Here we go.

If you ask me to pick a favorite, and don’t let me count Sonic 3 & Knuckles as one game, this is probably it. It’s just everything I love about these games turned up to 11. It’s SO FREAKING GOOD, guys. Aaaaaaaaa I am so excited I finally got to this game!! I love it so much!!

This is the first Sonic game I distinctly remember being uber excited to come out. I remember devouring magazine articles about it. I remember playing a demo at some department store. I remember being so, so excited that the game had a Mobian baddie! Ugh I can totally still feel the hype for this thing and it’s making me grin like a little kid.

I love this game!!

Angel Island Zone (2/25)

Talk about starting out on a high note! Angel Island Zone is one of the best opening zones of any Sonic game. The lush rainforest is distinct from the other Green Hill-esque openers while still maintaining the same theme. And like the rest of this game, it’s just absolutely gorgeous. The developers have clearly had a lot of time to master creating these games, and I just can’t get over what a leap forward Sonic 3 is in every way.

The game opens with me and Sonic flying together in the Tornado and spotting the floating island. Sonic is excited to explore, and goes Super, zooming ahead of the plane while I smile fondly and shake my head, murmuring, “Showoff.” (Okay that one’s not explicitly portrayed in the game but you KNOW it happened.) No sooner has Sonic made landfall than the (at the time) mysterious Knuckles explodes from the ground and collides with him, somehow knocking all the Chaos Emeralds out of Sonic and forcing him out of his Super form! (IDK.) Rude!

I remember being so excited to have a new Mobian character, and for him to be an antagonist at that! Little did I know I would like him way better as a giant dork who acts tough but has a soft, squishy core that he doesn’t want anyone to know about.

Ahem. ANYWAY. Yeah, this zone rules! The mini-boss and main boss, both fire-based, are pretty great! And I love the way Knuckles is given a very impactful role both in stealing the Chaos Emeralds and in sending us plummeting to the next zone at the end of this one!

So, I kinda intentionally decided to show off as much as I could in Act 1, and the result was 227 rings, two Chaos Emeralds (with a perfect on both Special Stages), and 10 lives (as always you start with 3). Soooooo yeah. I might be kinda good at this game or something.

My performance on Act 2 wasn’t quite as impressive. For one thing from here on out I won’t really be going for perfects on the Special Stages, I kinda did that just to prove to myself that I could. Anyway, I lost all my rings like halfway through Act 2 so only ended up finishing the first zone with 12 lives. I also hecked up on one of the Special Stages in Act 2, so only added a third Chaos Emerald. Still, not bad for the first zone!!

Onward!

Hydrocity Zone (2/25)

Alright. So. I know you think you know what I’m gonna say here, and in fairness I’ve basically conditioned you to expect it at this point. But OMG THIS ZONE IS SO GOOD I kinda don’t even want to say it.

Also, like. The fact that you can get a water shield and stay underwater for an unlimited amount of time helps! Once I had one of those bad boys, I actually still found myself stopping at air bubbles, but to make sure A.I. Tails could get a breath! One time he celebrated this by spindashing off in the opposite direction, which, good job buddy. (Yes it is surreal to be patronizing towards an A.I. version of myself. Shrug!)

Oh I should say that from this point on (so, other than playing Angel Island before work) I played the entire game in one sitting last night because I just couldn’t force myself to stop playing to write these entries. So, yeah! Didn’t really keep track of lives and Emeralds and stuff. Know I finished the game with better than 20 lives and I got my last Chaos Emerald in Act 2 of Ice Cap Zone, but we’ll get to that story later!

So, yeah! Hydrocity Zone. It’s pretty! And there are so many cool features and traps and stuff! And I don’t know, it just rules! Also you get to see a ton of my swimming animation, which, HI? I think might just be the best visual representation in any of these games of how my entire deal is just TRYING REALLY HARD YOU GUYS.

The bosses for this one are pretty great! The mini boss is alright, and the major boss is iconic! Just such a great concept and execution for a water level boss.

I’m very tempted to say this is pretty easily the best water level in any Sonic game, and it honestly very well might be!

Marble Garden Zone (2/25)

This is the kind of zone in these classic Sonic games that usually bores the crap out of me! But this one doesn’t!! They took the ancient ruins theme that they usually phone in and made a genuinely interesting zone out of it with a lot of unique gameplay features! I’m hella into this!!

I think this gets into one of the biggest strengths of Sonic 3 (and Sonic & Knuckles, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles). There is just so much variety to the level design! And it really makes all the different zones pop!!

Also, I freaking love the boss for this zone!! The mini boss is good too, but the major boss is a flying boss and I fly and carry Sonic and IT RULES!!! and I’m kinda upset that we don’t get more bosses like that, it’s such a great concept!!

I don’t have much else to say about this zone, except that I’m sure me and Sonic have definitely explored ruins like this one and the previous zone. Specifically on Angel Island, even, I’m sure. Those Echidnas left a bunch of mysterious stuff behind!

Carnival Night Zone (2/25)

Another theme that often gets phoned in, and another genuinely terrific zone! Like a lot of people, I got stuck on Act 2 FOREVER the first few times I played this game, and when I was listening to the soundtrack on YouTube it was hella validating to see tons of comments from people being like “THAT DAMN BARREL” (the puzzle that took me forever to figure out back then). Also, Act 2 is just hella LONG! I actually timed out during the boss fight this time! And saw a lot of comments from others suggesting this is a pretty common experience.

