On one hand, Azure Lake is definitively not "Black or White". On the other hand, Big Arm is pretty much certainly not connected to the MJ Credits. Very special thanks to Hidden Palace and The Cutting Room Floor for discovering and releasing this prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 3! Check out their respective websites at and to learn more!
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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Sega. It is part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and follows Sonic the Hedgehog 2. After Dr. Robotnik's spaceship, the Death Egg, crash-lands on a mysterious floating island, Sonic and Tails attempt to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds to stop it from relaunching. Sonic 3 introduces Knuckles the Echidna, the island guardian, who lays traps for Sonic and Tails. Gameplay is similar to previous entries, with players traversing side-scrolling levels at high speeds while collecting rings and defeating enemies.
Development began in January 1993, shortly after the release of Sonic 2. It was initially developed as an isometric game similar to Sonic 3D Blast, but became a conventional 2D platformer due to time constraints. Sonic 3's production took place simultaneously with Sonic & Knuckles; they were developed as a single game until time constraints and cartridge costs forced the developers to split it. The Sonic 3 cartridge can be attached to an adapter on the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge, creating a combined game, Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Pop musician Michael Jackson reportedly composed portions of the soundtrack, but left the project and went uncredited.
Sonic 3 was released for the Sega Genesis in North America and Europe in February 1994, and in Japan the following May. As with its predecessors, it was a critical and commercial success, with critics seeing it as an improvement over previous installments. It sold over one million copies in the United States, making it one of the bestselling Genesis games. Alongside Sonic & Knuckles, a Windows port was released with the Sonic & Knuckles Collection. The game has also been rereleased via emulation and compilations for various platforms, including Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection.
The Sonic the Hedgehog 3 1993-11-03 prototype is a prototype build of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for the Sega Mega Drive. The EPROMs it was contained on claim it to be dated November 3, 1993, though its header suggests it might have been built in October 1993.
This build of the game reflects a time during development when the developers were beginning to split the game into two. As such, some of the content in this prototype would be eventually cut from Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but would resurface in Sonic & Knuckles. Programming for objects, stages, and more that would be completely removed from the released Sonic 3 ROM are still present in this build.
A major difference of this prototype is that Sonic and Tails still use their sprites from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. All six Zones that would be in the final Sonic 3 are playable with numerous differences and bugs.
"Green Hill Zone (SONIC's 25th Anniversary Remix)" by TOY
"Sonic 3" by Rare Candy
#TheSuperSonicLetsPlay #Sonic3Prototype
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