For Sega's mascot, the third time's the charm! I love how Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was the first half of a longer video game story, a story whose conclusion came later that year in the Sonic & Knuckles lock-on cartridge...
1994 was Sonic's best year. And this game was the biggest reason why. But there are other reasons too. The (archie)Sonic comics were hitting their stride, SATAM was still airing, Knuckles made his debut, and every Sonic game released that year was of solid quality.
What if instead of Spinball and Mean Bean, Sonic 3 came out sooner in Fall 1993 as intended? But as a full game in one cartridge. And with beta music instead of MJ's. How'd history have played out? What would've changed about the Sonic franchise's future(including SatAm)? Imagine growing up with altered memories in that parallel universe.
@@tlst94 It would be interesting to Imagine, I'm sure the game would still be great, but it's hard to say if it would be as beloved and remembered as it is now.
19:31 There are sprites that depict Knuckles in Competiton Mode gliding and climbing, however he is unable to perform these moves within the mode proper; In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, he can only glide and climb in the single-player campaign.
Sonic 2 was the first video game I ever saw, but Sonic 3 was the first game I ever fell in love with. Still to this day my favourite game and my go to comfort game.
Thanks! I just thought it would be interesting to make 2 videos that like Sonic 3 and Knuckles are two parts separately and when together are the complete picture
I can only image the hours of work this video took. You can tell. And it payed off. Never have a seen a video about a game this complete. Well, I have. Other videos of GTV.
Thanks for the support. I don’t keep track of how much time exactly but it was done about 1-2 hours each day for about 8-9 weekdays while working. So is that a lot of time? Not to me. I was sitting there doing nothing anyway. So I might as well get productive! Oh and the next video is on the way!
Yeah he did the first 2 games and owns the rights to it too, which is why later games do not use the opening song! did you ever eat the sonic blue curry by the way?
Great videos as always and right on time for Sonic 3's 30th anniversary. Figures you would release Sonic & Knuckles' video on it's 30th anniversary during October. One quick correction however, Knuckles doesn't glide or wall climb in the competition mode, not even in the Sonic Origins remake. What Knuckles can do that Sonic or Tails can't is break on a dime, making him useful in Balloon Park (Tails' flying makes him useful in Chrome Gadget and Sonic's speed in the other 3 stages).
@@GTV-Japan it was giving to me as a present and i absolutely love every minute of it. There was no other game like it. I remember Bubsy when playing Sonic. To have two cartridges together was the breaking point. It was like a turbo machine. Pure 90s nostalgic when games and hardware wasn’t very common.
I appreciate all consoles now, but during this time i was a sega dude and this was such a wonderful drive down memory lane. Alot of what you covered explains why i felt so blindsided by 3s release. I remember the hype for 2... but for 3 i just ran into it in a Fiesta in Houston (Fiesta is a grocery store... if all things)
Ah, man! Do we really have to wait until October for the sequel? Sonic 3 is my all-time favorite Sonic game, and Groundhog Day is one of my all-time favorite movies. How come I never heard anything about Hedgehog Day? Another great video. Thank you very much for uploading it. I love this Sonic launch day series.
I was more of an Nintendo kid growing up but I'll always say Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the Sega Genesis's best game and my favorite game on the console. Together and not seperate, though.
Sonic 3 and knuckles for sure is my favourite sonic the hedgehog game period. This is part 1 of that ultimate game. It’s so good and I love it, I might want to replay it.
Sonic 3 is likely the MD's best achievement. But I'm gonna pick sides with DK when the next part comes out. The old days are so exciting with many great releases.
man yeah the sonic 3 and knuckles era was definitely peak sonic! I did love sonic 2, but 3+k added so much new stuff between the extra levels, new bonus rounds, and the new powerup items!! a while back I picked up sonic jam on saturn so I got to revisit those games again, I may have to dust it off to play some more! definitely looking forward to the sonic vs. dkc grudge match though, country was easily one of my top ten SNES games! though its a tossup which I liked more between it and 3+K...
I have big plans for that video don’t worry! I know the whole of TH-cam is gigantic but I want to do something “never done before” even though it probably has and I don’t know it. Anyway. Soon.
I still remember going to my friends house for his birthday and playing Sonic 3 with him. That was an epic 2 hours but i was definitely wondering why it was too short. 6 months or so later, we found out why 😅
Most people thought Sonic 3 & Knuckles was an awesome combo cartridge, but some took it as a knuckle sandwich. The blast processing is real with that one! They didn't include it in the Sega Mega Drive Classics compilation for the Nintendo Switch, but luckily it emulates perfectly on my NES Classic Edition! Anyway, great video, and I'm looking forward to the next. Also, Punxsutawney is the most stupid name I've ever heard for a town!
I wonder how lock on technology could have been further implemented with other games. Could it have been a cheaper means for sequels to be made, a continuation for stories such an RPG, more ram for more spite work or animation. It could have breathed new life into older games as well. We will never know.
Well we know with Sonic 3 but not beyond that. I think it would have been cool to mix and match games but at the same time the industry is geared to selling what’s new and forgetting what’s old.
Funfact about the movie Groundhog Day, i lived in that town where the movie was filmed Woodstock Illinois. my family would go to that town every once in a while when i was a kid, and i even saw the sign on the bottom that says, "Bill mury steped here not to mention the scene were phil meets ned was next to my grandfathers old lawyer office if you see one of the doors that says jones thats my grandpas last name just thought i would give you my experience with my childhood and the movie.
7:00 Now, the story goes, during production of the game, that certain songs were considered to be demo tracks to future or existing songs in Micheal Jackson's discography. Jam was connected to Carnival Night Zone and the Sonic 3 ending theme without the Sonic and Knuckles game attached later developed into Stranger In Moscow. However, the quality of the sound system that was used for the game was considered to be so bad, no pun intended, that Micheal Jackson did not want to be associated with the project at all! Bill Baxton was one of, if not the only, member of Jackson's team that helped make music for the game. He even put in a sample of the tune, "Hard Times", from his own band, "The Jetzones" for Ice Cap Zone. Years later when allegations against the pop star arose, all other releases of Sonic 3 had the music changed to avoid copyright, but not for the better. To this day, if you want to hear the original sounds of Sonic 3, you have to buy the game in the open after market or by emulation and that's if the original ROM is available. 9:21 This idea blew my mind after I beaten Sonic and Knuckles first and Sonic 3 later. When I decided to put the 2 together and it showed Sonic 3 and Knuckles with the opening theme from the other game, I was so excited and tried to play the entire game from start to finish with the Super Emeralds! 17:39 Fun fact! You are not actually running in the special stage where you are collecting the Blue Spheres. If you want to know how it was done, check out StrifeFox's channel. He created a video on how certain elements of the game are made. 18:41 It can also deflect certain projectiles. The Thunder shield can also protect you from projectiles as well. Just don't exposed them both to water. If you manage to hit the Thunder shield as Super Sonic, you can gain the extra bonus of attracting any near by ring to you. 25:20 Big oof!
That Sega of today is not the Sega of the 90s. Its Sega in name only. Sega burned down their bridges long ago and its been bleeding talents ever since. Sammy only let Sega go first in SegaSammy to give their gambling rep a wholesome, respectable name. Had it not been for the Act 74 of 2018, Sammy wouldnt have allowed Sega come back and resurrect some of their old franchises.
WhatIsMind48 Thats the anti addiction law of Japan, right? Same reason why Konami returned to video games. LOL They thought lobbying for the legalization of pachinko would get them more money. Fun fact: when its legal, its taxable.
Today is also the day that Paramount Pictures revealed the movie title for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 that's coming to theaters this December. Later this year will also be the 30th Anniversary of Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country.
Don't forget Mickey Mania, The Lion King, Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day, Nickelodeon GUTS (the video game), Disney's The Jungle Book (the video game), AAAHH! Real Monsters, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic Triple Trouble, and Ecco: The Tides of Time, too.
“Hardware that cost 99 dollars” Nowadays a single game can reach such prices. True it’s usually a special edition of sorts, but it’s usually not worth the asking price. Even Baldur’s Gate 3, has a lot of the collectibles in digital format (music, art book), despite buying specifically a physical edition.
Sonic 3 was released 10 days before i was born in February 12 1994 i love the sonic games alot ever since i was 9 years old back in 2003. Best regards Nikita.K
If someone had told me a new GTV would drop while I was on vacation I might have postponed the trip! That part about Michael Jackson was some interesting trivia.
Learned more about the story of Sonic 3 in this video than I did from the "Console Wars" book. The author seemed to spend the lion's share of pages covering the buildup to Sonic 2sday as well as fluff about the personal lives of SoA employees. The book managed to cram the events 1993 and after in the last 100 pages. The development and release of Sonic 3 seemed to be mostly glossed over in favor of minutae about drama. In fact, I don't recall the book even covering the launch of Sonic 3. Console Wars buried the lede in thst regard. The contrived extrapolated conversations could be downright cringe, too. I kept thinking, "Nobody talks like that!" Don't get me wrong, the book is still worth checking out, but it can be annoying at times. With all the glaring omissions and glaring inclusions. I wish it would've given more attention to the people who made the games. The book mostly dealt with businessman who mostly see the games as product to be moved rather than being passionate about the contents of the game. Anyway I curious how you feel about the Console Wars book.
I have no real opinion about it. I usually just stay in my own orbit and don’t follow anything outside of that. But I do wonder how and why some people get to do this kind of thing and get some fame and most importantly money, while others don’t, despite doing the exact same thing. This video will probably make $30 if I’m lucky. Thanks for watching!! And happy Hedgehog Day!🦔🦊💎
Sonic 3 was a great game, but I'm always left wondering how it would have been at the time, if they hadn't rushed the development team, and it had come out whole, it's known that the game came out with glitches, which Sega knew about, because They even warned about it in the manual, the infamous "Robotnik traps", although well, in the end I guess it was more interesting that way, with Sonic and Knuckles being released separately.
@@GTV-Japan Well, there are several hacks that have tried to recompose the experience, as it would have been, some very well done, rearranging the order of the phases, and even reconstructing transitions that had been planned between levels, that gives an idea of the result, what It is impossible to know what impact that would have had at the time.
What if in an alternate timeline, Sonic 3 never got split in-half? And if the full game came out on Feb. 2, 1994? How'd Sonic's history have played out? Imagine growing up that parallel world with altered memories.
The full game was not finished by then, so it would have never happened. OR it would have just been sonic 3 without a second part. none if it mattered because in the end the playstation came in and cleared house, nothing could have stopped it, nothing.
@@GTV-Japan Just use your imagination. Don't be realistic. What if the game was already fully-finished by that release date? Had it began development months sooner.
@@GTV-Japan 🌈 Just use your imagination. Don't be such a realistic spoilsport. lol This is an alternate history scenario. Haven't you heard of multiverse theories where there are infinite altered possibilities? What if the game was already fully-finished by that release date? Had it began development months sooner. Also, what if the PS1 had been delayed for 1996?
@lgfrrse0402 but it’s impossible! So then it would have just been a bigger game. But it was already in demand and highly rated so I guess it just gets sold all year
Heres whats gonna happen if Sega released the full Sonic 3 game: the revenue of Sega will diminish. Theyll still sell 3 million+ units. But the 1.24 million S&K units will be non existent. And Donkey Kong Country will sell more than the 9 million units Nintendo sold, since theres no competition from Sega in Fall of 1994.
