SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3: The Perfect Fusion | GEEK CRITIQUE

[@GeekCritique]

This is part of TGC's coverage of Sonic the Hedgehog games! Don't miss them: kzbin.info/aero/PLYoabN6QznuIl47fs9wFK10HBJNqv_5P3

[@VMUboy]

The Geek Critique love your videos man. You're on another level of quality. Keep it up!

[@jrodsti22]

The Geek Critique Then If Sonic And Knuckles Is Part Two Why Can't You Be Sonic And Tails?

[@liammcguinness1975]

i don't like the sonic classic games sonic 2 is sorta good

[@sonicmastersword8080]

Are you ready for Mania?

[@Andronicus87]

This is one of the greatest games ever made and the entire reason I finally got a Genesis. I was 12 in 1994 and was happy with my Super Nintendo but I wanted Sonc 1 and 2 but nhappily let them go but when I saw this lock on mechanism and 14 chaos emeralds I went ape shit ballistic begging my mom for Genesis I finally got one because my stepdad ran up his cred cards and bought one and then never played it and I kinda you know sneaked it into my room which his drunk ass never noticed. It's funny because his father is the reason I got Super Nintendo in 1991. In an effort to get his son to visit him more often he bought and incentive to make me want to go to his house but that xmas my stepdad went into his dads house and basically took the SNES so I would be occupied during the 191-92 New Years Eve Party and we never took it back lol. Funny I type this on New Years eve 2018.

[@PiousMoltar]

Who else knew about the lil "easter egg" where once Knuckles is worn out and panting in Sky Sanctuary, if you duck down by him to see how he is, he motions to you to go on. Always loved that, such an awesome attention to detail that I'm sure many people missed.

[@Yuti640]

Cybershell

[@themcguinnessexperiment617]

I knew about it as I got it every time as a child

[@brazencoronet17]

Yep

[@quillllly]

I remember this from the video "The time sonic made me question my sanity"

[@zextor4404]

Cybershell!

[@sidequest2230]

This a prime example of what sonic truly is. He wasn't just a mario killer, and he isn't just some cartoony hedgehog. Sonic is meant to impress and excite. That's why the recent games feel souless. They dont have faith in themselves. like it's ashamed of being sonic, and playing it safe is better. When Sonic is so much more. Wether or not you go by the classic Games, or The Adventure games, sonic is more.

[@iiOmarSP]

Even as of now, it's still not the same. Playing it safe beyond repair and trying to please the people who complain about everything is what ruining him, and his original intention: being something NOT Mario and he was always that, until Colors Wii changed things up and became his recent successful "3D" (more like a 2D game with 5% 3D and the rest of 3D being automation and drifting) ended up being exactly like a bad Mario Maker game, which is what they replicated throughout the years to come (Gens was anniversary and was alright)

[@1r0zz]

Sonic is also a series that was allways plagued by gross design errors. And nobody EVER talk about those...(mainly because people praising the series played It when they was kids, and make silly statements like "Mario level" or "Mario like" as It Is universally considered a negative statement...) Sonic allways was flawed and confused to what It wanted to be.

[@iiOmarSP]

@@1r0zz those are certainly words, which is funny because people talk about them occasionally, you gotta clarify thou. My favorite part about your reply is "played it as kids" That's pretty dumb to say if you ask me; because I'm sure most who played it were teens or young adults.

[@1r0zz]

@@iiOmarSP you mean that a game (cartoon styled platformer btw) out in 1991, on a console sold since 1988, was for some unfatomable and implausible reason MOSTLY PLAYED BY TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS?!? hell, at 91 not even PC gaming was mostly composed of teens and adults and before the 5th/6th generation of consoles SURE AS HELL, console gamers wasn't mostly made by teens or young adults and that's mainly by 3 fact that: 1) people born in the 3rd/4th generation kept playing as it was "metabolized" in their culture. 2) games become more mainstream and quasi-socially acepted 3) for a part of the 5th/6th/7th generation games had diversification and maturity. now we are once again standardized, cheap and aimed for kids (with edgy but toothless self serious bullcrap) so big nope there. someone who played sonic 1, 2 or 3 (and knuckles, and knuckles, and knuckles) most probably DID play them when he was a kid. hell, I was considered childish at playing Silent Hill 2 on PC in 2003! just THINK how a teen or young adult would have looked playing sonic in 1991 not with his sons!

[@1r0zz]

@I Am I Mario IS a cartoon platformer... Also like 60% of the games on the platform... Also, sonic is not really more challenging(harder or "adult" as some fans expectorate) than Mario... It's true that the first stage is bigger and more complex and slightly harder than a super Mario first level, but sonic never smootly gets more challenging, while final levels of older Mario games are HARD...world 7 and world 8 in super Mario 3 are extreeme. Also put things in context the true reason why DK, sonic, bubsy(lol), crash, spyro, rayman, cyperin(1000 points to who knows who he is) and so on exist is to be "Mario Alternative"... And the ma in reason why they are not really successful is because they cannot change as Mario change...

