: all of the aforementioned traps aren’t really a problem once you get used to the controls (yes, you can get used to them). But then, in the penultimate level of the game, Eggman decides to unleash literally Satan’s hellspawn onto the planet: a single turret, with semi-automatic firing speeds, 360-degree rotation and bullets the size of fuck you. The level designers must’ve realised that they needed to increase the difficulty scale of the game to keep the gameplay loop fresh. And instead of naturally raising the difficulty, they chose to spawn 1, sometimes even 2 Badniks next to this fucking piece of shit. Imagine you have 4 Flickies, and the last one happens to be wandering around one of these Turrets. You either get hit by the Badnik due to dodgy slippery controls, or you miss a jump, or you can get hit by the turret. Now you have to recollect all 5 Flickies in that singular area, All while the turret mercilessly fires its bullshit at you. The worst part about this? Most of the Flickies you collect are the Red and Green fucks. GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-
Everything Else
The boss fights in 3D Blast, are without exaggeration, the most bipolar series of bosses in the entire series. First there’s Green Grove’s boss fight, which is your standard mediocre ‘stand and wait until the boss makes himself vulnerable’ battle. Of course, depth perception makes every hit on Eggman a 70/30, but it’s relatively easy in the long run.
Then the game fucking hardcuts to Rusty Ruin’s boss, which involves you waiting for Eggman to slam one of the paws on this ancient mech so that you can follow it as it rises to hit him. Not a particularly difficult task from the sound of it, but then you actually play the fight and realise the depth perception fucks you over because of course it does. It doesn’t help that the ring drops fucking suck in this game as well, because the game is inconsistent with how long they remain for Sonic to collect. Half the time they work as intended and only vanish after a few moments; the other half they just disintegrate immediately after you get hit. This is a significantly worse problem in boss fights when you only have a limited resource of rings to go by.
The game continues to flip-flop between both sides of the spectrum - Spring Stadium’s fight is more of the same with Green Grove, another fight where you run around waiting for Eggman to make himself vulnerable before hitting him. The same applies to Diamond Dust, but this fight is much better (and easily the best boss fight in the game) since you can make Eggman hover back down immediately by blowing up the exploding snowman he drops. And most of the time, it’s a free hit.
Then Traveler’s Tales decides to throw good boss design into the bin for the rest of the game because Volcano Valley is easily a bottom 10 Sonic boss, in my opinion. This boss requires incredible precision in not just avoiding the auto-aim flame projectile (how the fuck does that even work), but also in not accidentally jumping into lava when landing on the super-thin pipes that give you a clear shot at hitting Eggman. AND you have to pray to God that you don’t randomly get hit by the fire spewers guarding Eggman, AND pray that your rings don’t FUCKING disintegrate immediately when you try recollecting them, THEN pray your next jump actually lands you back on the pipe.
Gene Gadget then merges the ‘run and wait’ boss design with a treadmill and garbage depth perception, since weirdly enough the only way to guarantee a hit on Eggman is by hitting the cockpit from the front - even hitting him from the sides is more likely a miss or the reversal where YOU get hit. After these two fights, Panic Puppet and the Final Fight can be painfully cheesed by standing in a corner or running around for most of the fight and waiting for Eggman to make himself vulnerable.
Graphically, I’m mixed. On one hand, the attention to detail is gorgeous - the levels are all spruced to life in the Saturn release, with small additions like mice popping out of the large vases in Rusty Ruin, the way the tiles glow whenever you step on them in the Final Fight, and all the various weather effects like rain and fog in Rusty Ruin, and the snow in Diamond Dust. However, the sprite work in general is less than stellar (in the main gameplay). Sonic in particular looks limp, shiny and lifeless, with all his main animations feeling more stilted and awkward. Sure, he, Tails and Knuckles look far better when you enter a Special Stage, but that’s just a momentary feeling of aesthetic pleasure before you’re forced back into terrible pre-rendered model land.
However, I will say that this game is probably the most 90s aesthetic ever. The whole game just has a very awkward, mid 90s early 3D vibe to it, and its age has definitely shown. But there was clearly effort put into it - the pause menu in each stage is different, and each and every one of them screams 90s right at your face.
And then there’s the soundtrack.
It definitely contributes to the overall 90s vibe of 3D Blast Saturn further, but don’t let that make you believe that it doesn’t hold up today, because it absolutely does. Both acts of Green Grove, Diamond Dust Act 2, Rusty Ruin Act 2, Gene Gadget Act 1 and the Special Stage music serve as the best the soundtrack has to offer, with each of these pieces extenuating and oozing with classic 90s disco/pop/hip-hop charm. The same goes for the other unmentioned stages, as they all are great in their own right.
Except for Spring Stadium Act 2. We don’t talk about Spring Stadium Act 2.
But to me, that isn’t even the main draw of the soundtrack. Richard Jacques and TJ Davis collaborated for the first time with the Saturn release of 3D Blast, creating the main theme of the game “You’re My Hero”.. While the song itself is unremarkable compared to the rest of Sonic’s vocal theme library and especially pales in comparison to their later work in Sonic R, note how the link I redirected you to explicitly takes you to the 48th second of the video, where the chorus begins. Now I need you to listen to the keys that play when TJ Davis sings “cause’ you’re my hero”, because that is incredibly important to this massive revelation I’m about to deliver. Richard Jacques was also responsible for composing the soundtrack of the game, and as he did so, he ended up implementing the beginning of the chorus to every single level theme in the game. This, as it turns out, made 3D Blast Saturn’s soundtrack the first in the Sonic franchise to incorporate a leitmotif throughout the entire game.
Don’t believe me? Listen closer.
Every single one of those characters sends you to videos of every level in the game, and the exact second you can start hearing the leitmotif. The fact that no one has ever really mentioned this is shocking to me, and this is one aspect of 3D Blast Saturn’s soundtrack that I believe is heavily underappreciated, even for an album of such quality. And for that, I have to give Mr. Jacques massive respect.
