Which Half of Sonic 3 & Knuckles is Better?

today I'm gonna make the entire Sonic fan base cry because I'm gonna make you guys have to choose your favorite child Sonic 3 or Sonic and Knuckles which half of Sonic 3 and Knuckles considered by many to be the best game in the franchise is better the first and most important criteria to measure how good a game is is of course the box art some people say you can't judge a book by its cover but hey this ain't a stinking book Sonic 3's box art varies quite drastically depending on your region the American one is illustrated by Greg Martin and it's a classic Sonic just holding up three fingers Knuckles is creeping tail is just looking dumb and Eggman committing a war crime the Japanese box art featuring character artwork by Akira Watanabe has a cool 90s pop art aesthetic that I really Vibe with though honestly it doesn't really do anything different from the previous Sonic games that use the same art style as for the European box art what is it yeah we're not gonna talk about that Sonic and Knuckles now this is how you do a box sorry all it is is just a logo but that's all you need if you look closely Sonic and Knuckles heads are attached with the lock on technology that the game uses too that attention to detail is just the icing on the cake it's so simple so clean so iconic that I yeah the artwork is basically the same across all regions though the Japanese box art uses a white background instead of an all black that the US and the European boxer use the white background kind of clashes with the whole thing so I'm definitely going with the US version but yeah no contest every version of the Sonic and Knuckles box art is better than the Sonic 3 box art the second most important metric to measure a Sonic game's quality is not the gameplay not the story not the color of Sonic's Islands no it's the title screen now this showdown is a little bit closer both title screens are pretty rad Sonic 3 has Sonic flying into the Sega logo and giving you that signature sassy finger wag meanwhile his buddy tails is flying the tornado over Angel Island in the background Sonic and Knuckles on the other hand has Sonic slowly falling down until he lands side by side with knuckles with the Fallen Death Egg behind them both are great Sonic 3's title is super in your face literally with Sonic jumping towards the screen Sonic and Knuckles title is great because it's actually tied with the lore of the game as the the title screen takes place directly after the ending of Sonic 3. Sonic has just defeated Eggman in launch bay Zone and he falls back down to the island with the Death eggs launch delayed as it remains stuck in lava Reef zone I'm gonna give the edge to Sonic and Knuckles because the menu interface is just cooler Sonic 3's menu is pretty basic and for some reason they use Sonic's shoe as the cursor instead Sonic and Knuckles actually uses cute little Sprites for each character and it morphs into the next character when you swap between them really cool I'm also going to give the edge to Sonic and Knuckles because I'm still bitter about that stupid Sonic 3 level select code that you have to input in negative 0.8 nanoseconds on the title screen just to get it to work at bare minimum even if the game is dog doo doo at least at least you gotta make sure your Sonic game has good music so that will be our next area of comparison both games have some absolute bangers hydrosity and launch based Persona 3 flying battery and lava Reef for Sonic and Knuckles there really isn't one song I outright dislike but at the end of the day I gotta go with MJ who allegedly worked on music for Sonic 3 but for one reason or another went uncredited unfortunately three out of the six zones in Sonic 3 had their music changed from the final release in the origins collection no one knows the specifics but it's speculated to be due to legal issues regarding the rights to the songs between Sega and one or more of the composers who allegedly work with MJ on the Sonic 3 soundtrack but either way Sonic 3 has a really unique musical identity all its own due to its use of samples and the variety of influences it takes from ice cap and launch base are top tier Timeless hits Sonic 3 and some Knuckles are some of the most gorgeous games on the Genesis so ranking these games based on their Graphics is like choosing between playing sonic Labyrinth or dying in a pin of spikes either way it's going to be a slow and painful experience there are so many layers of great backgrounds with Parallax scrolling effects that make each stage feel super detailed and Alive there are an abundance of great color palettes that are a treat to look at what can I say I like pretty colors Sonic and Knuckles has some not so great looking levels Death Egg and flying battery are both pretty simple looking mechanical base levels that we see all the time in Sonic games flying battery does at least have an outdoor section to spice things up a bit but still not super interesting and sandopolis is just a lot of sand Sky Sanctuary is all right there's a neat contrast between the blue sky and the greenish yellow ruins lava reef and mushroom Hill are the standout zones graphically the way mushroom Hill gradually changes over the course of the level reflecting the various seasons of summer fall and winter is stunning and the sharp transition between the molten red-hot First Act of lava Reef versus the cooler and more relaxed second half is amazing not to mention those sweet crystals that slowly gradient through different colors Sonic 3 2 has some not so great stages like marble Garden which is kind of generic looking you know grass level type thing and you've also got launch bayzone who's Act One visuals just look like someone threw a bunch of crayons at the screen but there are some amazing levels like Carnival night which is launch base's idea of basically a bunch of different colors but Done Right the neon lights really pop against the