| Sonic the Hedgehog 3 |
Overview
Story
Notes
Cheats / Secrets
Last Updated: 07.10.06 |
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Title:
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Developer:
Sonic Team
Publisher:
Sega
Release Date:
02.04.94
Platform:
GEN(MD)
Players:
1-2 |
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 06.23.91
 Unknown
 06.23.91
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Rereleases
Sega Saturn:
Sonic Jam
Sega Dreamcast:
Sega Smash Pack Vol. 1
Nintendo Gamecube:
Sonic Mega Collection
Sonic Gems Collection
Sony Playstation 2:
Sonic Mega Collection +
Microsoft XBox:
Sonic Mega Collection +
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Staff Credits:.
Executive Producer:
Hayao Nakayama
Project Managers:
Hisashi Suzuki
Shinobu Toyoda
Masaharu Yoshii
Roger Hector
Producer:
Yuji Naka
Director:
Hirokazu Yasuhara
Lead Game Designer:
Hirokazu Yasuhara
Senior Game Designers:
Hisayoshi Yoshida
Takashi Iizuka
Takahiro Hamano
Lead Programmer:
Yuji Naka
Senior Programmers:
Hiroshi Nikaidoh
Masanobu Yamamoto
Character Designer:
Takashi Thomas Yuda
CG Artist:
Kunitake Aoki
Animator:
Takashi Thomas Yuda
Enemy Artist:
Satoshi Yokokawa
Scene Artists:
Kunitake Aoki
Chie Yoshida
Tsuneko Aoki
Shigeru Okada
Takashi Thomas Yuda
Satoshi Yokokawa
Art Assistant:
Osamu Ohashi
Music Composers:
Brad Buxer
Bobby Brooks
Darryl Ross
Geoff Grace
Doug Grigsby III
Scirocco
Sega Sound Team:
Tokuhiko Uwabo
Sachio Ogawa
Milpo
Masaru Setsumaru
Tatsuyuki Maeda
Tomonori Sawada
Masayuki Nagao
Jun Senoue
Sound Project Coordinator:
Hisaki Nimiya
Marketing:
Pamela Kelly
Executive Management:
Shoichiro Irimajiri
Thomas Kalinski
Mamoru Shigeta
Tomio Takami
Diane A. Fornasier
Roger Hector
Takaharu Utsunomiya
Hayao Nakayama
Paul Rioux
Sound Special Thanks:
Mayumi Nina Sakazaki
Cube Corp.
Opus Corp.
Masanori Nakayama
Studio Who
Howard Drossin
Promotions Director:
Thomas J. Abramson
Product Manager:
Pamela Kelly
Screen Shots:
Clint Dyer
Nemer Velasquez
Test Manager:
Stephen Patterson
Lead Testers:
Jason Kuo
Blair Bullock
Michael Baldwin
Dermot Lyons
Testers:
Greg Becksted
Julio Martinez
Andrew Podesta
Vy Nong
Keith Higashihara
Chris Pepper
Mark Lindstrom
Tony Lynch
Stephen Bourdet
Joanna Pataki
Maria Tuzzo
Crisi Albertson
Janine Cook
Bill Person
Christine M. Watson
Michael A. Williams
Heather Meigs
Vasily Lewis
David Wood
Mark Subotnick
Dan Jung
Loran Pudinski
Siegie Stangenberg
Simon Lu
Mark Paniagua
Michael Bench
Ivan Foong
Conan Tigard
Tim Spengler
Rick Greer
Ari Warner
Tony Hursh
Lancelot Nelson
Richard Wong
Daniel Dunn
Matthew Rosaaen
Matt Underwood
Manual:
Jason R. Rich
Special Thanks:
Deborah McCracken
Emi Kawamura
Jina Ishiwatari
Dominique Adevereaux
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| Overview |
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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is often seen as the high point of the Sonic franchise. It is generally loved by all the fans of the series despite its short length, but when "locked-on" to Sonic & Knuckles, it's commonly called the best Sonic game ever. However, Sonic World is not going to combine the two games for this walkthrough section. It was released as a standalone game the first time, so that's how it will stay for us. |
Illustration by Fiz
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Sonic the Hedgehog 3's goal is no different than before: make it to the other side of the level in less than ten minutes. This time, the characters have slightly different controls.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Insta-Shield - (Jump + Jump)
A mid-air swipe that makes Sonic temporarily (read: VERY temporarily) invulnerable while increasing the jump's attack range. Does not work if Sonic has a shield Note: Original Japanese name is "W Kaiten," meaning "Spin Attack.").
