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• Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic & Knuckles .:: Sonic 3 Part Two...

Name: Sonic & Knuckles - All three nations

Other Names (Nicknames): S&K, "Sonic & Knux", Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Knuckles in Sonic 2, "The Best/Last Good Sonic Game"

Release Dates:

October 18th, 1994 - North America

October 18th, 1994 - Japan

November, 1994 – Europe

Quality: 16-Bit, Side-Scrolling Platformer

Game System(s): Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Also released on:

(1). Sega Saturn - Sonic Jam Collection

(2). Internet - RealPlayer Arcade, Sega B-Club

(3). PC - Sonic & Knuckles Collection, Sonic Action 4 Pack

(4). GameCube/PlayStation 2/Xbox/PC - Sonic Mega Collection (Plus)

(5). Nintendo Wii - Virtual Console

(6). Blaze – Blaze Dual Game Controller Player, Blaze Sega Mega Drive

(7). Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 – Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection

(8). Microsoft Xbox 360 - Xbox Live Arcade

Developer(s): Sonic Team and Sega Technical Institute

Publisher(s): Sega Corporation

Credits:

Executive Producer: Hayao Nakayama

Executive Management: Shoichiro Irimajiri, Paul Rioux, Tom Kalinske

Executive Coordinator: Mamoru Shigeta, Tomio Takami, Diane A. Fornasier, Roger Hector, Takaharu Utsunomiya

Project Managers: Shinobu Toyoda, Masaharu Yoshii, Hisashi Suzuki

Producer: Yuji Naka

Director: Hirokazu Yasuhara

Lead Game Designer: Hirokazu Yasuhara

Senior Game Designers: Takashi Iizuka, Hisayoshi Yoshida

Lead Programmer: Yuji Naka

Senior Programmers: Masanobu Yamamoto, Takahiro Hamano

Character Designer: Takashi Thomas Yuda

CG Artist: Kunitake Aoki

Animator: Takashi Thomas Yuda

Enemy Artist: Satoshi Yokokawa

Scene Artists: Shigeru Okada, Satoshi Yokokawa, Chie Yoshida, Takashi Thomas Yuda, Kunitake Aoki, Tsuneko Aoki

Art Assistant: Osamu Ohashi

Music Composer: Howard Drossin

SEGA Sound Team: Masaru Setsumaru, Jun Senoue, Tatsuyuki Maeda, "Milpo", Tokuhiko "Bo" Uwabo, Sachio Ogawa, Tomonori Sawada, Naofumi Hataya

Product Manager: Pamela Kelly

Lead Testers: Jason Kuo, Blair Bullock, Michael Baldwin, Dermot Lyons

Sound Special Thanks: Masanori Nakayama (Studio Who), Cube Corp., Opus Corp.

Special Thanks: Deborah McCracken, Emi Kawamura, Jina Ishiwatari, Taku Makino

Character Introductions: Silver Sonic 2 (AKA Mecha Sonic).

Region Game Takes Place On: Angel Island (named the Floating Island in the US version).

Concept Introductions: As you may have gathered from the title, Knuckles the Echidna is playable in this one. He’s slower than Sonic and his jumping sucks, but he can bust through walls and barriers that Sonic can’t, as well as climb walls and glide great distances. When he has all the Chaos Emeralds, he can transform into Super Knuckles, which has all the benefits that you’ve come to expect from a Super form.

Other than that, this game plays and feels exactly like Sonic 3, so scope that page to learn more.

Concept Deductions: This game plays and feels exactly like Sonic 3, so scope that page to learn more.

Main Framework: Exactly the same as Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Go to that page to learn more.

Storyline: Sonic & Knuckles picks up right after Sonic the Hedgehog 3. After watching the Death Egg fall once again, Tails safely flew Sonic to the ground using his two tails as rotary blades like a helicopter. The hedgehog dashed forward, only to skid to an abrupt halt upon seeing that blasted echidna thief again! Knuckles seemed to be a bit more furtive than usual, looking around cautiously before throwing the switch that closed the door he just came out of. Sonic & Tails had took no chances to just let that secret go unattended, so they just as quickly threw the switch and went inside to see this secret.

