Unapologetic - Sonic & Knuckles

welcome back to unapologetic where we look for the good in good games we've gone through all of Sonic 3 or well at least the sonic greed that lies within the cart named Sonic 3 but it's no secret that the second half of the game lies within today's Tyler Sonic & Knuckles and since that was released on its own we're going to take a look at what was provided in the box when this was first launched in October of 1994 and speaking of the box this was the only one of the classic Sonic games that came in a cardboard box instead of the plastic clamshell like all the other games and uh it just it just bothers me also you might notice how minimalistic this box art is compared to the older titles clearly had some Batman fans among the graphic designers anyway we open the sucker up in oh my did I buy a game shark or a video game what is this thing looks like yet another add-on for the Sega Genesis have we not learned our lesson yet this thick black mushroom head of a game cartridge was actually the means to use the heavily advertised lock-on technology that lets you use this game with previous sonic games which we're not talking about today let's see what this cart offers on its own the title screen has changed from previous Sonic games as well sonic has ditched his iconic Star Laden ring and ribbon and now stands next to knuckles hey look it's those guys it's those guys with the names it's those guys but once you get the game going you're gonna see that it's actually pretty familiar despite all this brand new slick packaging and walk-on technology that is of course because this was a direct continuation from the last game and since they were designed to be one game needs to be as seamless as possible when combining the two carts but that said this particular cartridge so offers a lot of fun on its own now if you start with Sonic it get right into it no intro like Angel Island but by this point you should probably understand how this works so get to it but if you've been waiting to try this cool new knuckles guy all year well this is where things change up quite a bit knuckles gets his own cutscene one you can only view when playing SNK on its own knuckles as you'd expect plays pretty similarly to Sonic and Tails the major difference is he can glide and climb on walls and while I've heard other reviewers say that he's just as fast as Sonic is that's not the case it's barely noticeable but in critical moment you're gonna notice that knuckles doesn't jump quite as high as Sonic doesn't move quite as quickly and while tails does fly Knuckles gliding just feels cooller see when you're playing tails you have to hit that button over and over and over again to keep his propeller kale moving but with knuckles just jump it jump again and you're off and sure he doesn't elevate but the transition from the ground to gliding to hitting a wall and climbing the side of it it all merges together pretty seamlessly and it feels really good you're gonna see in all the zones going forward and even back in Sonic 3 that a lot of this was designed around knuckles in the way he moves granted you can still zip through all these stages of Sonic without any issue but it's pretty cool that you can take similar mechanics in the exact same environment and explore it in a different way and you'd think with this added versatility that knuckles would be an easier time to play with but that's not the case knuckles is the hard mode of the game the developers anticipated that experienced Sonic players would want to try something new and they certainly gave it to us he gets his own paths to explore filled with a whole bunch of traps that Sonic just could not navigate on his own the boss battles are a little more aggressive and you'll see some other things as we go on so let's keep going let's get to the zones mushroom Hill is the first of Sonic and Knuckles levels as a starting zone it's nowhere near as dramatic or memorable as Angel Island but for a standard starting zone in a Sonic game it's a lot of fun now there are some fairly pointless mechanics on occasion but I consider this a jungle gym for newer players this teaches kids to explore and interact with the environment in different ways and I know I've pointed this out in the past but I feel like a lot of people looking back on this decades-old game trying to forget that so much of what makes a Classic Sonic a great time is how he interacts with his environment not everything needs a super specific purpose sometimes it's just fun to bounce around and mushroom hill is a nice dense area full of places to explore and fun little things to interact with I think this is a charming level and I enjoy how the seasons change between X or maybe it's just the four Stein I've heard that interpretation as well in floating island support temperate force this zone is a nice callback to previous Hill levels and yet it still has a completely different style from green or emerald hill I've seen a lot of people complaining about how the game shifts from high speeds to stop-and-go gameplay most of this comes together just fine and informs me that levels will probably require me to do things out of the ordinary as this adventure progresses and while we're here the bonus levels while played out differently act exactly as they did before you hop into a giant ring and grab blue balls I'm too lazy to make that into a crew joke so uh let me know what you come up with in the comments down below I'm just kidding please don't the Internet has enough of Sonic's blue balls nevermind couldn't even avoid a joke when I was trying from here we get to flying battery this level feels