Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Explore all levels, characters, and features in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, including 14 zones and multiple playable characters.

Playable Characters: You can play as Sonic & Tails, Sonic Alone, Tails Alone, and Knuckles Alone. You can play as Knuckles in the Sonic 3 levels and as Tails in the Sonic & Knuckles levels.

Zones: The game includes Angel Island Zone, Hydrocity Zone, Marble Garden Zone, Carnival Night Zone, Icecap Zone, Launch Base Zone, Mushroom Hill Zone, Flying Battery Zone, Sandopolis Zone, Lava Reef Zone, Hidden Palace Zone, Sky Sanctuary Zone, Death Egg Zone, and The Doomsday Zone.

Bosses: In Launch Base Zone, you fight 2 Bosses. Sonic and Tails skip the Spiked Grabber boss, while Knuckles skips the Ball Launcher boss. Knuckles also faces tougher or different bosses due to his low jump.

Forms: There is a Super Form of Tails and a Hyper Form of Sonic/Knuckles.

Save System: The game features 8 save slots. In addition to saving your progress, the game saves your lives, continues, and emeralds, which are displayed on the Slots.

Bonus Stages: There are 3 Bonus Stages. The Sonic 3 Special Stages are easier to complete because long rows of blue spheres turn into Rings when you pass through them, fixing the lag from Sonic 3.

Mushroom Hill Zone: Act 1 has been expanded with a new opening area containing a Giant Ring. This Giant Ring is always shiny, regardless of whether you've collected all 7 Chaos Emeralds in Special Stages.

Music and Themes: In the Sonic 3 levels, the theme music of Knuckles and Mini-Bosses correspond with their Sonic & Knuckles counterparts. The music of Mushroom Hill Zone has been changed slightly with a few more beats.

Endings: It's possible to see the bad, normal, and best endings, depending on if you collect all 7 Chaos/Super Emeralds or not.

Changes: Item Box and Badnik placements have been somewhat changed. For example, there are no Robotnik Boxes and fewer Orbinauts in Launch Base Zone.

Transitions: When you finish Launch Base Zone, your Score is totalled and a cutscene (a non-interactive scene that advances the story) plays to provide an adequate transition from Launch Base to Mushroom Hill.