Often times, the best way to move forward, is to take a look at what worked well in the
past. For the previous twenty years or so, Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series has been
inconsistent to say the least. From experimenting with a vast variety of styles, to game titles
being mired by issues and bugs, to simply being out of touch with what the Sonic the
Hedgehog fanbase wants, it was pretty obvious that what the Sonic series needed was to return
to its roots to receive the universal acclaim and admiration that it realized in its glory
days in the mid-nineties. Christian Whitehead, who is such a fanatic of the series, he developed
Sonic games for fun, was priorly contracted by Sega for the mobile phone ports of Sonic
1, 2 & CD. In 2015, he built an early version of the game which would eventually become
Sonic Mania on his own, and then presented it to the Sonic series' lead producer Iizuka
Takashi. Takashi liked it so much, the game became a Sega sanctioned piece of software.
Upon release, the game became the highest praised Sonic game in the series in over two
decades, it actually received the greatest acclaim since 1994's Sonic the Hedgehog
3. Sonic 3 was a game so ambitious, it was too big to fit on a single cartridge. The
full Sonic 3 experience was spread across Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles,
which when combined together with Sega's lock-on technology, the game became Sonic
3 & Knuckles. Earlier this year, Sonic Mania got a little extra content itself in the form
of the "Plus" downloadable content which added an all-new Encore Mode as well as forgotten
heroes of old from the SegaSonic the Hedgehog arcade game; Ray the Flying Squirrel and Mighty
the Armadillo. Though released nearly 25 years apart, the complete packages of Sonic 3 & Knuckles
and Sonic Mania Plus are the pinnacle of the series in terms of quality and content.This
is Versus, a segment where I take two video games, it could be a game and it's sequel,
or just two games from which many correlations could be made, and I compare and contrast
the two to see which one is the overall better choice. Today, it's the old-school classic
with lock-on technology versus the modern, yet retro, Sonic Mania with it's newfangled
DLC.Well, it's hard to talk about any two video games without mentioning it, so let's
start with comparing the gameplay of these two. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles is the
natural evolution of the trilogy in the sense that it adds a few new mechanics and features
to the game. Features added to Sonic 3 & Knuckles include battery save back-up, two new playable
characters in the form of Sonic's sidekick Tails and Sonic's new rival Knuckles, as
well as elemental shield power-ups and Sonic's air slash attack. To this day, this is still
the beefiest side-scrolling Sonic game, weighing in with 14 different Zones and three different
characters who are vastly different in play style to explore them with. Sonic is similar
to before, his strength is his speed and he offers the tried and true play-style of running
through the stage as fast as possible. Tails is fast too, but he can fly with his two tails
to reach new areas and find new bonuses. Knuckles is a hybrid of these two styles, but he has
the ability to glide and climb walls. This makes him the most versatile of the three.
Each zone not only looks distinct, but also offers mechanics to make it feel unique. Some
zones are played freely with wide open spaces and little fear of obstacles interfering,
whilst others are more closed up and take a little time to evaluate what your next step
should be. The speed Sonic is known for is mostly always kept up it seems, even in more
platform-based stages, autopilot transitional segments breaking up the monotony which keeps
true the tradition of winding tubes and slides from Sonic 2. Other stages introduce all-new
elements like the spinning tops, ropes to swing on and climbers harnesses to make your
way down the sides of pyramidal structures. Though some of these added pieces fall a bit
flat in execution, it shows that Sega was trying to evolve the series without being
too afraid to experiment a bit. Overall, everything just seems to be designed a bit better. Notable
is the placements of hazards and enemies. Though oftentimes getting hurt is unavoidable,
the spread of such instances make it feel a lot more fair than Sonic 1 & 2. Sega's
ability to tweak what worked well with Sonic 1, 2 & CD in just the right ways to make Sonic
3 & Knuckles feel more distinct is definitely commendable. The controls too have been tweaked
just enough to merit discussion. Sonic is still very momentum based, his size and weight
