History Trivia / Sonic3AndKnuckles

* {{Blooper}}: Because they didn't bother replacing Eggman's front-facing sprites, he still shows up for the Flying Battery boss fight in Kunckles' game instead of the Eggrobo that takes his place in every other encounter.

** Simon Thomley (the lead developer of the remastered version in ''Sonic Origins'') is [[https://www.ign.com/articles/sonic-origins-developer-very-unhappy-with-the-remastered-collection not happy about]] how the remake turned out in ''Sonic Origins'', with him going on to criticize the unpolished state of the remake and the many bugs that according to him, were not originally there when he and his team submitted the remake to Sega, but were introduced as a result of the remake getting poorly integrated with the rest of ''Origins'' by Sega.

* FlipFlopOfGod: Are the Super Emeralds merely upgraded Chaos Emeralds or are they a separate set of Emeralds altogether? While the game itself implies that they're the same Chaos Emeralds (which is supported by ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' developer [[https://x.com/cfwhitehead/status/1334315840770981888 Christian Whitehead]]) and the Japanese Sonic Twitter account outright [[https://twitter.com/SonicOfficialJP/status/1663319311342088192 states they are enhanced Chaos Emeralds]], interviews from Creator/SonicTeam have suggested the latter instead, with series head Takashi Iizuka saying they're currently residing in "another dimension" in [[https://reddit.com/r/SonicTheHedgehog/s/Dzrolr5ZtQ one interview]] and art director Kazuyuki Hoshino stating that they've vanished in [[http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/06/10/more-burning-questions-about-the-sonic-the-hedgehog-franchise-answered.aspx another]]. According to series head-writer Creator/IanFlynn on the ''Podcast/BumbleKast'', the Super Emeralds are a "[[ShrugOfGod gigantic question mark]]", explaining this inconsistency.

* FlipFlopOfGod: Are the Super Emeralds merely upgraded Chaos Emeralds or are they a separate set of Emeralds altogether? While the game itself implies that they're the same Chaos Emeralds (which is supported by ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' developer [[https://x.com/cfwhitehead/status/1334315840770981888 Christian Whitehead]]) and the Japanese Sonic Twitter account outright [[https://twitter.com/SonicOfficialJP/status/1663319311342088192 states they are enhanced Chaos Emeralds]], interviews from Creator/SonicTeam have suggested the latter instead, with series head Takashi Iizuka saying they're currently residing in "another dimension" in [[https://reddit.com/r/SonicTheHedgehog/s/Dzrolr5ZtQ one interview]] and art director Kazuyuki Hoshino stating that they've vanished in [[http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/06/10/more-burning-questions-about-the-sonic-the-hedgehog-franchise-answered.aspx another]]. According to series head-writer Creator/IanFlynn on the Bumblekast, the Super Emeralds are a "[[ShrugOfGod gigantic question mark]]", explaining this inconsistency.

* AccidentalInnuendo: In early prototypes of the game, the special stages told you to "Get Blue Balls". Thankfully, the testers who worked on the game caught this (as well as laughed at it) and it was changed to "Spheres" for the final release.

* AccidentalInnuedo: In early prototypes of the game, the special stages told you to "Get Blue Balls". Thankfully, the testers who worked on the game caught this (as well as laughed at it) and it was changed to "Spheres" for the final release.

** In 1999, Jack in the Box released a set of four toys based on Sega PC games. Besides ''Sonic & Knuckles Collection'', which recieved an articulated figure of Knuckles, there were also toys based on ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3DFlickiesIsland Sonic 3D Blast]]'' (Sonic), ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'' (Ecco), and ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}'' (Bug).

