Sonic 3 is a great game. It is one of the best games on the Sega Genesis games; it was released on February 2 1994. Sonic 3 is a major improvement over the first 2 Sonic games. But if it is so good, why wasn’t this as memorable as the first 2 games? According to the Magic Box website which Wikipedia cited as its source, it only sold 1.02 million copies in the United States. Why is that? Let’s just talk about the game first.

The gameplay is the usual 2D sonic gameplay, but there are a few new things added to make things a bit more different and better. Sonic has a new aerial move in which it basically just makes the jump attack hit farther and a tiny bit of invincibility for how long the attack lasts. There are now 3 Shield power ups that take one hit but they now have a unique ability by pressing the jump button in the air. The Fire Shield makes Sonic dash Horizontally and immunity to fire, the electric shield gives Sonic a double jump and magnetizes rings towards Sonic, and the Bubble Shield makes Sonic drop quickly downwards and gives him an immunity to drowning. Other things to note besides the gameplay is Sonic 3 has Saves now, so you can now take a break. Sonic 3 has 3 playable characters: Sonic, Tails who can actually fly now, and Sonic and Tails for multiplayer or by yourself.

Angel Island Zone is the first zone and it is a great zone. There is a cutscene when you start a game of Sonic 3 in which it shows Super Sonic and Tails on a plane going to Angel Island Zone and then Knuckles the Echidna takes out Super Sonic in one hit and takes away the seven chaos emeralds. This gives a motivation for the player to look for the Chaos emeralds because the cutscene shows what you can earn if you get them all. Act 1 is great because it generally leads the player to explore and get power ups and lives. The zone also deviates from the Green hill design and made a jungle for the setting. There is also a very easy giant ring by breaking a noticeable rock wall. Special Stages are now a part of the stage design to reward exploration which is very awesome. Not only that but the Special stage actually has detailed 3D looking graphics so the player can actually see what’s ahead of them. This game also gave every act a boss which is good for variety. Act 2 showcases the little details such as a transition into each act instead of a Black screen into the next act. Also there is now music for each act which is nice for helping the setting of a burning Jungle. The zone also shows graphical set pieces like Eggman being in the background before the boss fight and during the boss fight as a way. About the boss, it’s good and shows what a second act boss would be like.

Hydrocity Zone is a Fun and Fast Water Zone. The aesthetics of this setting is an underwater city-like setting. While Aquatic Ruin Zone from Sonic 2 showed that Zones that have major underwater sections can be good, Hydrocity Zone shows that it could be done even better. Hydrocity Zone has some speedy set-pieces to break up the slow gameplay that comes with underwater. Act 1 is pretty fun to show the main gimmicks of underwater and conveyors with ropes to grab on. The act 1 boss is alright if a bit slow as it takes up a bit more time. Act 2 starts with a horizontal crushing wall to get the player moving before adding on spinning pillars that move up and down, Fans that send Sonic upwards and Sonic running on water some more. The boss for Act 2 is also a bit slow and less interesting as Eggman just drops timed explosives and Eggman makes whirlpools in short waters. Overall, a good zone with the underwater sections not dragging this zone down.

Marble Garden Zone is the lowest point of this game and it’s still alright. The Ruins mixed with a beautiful forest is a good setting. The level design is the least good out of all of them with it feeling a bit slow. Some of the Gimmicks in this zone are the worst in this game which range from meh to kinda mediocre. Act 1 introduces the spinning top gimmick in which Sonic rides a top and has to move forward to make it move forward and up is mediocre as it takes a bit to speed up and it kinda is uninteresting. The boss is a drill robot that causes some events such as the terrain shifting. This boss is alright. Act 2 has the added gimmick of using the spindash to make the platforms rise which is quick and good. Near the end of this act, Eggman drills using his vehicle around and the terrain crumbles into itself which is fun and adds tension for the player. The Boss is Eggman in the sky using his drill vehicle to hit Sonic. It’s a nice change of pace from the others which were on the ground. Overall, this zone has some good and bad parts to it but the good slightly outweighs the bad.