[@pej.abeats]

correction: Knuckles is not cackling, he is *chuckling*

[@JanetStarChild]

Or snickering deviously.

[@Rice1is1nice]

But I thought, unlike Sonic, he doesn't chuckle...

[@adventurersitem-shop3050]

Rice1is1nice yeh he rather flex his muscles 💪

[@sonicthehedgehogfan4742]

But in his song he says unlike sonic i dont chuckle

[@zuda8919]

He's hard as nails, it ain't hard to tell My main man Knuckles Unlike Sonic, he don't chuckle

[@DrCorndog1]

I thought I was a hardcore S3&K fan until you said there were 77 giant rings. I might have found half of them. And I've played the game through upwards of 20 times.

[@TGCClassic]

I've probably beaten it hundreds of times, and I still find new ones every time I go looking. Check out the site Zone:0 if you haven't. They do in-depth level analysis for each zone in the classic series. I just opened all of those and added up how many transporter rings they reported.

[@thealex6489]

I've been playing the game since it's release in 1994. At least once a year, around Christmas vacation, I'll delete all my old saves and play it again. It wasn't until this video where I noticed Sonic pushing spikes to the side to get to super ring from above. 20 years. Never knew that shortcut. xD

[@eMorphized]

@@TGCClassic That means there's really no definitive answer to this unless someone rips the data and adds up every time the sprite appears. Or someone interviews the dev team. Probably there can be anywhere between 77 and 144 of those things.

[@EuroMIX2]

​@@eMorphized​ Sonic Retro has all the level maps including visual indicators of where the big rings are.

[@theboone3848]

34 mb?! that's an average N64 game lol Never realized just how big S3&K was.

[@beetayeeta1353]

But 1 genesis cartridge was 4mb?

[@D3sdinova]

1 Mb is 1 MB devided by 8, guys So 125 KB ISPs have a tendency to promote with big numbers, but theyre actually talking about Mbs, not MBs

[@eMorphized]

@@D3sdinova So the cartridge would still boast… 34 MEGA POWER!!!!!!

[@theboone3848]

@ELI BONHAM What are you even going on about?

[@theboone3848]

@ELI BONHAM it wasn't tho.

[@s_SoNick]

I agree with every word of this video

[@GeekCritique]

SoNick Funnily enough, so do I!

[@s_SoNick]

Haha, what a strange coincidence!

[@omfgmouse]

Me too

[@Spamus]

I don't. I actually have a few problems with it

[@the.bloodless.one1312]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a fucking masterpiece! Defs in my top 5 fave games!

[@Midori_Hoshi]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is my favorite Sonic game too.

[@GamingWithCalvin1]

he meant favorite game period

[@Victory-in-YAHUSHA]

Sonic Mania is my new favorite, but S3&K is very close!

[@bugboss0]

Sonic 3 and knuckles was my favorite sonic game Then I played mania

[@hyperthethiccboi8698]

@@Victory-in-YAHUSHA Sonic 3 and Knuckles is still better than Mania in my opinion the problem with Mania is that its nostalgia pandering I wish it had full original levels and apparently it was going to but Sega was like nah bro we gotta have those nostalgia zones.

[@pastorjoelbussi4312]

I played S3&K and i had fun, getting all super emeralds too. My favorite sonic game by far, other than sonic 4 ep1 and 2

[@cyrinaefox6828]

Nothing can truly be called the best of all time until you've seen all of time.

[@Scott89878]

Well, video games begun in the 70s, so many people have lived through their entire era of existence.

[@NativS2002]

All time includes the ever-eternal future

[@bobbytokyo8132]

My favourite game of all time also. Virtually everything in this game is incredible. The controls, the visuals, the soundtrack, the SFX, the difficulty level, the level design, the replay value, the story (very well done despite its simplicity), the atmosphere, the boss fights, the variety, the length of the game, the multiple characters, the multiplayer, the attention to detail... Yes it has the odd flaw here and there, but in my 20 years of playing video games I've never found another game that manages to get so many things spot on. Without doubt Sonic 3 and Knuckles deserves to be in the conversation when discussing what is the greatest game of all time. Unfortunately it's one of those games that doesn't get the recognition it deserves from the wider gaming world. It seems a big reason is Sonic 2. Despite clearly being a step down from Sonic 3 it's a game that so many more people played, hence why more people rank it as the best in the series. Another reason possibly is the lock-on system. The gaming media and even Sega themselves seem to disregard S3&K as one game, and instead regard them as two separate ones. A lot of people seem blissfully unaware as they play Sonic 3 or Sonic and Knuckles that really they're just playing one half of the game. Additionally the Mega Drive losing the console war to the SNES makes me think that the former's games are forgotten about to an extent. I can't help but feel that if S3&K was on SNES then it would be a much more famous and popular game.