Flame Dash - (With Flame Shield, Jump + Jump)
A very fast, mid-air dash that temporarily turns Sonic into a fireball.
Shock Jump - (With Bolt Shield, Jump + Jump)
A double-jump giving Sonic's jump extra height.
Bubble Bounce - (With Water Shield, Jump + Jump)
A downward bounce that can be used to attack enemies.
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Miles "Tails" Prower
Propeller Flying - (Jump + Jump)
Tails will start to fly using his tails as propellers. Continue to tap the jump button to ascend and do nothing to descend. You can move from side to side with the D-PAD. Tails will get tired after 8 seconds, after which you can no longer ascend.
Swimming - (In Water, Jump + Jump)
Essentially "flying" underwater. Continue to tap the jump button to ascend and do nothing to descend. You can move from side to side with the D-PAD. Tails will get tired after 8 seconds, after which you can no longer ascend.
Lift - (While Flying, Sonic jumps on Tails)
While playing as Sonic & Tails, if there is a second player available, you can control Tails with Player 2's controller. Tails can pick up Sonic and fly them both around.
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Both characters have the same movement and they can both still do the spin dash by crouching and pressing the jump button.
There are a ton of new items you'll encounter in this game, as well as some familiar ones:
 | Big Ring
A special ring worth 10 regular rings. |
 | Water Shield
Enables you to breathe underwater. Can deflect a few attacks. Will dissappear instead of a ring loss if you take damage. |
 | Flame Shield
Makes you invulnerable to lava, fire, and fire attacks. Will dissappear instead of a ring loss if you take damage or if you enter water. |
 | Bolt Shield
Magnetically attracts rings towards you. Makes you invulnerable to electric attacks. Will dissappear instead of a ring loss if you take damage or if you enter water. |
 | Speed Shoes
Greatly increases your speed for a short amount of time. |
 | Invincibility
Makes you temporarily invulnerable to all attacks and spikes. You can still be killed by getting crushed or falling off the stage. |
 | Eggman
Acts as enemy damage. If you have a shield, you will lose it. If not, you will lose your rings. If you have no rings, you'll die. |
 | Extra Life
Gives you an extra chance to restart at the last checkpoint if you die. |
 | Special Stage Ring
Transports you to a Blue Sphere special stage for a chance to earn a Chaos Emerald. If you have all seven Chaos Emeralds, gives you 50 rings. |
Note: Some Item Sprites ripped by Supachao
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| Story |
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| The Death Egg, destroyed by Sonic at the end of Sonic 2, has crash-landed onto Angel Island. As Sonic and Tails land on the island to confront Eggman, they are attacked by Knuckles, who steals the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles has been tricked by Eggman into thinking Sonic and Tails want to take the Master Emerald and destroy Angel Island, but Eggman plans to use the Master Emerald to re-power the Death Egg.
There are six zones, each having two acts. There is a mini-boss at the end of each first act (which take eight hits to defeat) and a fight with Robotnik at the end of each second act.Note: Most Enemy Sprites ripped by Supachao |
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Angel Island Zone
Angel Island Zone is your introduction to the lush world of the island. It's full of green forests, deep blue lakes, and beautiful waterfalls...that is, until halfway through the first act when one of Robotnik's robots sets the whole thing on fire (note: this robot eventually becomes the miniboss). Because it's the first level in the game, you can't expect it to be too hard. There's almost nothing that will give you trouble other than spikes. Near the end of act two, you'll encounter one of Robotnik's airships as it tries to drop bombs on you. Continue running to avoid them. |
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Miniboss: The first miniboss of the game is ridiculously easy. It flies from side to side around the level shooting flames at you when it stops. Attack it right after it shoots or as it's ascending to move. Don't jump on it from below because its thrusters will burn you.