Oh, and the leitmotif was used in almost every level. Guess which level didn’t use the leitmotif.
SCREAMS IN CIRCUS MUSIC
Final rating: 5/10
(p.s.: play the Director's Cut version. It's so much better it's not even funny.)
Day 7: 3D Blast (Saturn)
There are two types of difficulty: There's difficulty, and then there's a sub-machine turret in a 2.5D isometric platformer treasure hunting game with poor depth perception.
The Gimmick of the Week
3D Blast has an interesting design philosophy. Most games in this era implemented Badniks as obstacles, and most of the time players got to choose how they dealt with this obstacle; they'd either kill it, evade it, or sometimes even use it as an extra footstool for speedruns. However, as my earlier statement implied, Traveller's Tales and SEGA decided that for 3D Blast, they wanted to create the world's most frustrating isometric scavenger hunt experience of all time. And thus the game released, and lo and behold, save for one level, every level is reduced to a mini treasuring hunting map, where players have two options: kill Badniks and collect Flickies, or quit the game. Binary options in my Sonic game? No fucking way.
Granted, the level designers at least had the restraint of making the player search for these stupid fucking birds 5 at a time, and thus each level is split into 2-3 mini segments where the objective is always the same: find the birds, go through the hoop, onto the next part. On paper this doesn't sound too bad - with only 5 Badniks per area, all I have to do is platform, kill them and get to the hoop, right?
Well, obviously that wouldn't be the case, doing this would make the game far too easy. So the game designers had a few decent options:
Make each Badnik its own miniboss that requires 3 hits to defeat, then you get a Flicky. Simple, and you can get really creative with the miniboss design. This is an option that Frontiers would later adapt when it came to their enemy design.
Have the player use their brains while navigating these mini-areas: maybe have a more difficult platforming segment that leads to the Badnik? Or maybe stash the Badnik away behind a visibly cracked wall? This option DID make it into the finished product, actually… for the special stages.
So you may be asking: what was Eggman cooking?
Well, to deter Sonic’s progress through Flicky Island, Eggman deviously concocted three things: a whole lotta fucking traps and natural hazards, baffling movement physics, and the worst depth perception known to mankind.
The Three Musketeers of Frustrating Isometric Platformer Design
It’s impossible to discuss any particular topic separately, as in reality, pointing the blame at one aspect tends to tie heavily to the others anyway. On paper, these traps aren’t too bad. You’ve got exploding mines, exploding snowmen, electrified floor tiles, spears protruding from the ground, lava, rotating fans- wait, rotating fans? This game is fucking weird man what can I say. And for the most part, you’d be right! You can dodge the exploding everything as well as the electrified floor tiles and Spring Stadium spike traps by simply jumping past them. And that’s mostly owing to Sonic’s superb air control, since his air speed is so fast you can actually jump past entire pits at will, much like in the Genesis titles!
Unfortunately, I should emphasise ‘for the most part’. Because while you can jump past these obstacles, you will get hit by the exploding mines, you will get hit by the spears, and unless you have a Red Shield, you will constantly lose rings in Volcano Valley. And that’s primarily owing to the depth perception in this game, because holy fuck is it as awful as you’d expect a 2.5D isometric platformer to be. Usually, in a full 3D game, you have a clear view of what’s ahead of you, and can therefore react accordingly and do exactly what you need to cross a certain obstacle.
However, that luxury is taken from you when you remove ½ from that number, and most times it’s hard to predict Sonic’s trajectory off a jump. You could randomly get hit by an exploding mine projectile you’d think you cleared, or miss a platform entirely and be forced to redo an entire platforming section. As you’d expect, the shadow quality does not help in the slightest, so Sonic can even struggle with basic things such as jumping on an item box. Or a Badnik. Which can still damage you if you land too close to it after missing a jump. Yeah no this shit’s fucking terrib-
Fear not, because Sonic’s toolkit actually helps make things easier! For once, rolling is actually the optimal method of defeating Badniks, since you don’t risk the chance of missing your jump and getting hit for it! And it’s pretty easy, too - simply press the B button while moving and you’ll be dunking straight into the Badnik! Hell yeah! Those nasty platforming sections in Rusty Ruin? Don’t worry, the Spin Dash jump also works in this game! Just hold B in a standstill and Sonic will automatically rev up his Spin Dash for the first time in Sonic history (hey that’s something SA1 and SA2 adapted!), and with a well-timed jump those platforming sections are solved in one fell swoop!
If only Sonic’s ground movement was good! Sonic’s stellar air physics might be compensation for how awful he feels on land. One word: slippery. Half the time Sonic would be skidding all over the map without much of the restraint that made him fun to control in the main Genesis games, and due to this he’s much more prone to the aforementioned hazards and traps unless he opts to Just Jump. Which honestly feels like the biggest bit of advice I could give to a newcomer who wants to play this game. When in doubt or in danger, just jump. It’s much better than actually running.
Which is genuinely unfortunate, because this game actually has… slope physics?! Sonic’s movement speed on the ground is actually relative to the indent of the slope he’s on, much like in the Classic 2D games - he slows down uphill, goes faster downhill, yada-yada. And this somehow simultaneously gives this game much more realism and speed, but also further hampers your movement more because even the smallest indent can cause Sonic to slide ever so slightly, possibly even getting hit in the process. And then this net positive completely falls apart when you realise Sonic’s momentum physics do not translate when he rolls - he still rolls at that same awkward speed unless it's one of those automated sections that transition you between parts of the level.