versus his movement seem perfectly natural this time around. Tails feels lighter and
his upward flight interacts with his weight and the gravity fights you exactly as you'd
expect. Knuckles and his glides and wall grabs are effortless and easy to use. Seldomly,
if ever, do the controls hinder the player, especially once the player understands how
each character responds to inputs. The basic rules of the whole series still apply to Sonic
3 & Knuckles. Most enemies can be taken out with jumps on the head, 100 rings nets you
a 1-up, and bosses appear at the end of the zone. New to Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a sub-boss
at the end of the first act and other small changes here and there. My personal favorite
it the ease of access to extra lives. Depending on your ring count, hitting a checkpoint makes
a bonus area materialize which will transport you to a prize level. With nothing to lose
but lots of rings and lives to gain, these are a much needed and welcome addition to
Sonic, as extra lives were a bit harder to come by in the older games. Chaos emeralds
are also much easier to find as well and as a bonus are much more enjoyable to achieve
in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. No extenuating criteria must be met to access the chaos emerald stages,
now simply find the giant ring and enter it. This whisks you away to the famous "Get
Blue Balls" stages where the goal is to touch all of the blue spheres without hitting
a red one. Though a little tough to master, the blue sphere stages feel a lot more fair
and surmountable that the chaos emerald stages in Sonic 1, 2 & CD. Aforementioned elemental
shields debut as well. The bubble shield lets you bound up and down like a bouncy ball as
well as gives you an unlimited supply of oxygen underwater. The fire shield gives you invulnerability
to fire elements as well as allowing you to do a fire burst. Finally, there's the electricity
shield which protects you from electricity based attacks, and let's your character double-jump
plus has the added bonus of attracting rings to you. Boss battles are really the only thing
that haven't evolved, but a few boss battles get more creative than what was seen in the
previous core Sonic plat-former titles. The game's difficulty is also greater. Sonic 3
& Knuckles is no walk in the park, sure there are moments of bliss, but frustrating moments
only the Sonic series can provide are prominent. Overall, the gameplay in Sonic 3 & Knuckles
is really solid, it improves most of the issues from it's prequels, and shows that Sega was
dedicated to pushing forward and tweaking and refining the Sonic formula past my personal
expectations given what I had seen before. Of the Sega Genesis Sonic titles, I can whole-heartedly
and comfortably say that not only is Sonic 3 & Knuckles the best title to play, the sheer
amount of content and elements presented in it means almost everyone could find something
admirable and desirable in it. The only critical thing I could say is perhaps the intermittent
slowdown in the game, but for the most part, the game runs great, even on original Sega
Genesis hardware like I'm using. Sonic Mania Plus's gameplay is extremely similar
to that of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, to the point where it almost feels the exact same. This
makes total sense because really it'd be hard to refine it past the bar Sonic 3 & Knuckles
set. Sonic Mania Plus unashamedly relies on the player's nostalgia, to the point where
a lot of the stages in the game are nearly one-to-one translations of zones that originally
debuted in Sonic 1, 2, CD, and of course 3 & Knuckles. Part of me wishes they kept some
of the mechanics and ideas from the Sonic Advance games, but in this game's case it
wants to heavily remind you of Sonic's glory days on the Sega Genesis. The three heroes
from Sonic 3 & Knuckles appear; Sonic is as fast as ever, Tails can still fly around and
explore new areas, and Knuckles can still glide and climb. The "Plus" DLC added two
new characters who add their own unique spin to the gameplay. The two characters from the
arcade game, SegaSonic the Hedgehog, make a long awaited return to the series. Mighty
the Armadillo is definitely the more varied of the two and adds a few new mechanics never
seen in the series. Ray the flying squirrel is almost a clone of Tails, but rather than
fly with his tails, he glides. The gliding is somewhat akin to the way Mario controls
in Super Mario World when he has the feather power-up equipped. These two are a lot of
fun to play around with, but are definitely not essential to experiencing what the game
has to offer. Evolution of the series sort of takes a back seat to nostalgia and familiarity.