[@CaptainBoomeraang]

Great job yet again! Sonic 3 is no doubt a masterfully crafted game and your analysis of it's design was really well done!

[@rassilontdavros3004]

“Can your analysis explain why Sonic 3 is so great?” “YES! YES IT CAN!”

[@mrneedlemouse6447]

There were a lot of cool things about this review, but by far my favorite is that you are the only person on the internet to CALL THE SHIELDS BY THEIR CORRECT NAMES. OMG THANK YOU!

[@DefinitiveDubs]

I've played this game I don't know how many times. It is indeed the greatest Sonic game ever made, bar none. If Sonic Team TRULY wanted to make Sonic 4, they would've used this game as the example.

[@Sparkette]

And when Sega finally did put out a worthy game, it wasn't even made by Sonic Team.

[@TheRealDustinNunn]

You're very close. If you collect 50 or more rings, you can make Sonic, Knuckles and Tails transform into Super Sonic, Hyper Sonic, Super Knuckles, Hyper Knuckles and Super Tails. And one more thing: the super and hyper characters can also get Time Overs after the level's timer hits the 9:59 mark.

[@eMorphized]

The Time Over thing was definitely a bad thing to keep when the levels were so huge.

[@Sparkette]

@@eMorphized And before then, the only thing they really added was a means of waiting out a softlock. (The secret way out of Dr. Robotnik's diabolical traps.)

[@jeremyjudkins]

OMG the Barrel on Carnival Night zone we didn't know you could press up and down on the D pad, and we literally had 1 person jumping while the 2nd player slipped through the crack. It was horrible.

[@WaddleDee105]

This is pretty much the prefect review of this (very near) perfect game. Yep, chalk me up as another that considers this the very best gaming has to offer.

[@GeekCritique]

WaddleDee105 Glad you enjoyed it! And yep, I know I'm in good company.

[@WaddleDee105]

The Geek Critique Out of curiosity, what is your favorite zone in the game? Flying Battery is my favorite video game level. It just has the perfect blend of speed and platforming and has so many fun elements.

[@Nerfling]

WaddleDee105 Sky Sanctuary for me, not really for the gameplay, but for the aesthetic and music. Also the buildup in the story to the Deathegg showdown.

[@GeekCritique]

WaddleDee105 Oh god, my favorite? I have no idea. The answer is usually, "Whichever one I'm currently playing." If pressed... I might say either Ice Cap or Lava Reef. Or Hydrocity. ...or Carnival NIght. I LOVE THEM ALL.

[@KawaiiKodeDaddy]

Personally, I tend to think that MegaMan ZX is the best gaming has to offer, but the most important topic here, is simply how often gamers and designers overlook Sonic 3. Sonic is kind of an odd game, and even though it held it's own, has always had a smaller fanbase than Mario, but most newer gamers have a hard time getting over the way it's designed, and even designers are that way too. There's a lot to learn from Sonic 3, and I think that, with what we're capable of in the modern age of game design, it could be even better. I mean, I've often imagined Sonic 3 borrowing mechanics from MegaMan, but only the best ones. Everything would be kept, but then add an armor for more controlled dashing, wall run (Not in MegaMan, but still cool), etc. Imagine a level where you can shift the pull of gravity, making the levels a bit of a puzzle, or a boss fight that rivals the complexity of later MegaMan titles. Man, this game is fantastic, but there's so much untapped potential that a lot of designers blatantly overlook.

[@juiceala]

Have to admit I almost cried during the video, well done!

[@LeoHightower]

I couldn't agree more simply beautifully done

[@juiceala]

LeoHightower Hey buddy, didn't know you watch this channel too!

[@LeoHightower]

juice hedgehog just started recently

[@blealleal7676]

Top comment and only 3 replies? Well now there's more

[@stickershock66]

You can really feel TGC's sincere love for the game in the videos. You can't fake that.

[@RainePhoenix]