7:00, though in a tweet not too long ago, Yuji Naka basically threw hints that yes, they were working with Michael Jackson as they were flying over Neverland. 12:42, a movie by 2 Ghosbuters alumni got shafted from Punxsutawney due to uninteresting locales but a commercial for Sonic 3 was filemd there? SEGA did the right thing tbh. 13:30, that Sonic hat is so adorbs. The Sonic game that I grew up with thru a disc that had multiple games. 25:20, well...that's a pile of fish they're gonna have to fish aggressively. Been reading Console Wars by Blake Harris and I'm starting to see where this is going.
I also found a video clip where Bill Murray was at Punxsutawney before the movie was made but it didn’t make sense with the spoken script since the movie was made in IL but it was very stealth ¥
The thing I've realized about business and this time period of Sega Vs: Nintendo is that even though the SNES was at 40% market share vs Genesis's 60%, the numbers were so good for both companies, it really didn't matter. It was damn near even. a 60/40 split is a sustainable environment for both companies. All Sega had to do was take their time and release a quality follow up. The N64 wasn't great, but it was good enough to still be successfully profitable for Nintendo. This wasn't the case with the spaghetti flinging Sega did with the 32X, CD and finally Saturn all of which were hastily flung together and pushed to market without the long term support from developers and a lack of consideration to the consumer about how much our parents back then could actually afford to buy Nintendo waited, developed and released a solid enough platform, even with all its disadvantages to a PlayStation, and it kept them in solid business. Sega's lack of steady leadership focused on a solid platform moving on from the Genesis soured consumers on their platform and even when the Dreamcast came out in the next generation, which could've been a solid enough platform to keep the company in the hardware business, the consumer had their alternate to Nintendo. They had Sony. Sega had let the consumer down and the consumer in reaction, let Sega down, like a rejected date to the prom. They were let down easy, but they were let down nonetheless... To the point that the Dreamcast is basically Sega's equivalent of NEC's Turbo Graphx 16... In that both consoles are completely solid platforms with great game libraries that absolutely NO ONE (in comparison to their competition) invested in. People want both of those consoles in their collections and love the game libraries, but they were abject failures in the marketplace of their day.. Sega could have EASILY stayed in the hardware business had they just taken their time, communicated with the consumer effectively and released a competitive follow up platform to the Genesis. It's honestly a great example of growing so big then resting on your laurels far too quickly. Nintendo only now 30+ years later has the kind of built in good will with gamers to make these kinds of mistakes and survive long enough to rectify them. Sega didn't hold that luxury, though at the time they thought they did..
I don’t know about staying in the hardware business. It now starts at 5 billion just to develop something and there’s no guarantee it will succeed. It’s much better on the 3rd party side where all money goes towards software and advertising. I’d also prefer one format for all games. It’s getting there. But yeah even at 40% the snes was everywhere. It was a great time. 2 machines at 99$ with great games everywhere. Still lots of bad movie games but just ignore them!
@@GTV-Japan I certainly don't believe Sega should make a return to hardware, but had they focused at the time on just bringing one solid replacement out for the Genesis instead of the 32X, CD and then the Saturn, they probably could've made the Dreamcast a more successful console when it comes to consumers adopting the platform. They probably would have still folded in the hardware market, but I think the landscape would look slightly different today.
@FloridaManRacer all that stuff came from a very Japanese mindset where the economy is based on annual bonuses so people go out and easy drop thousands on useless stuff without a thought. So it made sense to make a new hardware every year because someone will buy it and then just move onto next year. But that only works there. It has created a nice cottage industry for no nothing e-beggars on TH-cam who have an endless supply of “why XYZ was epic fail!” However 😂
2D Sonic games always featured the same stages, the difference with Mania is theres a story reason behind it. See if these stages sound familiar: Checker Pattern Hills Casino Themed Zone with lots of flippers and springs Floating Egg Fortress Castle In The Sky/Laputa Inspired Floating Island Drowning and Air Bubbles Zone Chemical Plant
It's sad that people today seem to forget that this was the one of the best reviewed games of the year and the best reviewed Sonic game yet at the time. Probably due to the fact that every port of Sonic 3 from 2007 onward has been a butchered port.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles will go down in history as not just my favorite Sonic game of all time, but my favorite video game of all time. The gameplay is peak Classic Sonic, which has some massive yet amazing level design, the Special Stages are unique and are much better than the ones compared to Sonic 1's Acid Trip and Sonic 2's Half Pipe, plus the addition of the Elemental Shields and their useful abilities really help you get out of sticky situations. What's also great about S3&K is that it has the ability to tell a story without a word. The player is able to see it via cutscenes and level transitions, and it really does make for a great Classic Sonic story. And despite the legal issues regarding MJ and the Sonic 3 music, I'm actually glad that S3&K finally got re-released via Sonic Origins.
One thing I noticed replaying this on Origns is that it's kind of like a chase, how the stages mix together. it helps telling the story too without words. Thanks for watching!
@@GTV-Japan And thank you for creating excellent video game content, not just with Sonic. Looking forward to the Sonic & Knuckles vs Donkey Kong Country video in October. Two excellent games.
I have big plans to tell the events from two points of view. I kind of did that in the Mario World and Sonic 1 videoes. Hopefully it will be interesting!
I am a non-conformist and my opinion on this has also been the small minority one, with almost nobody else voicing any of these things, but I know it has merit. I'm about to complain a lot, but it's mostly so people can get another perspective from someone who was there at the time. I was a huge fan of Sonic. It was my favorite series back in the day. However, Sonic 3 did not impress me. It left a significantly bad impression. (Late 1993 also had the huge disappointment of Sonic Spinball for a kid who was - perhaps too innocently - expecting something much better...and only being able to rent a Sega CD and Sonic CD kept me happy with Sonic from late 1993 through 1994.) Of course, this is all relative, as it's still one of the better games of the era, so keep that in mind as I complain. Let's start with the story. Wow! The most involved story to date, right? True. And that story starts with the invincible Super Sonic getting punched so hard by a non-Super Knuckles as to have the chaos emeralds fly out of him like rings. Nobody else had a problem with that? For 30 years, I'm the only person I've known who ever had a problem with that. I don't know if you've seen the movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' where the new and all-powerful Super Saiyan Blue gets shot through the chest by a basic grunt laser gun, but the feeling is similar. Let's now get to the stages. Sonic 2 had 9 zones, not including Sky Chase or Death Egg. Sonic 3 had 6 zones. (And the two-player mini-zones were so short but gave a tantalizing glimpse into what could have been added in one-player mode.) Oh, but those zones were larger, right? Yes, but they got old, and to me, they were frustrating as well. I prefer more and shorter, versus fewer and longer. Of course, I admit that some Sonic 1, 2, and CD zones are too short, but to me, they tend to be more interesting than the Sonic 3 zones. Ironically, Sonic 3 zones seemed to have fewer paths in many cases. And the tops... Oh, the tops... I hate those things that have you slowly inch your way across Marble Garden just to then touch the ground and zip you to your death by crashing into some barely on-screen enemy or obstacle. On the bright side, Hydrocity (minus the moving wall) is a water level done right. Much better than Labyrinth Zone, for example. But even that has the up and down rotating platforms and blowers that slow things up, and while the slides and running over the surface of the water are fun, it's a taste of the gimmicky from later games, whereas I feel that Aquatic Ruin was a water level with more classic gameplay, which also rewarded players with a top path out of the reach of the water. But really, Carnival Night (where you are walking into bumpers going the other way and had a drum that you jumped on and had no idea how to move otherwise) and Launch Base didn't seem much better than Marble Garden. There was not a stand-out stage for me, and most were simply not particularly fun. Now for the aesthetics. Sonic 1, 2, and CD had an "unreal" quality. The trees were not trees. They were metallic/robotic or plastic or something along those lines. The dirt was made of boxes, like the old Sealtest checkerboard ice cream. Flowers spun. There were weird neon-like signs floating in the sky...like "Cope"... This was a totally new world...a world that I wanted to see more of. Sonic 3 changed all that. Now, it was like any other game. Sonic was in a more real world environment. Well, not quite to the extent of the human princess love interest and humans with regular proportions in business suits and such in the 3D games yet. But still, it was a huge step into the real world and out of the mysterious dimension that fed my imagination. And now Sonic himself looked like a stuffed animal. He didn't look cool. He looked cross-eyed and puffy. And now he was surpassed in almost everything by others. Tails and Knuckles has more abilities, yet could also run as fast as the "fastest thing alive". Sonic had the...instashield. Cue the "Price is Right" failure song. The others could literally fly and glide. Thankfully, Knuckles couldn't jump quite as high, so that was one differentiator. But anyway, Sonic now felt cute and tame and no longer particularly special or cool. And finally, there was the price. I don't think of Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles as one game. Why? Because my parents spent their money to buy two games for me, not one. So they are two games. It's easy when emulating for free or buying something on some storefront for $4.99 to think of Sonic and Knuckles as one game, but it was two. And to be honest, even putting them together as one game, I still prefer Sonic 2. Sonic 3 is still one of the better 16-bit games, but neither it nor Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the best Sonic game in my opinion. And I was one of those who was blown away with Donkey Kong Country (even though I didn't have a Super NES) and it immediately surpassed Sonic 3 & Knuckles in my eyes. Anyway, although I was a downer with regards to this subject, thanks for the video! I just wanted to give my opinion that starkly contrasts with the norm. I'm looking forward to the video coming in October about Sonic and Knuckles!
While I will admit your first paragraph about the opening not making sense is understandable, The Sonic games have never been known for their story in the first place, if anything they were plotless. So I have no problem letting that slide. It's not like there was a story telling standard or world rules to live up to, given that the world building rules in the Sonic games where non-existent (and still are). Your second and third paragraph on the levels and art change I strongly disagree with. Angle Island was a cinematic feeling opener with lots going on, and stuff never seen in a Sonic game before. Hydro city was the only good water level the classic games had at the time. Zone 3 was fun and relaxing, and those tops don't kill you when you get hit man, you just lose the top. That's why it doesn't stress me out. Carnival Night was silly but I was fine with it ...except for the barrel that gave you no hint you need to use the d-pad. Ice Cap was great, and we never had a snow level in Sonic before. And Launch Base is my favorite Sonic level ever, it's colorful, has an epic sense of scope, and has some satisfying cutscenes and bosses. And as far as Sonic's new look is concerned it feels more in character for him. In those first two games he looks too angry and it gets weird if you look at it too long. Yeah he looks chunkier in Sonic 3, but he has more personality to me. And that instant shield is great to use, it comes in handy by making bosses and enemies easier. Which you would notice when you play as the other two characters. Lastly, sure the rest of the game has a more realistic style, but it takes place on an island isolated from the rest of Sonic's world, so it only makes sense things look different from what we see in the previous games. You can only be dazzled at the same checkered landscapes, angular palm trees, and corkscrew bridges for so long.... (looks at the modern era games that keep rehashing green hill zone) Lastly, when compared to the others genesis era games I greatly prefer it over Sonic 2. Infact Sonic 2 is my least favorite of the Genesis era games ...It's better then Spin ball and 3D Blast but I even prefer Sonic 1 and CD despite their flaws. And for the record Sonic 2 was my first Sonic game as a kid and I played it all the time back then and didn't play Sonic 3 until years later. So this is NOT a nostalgically written comment. So I for one have no problem putting nostalgia aside to view things objectively. Sonic 2s Levels are fun at first but feel less interesting to me, and once we get to Mystic Cave Zone the level design just falls apart with hard to avoid traps and glitches, bland set pieces that bring down the pace, and moments where you have to abuse invincibility frames. And unlike the Sonic 3 Barrel where you can beat it easily when you know what to do, the pit of doom in Sonic 2 is something I still struggle to avoid. You can tell the designers where clashing with each other when making this game. And the special stages are the worst ever, even worse then Super-Star and Heroes stages. I can never see what's coming ahead in time to prepare for the obstacles while getting the rings, even when I'm playing as Sonic alone. Now compare that to Sonic 3's special stages, sure they have a learning curve but I can adjust to them a lot better once I knew how the gimmicks work. Today on my best playthroughs of Sonic 3 I can get all of the chaos emeralds before Marble Garden Zone. and worst I can get them all AT Marble garden zone. And lastly the final boss may have a cool opening, but it's pretty dull in combat. Even though I don't struggle with it anymore like I did as a kid, it's pretty dull just waiting for it to land and then hit. For the record while DKC had amazing visuals for the time and I do find that game's dated 90s visuals charming, my opinion of that game is similar to what I think Sonic 2, minus the special stage and final boss gripes. So yes, as someone who grew up with Sonic 2 and has a nostalgic connection to that game, I still think Sonic 3 is where the Sonic games peaked. Even Sonic 3 all by itself despite it not being complete without the & Knuckles game attached. This is where I stand and I'm sticking with it. Sorry man but I just flat out don't agree with you.
