History YMMV / Sonic3AndKnuckles

* VindicatedByHistory: ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' fell into this as a result of the game [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo being split into two due to time and budget constraints]]. While ''Sonic 3'' was positively received, it received some flak for not evolving the formula much.[[note]]Similar to initial reception of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''.[[/note]] Perplexingly the game was also seemingly much shorter than ''Sonic 2'' and ended with the story arc concerning Knuckles and Angel Island on a {{Cliffhanger}}, until it was revealed to be merely "part one" of a full game. Furthermore, while ''Sonic & Knuckles'''s lock-on technology was acclaimed at the time of release, it was more for its replay value rather than for how it transformed ''Sonic 3'' and ''Sonic & Knuckles'' into one complete package. It was only in later years when reviewers revisited the two games, did they realize that when they were presented as one title, ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' [[EvenBetterSequel was an incredible refinement of the formula]] that took things [[SerialEscalation even further]] than ''Sonic 2'' did, with enhancements in nearly ''every'' aspect, which includes better gameplay and graphics, varied playable characters, larger and more balanced level design, and a more compelling story and presentation, among others. Nowadays, both games combined are widely referred to as the true and complete version of ''Sonic 3'', and while some reviewers and the general public [[FirstInstallmentWins are more inclined to point towards the first two titles]] as the series' best games, more reviewers have come in agreement with fans by appointing ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' as the pinnacle of the series.

* ContestedSequel: While most fans like both games, there are frequent debates over whether ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' is better or worse than ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', with both sides arguing over which game is the better 2D ''Sonic'' game. Some prefer ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' for its sheer scope, having 3 unique playable characters and the zones having a great mix of speed and exploration, while others prefer ''Sonic 2'' for its shorter length, more unique zone themes and the zones in general being faster to complete.

** Sure, it's pretty awesome when you fight him as Sonic, but Mecha Sonic Mk. II really kicks it up a notch as he's the final boss in Knuckles' story. At first, he uses pretty much the same tactics as when you fought him as Sonic, but then he gets right back up and uses the Master Emerald to transform into Super Mecha Sonic Mk. II. That's right, you don't just fight a simple Sonic clone robot, but a character (and a villain to boot) using a Super form.

* PolishedPort: Music issues aside (detailed in TheyChangedItNowItSucks below), the port in ''Sonic Origins'' is regarded by fans to be the highlight of the compilation and the definite official way to play the game. It brings in the numerous refinements from the previous remastered ports such as widescreen support and smoother animations, adds in the drop dash from ''VideoGame/SonicMania'', fixes several bugs (and more via patches), restores the Big Arms boss for Sonic and Tails, has new sprites for Super Sonic, and adds in various quality of life improvements that greatly improve the game (such as having Super Sonic be activated by a separate button like ''Mania'' and adding new animations for Sonic and Tails on the Barrels in Carnival Night to make it clearer what you're supposed to do on it).

** The "final boss" of the ''Sonic 3'', a.k.a. Big Arms, can be one of the most intensely frustrating fights, especially for newer players. Eggman's hitbox is so miniscule yet it's covered on the top by spikes and on the bottom by the shoulder of the arms, and you have to dodge the hands or else he grabs you and you take damage. If ''that'' wasn't enough, he can even damage ''Super Sonic''.[[note]]This is removed in the locked-on game and in ''Origins'', suggesting that it was a programming error.[[/note]] With careful usage of the Insta-Shield, the fight can be a lot easier, but it's likely for all of the previously stated reasons why this boss was removed from Sonic and Tails' paths in the combined game.[[note]]It's still there in the Knuckles path, but it's much easier thanks to Knuckles' gliding. Furthermore, the ''Origins'' version restores the boss fight for Sonic and Tails.[[/note]]

** Some of the MIDI conversions in the PC version don't sound bad either, including [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKoU9i-XePg Marble Garden Act 1]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQB1FOcFjJY Lava Reef Act 2/Hidden Palace]].

** Bigs Arms. While it's definitely a challenging boss, it doesn't come anywhere near the sheer scale of the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Death Egg Robot]] as a final boss in the original ''Sonic the Hedgehog 3''. Of course, this is somewhat forgivable since ''3'' is technically only the first half of the game, and ''Sonic & Knuckles'' gives the game a proper FinalBoss. It's even easier in Knuckles' version due to being able to glide at the proper height and the Eggrobo attacking Knuckles more often than Robotnik.