I've always adored this game above all other Sonic games for all the reasons you've listed. Of course, the music is also one of the game's greatest features as well. All classic Sonic games have great music (Sonic Spinball's music is rough around the edges, admittedly, but Lava Powerhouse is the standout track and one of the best tunes in the series in my opinion), but Sonic 3 (the first half especially) has the best music by far. We all know that Michael Jackson, along with his team of composers and arrangers, was responsible for providing the game with it's unique sound and music, but it goes beyond that. The music itself has personality and add so much to each act, and by extension, each zone, making the already enormous game feel even bigger and more grand in scale. Also, this is the best looking game in the classic series. Period. Sonic's redesigned sprite looks almost three-dimensional and cool, like the character he'd been set up to be. And, the levels are all so completely diverse and have such a sense of depth with the flawless parallax scrolling and other tricks (look at the water in Hydrocity Zone; from the surface, you can see the tops of the waves, but as you dive into it, you can see the underside of the waves, giving it a very 3-D look). And, speaking of Hydrocity Zone, it is the best set of water levels in any Sonic game. It's fun, it's intense, it offers you several methods to traverse, both above and below the waves, there's Tails' swimming ability & Knuckles' glide ability to offer alternative methods of travel, the bubble shield to enable the characters to breathe underwater, and, it's FAST!! It's the fastest Sonic has ever been underwater with the underwater physics. I also love (as you've mentioned) the story of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It's the first game to place story first. Angel Island now becomes a character unto itself with its own history, mythology and personality compared to South and Westside Islands, which have varied locales, but no real sense of history. As you play through the game, depending on how well you play, the fate of Angel Island is altered, giving you a real sense of urgency to set things right, which never really happened in a Sonic game before. I've always loved this game, and unlike many gamers when it was released, I was extremely glad for the changes made in this installment. Sonic 1 was the first game I saw in demo mode on display that really made me understand that games could offer much more than what I'd been used to in the 8-Bit generation, so I'll always have a soft spot for it. However, it did have more than its fair share of tedium in all the waiting you were forced to do, and Labyrinth Zone is one of the worst areas in all of classic Sonic with how slow, long, boring and unpleasant it is to play through. That said, it's still a very enjoyable game. Sonic 2 was also great. I had a younger brother who'd always play as Tails in 1-player mode to act as my decoy and buddy whilst I blew through the levels. Therein lies the problem. As you'd said, too great an emphasis is placed on speed, leading to a short, very easy and shallow Sonic experience overall. Unless you elect to get all the Chaos Emeralds, you can beat it more quickly than you can its predecessor. When Sonic 3 came out, and my brother and I played it and discovered that Tails can not only fly, but carry Sonic with him, we'd run down the timer searching for secrets and alternate routes to play through the levels. Unlike Sonic 1, you wanted to take your time and explore the levels rather than wishing them to end, and unlike Sonic 2, you weren't plowing through them faster than you felt that you should be able to. They did everything right with this one.

[@TrepeGB]

I hated the design of Sonic in Sonic 3. I felt they'd perfected his look in Sonic 2, then completely ruined it again in 3. Also I hated the fact that the third game lost the bold and clean looking level design of the first two and tried to take on a more detailed, cluttered look. It was a good game, but I really don't think it was the strongest in the franchise. Sonic 2 was the high point for me!

[@TheA6surdNerdz]

Just the fact that you brought up the barrel on carnival night zone made me subscribe. When I was a kid, I was literally stuck on that part for a year because I wasn't allowed to call the hotline. I had to go to the library and use gamefaqs to find out how to get past it, and I only beat the game with knuckles forever. Perfect review.

[@GeekCritique]

Yup, I was in the same spot! I beat it with Knuckles LONG before I ever beat it with Sonic or Tails. At one time the only way I knew to do it was to use a Game Genie to get Hyper Sonic early, and use his Hyper Flash to glitch past it.

[@GameplayandTalk]

Sonic 3 is definitely may favorite of the classic series for all the reasons you state. Its variety, balance and polish is unmatched by the others on the Genesis.

[@grounder]

This is the greatest video ever to describe Sonic 3's greatness

[@SibylWhisp]

Oh, wow. It's been literal years since I kept up with my any notifs on my old Deviantart account and someone told me my old map had been used for a second in a video. I hate looking at it these days but I'm flattered by the use, especially for a video giving one of my favorite Sonic games props. Thanks, man.

[@GameFactsSpecial]

TBH I think the pacing of Sonic 3 would be better if every single act didn't have a mini boss. That's why I only added them sporadically in Time Twisted. Because it quickens the pace of the game and on first playthrough first act bosses are surprising and make more of an impact because of it.

[@SuperBolt7]

Thank you! Never have I had anyone describe this game and how I feel about it so perfectly. This video was wonderful to listen to and I connect with game as much as you do. Keep enjoying this great experience more and more every time you plat it!

[@GeekCritique]

SuperBolt7 That was the plan with this video! THE BEST GAME OF ALL TIME.

[@Ixapter]

2:41 - 2:45 = Wow. I knew there was a lot, but that's just downright mind-blowing!

[@GamesBrained]

I've been playing a lot of Sonic lately, and this video has shown me I need to go back to the genesis games more than ever. I had the games growing up but I never got very far in them. It wasn't until Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast that I ever beat a Sonic game, and my memories with Sonic all mostly came from there. I just wrote and created my own review on Sonic Adventure if you care to watch, I think you might find it enjoyable. Sorry just had to fit that in somewhere. I am already replaying Sonic 1 in an effort to go back through the classic series, but I'm gonna holding my breath until I can get to 3. I look forward to watching more of your stuff!

[@BladeBlur]

once I hit a certain milestone in subs I'd love to review this game, but for now, this is probably my favorite video of Sonic 3 i have seen yet. Excellent Job, Josh!

[@mechajay3358]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is and excellent example of taking everything that worked in previous games and perfecting it.

[@TheHiddencrusader]

Well done sir! I agree with everthing you said about Sonic 3. My two favorite video games of all time are Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Super Metroid.

