Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic & Knuckles is a video game that consists of 3 releases

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Sonic & Knuckles is a sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and allows you to play as knuckles. Also allows you to play as Knuckles if the Sonic 2 Cartridge is attached.

Overview

Sonic & Knuckles is basically an expansion pack for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. SonicTeam not having enough time to finish Sonic 3 the way they originally had intended, were forced to split the game in to two halves - Sonic & Knuckles is Sonic 3's "Part 2". On its own, Sonic & Knuckles can play like a stand-alone Sonic game; players can either choose to play as Sonic, or for the first time, play as Knuckles the Echidna, who was introduced in Sonic 3 as a bad guy. But unique to Sonic & Knuckles is the ability to "lock-on" to other Sega Genesis games via the additional cartridge slot on the top of the game. When locked on to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, you access "Sonic 3 & Knuckles", the full 14-level epic as it was originally intended to be experienced. Locking Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on to Sonic & Knuckles presents you with "Knuckles in Sonic 2", which allows players to control Knuckles with his unique climbing and gliding abilities through modified versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 levels. Locking Sonic & Knuckles on to the original Sonic the Hedgehog (or any other Sega Genesis game) allows you to play randomly generated bonus stage levels. However any random Genesis game would only generate 1 level thatwould repeat itself whereas if Sonic 1 was attached the game had thousands (literally) of generated bonus stage levels.

As is always the case with Sonic games, the main gameplay premise is to go from the beginning of the stage to the end of the stage as quickly as possible while grabbing as many rings and destroying as many enemies as you can. All of Sonic's skills from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 are copied verbatim, like the InstaShield and the Elemental Power-ups. Newcomer Knuckles can attach to almost any wall in the game and climb up it (allowing him to access new areas), as well as being able to glide through the sky. And, true to his namesake, he can utilize his spiked knuckles to punch through stone walls that Sonic nor Tails could break through. Just like Sonic 3, each "World" is two acts long, with Act 1 ending at a Miniboss encounter and Act 2 ending at a showdown with Doctor Eggman.

Plot

Though Sonic and Tails managed to thwart an attempt to relaunch the Death Egg in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Doctor Eggman has not given up looking for the "Great Stone of Power" said to be hidden on Angel Island. As the Death Egg plummets back down to the floating island once again, it lands closer than ever to the source of power, stored within a hidden chamber deep inside an active volcano. On the other side of the Island, Knuckles the Echidna becomes suspicious that Doctor Eggman may have lied to him about Sonic the Hedgehog being his enemy...

Lock-On Feature

Sonic and Knuckles is packed in a special cartridge that has a space on the top where another Megadrive cart can be placed. For the most part, if a player puts a cartridge on top and turns the system on, they would be greeted by a message saying, “No Way!”, accompanied by a picture of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Dr. Robotnik . However, if the player clips on Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or Sonic the Hedgehog 3, they will be given access to special features.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Initially, when you put Sonic 1 on Sonic and Knuckles, you will be greeted by a condescending “No Way?” message, the difference being the question mark instead of the exclamation mark. But, if you press A, B and C simultaneously, you will start playing randomly generated special stages.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Lock this cart on and you will get to play through Sonic 2 as Knuckles. The gameplay and level design remains almost identical, apart from a few hidden items that only Knuckles can access and a few different colours that pop up randomly.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Slap on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and you will gain access to the most interesting features that Sonic and Knucklescan unlock.

You can play through both games as Sonic, Tails or Knuckles.

There are now more save slots in the game.

By far the most interesting addition is that, once you've got all 7 Chaos Emeralds, the Special Rings begin flashing multiple colors. Jump into one and you'll find your character at the Master Emerald altar. You'll lose the Chaos Emeralds (and your ability to transform into Super status), but you'll earn the chance to play through the S&K Special Stages to win Super Emeralds. Collect all 7 Super Emeralds and beat the game to get the perfect ending. Also, if you're playing as Sonic or Knuckles, collect 50 Rings, then jump into the air and press one of the action buttons to transform into Hyper mode. Hyper mode is similar to Super mode, except that a trail of ghost images follows your rapidly flashing character. Hyper Sonic can perform a mid-air dash that destroys all enemies on screen (tap A, B, or C in midair after a jump) while Hyper Knuckles can clear the field with his basic climb attack - as soon as he latches onto the wall, he triggers an earthquake that pops all the local baddies. Tails, meanwhile, finally earns the ability to transform into Super Tails, complete with speed upgrade and a foursome of super-powered Flickies that automatically charge at any enemies on screen (including bosses).

When playing as Knuckles in Sonic 3, the bosses will be altered so that they are unique to Knuckles.

