The First Half of Perfection? Sonic 3 & Knuckles - A Retrospective Review (Part 1)
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- #AceCardGaming #SonicOrigins #SonicTheHedgehog
Join me as I revisit Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. With Sonic's 30th anniversary coming up, I can't think of a better time to revisit the classic Sonic games and pay tribute to each of them with their very own video essays. And that's what this "Revisited" series will be all about. As the third numbered entry in the classic series, Sonic 3 & Knuckles holds a special place in the heart of many Sonic fans. Some of whom even see it as superior to the much loved Sonic The Hedgehog 2. But is that actually true?
Pinnacle of Sonic? Or, blind nostalgia? Ahead of the release of Sonic Origins - Let's do a deep dive retrospective review of this classic and try to answer that question once and for all. Be sure to let me know your thoughts and experiences with Sonic 3 & Knuckles in the comments below. And don't forget to like and subscribe for more of this type of content.
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lets goo nearly 40 minutes this is it
oh heck yes - glad origins is gonna make ppl upload more classic content
I really hope so too! I never need an excuse though, always happy to make it if there’s people who want to watch it! 😅
Can't wait for sonic and knuckles
Sonic 3&K is my 2nd favorite Sonic game
For a 94 game it sure had a lot of jaw dropping moments
The introduction in Ángel Island
Knuckles being such an active force you just want to punch
Stopping the launch of the Death Egg
Snowboarding in Ice Cap
And in Marble Garden when i saw Tails carrying Sonic to have a flying duel was the coolest thing ever
I kinda love Marble Garden, don't know why is just very fun every time that i replay the game and the Barrels of Carnival Night never really bothered me, i have Sonic Shorts to thank for that
Your jokes are among the very best highlights of these videos.
As for this game, I have incredibly fond memories of playing Sonic 3 with my cousin. I sadly lost contact with this cousin, but I will always love my memories of playing this game with him.
And Casino Zones rocked because of the music. You know it did.
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed the video. 🙂 I love how games can bring us together. Some of my fondest memories of games are often how I had great fun playing them with friends/family. And yes, the Casino/Carnival music is awesome! 😎
The Shampoo Bottle. XD
Excellent video! While 3K is not my overall favorite Sonic game (fav 2D game), I respect it and can see that it is truly the only sonic game that is the absolute closest to pure video game perfection in my eyes, 2D or 3D. I played it for the first time this past year and while I thought the traditional S&T main story was awesome, this game truly went a whole different prestige above the rest when I played Knux story...my mouth dropped at that ending bit! Fantastic work per usual my friend!
Cheers dude! Glad you enjoyed it. It’s great to see that even people who play it all this time later can see that there is something special about it. Knuckles’ story arc is excellent, and I can’t wait to talk about it. 😎
Hey, Eldarin dropped in!!! Now that's a collaboration I'd like to see.
I never thought about it until you said it, but I don't know how much of a Sonic fan I would be today if not for 3&K. Sure I can remember playing and loving Sonic 2, often taking turns with my siblings or friends, but honestly most of my memories playing classic Sonic as a kid was 3&k, or the occasional 2&K when I wanted to mix things up. So I can't say for sure that it's 3&K that is why I'm a fan to this day, but I can't discount the idea either and it certainly helped.
Also yeah the 3 character art style is by far the best imo. I was a bit disappointed when Mania looked more like 2's Sonic than 3's.
Yes! Why did they regress the design to a Sonic 1/2 style model in Mania? The game was fantastic but I’ll never understand that decision outside of seemingly Whitehead just preferring that model on a personal level.
Fantastic review of the first half of the best Sonic game of all time! Loved the video and can't wait for part 2! With plenty of new games being designed with old school art I wish more devs would look at the storytelling in 2D Sonic games, especially this one, as that was the most impressive part of the games for me. Sure, the games looked amazing and that style will always look cool, but that seemingly simple yet deceptively deep storytelling is incredible. It's great to see the storytelling get a lot of love in this video!