A few times the game breaks free and experiments with new elements, but almost synonymously
the things you're going to see and do in this game Sonic and friends have done before. Really
where Sonic Mania shines, is it's authenticity. Although released 23 years after it's contemporary,
it feels like it came out only a year or two after Sonic 3 & Knuckles. The aesthetics and
music also have that same feel. Aside from the game's sixteen by nine resolution, the
beautiful 2D visuals and the cd quality soundtrack give the player a taste of what a true platforming
Sonic the Hedgehog game could have been if it were perhaps released for the Sega Saturn
console. The development team definitely didn't go into the game with a "let's reinvent the
wheel" mentality, but rather, let's keep it simple and familiar. Therefore, the core mechanics
really haven't changed from Sonic 3 & Knuckles to Sonic Mania Plus. The same general rules
that apply to Sonic 3 & Knuckles still apply. Elemental shields return as well as similar
mechanics to obtaining the Chaos emeralds. As is tradition, an all-new chaos emerald
mini-game is introduced where a primitive Sega Saturn-esque polygon chases down a robot
carrying it. Knowing fans (myself included) enjoyed the "Get Blue Balls" mini-game from
Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it was kept in Sonic Mania as a means to get medals to unlock bonus content
and easter eggs in the game. I could iterate again as to where Sonic Mania fails to evolve
the series for the purpose of wanting to play it safe, but it's not entirely true. All-new
zones created just for Sonic Mania do actually exist in the game, just not really as much
as I'd like. The recycled zones, remixed or not, get a bit stale since I've played through
them before. What I enjoyed the most was the brand new stages made just for Sonic Mania.
These are a good indicator of what could be, perhaps in a new Sonic title. Visually, everything
has been sort of done priorly in the series, and it was surprising to see the sort of motifs
they went with in Mania. It goes to show that although it seems like everything has been
exhausted in the series, new level ideas and looks are still doable. Prime examples of
Sonic Mania's very cautious evolution of the mechanics are where the acid here solidifies
into jello by injecting it, or this segment where Sonic must shrink to access new parts
of the stage. You can even turn into friggin' mini super Sonic, so that's pretty cool. The
difficulty has been cut back just a bit from Sonic 3 & Knuckles which is fine. Sometimes
Sonic 3 & Knuckles was frustrating with how difficult it got, so generally Sonic Mania
has a good balance to it. Sonic Mania's Plus DLC also adds an Encore mode, in which you
play a slightly altered version of the game with two characters you can switch between,
similar to Donkey Kong Country and perhaps a homage to the gameplay from Knuckles Chaotix
...like a severely dumbed down Knuckles Chaotix. Sonic Mania is thoroughly enjoyable and the
gameplay is just as good as it was in Sonic 3 & Knuckles which leads me to say that the
winner of the best gameplay category is...It's a tie! The games are so similar in gameplay
that it was pretty much an impossible decision for me to make in terms of giving either of
these two the edge. Sonic 3 & Knuckles must just be the apex of the series' potential
because Sonic Mania Plus doesn't make any effort to evolve it much. Little things are
added here and there, but I can't really say I favor the gameplay of either one because
they feel about the same to me.Time to move along, and what I'd like to look at next is
the level design in the two games. After all, what good is gameplay if the environments
you're exploring aren't fun to probe or look at? Sonic 3 & Knuckles pulls out all the
stops in its stages. Sonic will be going so many different places in his adventure and
its this that make the game feel so daunting and substantial. Even the first zone of the
game eschews the Sonic the Hedgehog tradition with the Angel Island zone. Instead of being
your basic, checkered floor, palm tree-filled sunny paradise, it's more woodsy. Funnily
enough, the Green Hill zone from Sonic 1 still seems to be the defacto standard in most other
Sonic titles, but I admire the Angel Island zone for it's woody and waterfall filled
environment. Also, I'm going to take the time to mention that I absolutely love the
transitions between levels in the game. It absolutely makes the world feel really connected,
as if Sonic is actually going to all of these places instead of just showing up there. Whether
it be flying in on Tails's plane, having Knuckles figuratively flush the toilet on
you, or this scene where Sonic and Tails are climbing a crumbling tower, which by the way,
is a spectacular use of the Sega Genesis's hardware, I mean just look at it... I guess
what I'm meaning to say is, that I like this. "I like it a lot." Moving back to
the level design itself, kudos to Sega for making an underwater stage that is actually
rather enjoyable with the Hydro City zone. In some cases, playing this stage carefully
will give you minimal exposure to the water which is a huge plus because water in Sonic
games has always equalled no fun to me. Sure some stages feel like they're just there
for fluff like the Marble Garden and the Carnival zone, because honestly it feels like retreading
an already beaten down path, but the IceCap zone is simply awesome in its scale and it's
environment. It really feels like Sonic is exploring a giant ridge of snow-covered mountains.