@@lloydshanahan154 It's fine that you flat out don't agree with me. Even after reading your opinions, I still flat out don't agree with you. I take the point about the tops, with you losing it rather than dying (unless it's a crushing death, I think), but that might be the end of it... I don't like Sonic 3's art style, nor its stages for the most part (which again, are only 2/3 of Sonic 2's stages even when you remove Sky Chase and Death Egg), and since I'm not a fan of at least half of those zones that do show up, that leaves just around 3 zones that I do like in Sonic 3, and even then, I feel that none of them surpass the best three zones in Sonic 2. And when you change the world of Sonic, you take away its essence. It's instructive that all of the new zones in 2017's Sonic Mania kept the original aesthetic while introducing totally new and fun concepts. When you lose the aesthetic, you're not making it more interesting by making changes. You make it more boring by making it look more like any other game on the market. I'm also not a fan of Green Hill Zone being copied and pasted to an extreme degree simply for nostalgia-bait. Everyone knows that it's "the" Sonic zone, so even when Sega can't make a good game, if they slap that coat of paint on a stage and show a trailer, some of the old school players will fall for it. I'm not talking about that, though. Mirage Saloon Zone is less like Green Hill Zone than Angel Island Zone is, when looking from a biome / setting standpoint. However, it keeps the traditional aesthetic and applies it in interesting ways, so in that way, it exceeds Angel Island Zone in creativity (while also far surpassing S&K's Sandopolis Zone...even Act 1...(we don't talk about Act 2...), which is also set in an arid environment. By the way, although I'm less into Mortal Kombat, I took one look at (the new game) Mortal Kombat 1's early footage and thought, "This is pretty and the environment looks like the real world. I hate it." Mortal Kombat established things in the background like swirling portals, Oriental-themed fighting rings of death, acid ponds, spike-studded pits, and such, and now we have an interior of a nicely-appointed mansion with a charming seaside view. You can still make it Mortal Kombat without simply copying the same pit again, but a non-threatening Chinese teahouse and things of that nature with no uneasiness whatsoever just don't fit what I imagine Mortal Kombat should be, even if they may be fine backdrops in a different game. As for the story, I would rather have no story than a story that starts with Super Sonic being punched in the face by a seemingly random non-super stranger and losing his emeralds. To me, it went from a feeling of "Sonic is the best!" to "The creators must now hate Sonic and want to usurp him by some new startup whom they want to write to become popular." (When new characters arrive to the detriment of the original cast - rather than bolstering them like Tails did as an assistant in Sonic 2 - I often find it to be at least one sign of a series possibly jumping the shark.) You know how a lot of Star Wars fans felt about Luke in the new trilogy, as well as how Rey was written to surpass him with barely any effort? That's what Sega did to Sonic in that story back in 1994, and even as a kid, I could recognize that. (And in Sonic 3's case, it didn't happen over 3 decades later, but rather less than 3 years after the first game. It's as if Rey came to surpass Luke in Return of the Jedi.) I appreciate your long comment, and I can write a lot more, myself, but I'm sure you get my point even though I know that you (as well as the majority) still don't agree with me.
@@Rationalific While I think those analogies of Star Wars and Mortal Kombat are pushing it. (not saying your wrong though about what you said on the two respective series) I think you miss heard me, because making a fuss about Sonic 3's story is blowing things out of proportion. The classic era games in general have little to no story, and that includes Sonic 3, And it's not like me or anyone has ever praised Sonic 3 (or any classic era Sonic game) for it's plot to begin with. I agree that opening cutscene makes no sense, but given that no rules were formally written for the world at the time, it's really not a big deal. Now when the plots got more dialog driven and cinematic with Adventure 1 onward, that's when I feel it's more appropriate to be more critical. But when it comes to these types of games, the plot means little to nothing, even if the new cutscenes are entertaining. Because having a story in a video game is usually like having story in porn. It's expected to be there and it can be great if done well. But's not important. I also think that given the setting of the Sonic 3 and the fact that the earlier games were not really consistent with their cover's art style to begin with, I'd say the change to a more realistic art style was justified. Given that Sonic is in a place that's foreign and mysterious. Even if the landscape is a bit nonsensical, given we have a snow area and a desert on one island. ...yeah makes sense. I can pick apart logic in video games too and both Sonic 2 and 3 have their fair share of illogical quirks, like Sonic breathing in space or Robotnik ripping off Star Wars. Plus when I close my eyes and think Sonic, I always think of that Greg Martin cover art. Nothing against the later designs of Sonic but those Greg Martin covers for me are Sonic's definitive look. And the Sonic 3 sprite is more in line with what I think of when I think Sonic. The early versions were fine for the time, but there is nothing wrong with doing something new when you know there is room for improvement. And I honestly think that's what they had in mind when they re-did his game model. How ever it is clear you see Sonic differently. Maybe your more of a sucker for his dragon-ball rip-off side. Lastly As far as the levels go, I see Sonic 2 as two good levels (Emerald Hill and Chemical plant), two really good zones (Casino Night and Hill Top), one ok Zone (Aquic ruin ), and everything else afterward is a mixed bag at best and flat out mediocre at worst. Sonic 3 has one decent Zone (carnival night), and the other five are awesome. And when you use the Knuckles lock on, you additionally have one good zone (lava reef), one mixed bag of a zone (Sandopalis), and the other four are also awesome. I like these levels because they are fun to replay and explore and I'm still finding new secret areas and paths to this day because they have so much to find in them. and while they are bigger and longer levels, they don't feel bigger and longer to me. Especially since the vanilla game is only a smidge longer then Sonic 1 and yet 3 feels shorter. And sure the game is more obstacle and hazard heavy, but they are easier to avoid. Possibly because Sonic's model is smaller, or maybe I'm more relaxed and don't let anxiety distract me or something. not sure what it is but I can just focus and relax more with Sonic 3 then the other classic era games despite it being more hazard heavy. The only thing I think Sonic 2 does better is multiplayer, but not by a lot. And lastly, compare it to Sonic mania where we have one good zone (the one with the TVs and popcorn), two ok zones (the one with the deserts and guns that launch you and the final level), one Meh Zone (the one with all the gates, boxes and winds... yeah I don't remember the new zones that well) and everything else is a either a re-hash or a re-hash with an extra gimmick and a bunch of mazes. Mania may be good, but you can tell it was made by fans, or at least managed by a different Sonic team. And I'm not the type that's saying this out of nostalgia. Because Sonic 3 is not a game from my childhood, Sonic 2 on the other hand is. I'll always cherish my memories of playing Sonic 2 as kid given it was my first Sonic game, but I honestly think Sonic 3 (even without Knuckles) objectively Nukes it out of the water like Hiroshima. I even think Sonic 1 (despite it's faults) holds up better. I don't want to tarnish your childhood memories or anything like that, I just want to explain my side better. Everyone want's something different from something. And it's clear that my requirements for fun and emersion are different from yours. The least you can do is be a bit humbler about your opinion.
I never had a Sega machine growing up and only got around to playing through S3&K about a month ago. I loved the new power ups, characters, and most of the bosses. The level themes could be quite good, too. On the whole, though, I think. I prefer the more compact Sonic 2 experience. Most of the stages here felt too dang long, as did the game as a whole. Other long platformers like Mario 3 and SMW wisely break the action up into 70+ bite-size chunks to stave off monotony. Spending close to ten minutes on single levels here can get to be a real drag. Great game, but not my favorite Sonic. Also, Yuji Naka comes off as a total jerk here. Hope he doesn't end up struggling with any high-profile bombs or legal woes down the line. ;)
Great retrospective, a shame we have to wait for October to see the conclusion where history shows DKC wins (even though at the end of the day we all had more investment in Sonic 3's story and gameplay). Sonic 3 by itself is a pretty competent if rushed game. However, with Sonic & Knuckles it's one of the best Sonic games of all time only rivalled by Sonic 2. 😊
@@GTV-Japan From what I have read and heard Sega only won the console war for about three years? By the end Nintendo had more sales in the 16bit market. Only in Europe was the MD more successful than the SNES in sales. 🤔
@pferreira1983 that’s not true. I have a data sheet that shows the sales numbers. If you compare the overall market which included the PlayStation and the game boy and everything, then Sega no longer had the lead but 16 bit head to head was Sega all way
It's criminal that these gorgeous 2D graphics of the late 16 bits and 32 bits eras were so dismissed from 1995 onwards, with the advent of 3D graphics. Those were primitive and ugly, 2D should have prevailed for a few more years!
I think it is wrong to credit Kalinske with the success of the Genesis in the US. He took over office from Katz mere months before Sonic 1 was released. He was at the right place at the right time, as Katz had to leave due to his opposition to Sonic. In my opinion Kalinske was an incompetent hack as proven by his terrible track record with marketing the Sega CD, 32X, Nomad and Saturn in the West. The guy obviously had no idea about video games and even less what people wanted, else he would not have pushed FMV and 32X down our throats.
Well there are many what ifs but if someone opposed Sonic then you are throwing the whole thing away. If someone refused Sonic 1 at the start all that success or even the possibility of it never happens
Lets put it this way: When Katz was in charge, Sega was pounded to the ground by the NES. When Kalinske left, so did Sega's sales. Which left Sega never winning any console war. It didnt help that the SNES released a bunch of new games to justify not switching to 32-bit just yet.
@@LemonicParade I think you are mistaken. In the mid 80s to early 90s Sega slowly built a reputation which enabled their success once Sonic was released alongside the SNES in the US. Sonic was conceived and developed in Japan for exactly that purpose, to disrupt the SNES launch in the west.