Also, I love the bonus stages in this game, I may not be great at them but they're so mesmerising I could watch my husband play them for hours 😂
Amazing retrospective. Loving the revisited series, keep up the great work!!!
Well done on this video, looking forward to Part 2
I was a huge Sonic fan, as many were, prior to S3&K, but you're right--it hit different. It felt lofty and ambitious. A well crafted story and world was before us and we were not only privy to it--but we controlled it through Sonic and co. the whole time, with gameplay elements of past games blended and perfected.
I don't know if I had a favorite game before S3&K, but it's been my favorite ever since.
I hear you friend! 😎
Sonic 3 & Knuckles added something to the saga that made the difference: exploration. And I don't mean exploration as in having multiple paths like previous games, but exploration in the sense of discovering. You were some Kind of Indiana Jones trying to unveil the secrets of the island. The giant rings hidden between walls: marvelous.
People at first complained in Sonic Mania about Zone transitions, because in S3K it's one of the thing that creates the wonder. Later on they added some extra transitions, but that was still missing the point. Because what make Sonic 3 so great was not the transitions themselves but how it unveiled the secrets of the island. When knuckles collapse the bridge at the end of Angel Island Zone is not just a zone transition. It's the fact that there were some ruins sunk underneath the same forest you have been exploring. It's not just an Island, it's part of an ancient civilization, something that later on was tied to the Master Emerald. It's not about an excuse to travel from level A to B, like in Mania, but how you manage you way from being dropped in middle of a desert to the hidden palace through the caverns. It's an adventure to explore an island within a cohesive world. It's the game where they changed the focus of using the momentum to reach the end faster to using the momentum to discover new things about the island.
And that's why Sonic 3 & Knuckles is still an overall better experience than Sonic Mania although Sonic Mania is mechanically more polished. And that's also why Sonic Adventure didn't cut it at the time, because they decoupled the exploration from the gameplay.
I think a lot of people don’t quite understand the beauty of those differences between 3&K and Mania. Line you I think Mania is a fantastic game, and mechanically very polished. And while I don’t mind the returning zones in the slightest, your reasons for going from one to the other were always dictated by the phantom Ruby, and clunky as a result. Even with the added transitions.
Great analysis! I discovered Sonic 3&K in the Megacollection Plus. I was a kid and could not beat the levels, but it sure was fun!
I've got one question though... Will you review the Sonic Encyclopedia that comes out in September? I heard it focus massively on each game's lore, maybe clearing some aspects left behind that confused a lot of us?
Waiting for part 2 of this series!
I’d love to do videos on parts of the Encyclopaedia! Definitely something I’ll do. Stay tuned for part 2 my friend, it’s on the way. 🙂
Great video loved the recap of sonic 3 can’t wait for the Knuckles follow up
In terms of memories, I had both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, but it wasn't until I went to a friend's house and their big brother showed me the combined game, that I realised it even had lock on technology! First thing I did when I got home was combine my own carts and unlock Doomsday Zone.
That’s amazing! I’d say your mind was blown when the S3&K cartridge slot was revealed. 😁
Knuckles hitting the Egg Mobile and the cat sound. Nearly spat my drink everywhere XD
My best I played 3 air and fell in love with it tails became my favorite character,sonic was cooler than I thought and knuckles I wanted a final battle with him
Never apologise for the length of sonic videos! I could watch them for hours!
Haha, thanks dude! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
@StrayGamer Exactly, there's no such thing as too long. Just keep em' coming!!!
Hey ace. Really exited for this video
Hope you enjoy it dude! 🙂
It's Time!!!!!!!
I was looking forward to this 😤
The electric shield is my favorite it works great with super and all you said before
I agree sonic's sprites in sonic 3 has the best 2d sprites imo
Beautiful analysis. As you said. This game truly did hit different. And for a lot of us series veterans, has never and will never be surpassed. Long live the king and looking forward to part 2.