Carnival Night Zone is a breakaway from the usual casino setting and instead a carnival setting which is neat. This zone is pretty good. Act 1 has the set piece of those spinning things which spin sonic around while going fast which is quite cool. The boss has the screen scroll downward indefinitely until the Boss destroys all of the platform or Sonic defeats the boss. Act 2 has these Barrels that move up and down slowly. These barrels have the gimmick of moving higher and lower if the player presses up and down in a rhythm while on the barrel. Other people would mistake it for jumping on the barrel to move it higher but it doesn’t work that way. It’s probably the only example of poor conveyance to the player. Midway through the act, Knuckles the Echidna steps on a button to make the water go higher and now this act has underwater sections. They are alright I guess if a bit slower compared to Hydrocity zone’s quicker mixing of the speed and dealing with underwater. The Boss for this act requires Sonic to use his new technique to hit the boss which is nice but it’s pretty boring. The boss can be easily defeated. Overall, this zone is just good and that is pretty much it.

Ice Cap Zone is pretty great. The music is great and the aesthetic of ice structures and such is quite nice. Act 1 starts with a nice cutscene of Sonic on a snowboard riding down to the start of the level which is awesome. Other than that however, this act is pretty slow. It has a slower pace which kinda makes the act a bit mediocre. The obstacles in this act kinda make the player wait a bit which usually gives a bad sign for the second half however, this is the second to last zone for this game. The boss is boring. Act 2 is the Great act because it has the speed and the better aesthetic of outside Ice structures. The Act just has more speed to at least salvage this zone into greatness. The boss is uninteresting. Overall, Act 2 saves this zone to be honest.

Launch base zone is kinda uninteresting as a final zone because it kinda feels like a lackluster conclusion. A launch site is a good setting but as the final level type of setting, it doesn’t quite land. Act 1 has the gimmick of hooks for Sonic to move to the next spot and teleporters which adds on to this feeling that this level shouldn’t be a final level. It also shows the inside of a building but it really doesn’t add much. The boss is uninteresting. Act 2 adds flamethrowers and tubes to move sonic to different spots. Act 2 has a boss but that is incredibly easy. Act 2 has a cutscene featuring Knuckles taunting Sonic riding the Egg-mobile and then Knuckles just falls off his little tower as the rocket launches which is incredibly lackluster as an end for Knuckles’ involvement in this story. Anyways the Final boss is alright as it’s the only boss that can hit Super Sonic which is quite awesome. Other than that though, it is basic for a final boss which is lame. Overall, This doesn’t have the impact of a final zone which makes it quite mediocre

So these zones are good but why didn’t it get as popular as the first 2 games and why is the game as long as the first game? It is mainly because of 3 major things. Number 1, Michael Jackson. Yeah, he worked on this game’s music, but for the longest time it wasn’t quite confirmed but the producer of this game Yuji Naka just stated on Twitter on June 23, 2022 that confirmed it, which is funny. Here’s his statement “Oh my god, the music for Sonic 3 has changed, even though SEGA Official uses Michael Jackson’s music.” The most easy evidence to present is the end credits of Sonic 3 having the same rhythm but a quicker beat to Stranger from Moscow from History: Past, Present and Future. He wasn’t mentioned in the game’s credits because of either the allegations that Michael Jackson was facing at the time or Michael Jackson not liking the audio capabilities of the Sega Genesis according to Cirroco Jones. Either way, he left the project near the end of Sonic 3’s Development. Number 2, the other composers. It wasn’t just Michael Jackson who worked on it, there was also Brad Buxer from the Jetzons, Bobby Brooks, Cirroco Jones and a couple of others composers who worked on the music. Combined with Michael Jackson, SEGA would have to pay a lot of money to re-release the game onto other consoles. This became a big issue in 2011 when the composers realized that SEGA was just releasing the game without compensation and threatened legal action. It wasn’t until 2022 in which this game was re-released in Sonic Origins and they had to change the music to re-release it. Number 3, This game was split in half. So, there was a strict deadline to release Sonic 3 because of a McDonald’s Happy Meal Promotion. That isn’t a joke and not only that but also they had to deal with limited cartridge space according to a Game Informer Article here. So the Game was split into Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles.

Despite the split, Sonic 3 is a consistently good game with the zones being great to only one being just alright. You should definitely play it however, play it with the combination of Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles either with your SEGA Genesis and using the Lock-On technology that the advertising brags for Sonic and Knuckles about or play it on Sonic Origins for PC and Modern Console platforms.