[@infinitemillennium3821]

Two masterpieces released in the same year damn 1994 rocks.

[@Gigas0101]

To clarify a statement I made a while ago, numerous musicians worked on the soundtrack for Sonic 3. One such person, Jetzons keyboardist Brad Buxer, took the unreleased Jetzons song "Hard Times" and re-used it for the Ice Cap Zone of Sonic 3. There was a bit of a kerfuffle over rights to the song when the original Jetzons version surfaced back in 2009 but what we can all take from this is that Sonic 3 has some amazing music from some talented composes. Also, we can now listen to Ice Cap Zone mashed up with itself! Great video Critique Geek! I grew up nintendo but a cousin of mine had the genesis. We'd mess around with some sports games I got as hand-me-downs on my snes, but the sonic trilogy was where it was always at and I wasn't ashamed to admit it. Sonic 3 was a masterpiece, and it's a shame we never saw more games come close to its brilliance.

[@WolfFistProductions]

I actually agree with this video. Plus, it is nice to hear "good" things about Sonic for a change.

[@pietjebel9130]

Sonic 3 and Knuckles is for sure one of the best (retro) games ever made, its just so vast, unbelievable!

[@BATCHARRO]

These games are also soft coop if Tails is involved. This element I always loved because while normal coop normally involves commitment (aka you can't go on while the other player has a bathroom break) in here that would never work, but they still let you take control of Tails. When I played the game with my nephew I'd just fly him over hard platforms it was great.

[@WichardDuvenage]

I love the way you portray emotions while playing a game. The exact emotions you portray is how I feel when I play this game. This is my most played game ever, if you must add up all the time playing this game it must be close to a 1000 hours. I just wish you said more about the outstanding music and backgrounds, especially the Sonic and Knuckles part of the game. Like in Lava reef Zone Act 2, how the Death Egg gets closer and closer the further you get in the level. Great videos, the way you speak about games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Donkey Kong Country brings back childhood memory's.

[@GreatFox42]

Ah, S3&K... my second favorite of the classic series, but also my third favorite game of all time. I've played this so much I can literally play it blindfolded.

[@beancan2752]

This video feel quicker than it actually is, it has snappy music, great pacing, and superb writing. You can also say the same to Sonic 3, great video and all

[@ModelJames13]

I would agree that Sonic 3 is the greatest Sega Genesis game OF ALL TIME!!!

[@casedistorted]

This was one of my favorite games to play on the Sega Genesis growing up. I cannot tell you how many times I beat the game. I had both games connected together and all of my save files were filled with all of the playable characters in all permutations with all the Emeralds (ALL of the them, including Hyper Chaos Emeralds) and a ridiculous amount of lives from playing through each save again and again. I loved this game and in my garage where my Sega Genesis, Sega CD, and 32x are still in a box, Sonic 3 and Knuckles is still sitting in the cartridge slot of the console.

[@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770]

"Robotnik's diabolical traps", truly the best plan by Dr. Robotnik.

[@Skorp4]

Fantastic review of my favourite platformer! Oh and I didn't know about Sonic 3 Complete, guess I'll go check it out soon.

[@1001speedster]

AHHH, back then when sonic games were masterpieces....

[@colesephhh9546]

*cough* generations *cough* unleashed *cough* mania *cough* I mean unleashed is no Masterpiece but generations and Mania? Yeah

[@phoenixdown5181]

I liked Colors quite a bit. If the controls were slightly better I'd say it's fantastic.

[@pepomega]

@@phoenixdown5181 i liked colors more than generations, boost to win its great , but the platforming is affected by that.

[@tanyaharmon6739]

Metropolis zone and sonic 1. Also sonic cd

[@Spamus]

No Sonic game is a masterpiece

[@Reliken]

Just here to say I love the fake out with the "Endless Mine" track at the end ;). The SA2 connection there is beautiful and something I always notice. Great video! You captured a lot of my thoughts and feelings about this from growing up. And, y'know what? After watching your entire Metroid retrospective, and then your Donkey Kong retrospective, and now this, I'm finally ready to press that subscribe button. Keep critiquin'!

[@fearlessgabe1509]

My only problem with the game is it's timer, it sometimes doesn't feel like the levels weren't built for 10m when comparing to the first 2. The time always runs outon act 2 of Carnival Night, and Sandopolis

[@bandicootsauce4569]

I played this game for the very first time just a few weeks ago, right at the start of 2023. I now have fully completed save files with Hyper forms for all three characters, and I have no regrets. Sonic 3 & Knuckles truly is one of the greats, and I can say that without even a shred of nostalgia. It's now my second favourite Sonic game after Generations. (:

[@cannedkitty]

Sonic 3 and knuckles is my favorite video game too. Glad to see someone explain why this is so.