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: While re-releases of the game were common through the 1990s and 2000s, due to various licensing and legal issues related to the tracks by Michael Jackson, Brad Buxer, and their team, Sega largely stopped re-releasing the game throughout most of TheNewTens, resulting in plans for a remastered version of the game by Christian Whitehead and Simon Thomley getting shelved[[note]]Making it the only one of the four main Classic ''Sonic'' games to not receive a mobile remake[[/note]] as well as its glaring absence in numerous {{compilation rerelease}}s, including the Sega 3D Classics and Sega Ages lineup of games, and plug-and-play units such as the Mega Drive/Genesis Mini. Fortunately, it seems like the issues preventing its re-release have been resolved, as after a full decade, Sega would go on to announce a full remaster of the game, spearheaded by Thomley no less, included with ''Sonic Origins''. Unfortunately, Sega confirmed that the company was unable to use the Jackson/Buxer tracks for the remaster, and all the tracks were replaced by remastered versions of the songs featured in the 1993 prototype and the Windows 95 remake by Jun Senoue. That said, emulated rereleases of the game are still unlikely for the foreseeable future due to the legal issues.

** There's rumors stating that at one point, an official Sega game assistance hotline would start with a prerecorded messaging explaining how to get past the "barrel of doom" in Carnival Night Zone Act 2, but this has never been confirmed or deconfirmed.

** All ''Sonic & Knuckles'' music is dummied out in the ''Sonic 3'' cartridge. In the sound test, most of the Zone music that exists in track 09 onward is from ''Sonic & Knuckles''. You can hear the ''Sonic & Knuckles'' miniboss music via a glitch during both the Hydrocity Zone Acts 1 and 2 boss fights if you wait until the drowning music starts, then jump out of the water. This glitch also works for the Act 2 boss in the combined version.

** Despite what your friends (and basic logic) told you, it's not possible to beat Fire Breath the first time you see it and stop it from burning Angel Island. Its health is set at 255 for this scene. No matter how fast you hit it, it'll successfully set off the firebombs and escape with its robotic life.

* EarlyDraftTieIn: Although the Drop Dash was cut and had to wait until ''Mania'' to appear in a game, a remnant of it can still be found during the fight with Mecha Sonic, with an attack where he slams down into the ground and dashes forward.

** Apparently, the troubled production of ''Sonic 3''[='s=] soundtrack has led to SEGA being unsure who composed ''most'' of its songs; whenever arrangements appear in later games or albums, they are simply credited to "SEGA Sound Team", in contrast to the very specific composer credits given for most ''Sonic'' games. Only a few songs are known to be exceptions.[[note]]Tomonori Sawada composed the ''Sonic 3'' main theme and invincible theme, as well as the 1-Up and All Clear jingles which were arranged by Masaru Setsumaru; Yoshiaki Kashima composed the Blue Spheres music; Masayuki Nagao composed Hydrocity Zone Act 2 and Lava Reef Zone Act 2; Miyoko Takaoka composed Marble Garden Zone (Takaoka also claimed to have composed a bonus stage theme, but when shown the three bonus themes on Twitter, [[https://twitter.com/soundforest1/status/460178606875238402 she did not recognize them]], suggesting her contribution went unused); Jun Senoue composed Balloon Park, the bonus stage themes, the Act Clear jingle, the Game Over jingle, and the Continue jingle Masaru Setsumaru arranged the ''Sonic & Knuckles'' credits medley and the unused ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' credits medley; Howard Drossin composed the new tracks from ''Sonic & Knuckles'' (main theme, invincible theme, 1-Up jingle, All Clear jingle, and Knuckles' theme) which were arranged by Masaru Setsumaru.[[/note]]

