Knuckles has most of the same abilities as Sonic - seems an echidna can do a Spin Dash attack just as well as a hedgehog - but he also has a few new tricks. You can play as either Sonic or Knuckles, and you get a different game, with a different ending, depending on who you take. The classic tunes include new themes for every zone and more sound effects, along with the ever-classic Sonic repertoire of pings, plings, and sound bites. Interestingly, when you hook up with Sonic 2 and 3 through Sonic and Knuckles, the colors in the original game look somewhat enhanced. Knuckles is a much more intriguing sprite than Tails his new moves actually make him more fun to play and more amusing to look at (he uses his dreadlocks to fly). The Death Egg Zone in particular has beautiful backgrounds. Sonic and Knuckles looks good - the graphics resemble Sonic 3's the most. Knuckles' wall climbing takes a little trick to learn, but it's like bike riding - once you've got it. Sonic and Knuckles both have all of Sonic's traditional moves, and they're exactly the same. The game play, fortunately, is much tougher than Sonic 3's.Įven if you've never picked up a Sonic game before, you'll master the controls of Sonic & Knuckles in no time. The Special Stage is the same as in Sonic 3, but it's much tougher and has several interesting new elements, such as yellow balls you can jump off. Seven regular zones, all with original themes, are filled with new gadgets and mechanical Robotnik cronies.įamiliar power- ups abound,but there are two new Bonus Rounds - a pinball-style bounce- fest and something that resembles a slot machine. If you're not into the backward- compatibility thing, you probably wanna know about this new game itself. Stay tuned, because Sega promises further compatibility with other Sonic games, all to be announced soon. In fact, in Sonic 3, you'll find Acts that you've never seen before, and best of all, they're much tougher than those in the original game - it makes them worth playing again. Sure, you say, there's nothing new to play in Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, right? Wrong! As Knuckles, you have access to areas in both games that were unreachable before. If you hook up your Sonic and Knuckles game with Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 (we can't tell you how yet - we promised Sega), you can replay those games as Knuckles (in the one- player mode only). So you say that's not enough, it's still just another Sonic game with another fuzzy character added? Well, try this on for size.