[@StriderZessei]

Absolutely amazing critique. The only thing you didn't implicitly mention (but did receive quite a bit of screen time) is the ultimate encounter with Dr. Robotnik in the Doomsday Zone. After four games' worth of busting his 'bots, I can think of no better way to top off the series.

[@danielroik6065]

Sonic 1 & sonic 2 & sonic 3 are the best for me. Nice Review that i am watching Thank's Geek Critique:-) ;-).

[@hotsexspy2267]

I find Tails to be the hard mode for one reason, the Marble Garden zone act 2 boss, he is almost impossible to hit without getting hit yourself.

[@GeekCritique]

Hotsex spy Oh man, I was stuck in Marble Garden with Tails, same as I was stuck in Carnival Night with Sonic. I actually beat the game with Knuckles well before anyone else, just because of that.

[@hotsexspy2267]

***** Eh, I find his version of Sandopolis is much shorter.

[@darklight1030]

IS IT JUST ME OR IS AZURE LAKE LITERALLY THE BEST SONG IN ALL OF SONIC?!?!?!?!?! I am very glad you started the video with that hidden gem : )

[@thatnigga64]

Dude it took me weeks to figure out what to do with that barrel! Great video btw (as usual)

[@evilmuska]

In all my years playing and re-playing Sonic 3 and Knuckles... I never knew you could push those spikes aside in Flying Battery zone!

[@FloatingSunfish]

They actually called the softlock bugs as "Robotnik's diabolical traps!?" Lmao. 😂

[@Robski10]

Five years later and this is still my favourite sonic game.

[@PurpleFreezerPage]

Something I really like about your review style that I don’t notice other people doing is you will do fake-outs with your opinions sometimes. Like when talking about sonic’s moves at around 10:30. You build up to the point that sonic is objectively worse than the other characters, but then you 180 and reveal that his jump flash thingy is actually really good. I’ve noticed this on a lot of your videos, and it’s cool. It’s also cool that you don’t really do it for comedic effect, but for DRAMATIC effect, which is rad because video essay critiques usually don’t try to be dramatic in a way that’s, like, exciting.

[@GeekCritique]

This is super nice to hear, and it's something I'd never really noticed about my style. Thank you!!

[@PurpleFreezerPage]

The Geek Critique

[@JaxxoonR]

6:48 I've never actually seen that sprite of Knuckles before. It honestly made me jump a little.

[@SkaiCyan]

I always loved Sonic 3 & Knuckles the most growing up too. It's because of this game that I always play Sonic games like Metroid (or play Metroid like Sonic since I played this series first), preferring more to take my time exploring each and every area and attempting to hoard every single ring rather than blast through the zones at top speed. Come to think of it, it's probably why I enjoy the Adventure style games the most in the 3D half of the series. Fantastic video, sir!

[@GeekCritique]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! Since the hacking contest is going on right now, might I suggest you check out a hack called Sonic 1 Color Contrast? It's in our second exposé, and it's ALL about looking for stuff.

[@SkaiCyan]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll be checking all those out and a bunch of stuff from SAGE as well as research for my own fangame that I'm making. It's only in the planning stages, but years from now I'm looking forward to people like you reviewing it.

[@ZeroXMarquis]

I must thank you. I've watched a pleathora of these videos over the years. I've played the game more times than I can count. However, never once have I seen the screens for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles with and without chaos emeralds and the game cleared. I've only ever done it with all the emeralds. I didn't know there were different graphics.

[@GottaGoFas]

I've not seen many videos by you and this really impressed me. Very entertaining!

[@SolarFarle]

I prefer the Sonic 3 Complete rom hack but I did enjoy Sonic 3 & Knuckles back in the day.

[@maryl1889]

SolarFarle of course sonic 3 complete is a very good game from what I've seen

[@damin9913]

Sonic 3 complete is the best game ever

[@ChristianDall-p2j]

2:41 thats the most non-round Number i have ever seen intentionally put in a video game! Exit: ILL CALL IT, THE BLUE SPHERE NUMBER!😂

[@ty_sylicus]

Sonic 2 was super cool but Sonic 3 really blew my mind as a kid. The game had a story, big levels, beautiful graphics, level variety, and top tier gameplay.

[@Ecotic]

The Insta-Shield? I never knew that actually did anything. I figured it was some programming placeholder for the shield abilities.

[@HeavySandwichguy]

The part that I love about Sonic 3 and Knuckles is that you can still get the chaos emeralds and super emeralds if you don't get them during your first play through, because there's an option to go back to any stage afterwards and go and get them. Even better, the rings do not disappear forever. If you leave the level and go back, the ring will be there again. Perfect.

[@hugo-garcia]

Sonic And knuckles is the First DLC of history

[@DuskWolfGaming]

I apperciated the remix of Super sonic racing in the background xD Good video over all, but the music caught me and hit full nostalgia blast.

[@Ocarina654]

I've been watching your Sonic videos lately and I think I've gained a new appreciation for his games. I'd still argue they're pretty flawed, but I can see the positives much more clearly now. So, thanks for that I guess, haha!

