sonic the hedgehog 3 - 10/10
what if they put ketamine into video game form
oh wow! i cried! i genuinely fucking cried midway through the third super emerald special stage because i was so fucking happy and enjoying myself that badly! i sat there, controller in hand, and was just awash with pure joy! this is why i fucking love sonic the goddamned hedgehog!
this game is a perfect - and i truly mean perfect marriage of the best elements of the prior three entries. its so expertly crafted its unfeasible to me. throughout this entire playthrough (as previous with 1, CD and 2, played through origins ultrafix), i was consistently discovering new routes! new bits of a fuckin 30 year old game that i'd never seen before, man! not once! i cant possibly explain the actual whimsy and pure radiant feeling of "dude fuck yes" that washed over me as i got the dream that i had during the past three entries; if only there were a way to simultaneously go fast and explore! this is that! this is that dream realised about five hundred fold!
you have the expertly crafted explorative levels of sonic 1 and cd, oozing with secrets and branching pathways, stocked to the gills with secrets, such as monitors, rings and giant rings (we'll get back to you!), that you can quite easily come across on your average first run through a level, and you might even see some of them mildly cross your viewport as you run along, and you can either go look for it then or note it for a later playthrough. and just as there is the best exploration the series has seen, so too is there the best goddamned dizzying speed available. holy SHIT this game is exhilarating! so much terrain to slingshot yourself off of with the spindash, so many neat little jumps, the elemental shields allow for so many more traversal options by themselves, not to even mention my darling, my shining star, the insta-shield.
now lets make this clear. i think that the insta-shield should be given the same level of priority in appearing in classic sonic games as the spindash gets and i am not fucking kidding one bit.
the insta-shield makes this game so much more flowing and freeform than any of the prior games, for the sole reason that you can jump and have a period wherein you are invulnerable to a lot of damage, extend your hitbox to deal your own damage, and not lose momentum whenever you do damage enemies through it. know what that means? the perfect line, motherfucker! you can zip straight through levels, happily dealing out that double-a blast to absolutely annihilate everything in your way, and hey, if you do want the momentum from the destruction, great, because this game has so many sections that are hidden away behind badnik bouncing, something seldom used in the other games before this! holy shit its awesome to pull a sick huge jump, bounce off of some poor animal's metal carapace below, and then skyrocket straight back up and onto glory! so many exclamation marks!!! aaaaa!!!
and then those giant rings. holy shit. theres a reason why mania brought back blue sphere, man. oh my god in heaven above. its so much fun. its so addictive. they run a spectrum from being reflex tests to being mini-hunting stages, and - arhhh! its so cool how the exploration vs speed reflexes design even bleeds into the special stages! and the reward for it all?
hyper sonic. hyper GODDAMNED SONIC DUDE
hyper sonic should have been EVERYWHEREEEE! there has been a great line of snubs in the lineage of sonic transformations, but this was the progenitor of forms other than super sonic getting shafted, and what a shame, because they KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE DAMN PARKKKK
rainbow glowy sonic who jumps super high, goes even faster than super sonic, has a SCREEN NUKE and is Just The Fucking Coolest is AWESOME MANNNN holy SHITTTT
wow. i gotta calm myself. im getting so excited again just thinking about it, man!
even the few gripes i used to have with the game... well, just as with the others, i replayed the game, and now knowing what parts i need to lock in for, i can, and do, and did! very much so! and it ruled being able to get to tell those damn ghosts in sandopolis to go fuck themselves after giving me trouble for so many years!
dude. this might be like. The One
and i dont just mean of sonic games. i mean, like, potentially my favorite game of all time contender. i have been reminded of the first time i played this game on sonic mega collection plus on my ps2, getting in from school, snuggling with my old cat on my lap, all nice and warm, and playing the shit out of this game. granted, back then, it was often screwing around in debug mode, but there were a few legitimate playthroughs! and i got taken right back to then. right back to happiness. true innocent blissful joy.
i love sonic the hedgehog. and his buddy tails. and that hot-headed knuckles. and even if he is nefarious i do love fighting eggman! and by god am i happy to say it!
ORIGINS SOUNDTRACK STUFF
didnt hate the new soundtrack nearly as much as i thought i was gonna! in fact, i nearly cried at ice cap act 2, its a new beautiful piece and as much as i wish that the original was still there, that new composition perfectly plays into sonic adventure's adaptation of ice cap, in my opinion, striking the same sort of haunted mystic melody that sounds like the dark haunting crevices of a completely snowed-in mountaintop. its beautiful. new carnival night zone was pretty good too! launch base... not so much, but hey, at least they still have the "go" in there! i also quite like the new super sonic theme, its far less grating than having the seven-second s3&k invincibility on loop - if only by virtue of it being a new song haha
if youre gunning to play this, definitely get origins ultrafix and just get an original soundtrack mod if you want it. me, personally, i think i might keep playing with the new soundtrack, because most of it is pretty good! launch base really did lose all its swag though lollll