This gets even fucking weirder when you find out that the fucking Special Stages have momentum physics as well! And they’re even more accurate since Sonic actually gains massive speed down a slope! Tragically this doesn’t even get put to good use unless you’re passing through a speed gate, because while the music fucking slaps and the halfpipe design is much better than in Sonic 2 (there’s much more bells and whistles like the aforementioned slopes, high paths and low paths, speed gates and speed boosters, as well as stellar sound design because the sound effects actually get muffled when you’re in a tunnel), the problem of limited field of vision still persists and you’d wind up accidentally careen into a row of bombs at high speeds, possibly even costing you the special stage in the process.
Speaking of accidentally careening into traps, honestly Eggman should just quit the Badnik industry and focus instead on these inhumane ass traps since those seem to do a much better job at getting me to press Alt + F4. See, these traps don’t just hit you, they can hit the Flickies you collected as well. And after you get hit, they scatter. The Blue and Purple Flickies aren’t much of a hassle to recollect since they stay close to Sonic anyway, but then there’s the Red Flicky. Fuck him. Fuck his emo looking hair and the way he constantly jumps around. You wanna pick him up? Have fun trying when the depth perception constantly gets in the way and you’re constantly missing his obnoxious ass. The Green, fat bastard can also fuck off too, for similar reasons.
Now to actually discuss the traps in question: all of the aforementioned traps aren’t really a problem once you get used to the controls (yes, you can get used to them). But then, in the penultimate level of the game, Eggman decides to unleash literally Satan’s hellspawn onto the planet: a single turret, with semi-automatic firing speeds, 360-degree rotation and bullets the size of fuck you. The level designers must’ve realised that they needed to increase the difficulty scale of the game to keep the gameplay loop fresh. And instead of naturally raising the difficulty, they chose to spawn 1, sometimes even 2 Badniks next to this fucking piece of shit. Imagine you have 4 Flickies, and the last one happens to be wandering around one of these Turrets. You either get hit by the Badnik due to dodgy slippery controls, or you miss a jump, or you can get hit by the turret. Now you have to recollect all 5 Flickies in that singular area, All while the turret mercilessly fires its bullshit at you. The worst part about this? Most of the Flickies you collect are the Red and Green fucks. GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-
Everything Else
The boss fights in 3D Blast, are without exaggeration, the most bipolar series of bosses in the entire series. First there’s Green Grove’s boss fight, which is your standard mediocre ‘stand and wait until the boss makes himself vulnerable’ battle. Of course, depth perception makes every hit on Eggman a 70/30, but it’s relatively easy in the long run.
Then the game fucking hardcuts to Rusty Ruin’s boss, which involves you waiting for Eggman to slam one of the paws on this ancient mech so that you can follow it as it rises to hit him. Not a particularly difficult task from the sound of it, but then you actually play the fight and realise the depth perception fucks you over because of course it does. It doesn’t help that the ring drops fucking suck in this game as well, because the game is inconsistent with how long they remain for Sonic to collect. Half the time they work as intended and only vanish after a few moments; the other half they just disintegrate immediately after you get hit. This is a significantly worse problem in boss fights when you only have a limited resource of rings to go by.
The game continues to flip-flop between both sides of the spectrum - Spring Stadium’s fight is more of the same with Green Grove, another fight where you run around waiting for Eggman to make himself vulnerable before hitting him. The same applies to Diamond Dust, but this fight is much better (and easily the best boss fight in the game) since you can make Eggman hover back down immediately by blowing up the exploding snowman he drops. And most of the time, it’s a free hit.
Then Traveler’s Tales decides to throw good boss design into the bin for the rest of the game because Volcano Valley is easily a bottom 10 Sonic boss, in my opinion. This boss requires incredible precision in not just avoiding the auto-aim flame projectile (how the fuck does that even work), but also in not accidentally jumping into lava when landing on the super-thin pipes that give you a clear shot at hitting Eggman. AND you have to pray to God that you don’t randomly get hit by the fire spewers guarding Eggman, AND pray that your rings don’t FUCKING disintegrate immediately when you try recollecting them, THEN pray your next jump actually lands you back on the pipe.
Gene Gadget then merges the ‘run and wait’ boss design with a treadmill and garbage depth perception, since weirdly enough the only way to guarantee a hit on Eggman is by hitting the cockpit from the front - even hitting him from the sides is more likely a miss or the reversal where YOU get hit. After these two fights, Panic Puppet and the Final Fight can be painfully cheesed by standing in a corner or running around for most of the fight and waiting for Eggman to make himself vulnerable.
Graphically, I’m mixed. On one hand, the attention to detail is gorgeous - the levels are all spruced to life in the Saturn release, with small additions like mice popping out of the large vases in Rusty Ruin, the way the tiles glow whenever you step on them in the Final Fight, and all the various weather effects like rain and fog in Rusty Ruin, and the snow in Diamond Dust. However, the sprite work in general is less than stellar (in the main gameplay). Sonic in particular looks limp, shiny and lifeless, with all his main animations feeling more stilted and awkward. Sure, he, Tails and Knuckles look far better when you enter a Special Stage, but that’s just a momentary feeling of aesthetic pleasure before you’re forced back into terrible pre-rendered model land.
However, I will say that this game is probably the most 90s aesthetic ever. The whole game just has a very awkward, mid 90s early 3D vibe to it, and its age has definitely shown. But there was clearly effort put into it - the pause menu in each stage is different, and each and every one of them screams 90s right at your face.
And then there’s the soundtrack.
It definitely contributes to the overall 90s vibe of 3D Blast Saturn further, but don’t let that make you believe that it doesn’t hold up today, because it absolutely does. Both acts of Green Grove, Diamond Dust Act 2, Rusty Ruin Act 2, Gene Gadget Act 1 and the Special Stage music serve as the best the soundtrack has to offer, with each of these pieces extenuating and oozing with classic 90s disco/pop/hip-hop charm. The same goes for the other unmentioned stages, as they all are great in their own right.