Boss: Finally, the Eggman shows himself once again. Robotnik will peep in and out of the waterfall to fire flames at you. Attack him after he attacks and be careful not to fall down the pit created when he destroyed the bridge before the fight. |
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Hydrocity Zone
Hydrocity's appearence is decieving. While it might look like another sluggish and generally boring underwater stage, it manages to move quickly and become one of the more memorable zones of Sonicdom. Sonic doesn't like being underwater, but don't forget that Tails can swim. Both, however, will die if they don't get enough air. Make sure you time your jumps right in act two's corridor segments to avoid getting crushed.
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Enemies in this Zone:
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Yadorin Jet:
Snail-like robot that fires a spiky rocket from its back when you near it. Can quickly move along ground. Can be destroyed by rolls at any time or by jumps after the rocket has launched. |
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Kapukapu:
Parasitic robot that steals one ring per second and slows movement. Will kill you if you don't have any rings. Cannot be destroyed without Invincibility, but can be removed by leaving the water. |
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Jawz:
Shark-like robot that is only found out of the water. Attacks by ramming at high speeds, but cannot turn around. Can be destroyed by rolls or jumps. |
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Pontaa:
Stationary cannon. Fires in an upwards, diagonal trajectory. Can be destroyed by rolls or jumps. |
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Puff:
Pufferfish-like robot found floating in various underwater areas. Invulnerable when needles are extended. Can be destroyed by jumps. |
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Punpun:
Mosquito-like robots that annoyingly fly around you outside of the water. Can be destroyed by rolls or jumps. If the biggest one is destroyed, all the smaller ones will leave. | |
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Miniboss: This miniboss battle takes place in a rounded pit full of water. The boss itself will spin around on the piston in the center to the water to rapidly spin around. There's no way to avoid being sucked into the whirlpool, but you can't get hurt by it either. After charging for a while, it will fly off the piston and roll around the bowl. Avoid it when it falls in and comes out the other side. Your chance to attack is when the thrusters are turned off when it lands and takes off from the center piston.
Boss: After Knuckles gets a little trigger happy with his bridge-destroying switches, you'll be able to face Dr. Robotnik in Hydrocity's flooded basement. He attacks either by creating a waterspout to suck you into his propeller or dropping time-delay bombs. By jumping on top of the waterspout as it begins to descend back into the water, you can get high enough to jump again into Robotnik's Eggmobile. You can alternatively time the explosions of the bombs to be shot up with the water when they go off, but you'll have to steer towards the Eggmobile from the start because it doesn't leave you an opportunity for a second jump. |
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Marble Garden Zone
Marble Garden is one of the longest zones in the series' history. There is a lot of room to run, but most of your time will be spent trudging uphill...ironic, because you lose all the altitude at the beginning and end of the first act. You can fly around on the tops by running in the direction you want to go. By running, you'll also ascend. Stop running to descend. |
Enemies in this Zone:
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Harisenbo:
Pufferfish-like robot found floating in various areas. Invulnerable when needles are extended. Can be destroyed by jumps. |
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Totem:
Stationary turret. Found only on walls. Shoots arrows one at a time in the direction its mouth is facing. Can be destroyed by hitting its sensor eye three times (jumps). |
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Spiker:
Robot that mimics the appearance of spikes. "Spikes" are actually springs and cannot harm you Shoots two projectiles in an arch movement from either side when you get close. Can be destroyed by rolls. |
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Hopper:
Grasshopper-like robot that can jump vertically, but cannot move horizontally. Jumps when you get near. Can be destroyed by rolls or jumps. |
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Miniboss: You've seen this thing before, but now you get to fight it. Marble Garden's miniboss is a large, two headed drill that attacks by either drilling you or the ceiling. Whenever it burrows into the ceiling of the cave, sharp stalagtites will fall from above, so make sure you can avoid them. After a little while, it will rapidly charge at you on the ground. It's your chance to attack when it hits the ground and begins to reascend towards the ceiling.
