Congratulations. I beat Sonic 3 & Knuckles as Super Sonic sometime back in 1998, but only got around to beating that game as Hyper Sonic in 2004. Yes, I remember the years of these occasions. o_o

Oh, excellent.

I think you're ready for HARD MODE.

...I finally beat Sonic 3 and Knuckles at 100%!!!

I first started playing S3&K on the Sonic Jam series for the Saturn. That run came to an end when my Saturn's internal battery died.

You do know that the battery (cell) is replaceable? Open that plastic cover at the back of the Saturn, pop it out and and replace it with another CR2032 3V.

Also I've seen a number of people's Saturns who never removed the ribbon that stops contacts from touching the battery, therefore they lost saves when ever they removed the mains

LOL It took you 12 years.

It only took me like a month. 😛

Hush.

It's not my fault the Special Stages are a pain to get through.

You should have done this:

Restart on Mushroom Hill Zone whether you succeeded or failed the Special stages, it practically gives you the Rainbowy Ring.

And by 100% do you mean you collected all the emeralds as Sonic, Tails, Sonic/Tails, and Knuckles?

Sonic/Tails, and I wanted to do it without any restarts or codes.

Restart on Mushroom Hill Zone whether you succeeded or failed the Special stages, it practically gives you the Rainbowy Ring.

Yup, that was my preferred method.

I beat S3K 100% in one sitting a few times, it helps to have no real friends

... With Sonic/Tails you can actually get 14 emeralds by the end of mush hill. Knux by Flying Battery.

I think.

Either way, good for you! =D

Thankies. It wasn't so much that I had trouble with the Special Stages, though they were difficult, my biggest problem was that I just couldn't find the rings to get to there.

my biggest problem was that I just couldn't find the rings to get to there.

One word: internet

... With Sonic/Tails you can actually get 14 emeralds by the end of mush hill. Knux by Flying Battery.

I think.

Either way, good for you! =D

Actually, I was able to get all 14 Emeralds by Mushroom Hill, with all the character combinations, with a few Super Rings left over especially with Knux; I think even on good playthroughs I would use about all the Rings before I could get all 14 with Sonic/Tails. Of course, if I missed a few, I could get them in Flying Battery.

Same here. Except with Sonic SPINBALL. It took me YEARS to get past that last level!

Heh, I still haven't beat Spinball. I got good enough to get to the last level, but after losing a few times, I quit playing and move on to something else.

Same here. Except with Sonic SPINBALL. It took me YEARS to get past that last level!

Dude, at least you GOT past the Showdown. I never did. It took me YEARS to even GET to that damn level and then I eventually just stopped giving a s**t. This was well and truly over a decade ago now and I STILL haven't passed that stage. I don't think I ever will, it's definitely the HARDEST level in Sonic history IMO.

I played the Master System port of Spinball which made that last emerald that was incredibly hard to get in the Mega Drive version of "The Machine" easily catchable through the addition of one bumper that was absent in the original.
But I never beat the original. Not even with save states.

Spinball is great, you spend all that time getting good enough to beat the first 3 levels, then Showdown's gutters'o'doom kill you right off =D

Seriously though I love that game but I've beaten it exactly once and know I never shall again.

Seriously though I love that game but I've beaten it exactly once and know I never shall again.

Dude..... if you can beat it once, you can beat it twice. EVEN THRICE, GOSHDIDDLYDARNIT!!!!!!

Congratulations! I got S3 & S&K secondhand sometime around 2000 and they came with saved all emeralds, which rocked. Then I did something stupid to the cartridge and lost them all. I don't think I ever did get them all again...

DW

I was another fan of the Mushroom Hill timesaver - although a tendency to play as Tails means that I've never sat down and had a thorough stab at the Doomsday Zone, even now.

This reminds me, after years of serching, the other month I finally found Sonic 3 for sale =D A shop was having 3 for 2 on mega drive games so I managed to get Sonic 3, Sonic 2 (My brother lost mine) and Sonic Spinball, so now I have an honest to goodness complete S3K save on a cartridge, not the PC version, not an emulator, not the eggbox, but for the first time on the cartridge. This makes me a happy wuff.

It also puts my mega drive games count up to 30.

You're not concerned about battery failure? I suppose you could just swap in a fresh one. I don't recall if Mega Drive cartridges required a gamebit to open (my money's on yes).

I have a Sonic 3 cartridge. I think its saves are intact. =

It took you this long? o_o

For reference, I managed to complete S3&K with all the emeralds on my first sitting, and then proceeded to do so again with every other character as well.

I can't remember now whether or not I've completed Sonic Spinball. Probably not as I hated it.

Incidentally, if you've managed that you should try completing some of the 8-bit games. They are all pretty much without fail much harder than their Mega Drive counterparts (boss battles with no rings, anyone?).

The Game Gear ones are particularly evil for having a smaller screen and you barely see what´s ahead of you.

My first Sonic game was Sonic Chaos for the Master System and I played that thing to death.
When replaying the Master System version years later I had no problem completing it with all emeralds, but the Game Gear version was simply impossibly hard. x.x

You're not concerned about battery failure? I suppose you could just swap in a fresh one. I don't recall if Mega Drive cartridges required a gamebit to open (my money's on yes).