@GTV-Japan I agree that Katz was completely wrong regarding Sonic. That wasn't my point. Like 99% of everything Sega up until that time, Sonic came from Sega of Japan. Sega of Japan let Katz go because he did not support the concept of Sonic as a mascot platformer to counter the launch of the SNES and Mario World. Katz wanted to replace it with an US developed game "by a famous comic artist" which from what I gather ended up seing a release as Greendog some time later. Actually I did not really want to discuss Katz vs Kalinske as that was not my point. My point was that Hayao Nakayama and the talented folks at Sega of Japan were responsible for the success of the Genesis, not Katz nor Kalinske. That said, Katz did a very decent job marketing the Genesis during its early years ("We Bring The Arcade Experience Home" and "Genesis Does what Nintendon't" were campaigns during the early years) while Kalinske just happened to be at the right place as the right time, ie. shortly before Sonic released.
I do not like the vanilla version of Sonic 3. It's just too short and even without knowing about the development issues, it still obviously feels like just half a game. Even the ending feels incomplete, because there is no ending. When the two games are combined into how they were originally intended, it's one of the best Sonic games of the entire franchise, but when split in half, they're just two incomplete let downs. Also, for the record, I did not play them as a kid when they first came out. I had an SNES growing up. I didn't first play them until Sonic Mega Collection on the GameCube.
Whenever Yuji Naka's name appears in a 90s Sega documentary video like this, you know hes gonna earn his title of being a scumbag and future convicted criminal. Cerny shouldnt have taken in Yuji Naka. The guy's basically a Japanese version of Littlefinger.
Littlefinger/Lord Baelish is a traitor who brought down a royal family in the book series A Song of Fire and Ice (adapted to TV under the name Game of Thrones) by acting all friendly to all its members. Kinda like what Yuji Naka did when he was hired by Mark Cerny to work at STI. Of course if this was the one case, he'd be easily forgiven for that. There's also his interference with Sonic X-Treme, suddenly canceling Geist Force for his own benefit among other things.
@WhatIsMind48 sorry I’ve never heard of this book or TV show as like all long time GTV viewers know, I only watch Japanese OTA broadcasts, and watch no other news or outside media.
Quite alright. The point is, everytime something dumb happens in Sega, Yuji Naka's name seems to pop up. Even from interviews, the guy oozes of arrogance. Like when he was expecting Nintendo to call him after quitting Sega. Or how he turned down some offers from other companies because he "was holding out on Nintendo."
bigdeagle1331 I dont agree with that fully but I do get your point. The last time Sonic had a universally acclaimed game by everyone was 2 decades ago. The last time Mario had a universally acclaimed game was last November.
Another wonderful entry into the GTV library. Also LOVE the S&K vs DKC tease at the end. I was a Genesis kid, and I’m still not over DKC turning the tides of the 16-bit war. Love your work, my friend!
you forgot to mention one of the reasons why they split the game into 2 parts... 1 being a mcdonalds toy promotion that was coming out the same time and they couldnt avoid it so they had to make due with what they had done and they refined the later half with the lock on which now a days could be considered DLC but back then it was a full 50 bucks give or take to get what would be nothing more then 6 more levels and some polish to the earlier levels... on the plus side of things when they made the split up on the game they added the sonic 2 lock on to play as knuckles in there... they tried sonic 1 but couldnt get the color palate to work with knuckles so they scraped that idea
Would've loved to have been in PA for this, but i was waaaay on the West Coast. The most i got on Hedgehog Day was a Blockbuster rental and the Happy Meal toys
I gotta wait until October?! Man, YOU'RE TOO SLOOOOOWWWW!! (That's just a Sonic joke, take as much time as you need! I'm sure you have quite a few banger videos coming out this year anyway! Your Processing can only be so Blast...)
I figured it would a fun thing to do and maybe if someone had nothing going on in their life, maybe this will be something to look forward to for a while.
Another fantastic and polished video, I always enjoy your story telling, you can feel your passion and love for these things and that's very special. Awesome stuff! (ps recently renamed my channel, was Pixel Vixen)
Thanks! of course I remember you! Actually youtube and thier stupid @ namings has changed the name of everyone when I read the comments, which is confusing. Take care friend!
I love how you saved the best music for your tease at the end for SONIC & KUCKLES!!!! Nice touch!!! So pumped for October!!!! Great job as always, GTV-Japan!!!
@@GTV-Japan Totally. I feel the same way. The games were especially way more ambitious and over the top. I feel like a lot of game developers took more chances back then with their games.
19:30 Uh, I don't think that's true. Last time I checked, Knuckles plays like Sonic in the split screen mode. No climbing or gliding. They didn't even fix it for the lock-on game.
Awesome video! Growing up in the '90s was amazing! The Sonic 3 release was indeed _huge_ !! I remember drooling over preview pictures in magazines prior to its release as I couldn't wait to play it! Though, there were so many classics released that year like Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country, Earthworm Jim, Castlevania Bloodlines, and Sonic & Knuckles! It was a fantastic year for games!
I should hope so, people back then served tables for 20 hours and waited in line to buy a single game. Justified sitting game developers down and make those games, to push into the consumer industry.
Great video, always a fan of big game releases back in those days. Also, if anyone could point me in the direction of those Sonic 3 remix that would be nice 👀
I grew up playing a lot of classic Sonic as a kid and boy did I sink a TON of hours into this one! Still get a little misty-eyed when I hear Endless Mine 😢 Thanks for making!
@@GTV-Japan That's fair. My friends and family also love Sonic 2 more. It is indeed a great game. For me though, Sonic 3 & Knuckles just did everything better. From the improved visuals, bigger level designs, the replay value of playing each character to unlock their super forms and viewing their good endings, and the music, my word the ost for this game is my favorite from the 16-bit era next to SoR2 and DKC2. S3&K is the complete package for me. :)
@Victory-in-YAHUSHA I tend to prefer older games as 1- I’ve had more time to play them and 2- those were more groundbreaking first. If that makes sense. Not that Sonic 3 wasn’t amazing but Sonic 2 on day one was unbelievable
@@GTV-Japan Oh I understand. Just like how impressive Doom and Super Mario 64 were when they revolutionized 3D gaming and became instant classics. It's been years since I have played SM64 but it is one of my faves.
I predict that Punxsutawney Phil will NOT see his shadow in 2024!
You can take the boy out of Western PA, but you can't take the Western PA out of the boy.
Only if they don't shine a spotlight on him
😮
Born a yinzer, gonna die a yinzer, n’at.
Because that has any bearing on reality. Its nonsense. 😂
Sonic 3 & Knuckles had such a big impact on me back then. Still one of my favorite games ever.
It was quite the time to be alive! Thanks for watching!
I don't think so. S&K has his own title screen
More of a Sonic 2 guy but yeah.
Me too but hey!
Sonic 3&knuckles is the best sonic game ever made no other sonic game ever topped it
For Sega's mascot, the third time's the charm!
I love how Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was the first half of a longer video game story, a story whose conclusion came later that year in the Sonic & Knuckles lock-on cartridge...
1994 was an AMAZING year for gaming and the game that will always come to mind first for me is Sonic 3&K.
First and best!
1994 was Sonic's best year. And this game was the biggest reason why.
But there are other reasons too. The (archie)Sonic comics were hitting their stride, SATAM was still airing, Knuckles made his debut, and every Sonic game released that year was of solid quality.
What if instead of Spinball and Mean Bean, Sonic 3 came out sooner in Fall 1993 as intended? But as a full game in one cartridge. And with beta music instead of MJ's. How'd history have played out? What would've changed about the Sonic franchise's future(including SatAm)? Imagine growing up with altered memories in that parallel universe.
@@tlst94 It would be interesting to Imagine, I'm sure the game would still be great, but it's hard to say if it would be as beloved and remembered as it is now.
19:31 There are sprites that depict Knuckles in Competiton Mode gliding and climbing, however he is unable to perform these moves within the mode proper; In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, he can only glide and climb in the single-player campaign.
D'oh!
Sonic 2 was the first video game I ever saw, but Sonic 3 was the first game I ever fell in love with. Still to this day my favourite game and my go to comfort game.
Sonic 3 is still an interesting sequel 30 years later. 😀👍🎮
Totally!
Thank you for all of your hard work!! ❤ cant wait for part 2 at the end of the year 🎉
It’s going to be kind of like part 2 3 and 4!
@@GTV-Japan it's worth it considering you do these solo and put tremendous amounts of effort
Thanks! I just thought it would be interesting to make 2 videos that like Sonic 3 and Knuckles are two parts separately and when together are the complete picture
I can only image the hours of work this video took. You can tell. And it payed off. Never have a seen a video about a game this complete. Well, I have. Other videos of GTV.
Thanks for the support. I don’t keep track of how much time exactly but it was done about 1-2 hours each day for about 8-9 weekdays while working. So is that a lot of time? Not to me. I was sitting there doing nothing anyway. So I might as well get productive! Oh and the next video is on the way!
@@GTV-Japan amazing!
Such wholesome content ❤
Thank you very much! 💎🦔🦊
I remember those early 1990s days playing Sonic the Groundhog before they changed the name
You're an original fan, that's for sure!
Nice! Clever marketing. And I never knew the Dreams Come True guy made the music for Sonic...
Yeah he did the first 2 games and owns the rights to it too, which is why later games do not use the opening song! did you ever eat the sonic blue curry by the way?
Another very good documentary. It was such an interesting time. Sonic 3 & Knuckles are true masterpieces.
Great videos as always and right on time for Sonic 3's 30th anniversary. Figures you would release Sonic & Knuckles' video on it's 30th anniversary during October. One quick correction however, Knuckles doesn't glide or wall climb in the competition mode, not even in the Sonic Origins remake. What Knuckles can do that Sonic or Tails can't is break on a dime, making him useful in Balloon Park (Tails' flying makes him useful in Chrome Gadget and Sonic's speed in the other 3 stages).
oops! well, I'll have to fire my proofreader!
Fantastic video like always! Glad you make the time to do these!
I saw always have time! Even though it’s a natural fact of life that you less time each year.
played sonic 3 at that time of release and wow, it was something else. love every minute of it
It was something else! The whole last 3 years of the Genesis were great!
@@GTV-Japan it was giving to me as a present and i absolutely love every minute of it. There was no other game like it.
I remember Bubsy when playing Sonic.
To have two cartridges together was the breaking point. It was like a turbo machine. Pure 90s nostalgic when games and hardware wasn’t very common.
I appreciate all consoles now, but during this time i was a sega dude and this was such a wonderful drive down memory lane.
Alot of what you covered explains why i felt so blindsided by 3s release. I remember the hype for 2... but for 3 i just ran into it in a Fiesta in Houston (Fiesta is a grocery store... if all things)
That’s funny! I thought it was odd too. Everyone was hyping 2 and CD there was literally no buildup for 3. No previews!!! Just here it is!
Ah, man! Do we really have to wait until October for the sequel? Sonic 3 is my all-time favorite Sonic game, and Groundhog Day is one of my all-time favorite movies. How come I never heard anything about Hedgehog Day? Another great video. Thank you very much for uploading it. I love this Sonic launch day series.
It was a one-day thing, done locally, long before online video! But I have been to Punxsutawney many times. It's a happening place!
Yes, you must wait until October, but I promise to not drop the ball. Unless I die unexpectedly.
@@GTV-Japan You've been to Punxsutawney? Have you seen the groundhog? Well, it seems we have no more choice than to wait for October!
I still have friends who work camera crew on 2/2. It was a blast. Always right after the weeklong farm show in Harrisburg.