Except for Spring Stadium Act 2. We don’t talk about Spring Stadium Act 2.
But to me, that isn’t even the main draw of the soundtrack. Richard Jacques and TJ Davis collaborated for the first time with the Saturn release of 3D Blast, creating the main theme of the game “You’re My Hero”.. While the song itself is unremarkable compared to the rest of Sonic’s vocal theme library and especially pales in comparison to their later work in Sonic R, note how the link I redirected you to explicitly takes you to the 48th second of the video, where the chorus begins. Now I need you to listen to the keys that play when TJ Davis sings “cause’ you’re my hero”, because that is incredibly important to this massive revelation I’m about to deliver. Richard Jacques was also responsible for composing the soundtrack of the game, and as he did so, he ended up implementing the beginning of the chorus to every single level theme in the game. This, as it turns out, made 3D Blast Saturn’s soundtrack the first in the Sonic franchise to incorporate a leitmotif throughout the entire game.
Don’t believe me? Listen closer.
Every single one of those characters sends you to videos of every level in the game, and the exact second you can start hearing the leitmotif. The fact that no one has ever really mentioned this is shocking to me, and this is one aspect of 3D Blast Saturn’s soundtrack that I believe is heavily underappreciated, even for an album of such quality. And for that, I have to give Mr. Jacques massive respect.
Oh, and the leitmotif was used in almost every level. Guess which level didn’t use the leitmotif.
SCREAMS IN CIRCUS MUSIC
Final rating: 5/10
(p.s.: play the Director's Cut version. It's so much better it's not even funny.)
Sonic 3D Blast isn't a bad game. Here's why:
(DISCLAIMER: THIS REVIEW PRIMARILY COVERS THE DIRECTOR'S CUT RELEASED IN 2018 AND THE SATURN VERSION. RATING PROVIDED IS FOR THE DIRECTOR'S CUT, WHICH IS BY FAR THE BEST VERSION)
Let's start by addressing the worst issue of the game by far: the depth perception. Depth perception has always been an issue for older Sonic games, but this game is a whole different beast. Standing right in front of an item box? You often find yourself either not moving with the nudge of a button or moving behind the item box by jumping too far. It's bafflingly hard to get a proper grasp of where exactly should you land your jumps to immediately break an item box. That just goes to show how atrocious the depth perception truly is in Sonic 3D Blast.
This awful issue also brings out some other of the worst issues in the game. For example, the Flickies are rather simple to catch once you free them from the Badnik shells, but the red one jumps all over the fucking place and you have no idea which plane and height and distance its at to reach it without at least several jumps. Even just hitting the Badnik shells themselves is an unnecessary challenge in its own right, in part because you're unable to gauge where exactly to hit the Badnik, so more often than not you'll just use the instant spin roll (which is actually surprisingly nifty in the context of this game). And then there are more instances throughout the game but I'll discuss those, yet again, in my level analyses.
Let's talk about Sonic's control and handling next. Depth perception being awful aside, it's still putrid. Sonic is slow and clunky, his turns are agonizingly sluggish, the Spin Dash (yes, the Spin Dash) feels useless, and the spin roll kills your momentum far too quickly. They had the nerve to only require the Spin Dash to be used for trolleys in Volcano Valley, which doesn't even allow Sonic to leave it unless he jumps anyways!
Thank fuck, then, I played the Director's Cut, which made Sonic faster and makes his smaller turns quicker. One interesting thing to note about Sonic's movement in the game is how absurdly broken the regular Spin Jump. Spamming it somehow covers more ground than a Spin Dash or running will ever do, while also having the additional advantages of having a safety net against Badniks as well as allowing jumps to higher ledges come by like a breeze. It's so broken that the various traps laid out in Spring Stadium (the hidden spears and spikes) feel like absolute jokes due to how long they take to extend outwards. By then Sonic could simply spam jump until he's out of the danger zone. It's also pretty funny, actually, that this sense of speed caused by jump spam makes levels ironically quite fun to tear apart... but obviously, you're still burdened by the necessity of hunting down the Flickies, which are necessary to progress through each level. A fact more emphasised by how much of a refresher Panic Puppet Act 2 is. More on that later. Overall, Sonic's handling is not that good, but Spin Jump spam makes beating the levels more faster and more entertaining. (note: it might only work on the Director's Cut)
His sprite and overall animation looks dogwater though. Ugh.
The story of Sonic 3D Blast is generic as all hell. Eggman kidnaps Flickies to lead him to the Emeralds, Sonic saves Flickies, collects Chaos Emeralds, beats Eggman, day saved, Flicky Island is at peace. There really isn't anything too standout about this whole plot, and cutscenes are mostly reserved for the beginning of the game and the ending. At least the Saturn version has the courtesy to show you a minimap detailing Sonic's progress through Flicky Island, much like Sonic 1's 8-bit version.
The Saturn version, however, does have by far the best interpretation of the halfpipe Special Stages in the entire franchise! From the suave, jazzy music, the visibility of the rings to all the additional elements that makes it stand out, the Saturn executed Special Stages in a way most other Sonic games failed to do. I'd even go as far as to say these are the best Special Stages of the Classic Era! The Genesis version is uh, easy. Very easy. But at least it isn't annoying or frustrating as hell.
And the way you enter these Special Stages is pretty neat, you gather 50 rings, find Tails/Knuckles hidden in the level, give them your rings, they take you to a special stage, job done. On paper, this feels easy. But don't forget this is Sonic 3D Blast you're playing, so more often than not you'll never be able to retain those rings due to the shitty depth perception leading to you being hit for unfair reasons. The original versions even had the balls to limit your Special Stages entrances to Volcano Valley Zone! WITHOUT SAVE FILES! And you'd end up getting a bad ending against your own will, thus locking you away from everything the game has to offer! It's a miracle the Director's Cut has a stage select that allows you to revisit previous stages, and actually limits you to one Chaos Emerald per zone. Gene Gadget and Panic Puppet each have one Chaos Emerald spot, and finding them ends up being a reward upon itself. Because not only do you get to revisit these levels for the Chaos Emeralds, but you also get Super Sonic, which the original game never had!
