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"Sonic the Hedgehog 3" is a
video game in the
Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was released as a sequel to "Sonic
the Hedgehog 2".
The game was released for the
Sega Genesis in the
United States on
February 2,
1994. The European
Sega Megadrive release came later that month. The game was released in
Japan for the Megadrive on
May 27,
1994. Re-released for the
Nintendo
GameCube in 2002 as part of the
Sonic Mega Collection.
Plot
At the end of "Sonic
the Hedgehog 2", the evil
Dr. Robotnik (Doctor Eggman in
Japan) had his
Death Egg destroyed by the heroes,
Sonic the Hedgehog and his companion
Miles "Tails" Prower. Having not been completely destroyed, after all,
the Death Egg has crash-landed on
Angel Island. This island has special properties - not least the
ability to float - which it gets from some magical jewels called the
Chaos Emeralds. When Dr. Robotnik learns of the Master Emerald, an all
powerfull jewel upon which the Chaos Emeralds base their powers, he tries
to steal them to repair his Death Egg.
Of course, Sonic and Tails have to put a stop to this, collecting Chaos
Emeralds as they go before Dr. Robotnik does. Unfortunately, Dr. Robotnik
has tricked the guardian of the Chaos Emeralds, an
echidna named
Knuckles, into thinking that Sonic and Tails are the thieves, so he
tries his best to stop them.
Overview of play
As the player, you control either Sonic or Tails. Your aim is to guide
them through six zones, collecting all the Chaos and Super Emeralds on the
way via special '3D' stages.
The following zones are in the game:
- Angel Island Zone
- Hydrocity Zone
- Marble Garden Zone
- Carnival Night Zone
- IceCap Zone
- Launch Base Zone
Techinical Specs
Sonic 3 had the, unseen so far in the Sonic series, to record the game
level where a player had been and resume it at a later date - which
increased the replay value tremendously as several levels sport secret
passages and, although not vital to the ending of the game, allow the
collection of 7 Chaos Emeralds at a later date.
A closer inspection of the ROM by fans provides some details on the
marketing scheme pulled by
Sega with the release of
Sonic & Knuckles. While
Sega orignally stated that the new "revolutionary" lock-on technology
literally transformed the secondary game (i.e. Sonic 3 or Sonic 2), the
analysis of the rom reveals that Sonic 3 was produced with full knowledge
and possibly having most of Sonic & Knuckles already completed, as it
provides a whole second version of the game, not an "add-on".
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