So, yeah, Eggman is obsessed with amusement park/casino/etc type dealies, so yeah this felt familiar. It’s frustrating because like... I like amusement parks etc too, but you can’t really let yourself enjoy them here or you’re gonna fall into some kind of trap. (Yes, I’m absolutely sure this has happened to me at least once.)

Can’t say I’m too impressed with either of the bosses in this one!! The major boss is fine, I guess. The mini boss is one of those really annoying ones where it just sorta destroys itself and you just have to facilitate that, and honestly I’ve never been a fan of that kinda boss! Although, this is the first time I’ve had occasion to look up the thing’s official name, and finding out that it was called the “Self D-Struct Machine” gave me a good chuckle. Hey Eggy, you kay?

IceCap Zone (2/25)

THIS ZONE RULES.

YOU START OFF SNOWBOARDING, AND THE MUSIC IS SO GOOD, AND THE THEMING IS SO GOOD, AND EVERYTHING IS SO GOOD. WHAT THE HECK. THIS IS SO GOOD.

I don’t really know what else to say! This is one of the best zones in any Sonic game. I love it so much.

Oh, hey! Actually! I promised y’all the story of collecting my last Chaos Emerald! So, there’s a giant ring basically right before the major boss of this zone. And I got there with over 200 rings. And I got my last Chaos Emerald.

So, yeah. To reiterate. Right before the boss, I collected my Final Chaos Emerald and came out of the Special Stage with 200 rings and the ability to go Super.

Yeah. It really sucked to be that boss.

Launch Base Zone (2/25)

This is a pretty good final zone! And Act 2 ends with an A-Rank boss and TWO S-Rank bosses! So I had to be careful not to go overboard and rank this one ahead of other zones in the game that overall impressed me more, but like, don’t get me wrong! The zone itself is pretty great too. It’s just that this game is an embarrassment of riches. Like. This is the FOURTH best zone in this game! What! That’s ridiculous!

And yeah, as far as kinfeels it just does the usual “ugh Robotnik’s base, anxiety” stuff. Nothing more specific than that. Oh, the Death Egg, though. There is that. Yeah. Ugh.

Ending

Although it doesn’t have clips from the various zones like some classic Sonic games do, which is kind of tragic, it has easily the best end credits music, so that’s not nothing!

But, yeah. I love this game! I mean heck, scroll down! OVER HALF OF THIS GAME’S ZONES ARE S-RANK! Sonic & Knuckles might put up similar or better numbers, but if you play Sonic & Knuckles by itself THERE’S NO TAILS you guys! NO TAILS! So obviously if I have to pick one, Sonic 3 is gonna be my favorite. (Sonic 3 & Knuckles is my true favorite, obviously, but if I had to pick just one.)

Oh, also, I’m gonna have to abandon my “couples depicted in this game” joke from here on out, because I don’t wanna disrespect any of the Mobian polycule by actually ranking relationships!! It was a cute little joke when it was only me and Sonic together in these games, but yeah. From Sonic & Knuckles on, you at least have Knux in the mix, and then Shads joins later, and yeah. Don’t wanna be rude.

Couples Depicted in this Game
1. Sonic/Tails (S/T-Rank)

Zones
1. Ice Cap Zone (S-Rank)
2. Angel Island Zone (S-Rank)
3. Hydrocity Zone (S-Rank)
4. Launch Base Zone (S-Rank)
5. Marble Garden Zone (B-Rank)
6. Carnival Night Zone (B-Rank)

Bosses
1. Big Arm (S-Rank)
2. Flame Craft (Act 2) (S-Rank)
3. Beam Rocket (S-Rank)
4. Waterspout and Depth Charge Machine (A-Rank)
5. Jet Drill Pod (A-Rank)
6. Ball Shooter (A-Rank)
7. Flame Craft (Act 1) (A-Rank)
8. Iceball (B-Rank)
9. Swing ‘m Spikez (B-Rank)
10. Tunnelbot (B-Rank)
11. Freeze-O-Matic (B-Rank)
12. Whirlpool Machine (B-Rank)
13. Energy Ship (C-Rank)
14. Self D-Struct Machine (C-Rank)

Soundtrack
1. Final Boss (S-Rank)
2. Ice Cap Zone Act 1 (S-Rank)
3. Ice Cap Zone Act 2 (S-Rank)
4. Ending (S-Rank)
5. Major Boss (S-Rank)
6. Angel Island Zone Act 1 (S-Rank)
7. Angel Island Zone Act 2 (S-Rank)
8. Hydrocity Zone Act 2 (A-Rank)
9. Hydrocity Zone Act 1 (A-Rank)
10. Special Stage (A-Rank)
11. Launch Base Zone Act 1 (A-Rank)
12. Launch Base Zone Act 2 (A-Rank)
13. Endless Mine Zone (A-Rank)
14. Bonus Stage (A-Rank)
15. Azure Lake Zone (B-Rank)
16. Marble Garden Zone Act 1 (B-Rank)
17. Marble Garden Zone Act 2 (B-Rank)
18. Minor Boss (B-Rank)
19. Carnival Night Zone Act 1 (B-Rank)
20. Carnival Night Zone Act 2 (B-Rank)
21. Desert Palace Zone (B-Rank)
22. Chrome Gadget Zone (B-Rank)
23. Balloon Park Zone (B-Rank)

Reviewed on Mar 08, 2021


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