[@PollyBonanzas]

That cylinder in Carnival Night had me stuck for so long as a kid. I didn't own the game either. I borrowed it from a friend, so when I gave it back, I never got past that part. Eventually I got to play it again on Sonic Mega Collection, and I still had trouble with it. I eventually figured it out though. Thank goodness. lol.

[@HellionBlade90]

didn't hear any mention of Tails' full cheesing of the bird missiles while in super mode. It was a really funny and cool feature of his super mode. Knuckles slamming into a wall and destroying enemies was cool too!

[@retropulse03]

God damnit, this video perfectly explains my absolute undying love for this game... Even going so far as to talk about "Complete" which I not only recommend, but demand fans of the game play... FURTHERMORE.... I've been playing this game nonstop for over 20 years.... TWENTY YEARS... and I had no idea sonic's insta-shield worked that way... I'm going to go play the whole damn thing all over again for well over the 200th time lol.

[@gluedtogames]

I will have to agree that this level design is the best ever. Honestly, this game may just be the greatest game ever created. Sonic 3 and Knuckles feels like the absolute complete experience. Certainly the best of its era.

[@TheMalMeninga]

This is an excellent video. Great work!

[@GeekCritique]

Rich Kearney Hey, I appreciate it! Thank you!

[@frankbenham1745]

I beat Sonic 1 and 2, but whenever I was younger and had played Sonic 3 I could NOT get past that carnival level. This is the second video of yours where this barrel was mentioned in Sonic 3. I'm quite convinced this barrel was the reason why I couldn't beat the level. Maybe not, I don't remember. All I know is I could never find the freaking end of that level! So annoying!

[@thekingslayer1831]

4:09 I love how Eggman ignores all the equally powerful Super Emeralds.

[@lupinedreamexpress]

October 18th 1994 was one of the greatest days of my kid life. When I discovered I could plug in my copies of Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 it was an experience indescribable at that age. I was waiting on Buried in Time and Pegasus Prime around the same time for PC. :p

[@GeekCritique]

October 17, 1994 was that day for me. Stores didn't really bother to honor release dates back then, since a hard release date for a game was still a pretty rare thing. They just put 'em out when they got 'em, and my mom found it a day early on the way home from work. I distinctly remember seeing an ad for Sonic & Knuckles in a store a month or so ahead of launch, but it seems in my memory like I was waiting YEARS after that point, I was so young and so excited for it. Absolutely fantastic day. Though I do remember being VERY briefly disappointed, haha. Sonic 2's character select was in options, and Sonic 3's was on the file select. I didn't notice at first that S&K's character select was actually on the title screen, and I distinctly remember thinking, "Aww, so you just have to SAVE Knuckles!?"

[@michaelluck5577]

This game made me a fan of the Sonic games back in the day. I remember when I was a child playing this game and it resonated so well with me. You know, I've always been a fan of the Nintendo game "Super Mario All Stars". The Mario 3 remake and the famous Super Mario World... I loved theese games, they too picked up on the classic mario formula but added more depth, more powerups, world exploration (especially over the hubworlds and on super m world through hidden exits and secret pathways). As a child, I never thought it could get any better than that. Enter Sonic 3 (&knuckles). Take everything that made Super Mario World a STELLAR platformer game with exploration and everything and combine it into the level design. Sonic had no world maps or even level selection screens, it was a journey. you complete the entire game in a fluid runthrough of all the stages that seamlessly fade into each other like a connected world. The music is outrageous to this day, even the little jingle that played during invincibility was cool. You got a sense of scale conveyed through the levels but bareley ever felt lost in them, going off the beaten path is something that often times rewarded you in a great deal. I fondly remember the first time I went Super Sonic and thought to myself that this has to be the greatest thing ever. And boy oh boy, I've been wrong. When I found out that I could get a stage higher than that it felt like I was in heaven of platforming gaming. (okay tbf. when I was a child this weird power fantasy got me good, I liked playing overpowered and giving all those mobs and bosses that kicked my rear sometimes a hard time and a run for their money). So comparing this to modern day platformers I feel like they all play it safe. In the advent of indie games and early access, nobody wants to go through theese great length to create a series that makes itself better. Sonic 3 is one beautifully crafted piece of art and I suggest everyone that remotely enjoys platformer games to give it a shot even if emulated.

[@michie123]

I was so that 2player stages were treated like utter crap in this installment, EVEN THOUGH I played the hell outta them. As I grew older I appreciated the music more and more, and Chrome Gadget music should've gotten a fuller version in an official campaign zone.. that bass is too good to be a hidden gem.

[@Dualblades47]

This acts as a good ad for the game, sega should hire you. I'll probably get sonic 3 on steam because of this video, looks really fun, thanks.

