Sonic 3 & Knuckles

This page is for the emulated re-release. For the Windows 95 compilation, see Sonic & Knuckles Collection.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Developers
	Sonic Team
	Sega Technical Institute
Publishers
	Sega
Release dates
Windows (emulator)	January 26, 2011
macOS (OS X) (emulator)	May 29, 2018
Linux (emulator)	May 29, 2018
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Scrolling, Side view
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Platform
Art styles	Cartoon, Pixel art
Series	Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a singleplayer and multiplayer scrolling and side view platform game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

This game has been delisted from digital distribution on May 2022 but an updated version of the game is included as part of Sonic Origins.

General information

Official publisher site

Sonic Retro - A huge fan site for everything Sonic the Hedgehog. Mods for all the games can be found here.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
GamersGate (unavailable)
Steam (unavailable)		"Hub" launcher requires Steam DRM. "Simple" launcher is DRM-free when launched directly from the executable. Removed to be included in Sonic Origins. Can be played without Steam by using Sonic 3 A.I.R..

All digital downloads have Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles bundled as one game called "Sonic 3 & Knuckles".

The Steam version includes both the "Hub" launcher with the "Simple" launcher as a fallback. All non-Steam versions only includes the "Simple" launcher.

Only includes Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Does not include the standalone versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles or the extra lock-on games available for Sonic & Knuckles (Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Blue Sphere). These can, however, be found on the Steam Workshop.

Essential improvements

Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited

Sonic 3 A.I.R. is a fan project aimed at making an accurate, reverse-engineered PC port of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It includes a number of graphical improvements such as 16:9 widescreen (can be changed back to 4:3 or other aspect ratios; see Ultra-widescreen), 60 FPS in special stages, smooth sprite rotation, and easier mod support. It requires a Sonic 3 & Knuckles ROM identical to the Steam release; ROM hacks are incompatible.

Game data

Configuration file location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\SEGA Mega Drive Classics\setup.dat %USERPROFILE%\Documents\SEGA Genesis Classics\setup.dat
macOS (OS X)
Linux

It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Folder name varies by region.

These locations are for the "Simple" launcher interface only and are shared between all Sega Mega Drive and Genesis Classics games played through it.

Sonic 3 A.I.R. location: %APPDATA%\Sonic3AIR\

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\SEGA Mega Drive Classics\0042 %USERPROFILE%\Documents\SEGA Genesis Classics\0042
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/SEGA Mega Drive Classics/user_<user-id>/Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Linux	$HOME/SEGA Mega Drive Classics/user_<user-id>/Sonic 3 & Knuckles

The "Simple" launcher uses either folder depending on region; the "hub" launcher only uses the "Mega Drive" path.

Sonic 3 A.I.R. location: %APPDATA%\Sonic3AIR\

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video

Launcher options menu.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Pillarboxed or stretched from 4:3. Use Sonic 3 A.I.R. for widescreen resolution; pixel-perfect and stretched scaling are also supported.
Multi-monitor			Not possible in the "Simple" or "Hub" launchers. Multimonitor is not supported in Sonic 3 A.I.R..
Ultra-widescreen			See Ultrawide resolution to enable 21:9 for Sonic 3 A.I.R..
4K Ultra HD			"Hub" launcher supports 4K, but the game is scaled from 320x240 and the game is pillarboxed to 4:3.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Supported in "Hub" and "Simple" launchers. Can be toggled in Sonic 3 A.I.R. with Alt+↵ Enter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use the -popupwindow command line argument for the "Hub" version. Sonic 3 A.I.R.'s fullscreen mode is borderless.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Capped at 60 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)

Ultra-widescreen

To play Sonic 3 A.I.R. in a 4:3 aspect ratio similar to the original game, or to play in a ultrawide aspect-ratio up to a maximum of 31:14 (496x224), follow these steps (requires v21.09.12.0 -- Late Summer Update 2021 or later):

Enable developer mode in Sonic 3 A.I.R.[citation needed]
Open <path-to-game>\config.json with a text editor, then enable developer mode on by setting "DevMode": to 0. Launch the game, then press either / or * keys to decrease or increase the horizontal rendering resolution respectively.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		The mouse can only be used in the launcher.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		Only for "Hub" launcher. Mouse needed to use "simple" launcher.
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Only on auto-pause.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		2	Co-op, Versus
LAN play
Online play

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9, 11	"Simple" launcher uses Direct3D 9, the "Hub" launcher uses Direct3D 11.
OpenGL		Sonic 3 A.I.R. uses OpenGL, but the version is unknown.

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	ARM	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux				ARM64 is supported by the Flatpak version of Angel Island Revisited. ARM32 support is unconfirmed.

Modding

Listed mods require Sonic 3 A.I.R..

How to install mods for Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Download a mod for Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited from the sites or links listed below. Extract the folder containing the mod to %APPDATA%\Sonic3AIR\mods. Launch Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited, then from the main menu go to Mods. To activate a mod, select the mod that you wish to activate from the Inactive Mods window by holding the A button/A key and press Left to move it to the Active Mods window and vice-versa to deactivate the mod.

Featured website

• GameBanana - Hosts a large number of user-created mods for Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited.

Featured mods

The following mods listed below are in suggested priorities.

Restoring the original zone order and features:

• Original Zone Order - Places Flying Battery in-between Carnival Night and IceCap, as intended prior to the game being split in two in the original release
• Sonic 3 Complete FBZ Night Palette - Improves continuity with the original level order by porting the Sonic 3 Complete night time palette for Flying Battery Zone.
• FBZ Doorboarding - Replaces the snowboard in Icecap Zone with the door from Flying Battery Zone to create better continuity between Zones.
• Knuckles Fights the Carnival Night 2 Boss - This mod forces Knuckles to fight the boss in Carnival Night Zone Act 2 instead of skipping it as he normally does.
• Launch Base Zone Eggman Fleeing Recreation - Re-creates an unused animation where Dr. Eggman flees after Big Arms is defeated at the end of Launch Base Zone Act 2.
• Sonic 3 Complete Launch Base Zone Transition - A mod that ports the Death Egg falling onto Angel Island transition sequence from Sonic 3 Complete in between Launch Base Zone and Mushroom Valley Zone into Sonic 3 A.I.R..
• Competition Mode Title Cards - Restores the original title cards for the Competition Mode.

Bugfixes/improvements:

• Misc. Fixes and Tweaks - Fixes minor bugs and corrects inconsistencies from the original game and Sonic 3 A.I.R. while adding various configurable tweaks.
• Sonic Origins Death Egg and Title & Menu Backgrounds - Extends the original 4:3 Death Egg Zone, title screens, Data Select, and Competition Mode backgrounds with their widescreen versions featured in Sonic Origins.
• Sonic 3 Complete: Zone-Dependent Title Card Icons - Brings the unique title card icons featured for every Zone instead of the palm tree icon used in Angel Island Zone and onward similarly to Sonic 3 Complete.
• Sonic 3 Complete Sprites (+fixes) - Ports various sprite fixes from Sonic 3 Complete.

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Linux

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP
Processor (CPU)	1 GHz	1.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	50 MB
Video card (GPU)	32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9 compatible