These are more miscellaneous talking points, so I'll just cover them briefly. First of all, I believe that the Saturn version is the best variant of original 3D Blast, but the load times between levels (including special stages) is disgustingly long, so be prepared to wait a LOT. Second of all, I notice a ton of inconsistencies with ring drops whenever you get hit. Sometimes the dropped rings stay on the overworld for about 3 seconds, like in the original games. But sometimes they vanish the instant they hit the ground, which is especially inconvenient during boss fights where your ring resources are limited! The Spin Dash is somehow made even more infuriating in this game because if you collide with the walls of levels at high speeds, you fucking ricochet all over the place for some reason. It even puts you at an even bigger risk of getting hit than a Spin Jump, so why the fuck are you Spin Dashing in Sonic 3D Blast? Finally, there is one good thing this game contributed to the franchise. The Gold Shield, a unique type of shield only found in a handful of levels, allows you to, for the very first time in a Sonic game, execute the Homing Attack. Not only does it make killing Badniks a lot easier, but it also indirectly planted an idea into Sonic Team's heads on how to tackle Sonic's combat in future 3D games.
And now, FINALLY, we can dive into the levels themselves. I'll be discussing visuals, level design and music for all 7 levels present in the game, as well as the Final Fight.
Green Hill- wait, no- Emerald Hill- ugh, that's not right- Palmtree Panic- damn, there are so many of these-
Green Grove
In all honesty, there really isn't much to say about Green Grove. It's your bread and butter forest/field themed tutorial level for every Sonic game, and the graphics reflect that with their similarities to essentially every other first level. It does a good enough job at showing you what's to come with future levels, with Continues/emblems being tucked away in springs that require all your Flickies to reach, automated Spin Dash segments between sectors of a level (the only times the Spin Dash is functionable all game LOL), and... mines? Yeah those mines are really annoying. The themes across both the Genesis and Saturn versions of the game are great, with the Genesis variant being a precursor to The Air from Sonic Adventure, one of my favourite tracks from that game. Both tracks were composed by Jun Senoue, who would go on to imprint his legacy on the Sonic franchise in the soundtrack department. Boss fight is piss easy but you have to wait quite a bit and waiting's really annoying.
Rusty Ruin
Honestly a really forgettable level in most aspects, but hey Sonic turns into a Beyblade in this one. There are a bunch of moving spike chains that are harder to avoid here, Spin Jump spam won't solve your platforming woes. Act 2, in particular, has two very punishing precise platform jump segments that can get very, very irritating. This remains true for the boss fight, where the platforms you're supposed to jump on so you can hit Eggman can hurt you sometimes for some reason. That boss in particular is really annoying, you don't have enough wriggle room to really maneuver and you only have 6 rings to work with. Combined with the issue with rings disappearing too quickly that I mentioned earlier as well as the depth perception and you have a really upsetting fight to slog through.
Also, the Saturn version has rain in this level, but the music sounds like something Apple would use to advertise their iPhone during the winter season.
Spring Stadium
This whole level is a joke because of Spin Jump spam. All these traps that the developers crafted together can all be resolved by pressing the A or C button a lot of times. To commemorate the occasion, Saturn Spring Stadium Act 2 even has fucking clown music to go along with it! Other than that, the level is colourful, so it has that going for it (?).
Boss fight also suffers from the depth perception issue, but it's not as bad as Rusty Ruin's.
Diamond Dust
This one is an interesting case: the badniks here are, oddly enough, the most challenging ones to deal with other than the ones in Panic Puppet. Badniks are piss easy to deal with in this game, one Spin Roll and they're just dead. The snowmen are turrets and the pogo stick ones can catch you off guard if you're not careful enough. Not to mention the EXPLODING SNOWMEN and mist machines that freeze you into a block, forcing you to drop all your Flickies because why the fuck not. This level looks really nice in comparison to the other levels; the Saturn version even has snow! Finally, the music of the Genesis version is a cooling, relaxing piece, while the Saturn's music is... generic Christmas music. The boss fight is fun though, very easy to beat and doesn't take as long to take out compared to the previous ones, which all required more waiting than attacking.
Oh wait, there are icy walkways in this level? Well, the main game is already slippery enough, this is nothing lmao.
Volcano Valley.
Woo boy. Bunch of lava pits and fire-based obstacles in a game with horrible depth perception, good luck trying to- oh wait you just got a fire shield. Yeah this level is piss easy once you equip a fire shield. As long as you retain it, you can basically roam the level without worrying about losing your rings or Flickies. It would've also been a really great level to try and beat as quickly as possible... but you still have to find the Flickies. Oh well. Saturn music sounds like dungeon music from an RPG, Genesis music sounds like a prelude to Final Fortress from Sonic Heroes (I see what you did there Jun Senoue). Looks like a volcano level, I guess.
And the boss fight... is easily the worst one in the game by far. Ironically, hitting it is the easiest part. The hard part is everything else. Besides trying to hit the boss, you have to pray your depth perception is good enough that you land on the pipes above the lava every time, not get hit by the occasional steam blasts blowing out from said pipes, pray you don't fall into the lava on the rebound, and ON TOP OF THAT, you have to dodge Robotnik's homing fire attack (how does that even make sense?). It's messy, it's ugly, its bullshittingly difficult. Pop off if you beat this one first try.