like it wanted to take wing fortress and expand on a lot of the ideas presented in Sonic 2 and they did just that this level is fast paced high-flying fun full of unique mechanics and challenges about being as nail-biting or frustrating as winged fortress could be for players who were unfamiliar with that zone something else I also found interesting was how the level also feels like we finally get to see a bit of the behind the scenes of Robotnik's operation the level is filled with animal pods you normally would see at the end of stages but there instead filled with rings or robots giving you a risk/reward feel every time you jump on top of these things is this what turns these little critters into robots I don't know I just appreciate that a little bit of world building this level does as do many other zones as we carry on it's honestly no wonder this is a fan favorite level but we then follow up with sand alisonj and like the game itself were uh we're gonna be spending some time here this is hands-down the most disliked level in the entire adventure there's a lot of stop-and-go gameplay stressful time challenges somewhat frustrating puzzles and this first act oh I feel sunburnt just looking at this place now I actually have to give them props for making a 16-bit game look and feel so uncomfortable this does a good job making you feel like you're in a desert and I feel like the stone guardian mini-boss was a pretty clever for a first time player this mysterious and intimidating golem is obviously not a robot and I think this makes us our first non Robotnik enemy in the game the first time you come across this thing you quickly realize that your attacks aren't really doing anything and when you finally realize what you have to do to defeat it you feel like a clever little devil put on repeat playthroughs yeah you're gonna have to be patient from it this midboss is also a preview of what lies ahead within this pyramid lies the most complaints players have about this game this is also a point in the game that lets you know that whether or not you agree or disagree that Sonic and Knuckles story takes place at the same time or one after the other thanks to this zone we can at least definitively say that Sonic was here first because while you're rolling through the pyramid you're gonna hit one of Robotnik's little egg pods that usually holds animals which instead now holds a angry Batman masks yeah you're gonna have ghost hovering around you throughout the rest of this level and looking at them now wouldn't these have been great to put in for the Sonic Batman crossover anyway they seemed harmless even cute at first but you'll notice as the lights start to dim ghosts grow larger and if you remember at the start of this area you had to grab onto a pulley to bring the lights back up and trust me you do not want those lights to go out this mechanic is only found in this one act but it does a good job of easing the player into the function of the ghosts and the lights it's very easy to understand if you're playing Sonic you see if you were like me real excited to start the game with Knuckles when you get to this level Oh what is that what is happening these games don't have dead things why are there napping it's so dark in here Batman's masters joined the clan it is really is a lot of Batman in this game so like I said you're gonna have to go from lover to lover to keep these ghosts at bay but in between you also have to cope with a lot of time based challenges lever puzzles spike pits rising sand this confusing sand slide transfer and you only have ten minutes to do all of this I hit the time limit a lot as a kid and I can understand the frustration so many people have with this level it has the anxiety of the underwater bits from the past games through this entire area without any of the water but I don't think any of this is badly designed far from this feels like you're actually in a booby-trap pyramid like an Indiana Jones Adventure dun sonic style this game gives you new challenges on every step of your journey I love how varied it can be and as a kid I loved being surprised with each new zone I was never bored and they also appreciate this level of challenge isn't stretched into two or three acts because this had been Sonic CD this would have been a real messy nightmare they knew they were giving players a challenge and it was smart to keep the ghosts in the rising sand portions left in this single act and carrying on from here we get to lava reef which is filled with hang on I left my notes here somewhere I don't know eyes this is a guava reef is filled with flows firing molten rock oh yeah here it is lava this isn't your run-of-the-mill volcano level clearly Robotnik is mining for something here and they mix these two themes quite well and uh probably comes as no surprise you should probably grab a fire shield here the second act sees the lava cool and Harden and what was once orange and fiery is now cool blue and serene I tore the zone and once again have to give props to the drastic shift between these two acts because this feels like a brand new level like the launch base zone prior this again tells the story through the background early on we see the death egg in the distance once again letting us know that we're drawing in on our destination and at the end of the zone we're right next to the thing as we see power return and unlike launch base we no longer have a chill beep plane as we casually coast our way over to Robotnik's ride we now have to survive a barrage of missiles in an environment where lava looks hotter than ever and then take on Robotnik in another awesome boss fight