[@chain_links]

Happy 30th anniversary to the greatest 2D platformer ever made

[@leethompson-kolar6333]

I still need an explanation for why Marble Garden Zone is so great. I remember it having really gimmicky tops that would randomly float upwards sometimes and SOMETIMES zoomed forward a few inches upon touching the ground--something that was necessary to destroy walls and access new paths. They were a huge pain. Carnival Night Zone was the worst, as it was filled to the brim with odd mechanics that made it a chore to beat.

[@The_CrackFox]

I'm glad someone else thinks this is the superior sonic game. I think even the sonic 3 half on its own is better than the others, including sonic 2.

[@southpawslim1]

Got Sonic 3 on the first day and loved it ever since

[@eaz54]

@12:38 Yes! That freakin' barrel! I didn't know what to do with that. I restarted my game to "try" and go a different way and avoid it but I funneled back to it and I don't even remember how I figured out how to get past that section. I eventually did, thankfully, and loved the rest of the game in spite of that stupid barrel.

[@GeekCritique]

Like I said, I'm totally convinced Sega made 'em put that in there to generate revenue for the hotline. I was FIRST able to pass it by putting in Game Genie codes to get Hyper Sonic, then flash striking down into it until I passed through it. Still couldn't get Tails through, though!

[@cortlandc314]

FUCK YEAH HYPER SONIC

[@TheMGMfan]

2:12 Another reason Sonic 3 would've lost a lot of scope was a large reason why the game was split in two to begin with: time constraints; it's no secret that Sega forced the game to be released in Feburary, which Sonic Team knew wouldn't be possible without cutting half of the game out, but because they didn't want to have a Sonic 2 situation with a ton of work going to waste, they split it, with them contenuing to work on the remaining aspects of Sonic 3, known in development as Sonic 3 B, well after the first half's release, and this half would be released as Sonic & Knuckles.

[@BenjaminNixon]

Great rundown of what makes the level design work so well. S3&K is definitely my favorite Sonic game, but in retrospect, I honestly think the insta-shield, the 3 element shields, and the Hyper forms (let alone Super Sonic) break the game. As enjoyable as these things are, they take what would've already been a very easy game, and make it exponentially easier. Most of the bosses can be taken out in a matter of seconds if you bring the right shield, or even just use the insta-shield.

[@Konradix05]

So, recently I got to finish the classic "quadrology" in widescreen (including Sonic 3 as Sonic 3 Angel Island Revisited) and I have to say that your critique is very sound and my experiences mirrored them. All the Sonics I felt were well designes, yet unfair at times, and it all culminated at Sonic 3, easily the most refined of them all. I do like them all, but 3 stands out for me as most consistently fun. I highly recommend for anyone to check out Sonic 3 AIR btw, it adds so many features that its unreal to me.

[@TylerDuRapau]

Subscribed because Sonic 3 IS the best video game of all time.

[@TheSalltt]

I agree with most of the points in this video, but I'm really surprised that this video overlooked the existence of Flying Battery and Sandopolis. Flying Battery is a really nice spectacle, but the level design in some areas is really rough (elevators, underneath the battery, etc), and Sandopolis is just Sandopolis. I'm sure you'd probably write at least some of these points into a theoretical re-review, like you did with DKC 3, especially since this video is nearly 8 years old lol

[@wompwomp9946]

I forgot how good this game was. So much nostalgia

[@Milennin]

Perfection in the form of a videogame. This is gaming's true final form.

[@DEADLYANTDX]

This and Super Mario World are always rotating for my favorite game of all time

[@centurosproductions8827]

TIL shieldless Sonic's little swipe actually does something. I always thought that was just the "error message" of trying to do the fun stuff when not in a Fun Bubble (TM).

[@Mzo001]

Thank you for doing justice to a great game. It seems to be popular to shit on Sonic these days, even going so far as to say the early games were never good to begin with. It's been driving me crazy.

[@johndewberryiii9925]

I reAlly like how they ramped up the stakes for this game. This adventure felt much more serious than sonic 1 and 2

[@jonarose3542]

I got a sonic fusion tooth brush ad from this video. Sonic 3 was actually just a tooth brush this whole time!

[@SeekerLancer]

A single cartridge probably would've been less than 34 megs since much of the assets are redundantly shared between the two games so they could play separately. It still would've been one of the larger carts though. This is also one of my favorite games of all time. I got the Genesis around the same time as you and Sonic 3 & Knuckles was one of the most epic platforming adventures I've ever experienced. There's no other game I've played through more times. It's a masterpiece of its genre.

[@AsadAli-it6xx]

This video perfectly sums up this game

[@Sparkette]

When I first got Sonic & Knuckles as a kid, my dad told me how you could "lock on" Sonic 2, as if that was the main purpose. I looked at the manual (yes, I actually did that as a kid) and saw it worked with Sonic 3 as well. Or at least, was supposed to. My copy of the game wouldn't work with it; it would just glitch out and crash as soon as I turned on the Genesis. Luckily, I later ended up with a second copy of Sonic 3 for an unrelated reason, and that one worked fine.