Pretty excited for the next episode.
Well the next video is 85% written. But S&K, it’s not!
Sweet! These are so well made.
Thank you! Cheers!
I was more of an Nintendo kid growing up but I'll always say Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the Sega Genesis's best game and my favorite game on the console. Together and not seperate, though.
Sonic 3 and knuckles for sure is my favourite sonic the hedgehog game period. This is part 1 of that ultimate game. It’s so good and I love it, I might want to replay it.
No time like today, the game’s birthday!🦔🦊💎
@@GTV-Japanyeah it would be brilliant honestly since it’s so good playing it attached to sonic and knuckles is the best way of playing it
Till this day one of the most replayable games ever made
Every once in a while i just need to get all 14 Emeralds and reach the credits
That's quite an effort!
Sonic 3 is likely the MD's best achievement. But I'm gonna pick sides with DK when the next part comes out. The old days are so exciting with many great releases.
I would say DKC had more impact, it was a much bigger surprize! I remember some reviews saying the game was too easy, but yeah, Rare did a great job!
@@GTV-Japan Oh no no no, DKC was not easy! I can complete Sonic 3! 😂
Excellent vid, as always. You couldn't make a bad video if you tried. Thanks for the great content.
Thanks!! I appreciate the kind words. Don’t forget part 2 in October!!
@@GTV-Japan I'll be there. AND...in a clean shirt.
man yeah the sonic 3 and knuckles era was definitely peak sonic! I did love sonic 2, but 3+k added so much new stuff between the extra levels, new bonus rounds, and the new powerup items!! a while back I picked up sonic jam on saturn so I got to revisit those games again, I may have to dust it off to play some more! definitely looking forward to the sonic vs. dkc grudge match though, country was easily one of my top ten SNES games! though its a tossup which I liked more between it and 3+K...
I have big plans for that video don’t worry! I know the whole of TH-cam is gigantic but I want to do something “never done before” even though it probably has and I don’t know it. Anyway. Soon.
This is GTV, racing to the top.
Nice! But this year the IDs are going to be a lot different. In the next video it will become very clear
I really hope the October release date for s&k video is a play on the original release dates and it will actually come out next month
ha! Sorry no. The next big project for me is all about Final Fantasy VI! But I swear I will bring out the SK VS DKC video in October as promised.
I still remember going to my friends house for his birthday and playing Sonic 3 with him. That was an epic 2 hours but i was definitely wondering why it was too short.
6 months or so later, we found out why 😅
Saving my thoughts for October.
.
.
We’ll see you there!
The irony of getting an advertisement for Sony PlayStation for a video about the height of the console wars between Nintendo & SEGA.
Ha! To the victor go the spoils
Most people thought Sonic 3 & Knuckles was an awesome combo cartridge, but some took it as a knuckle sandwich. The blast processing is real with that one! They didn't include it in the Sega Mega Drive Classics compilation for the Nintendo Switch, but luckily it emulates perfectly on my NES Classic Edition! Anyway, great video, and I'm looking forward to the next.
Also, Punxsutawney is the most stupid name I've ever heard for a town!
Well, that's what the indians called it...
I wonder how lock on technology could have been further implemented with other games. Could it have been a cheaper means for sequels to be made, a continuation for stories such an RPG, more ram for more spite work or animation. It could have breathed new life into older games as well. We will never know.
Well we know with Sonic 3 but not beyond that. I think it would have been cool to mix and match games but at the same time the industry is geared to selling what’s new and forgetting what’s old.
Happy 30th anniversary. Sonic 2D always alive,because of rom hacks like "Resort island"
Awesome video!
Funfact about the movie Groundhog Day, i lived in that town where the movie was filmed Woodstock Illinois. my family would go to that town every once in a while when i was a kid, and i even saw the sign on the bottom that says, "Bill mury steped here not to mention the scene were phil meets ned was next to my grandfathers old lawyer office if you see one of the doors that says jones thats my grandpas last name just thought i would give you my experience with my childhood and the movie.
That’s pretty cool! If you look in the background there are signs that say Woodstock. But I think you know that
@GTV-Japan it is cool I am back in Illinois anyway good state
@Bardockssj2003 I’ve driven through Chicago but that’s it.
@GTV-Japan yah Chicago is a good place to go to anyway. I can't wait until the Sonic and Knuckles video comes out soon. I am looking forward to it.
@Bardockssj2003 I’ll start it sometime in August! Right now I’m working on the next video. It could be done by Sunday!
This game along with Sonic and Knuckles made me beg my mom for a Sega Genesis which I finally got for Christmas in 1994 along with Sonic 2 included.
Nice! Better late than never and a good set to start with!
nice video
Great video! Happy Hedgehog Day everyone! ✨🌀
7:00 Now, the story goes, during production of the game, that certain songs were considered to be demo tracks to future or existing songs in Micheal Jackson's discography. Jam was connected to Carnival Night Zone and the Sonic 3 ending theme without the Sonic and Knuckles game attached later developed into Stranger In Moscow. However, the quality of the sound system that was used for the game was considered to be so bad, no pun intended, that Micheal Jackson did not want to be associated with the project at all! Bill Baxton was one of, if not the only, member of Jackson's team that helped make music for the game. He even put in a sample of the tune, "Hard Times", from his own band, "The Jetzones" for Ice Cap Zone.
Years later when allegations against the pop star arose, all other releases of Sonic 3 had the music changed to avoid copyright, but not for the better. To this day, if you want to hear the original sounds of Sonic 3, you have to buy the game in the open after market or by emulation and that's if the original ROM is available.
9:21 This idea blew my mind after I beaten Sonic and Knuckles first and Sonic 3 later. When I decided to put the 2 together and it showed Sonic 3 and Knuckles with the opening theme from the other game, I was so excited and tried to play the entire game from start to finish with the Super Emeralds!
17:39 Fun fact! You are not actually running in the special stage where you are collecting the Blue Spheres. If you want to know how it was done, check out StrifeFox's channel. He created a video on how certain elements of the game are made.
18:41 It can also deflect certain projectiles. The Thunder shield can also protect you from projectiles as well. Just don't exposed them both to water. If you manage to hit the Thunder shield as Super Sonic, you can gain the extra bonus of attracting any near by ring to you.
25:20 Big oof!
Ahhhh, Sonic 3, the beginning of the end of Sega...
What? Sega has ended? Nobody told me!
That Sega of today is not the Sega of the 90s. Its Sega in name only. Sega burned down their bridges long ago and its been bleeding talents ever since.
Sammy only let Sega go first in SegaSammy to give their gambling rep a wholesome, respectable name. Had it not been for the Act 74 of 2018, Sammy wouldnt have allowed Sega come back and resurrect some of their old franchises.
WhatIsMind48
Thats the anti addiction law of Japan, right? Same reason why Konami returned to video games. LOL They thought lobbying for the legalization of pachinko would get them more money.
Fun fact: when its legal, its taxable.
Today is also the day that Paramount Pictures revealed the movie title for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 that's coming to theaters this December.
Later this year will also be the 30th Anniversary of Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country.
#PlayItLoud
Sonic 3 movie? Is it called Sonic the Hedgehog 3? 🦔🦔🦔
Don't forget Mickey Mania, The Lion King, Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day, Nickelodeon GUTS (the video game), Disney's The Jungle Book (the video game), AAAHH! Real Monsters, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic Triple Trouble, and Ecco: The Tides of Time, too.
@perualonso if only Phantasy Star IV wasn’t held over till 95 it could have been perfect!!
“Hardware that cost 99 dollars”
Nowadays a single game can reach such prices. True it’s usually a special edition of sorts, but it’s usually not worth the asking price. Even Baldur’s Gate 3, has a lot of the collectibles in digital format (music, art book), despite buying specifically a physical edition.
2 games cost $99 in 1995. Phantasy Star Iv and Virtua Racing. In Japan most 24 meg+ games were equal to $100 or more too! Ouch.
Sonic 3 was released 10 days before i was born in February 12 1994 i love the sonic games alot ever since i was 9 years old back in 2003. Best regards Nikita.K
Happy birthday son!
@@GTV-Japan thanks bud. Best regards Nikita.K
If someone had told me a new GTV would drop while I was on vacation I might have postponed the trip! That part about Michael Jackson was some interesting trivia.
Enjoy the vacation
Vid of Sonic & Knuckles going toe-to-toe with Donkey Kong Country coming this October? To quote Homer Simpson:
"But I want it now!"
To counter, sure it’s not 1985 now but who knows what tomorrow will bring
Learned more about the story of Sonic 3 in this video than I did from the "Console Wars" book. The author seemed to spend the lion's share of pages covering the buildup to Sonic 2sday as well as fluff about the personal lives of SoA employees. The book managed to cram the events 1993 and after in the last 100 pages. The development and release of Sonic 3 seemed to be mostly glossed over in favor of minutae about drama. In fact, I don't recall the book even covering the launch of Sonic 3. Console Wars buried the lede in thst regard. The contrived extrapolated conversations could be downright cringe, too. I kept thinking, "Nobody talks like that!"
Don't get me wrong, the book is still worth checking out, but it can be annoying at times. With all the glaring omissions and glaring inclusions. I wish it would've given more attention to the people who made the games. The book mostly dealt with businessman who mostly see the games as product to be moved rather than being passionate about the contents of the game.
Anyway I curious how you feel about the Console Wars book.
I have no real opinion about it. I usually just stay in my own orbit and don’t follow anything outside of that. But I do wonder how and why some people get to do this kind of thing and get some fame and most importantly money, while others don’t, despite doing the exact same thing. This video will probably make $30 if I’m lucky. Thanks for watching!! And happy Hedgehog Day!🦔🦊💎
Sonic 3 was a great game, but I'm always left wondering how it would have been at the time, if they hadn't rushed the development team, and it had come out whole, it's known that the game came out with glitches, which Sega knew about, because They even warned about it in the manual, the infamous "Robotnik traps", although well, in the end I guess it was more interesting that way, with Sonic and Knuckles being released separately.
I guess we will never know. Just one super expensive cartridge I guess
@@GTV-Japan Well, there are several hacks that have tried to recompose the experience, as it would have been, some very well done, rearranging the order of the phases, and even reconstructing transitions that had been planned between levels, that gives an idea of the result, what It is impossible to know what impact that would have had at the time.
@Indalord. I think Sega could boast cart size but it would have just been that years big game. That’s it.
IT'S GROUNDHOG DAY!
Sonic 3 is a good ROM hack of Sonic 2. It was made on top of Sonic 2 code
What if in an alternate timeline, Sonic 3 never got split in-half? And if the full game came out on Feb. 2, 1994? How'd Sonic's history have played out? Imagine growing up that parallel world with altered memories.
The full game was not finished by then, so it would have never happened. OR it would have just been sonic 3 without a second part. none if it mattered because in the end the playstation came in and cleared house, nothing could have stopped it, nothing.
@@GTV-Japan Just use your imagination. Don't be realistic. What if the game was already fully-finished by that release date? Had it began development months sooner.
@@GTV-Japan 🌈 Just use your imagination. Don't be such a realistic spoilsport. lol This is an alternate history scenario. Haven't you heard of multiverse theories where there are infinite altered possibilities? What if the game was already fully-finished by that release date? Had it began development months sooner. Also, what if the PS1 had been delayed for 1996?