            Of course, since it was a cave, it would have obviously led to a ring portal — and that's exactly what it led to! A giant, slowly spinning ring. But something was different about this one. It was not gold, but instead flashing in a radiant pastel of the seven Chaos Emerald colors. Upon jumping inside, they were directed to a strange cavern with 8 altars, the upper middle one containing a gigantic green gem. If this was not odd enough, right when Sonic landed onto the ground, the 7 Chaos Emeralds he collected would thus float above him, spinning rapidly, only to disperse high into the airspace of the cavern, and relentlessly beam down on the 7 vacant altars in bright pillars of light to show the seven Chaos Emeralds. They were devoid of their color and energy, virtually useless. Yet they were expanded in size to the point where they were almost as big as the giant green one in the center.

            As Sonic jumped on top of the first colorless emerald, he and Tails were just as quickly warped to an alternate dimension where they managed to achieve the true power of that particular emerald as the energy concentrated within the gigantic gem, restoring its power and color, thus creating what is known as a Super Emerald, the stimulated, supercharged, and much larger form of a Chaos Emerald. A curious event that Sonic and Tails would mind to repeat for the other Emeralds as they raced to finish off the Death Egg before Eggman got it up and running again…

After Sonic’s story…

Knuckles was feeling rather well about the way things were going. Eggman was beaten, the Master Emerald was safe, and Angel Island was healing. All was right with the world, right?

Nay, I say. As Rad Red chilled out with the animal inhabitants, a strange bomb was dropped right in front of him. Knuckles barely had time to get up before it blew up, knocking him back and scaring the animals. This clearly meant one thing: Eggman was back! Or was he? It seemed that a lone Egg Robo had emerged from the wreckage of Dr. Robotnik’s failed conquest and it was determined to honor its master’s wishes, picking up right where Eggman started, play by play.

Knuckles, however, wasn’t having it. He’d failed his home once. IT WOULD NOT HAPPEN AGAIN. Thus, he set out to put an end to the menace once and for all!!

Personal Criticism/Opinion (by Ryan the Game Master):

Sonic & Knuckles, the second half of Sonic 3, the end of the “Death Egg Saga”… and another overrated classic.

But, let’s not dwell on that (my views in that respect were listed in Sonic 3). No, let’s look at this game’s real claim to fame: THE LOCK-ON FEATURE. This nifty piece of work oozes with so much potential, it’s unreal. It almost makes one forgive releasing these two games separately. You see, the top of the game’s cartridge has a small door, which hid a built-in cartridge port. Clearly, Sonic 3 was meant to go here, so chunk it in and have at it. You can’t really say you’ve beaten either game without doing this, as now you can play all the levels and get all the Emeralds (Chaos and Super), allowing Sonic & Knuckles to go Hyper and finally giving Tails a Super form.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. You can also put Sonic 2 in and play that game as Knuckles! Quite a challenge, given that his strengths and weaknesses translate there without any modifications. Also, any other Genesis cartridge can be used here, allowing you to play through random Special Stages. Using Sonic 1 allows this tidbit to be used in full (Sorry, can’t play as Knux in that game).

In short, Sonic & Knuckles finishes this story and, to most, Sonic’s glory days. Things would never be the same after this one. *sigh*

GAMER'S PERSPECTIVE:

Replay value? Lock-on helps significantly. And there’s always those Emeralds to go for, as well as using Knuckles to go all over the damn place.

Graphics? Same as Sonic 3.

Music & Sound Effects? Same as Sonic 3.

Storyline? Incomplete without Sonic 3. That being said, it’s not bad, but I still wish it were more involved.

*cue level completion jingle*

OVERALL RATING? I rate Sonic & Knuckles a 8.9/10.