I can't even describe how big the smile on my face was when I arrived at the Death
Egg zone, not only for how gutsy it is for Sega to allude to Star Wars, but also how
intimidating it felt to be there. Plus, I rather enjoy picking the bosses' fingers
off one by one. Some of my other favorites include the Mushroom Hill zone for it's
use of a ton of mushrooms yet not making me once think of the Super Mario Bros., simply
for how well the stage fits in to Sonic's world despite its use of Mario's favorite
power-up, as well as the Flying Battery zone for its awesome soundtrack and it's general
scope. Even the Sandopolis zone makes an impression with it's huge pyramids and it's rock
climbing mechanics. Just in general, it feels like no matter what Sonic tried in Sonic 3
& Knuckles, all of the stages leave an impact for different reasons; good or bad. Considering
the stages for Sonic 3 & Knuckles were divided amongst two different cartridges, bringing
them all together whilst at the same time maintaining some semblance of unity., when
it comes together, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is both massive and a lot of fun to experience. Each
level connects together consistently, nothing seems out of place in the game's world,
and each adds a new mechanics to the game that give it it's own identity. Though some
courses are a bit forgettable, the majority of what's presented here is ridiculously
fun and memorable to boot.Moving along to Sonic Mania Plus however, well, remember how
I mentioned earlier in the video that it relies on nostalgia and familiarity? Well, it REALLY
relies on nostalgia and familiarity. The majority of the Zones in the game are remixes or slight
alterations of stages from Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3 & Knuckles. So if you've played the hell
out of those games like me, you're not seeing a whole lot of new stuff even if it tries
to be new stuff. (If that makes any sense) You've got your typical, overdone, overused,
overrated Green Hill zone from Sonic 1, the Chemical Plant zone from Sonic 2 which again,
I think is pretty overrated. I mean, how fun is it to fall into the acid and have to slowly
jump up these gyrating platforms? It wasn't fun in Sonic 2 and it still isn't fun now.
You've got the Metallic Madness stage from Sonic CD, the Oil Ocean stage from Sonic 2
and a whole glut of other stages which, fun or not, don't push Sonic along much further,
essentially admitting that, "Yeah, Sonic was better back then." Here, remember this?
Remember this? Do you remember this? Do you, do you? I'll admit, I like the remixes,
I do, but it makes me hunger for what could have been, especially since Sonic Mania Plus
actually does give a little bit of a taste with four all-new zones. The Studiopolis zone
mimics the carnival stages from Sonic games of old, but gives it a little bit more flair
and modernity. The Press Garden zone mixes together flowery tropical gardens juxtaposed
with snow and frost covered grounds to make something that is both beautiful and lovely
to look at, and the motif of plants flowering to make platforms contrasted with snowy wooded
areas in the background gives it an out-of-this world, never-before-seen feeling. I love the
Titanic Monarch zone too, its like a big, giant funhouse, mixed with robotics, stained
glass windows, all these elements you wouldn't think would come together but do. Shoot, I'll
admit I even like it better than the Death Egg from Sonic 2 & 3. The stage is almost
like something a kid would build by combining Lego blocks, K'nex and an erector set. These
three are great, but the stage that had me absolutely drooling was the Mirage Saloon
zone. Yeah, I'll admit, I wan't a fan of the first segment where you have to fly
the plane, but once you get on the train, it makes me happy in so many ways. Alluding
to train robberies in western movies of old, I love everything about this. It just struck
me as a neat idea, why not have Sonic on a train? Each box car can be designed differently
with different loops and hazards, and generally the nixing of the conventional stage design
in the series in favor of adding parlor pianos, pop guns, and pinball flippers to the world
strikes all of the right chords with me. And I absolutely can't fail to mention the ultimate
showing of fan-service, the boss battle of this stage. It reunites the long-lost trio
of Fang the Sniper, Bean the Dynamite, and Bark the Polar Bear who debuted in Sonic the
Fighters. This shows how deep the fandom for the series goes, because Sega on their own
volition would never bring these guys back, but the fans never forgot. Yeah, Sonic's
new stages are terrific, that's why I can't understand why there are only four of them.
