A Worthy Title in the Sonic Franchise

PROS:

• Retains Sonic's familiar gameplay with added improvements
  
• A save system to replay levels and collect emeralds.
• Great music.

CONS: 

• The game is short, having only six zones unless locked on to Sonic & Knuckles.

       Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the 4th installment of the popular Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Sega Team and was released first on the Sega Genesis as the sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Following the ending of Sonic 2, the main antagonist, Dr. Ivo Robotnik survives his previous encounter with the blue hedgehog and his spaceship called the Death Egg lands on a floating island called Angel Island. On the island, Robotnik encounters Knuckles the Echidna, the guardian of the Master Emerald; the gem which allows the island to stay afloat. Robotnik tricks Knuckles into believing Sonic and Tails are his enemy and form a alliance against the two heroes. 
       Like its predecessors, the gameplay involves Sonic or Tails running through a 2d plane to reach a goal, focusing on speed and platforming. The game however is short, only consisting of 6 stages unless locked on to Sonic & Knuckles, which adds 8 more stages for a total of 14 stages for Sonic and Tail's play through. The game plays very similar to its previous installments with some added gameplay enchanements. Added to the game are various shields with the properties of fire, electricity, and a bubble. Each shield enhances Sonic's overall abilities. The fire shield is used to attack opponents, electricity adds a extra jump and attracts rings, and the bubble allows Sonic to bounce and breath underwater. In addition to Sonic, Tails is also a playable character. While Tails does not receive all of the perks of the shield abilities as Sonic, he has the ability to fly for a short amount of time. It is possible for a 2nd player to play Tails while Sonic is played by the 1st player, but don't expect a fulling cooperative experiance  as Tails is only playable while on the same screen as Sonic and needs to fly back onto the screen to regain control. One screen is not enough for two players playing at the same time. A multiplayer option involves a race between either Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles which offers a split screen for racing.   
      The music in the game was lead by composer Cirocco, though on a interesting note, some of the levels sample work from artist Michael Jackson, even though he is uncredited. Each song fits well with each stage and is very catchy. Another notable feature of the game is the new save system, which allows players to start off from the level they last played with the same amount of lives and emeralds from the previous play through. This allows a chance to collect chaos emeralds without ever restarting your collection so your efforts won't be in vein and allow a level select.
       While the game is short due to development deadlines, the game can be expanded be locking on with Sonic & Knuckles which adds more levels, Knuckles as a playable character in single player, and a expanded soundtrack. However Sonic 3 as a single game is not bad at all, but added with Sonic & Knuckles(becoming Sonic 3 & Knuckles), makes the title one of the best Sonic games. I would recommand the expansion, but Sonic 3 is a worthy title in the Sonic franchise.