** The Marble Garden boss, which has a long drill in between two spherical jets.
** The miniboss of Carnival Night, as well as the boss of Flying Battery, are both rather Freudian in design. The shape of the flames that come out of the Flying Battery boss don't help.

** Orbinauts, black orbs with four spiked balls orbiting their body, returning from the original ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' in the Launch Base Zone. Unlike Star Pointers, their [[UndergroundMonkey ice counterparts]] in the previous level, Orbinauts are smart enough to keep the spiked balls instead of throwing them out and leaving themselves defenseless. While it is possible to defeat Chainspikes and Orbinauts as Sonic without taking damage through the careful utilization of the Insta-Shield, Tails and Knuckles cannot defeat these guys without either conventional or mercy invincibility.

** Chainspikes, the blue enemies in Death Egg Zone with four spikes positioned in the four cardinal directions. They move and attack very quickly, and if you don't hit them from a diagonal angle (easier said than done), their spikes will get you.

** Both the Big Icedus and the Egg Froster of [=IceCap=] Zone are considered this by some players; the former because it's hard to hit, while the latter's freezing attacks are randomized. The latter is even worse as Knuckles as it can retract the platform after bringing it down, which can also crush and instantly kill you if you're frozen underneath it. There's also no rings for the Egg Frotser on the BossRush in ''Sonic Origins''.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Despite only appearing a couple of times in this game, Mecha Sonic Mk. II has become incredibly popular, not only for his cool design but also for being the only robotic copy of Sonic to turn super in the games, something that not even the more prominent Metal Sonic has achieved ([[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW or rather not in game canon). His popularity only increased after his depiction in the fan-made ''WebAnimation/SuperMarioBrosZ'', which made him the BigBad.

* {{Fanon}}: A common fan theory as to why Knuckles got tricked by Eggman in this game is because he misinterpreted the mural in Hidden Palace as Eggman defending the Master Emerald from Sonic instead of Sonic fighting Eggman to retrieve it. While this could explain why he got tricked by Eggman for this game, it does not explain the numerous future times he got tricked by him.
** Speaking of said mural many fans believe that during [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 Gerald Robotnik's studies on Angel Island]] he came across the mural and used its depiction of Super Sonic as the basis for Shadow's design. Another possibility for the inspiration for Shadow's look that gets cited is the statues of Sonic in Hydrocity Zone.

** Is the second zone of the game pronounced two words (Hydro City) or one word (as a pun of "velocity")? Fan debates can get very heated.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Despite only appearing a couple of times in this game, Mecha Sonic Mk. II has become incredibly popular, not only for his cool design, but for being the only robotic copy of Sonic to turn super in the games, something that not even the more prominent Metal Sonic has achieved (yet). His popularity only increased after his depiction in the fan-made ''WebAnimation/SuperMarioBrosZ'', which made him the BigBad.

** The Lava Reef Act 2 boss battle for its intensity, gameplay and story wise: the Death Egg is repaired and reactivating, making the cooled down lava melt again, Eggman then throws missiles at you before going in the lava with his machine only to make sure Sonic won't foil his plan another time.

* RealismInducedHorror: The first zone (Angel Island Zone) starts out as just a tropical island, but Eggman launches a massive napalm attack which in turn creates a huge wildfire. This seems a lot darker in general than his usual goofy plots such a turning people into robots or building giant space stations with his face on them. It's also [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything pretty obviously meant to be reminiscent of the Vietnam War]], and considering you never see the zone after, you also [[OffscreenInertia wonder if the whole place just burned down eventually.]]

* SacredCow: Aside from a small faction that prefers the level design of ''Sonic 2'', ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' is generally held as [[EvenBetterSequel the pinnacle of perfection by the fanbase]], and even lightly criticizing it is bound to get you backlash.

** Bigs Arms. While it's definitely a challenging boss, it doesn't come anywhere near the sheer scale of the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Death Egg Robot]] as a final boss. Of course, this is somewhat forgivable since ''3'' is technically only the first half of the game, and ''Sonic & Knuckles'' gives the game a proper FinalBoss. It's even easier in Knuckles' version due to being able to glide at the proper height and the Eggrobo attacking Knuckles more often than Robotnik.