@lgfrrse0402 but it’s impossible! So then it would have just been a bigger game. But it was already in demand and highly rated so I guess it just gets sold all year
Heres whats gonna happen if Sega released the full Sonic 3 game: the revenue of Sega will diminish.
Theyll still sell 3 million+ units. But the 1.24 million S&K units will be non existent.
And Donkey Kong Country will sell more than the 9 million units Nintendo sold, since theres no competition from Sega in Fall of 1994.
7:00, though in a tweet not too long ago, Yuji Naka basically threw hints that yes, they were working with Michael Jackson as they were flying over Neverland.
12:42, a movie by 2 Ghosbuters alumni got shafted from Punxsutawney due to uninteresting locales but a commercial for Sonic 3 was filemd there? SEGA did the right thing tbh.
13:30, that Sonic hat is so adorbs.
The Sonic game that I grew up with thru a disc that had multiple games.
25:20, well...that's a pile of fish they're gonna have to fish aggressively. Been reading Console Wars by Blake Harris and I'm starting to see where this is going.
I also found a video clip where Bill Murray was at Punxsutawney before the movie was made but it didn’t make sense with the spoken script since the movie was made in IL but it was very stealth ¥
The thing I've realized about business and this time period of Sega Vs: Nintendo is that even though the SNES was at 40% market share vs Genesis's 60%, the numbers were so good for both companies, it really didn't matter. It was damn near even. a 60/40 split is a sustainable environment for both companies. All Sega had to do was take their time and release a quality follow up. The N64 wasn't great, but it was good enough to still be successfully profitable for Nintendo. This wasn't the case with the spaghetti flinging Sega did with the 32X, CD and finally Saturn all of which were hastily flung together and pushed to market without the long term support from developers and a lack of consideration to the consumer about how much our parents back then could actually afford to buy
Nintendo waited, developed and released a solid enough platform, even with all its disadvantages to a PlayStation, and it kept them in solid business. Sega's lack of steady leadership focused on a solid platform moving on from the Genesis soured consumers on their platform and even when the Dreamcast came out in the next generation, which could've been a solid enough platform to keep the company in the hardware business, the consumer had their alternate to Nintendo.
They had Sony. Sega had let the consumer down and the consumer in reaction, let Sega down, like a rejected date to the prom. They were let down easy, but they were let down nonetheless... To the point that the Dreamcast is basically Sega's equivalent of NEC's Turbo Graphx 16... In that both consoles are completely solid platforms with great game libraries that absolutely NO ONE (in comparison to their competition) invested in. People want both of those consoles in their collections and love the game libraries, but they were abject failures in the marketplace of their day..
Sega could have EASILY stayed in the hardware business had they just taken their time, communicated with the consumer effectively and released a competitive follow up platform to the Genesis. It's honestly a great example of growing so big then resting on your laurels far too quickly. Nintendo only now 30+ years later has the kind of built in good will with gamers to make these kinds of mistakes and survive long enough to rectify them. Sega didn't hold that luxury, though at the time they thought they did..
I don’t know about staying in the hardware business. It now starts at 5 billion just to develop something and there’s no guarantee it will succeed. It’s much better on the 3rd party side where all money goes towards software and advertising. I’d also prefer one format for all games. It’s getting there. But yeah even at 40% the snes was everywhere. It was a great time. 2 machines at 99$ with great games everywhere. Still lots of bad movie games but just ignore them!
@@GTV-Japan I certainly don't believe Sega should make a return to hardware, but had they focused at the time on just bringing one solid replacement out for the Genesis instead of the 32X, CD and then the Saturn, they probably could've made the Dreamcast a more successful console when it comes to consumers adopting the platform. They probably would have still folded in the hardware market, but I think the landscape would look slightly different today.
@FloridaManRacer all that stuff came from a very Japanese mindset where the economy is based on annual bonuses so people go out and easy drop thousands on useless stuff without a thought. So it made sense to make a new hardware every year because someone will buy it and then just move onto next year. But that only works there. It has created a nice cottage industry for no nothing e-beggars on TH-cam who have an endless supply of “why XYZ was epic fail!” However 😂
S3&K is still the best Sonic game Sega ever made. Mania would have overtaken it, were it not for the over-reliance on classic stages.
Yeah at first I was confused if it was a new game or not.
2D Sonic games always featured the same stages, the difference with Mania is theres a story reason behind it.
See if these stages sound familiar:
Checker Pattern Hills
Casino Themed Zone with lots of flippers and springs
Floating Egg Fortress
Castle In The Sky/Laputa Inspired Floating Island
Drowning and Air Bubbles Zone
Chemical Plant
It's sad that people today seem to forget that this was the one of the best reviewed games of the year and the best reviewed Sonic game yet at the time.
Probably due to the fact that every port of Sonic 3 from 2007 onward has been a butchered port.
I’ll get to that in part 2! But I think an early in year release behind the second part of the game didn’t help either
Sonic 3 & Knuckles will go down in history as not just my favorite Sonic game of all time, but my favorite video game of all time.
The gameplay is peak Classic Sonic, which has some massive yet amazing level design, the Special Stages are unique and are much better than the ones compared to Sonic 1's Acid Trip and Sonic 2's Half Pipe, plus the addition of the Elemental Shields and their useful abilities really help you get out of sticky situations. What's also great about S3&K is that it has the ability to tell a story without a word. The player is able to see it via cutscenes and level transitions, and it really does make for a great Classic Sonic story. And despite the legal issues regarding MJ and the Sonic 3 music, I'm actually glad that S3&K finally got re-released via Sonic Origins.
One thing I noticed replaying this on Origns is that it's kind of like a chase, how the stages mix together. it helps telling the story too without words. Thanks for watching!
@@GTV-Japan And thank you for creating excellent video game content, not just with Sonic. Looking forward to the Sonic & Knuckles vs Donkey Kong Country video in October. Two excellent games.
I have big plans to tell the events from two points of view. I kind of did that in the Mario World and Sonic 1 videoes. Hopefully it will be interesting!
1:40 that's probably revenue, not profits
sales
Great job on the video but knuckles can’t climb or glide in the multiplayer. He just stops the quickest & is the 2nd fastest.
Yeah, well. Oops… 🙊
I am a non-conformist and my opinion on this has also been the small minority one, with almost nobody else voicing any of these things, but I know it has merit. I'm about to complain a lot, but it's mostly so people can get another perspective from someone who was there at the time. I was a huge fan of Sonic. It was my favorite series back in the day. However, Sonic 3 did not impress me. It left a significantly bad impression. (Late 1993 also had the huge disappointment of Sonic Spinball for a kid who was - perhaps too innocently - expecting something much better...and only being able to rent a Sega CD and Sonic CD kept me happy with Sonic from late 1993 through 1994.) Of course, this is all relative, as it's still one of the better games of the era, so keep that in mind as I complain.
Let's start with the story. Wow! The most involved story to date, right? True. And that story starts with the invincible Super Sonic getting punched so hard by a non-Super Knuckles as to have the chaos emeralds fly out of him like rings. Nobody else had a problem with that? For 30 years, I'm the only person I've known who ever had a problem with that. I don't know if you've seen the movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' where the new and all-powerful Super Saiyan Blue gets shot through the chest by a basic grunt laser gun, but the feeling is similar.
Let's now get to the stages. Sonic 2 had 9 zones, not including Sky Chase or Death Egg. Sonic 3 had 6 zones. (And the two-player mini-zones were so short but gave a tantalizing glimpse into what could have been added in one-player mode.) Oh, but those zones were larger, right? Yes, but they got old, and to me, they were frustrating as well. I prefer more and shorter, versus fewer and longer. Of course, I admit that some Sonic 1, 2, and CD zones are too short, but to me, they tend to be more interesting than the Sonic 3 zones. Ironically, Sonic 3 zones seemed to have fewer paths in many cases. And the tops... Oh, the tops... I hate those things that have you slowly inch your way across Marble Garden just to then touch the ground and zip you to your death by crashing into some barely on-screen enemy or obstacle. On the bright side, Hydrocity (minus the moving wall) is a water level done right. Much better than Labyrinth Zone, for example. But even that has the up and down rotating platforms and blowers that slow things up, and while the slides and running over the surface of the water are fun, it's a taste of the gimmicky from later games, whereas I feel that Aquatic Ruin was a water level with more classic gameplay, which also rewarded players with a top path out of the reach of the water. But really, Carnival Night (where you are walking into bumpers going the other way and had a drum that you jumped on and had no idea how to move otherwise) and Launch Base didn't seem much better than Marble Garden. There was not a stand-out stage for me, and most were simply not particularly fun.
Now for the aesthetics. Sonic 1, 2, and CD had an "unreal" quality. The trees were not trees. They were metallic/robotic or plastic or something along those lines. The dirt was made of boxes, like the old Sealtest checkerboard ice cream. Flowers spun. There were weird neon-like signs floating in the sky...like "Cope"... This was a totally new world...a world that I wanted to see more of. Sonic 3 changed all that. Now, it was like any other game. Sonic was in a more real world environment. Well, not quite to the extent of the human princess love interest and humans with regular proportions in business suits and such in the 3D games yet. But still, it was a huge step into the real world and out of the mysterious dimension that fed my imagination. And now Sonic himself looked like a stuffed animal. He didn't look cool. He looked cross-eyed and puffy. And now he was surpassed in almost everything by others. Tails and Knuckles has more abilities, yet could also run as fast as the "fastest thing alive". Sonic had the...instashield. Cue the "Price is Right" failure song. The others could literally fly and glide. Thankfully, Knuckles couldn't jump quite as high, so that was one differentiator. But anyway, Sonic now felt cute and tame and no longer particularly special or cool.
And finally, there was the price. I don't think of Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles as one game. Why? Because my parents spent their money to buy two games for me, not one. So they are two games. It's easy when emulating for free or buying something on some storefront for $4.99 to think of Sonic and Knuckles as one game, but it was two. And to be honest, even putting them together as one game, I still prefer Sonic 2.
Sonic 3 is still one of the better 16-bit games, but neither it nor Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the best Sonic game in my opinion. And I was one of those who was blown away with Donkey Kong Country (even though I didn't have a Super NES) and it immediately surpassed Sonic 3 & Knuckles in my eyes.
Anyway, although I was a downer with regards to this subject, thanks for the video! I just wanted to give my opinion that starkly contrasts with the norm. I'm looking forward to the video coming in October about Sonic and Knuckles!
Well said!
@@GTV-Japan 🙂👍
While I will admit your first paragraph about the opening not making sense is understandable, The Sonic games have never been known for their story in the first place, if anything they were plotless. So I have no problem letting that slide. It's not like there was a story telling standard or world rules to live up to, given that the world building rules in the Sonic games where non-existent (and still are).
Your second and third paragraph on the levels and art change I strongly disagree with. Angle Island was a cinematic feeling opener with lots going on, and stuff never seen in a Sonic game before. Hydro city was the only good water level the classic games had at the time. Zone 3 was fun and relaxing, and those tops don't kill you when you get hit man, you just lose the top. That's why it doesn't stress me out. Carnival Night was silly but I was fine with it ...except for the barrel that gave you no hint you need to use the d-pad. Ice Cap was great, and we never had a snow level in Sonic before. And Launch Base is my favorite Sonic level ever, it's colorful, has an epic sense of scope, and has some satisfying cutscenes and bosses.