Gene Gadget
Snazzy-looking tech level with intertwining tubes, just like Chemical Plant and Scrap Brain. For once, I think the Saturn version actually has the better music, Act 1 in particular being a standout. There are electric tiles throughout the level that can damage you, but you can either equip a Blue Shield (electric immunity) or simply just Spin Jump spam. There are also these annoying fan tiles that send you flying, while also leaving you vulnerable to the pufferfish Badniks you're trying to destroy most of the time. But by far the most annoying thing introduced in this level is the new turret, which shoots at ridiculously fast rates, making you feel insanely lucky to escape from one's vicinity unscathed. Worst of all, they sometimes even stick a Badnik right next to the turret so you have no choice but to get hit sometimes. The boss fight, on the other hand, is discount Quartz Quadrant, but it also has its merits since you're able to hit Eggman as well.
Panic Puppet
Is it weird to say that this may be one of my favourite levels in the game? The music of the Genesis version in particular stands out (Twinkle Kart from Sonic Adventure, anyone?), and the level itself has a pretty interesting color palette we don't usually see in Eggman bases. ou only need to capture a grand total of 5 Flickies in this stage, all of them in Act 1. While the level likes to toss its most annoying obstacles at you (the turrets from Gene Gadget, the platforming from Rusty Ruin, the mines from Green Grove, and its newest weapon: the waiting on the conveyor belts), it's not that big of a hassle when you can just Spin Jump spam to avoid most of the projectiles and quickly recover the Flickies to end off Act 1 swiftly. Act 2 is perhaps my favourite level in the entire game, and shows off story-wise how effortless Sonic makes running through Eggman's traps look. Of course, this is mostly unintentional due to how hilariously broken Spin Jump can be, but lowkey? Actually a fun level to finish, no more finding Flickies just pure, unadulterated platforming. And by now, you should have a better understanding of the controls, making this level more of a difficult victory lap than a level. You've done it! You've braved all the bullshit this game's gimmick has tossed you through! Enjoy this one fun level before the boss fight!
The boss fight, however, is actually rather easy if you know what you're doing. Collect one ring, stand below a moving arm, move away before it crushes you, hit the corresponding blue light, rinse and repeat, recover a ring if you lose your current one. Then, stand at a corner, spam jump on the impending blue light, run away from the homing flames, rinse and repeat, recover a ring if you lose your current one. Finally, stand in a corner, spam jump on the- ah fuck you get the idea. Pretty underwhelming penultimate boss fight, but at least the Final Fight should be more exciting, ri-
Final Fight
ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Final Fight? More like Not Much of A Fight. It's more of the same from the last boss. Stand still, allow Eggman to shoot lasers twice, hit. Move. Dodge homing flames twice, with more room to dodge this time. Hit the mech on the third time. Move. Dodge slow moving hands. Hit. Move. Dodge easily predictable rockets, hit. Move. Stand in a corner to avoid the balls. Hit. RINSE AND REPEAT. Heck, this mech looks fucking puny and lame compared to the other robots Eggman has commandeered throughout the level. HE DOESN'T EVEN SHOW HIS FUCKING BODY. Well, at least the game's over now. Pack it up.
Overall, just play the Director's Cut version of this game. It's easily accessible on the Internet, and its more worthwhile of an experience than the original release back in 1996. It controls better, sounds better (Genesis OST is clear), and includes tons of new QOL changes. In fact, remember how I mentioned that your potential to speed through the stages with expert movement with Spin Jumps is ultimately hindered by the necessity to save Flickies? Well, once you beat the main game the first time, you also get a Time Challenge mode, that requires you to beat the level under a strict timer, but no longer requires you to save any Flickies! Finally, you're allowed to explore the true potential 3D Blast's level design and gimmicky movement has to offer. And it's a more fun challenge than whatever the fuck you just played, mind you.
7/10. Sonic 3D Blast is NOT a dogwater game... as long as you're playing the Director's Cut version.
(DISCLAIMER: THIS REVIEW PRIMARILY COVERS THE DIRECTOR'S CUT RELEASED IN 2018 AND THE SATURN VERSION. RATING PROVIDED IS FOR THE DIRECTOR'S CUT, WHICH IS BY FAR THE BEST VERSION)
Let's start by addressing the worst issue of the game by far: the depth perception. Depth perception has always been an issue for older Sonic games, but this game is a whole different beast. Standing right in front of an item box? You often find yourself either not moving with the nudge of a button or moving behind the item box by jumping too far. It's bafflingly hard to get a proper grasp of where exactly should you land your jumps to immediately break an item box. That just goes to show how atrocious the depth perception truly is in Sonic 3D Blast.
This awful issue also brings out some other of the worst issues in the game. For example, the Flickies are rather simple to catch once you free them from the Badnik shells, but the red one jumps all over the fucking place and you have no idea which plane and height and distance its at to reach it without at least several jumps. Even just hitting the Badnik shells themselves is an unnecessary challenge in its own right, in part because you're unable to gauge where exactly to hit the Badnik, so more often than not you'll just use the instant spin roll (which is actually surprisingly nifty in the context of this game). And then there are more instances throughout the game but I'll discuss those, yet again, in my level analyses.
Let's talk about Sonic's control and handling next. Depth perception being awful aside, it's still putrid. Sonic is slow and clunky, his turns are agonizingly sluggish, the Spin Dash (yes, the Spin Dash) feels useless, and the spin roll kills your momentum far too quickly. They had the nerve to only require the Spin Dash to be used for trolleys in Volcano Valley, which doesn't even allow Sonic to leave it unless he jumps anyways!
