Sonic & Knuckles Is The Yin to Sonic 3’s Yang

& Knuckles

NOTE: This is a continuation of my review of Sonic The Hedgehog 3. If you have not read my review for that game, I would highly recommend doing so before reading this one.

Click here to read that review.

In October of 1994, only just 6 months after the release of Sonic 3, we would get the second part of Sonic 3 in “Sonic and Knuckles”, because Sonic 3 is too epic for just one cartridge. Sonic 3 was already a massive smash hit and now the full vision of Sonic 3 can be played thanks to the addition of Sonic and Knuckles. But you might ask how is this done? How do you get both Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles and make them one massive super game? Let me introduce you to one of the coolest things in gaming, Sonic and Knuckle’s “lock-on” feature.

Sonic and Knuckle’s LOCK ON is unlike anything else

You see, Sonic and Knuckles is unlike any other Genesis game out there as it has a “lock-on” feature with the cartridge itself. The idea is you would put your copy of Sonic 3 on top of Sonic and Knuckles to get the full experience in “Sonic 3 and Knuckles”. You can also lock-on Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and play as Knuckles in Sonic 2. However, the levels in 2 are not really made with the idea of Knuckles in mind, as Knuckles plays quite different than Sonic or Tails, more on that later. You can also put about any Sega Genesis cart on top of Sonic and Knuckles, however you will be met with a “no way” screen saying the game is not compatible with what you put on top of Sonic and Knuckles. Sorry, for how badly I want to play as Knuckles in Mortal Kombat 2, it just doesn’t work that way, but that never stopped our imagination.

However, not all is lost with putting random games in Sonic and Knuckles. You can play a custom version of “Blue Sphere”, the 3D like special stage in Sonic 3, with a random generated level based on what game you put in. So putting in something like the say Ecco The Dolphin will give you a different generated Blue Sphere level than locking in a different game like say NFL Madden 94’ into Sonic and Knuckles. This is really cool as you want to put in all your different games to see what kind of wacky Blue Sphere levels the game can generate based on the coding of the cartridge in S&K. It might not be much but it is better than just being told no when you try a game that won’t vibe with Sonic and Knuckles. I would also not recommend having Sonic and Knuckles on top of Sonic and Knuckles, on top of Sonic and Knuckles… I mean I guess you could and I can’t stop you, but… yeah would not recommend it.

Sonic and Knuckles is much more than just an add on, it is also a full Sonic adventure (see what I did there) in itself. As Sonic 3 feels more like a part 1, Sonic and Knuckles is more a part 2 of the full Sonic 3 story. Putting both Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles gives you the full out experience. Nowadays, Sonic and Knuckles would just be a massive DLC update or something along those lines. I will always give SEGA credit when it comes to gaming innovation, especially in the 90s and early 2000s. Originally I wanted to do both Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles as one review as they do go together like peanut butter and jelly, but I think there’s enough difference between the two despite having pretty much the same game play that they should be have their own spotlight each.

So what makes Sonic and Knuckles on its own so great? Well first of all you can play the game as Sonic or you can now for the first time ever, play as the new character in the Sonic universe in Knuckles the Echidna. I mentioned in the Sonic 3 review as Sonic is more about speed, Knuckle’s focus is more on power, but he can do much more than break down a few walls that Sonic can not. Knuckles and jump and glide for a short time in the air with him slowly losing altitude. This becomes really handy in those tricky platforming spots. Knuckles can also climb walls slowly but surly, he might not have as much of the vertical exploration abilities as say Sonic’s friend in Tails, but he can find some cool hidden spots if you look hard enough. However, Knuckles is not as fast as Sonic and his normal jump is the lowest of the playable characters, making some platforming parts that Sonic can do with ease a little tricky with Knuckles.