Boss: Marble Garden's boss is surprisingly fresh and innovative. At the beginning of the fight, Robotnik will destroy the battle arena, sending Sonic falling through the sky. Tails takes charge and lifts Sonic back into the air to chase after him. Tails never gets tired, but that doesn't mean it's a piece of cake. Use the directional pad to control your altitude. You have to maneuver Tails to avoid being hit by Robotnik's drills. You can jump to make Sonic let go and fall to attack the Eggmobile when it nears. If Sonic falls off the screen, Tails will pick him back up. |
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Carnival Night Zone
Carnival Night is more like Sonic 1's Spring Yard than Sonic 2's similarly named Casino Night. Sonic must have gotten over his gambling addiction because there aren't any slot machines to be found this time around. I can best describe the zone as being "bouncy." You won't get a chance to run straight for very long because there are constantly jumps and springs you need to clear to move forward.
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Enemies in this Zone:
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Batbot:
Bat-like robot (ya think?) that flies around and periodically stops to light up. Invulnerable when its light is on. Can be destroyed by jumps. |
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Shell Star:
Stationary clam-like robots that periodically open up to shoot projectiles at you. Can be used as springs by jumping on top of them. Can be destroyed by rolls. |
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Super Kuru:
Found in groups of at least three. Attack by charging electricity and sending current to another Super Kuru to move from the floor to the celing. Can be destroyed by rolls or jumps when not charged. |
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Miniboss: The miniboss in Carnival Night Zone looks and acts like a penis. Thwack it to make it erect, causing a surge of sem---*cough*--electricity--*cough*---to expose the inside. The disk bouncing around the arena will destroy a tile every time it hits the floor, but it will also hurt the penis if it hits it while it's doing its...thing (awkward wording is fun!). In other words, try to make the disk hit the robot while it's covered in electricity.
Boss: Sega brings balls back into the subject matter with Robotnik's latest Eggmobile enhancement. He now drops a large ball and creates a magnetic field around it. If you're pulled in, you'll get shocked. Attack when Robotnik tries to pick his ball back up to throw it somewhere else. |
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Ice Cap Zone
Ice Cap was the first snow themed level to start the ever-present cliché for future games in the series. It starts off by letting the world know that Sonic likes snowboarding. Your only control for that segment is jumping. After that, the level goes underground through the caverns of the mountain. There's nothing particularly hard about this level, but you'll need to time your jumps and dashes carefully to avoid getting hurt by falling objects or crumbling platforms. |
Enemies in this Zone:
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Icedus:
Robot that uses ice crystals as both its defense and attack. Fires the crystals in a slow horizontal trajectory when you get close to it. Touching crystals at any time will hurt you. Can be destroyed by jumps. |
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Freezer:
Stationary enemy. Attacks by releasing spurts of dry ice beneath it. Dry ice will freeze you upon contact. Can be destroyed by jumps. |
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Penpen:
Penguin-like robot that attack by belly-sliding along the ground towards you. Able to slowly walk short distances. Can be destroyed by rolls or jumps. |
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Miniboss:This miniboss really isn't that hard. It's first attack is ring of ice cubes around it that rotates, which acts as both a shield and a weapon. The second attack sends the ice cubes up into the air, and then brings them down to the ground. These attacks are fairly easy to avoid, but the hard part is that he's not vulnerable very often. There are two place to attack - one when the rings are horizontal, and a brief moment after he's sent the ice cubes into the air. Fo
Boss: Now Robotink's got a spinning spike attachment for his Eggmobile that spews dry ice in aspirations to freeze Sonic. Try avoiding the spray and jump on the platform above the spikes to reach him. |
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Launch Base Zone
The Death Egg is ready for takeoff, but Robotnik has decided to conveniently wait for Sonic to show up first. You'll encounter all sorts of nice little tricks here, such as high-speed transportation tubes (where you get to ride in a giant Tylenol) and water slides. This is one of the fastest-moving levels in Sonic's history, meaning it's also one of the longest areas to cover.