Levels

Mushroom Hill Zone
Flying Battery Zone
Sandopolis Zone
Lava Reef Zone
Hidden Palace Zone
Sky Sanctuary Zone
Death Egg Zone
Doomsday Zone

Soundtrack

Neither Masato Nakamura (Sonic 1 and Sonic 2) nor Michael Jackson's Sound Team (Sonic 3) are anywhere to be found providing music for Sonic & Knuckles. Instead, the entirety of the soundtrack is scored by American Composer Howard Drossin.

Trivia

Mushroom Hill Zone was originally named Mushroom Valley Zone; it was renamed Mushroom Hill Zone when it was cut from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and became the opening stage in Sonic & Knuckles, to continue the theme of past Sonic games (Green Hill Zone, Emerald Hill Zone).

This is the final Sonic game Hirokazu Yasuhara worked on with SonicTeam. Yasuhara was best known as the Director for most of the Sega Genesis Sonic games, overseeing everything from what moves Sonic had to even personally designing many game levels himself. Yasuhara reportedly left SonicTeam to stay with the Sega Technical Institute, after friction developed between Yuji Naka and himself. When Sega Technical Institute was dissolved, Yasuhara eventually followed Mark Cerny to Naughty Dog Entertainment, where he began work on the Jak & Daxter games. When Yasuhara left Sega, Yuji Naka publically went on record to call him "useless" to the company.

Originally when this game was part of Sonic 3, Flying Battery Zone would preceed Sonic 3's IceCap Zone. At the end of Flying Battery Zone, a short cutscene would play showcasing Sonic using a hatch on the airship as his make-shift snowboard. Though this scene was scrapped when the games were split, a similar concept appeared in Sonic Adventure 2's opening scenes, where Sonic rips off part of a helicopter to use as a make-shift street board.

While Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles are technically considered two separate games that connect to each other via "Lock-On" technology, unreleased beta versions have been discovered that suggest Sega was at one point considering a third version of the game that contained all of "Sonic 3 & Knuckles" on a single cartridge.

Both "Hidden Palace Zone" and "Death Egg Zone" were intended to be full-fledged levels in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but had to be cut due to time restrictions (though Death Egg Zone did appear in Sonic 2, but just as a small boss arena).

In Sky Sanctuary Zone while playing as Sonic, after Knuckles extends the sky bridge, stand next to him and press DOWN on the D-Pad to make Sonic duck. Knuckles will turn and frown at you, waving an arm to tell you to go on ahead.

Game Credits

Executive Producer - Hayao Nakayama
Project Manager - Hisashi Suzuki
Project Manager - Shinobu Toyoda
Project Manager - Masaharu Yoshii
Producer - Yuji Naka
Director - Hirokazu Yasuhara
Lead Game Designer - Hirokazu Yasuhara
Senior Game Designer - Hisayoshi Yoshida
Senior Game Designer - Takashi Iizuka
Lead Programmer - Yuji Naka
Senior Programmer - Takahiro Hamano
Senior Programmer - Masanobu Yamamoto
Character Designer - Takashi Thomas Yuda
C.G. Artist Kunitake Aoki
Enemy Artist - Satoshi Yokokawa
Scene Artist - Kunitake Aoki
Scene Artist - Chie Yoshida
Scene Artist - Tsuneko Aoki
Scene Artist - Shigeru Okada
Scene Artist - akashi Thomas Yuda
Scene Artist - Satoshi Yokokawa
Art Assistant - Osamu Ohashi
Music Composer - Howard Drossin
Sega Sound Team - Bo
Sega Sound Team - Sachio Ogawa
Sega Sound Team - Milpo
Sega Sound Team - Masaru Setsumaru
Sega Sound Team - Tatsuyuki Maeda
Sega Sound Team - Tomonori Sawada
Sega Sound Team - Masayuki Nagao
Sega Sound Team - Jun Senoue
Excecutive Management - Shouichirou Irimajiri
Excecutive Management - Tom Kalinske
Excecutive Management - Paul Rioux
Product Manager - Pamela Kelly
Executive Coordinator - Mamoru Shigeta
Executive Coordinator - Tomio Takami
Executive Coordinator - Diane A. Fornasier
Executive Coordinator - Roger Hector
Executive Coordinator - Takaharu Utsunomiya
Music Composer - Brad Buxer
Music Composer - Bobby Brooks
Music Composer - Darryl Ross
Music Composer - Geoff Grace
Music Composer - Doug Grigsby III
Animator - Takashi Thomas Yuda

General Information Edit

Game Name	Sonic & Knuckles
Platform(s)	Genesis PC
Publisher(s)	Sega
Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Genres	Add a new genre Action Platformer
Themes	Add a new theme
Original US Release	Oct. 18, 1994 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases	Sonic 3 & Knuckles