Sega already redid and remixed classic Sonic stages in Sonic Generations, so why was the
decision made to make the majority of the stages oldies? Either way, it gives me optimism
for what a full-fledged Sonic Mania sequel could maybe do without being tethered to nostalgia
or the classic series for that matter. There is a lot of potential here, but I can't
shake the feeling that what we've got in Sonic Mania is just a taste. So it probably
shouldn't come as a surprise when I say that Sonic 3 & Knuckles has better level design
in my eyes. For one, there is a lot more uniqueness, and secondly I think it pushes well past the
design of its predecessors. In Sonic Mania, the remixes are fun and solid and the four
new stages are awesome, but I can't justify that saying a game with mostly reused stages
and retreaded tropes is superior.Well, seeing as this video's getting pretty lengthy already,
and I feel like I've already covered the beefier more critical subject matters, for
the final category how about we just take a look at best extras.Sonic 3 & Knuckles is
rather bare-bones outside of the main game with really the only extra content in the
game being bonus boss battles and endings by collecting chaos emeralds, and you can't
forget about the debug menu where you can access a stage select and the game's sound
test. It's got a two player competition mode, but that too feels like a bit of an
afterthought. I mean if you're looking to get more content out of an already substantial
game like this, I'd recommend playing through with each of the characters individually.
Outside of the main game itself, it doesn't really have a lot of fluff. You can also hook
your Sonic 2 cart to your Sonic & Knuckles cart to play as Knuckles in Sonic 2 but I
don't really think you can count that. Hmmm... sort of running out of things to talk about.
Let's move on.Sonic Mania Plus not only has a fully animated intro which is really
spectacular by the way, it's got the aforementioned Encore mode granted you have the Plus DLC
which adds a bit of replay value, and it's also got a Time Attack mode which is pretty
fun to play around with, after all, it's a fast paced game and its fun to try and beat
your best times, it's got a load of easter eggs, silver and gold medals to collect to
unlock more movies and character combinations, it's just generally got more stuff which
is to be expected in the achievement driven era of video games. Yeah, why not, Sonic Mania
Plus will win "Best Extras" category, because well, it does have more extra content
outside of the main game, especially compared to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, so at the risk of trying
to squeeze more comparisons and differences out of two games which are ridiculously similar,
let's move on to my final verdict. So the winner of this episode of Versus is: Sonic
the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. Not only does this game hold up insanely well even today, to
me it still represents the pinnacle of Sonic the Hedgehog's career. The fact that Sega
held fans interest in this series despite not giving them a truly proper follow-up to
Sonic 3 & Knuckles for 23 years, is truly a testament to how great the game is. It's
still the largest 2D Sonic game, it has a ton of great levels, it adds fabulous new
mechanics and features and adds two brand-new characters to the mix. It's a title so ambitious,
it had to be on two cartridges and you can't forget that it had to coin an all-new lock-on
technology just to experience it. Sonic Mania Plus on paper is very similar to Sonic 3 & Knuckles,
it combines two elements; the software and the DLC, to make one game, it adds two new
characters as well, and it adds a few new gameplay modes. It's got a fairly large
main campaign, and it even innovates with four brand-new zones to check out. Where I
get hung up is when nine of the stages in the game are translations of older levels
from the older Sega Genesis titles, it leaves more to be desired. I honestly do like the
remixed versions of some of the old stages, it works well and sometimes they feel like
brand new experiences, but when I realize the best stages in the game are the levels
designed specifically for Sonic Mania, I wonder why they didn't just try to make the whole
game like this. It's one thing to acknowledge nostalgia, but when you use it as a crutch
to make something sell, like Sonic Mania did, it feels a bit disingenuine. Still though,
I like the strides made to restore Sonic to former glory, and it leaves me hopeful that
perhaps this style of Sonic game will be explored more than Sonic the Hedgehog's current projection.
I feel like the team who worked on this was as good, if not better at creating Sonic games
than the team who worked on Sonic 3 & Knuckles, therefore I'm optimistic that a future Sonic
title with more originality and less reliance on the past, could truly dethrone Sonic 3
& Knuckles as the all-time best Sonic the Hedgehog plat-former. Thanks very much for
watching this episode of Versus. Which game do you like better? Let me know in the comments.
Other than that, thanks for watching, have a great day, and check back later for more
videos.
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