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Enemies in this Zone:
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Snail Blaster:
Snail-like robot that fires two small projectiles when it opens its shell. Moves vertically along walls. Can be destroyed by jumps when the shell is open. |
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Mehbe:
Bird-like robot that appears whenever you trigger an alarm. Flies around you in circles and occasionally divebombs to attack. Can be destroyed by jumps. |
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Bola:
Robot that uses spiked balls as both its defense and attack. Fires the balls in a slow horizontal trajectory when you get close to it. Touching the spikes at any time will hurt you. Can be destroyed by jumps. |
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Keroppo:
Frog-like robot that swings a gigantic ball around a pole attached to its head. Can be destroyed by rolls or jumps. |
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Big Laser:
Turret that moves along a rail and occasionally fires a laser beam towards the ground or celing. Can be destroyed by jumps. |
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Miniboss:This miniboss is fairly easy. It moves around the screen, with two spikes rotating around itself. It's vulnerable everywhere but the spikes. Once you get 4 hits, one of the spikes will fall off.
First Boss:Eggman sits on a plateau above Sonic, and releases a rolling ball of doom from the wall below. This boss is too high up for Sonic to jump, so you have to use the ball-release door as a step. Jump to avoid the ball, which will eventually roll off the screen or smash into the wall and shatter. |
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Second Boss:After defeating the rolling-ball boss, Sonic will jump into Eggman's empty getaway car and pursue him. This sets up a nice long cinematic sequence where Super Sonic will exhaust most, if not all, of his rings. Regular Sonic gets to keep his, however. Does this seem fair to you?
Anyways, this boss isn't too difficult - it's a matter of timing. Eggman will rocket up and down the left and right sides of the screen, shooting lasers at Sonic. The cockpit is vulnerable, but is protected by a slowly rotating spike. Four hits will destroy one of the lasers and four more will destroy the other one. Hit him one more time to beat this boss.
Final Boss:That was Eggman's last stand? Not a chance. This boss is fairly difficult. Eggman has a flying machine of doom, complete with spikes and a grabbing device that shakes all of your rings out. (Hey, I guess he's gotta pay the insurance on the Death Egg somehow.) This boss is also a matter of timing, and jumps. Good luck with this one! (Note - this boss will not appear in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Beating the second boss clears Launch Bass Zone Act 2 and sends you to Mushroom Hill Zone.) |
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Special Stage
Sonic the Hedgehog 3's special stages have become known as the game "Blue Sphere." They can be accessed by jumping into special stage entry rings that are hidden throughout the game. Your goal is to collect all of the blue spheres on a giant three dimensional globe without hitting any of the red spheres. There are metallic spheres with stars on them that act as bumpers and send you in reverse. You can jump over red spheres or bumpers. The easiest way to clear special stages is to collect the rectangular clusters by only getting the outside walls. If done correctly, all the spheres in the center of the cluster will disappear and become rings. Collect enough rings and you can earn a continue. The speed of the levels gradually increase with time, so work quickly! If you complete a special stage, you'll be rewarded with a Chaos Emerald. After you collect all seven Chaos Emeralds, the special stage entry rings will no longer transport you to a special stage, but give you 50 rings instead. |
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| To become Super Sonic after collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds, collect 50 rings and press the jump button twice. Super Sonic is much faster and invulnerable, but each passing second costs one ring. You can still be killed by getting crushed or falling into pits as Super Sonic, though, so it doesn't mean you can be completely careless!
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| Notes |
Hedgehog Day
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 had such a large advertising campaign that its release date - February 2nd, or Groundhog Day - came to be known as "Hedgehog Day." |
Save Feature
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was the first Sonic game on the Genesis to boast a save feature, the first ever being Sonic CD. There are six save slots that can be continued at any time. When you beat the game, it also acts as a psuedo-level select, letting you start on the first act of any level. The data select screen shows off how many emeralds you've collected, the number of lives and continues you have, along with, of course, your current level. |
American Hatred
Yuji Naka returned to Sega to make this game under the condition that he could be the producer and that no Americans would be on the development team. Although the game was developed in the USA, Naka got his wish. The Americans at Sega Technical Institute simultaneously worked on Sonic Spinball. |
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BETA Clues?