dark background Angel Island is pretty okay and lots of vibrant colors ice cap is solid too despite mainly only using blue and white the really dark cave background fits nicely with the brighter 4 foreground hydrocity has a great color contrast between the purple and blue background with the orange foreground as well I can't really decide on which game I like better visually so we're gonna decide which one is better based on which game has the better Act 2 change UPS starting with Sonic 3 Angel Island goes from a tropical island to a tropical island in California hydrosity really doesn't change much outside of a different background marble Garden again just a different background Carnival night is mostly the same but for a small part of Act 2 it's in the dark when Knuckles turns the lights off it makes for a funny moment when your eyes have to adjust when you do turn the lights back on ice cap is primarily a cave level for the first egg but we finally get to touch grass or touch ice in Act 2 when we go outside finally launch base gets a bunch of tubes and a much better background because wow that equine background was a mess now I want to Sonic and Knuckles I've already talked about mushroom Hills amazing seasonal transitions as well as lava reefs so I'll skip those flying battery as well basically the same sandopolis starts off outside and then you go inside of a pyramid which is pretty spiffy the jump from hidden Palace to Sky Sanctuary is pretty slick you use this teleporter to go up from this deep ancient Cavern to gorgeous ruins in the sky finally the Death Egg Zone the background changes from the inside of the base and to the Earth in the background a pretty substantial change all in all I think Sonic and Knuckles has the superior Act 2 graphics changes probably because Sonic and Knuckles is the more story focused half of the complete Sonic 3 and Knuckles experience so I'm giving this point to Sonic and Knuckles while both games are incredibly similar gameplay wise each game brings some unique features to the table Sonic 3 as you can see from the title screen has a two player competition mode where you can race a buddy you can also play with two people in the one player mode with the second player taking control of Tails the competition mode is pretty cool it even has unique stages that aren't in the single player the co-op single player is not as good the camera only follows the first player so the person stuck playing as Tails is forced to go into little brother mode all you need is a broken mag cat's controller and you're good to go if you're feeling like an anti-social dork you can play as Sonic Solo or tail solo there isn't much reason to play solo unlike in Sonic 2 where having tails is actually a detriment considering he screws you up in the special stages also unlike Sonic 2 Sonic and Tails have unique abilities from one another Sonic has his insta Shield which I'm pretty sure everyone on their first playthrough thought was useless but if you play the game a bit more you begin to realize how broken this ability is essentially it increases the size of the jump attack's hitbox in the air however Sonic's hurt box is still the same if all that fighting game terminology flew over your head then let me break it down for you guys it makes it easier for you to hit enemies without making it easier for enemies to hit you you can use this to absolutely clobber some bosses like they become absolute jokes Sonic also has unique attacks for each Elemental Shield instead of the insta Shield if you press the jump button again when in the air you get a dash attack with the fire Shield a bounce attack with the bubble shield and a double jump with the lightning Shield I always forget Sonic is the only one that can use these abilities meanwhile Tails has his signature flying ability which for some reason he couldn't do in Sonic 2 solo despite it being a part of the most defining trait of his character it certainly makes the game easier being able to just fly over all the danger Sonic 3 also has a save feature the first of the Genesis games to have one the game is pretty short but you might only have a few minutes to play so it really is convenient you can even go back and replay zones you've already finished so you don't have to put in a silly code to go back and play the levels again Sonic and Knuckles has none of these convenient features unfortunately well except for multiple playable characters as you might have guessed in this game you can can play as Sonic and Knuckles while Tails was a cool playable character in Sonic 3 Knuckles is a lot more interesting primarily because his moveset has a lot more going on while Knuckles can't fly he can glide allowing you to go over obstacles but it isn't quite as brain dead as flying above everything as you can't gain vertical height with the Glide Knuckles also has his wall climb which I hate using because it's so slow but it is really useful like Tails Knuckles can't use the special moves of the elemental Shields also unfortunately Knuckles has a lower jump height than Sonic entails this along with just more difficult Encounters in general means knuckles's campaign is certainly the hard mode of the game to make up for this Knuckles also has the ability to punch through some walls which allows Knuckles to go through completely different routes in the levels having unique areas to play through instantly makes Knuckles a more interesting character to play as along with a greater challenge not only that the story is different when you play as knuckles too Knuckles is storyline surprisingly does not take place during Sonic storyline as one might expect given how future games would handle multiple storylines instead knuckles's campaign takes place after Sonic's campaign Eggman has been defeated but his AG Robel machine continues causing problems for Knuckles Knuckles even has a different final boss than Sonic Mecha Sonic Mark II Sonic does fight Mecha Sonic in