** Apparently, the troubled production of ''Sonic 3''[='s=] soundtrack has led to SEGA being unsure who composed ''most'' of its songs; whenever arrangements appear in later games or albums, they are simply credited to "SEGA Sound Team", in contrast to the very specific composer credits given for most ''Sonic'' games. Only a few songs are known to be exceptions.[[note]]Tomonori Sawada composed the ''Sonic 3'' main theme and invincible theme, as well as the 1-Up and All Clear jingles which were arranged by Masaru Setsumaru; Yoshiaki Kashima composed the Blue Spheres music; Masayuki Nagao composed Hydrocity Zone Act 2 and Lava Reef Zone Act 2; Jun Senoue composed Balloon Park, the bonus stage themes, the Act Clear jingle, the Game Over jingle, and the Continue jingle; Masaru Setsumaru arranged the ''Sonic & Knuckles'' credits medley and the unused ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' credits medley; Howard Drossin composed the new tracks from ''Sonic & Knuckles'' (main theme, invincible theme, 1-Up jingle, All Clear jingle, and Knuckles' theme) which were arranged by Masaru Setsumaru.[[/note]]

* FlipFlopOfGod: Are the Super Emeralds merely upgraded Chaos Emeralds or are they a separate set of Emeralds altogether? While the game itself implies that they're the same Chaos Emeralds and the Japanese Sonic Twitter account outright [[https://twitter.com/SonicOfficialJP/status/1663319311342088192 states they are enhanced Chaos Emeralds]], interviews from Creator/SonicTeam have suggested the latter instead, with series head Takashi Iizuka saying they're currently residing in "another dimension" in [[https://reddit.com/r/SonicTheHedgehog/s/Dzrolr5ZtQ one interview]] and art director Kazuyuki Hoshino stating that they've vanished in [[http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/06/10/more-burning-questions-about-the-sonic-the-hedgehog-franchise-answered.aspx another]]. According to series head-writer Creator/IanFlynn on the Bumblekast, the Super Emeralds are a "[[ShrugOfGod gigantic question mark]]", explaining this inconsistency.

* IKnewIt: Many fans predicted that the prototype/PC tracks would be used in the ''Origins'' remaster of ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' instead of the final Music/MichaelJackson/Brad Buxer tracks due to legal issues surrounding the latter. Katie Chrzanowski, Sega of America's social media coordinator, confirmed that this would be the case during one of the official ''Sonic'' livestreams. A number of fans also predicted that they wouldn't be using the arrangements from the leaked November 1993 prototype, which also ended up being true.

* IKnewIt: Many fans predicted that the prototype/PC tracks would be used in the ''Origins'' remaster of ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' instead of the final Music/MichaelJackson/Brad Buxer tracks due to legal issues surrounding the latter. Katie Chrzanowski, Sega of America's social media coordinator, confirmed that this would be the case during one of the official ''Sonic'' livestreams. A number of fans have also predicted that they won't be using the arrangements from the leaked November 1993 prototype, which also ended up being true.

** Despite what your friends (and basic logic) told you, it's not possible to beat Fire Breath the first time you see it and stop it from burning Angel Island. No matter how fast you hit it, it'll successfully set off the firebombs and escape with its robotic life.

* WordOfGod: When Creator/YujiNaka (the game's producer) was asked about the pronunciation of Hydrocity (which is an frequent source of debate amongst the fandom) on Twitter, he [[https://twitter.com/nakayuji/status/1543065687467274240?s=21&t=hfg4AVjPnW19TqJTqAKlww stated]] that it's "Hydro-City".

** Apparently, the troubled production of ''Sonic 3''[='s=] soundtrack has led to SEGA being unsure who composed ''most'' of its songs; whenever arrangements appear in later games or albums, they are simply credited to "SEGA Sound Team", in contrast to the very specific composer credits given for most ''Sonic'' games. Only a few songs are known to be exceptions.[[note]]Tomonori Sawada composed the ''Sonic 3'' main theme and invincible theme, as well as the 1-Up and All Clear jingles which were arranged by Masaru Setsumaru; Yoshiaki Kashima composed the Blue Spheres music; Masayuki Nagao composed Hydrocity Zone Act 2 and Lava Reef Zone Act 2; Jun Senoue composed Balloon Park, the bonus stage themes, the Act Clear jingle, the Game Over jingle, and the Continue jingle; Howard Drossin composed the new tracks from ''Sonic & Knuckles'' (main theme, invincible theme, 1-Up jingle, All Clear jingle, and Knuckles' theme) which were arranged by Masaru Setsumaru.[[/note]]