Not really since I can, and have completed all three characters in a day. I just wanted it for the megadrive so I no longer had to play with keyboards or laggy eggbox controllers.
Also just for having it.

My S&K was lonely damnit.

That and that there's no battery/cell in a sonic 3 cart:

That ramtron non-volatile ram chip is used for the save data of both s3 and s3&k.

It took you this long? o_o

For reference, I managed to complete S3&K with all the emeralds on my first sitting, and then proceeded to do so again with every other character as well.

Yeah, well, thing is I can't play an entire game in one sitting. I get bored too easily. I think the closest I've ever come to beating a game in one sitting was when I played through the original Spyro trilogy.

I know exactly how you feel, but mine is a different story...

When I first got Sonic 3, I could never beat it because in the Carnival Night Zone, there is a part of the second act where Sonic comes to a huge wall, at the base of which is one of those springy spiraling things that he would jump on and it would bounce up and down. I'm sure they never got named, right? I could not get past that part for anything. I would spend hours just stuck on that spot jumping, going up and down, getting more and more mad as time went on. Eventually, a buddy of mine stopped by with his second Genesis controller and got me past that part by simply having Tails carry me up the wall, and I would eventually go on to beat the game thanks to the save function that allowed me to keep that same game file open without me ever having to deal with the Casino Night Zone unless I was Super Sonic and was able to get up that wall easier!

Then I got ahold of a Gamecube and the Mega Collection game and played through the game for the first time in probably five or more years by that point, and I got to that terrible spot in that act that's probably forever etched in my brain, and it took me quite a few times of playing to get past it, but one time, I finally did it. And I've never had much trouble doing it since, either, of course. I think it's easier with the Gamecube controller's thumb pad over the old Genesis' controller or something. Either that or I finally stumbled onto some certain method that I just simply couldn't find through hundreds of tries. That took me probably close to ten years or more before I got past that one damn spot, but when I did it, it was a happy day!

Did anybody else have a problem with that zone like I did?

Yeah, that's a VERY common problem. I don't know of anyone who figured it out easily. The trick is to jump onto the barrel and begin pushing up and down on the D-pad with the rythym of the barrel's movement. It's a game mechanic that is very foreign to the Sonic games, so it doesn't easily come to mind!

---the-Krayon

When I was first playing the game, I happened to have a review magazine to hand which had a specific how-to for thatr section, so I didn't have any trouble.

I've lost count of the number of people I've seen say that they did, though.

*holds up hand*

In fact it was Sam who told me the secret at uni. I'm sure I offered to buy her an orange juice and lemonade as thanks Sam, did I ever actually buy you it? Or do I still owe you, 10 years later?

DW

I don't think you did - although I don't tend to keep a tally of these things.

Restart on Mushroom Hill Zone whether you succeeded or failed the Special stages, it practically gives you the Rainbowy Ring.

One word: internet

:nono

Better to take a long time like Rose than to use such shenanigans with such an important game.

Though I did call them about that barrel. I actually tried the correct method myself but it didn't seem to be working. And every other barrel either doesn't let you bounce it to high levels or kills you if you bounce too far. That was a rare example of horrible game design in a masterpiece. BTW I also called about the mysterious zones such as flying battery and sandopolis (which I desired for their awesome music) and they had an answering FAQ with both of those questions.

Oh, wow, I feel better, I thought I was just stupid for all those years, lol! It is possible to get past that part, but it's just no good when going from one spot in a zone to another is more difficult to do than it is to defeat the final boss of the game. That is my ONE complaint about Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Other than that, it was nearly a flawless game, IMO.

:nono

Better to take a long time like Rose than to use such shenanigans with such an important game.

'Important'? I guess 16-bit Sonic games really are serious business.

Well, not all of us like to cheat to beat a game.

The only time I cheat is when I absolutely cannot get past something.

The only time I cheat is when I absolutely cannot get past something.

That's the only time I cheat too.

I never had that problem in S3/S3&K....In fact I never knew there was a problem with that. I usually ended up killing myself cause I would be bouncing the barrel too damn high and slam myself in the ceiling.

Did anybody else have a problem with that zone like I did?

I didn't, although it may have had something to do with when I played it. Sonic 3 was the last Genesis Sonic I was able to collect, and I was definitely in my teens by the time I first played it (*fangasm'd @ super sonic opening cutscene*). Anyhow, I don't remember having any trouble with that part at all. Nowadays, I do occasionally, because Tails is actively sabotaging you, but maybe I only used to play as Sonic. *shrug* Or maybe my sister was always on P2.

I never had that problem in S3/S3&K....In fact I never knew there was a problem with that. I usually ended up killing myself cause I would be bouncing the barrel too damn high and slam myself in the ceiling.

Hahahah! I would do that too sometimes. Once again though...our similarities are noticed once more. I never knew that was a problem til I came here. For some reason...I got it. Then again...I was like what...14 or something before I had even played Sonic 3, so i'd seen things like this in other games before.

Bahahaha, the Carnival Night barrel rears its head once more. I'm in the camp that just "got it" when I leapt on that barrel and noticed it moved if I pushed up or down on my d-pad.

I was... 11 at the time, I think?

I also recall being ridiculously good at S3&K as a whole - I could get through the entire thing without losing a life.