What edition of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the most "definitive" is relative to how you want to play it. Certainly Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited is the most robust version with its myriad of gameplay options, 16:9 support, and improved soundtrack, but if you want to play Sonic 3 on a CRT with many of the same bells and whistles, Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Complete remains your best option. And it's a damn good one!
Complete features a frankly dizzying amount of options to tweak the Sonic 3 experience, to the point that I'm not even sure what all of them do. What's casual mode? No idea! I'm a Sonic 3 vet, I've stormed the beaches of Angel Island Zone, and a Toxomister took my shins in Lava Reef, I'm not messing around with no "casual mode." What does it mean to alter music per-character or per-zone? Don't know! What I am sure of is that Complete gives you so much to play with that you'll never get sick of coming back to it, and not only are you able to craft your ideal Sonic 3 & Knuckles, you can also fine tune base Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles to your liking. It's even got the full Get Blue Spheres experience, it's like they custom made this game for sickos like me!
It would be exhausting running through a full list of changes, so I'd encourage anyone interested in learning more to check out Sonic Retro's detailed rundown of Complete's options and modes, but some of the more "back of the box" features include the ability to select between Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles or "recommended" level layouts, fixes to certain sprites (such as replacing Robotnik with Egg Robo for the boss fight in Flying Battery Act 2), and soundtrack options that allow you to toggle between original and Sonic 3 & Knuckles Collection versions of certain zone themes. I've lamented in the past how the Collection versions of Ice Cap, Carnival Night, and Launch Base do not at all sound consistent with the rest of Sonic 3's score, but ValleyBell did such an incredible job with these arrangements that they fit in perfectly. I might still prefer the original Sonic 3 soundtrack (down to leaving the superior Mid-Boss theme enabled at all times), but it's an impressive effort and worth having on for at least a playthrough. If only anyone at Sega knew their way around a god damn Yamaha YM612, but unfortunately all their remaining Genesis era composers have been hit in the head with coconuts.
You can also enable the original Sonic 1 and 2 jingles and main theme, the prototype Knuckles theme (my personal favorite), and alter the Super Sonic theme to be less grating by using a "new" dedicated track or simply increasing the tempo of the current level's music. There's a lot to mess around with. Every Sonic 3: Complete cart is personalized. Or something.
The games themselves play just as good as they ever did, if not better. I swear some of Dr. Robotnik's nefarious traps have been cleaned up, or else I got very lucky during my four runs through Complete. It's also just plain convenient to have everything on one cart, especially considering my personal copy of Sonic & Knuckles no longer operates properly with Sonic 3 inserted into the top slot, and Sonic 3 itself has a battery that will surely give out sooner rather than later. Also, buying a new clamshell case and manual for Sonic 3 is getting unreasonably expensive, which is probably both a consequence of the used game market being a total joke and Sega's being a clown show in of itself. Of course, getting Complete on an a real cart is two layers of morally dubious considering neither Sega (whatever) or Complete's team (oh no!) are likely to see compensation. At the very least, Complete is an easy recommend if you're looking for a version of these games to put on an Everdrive, but if you're playing on PC then AIR is still the way to go.
Sonic 3 Complete effectively replaces the original Sonic 3 & Knuckles as my second favorite game of all time, if only because it's still that game plus a whole bunch of added features and fixes. It is a shame and a little bit funny that even ten years ago Sonic fans were out-performing Sega. Some things never change, I guess.
Complete features a frankly dizzying amount of options to tweak the Sonic 3 experience, to the point that I'm not even sure what all of them do. What's casual mode? No idea! I'm a Sonic 3 vet, I've stormed the beaches of Angel Island Zone, and a Toxomister took my shins in Lava Reef, I'm not messing around with no "casual mode." What does it mean to alter music per-character or per-zone? Don't know! What I am sure of is that Complete gives you so much to play with that you'll never get sick of coming back to it, and not only are you able to craft your ideal Sonic 3 & Knuckles, you can also fine tune base Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles to your liking. It's even got the full Get Blue Spheres experience, it's like they custom made this game for sickos like me!
It would be exhausting running through a full list of changes, so I'd encourage anyone interested in learning more to check out Sonic Retro's detailed rundown of Complete's options and modes, but some of the more "back of the box" features include the ability to select between Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles or "recommended" level layouts, fixes to certain sprites (such as replacing Robotnik with Egg Robo for the boss fight in Flying Battery Act 2), and soundtrack options that allow you to toggle between original and Sonic 3 & Knuckles Collection versions of certain zone themes. I've lamented in the past how the Collection versions of Ice Cap, Carnival Night, and Launch Base do not at all sound consistent with the rest of Sonic 3's score, but ValleyBell did such an incredible job with these arrangements that they fit in perfectly. I might still prefer the original Sonic 3 soundtrack (down to leaving the superior Mid-Boss theme enabled at all times), but it's an impressive effort and worth having on for at least a playthrough. If only anyone at Sega knew their way around a god damn Yamaha YM612, but unfortunately all their remaining Genesis era composers have been hit in the head with coconuts.
You can also enable the original Sonic 1 and 2 jingles and main theme, the prototype Knuckles theme (my personal favorite), and alter the Super Sonic theme to be less grating by using a "new" dedicated track or simply increasing the tempo of the current level's music. There's a lot to mess around with. Every Sonic 3: Complete cart is personalized. Or something.
The games themselves play just as good as they ever did, if not better. I swear some of Dr. Robotnik's nefarious traps have been cleaned up, or else I got very lucky during my four runs through Complete. It's also just plain convenient to have everything on one cart, especially considering my personal copy of Sonic & Knuckles no longer operates properly with Sonic 3 inserted into the top slot, and Sonic 3 itself has a battery that will surely give out sooner rather than later. Also, buying a new clamshell case and manual for Sonic 3 is getting unreasonably expensive, which is probably both a consequence of the used game market being a total joke and Sega's being a clown show in of itself. Of course, getting Complete on an a real cart is two layers of morally dubious considering neither Sega (whatever) or Complete's team (oh no!) are likely to see compensation. At the very least, Complete is an easy recommend if you're looking for a version of these games to put on an Everdrive, but if you're playing on PC then AIR is still the way to go.
Sonic 3 Complete effectively replaces the original Sonic 3 & Knuckles as my second favorite game of all time, if only because it's still that game plus a whole bunch of added features and fixes. It is a shame and a little bit funny that even ten years ago Sonic fans were out-performing Sega. Some things never change, I guess.
Reviewed on May 06, 2023
Weatherby
11 months ago