3:49 - 4.56
I can't begin to express how much of a big bang send this inclusion was. By the time I got into gaming the GameCube was pretty much brand new, so I would play games like Sonic Heroes and other games. My next door neighbour at the time had a Mega Drive like system with some built in games, and Sonic 2 was one of them. I enjoyed the game okay, but it was extremely jarring to go from games with save systems and such, to one that basically said "We hate you. Do the entire multi hour run in one go, and do it with limited resources." Even Sonic Mega Collection on GameCube didn't have save states for this and other games like Sonic 1, and Spinball. Naturally when I moved on to Sonic 3, I was so relieved it wasn't like them. That, combined with the additional content, made for a much more enjoyable experience.
I feel comfortable in saying Sonic 3 is one of the highest points in 2D platforming game design, and was effectively the start, alongside Donkey Kong Country, of action-platforming games packing a lot of content for players to sink their teeths in, and the end of games with the design philosophy that pretty much says "Don't make a ton of content, just make it really annoyingly difficult so that it takes a long time to get through it." While I still find lives to be kind of pointless in the game, I will give it credit for not having the oversight of being able to replay earlier levels and grind forever like Super Mario World and even the Donkey Kong Country games, so they do end up serving a substantial enough purpose, and thus does a better job of encouraging players to engage with the core systems and play better. Add in level design that rarely goes too far into either boring or monotonous territory like its predecessors, as well as Blue Spheres being ridiculously fleshed out in its own right, and you have a legitimately great game. One that turned the blue blur from being a potential fad into a serious game changer. Phenomenal game. ⭐
Nice work on the video man 👍
Cheers, appreciate it!
Fantastic video as always! Can’t wait for more. Love how in-depth you go. It really is appreciated. Keep up the stellar work.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! 😉
Amazing retrospective!!! Can't wait for part 2.
IKR?! :)
I really want to fully play this mastapiece, as not doing so isn’t giving it justice. It is probably the best 2D Sonic game and I sadly haven’t experienced all of it yet.
Thank God Sonic Origins is coming out
If you can’t wait that long, AIR and complete are handily available on PC. 😁
This game came out 3 years before I was born, but I do know this was always the 2D game that I preferred to play. Commentary is great as always, can't wait for the next part!
Glad you enjoyed it! Next part is in the works 🙂
Ah yes, the best in the original trilogy
I'll go a step further. The only one I genuinely liked.
@@ultrairrelevantnobody1862 some people would destroy you because of that opinion
Yeah, pretty much. I don't mind Sonic 2 though, so there's that.
This video was interesting, informative and intriguing all at the same time. I'm genuinely looking forward to watching part 2 of your retrospective. Undoubtedly, Sonic 3 & Knuckles was, and still is, my favourite classic game to date. (And I say "game" as opposed to "games" intentionally as I believe they are one unit regardless of their physical separation.)
I know you explicitly focused on the Sonic 3 portion of the game in this video; however, I most enjoyed how you plugged the relevance and foreshadowing of the Sonic & Knuckles portion wherever possible. I think those little reminders were good to remind people that Sonic 3, though good on its own, is not the complete story. I remember, as a kid, getting and beating Sonic 3 without knowing about Sonic & Knuckles until much later and feeling something was missing. The plot didn't feel complete even after collecting all the chaos emeralds. When I did eventually get Sonic & Knuckles, it changed everything.
Lastly, your use of humour is good too-all in all, a great video.
* Death Egg falling into volcano cutscene plays *
Me: I see you're a man of culture as well.
Of course! Love that scene! 😅
@@AceCardGaming Can't play S3K without that scene anymore. I downloaded Angel Island Revisited and sat on it for months so I could wait for that scene to be modded back in.
@@KibblezanBitz Loved when I seen it first in Sonic 3 Complete. Such a nice touch that on reflection, surprises me that it wasn’t actually in the game back in the day!
I like all the zones in Sonic 3 and Knuckles even marble garden zone. Also it adds lore to angle island. (Sonic adventure temples)
I definitely don’t DISLIKE Marble Garden. It just has its issues and for me would be the weakest of the zones in the game.
