Sonic 3 and Knuckles is an Action, Adventure, and Platformer game for PC published by Sega in 1997. Robotnik meets Knuckles the Echidna!
Sonic 3 and Knuckles PC Game 1997 review:
After Sonic and Tails defeat Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Robotnik’s space station, the Death Egg, crash-lands on the floating Angel Island.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a 2D side-scrolling platformer. As with Sonic the Hedgehog 2, players can control Sonic, Tails, or both simultaneously. In the former choice, players control Sonic while Tails runs along beside him; a second player can join at any time and control Tails separately. Sonic 3 adds the ability for Tails to fly for a short time by spinning his twin tails like a helicopter rotor; when he tires, he falls. Unlike Sonic, Tails can also swim underwater.
Sonic 3 takes place over six zones, each divided into two acts. Levels are populated with “badniks”, robots created by the villain, Dr. Robotnik; Sonic and Tails can defeat them by jumping on them or using the “spin dash” attack, which also gives the character a speed boost. The levels include obstacles and other features such as vertical loops, corkscrews, breakable walls, spikes, water that the player can drown in, and bottomless pits. There is a miniboss fight with one of Robotnik’s large, powerful robots at the end of the first act of each level and a boss fight with Robotnik at the end of the second. Reaching a new level saves the game to one of six save slots.
Pros of Sonic 3 and Knuckles:
- Sonic 3 contains two types of “special stages”.
- When the player collects at least 50 rings and passes a checkpoint, they can warp to the first type, which involves bouncing up a gumball machine-like corridor to earn power-ups by hitting a switch.
- Both sides of the corridor are lined with flippers, which disappear when the character bounces on them, and the switch drops when both flippers supporting it are removed.
- The corridor’s floor contains a bounce pad, which also disappears after one use; falling afterward causes the player to leave the stage with the most recent power-up collected.
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Basic System Requirements:
- OS: Windows® XP or higher
- Graphics: 32MB or greater graphics card
- DirectX®: DirectX® 9.0 or greater
- Hard Drive: 50MB free disc space
