Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Printable version

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

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Controls

Sprite (Sonic)	Sprite (Tails)	Name	Description
Sprite of Sonic walking.	Sprite of Tails walking.	Walk	Press left or right to make your character walk in that direction.
Sprite of Sonic running.	Sprite of Tails running.	Run	Keep walking in a direction and your character will start to run.
Sprite of Sonic looking up.	Sprite of Tails looking up.	Look up	Press up while standing still to look up. After a few seconds the camera will pan upwards.
Sprite of Sonic crouching.	Sprite of Tails crouching.	Crouch	Press down while standing still to crouch. After a few seconds the camera will pan downwards.
Sprite of Sonic pushing to the right.	Sprite of Tails pushing to the right.	Push	Some objects in the game can be moved by pushing them. Walk in to an object and keep walking to push the object.
Sprite of Sonic performing a spin dash move.	Sprite of Tails performing a spin dash move.	Spin Dash	While crouching press the jump button repeatedly to do the spin dash.
Sprite of Sonic performing an Instant Shield move.	N/A	Insta-Shield	Jump and when in the air jump again, and sonic will gain a shield for a split second.
Sprite of Sonic performing a bounce move.	N/A	Bounce	With the water shield, jump and when in the air jump again, and Sonic will bounce.
Sprite of Sonic jumping high.	N/A	Double jump	With the lightning shield, jump and when in the air jump again, and Sonic will do a double jump.
Sprite of a fireball.	N/A	Fireball Spin Dash	With the flame shield, jump and when in the air jump again, and Sonic will do a fireball spin dash.
N/A	Sprite of Tails flying.	Fly	Only Tails can fly. To do so, jump and when in the air jump again. Keep pressing the jump button to go up and stop pressing it to go down. Tails can only fly for a short time before getting tired and falling back to the ground.
N/A	Sprite of Tails swimming.	Swim	Again, only Tails can swim, similarly to flight. This is done the same way as flying, except you need to be underwater. While underwater jump and when off the ground jump again. Tails can only swim for a short time before getting tired and falling back to the ground.

Items

Items can be found on all the levels. Items include:

Rings

Rings are the most common item in the game. They protect Sonic/Tails from harm. When Sonic/Tails takes damage they will lose all the rings they are carrying, if they have no rings then they lose a life. Every 100 rings collected earns your player an extra life.

Item Boxes

Sonic/Tails must attack these to get the contents.

Sprite	Name	Description
	Super Ring	Gives you 10 Rings.
	Invincible	Makes you invincible for a short period of time. Note that some moving objects are still harmful.
	Flame Shield	Protects you from flames. Goes out in water.
	Water Shield	Allows you to breathe underwater.
	Lightning Shield	Acts as a magnet for rings. Goes out in water.
	Power Sneaker	Lets you run faster for a short period of time.
	1-Up	Gives you an extra life. Note that the picture is of the character you are playing as.
	Robotnik	Causes damage.

Angel Island Zone

Intro screen to Angel Island Zone Act 1

A tranquil jungle island that is set ablaze by Dr. Eggman's swarm of Fire Breaths after Sonic and Tails arrive.

Act 1

Special Stages

The first special stage is behind the rock to the left

1. Near the start of the zone, just after the first drop, turn left. Do a spin dash to break the rock blocking the entrance to a hidden room containing the special stage ring.

2. Further into the act, go down the first drop and break the rock to the left. In the hidden room is a spring. The special stage ring is above the spring.

In a cutscene, right when Sonic and Tails are about to proceed to act 2, a Fire Breath appears and sets the zone on fire.

Act 2

Special Stages

1. After you go through the narrow shoot at the very start of the stage, just keep pressing right and you should break into the hidden room after you exit the shoot.

2. When you get to the waterfall with the rocks that appear and disappear, fall down into the pool below. Do a spin dash up the right wall to find the hidden room where the special stage ring is.

Boss

Sonic and/or Tails/and/or Knuckles faces off against the Fire Breath that burned down the zone earlier. Its basic attack is to use its flamethrower that sets the ground on fire, watch out! It will also shoot missiles into the air that come falling down towards the player. After 16 hits, the Fire Breath is defeated and explodes. There will then be a capsule on the player's right, which the player must stand on top of to open the capsule door, setting the animals free.

In Knuckles' version, since he is unable to reach the platform that leads to the upper section, he must break a rock that leads into the lower section where he can fight the boss.

During the Hydrocity Zone transition, Knuckles presses a button causing Sonic and/or Tails fall down.

In Knuckles' version, he just jumps down.

Hydrocity Zone

Intro screen to Hydrocity Zone Act 1

The inner workings of a complex hydroelectric dam. After tangling with a mini-boss that can spin Sonic and Tails in a whirlpool, Dr. Robotnik tries to stop them with his own whirlpool inducer as well as depth charges.