And as far as Sonic's new look is concerned it feels more in character for him. In those first two games he looks too angry and it gets weird if you look at it too long. Yeah he looks chunkier in Sonic 3, but he has more personality to me. And that instant shield is great to use, it comes in handy by making bosses and enemies easier. Which you would notice when you play as the other two characters. Lastly, sure the rest of the game has a more realistic style, but it takes place on an island isolated from the rest of Sonic's world, so it only makes sense things look different from what we see in the previous games. You can only be dazzled at the same checkered landscapes, angular palm trees, and corkscrew bridges for so long.... (looks at the modern era games that keep rehashing green hill zone)
Lastly, when compared to the others genesis era games I greatly prefer it over Sonic 2. Infact Sonic 2 is my least favorite of the Genesis era games ...It's better then Spin ball and 3D Blast but I even prefer Sonic 1 and CD despite their flaws. And for the record Sonic 2 was my first Sonic game as a kid and I played it all the time back then and didn't play Sonic 3 until years later. So this is NOT a nostalgically written comment. So I for one have no problem putting nostalgia aside to view things objectively.
Sonic 2s Levels are fun at first but feel less interesting to me, and once we get to Mystic Cave Zone the level design just falls apart with hard to avoid traps and glitches, bland set pieces that bring down the pace, and moments where you have to abuse invincibility frames. And unlike the Sonic 3 Barrel where you can beat it easily when you know what to do, the pit of doom in Sonic 2 is something I still struggle to avoid. You can tell the designers where clashing with each other when making this game. And the special stages are the worst ever, even worse then Super-Star and Heroes stages. I can never see what's coming ahead in time to prepare for the obstacles while getting the rings, even when I'm playing as Sonic alone. Now compare that to Sonic 3's special stages, sure they have a learning curve but I can adjust to them a lot better once I knew how the gimmicks work. Today on my best playthroughs of Sonic 3 I can get all of the chaos emeralds before Marble Garden Zone. and worst I can get them all AT Marble garden zone. And lastly the final boss may have a cool opening, but it's pretty dull in combat. Even though I don't struggle with it anymore like I did as a kid, it's pretty dull just waiting for it to land and then hit.
For the record while DKC had amazing visuals for the time and I do find that game's dated 90s visuals charming, my opinion of that game is similar to what I think Sonic 2, minus the special stage and final boss gripes.
So yes, as someone who grew up with Sonic 2 and has a nostalgic connection to that game, I still think Sonic 3 is where the Sonic games peaked. Even Sonic 3 all by itself despite it not being complete without the & Knuckles game attached.
This is where I stand and I'm sticking with it. Sorry man but I just flat out don't agree with you.
@@lloydshanahan154 It's fine that you flat out don't agree with me. Even after reading your opinions, I still flat out don't agree with you. I take the point about the tops, with you losing it rather than dying (unless it's a crushing death, I think), but that might be the end of it...
I don't like Sonic 3's art style, nor its stages for the most part (which again, are only 2/3 of Sonic 2's stages even when you remove Sky Chase and Death Egg), and since I'm not a fan of at least half of those zones that do show up, that leaves just around 3 zones that I do like in Sonic 3, and even then, I feel that none of them surpass the best three zones in Sonic 2. And when you change the world of Sonic, you take away its essence.
It's instructive that all of the new zones in 2017's Sonic Mania kept the original aesthetic while introducing totally new and fun concepts. When you lose the aesthetic, you're not making it more interesting by making changes. You make it more boring by making it look more like any other game on the market. I'm also not a fan of Green Hill Zone being copied and pasted to an extreme degree simply for nostalgia-bait. Everyone knows that it's "the" Sonic zone, so even when Sega can't make a good game, if they slap that coat of paint on a stage and show a trailer, some of the old school players will fall for it. I'm not talking about that, though. Mirage Saloon Zone is less like Green Hill Zone than Angel Island Zone is, when looking from a biome / setting standpoint. However, it keeps the traditional aesthetic and applies it in interesting ways, so in that way, it exceeds Angel Island Zone in creativity (while also far surpassing S&K's Sandopolis Zone...even Act 1...(we don't talk about Act 2...), which is also set in an arid environment.
By the way, although I'm less into Mortal Kombat, I took one look at (the new game) Mortal Kombat 1's early footage and thought, "This is pretty and the environment looks like the real world. I hate it." Mortal Kombat established things in the background like swirling portals, Oriental-themed fighting rings of death, acid ponds, spike-studded pits, and such, and now we have an interior of a nicely-appointed mansion with a charming seaside view. You can still make it Mortal Kombat without simply copying the same pit again, but a non-threatening Chinese teahouse and things of that nature with no uneasiness whatsoever just don't fit what I imagine Mortal Kombat should be, even if they may be fine backdrops in a different game.
As for the story, I would rather have no story than a story that starts with Super Sonic being punched in the face by a seemingly random non-super stranger and losing his emeralds. To me, it went from a feeling of "Sonic is the best!" to "The creators must now hate Sonic and want to usurp him by some new startup whom they want to write to become popular." (When new characters arrive to the detriment of the original cast - rather than bolstering them like Tails did as an assistant in Sonic 2 - I often find it to be at least one sign of a series possibly jumping the shark.) You know how a lot of Star Wars fans felt about Luke in the new trilogy, as well as how Rey was written to surpass him with barely any effort? That's what Sega did to Sonic in that story back in 1994, and even as a kid, I could recognize that. (And in Sonic 3's case, it didn't happen over 3 decades later, but rather less than 3 years after the first game. It's as if Rey came to surpass Luke in Return of the Jedi.)
I appreciate your long comment, and I can write a lot more, myself, but I'm sure you get my point even though I know that you (as well as the majority) still don't agree with me.
@@Rationalific While I think those analogies of Star Wars and Mortal Kombat are pushing it. (not saying your wrong though about what you said on the two respective series) I think you miss heard me, because making a fuss about Sonic 3's story is blowing things out of proportion. The classic era games in general have little to no story, and that includes Sonic 3, And it's not like me or anyone has ever praised Sonic 3 (or any classic era Sonic game) for it's plot to begin with. I agree that opening cutscene makes no sense, but given that no rules were formally written for the world at the time, it's really not a big deal.
Now when the plots got more dialog driven and cinematic with Adventure 1 onward, that's when I feel it's more appropriate to be more critical.
But when it comes to these types of games, the plot means little to nothing, even if the new cutscenes are entertaining. Because having a story in a video game is usually like having story in porn. It's expected to be there and it can be great if done well. But's not important.
I also think that given the setting of the Sonic 3 and the fact that the earlier games were not really consistent with their cover's art style to begin with, I'd say the change to a more realistic art style was justified. Given that Sonic is in a place that's foreign and mysterious. Even if the landscape is a bit nonsensical, given we have a snow area and a desert on one island. ...yeah makes sense.
I can pick apart logic in video games too and both Sonic 2 and 3 have their fair share of illogical quirks, like Sonic breathing in space or Robotnik ripping off Star Wars.
Plus when I close my eyes and think Sonic, I always think of that Greg Martin cover art. Nothing against the later designs of Sonic but those Greg Martin covers for me are Sonic's definitive look. And the Sonic 3 sprite is more in line with what I think of when I think Sonic. The early versions were fine for the time, but there is nothing wrong with doing something new when you know there is room for improvement. And I honestly think that's what they had in mind when they re-did his game model.
How ever it is clear you see Sonic differently. Maybe your more of a sucker for his dragon-ball rip-off side.
Lastly As far as the levels go, I see Sonic 2 as two good levels (Emerald Hill and Chemical plant), two really good zones (Casino Night and Hill Top), one ok Zone (Aquic ruin ), and everything else afterward is a mixed bag at best and flat out mediocre at worst.
Sonic 3 has one decent Zone (carnival night), and the other five are awesome. And when you use the Knuckles lock on, you additionally have one good zone (lava reef), one mixed bag of a zone (Sandopalis), and the other four are also awesome.
I like these levels because they are fun to replay and explore and I'm still finding new secret areas and paths to this day because they have so much to find in them. and while they are bigger and longer levels, they don't feel bigger and longer to me. Especially since the vanilla game is only a smidge longer then Sonic 1 and yet 3 feels shorter. And sure the game is more obstacle and hazard heavy, but they are easier to avoid. Possibly because Sonic's model is smaller, or maybe I'm more relaxed and don't let anxiety distract me or something. not sure what it is but I can just focus and relax more with Sonic 3 then the other classic era games despite it being more hazard heavy.
The only thing I think Sonic 2 does better is multiplayer, but not by a lot.
And lastly, compare it to Sonic mania where we have one good zone (the one with the TVs and popcorn), two ok zones (the one with the deserts and guns that launch you and the final level), one Meh Zone (the one with all the gates, boxes and winds... yeah I don't remember the new zones that well) and everything else is a either a re-hash or a re-hash with an extra gimmick and a bunch of mazes. Mania may be good, but you can tell it was made by fans, or at least managed by a different Sonic team.
And I'm not the type that's saying this out of nostalgia. Because Sonic 3 is not a game from my childhood, Sonic 2 on the other hand is. I'll always cherish my memories of playing Sonic 2 as kid given it was my first Sonic game, but I honestly think Sonic 3 (even without Knuckles) objectively Nukes it out of the water like Hiroshima.
I even think Sonic 1 (despite it's faults) holds up better.
I don't want to tarnish your childhood memories or anything like that, I just want to explain my side better. Everyone want's something different from something. And it's clear that my requirements for fun and emersion are different from yours. The least you can do is be a bit humbler about your opinion.
GTV Japan 3 & Knuckles!
Locked and loaded!
Donkey Kong use a special chip, well all well locking games use special chip
It didn’t. It was just good programming. Sure every snes game used chips, how else would it work? But things like super fx were not used
#KongCountry&Knuckles
How has it been 30 years?
The March… of time!!
now we wait till october :|
itll be here before we know it...
That’s nothing I once made people wait 5 years for a video!
@@GTV-Japan WHAT!? Youre a monster but I respect the commitment :D
@jaycenteno8385 yeah the phantasy Star 4 video was promised at the beginning of 19, came at the end of 23!
@@GTV-Japan Oh damn! You know what? it was worth it, that video is one of my favorites youve ever done!
Rip groundhog
Phil is eternal.
I never had a Sega machine growing up and only got around to playing through S3&K about a month ago. I loved the new power ups, characters, and most of the bosses. The level themes could be quite good, too. On the whole, though, I think. I prefer the more compact Sonic 2 experience. Most of the stages here felt too dang long, as did the game as a whole. Other long platformers like Mario 3 and SMW wisely break the action up into 70+ bite-size chunks to stave off monotony. Spending close to ten minutes on single levels here can get to be a real drag. Great game, but not my favorite Sonic.
Also, Yuji Naka comes off as a total jerk here. Hope he doesn't end up struggling with any high-profile bombs or legal woes down the line. ;)
Yeah I know right? But sometimes in the business world you have to be a meanie bo beanie to get things successfully done
Great retrospective, a shame we have to wait for October to see the conclusion where history shows DKC wins (even though at the end of the day we all had more investment in Sonic 3's story and gameplay). Sonic 3 by itself is a pretty competent if rushed game. However, with Sonic & Knuckles it's one of the best Sonic games of all time only rivalled by Sonic 2. 😊
DKC doesn’t “win” why would you think that?