** The Egg Inferno in Lava Reef Zome Act 2. The boss simply relies on jumping on moving platforms while avoiding mines that are easy to dodge. To make things even easier, there's also a Flame Shield in the lava falls before the boss that's easy to collect, negating the danger of landing in the lava altogether. The only thing is that it's a MarathonBoss due to being invincible to everything except [[HoistByHisOwnPetard its own mines]]. Knuckles altogether just skips this boss.

** The No Way! error/"Continue?" screen to "Honk Around the Clock" from ''Series/SesameStreet''.

** The Egg Drillster Mk. II can be annoying to defeat with Tails alone. While Knuckles faces a entirely different boss and Sonic can hop on Robotnik's head with no problem, Tails must carefully fly towards the lower part of his pod taking care to not hit either the drill in its front or the fire on its back, since his tails are the only part that can cause damage while flying. Oh, and since you cannot gain rings when hit, getting hit twice (or 3 times with a shield) is fatal. Considering that Tails is meant to be the game's de facto easy mode, having such a massive DifficultySpike exclusive to him alone is rather jarring, to say the least.
** The Egg Gravitron can be a real pain without the Lightning Shield. When Eggman lowers to pick up the orb, that is the only opportunity you have to hit him, and it's very easy to accidentally take a hit afterward because of the shape of the mech. Also, when he drops the orb, it bounces to the side a bit. Furthermore, you've got to be very careful where you let him drop it because it's possible for him to go offscreen if he's close to the edge of the screen.
** Both the Big Icedus and the Egg Froster of [=IceCap=] Zone are considered this by some players; the former because it's hard to hit, while the latter's freezing attacks are randomized.

** The Egg Scrambler as Knuckles. This part definitely teaches you not to spam the jump button as floating can make this fight a lot harder. Also, rebounding to get your rings back is nearly impossible due to the side scrolling nature of the fight, so getting hit means you have to perfect the rest of the fight.

* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: Like with ''Sonic 2'', Tails is this when he's tagging along with Sonic. If you get a friend (or [[DoublePlay yourself]][[note]]This is extremely easy in the PC version or via UsefulNotes/{{emulation}}[[/note]]) to control Tails with the second controller, he can be ''extremely'' helpful. But if the AI controls Tails, then he'll get in your way, collapse platforms that you want to use, attack enemies and bosses half a second before you do (so they'll have MercyInvincibility by the time ''you'' hit them), and all-around make a nuisance of himself. Kyodai Eggman Robo at the end of Death Egg Zone Act 2 (who otherwise borders on AntiClimaxBoss) is exponentially more difficult for this very reason.

** Knuckles, especially considering in the intro he's able to punch the Chaos Emeralds out of Super Sonic. When you actually fight him, he's one of the easiest bosses in the entire game.
** If you're playing ''Sonic 3'' by itself, the Big Arm. While it's definitely a challenging boss, it doesn't come anywhere near the sheer scale of the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Death Egg Robot]]. Of course, this is somewhat forgivable since ''3'' is technically only the first half of the game, and ''Sonic & Knuckles'' gives the game a proper FinalBoss.

** Mecha Sonic in Sky Sanctuary Zone. First you fight him in two Egg Mobile bosses from the previous two games, then you fight him straight-on. Even though he's easier than the Mecha Sonic in the previous game's Death Egg Zone, he has a much greater variety in movement, and you actually get to bounce backwards from Spin Dashing into him, giving a lot of options with fighting him and generally making the fight that much more exciting.

** Sure, it's pretty awesome when you fight him as Sonic, but Mecha Sonic really kicks it up a notch as he's the final boss in Knuckles' story. At first, he uses pretty much the same tactics as when you fought him as Sonic, but then he gets right back up and uses the Master Emerald to transform into [[FanNickname Super Mecha Sonic]]. That's right, you don't just fight a simple Sonic clone robot, but a character (and a villain to boot) using a Super form.

** On November 16, 2019, an early prototype of ''Sonic 3'' was dumped and people were [[OlderThanTheyThink shocked]] that it contained ''Sonic & Knuckles Collection'' music; while some sounded incomplete, others like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsMbaNoWTVc Carnival Night sounded amazing]]. Some people even consider [[FanPreferredCutContent these superior to the final Genesis tracks]].

