Sonic The Hedgehog 3
The storyline picks up shortly after the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Dr. Robotnik's[1] space station, the Death Egg, has fallen out of orbit after his mech suit exploded in his final showdown with Sonic, causing critical damage to the ship.
However, instead of impacting the planet, the Death Egg crash-landed on Angel Island[2][3], a mystical floating landmass previously believed to exist only in legend. As Dr. Robotnik repairs the ship he meets up with the Island’s sole inhabitant, Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles is the last surviving member of an ancient civilization, whose ruins and relics are scattered throughout the island. He is also the guardian of a set of Chaos Emeralds, which are the source of the island’s levitation powers.
Knowing Sonic and Tails will try to track him down, and realizing he can use the Chaos Emeralds to power the ship, Robotnik deceives Knuckles into believing Sonic is trying to steal his emeralds, and he’s come to help him. Shortly after, Super Sonic and Miles “Tailsâ€
However, instead of impacting the planet, the Death Egg crash-landed on Angel Island[2][3], a mystical floating landmass previously believed to exist only in legend. As Dr. Robotnik repairs the ship he meets up with the Island’s sole inhabitant, Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles is the last surviving member of an ancient civilization, whose ruins and relics are scattered throughout the island. He is also the guardian of a set of Chaos Emeralds, which are the source of the island’s levitation powers.
Knowing Sonic and Tails will try to track him down, and realizing he can use the Chaos Emeralds to power the ship, Robotnik deceives Knuckles into believing Sonic is trying to steal his emeralds, and he’s come to help him. Shortly after, Super Sonic and Miles “Tailsâ€
Publisher: Sega
Features
Based on a faster, more flexible game engine, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 included more scope than any other game in the series to date: The play fields were three times larger than previous games, with multiple paths for different characters, more environmental elements to interact with, faster top speeds, more bosses, and more set pieces, all without any of the framerate issues that plagued certain parts of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
The game introduced many staples to the series, such as a more story-driven game, multiple shield types, several musical idents and themes used in most subsequent games, and introduced Jun Senoue to the series, who would later become sound director of the 3D Sonic games, lending them their signature rock-inspired soundtracks.
Each stage seamlessly connects to the next, via continuation or a cut scene, to maintain continuity. This helps the game feel like it's set in a real geographical location, as opposed to separate, disjoined zones, expanding the idea started in the 8-bit version of Sonic 1. Knuckles has also become a firm fan favourite, alternating roles between rival, antagonist, and partner.
The gameplay builds on the formula laid down in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Sonic and Tails are now equipped with special moves that are activated by pressing the jump button a second time while in mid air. Tails will fly if he’s out of water, or swim if he’s in water, both for a limited amount of time. In a team game, a second player can use Tails to "airlift" Sonic for a short amount of time. This technique is essential for beating the Marble Garden boss, though the flight time is limited, during this boss fight, it is not. If Sonic has no shield equipped, he will generate an Insta-shield, giving him a split second burst of protection from projectiles and increasing Sonic's attack radius.
Instead of a single shield power-up, there are now three elemental shields:
Lightning shield: Absorbs all electric and charge-based attacks, and will draw in any rings near to the player. Sonic can generate a charge jump; a double jump, which acts like a mid-air normal jump. This shield shorts out upon contact with water, or any damage taken. This is the predecessor of Sonic Adventure's magnetic shield, which has the same effect without the resistance to electricity and the Double-Jump move.
Flame shield: Absorbs all fire-based attacks, and allows the player to walk on lava or fire without taking damage. Sonic can generate a blast jump: a fast, near horizontal dive across the screen as a fireball. This shield extinguishes upon contact with water, or any damage taken. This is the predecessor of Shadow the Hedgehog’s heat barrier. The blast jump is a lot like Sonic's Jump Dash move from the Sonic Advance series and the Homing Attack used in all 3D Sonic titles from Sonic Adventure onwards (though it does not home in on enemies, and can't link attacks together consecutively like the Homing Attack can).
Water shield: Allows the player to breathe freely underwater. Sonic can use it to generate a bounce jump; the closer Sonic is to the ground when he makes the second jump, the higher he bounces. This shield pops with any damage taken. The bouncing move is very similar to the one Sonic gains from the Bounce Bracelet from Sonic Adventure 2.
All three shields have the ability to deflect small projectiles, such as the shots from badniks in Hydrocity Zone and Marble Garden Zone.
The game introduced many staples to the series, such as a more story-driven game, multiple shield types, several musical idents and themes used in most subsequent games, and introduced Jun Senoue to the series, who would later become sound director of the 3D Sonic games, lending them their signature rock-inspired soundtracks.
Each stage seamlessly connects to the next, via continuation or a cut scene, to maintain continuity. This helps the game feel like it's set in a real geographical location, as opposed to separate, disjoined zones, expanding the idea started in the 8-bit version of Sonic 1. Knuckles has also become a firm fan favourite, alternating roles between rival, antagonist, and partner.
The gameplay builds on the formula laid down in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Sonic and Tails are now equipped with special moves that are activated by pressing the jump button a second time while in mid air. Tails will fly if he’s out of water, or swim if he’s in water, both for a limited amount of time. In a team game, a second player can use Tails to "airlift" Sonic for a short amount of time. This technique is essential for beating the Marble Garden boss, though the flight time is limited, during this boss fight, it is not. If Sonic has no shield equipped, he will generate an Insta-shield, giving him a split second burst of protection from projectiles and increasing Sonic's attack radius.
Instead of a single shield power-up, there are now three elemental shields:
System Requirements
16-megabit cartridge, CD-ROM