Thank fuck, then, I played the Director's Cut, which made Sonic faster and makes his smaller turns quicker. One interesting thing to note about Sonic's movement in the game is how absurdly broken the regular Spin Jump. Spamming it somehow covers more ground than a Spin Dash or running will ever do, while also having the additional advantages of having a safety net against Badniks as well as allowing jumps to higher ledges come by like a breeze. It's so broken that the various traps laid out in Spring Stadium (the hidden spears and spikes) feel like absolute jokes due to how long they take to extend outwards. By then Sonic could simply spam jump until he's out of the danger zone. It's also pretty funny, actually, that this sense of speed caused by jump spam makes levels ironically quite fun to tear apart... but obviously, you're still burdened by the necessity of hunting down the Flickies, which are necessary to progress through each level. A fact more emphasised by how much of a refresher Panic Puppet Act 2 is. More on that later. Overall, Sonic's handling is not that good, but Spin Jump spam makes beating the levels more faster and more entertaining. (note: it might only work on the Director's Cut)
His sprite and overall animation looks dogwater though. Ugh.
The story of Sonic 3D Blast is generic as all hell. Eggman kidnaps Flickies to lead him to the Emeralds, Sonic saves Flickies, collects Chaos Emeralds, beats Eggman, day saved, Flicky Island is at peace. There really isn't anything too standout about this whole plot, and cutscenes are mostly reserved for the beginning of the game and the ending. At least the Saturn version has the courtesy to show you a minimap detailing Sonic's progress through Flicky Island, much like Sonic 1's 8-bit version.
The Saturn version, however, does have by far the best interpretation of the halfpipe Special Stages in the entire franchise! From the suave, jazzy music, the visibility of the rings to all the additional elements that makes it stand out, the Saturn executed Special Stages in a way most other Sonic games failed to do. I'd even go as far as to say these are the best Special Stages of the Classic Era! The Genesis version is uh, easy. Very easy. But at least it isn't annoying or frustrating as hell.
And the way you enter these Special Stages is pretty neat, you gather 50 rings, find Tails/Knuckles hidden in the level, give them your rings, they take you to a special stage, job done. On paper, this feels easy. But don't forget this is Sonic 3D Blast you're playing, so more often than not you'll never be able to retain those rings due to the shitty depth perception leading to you being hit for unfair reasons. The original versions even had the balls to limit your Special Stages entrances to Volcano Valley Zone! WITHOUT SAVE FILES! And you'd end up getting a bad ending against your own will, thus locking you away from everything the game has to offer! It's a miracle the Director's Cut has a stage select that allows you to revisit previous stages, and actually limits you to one Chaos Emerald per zone. Gene Gadget and Panic Puppet each have one Chaos Emerald spot, and finding them ends up being a reward upon itself. Because not only do you get to revisit these levels for the Chaos Emeralds, but you also get Super Sonic, which the original game never had!
These are more miscellaneous talking points, so I'll just cover them briefly. First of all, I believe that the Saturn version is the best variant of original 3D Blast, but the load times between levels (including special stages) is disgustingly long, so be prepared to wait a LOT. Second of all, I notice a ton of inconsistencies with ring drops whenever you get hit. Sometimes the dropped rings stay on the overworld for about 3 seconds, like in the original games. But sometimes they vanish the instant they hit the ground, which is especially inconvenient during boss fights where your ring resources are limited! The Spin Dash is somehow made even more infuriating in this game because if you collide with the walls of levels at high speeds, you fucking ricochet all over the place for some reason. It even puts you at an even bigger risk of getting hit than a Spin Jump, so why the fuck are you Spin Dashing in Sonic 3D Blast? Finally, there is one good thing this game contributed to the franchise. The Gold Shield, a unique type of shield only found in a handful of levels, allows you to, for the very first time in a Sonic game, execute the Homing Attack. Not only does it make killing Badniks a lot easier, but it also indirectly planted an idea into Sonic Team's heads on how to tackle Sonic's combat in future 3D games.
And now, FINALLY, we can dive into the levels themselves. I'll be discussing visuals, level design and music for all 7 levels present in the game, as well as the Final Fight.
Green Hill- wait, no- Emerald Hill- ugh, that's not right- Palmtree Panic- damn, there are so many of these-
Green Grove
In all honesty, there really isn't much to say about Green Grove. It's your bread and butter forest/field themed tutorial level for every Sonic game, and the graphics reflect that with their similarities to essentially every other first level. It does a good enough job at showing you what's to come with future levels, with Continues/emblems being tucked away in springs that require all your Flickies to reach, automated Spin Dash segments between sectors of a level (the only times the Spin Dash is functionable all game LOL), and... mines? Yeah those mines are really annoying. The themes across both the Genesis and Saturn versions of the game are great, with the Genesis variant being a precursor to The Air from Sonic Adventure, one of my favourite tracks from that game. Both tracks were composed by Jun Senoue, who would go on to imprint his legacy on the Sonic franchise in the soundtrack department. Boss fight is piss easy but you have to wait quite a bit and waiting's really annoying.
Rusty Ruin
Honestly a really forgettable level in most aspects, but hey Sonic turns into a Beyblade in this one. There are a bunch of moving spike chains that are harder to avoid here, Spin Jump spam won't solve your platforming woes. Act 2, in particular, has two very punishing precise platform jump segments that can get very, very irritating. This remains true for the boss fight, where the platforms you're supposed to jump on so you can hit Eggman can hurt you sometimes for some reason. That boss in particular is really annoying, you don't have enough wriggle room to really maneuver and you only have 6 rings to work with. Combined with the issue with rings disappearing too quickly that I mentioned earlier as well as the depth perception and you have a really upsetting fight to slog through.
Also, the Saturn version has rain in this level, but the music sounds like something Apple would use to advertise their iPhone during the winter season.
Spring Stadium
This whole level is a joke because of Spin Jump spam. All these traps that the developers crafted together can all be resolved by pressing the A or C button a lot of times. To commemorate the occasion, Saturn Spring Stadium Act 2 even has fucking clown music to go along with it! Other than that, the level is colourful, so it has that going for it (?).
Boss fight also suffers from the depth perception issue, but it's not as bad as Rusty Ruin's.