@@GTV-Japan Really? I thought that was what got Nintendo the major market share in 1995?
@pferreira1983 no. The snes never ever outsold the genesis when measuring by annual sales.
@@GTV-Japan From what I have read and heard Sega only won the console war for about three years? By the end Nintendo had more sales in the 16bit market. Only in Europe was the MD more successful than the SNES in sales. 🤔
@pferreira1983 that’s not true. I have a data sheet that shows the sales numbers. If you compare the overall market which included the PlayStation and the game boy and everything, then Sega no longer had the lead but 16 bit head to head was Sega all way
It's criminal that these gorgeous 2D graphics of the late 16 bits and 32 bits eras were so dismissed from 1995 onwards, with the advent of 3D graphics. Those were primitive and ugly, 2D should have prevailed for a few more years!
I was a little miffed that 2D was being tossed away but in 94, 3D clearly was the future.
I think it is wrong to credit Kalinske with the success of the Genesis in the US. He took over office from Katz mere months before Sonic 1 was released. He was at the right place at the right time, as Katz had to leave due to his opposition to Sonic. In my opinion Kalinske was an incompetent hack as proven by his terrible track record with marketing the Sega CD, 32X, Nomad and Saturn in the West. The guy obviously had no idea about video games and even less what people wanted, else he would not have pushed FMV and 32X down our throats.
Well there are many what ifs but if someone opposed Sonic then you are throwing the whole thing away. If someone refused Sonic 1 at the start all that success or even the possibility of it never happens
Lets put it this way: When Katz was in charge, Sega was pounded to the ground by the NES.
When Kalinske left, so did Sega's sales. Which left Sega never winning any console war. It didnt help that the SNES released a bunch of new games to justify not switching to 32-bit just yet.
@@LemonicParade I think you are mistaken. In the mid 80s to early 90s Sega slowly built a reputation which enabled their success once Sonic was released alongside the SNES in the US. Sonic was conceived and developed in Japan for exactly that purpose, to disrupt the SNES launch in the west.
@GTV-Japan I agree that Katz was completely wrong regarding Sonic. That wasn't my point. Like 99% of everything Sega up until that time, Sonic came from Sega of Japan. Sega of Japan let Katz go because he did not support the concept of Sonic as a mascot platformer to counter the launch of the SNES and Mario World. Katz wanted to replace it with an US developed game "by a famous comic artist" which from what I gather ended up seing a release as Greendog some time later.
Actually I did not really want to discuss Katz vs Kalinske as that was not my point. My point was that Hayao Nakayama and the talented folks at Sega of Japan were responsible for the success of the Genesis, not Katz nor Kalinske. That said, Katz did a very decent job marketing the Genesis during its early years ("We Bring The Arcade Experience Home" and "Genesis Does what Nintendon't" were campaigns during the early years) while Kalinske just happened to be at the right place as the right time, ie. shortly before Sonic released.
Im Tom and im a GTVaholic.....
I see its been 4 hours since your last video...
The old CMs have some weird and bad upscaling and motion smoothing or something going on that I dislike.
The original files were too blurry. I didn’t like how they looked.
I do not like the vanilla version of Sonic 3. It's just too short and even without knowing about the development issues, it still obviously feels like just half a game. Even the ending feels incomplete, because there is no ending. When the two games are combined into how they were originally intended, it's one of the best Sonic games of the entire franchise, but when split in half, they're just two incomplete let downs.
Also, for the record, I did not play them as a kid when they first came out. I had an SNES growing up. I didn't first play them until Sonic Mega Collection on the GameCube.
I can see the argument. Especially because the game moves so fast, it wands just as it gets good
Whenever Yuji Naka's name appears in a 90s Sega documentary video like this, you know hes gonna earn his title of being a scumbag and future convicted criminal.
Cerny shouldnt have taken in Yuji Naka. The guy's basically a Japanese version of Littlefinger.
Sorry I have no idea what little finger is supposed to mean.
Littlefinger/Lord Baelish is a traitor who brought down a royal family in the book series A Song of Fire and Ice (adapted to TV under the name Game of Thrones) by acting all friendly to all its members.
Kinda like what Yuji Naka did when he was hired by Mark Cerny to work at STI.
Of course if this was the one case, he'd be easily forgiven for that. There's also his interference with Sonic X-Treme, suddenly canceling Geist Force for his own benefit among other things.
@WhatIsMind48 sorry I’ve never heard of this book or TV show as like all long time GTV viewers know, I only watch Japanese OTA broadcasts, and watch no other news or outside media.
Quite alright. The point is, everytime something dumb happens in Sega, Yuji Naka's name seems to pop up. Even from interviews, the guy oozes of arrogance.
Like when he was expecting Nintendo to call him after quitting Sega. Or how he turned down some offers from other companies because he "was holding out on Nintendo."
@WhatIsMind48 I don’t know about that.
After sonic 1! All the other games were trash!
No. They were great. I can’t call Sonic 2 3 or CD garbage
that’s where you’re wrong kiddo
bigdeagle1331
I dont agree with that fully but I do get your point.
The last time Sonic had a universally acclaimed game by everyone was 2 decades ago.
The last time Mario had a universally acclaimed game was last November.
Pennsylvania sucks!
It does. That's why I left.
@@GTV-JapanNot as bad as Gallup NM though. That place sucks even worse!
Another wonderful entry into the GTV library. Also LOVE the S&K vs DKC tease at the end. I was a Genesis kid, and I’m still not over DKC turning the tides of the 16-bit war. Love your work, my friend!
Thanks for the support! October will be one wild ride!
Recently theres an image started to circulate on the Internet where 2pac and Suge Knight are playing Sonic 3!!!
Get out!
So we had Hedgehog Day, but what about GTV-Day?
Feb 16th, I guess!
Wow, I'm bang on time! "1 View, uploaded 47 seconds ago" TH-cam said on the Home Page. 😁
Winner is you!
you forgot to mention one of the reasons why they split the game into 2 parts... 1 being a mcdonalds toy promotion that was coming out the same time and they couldnt avoid it so they had to make due with what they had done and they refined the later half with the lock on which now a days could be considered DLC but back then it was a full 50 bucks give or take to get what would be nothing more then 6 more levels and some polish to the earlier levels... on the plus side of things when they made the split up on the game they added the sonic 2 lock on to play as knuckles in there... they tried sonic 1 but couldnt get the color palate to work with knuckles so they scraped that idea
I didn’t forget it. I chose not to include it because it’s been repeated over and over by the status quo. This side of the story has more zing!
I make the weather.....its just supposed to be a little flurry. Chance if departure 90% thanks deloris......good stuff K
I wonder where good old Phil is today.
I have such a nerd boner for the font used in the title cards for S3&K, it felt so clean and modern for the time and still holds up today.
Would've loved to have been in PA for this, but i was waaaay on the West Coast. The most i got on Hedgehog Day was a Blockbuster rental and the Happy Meal toys
Still good!
That is still freaking awesome ❤
I gotta wait until October?!
Man, YOU'RE TOO SLOOOOOWWWW!!
(That's just a Sonic joke, take as much time as you need! I'm sure you have quite a few banger videos coming out this year anyway! Your Processing can only be so Blast...)
I figured it would a fun thing to do and maybe if someone had nothing going on in their life, maybe this will be something to look forward to for a while.
Another fantastic and polished video, I always enjoy your story telling, you can feel your passion and love for these things and that's very special. Awesome stuff! (ps recently renamed my channel, was Pixel Vixen)
Thanks! of course I remember you! Actually youtube and thier stupid @ namings has changed the name of everyone when I read the comments, which is confusing. Take care friend!
I've always felt that a majority of the levels in Sonic 3 are weaker in comparison to S&K.
Anywho, I can't wait for October!
Woo hoo! Here we come 🎃
Your stuff is always so well made. Thank you for everything you do!
I appreciate your viewership! Thanks! 🦔🦊💎
Rubbing my hands over here like a fly ready to feast.
Ew! Thanks, I guess!
@@GTV-Japan 😅
I love how you saved the best music for your tease at the end for SONIC & KUCKLES!!!! Nice touch!!! So pumped for October!!!! Great job as always, GTV-Japan!!!
Thanks. I think it fits! See you then!
I didn't realize there was so much drama with the Groundhog Day movie. Now we need a Groundhog vs Hedgehog movie crossover.
Heck ya!!
Wow, the 90s had to be the most experimental decade of them all.
What, you don’t remember?
@@GTV-Japan To be fair I was a little kid during that whole period. Things tend to get a bit foggy for me.
@DarkMetalGortex oh ok! Well I remember the 90s more for the music than the games but both were vital to my life!
@@GTV-Japan Totally. I feel the same way. The games were especially way more ambitious and over the top. I feel like a lot of game developers took more chances back then with their games.
Yeah. To quote one of the best songs from the 90s “who sucked out the feeling?”
19:30 Uh, I don't think that's true. Last time I checked, Knuckles plays like Sonic in the split screen mode. No climbing or gliding. They didn't even fix it for the lock-on game.
Oops! That line should be for the second part!
Awesome video! Growing up in the '90s was amazing! The Sonic 3 release was indeed _huge_ !! I remember drooling over preview pictures in magazines prior to its release as I couldn't wait to play it!
Though, there were so many classics released that year like Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country, Earthworm Jim, Castlevania Bloodlines, and Sonic & Knuckles! It was a fantastic year for games!
I really think February was the best time to release it, the competition was so rough that year.
I should hope so, people back then served tables for 20 hours and waited in line to buy a single game. Justified sitting game developers down and make those games, to push into the consumer industry.
Great video, always a fan of big game releases back in those days.
Also, if anyone could point me in the direction of those Sonic 3 remix that would be nice 👀
Hey thanks for watching! For more fun about old games check out the latest video I posted today! Have a great weekend
Part 2 in October? What a wait!
Sorry! Good things take time.
it's Video Lock-On Technology
@okeeblow more than you know! All will be revealed in time!
Dk is the best 😊.Also #Mario vs Donkey Kong
I grew up playing a lot of classic Sonic as a kid and boy did I sink a TON of hours into this one!
Still get a little misty-eyed when I hear Endless Mine 😢
Thanks for making!
🦔!!
My God, what a tease of an ending. XD
Fantastic video, as always. Great work!
Thanks! That last 10 seconds was fun to edit 🦊🦔💎
Sonic 3 & Knuckles is among my all time favorites, and my favorite game from the 1990's.
Me too. I still think Sonic 2 is the peak. Maybe it’s the start of a long plateau.
@@GTV-Japan That's fair. My friends and family also love Sonic 2 more. It is indeed a great game. For me though, Sonic 3 & Knuckles just did everything better. From the improved visuals, bigger level designs, the replay value of playing each character to unlock their super forms and viewing their good endings, and the music, my word the ost for this game is my favorite from the 16-bit era next to SoR2 and DKC2. S3&K is the complete package for me. :)
@Victory-in-YAHUSHA I tend to prefer older games as 1- I’ve had more time to play them and 2- those were more groundbreaking first. If that makes sense. Not that Sonic 3 wasn’t amazing but Sonic 2 on day one was unbelievable
@@GTV-Japan Oh I understand. Just like how impressive Doom and Super Mario 64 were when they revolutionized 3D gaming and became instant classics. It's been years since I have played SM64 but it is one of my faves.
@Victory-in-YAHUSHA I could never get into that one