Using the level select cheat (below), you can find a few levels that aren't in the final version of the game: "Mushroom Valley," (later renamed to "Mushroom Hill") "Flying Battery," and "Sandopolis." These zones eventually resurfaced in Sonic & Knuckles. You can also listen to all the music from Sonic & Knuckles via the Sound Test...which is proof that the two games were originally planned to be one. You'll also notice in the screens above that the zone art pictured in the bottom right corner is from Sonic 2. Here's a little table to match them up:| Level Name | Sonic 2 Art |
| Angel Island | Emerald Hill |
| Hydrocity | Chemical Plant |
| Marble Gardens | Aquatic Ruins |
| Carnival Night | Casino Night |
| Angel Island | Aquatic Ruins |
| Flying Battery | Hill Top |
| Ice Cap | Mystic Caves |
| Launch Base | Oil Ocean |
| Mushroom Valley | Metropolis |
| Sandopolis | Sky Chase |
| 2P VS (First) | Wing Fortress |
| 2P VS (Second) | Hidden Palace |
Sonic & Knuckles remnants pop up again in Hydrocity Zone. In the miniboss fight (end of first act), wait underwater until the drowning countdown begins. When you jump out, the game will begin to play Sonic & Knuckles' miniboss music instead. |
Bleached Laundry
In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Knuckles' socks are yellow instead of green as seen in the official art (and later in Sonic & Knuckles). This oddity is not intentional, but rather a consequence of the pallette. The pallette that controls Knuckles' shoes in Sonic 3 is the same pallette used for the words SCORE, TIME, RINGS, and SONIC on the HUD. The HUD is yellow, therefore, so are his socks. The prototype screens that were originally used to make this finding can be found at Rlan's Secrets of Sonic Team. |
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Lost Introduction
At one point in Sonic 3's development, the introduction before Angel Island Zone featured Sonic (in the Sonic 2 sprite style) surfing through the waves. This sequence was most likely meant to be for playing the game solo as Sonic, without Tails. The animation sequence was restored by hacking genious Nemesis who put it together in a save state that works with the final version of Sonic 3. If you'd like to download the save state or read more about how the opening was found, check out Sonic CuLT's Sonic the Hedgehog 3 page. Even though we could probably just copy it here, Sonic CuLT was where Nemesis originally released his findings. |
Pedophiliac Jackson Soundtrack?
According to an interview with former STI President Roger Hector (conducted by HXC), Michael Jackson was originally hired to write the soundtrack for Sonic 3. However, Sega dumped him when some of the controversy about his life began surfacing in the media. We don't know much more than that, but we're pretty sure of one thing: some of his music remained in the final version of the game. The miniboss theme has Jacko's trademark yelling in it and the Carnival Night Zone tune sounds a lot the primary theme behind his hit album, Michael Jackson's Jam. Many of the songs were changed when Sonic 3 was ported over to the PC in Sonic & Knuckles Collection, leaving more reason to back up this arguement.
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| Cheats / Secrets |
For cheats relating to the lock-on portion of this game, please visit the Sonic & Knuckles GamePage.
Level Select (Sound Test)
To access the level select menu, press "UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, UP, UP, UP, UP" right after the "SEGA" intro screen. If done correctly, you'll hear a ring tone. You have to input the code very quickly - a good way to judge the time is the background, so make sure you finish putting it in while it's still black. Once at the title screen, press up to access the new menu. |
Debug Mode
To enter Debug Mode, hold A and press start when choosing your level from the Level Select screen (NOT Data Select).
To start debugging, press B, then you can select any sprite in that level and put it on the screen. To select a different sprite, press A, and to place it on the screen, press C. Note that sprite selection is different from Zone to Zone. Also, instead of displaying the time elapsed, it displays the number of sprites currently on the screen. |
100,000 Points
If you complete an act in 9:59 (the maximum amount of time before the game kills you), you'll recieve a 100,000 point bonus.
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