Which Half of Sonic 3 & Knuckles is Better?

I like 3 more because you can play as Tails, it has Angel Island, Hydrocity, and Ice Cap Zones, and it has an actual save feature. Also good as S&K’s OST is, 3 had Michael Jackson as a composer and that’s pretty damn hard to beat.

“Angel Island goes from a tropical island to a tropical island in California.” 😂

One thing about playing them separately is that the water shield was clearly designed for the Sonic 3 half, since there are no underwater sections of Sonic & Knuckles, but you'll still find all these water shield boxes scattered around.

As a great philosopher said: Darkness without light is an abyss Light without darkness is blinding You cannot have a coin with one side.

I love how sonic 3 can be considered the water or cold side of sonic 3 with every level having water (or an oil like liquid in marble garden) while sonic travels through ice cold water and snow and sonic & knuckles is the hot side (just like knuckles' hot temper) as sonic travels through gradually more hot environments (sunny hill > electric fortress > desert > lavascape)...

I think The Sonic and Knuckles was the best game of the entire 2d sonic franchise, but I'm into an epic fantasy type of story myself. It has the most epic scenes of the entire franchise and a proper finale.

Ice cap and carnival night were composed by brad buxter. Michael Jackson’s contributions are launch base and the end credits music. That’s why original carnival night, ice cap, launch base tracks aren’t in origins. Everyone cites mjackson but the mastermind behind Sonic 3’s music was more buxter.

Fun fact: Sonic & Knuckles has a level select code! Here’s how to do it: 1. Select who you want to play as in the level select on the title screen 2. In Mushroom Hill, find a pulley 3. Press left x3, right x3 then up x3 4. Pause. While the game is paused, press A to return to the title screen 5. On the character selection, hold A and press start. You now have level select! (Note: selecting a sonic 3 level will default to mushroom hill act 1)

Sky Sanctuary truly is one of the most underrated Sonic levels. The music is amazing, and the vertical level design is done to perfection here. Sky Sanctuary is far more than the kind of vertical platformer you might get in Mario or other franchises. Sky Sanctuary is layered with several fast-paced horizontal sections that bring you to a spring or teleporter to help you progress further. This combination of horizontal and vertical movement gives it so much more depth than if you just kept jumping up platforms to reach the top. Oh yeah, and the visual storytelling here is top-notch. It starts with the Death Egg dramatically bursting out from under the clouds, launching his robots onto this untainted realm. Knuckles then uses the last of his strength to extend a bridge for Sonic, signifying his trust in Sonic. The stage also ends dramatically. After the fight with Mecha, the tower starts collapsing, forcing Sonic to run up as fast as he can, just barely making it into the Death Egg. Overall, Sky Sanctuary is a top-tier Sonic level that just doesn't get as much credit as it once did.

btw, instashield completely removes the hurtbox while expanding the hitbox

sonic & knuckles wins for me. The music from Ice Cap Zone and Launch Base are amazing and I'm depressed playing origins without hearing those tracks, but the levels and story are just too good in S&K. Mushroom Hill Zone is so solid and a great start, and I love the atmosphere with the story building throughout the game. Also, hyper Sonic is a plus. I actually like death egg and its gimmicks. Great video

Knuckles breaks through walls with his face

Unpopular opinion, Sandopolis act 2 isn't that bad. It's not bad at all, actually. Sure, your first time you might get a time over but if you know what you're doing in subsequent playthroughs it's not that long. Also its music is top 3 to me

First half hands down. I love the whole game but I love every single level in the first half. 2nd half I like mushroom hill and lava reef a lot, the others are just okay to me. It just feels like the first half levels are more creative.

me reading title: dont give me a exestential crisis after video : i see your points i agree

As someone who lives in California, the angel island joke was very accurate

I feel like people don’t talk enough about how beautiful the background sprites are, they are beautiful( my favorite background being death egg act 1)

Hey dude, if you want to have fun in sandopolis act 2, dont press the light switch try dodging the ghosts instead, its really fun!

The Sonic & Knuckles Part for two reasons. One the music: The Knuckles Theme and Miniboss Themes I prefer over Sonic 3 alone. The other reason is the Sonic & Knuckles part is when you combine the two halves to make the whole Sonic 3 & Knuckles, is where you unlock Hyper Sonic, which shows Sonic's growth in friendship. (Sonic 1, no form, Sonic only had the animals he saved as friends, Sonic CD, where he met Amy, so the Time Stones were at 7 and had powers, but no form as Amy barely is around in the game, Sonic 2, where he met and had a full adventure with Tails, so 7 Chaos Emeralds and Super Sonic. Sonic thought his Super Form was his best, but he didn't use it in a Final Boss Fight. Then Sonic 3 & Knuckles, where he met and befriended Knuckles at the end of the game, got the Super Emeralds, and Sonic fought a Final Boss in a form that was past what Sonic ever thought he could scale to.) So yeah Sonic & Knuckles is my favorite.

I like Sonic 3 more because of the music, level design, the fact that there are no 1 act zones which make it a bit less annoying for me, save feature and more. It just feels like the 2 games were meant together, and I can't play Sonic & Knuckles alone because it also feels like it's beginning late, whereas Sonic 3 feels more fledged out, and feels like the start of the whole journey.