his run but in knuckles's run Mecha Sonic absorbs the power of the Master Emerald becoming Super Mecha Sonic Mark II this is a way cooler final boss than the Death Egg Robot conceptually it's Unique too because mechasonic just like Sonic and Game Can't maintain his super form forever he has to recharge so you have to use those brief moments of recharging to kick the bozo while he's down he even starts throwing rings at you in a last-ditch effort to win it's a super cool battle speaking of Final Bosses one of the really cool things Sonic and Knuckles does is there's a special extra final boss encounter if you collect all of the Chaos Emeralds as Sonic called the Doomsday Zone whereas supersonic you have to chase down Eggman escaping in his Death Egg Robot with the Master Emerald before this game true endings in Sonic games were mostly just different cutscenes at the end of the game but here you actually get more content while I do like the Doomsday Zone it's a tense race against the clock as you try to stop Eggman before you run out of rings I think as a whole knuckles's final encounter is just cooler oh I almost forgot Sonic and knuckles's most iconic feature lock on technology by connecting your Sonic and Knuckles cartridge to other games you can create brand new experiences like Knuckles and Sonic 2. Sonic 3 and Knuckles and blue sphere the greatest Sonic game of all time if you want to learn more about that and Sonic and Knuckles lock on technology go check out my blue sphere video it really isn't much of a contest here Sonic and Knuckles just has so much more to offer the core of any video game the levels I've feel like the easiest way to compare the two games is to just go level by level for each game Angel Island vs mushroom Hill I like Angel Island and I also like mushroom Hill Boba great grassy beginner levels but mushroom Hill has some pretty annoying gimmicks like these tethers the hanging seesaws the chickens that blow air to hold you back and those bombs who throw mushrooms at you I gotta pick Angel Island hydrosity versus flying battery both of these stages have Banger music some of the best from each game both are solid levels however hydrosity I feel is just a more fluid stage marble Garden vs sandopolis funny how the third stage from both Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles are one of if not the weakest stages from each game both are some of my least favorite stages but I'll pick marble Garden since at least that doesn't take nearly 10 minutes to get through Carnival Night vs lava Reef once again we have another similarity between the stages both of these stages are the best visually in my opinion from each game both have awesome music too I'll give it to Lava Reef though because screw those barrels ice cap vs Sky Sanctuary both of these stages are the best stages in each game dang what is it with these consistent parallels between each stage this might be a controversial one but I gotta go with Sky Sanctuary I feel like Sky Sanctuary is a super slept on stage there are very few moments of slow monotonous platforming or waiting there are multiple Pathways without making me feel lost or confused this stage has a very nice flow to it that reminds me a lot of Sonic 2's level design Sky Sanctuary is only one act but it makes the most of that one act icecap is a fantastic level but that snowboarding section at the beginning cool your first time playing right not so cool you're 12 time playing launch base versus Death Egg easily launch base I don't love launch base but it is far less annoying than the anti-gravity the elevators and the absurdly drawn out light Trail sections of the death egg in the time time it takes to get through all of the light drill sections in Death Egg Zone Act 2 I could literally be done with the entire first zone of Sonic 2. with all that being said this point goes to Sonic 3. well we've gone through all of the most important parts of any video game and we ended up with two points for Sonic 3 and 4 points for a Sonic and Knuckles meaning Sonic and Knuckles is the winner right while Sonic and Knuckles did win more categories obviously not all of the categories are created Eagle the music is not as important as the level design in situations where I really can't decide on what to choose I always ask myself this if I had to pick one if this was a Telltale Game and I gotta make a decision on who lives who dies am I eating Frosted Flakes or Honey Nut Cheerios one gotta go only one can exist which one would I choose my gut is telling me Sonic and Knuckles I think Sonic 3 has the superior level so if you're just asking about which half of Sonic 3 and Knuckles is a level selection I like better I'm gonna go with Sonic 3. however as separate games as full experiences I think Sonic and Knuckles wins here there really isn't a big reason to play Sonic 3 or Sonic and Knuckles separately these days although playing Sonic 3 separately does have its merits there are some music changes that happen if you connect the two games like knuckles's theme is changed in Sonic and Knuckles and the combined game uses the Sonic and Knuckles version all also the level design for some of the Sonic 3 stages were actually changed in the combined game to make them a bit easier but in conclusion yeah I think Sonic and Knuckles is better than Sonic 3. I hope you guys enjoyed the video and if you did there's a whole playlist of videos just like this one on the left side of the screen if you want to be notified when I post a new video then click on the Subscribe button and the notification Bell if you be so kind click the like button too before you go as it really helps the channel grow thanks guys stay connected with the people you care about and have a good one

Channel: kiro talks

Views: 170,119

Keywords: Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 3, Sonic

Id: RrYtFQ9YyN0

Length: 16min 12sec (972 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 30 2022