Another reason you will want to lock in Sonic 3 in Sonic and Knuckles is you can now play as Knuckles in Sonic 3, doing his own story. In Sonic 2, it’s simply slapping Knuckles in Sonic levels, however it’s much different with Sonic 3. Playing as Knuckles often has you doing a different path from Sonic that’s more a custom to Knuckles’ abilities and at times is much harder experience for those looking for a challenge. Seeing how Sonic and Knuckles came out after 3, the difficulty is great for people who just completed Sonic 3 and want something a little harder. An example of the different paths between Sonic and Knuckles is in the zone Launch Base Zone Act 2, Sonic is using his speed in the upper part of the zone that’s above water. As for Knuckles’ path, it is more under the base, underwater and ends with him coming from the underparts of the launch base, both parts of the zone having their own layouts. I always saw it as Sonic’s version of a level as the main and Knuckles’ version of levels as more of a “remix” of sorts, made to take advantage of Knuckles’ abilities. It’s like adding a whole different campaign into Sonic 3 with the addition to Knuckle’s levels. Some of the mini and full bosses are also much different for Knuckles as they are for Sonic, in most cases being harder or adding an extra element to difficulty to them.

Knuckles gliding as his version of this zone (Carnival Night) is much different that in Sonic’s story.

Sonic and Knuckles if you play it on its own starts you at Mushroom Hill Zone. A pretty simple level but not as simple as Sonic 3’s first level in Angel Island. Again, both Sonic and Knuckles have their own branching paths with different platforming and puzzles both sides have to overcome, as for Sonic, it’s more about blazing fast platforming as Knuckles is more focused on climbing and in some cases combat with remixed boss fights. However, if you are playing with Sonic 3, the game goes from the final level of 3 in Launch Bass, right into Mushroom hill. Where one part ends, the other begins.

You can progress deep into Sonic and Knuckle’s story, You learn that Knuckles has been tricked by Robotnik for him to steal the Master Emerald. Knuckles’ duty is to protect such a powerful gem to get into the wrong hands, unfortunately, Robotnik is too much and now Sonic and Knuckles have to team up to stop Robotnik from resurrecting his flying totally not his version of the Death Star (it is) in the “Death Egg” and pretty much taking over the world.

In the last third of Sonic 3 and Knuckles, the stories take branching paths and their end game and final bosses being much different between Sonic and Knuckles. Getting all seven Chaos Emeralds in Sonic’s story (done ala Blue Sphere bonus stages) lets him unlock the true final boss and get the game’s true ending, so it’s 100% worth going a little out of the way and collecting the Chaos Emeralds in the game, also you get Super Sonic/Knuckles, so that’s cool too!

Stealing the Master Emerald from Knuckles? Not cool Robotnik, not cool.

As far as the core game play itself, it’s Sonic 3 again, and that’s more than fine. Like I said, 3 and Knuckles is a tale of 2 halves that are made to be put together for one amazing 2D Sonic game. Being able to play as Knuckles in Sonic 3 adds so much to what was already a fantastic 2D platformer. If you loved Sonic 3, you’ll love the addition of Sonic and Knuckles.

The only think I can really give flack for Sonic and Knuckles is there is NOT a save feature as there is in Sonic 3. Another reason you’ll want to play both Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles together as you can save with both games attached, and this game is about as big if not bigger than Sonic 3, so you’ll want to have the save space, especially if you’re going after all 7 emeralds or even the 7 hyper emeralds that give you Blue Spear levels that are flat out insane, but the reward is well worth the struggle. There’s also a lack of a 2 player mode in just vanilla S&K.

In the end, Sonic and Knuckles is the jelly to Sonic 3’s peanut butter. By itself it’s more 2D Sonic at its peak, but adding both games together gives the game the ultimate Sonic experience. Rating this will be tricky as Sonic and Knuckles is pretty much made to be played with Sonic 3. Again, they would make it DLC now a days but the lock-on technology was so cool back in the 90s. Hell looking back it’s even cool in today’s standards, at least I think it is, maybe that’s my older gaming fan coming out. I’m going to give this 2 scores, one being just Sonic and Knuckles and the other being Sonic 3 & Knuckles as I feel S3&K is the ideal and best way to play the third game in the Sonic Genesis trilogy. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles to me is one of if not the best game SEGA has made and that’s quite the conclusion as SEGA has made some amazing games. Yes, Mario has had more consistent success and to me has more higher quality games, but I would put Sonic 3&K over any Mario game hands down, there’s your hot take of the month. Growing up with Sonic as a kid, I can look back and say this was Sonic at it’s absolute best. Truly the peak of 2D Sonic and Sonic the Hedgehog as a whole.

Sonic and Knuckles gets 4 out of 5 stars.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles as a complete game gets 5 out of 5 stars… and Knuckles