Maybe you can catch him off-guard, knock the Emeralds out of their orbit or something? I would imagine that when he's in "beat the boss" mode, it's hard to catch him off-guard?

DW

Yeah, that's plausible. Since Chaos Emeralds are powered by emotions Sonic might become more invulnerable when he's determined to beat whatever he's facing.

But when he's just flying around and is maybe distracted by the rush of going so fast, it's possible to hit him and make it count...

Honestly, I'd consider it more implausible that Sonic would stand there like an idiot while Knuckles gathered all the Emeralds and then ran away. Ran away from, mind you, Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive. If there was ever a moment when plot was being made up for convenience...

Easy, Knuckles is the Juggernaut... etc

One (admittedly fan-fappy) answer to this is that Sonic 3 was trying to introduce a weakness to Super Sonic. The idea is, while Super Sonic is invincible to most life-threatening weapons, he can have his power removed and be killed by a large enough concussive force. I mean, think about it, what are the only ways to kill Super Sonic? Ignoring drowning, it leaves only crushing (concussive force), and bottomless pits (massive fall, presumably followed by massive landing). Knuckles discovers this by accident in the intro, fighting off the intruder the only way he knows how, and succeeding, stunning Sonic long enough for Knuckles to take his emeralds and jet. Eggman later cleverly exploits this weakness in the final boss. He has no doubt that Sonic will have regathered the emeralds by the time they meet at Launch Base, and builds a machine strong enough to hold Super Sonic. He clasps the golden ball of raw power in the machine's enormous hands, slamming him back onto platform, knocking the Super right out of him. Just as planned.

And, knowing Sonic Team and their approach to continuity, they immediately forgot about it. =

Hedgehogs have soft bellies.

Note how Sonic's quills/blue fur and eyes are all that change, clearly these are his invincible areas while his Hedgie belly is all still soft and pudgy fomr years of over doing the fast food. Also not SS flies belly down, where Knuckles has the advantage.

Since S3&K Sonic has clearly lost weight, trimming down and strengthening his belly, and now he no longer needs to roll into a ball even.

Also Tails can fly with his tails, does he have a motor in his butt or something? Because that is clearly the only way he could do that for so long, without being a cartoon character in a 90s game of course...

It's a game directed at kids. There doesn't need to be an elaborate explanation.

Also not SS flies belly down, where Knuckles has the advantage.

Best visual image ever.

Supes: *flying along, minding his own business, not noticing the patch of disturbed earth he is about to fly over*

Knux: *pops out, slamming his fist into Sonic's tummy* SHORYUKEN!

That's what my last sentence was for, Rish. 😛

Easy, Knuckles is the Juggernaut... etc

XDXD! Yea I had always just gone with Sonic was "caught off guard". While not the best explanation, atleast it has some validity. Every other time his Super he knows what he's fighting and what he's up against. He had not the slightest clue that a echidna[of all anthropormorphic animals] would jump out of the ground beneath him. Kudos to Knux's timing though. Wow...he's good. Also, whoever it was saying how Sonic just stood/sat there while Knuckles collected the CEs...i've got nothing. lol State of shock? lol

Well, I figure since that must have been one of the earliest times he went Super, maybe his body still wasn't "used" to it, so to speak. Became stronger with it the more he used it. Or Knuckles just had an extra bit of power in him from hanging around the Master Emerald 24/7.

Or something, I dunno...

Also not SS flies belly down, where Knuckles has the advantage.

Best visual image ever.

Supes: *flying along, minding his own business, not noticing the patch of disturbed earth he is about to fly over*

Knux: *pops out, slamming his fist into Sonic's tummy* SHORYUKEN!

Exactly! xD! Or maybe even more devasting...a Shin Shoryuken! :0

Someone should draw a picture of Knuckles in a Red Ken gi doing a shoryuken on Shin Sonic`s stomach while he's in a Black Akuma Gi.

Akuma doesn't REALLY fit Sonic, but Akuma's glowing hair when he powers up looks like Super Sonic`s quills.

You mean like how Tails simply couldn't carry Sonic up to Knuckles and beat him up after fighting the Act 2 boss of Angel Island. And if you tried you, he was blocked by an invisible barrier.

Or how Sonic simply couldn't stop Knuckles from pressing that switch in Carnival Night Act 2 because of you guess it, the invisible barrier.

Knuckles: "Screw the rules, I have plot!"

<3 I want to have your children.

Oh wait, I'm a dude, that won't work...

But still... awesome tvtropes reference! XD

Funny this should come up, as I've been thinking about this (among other things) recently for a little Sonic project I'm working on.

My take on the whole thing is as follows:

Super Sonic is very, very tough, but not completely invunerable, so an extremely hard punch could still floor him, particularly if he's not expecting it. Also, Knux is extremely strong, so that, coupled with (as others have already said) SS's distraction at the beginning of the game led to Knux being able to crown him one. He then didn't immediately get back up and reclaim the emeralds because: a) he was recovering from the attack, and b) he was coming down from the 'emerald high' of having the emeralds taken from his super form in the first place, so that would have taken a lot out of him for a few minutes too. And then following on from that, the reason he didn't chase Knux when the red one ran off is because I figure the Flaming Egg's attack (was that what they were called, those drone bots that torched the zone?) was directly afterwards - it happens pretty soon after in the game, so it's not a big stretch to claim that it happened right away and Knux escaped during the confusion.

The reason Tails didn't fly Sonic up to Knux at the end of the zone was because his tails were waterlogged from the spray of the waterfall behind him, rendering them useless (yeah I know he could still fly in the game, but this is a more reallistic way of explaining it away).

And Carni Night - well, that's a slightly more controversial one because in my version of events, Carni Night didn't actually happen (I could never rectify there being a theme park on the Floating Island, so I've kinda made it a part of the Casino Night zone instead, and my version of the S3&K storyline doesn't include it).

I know others may not agree, but that's how I explained it away.

<3 I want to have your children.

Oh wait, I'm a dude, that won't work...

But still... awesome tvtropes reference! XD

A quick trip to Jusenkyo will take care of that.

Jusenkyo made me a dragon.

Knuckles: "Screw the rules, I have plot!"

Wait, Dan Green is Kaiba? THIS CANNOT BE

I know... I was sure he was the voice of Yugioh....

...Did no-one but me notice that Knuckles changes colour during the course of S3&K? (inb4 mention of real world reason: palette adjustment)

Knuckles is Super Knuckles (or some kind of weird in-between state which explains the lack of pulsing glow) until he leaves the Hidden Palace during Mushroom Hill Zone Act 1. This makes him uber enough to knock the emeralds right out of Sonic and wind him at the start of the game, yet weak enough to get ROFLstomped by regular Sonic in Hidden Palace later on.

And let's leave it at that.

...Did no-one but me notice that Knuckles changes colour during the course of S3&K? (inb4 mention of real world reason: palette adjustment)

Knuckles is Super Knuckles (or some kind of weird in-between state which explains the lack of pulsing glow) until he leaves the Hidden Palace during Mushroom Hill Zone Act 1. This makes him uber enough to knock the emeralds right out of Sonic and wind him at the start of the game, yet weak enough to get ROFLstomped by regular Sonic in Hidden Palace later on.

And let's leave it at that.

That's a surprisingly good explanation.

CT... the answer to your question is quite simple.

Because he's Knuckles!

Sweet, a new Sonic Shorts. Er, Knuckles Briefs. I wonder if there was an easter egg this time.