I'm a Sonic Fan and I love Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles and this is still The best Game of The Past and Angel Island and The Death Egg are stilm looking Great!🦔👍🎮♥️🏝⭐
My take on Carnival Night Zone is that Eggman built it pretty quickly as a distraction area to lure in Sonic, or as a place for himself to relax and revisit after backstabbing Knuckles and taking over the world.
Eggman's machines can be scarily efficient, and he's always been shown to have an obsession with Carnivals or theme parks, so he may have just built a Carnival for no other reason than to satisfy his urges to build one. If Angel island is going to be the first of his newly conquered territories while rebuilding his Death egg... he must feel obligated to add a Carnival. It's totally important
I tend to agree with this! He has been quoted as loving theme parks.
Was not expecting a reply heck
I love your content, keep it up >^
@@flameslinger8820 Thanks, glad to hear you’re enjoying the videos!
Awesome review! !
A few months ago I played this game for the first time on the ds...and I loved it! It's my second favourite sonic game just behind sonic mania.
Good choices 😎
Thank you for this video it help
S3&K is my favorite 2d sonic game and imho the best one too. The best 3d sonic game for me is sonic adventure 2. Same deal with great game play, music, characters and story
S3&K did everything right for me. Great music, long fun game play, and a story of show don't tell
My first ever console was an NES. I grew up with these games when they released. That barrel of doom was horrible for me and my brothers, we never knew how to get past it at the time. Sometimes we did by matching the dpad inputs with our jumps but other times we didn't know what to do 😅 only when we were older did we learn its just up and down
Thank you a lot for the video.
You’re very welcome!
Because of marvel garden carnival night and a sand level is the only reason why I would put sonic 2 in over 3&k and to me the best version of sonic 2 is with knuckles. But these are two of some the best sonic games if not the best sonic games of all time.
Poor Sandopolis. I must be the only one who loves it 😅
It’s probably for the best they dropped the casino aesthetic in place of a carnival for Carnival Night Zone. Because if it is true that Carnival Night Zone is an Echidna creation as you were suggesting, it might have been considered a bit… um… how you say, “culturally insensitive” if the indigenous tribe of Angel Island just happened to run a casino. Just saying, 😅
That’s actually a very interesting point! I wonder if the Japanese team would have been aware of this American perspective.
I first played sonic 3 using an android emulator to launch sonic 3 complete version. S3&k was the first classic game I was able to complete after many times I had given up on death egg zone or doomsday zone (even though I used save states)
Hey, nice video. Love the classic games and I haven't played them in while, because I have been too busy. I want to go back to them, but I don't know how exactly to ease into playing them again. Could tell me how to go about this?
Hey! Glad you enjoyed the video. I’d recommend starting with Sonic 2 if you’re only coming back to the series. Levels are a little more straight forward and speed based which is good for starting out.
18:44 that's the green hornet not Flying Battery zone)
I Think Eggman build Carnival night zone because if eggman is able to make the death egg in under 2 years (aka sonic 1 and Sonic 2) who says he couldn't build it under a few hours specially since he has robot's.
Also he made carnival night zone because he loves amusement parks that's one of the reasons he wants to take over the world so he can build Robotnik Land .
I can’t find anything to confirm it being called the green hornet. Out of curiosity, do you have a link to an official source? The official game manual even calls it the Flying Battery.
Your points about Carnival night are fair enough. But still supposition! 😉
@@AceCardGaming I think I found it by searching green ship sonic 3 and seeing green hornet I think
@@AceCardGaming but I do agree it is
Suspicious. Because the
Echidna Clan don't seem tech savvy
Ah yes, the one game I'm the most horrible at
3:45 so what you are really saying is never talk smack about a dude who’s seen you naked. Got it!
A rule to live by my friend!
When will part 2 come out?
Starting work on it. 🙂
I really want part 2 as well but we need to have patience :)
Any body who hates sonic 3and knuckles probably has something wrong with them
That’s probably a fair assessment! 🙂
>:( I excepted cd
It will happen. When I’m ready 🙂