Summary: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 came at a special time when the Sega Mega Drive was at its peak, but to put it into perspective, it was being developed alongside the 32x, Sega CD and Sega's next big console, the Saturn. This Sonic game may live up to expectations, but it wasn't going to blow anyone away like the first two did. Sonic 3 was so big, it was actually split into two games. Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. Sonic & Knuckles acts like a piggyback cartridge, unlocking new levels and letting the player select Knuckles as a character. I haven't reviewed the Sonic & Knuckles piggyback cartridge here because I just wanted to focus on Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The special thing about Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was that for a lot of people, they wouldn't see Sonic again until he was tearing it up in 3D on the Dreamcast. For a long time, this was the last memorable time Sonic blazed through a 2D world and it ended (what I refer to as) the original trilogy where it began, at home on the Sega Mega Drive.