this all does a brilliant job letting you know that you're heading into the final stretch of your adventure and this is not gonna go the way things did back in launch base as Star Wars has taught us knuckles has the high ground and clearly the advantage you're in no easy position to reach the Death Egg this time you're basically surviving him it's awesome from here we get to the hidden palace zone and it's a barely a zone at that regardless I love it when play knuckles this just transfers you to the arena where you're gonna have your final boss fight but when playing a sonic this is where things really start to pick up for the final stretch of the game it's here where we finally come head to head with knuckles and well it's a silver pretty quickly regardless this was a big deal to a lot of us at the time there's no walls between the two of you no traps finally after all of this time you can take down this jerk who has been a pain in your side since you arrived on this island the setting is grand and while it's relatively easy we've never had a fight like this in a Sonic game before again not much of a challenge but this is only the start of the final leg of the adventure and things only get crazier from here hidden palace is the home of the Master Emerald and we now understand what Robotnik's been digging up this whole time knuckles realizes he's been duped and worn out from the battle with Sonic and Robotnik's attacks he turns to our spiky hero for assistance and uses his last bit of energy to bring sonic to sky sanctuary as the level begins the game impedes our movement to show us the parting clouds revealing the dreaded death star egg the death egg finally functioning at full power no matter how many times we put it back on the ground it seems that Robotnik has finally won we see little shapes launching from it and we'll find out what those are soon enough I love this level I love it so much I love the theme I love the platforming I love the storytelling through the background I love how they tell you this is a sacred land because obviously this is both Sonic's first time here and Robotnik is only now invading this area with the arrival of these creepy robots that look a lot like them and I love its only single act and not a full zone not letting you linger here too long and building up anticipation of the final confrontation on the death egg and I absolutely adore the boss of this world yes kids we have our third sonic robot this is what the fanbase usually calls Mecca song through the level he will attack you in callback fights from Sonic 1 and 2 and then finally decides to take you on himself in the final encounter before the death eh I absolutely adored his design as a kid at times it was probably my favorite of the robot Devils and as I grew older and I ultimately went to metal sonic but don't get me wrong just because I have a favorite and I feel metal makes way more sense as a copy of Sonic mecha sonic is still awesome and it breaks my heart that we've only ever seen him here even the Archie comics series was cancelled right before we were about to get a proper introduction to this guy now mecha sonic is basically just another retread of silver Sonic's fight and is technically easier because he got rings and he's not sheep no spikes but he still plays a very important role and made a lasting impression on players not because his fight was Sonic but because of his battle with knuckles now putting and knuckles on everything might be and mean nowadays but it was fitting for this half of the adventure with the introduction of knuckles as a playable character this game puts a lot of focus on the Master Emerald in its role in this islands ecosystem the emeralds play a central role in the narrative this game puts more effort into telling a story than ever before I mean we've always known that Chaos Emeralds mattered thanks to game manuals good endings and a nifty unlockable transformation but here they're kind of adding to the world building and that's all thanks to knuckles we'll get back to Sonic in a minute but I think it's about time we talk about the echidna as his journey ends here in sky sanctuary and if you're only playing as Sonic well the last time you see the guy is him catching his breath on top of a giant button knuckles is the guardian of the Messer emerald and you learned this without ever needing to be told as such when you play his knuckles you will see that he gets short cuts that sonica tails just aren't able to access this not only lets developers make areas specifically designed for knuckles but also lets the player know that this is his home he knows it inside and out even in the zone transitions sonic is usually forced from zone to zone and at the same time often you'll just see knuckles transfer to the same areas with no problem like I said up front even with the shortcuts and versatility of his climbing and gliding knuckles is considered the hard mode of the game not just in challenging cygnets made specifically for him but again for the boss fights knuckles journey is a little more challenging even if his adventure ends a whole zone before Sonic's but it's here at the end of the adventure in sky sanctuary do we discover that mecha sonic had survived the encounter with his fleshy double and now it's up to knuckles to take him out the first part of the fight plays out like it did with Sonic but in a surprise turn once he's defeated mecha gets back up and uses the master emeralds power to attain his own super form and this is the final fight for knuckles in the game awesome for so many reasons super forms are awesome the fights really cool and we discover that