** Besides the aforementioned tracks, there was another [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPHAfsmMVtk unused theme]] in the prototype/''Sonic & Knuckles Collection'' that never got used at all. While its exact purpose is unknown, many in the fandom speculate that it was originally planned to be a unique theme for Super Sonic à la ''Sonic 2'', until it was replaced by the invincibility theme. It was used in ''Sonic Origins'' as the menu theme for New Blue Spheres mode.

** According to Simon Thomley, the ''Origins'' remake was made under very strict deadlines and he and his team had no time to properly polish it under the deadlines, with Sega outright shooting him down when he requested more time to properly polish it, citing they don't have the time. While the remake is fortunately still playable when it was released, the rushed nature of it is apparent as there are plenty of bugs and polish issues to be found within the remake. Not helping was Sega's sloppy integration of the remake into ''Origins'', which only introduced ''more bugs'' that allegedly were not present when Headcanon submitted the remake to Sega.

** According to Simon Thomley, the ''Origins'' port was made under very strict deadlines and he and his team had no time to properly polish it under the deadlines, with Sega outright shooting him down when he requested more time to properly polish it, citing they don't have the time. While the port is fortunately still playable when it was released, the rushed nature of the port is apparent as there are plenty of bugs and polish issues to be found within the port. Not helping was Sega's sloppy integration of the port into ''Origins'', which only introduced ''more bugs'' that allegedly were not present when Headcanon submitted the port to Sega.

** Simon Thomley (the lead developer of the remastered port in ''Sonic Origins'') is [[https://www.ign.com/articles/sonic-origins-developer-very-unhappy-with-the-remastered-collection not happy about]] how the port turned out in ''Sonic Origins'', with him going on to criticize the unpolished state of the port and the many bugs that according to him, were not originally there when he and his team submitted the port to Sega, but were introduced as a result of the port getting poorly integrated with the rest of ''Origins'' by Sega.

** One resurfaced prototype of the game reveals that the tracks for Knuckles, Carnival Night, [=IceCap=], Launch Base, the credits and the competition menu theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bp_c73awuQ were incredibly different]] from the final tracks in the game. Interestingly enough, while they were cut from the final Genesis release, these tracks actually did get used in the game (albeit in a slightly rearranged form) through the ''Sonic & Knuckles Collection'', a PC compilation featuring ports of the standalone versions of ''Sonic 3'' and ''Sonic & Knuckles'' as well as the locked on ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' and the ''VideoGame/BlueSphere'' bonus game and for a while, they were thought to be exclusive to the collection until the prototype resurfaced.

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: While re-releases of the game were common through the 1990s and 2000s, due to various licensing and legal issues related to the tracks by Michael Jackson, Brad Buxer, and their team, Sega largely stopped re-releasing the game throughout most of TheNewTens, resulting in plans for a remastered version of the game by Christian Whitehead and Simon Thomley getting shelved[[note]]Making it the only one of the four main Classic ''Sonic'' games to not receive a mobile port[[/note]] as well as its glaring absence in numerous {{compilation rerelease}}s, including the Sega 3D Classics and Sega Ages lineup of games, and plug-and-play units such as the Mega Drive/Genesis Mini. Fortunately, it seems like the issues preventing its re-release have been resolved, as after a full decade, Sega would go on to announce a full remaster of the game, spearheaded by Thomley no less, included with ''Sonic Origins''. Unfortunately, Sega confirmed that the company was unable to use the Jackson/Buxer tracks for the remaster, and all the tracks were replaced by remastered versions of the songs featured in the 1993 prototype and the Windows 95 port by Jun Senoue. That said, emulated rereleases of the game are still unlikely for the foreseeable future due to the legal issues.