Marble Garden Zone

Into screen to Marble Garden Zone Act 1

The marble ruins of an ancient civilization. The mini-boss uses a pair of drills to attack Sonic and Tails, both directly and by drilling into the rock above and raining debris on their heads (reminiscent of Dr. Robotnik's own vehicle in the Mystic Cave Zone of Sonic 2). Dr. Robotnik attempts to crush the pair under the collapsing ruins, and when Tails airlifts Sonic out of danger, charges at them directly with his drill. This is the only zone without any water to drown Sonic or Tails, though tar pits can still drag the heroes down and kill them.

Carnival Night Zone

Intro screen of Carnival Night Zone Act 1.

Tails drops Sonic into a playful carnival filled with balloons, pinball bumpers, and cannons to launch from, although unlike Casino Night Zone in Sonic 2 there are no slot machines.Carnival Night Zone is the longest of all zones available in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (and Sonic 3 and Knuckles as well).

Items

Sprite	Name	Description
Sprite of a barrel.	Barrel	When Sonic/Tails stand on these you can make them bounce up and down by pressing up and down.
Sprite of a balloon.	Balloon	Sonic/Tails can bounce off of these by jumping into them. When underwater they release air when burst.
Sprite of a bouncer gadget.	Bouncer	Sonic/Tails bounce off these giving 10 points every time.
Sprite of a futuristic wheel.	Wheel	Sonic/Tails can run around these when you jump on to them.

Act 2

Halfway through this Act, Sonic must push a rotating cylinder down through a slot low enough for him to escape through. This is completed by pressing up and down on the D-Pad, without jumping.

Boss

Sonic and Tails face Dr. Robotnik, who this time drops a large sphere and uses it to create an electric storm that draws the pair towards its discharge.

Icecap Zone

Sonic is shot from a cannon and lands on a snowboard in the snowy mountains. The level contains vents that shoot out cold bursts that freeze and harm Sonic.

Act 1

Boss

A snow machine that spins snow at Sonic or Tails tries to crush them.

Act 2

Boss

Robotnik attacks in a machine that has a spiked platform drop down and fires the freezing bursts in a pattern at Sonic.

Launch Base Zone

Dr. Robotnik's site that houses the stricken Death Egg, with spinning elevators for facilitation of travel and alarms to keep out intruders. The mini-boss uses two flailing arms. Dr. Robotnik uses three different weapons to stop Sonic and Tails: first, a static projectile launcher at the foot of the Death Egg. When that fails, Robotnik flees to the Death Egg and Sonic chases after, leaving Tails behind. After boarding, Dr. Robotnik employs a rocket armed with lasers to fight Sonic, and then finally resorts to a large pair of arms (possibly inspired by his powersuit at the end of Sonic 2) to grab Sonic in a ball and slam him into the floor (as well as the rather impressive ability to damage even Super Sonic, though taking Super Sonic to the final battle is rare).

Bonus Stages

Bonus stage screenshot.

To enter a Bonus Stage you need to pass a Starpost with 50 or more rings. Stars will appear above the starpost. Jump into the stars to enter the bonus stage.

Items

Sprite	Name	Description
	1-Up Ball	Gives you an extra live.
	Aqua Ball	Gives you the water shield.
	Bumper Ball	You bounce off these when hit.
	Catapult Ball	Replaces the springs at the bottom.
	Clear Ball	Does nothing.
	Flame Ball	Gives you the flame shield.
	Ring Ball	Gives you 10 rings.
	Thunder Ball	Gives you the lightning shield.

Special Stages

Sonic and Tails in a Special Stage

The mechanics of Special Stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

In the special stages, you must collect all the blue spheres while avoiding the red spheres. If you collect all the blue spheres you are rewarded with a Chaos Emerald.

Game Screen

This counter shows how many blue spheres are remaining.
This counter shows the number of rings collected.

Items

	You must collect all of these to get the chaos emerald. When you touch them they turn red.
	If you touch any of these you lose.
	You bounce off these making you go backwards. Just press up to go forward again.

Making Rings

Groups of blue spheres can be turned into rings by going around the outside of them.

A Simple Example

1. 2. 3.

There must be at least 1 blue sphere in the center.

Irregular Shapes

1. 2. 3.

Notice how only the spheres in the outline and the center turn into rings.

Stage 1

This is the first of the special stages. You must collect 102 blue spheres to get the emerald. There are also 64 rings available. To collect the rings, go around the edge of the 4, 4x4 groupings of blue spheres.

Stage 1 map

Stage 2

There are 135 rings available on this level.

Stage 2 map