** The Golem mini-boss of Sandopolis Zone Act 1 is pathetically easy. Even the fact that it's a PuzzleBoss doesn't help it much, as the solution to beat it is rather obvious.
** As Sonic and Tails, Mecha Sonic is surprisingly straight forward in all three battles, as the first two are directly lifted from ''Sonic 1'' and ''2'', and the third is a much easier version of the Silver Sonic fight since he can't hurt you without direct contact.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Despite only appearing a couple of times in this game, Mecha Sonic has become incredibly popular, not only for his cool design, but for being the only robotic copy of Sonic to turn super in the games, something that not even the more prominent Metal Sonic has achieved (yet). His popularity only increased after his depiction in the fan-made ''WebAnimation/SuperMarioBrosZ'', which made him the BigBad.

** Mecha Sonic, being taller and with bigger spikes than Sonic at the time, resembles an actual mechanical doppelgänger of Modern Sonic rather than Classic Sonic.

** While the Super/Hyper modes are game breakers par excellence, the fact that pressing the jump button twice is what triggers them is more of a problem because this is the same command that is used for actions like Sonic's Insta-Shield or Tails' flight.[[note]]This and all other related issues are fixed with {{Game Mod}}s or {{Fan Remake}}s like ''Sonic 3 Complete'' and ''Sonic 3 Angel Island Revisited'', which not only change it so you press a different button after jumping to transform, you can also turn off the transformation by again pressing that button. The ''Origins'' version also triggers the transformations the same way as ''Complete'' and ''A.I.R.'' but can't turn it off by doing the same thing.[[/note]] So if you have enough rings to go Super, you can't use character-specific mechanics without doing so. It's particularly bad for Knuckles players, as his flight and climbing are often mandatory to traverse the levels. And since emerald collection is permanent, the only way to avoid this is to either trigger the Super Emeralds intro cutscene (which takes away Super mode) or, if you already have a full set of Super Emeralds, start an entirely new file. This is also the case for the 2013 remake of ''Sonic 2'', though Sonic doesn't have this problem there due to not having the Insta-Shield.

** ''Sonic 3'' may be the first game in the series to allow saving, there is still a No Save slot in case you prefer to reexplore the areas all over again like the previous titles. It's even a bigger challenge in ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles''.

** Marble Garden's mini-boss can be problematic with Knuckles. Not only does his shorter jump make it harder to reach, but the spikes platform also retracts and protrudes every second, meaning you have a shorter window to properly hit the boss while using a character that takes longer to do so.
** Marble Garden's boss can be annoying to defeat with Tails alone. While Knuckles faces a entirely different boss and Sonic can hop on Robotnik's head with no problem, Tails must carefully fly towards the lower part of his pod taking care to not hit either the drill in its front or the fire on its back, since his tails are the only part that can cause damage while flying. Oh, and since you cannot gain rings when hit, getting hit twice (or 3 times with a shield) is fatal. Considering that Tails is meant to be the game's de facto easy mode, having such a massive DifficultySpike exclusive to him alone is rather jarring, to say the least.
** Carnival Night's boss can be a real pain without the Lightning Shield. When Eggman lowers to pick up the orb, that is the only opportunity you have to hit him, and it's very easy to accidentally take a hit afterward because of the shape of the mech. Also, when he drops the orb, it bounces to the side a bit. Furthermore, you've got to be very careful where you let him drop it because it's possible for him to go offscreen if he's close to the edge of the screen.
** Both the miniboss and main boss of [=IceCap=] Zone are considered this by some players; the former because it's hard to hit, while the latter's freezing attacks are randomized.
** The "final boss" of the ''Sonic 3'', a.k.a. Big Arm, can be one of the most intensely frustrating fights, especially for newer players. Eggman's hitbox is so miniscule yet it's covered on the top by spikes and on the bottom by the shoulder of the arms, and you have to dodge the hands or else he grabs you and you take damage. If ''that'' wasn't enough, he can even damage ''Super Sonic''.[[note]]This is removed in the locked-on game, suggesting that it was a programming error.[[/note]] With careful usage of the Insta-Shield, the fight can be a lot easier, but it's likely for all of the previously stated reasons why this boss was removed from Sonic and Tails' paths in the combined game.[[note]]It's still there in the Knuckles path, but it's much easier thanks to Knuckles' gliding. Furthermore, the ''Origins'' version restores the boss fight for Sonic and Tails.[[/note]]
** The Mushroom Hill boss in Knuckles mode. This part definitely teaches you not to spam the jump button as floating can make this fight a lot harder. Also, rebounding to get your rings back is nearly impossible due to the side scrolling nature of the fight, so getting hit means you have to perfect the rest of the fight.
** The Lava Reef boss is a weird variant: the trek up to the boss is notoriously difficult due to it being a fast auto-scrolling area that involves jumping from tiny platform to tiny platform before Robotnik blows up said platforms. The boss itself, on the other hand, is pathetically easy, just barely missing qualifying as a ZeroEffortBoss: there's a Fire Shield just before you reach Robotnik, rendering the lava, the only real threat in the entire fight, completely harmless. Even if, for some reason, you miss getting the shield, the boss fight basically consists of jumping onto slowly-moving rocks that occasionally (and again, slowly) change direction, and repeating ad nauseum until Robotnik eventually blows ''[[TacticalSuicideBoss himself]]'' up.