Diamond Dust
This one is an interesting case: the badniks here are, oddly enough, the most challenging ones to deal with other than the ones in Panic Puppet. Badniks are piss easy to deal with in this game, one Spin Roll and they're just dead. The snowmen are turrets and the pogo stick ones can catch you off guard if you're not careful enough. Not to mention the EXPLODING SNOWMEN and mist machines that freeze you into a block, forcing you to drop all your Flickies because why the fuck not. This level looks really nice in comparison to the other levels; the Saturn version even has snow! Finally, the music of the Genesis version is a cooling, relaxing piece, while the Saturn's music is... generic Christmas music. The boss fight is fun though, very easy to beat and doesn't take as long to take out compared to the previous ones, which all required more waiting than attacking.
Oh wait, there are icy walkways in this level? Well, the main game is already slippery enough, this is nothing lmao.
Volcano Valley.
Woo boy. Bunch of lava pits and fire-based obstacles in a game with horrible depth perception, good luck trying to- oh wait you just got a fire shield. Yeah this level is piss easy once you equip a fire shield. As long as you retain it, you can basically roam the level without worrying about losing your rings or Flickies. It would've also been a really great level to try and beat as quickly as possible... but you still have to find the Flickies. Oh well. Saturn music sounds like dungeon music from an RPG, Genesis music sounds like a prelude to Final Fortress from Sonic Heroes (I see what you did there Jun Senoue). Looks like a volcano level, I guess.
And the boss fight... is easily the worst one in the game by far. Ironically, hitting it is the easiest part. The hard part is everything else. Besides trying to hit the boss, you have to pray your depth perception is good enough that you land on the pipes above the lava every time, not get hit by the occasional steam blasts blowing out from said pipes, pray you don't fall into the lava on the rebound, and ON TOP OF THAT, you have to dodge Robotnik's homing fire attack (how does that even make sense?). It's messy, it's ugly, its bullshittingly difficult. Pop off if you beat this one first try.
Gene Gadget
Snazzy-looking tech level with intertwining tubes, just like Chemical Plant and Scrap Brain. For once, I think the Saturn version actually has the better music, Act 1 in particular being a standout. There are electric tiles throughout the level that can damage you, but you can either equip a Blue Shield (electric immunity) or simply just Spin Jump spam. There are also these annoying fan tiles that send you flying, while also leaving you vulnerable to the pufferfish Badniks you're trying to destroy most of the time. But by far the most annoying thing introduced in this level is the new turret, which shoots at ridiculously fast rates, making you feel insanely lucky to escape from one's vicinity unscathed. Worst of all, they sometimes even stick a Badnik right next to the turret so you have no choice but to get hit sometimes. The boss fight, on the other hand, is discount Quartz Quadrant, but it also has its merits since you're able to hit Eggman as well.
Panic Puppet
Is it weird to say that this may be one of my favourite levels in the game? The music of the Genesis version in particular stands out (Twinkle Kart from Sonic Adventure, anyone?), and the level itself has a pretty interesting color palette we don't usually see in Eggman bases. ou only need to capture a grand total of 5 Flickies in this stage, all of them in Act 1. While the level likes to toss its most annoying obstacles at you (the turrets from Gene Gadget, the platforming from Rusty Ruin, the mines from Green Grove, and its newest weapon: the waiting on the conveyor belts), it's not that big of a hassle when you can just Spin Jump spam to avoid most of the projectiles and quickly recover the Flickies to end off Act 1 swiftly. Act 2 is perhaps my favourite level in the entire game, and shows off story-wise how effortless Sonic makes running through Eggman's traps look. Of course, this is mostly unintentional due to how hilariously broken Spin Jump can be, but lowkey? Actually a fun level to finish, no more finding Flickies just pure, unadulterated platforming. And by now, you should have a better understanding of the controls, making this level more of a difficult victory lap than a level. You've done it! You've braved all the bullshit this game's gimmick has tossed you through! Enjoy this one fun level before the boss fight!
The boss fight, however, is actually rather easy if you know what you're doing. Collect one ring, stand below a moving arm, move away before it crushes you, hit the corresponding blue light, rinse and repeat, recover a ring if you lose your current one. Then, stand at a corner, spam jump on the impending blue light, run away from the homing flames, rinse and repeat, recover a ring if you lose your current one. Finally, stand in a corner, spam jump on the- ah fuck you get the idea. Pretty underwhelming penultimate boss fight, but at least the Final Fight should be more exciting, ri-
Final Fight
ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Final Fight? More like Not Much of A Fight. It's more of the same from the last boss. Stand still, allow Eggman to shoot lasers twice, hit. Move. Dodge homing flames twice, with more room to dodge this time. Hit the mech on the third time. Move. Dodge slow moving hands. Hit. Move. Dodge easily predictable rockets, hit. Move. Stand in a corner to avoid the balls. Hit. RINSE AND REPEAT. Heck, this mech looks fucking puny and lame compared to the other robots Eggman has commandeered throughout the level. HE DOESN'T EVEN SHOW HIS FUCKING BODY. Well, at least the game's over now. Pack it up.
Overall, just play the Director's Cut version of this game. It's easily accessible on the Internet, and its more worthwhile of an experience than the original release back in 1996. It controls better, sounds better (Genesis OST is clear), and includes tons of new QOL changes. In fact, remember how I mentioned that your potential to speed through the stages with expert movement with Spin Jumps is ultimately hindered by the necessity to save Flickies? Well, once you beat the main game the first time, you also get a Time Challenge mode, that requires you to beat the level under a strict timer, but no longer requires you to save any Flickies! Finally, you're allowed to explore the true potential 3D Blast's level design and gimmicky movement has to offer. And it's a more fun challenge than whatever the fuck you just played, mind you.
7/10. Sonic 3D Blast is NOT a dogwater game... as long as you're playing the Director's Cut version.