robots can actually attain super forms so basically it's up to knuckles to fight a robotic version of super sonic knuckles can be kind of an idiot and because of that he actively helped the man who was out to steal the master mo all while trying to impede what turned out to be the hero of the story and to make matters worse sonic not only surpassed all of knuckles traps but handsome his red tuchus when they finally faced off but it's here in this final fight did we see why knuckles is the guardian of the Master Emerald as he redeems himself on two levels first and foremost this is a robotic double of Sonic and it can be seen as making up for that pathetic display against the real Hedgehog and secondly if this does actually take place after Sonic's adventure that means that technically knuckles is the one to finally end the threat of Robotnik on his home turf knuckles is the only character to face off against a super formed enemy in any of the classic games and as a kid I originally thought that this was kind of a cheap way to end his story looking back on it now I think it's kind of fantastic I'm glad his adventures remained on Angel Island in the adjacent sky sanctuary leading Sonic to deal with Robotnik on the machine that had been plaguing the planet since the second game and here ladies and gentlemen is the final level of the game the death a unlike Sonic 2 which we only explore two rooms with frustrating ringless boss fights we finally get to see the insane innards of this floating fortress the challenges are varied and it puts all of your skills to the test but without ever being as frustrated as the likes of a metallic madness or metropolis zone there is enough here to make this a worthy final level and one that really lets you know how dangerous Robotnik's crazy machine can be like the rest of the levels death egg will take you on a journey the end of the zone looks nothing like the beginning as you'll see the egg has risen up into the stratosphere as you make your way through it leading to the final encounter of the game the final fight with Robotnik requires you to manipulate gravity on mechanic we've been introduced to earlier on in the death exam which immediately leads to facing off with a death egg robot that proves to be much much larger than the one in Sonic to meet Sonic's so small he can only attack the fingers at first which then leads to this thing flat out chasing me and if it's your first time here it might take you a few minutes before you figure out what you need to do it just for a quick second I really love the boss fights in this game sure you can spam some of them we'll have any issue but sonic team found some clever ways to keep you from cheese in the fight whether it be putting a barrier between you and Robotnik on occasion or having to chase them down through a forest or in this case having him chase you and speaking of this fight once you finally figure out how to expose a weakness you discover that the Master Emerald has been weaponized against you Robotnik has harnessed its energy and you literally have to attack the thing to do any damage you hit it enough and the robot goes down but still not over this nasty egg boy still won't give up the goods even with a death egg falling apart he still makes one last desperate attempt to run off with the Emerald sonic needs to smack it out of his greedy mitts without falling to his death but we're still not done here already this is more boss battle than we've ever had before in the series but if you've collected all the emeralds you unlock the true final encounter and man it is it is just the best for the first time in a Sonic game having all the Emerald unlocks a final level and a boss fight that only Sonic powered by the emeralds could hope to survive we have sonic launching through asteroids and a mad dash to stop Robotnik from running off with the Emerald and even though the transformation makes the rest of the game a cakewalk here they needed a challenge demanding the player to take control of this crazy power and take out Robotnik before you run out of rings sure you're invincible but you saw asteroids move around you need to catch up with the robot you need to figure out how to damage him and then you need to take on his secondary form all while keeping track of how many rings you have left what a setting what a brilliant way to incorporate the emeralds and to challenge players like never before it's just oh my god this game once you take this sucker out you are finally finally at the end of your journey the Master Emerald is back on Angel Island which is back among the clouds the death egg is finally destroyed and Sonic and Tails make a lifelong friend in Knuckles the Echidna and yet there's still more to talk about on its own sonic Knuckles proves to be a fantastic experience but it's still not a complete experience we'll have to talk about those things in another video so stick around cuz and knuckles November is just getting started until next time - to Sonic and Knuckles warriors [Music]

Channel: Game Apologist

Views: 333,587

Rating: 4.8978119 out of 5

Keywords: sonic & knuckles, sonic 3, classic sonic, & knuckles november, game apologist, sonic and knuckles review, sonic and knuckles retrospective, super sonic, super knuckles, mecha sonic, angel island, sky sanctuary, mushroom hill, best sonic game, sega genesis, lock on technology, sonic 3 part 2, best sega game, master emerald, robotnik, eggman, sonic the hedgehog, knuckles the echidna, tails, death egg, sandopolis, lava reef, unapologetic

Id: uAUdK5aZFr0

Length: 18min 25sec (1105 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 19 2019