** Whether Hydrocity should be pronounced as one word (rhyming with "velocity") or two ("Hydro City"). Several official Japanese sources point to the latter, but many non-Japanese fans stick with the former. This was acknowledged by [[https://twitter.com/SEGA/status/1535669223023951873 an official poll held by Sega]], where the results were roughly split down the middle even after nearly 100,000 votes.

** Whether [[NoPronunciationGuide Hydrocity]] should be pronounced as one word (rhyming with "velocity") or two ("Hydro City"). Several official Japanese sources point to the latter, but many non-Japanese fans stick with the former. This was acknowledged by [[https://twitter.com/SEGA/status/1535669223023951873 an official poll held by Sega]], where the results were roughly split down the middle even after nearly 100,000 votes.

** & Knuckles.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Playing off the fact that locking ''Sonic 3'' onto ''Sonic & Knuckles" retitles the game ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'', fans took to appending the "& Knuckles" suffix to other works' covers. Often crossed over with "[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series]]''.[[/labelnote]]

** Batbot can be a literal Goddamned bat in Carnival Night Zone, as it follows you forever and therefore can end up in some inconvenient places if you don't get rid of it, knocking you back.

** The ghostly Hyudoros in Sandopolis Zone Act 2, especially when it is dark-- they grow big and attack in numbers, and they can't be killed off permanently. And since it is Sandopolis, you'll often have to deal with them alongside the aforementioned Skorps. Have fun.

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven: When the development time was cut short by [[ExecutiveMeddling a deadline imposed by a deal between Sega of America and]] UsefulNotes/McDonalds, the devs were forced to [[ChristmasRushed scrap half the game]]. Instead of moving on, they reworked the game's second half into ''Sonic & Knuckles''. This wasn't good enough for Sonic Team, so they went the extra mile to implement a new technology called Lock On that allowed the player to connect the two cartridges, combining them into a large, ambitious game as originally intended.

* ThatOneSidequest: The Blue Sphere special stages in the ''Sonic & Knuckles'' half (which become the special stages needed to get the Super Emeralds in ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'') are far less forgiving than those in the ''Sonic 3'' half and some of them can be incredibly frustrating, with the stages often having very weird level design and requiring both quick reflexes and precise precision in order to clear them, especially if you attempt to go after that perfect bonus. It doesn't help that the special rings in the ''Sonic & Knuckles'' zones are more sparse and harder to locate than those in the ''Sonic 3'' zones (especially after Mushroom Hill), nor does it help that if you fail, they have no chance of respawning until you complete the game, which makes their harder difficulty that much more of a headache. The port in ''Sonic Origins'' does make things a bit more bearable by giving you the chance to retry them at the cost of coins, but it doesn't make them any less frustrating.

* ThatOneSidequest: The Blue Sphere special stages in the ''Sonic & Knuckles'' half (which become the special stages needed to get the Super Emeralds in ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'') are far less forgiving than those in ''Sonic 3'' and some of them can be incredibly frustrating, with the stages often requiring strict maneuvering and perfect timing in order to clear them. It doesn't help that the special rings in ''Sonic & Knuckles'' are more sparse and harder to locate than in ''Sonic 3'' (especially after Mushroom Hill) and if you fail, they have no chance of respawning until you complete the game, which makes their harder difficulty that much more of a headache.

* ThatOneSidequest: Many of the Super Emerald stages in ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' are headaches, if only because their level design is ''really'' weird.