The little things he does to the songs to give them a bit of a modern update while still keeping them recognizable are so good. There's a lot of that in this song in particular.
I'm so sad we never got a proper follow-up to this game. And still a bit gutted that there were so many old zones in this game. I mean, they did a great job. Seeing new versions of the zones was cool and hearing Tee Lopes' new remixes was amazing. But the original idea wasn't to re-use zones at all. That was all Sega's doing. And if we'd gotten a proper follow-up with all new zones, that would have been amazing.
Act 1 - Active volcano. Lots of flowing lava. Red color scheme. Act 2 - The volcano is no longer active, and everything crystalizes. No more flowing lava. So way way more chill.
RE re-using songs: Sonic Mania was a love letter to the OLD old Sonic games, so included a stage from each of the old 2d games, then like four original stages? Act 1 was an old school stage, then Act 2 was a more modern design/built upon the themes of the OG. It was a pretty great game.
To be more specific: In Mania it's 8 classic zones (from Sonic 1, 2, 3&K and CD), and 4 new Zones plus the Final-Boss which has its own stage called "Egg Reverie Zone", but it's just the battle. =D
It wasn't even meant to have old zones included, but Sega insisted. In a way I'm glad. But I wanted more new stuff too. A sequel would have solved that problem, but no.
Tee Lopes made Mania’s entire OST. On the first act of returning stages he did a lot more faithful remix and then with the act 2s he just went in a newer direction. Then with with the new zones he just went crazy with both acts.
Shoutouts and paying my respects to SonicKAI for giving us some best in-game soundtracks for Sonic games. He passed away sometime after he uploaded the Sonic Forces soundtrack. Post Script: Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles are two halves of the same game. SEGA of America had a promotional deal with McDonalds and had to split the game in two to meet the deadline. What's crazy is that Sonic & Knuckles was basically the first DLC/expansion pack while also being its own standalone game.
Generations was the game that Sega put out to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary. A few years before it, they ran a poll on both their internal staff and parts of the fanbase over what were their favorite stages throughout the series, and the results ended up being revisited for the game in the form of 2 acts; 1 being classic (played in classic 2D side scrolling fashion, but with entirely new level designs based on these reused concepts) and 1 being modern (played in 3D, akin to how most mainline Sonic titles have been structured since Unleashed; once again, with entirely new level designs but with the reused concepts). Basically, the entire point of that game was to revisit old stages that were regarded as fan favorites as a celebration of the series. Mania was a game released for the series' *25th* anniversary, and was actually not developed by Sega, just licensed and published by them. The developers are actually best known for working on Sonic fangames and romhacks prior to establishing a studio and proposing Mania to Sega. Mid-development, Takashi Iizuka (who's head of Sonic Team at Sega), requested them to revisit a couple levels from Sonic 1, 2, CD and 3 (along with the new zones created just for Mania), which is why we ended up getting stuff like Hydrocity and Lava Reef. They once again had entirely new level designs based on the old concepts and all that. While I do think they did a great job at it, this did kind of lead to a meme regarding how often levels like Green Hill Zone wound up getting repeatedly revisited throughout the series, which I'm pretty sure Sega themselves eventually noticed and stopped doing it for the more recent games.
I'd assume that Iizuka-san didn't just have the idea about more classic stages mid-development. Usually you plan out the scope of a game in the beginning of a project, not mid-development. But for designs and a bunch of other stuff Sonic Team did provide the team direct feedback, so it's not entirely fair to say that they took no part in development. =)
Sonic & Knuckles was the second half of Sonic 3. If I remember right, they wanted to get Sonic 3 out in time for Christmas but couldn't get the full game finished in time, so they split it in two - Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles. When Sonic and Knuckles released, the cartridge had a slot on top that let you plug Sonic 3 onto it to link the two games together, which added extra features such as Hyper Sonic and Super Tails. You could also plug in Sonic 2 and play through it as Knuckles, or any other Mega Drive/Genesis cartridge and it would generate a new Blue Sphere special stage to play through. Sonic 3 and Knuckles is up there in top place with Sonic Mania as the best Sonic game for me, with fantastic music across both. As others have already pointed out, Sonic Mania was a love letter to the original Sonic games, reusing stages from from Sonic 1, 2, 3, Knuckles, and CD (although the stages themselves were redesigned and remapped) with remixes of their music, and included 4 brand new stages on top. If you loved classic Sonic, I couldn't recommend it enough.
Tee Lopes was kind of a famous RUclipsr in the Sonic community for doing amazing remixes of Sonic music, which is how he got the Mania job. For the returning stages, Act 1 is a faithful recreation and Act 2 is a new interpretation. The levels are designed that way too.
Act 2 is where you are deep inside the mountain at the Master Emerald altar, and where you see a mural prophesizing the secret true final boss at the end of the game. For a dang 1994 platformer, it really had that special of storytelling and atmosphere.
And they told that story without hours of dialogue to read. Then again I also loved 16-bit RPGs but they didn't have as much stuff to read as modern day games. But yeah my point was that Sonic told the story without ANYTHING to read. You just experienced it happening, as if you were Sonic himself.
Lava Reef has always been a prominent favourite of mine in this game. The level design and theme, the music, and even story telling - yes, you wouldn't think a 2D Sonic game would attempt to do storytelling but Sonic 3 & Knuckles did, just through level design and music, and a couple of simple animations from the character sprites, and they pulled it off brilliantly. The tone of Lava Reef as a whole is fairly serious, but act 2 turns it up a few notches. Lava Reef act 1 is all orange and red and flames and lava. In act 2 it completely burns out into this crystalline blue, and this sombre, mysterious music starts. It really sounds like a forgotten, holy place with a very sad atmosphere and I always found act 2 enthralling even as a kid because of this. The original Sonic 3 came out early 1994; Sonic and Knuckles came out late the same year. I believe they wanted to make it a full game together originally but it was too much for one cartridge, so they created Sonic and Knuckles with ""lock-on technology"" where the top of the cartridge was another cartridge slot, which you put Sonic 3 into, and it because a bigger, full game, Sonic 3 and Knuckles. It seems kind of funny now, and it was always a little wild to have this really tall cartridge sticking out of your console, but it was also cool as all hell to have as a kid. The games together alter certain things from each game so that it makes sense as a full package; they originally omitted Sonic 3's final boss I guess so that it wouldn't be such a dramatic end in what was now the middle of the game. Both games originally had special stages with Chaos emeralds, the complete collection of which would enable the use of Super Sonic. In 3&K, the Sonic and Knuckles stages now offered Super Emeralds, which would then give you Hyper Sonic, and let me tell you, there is literally nothing cooler than that to a kid. Hell I _still_ think it's cool af. This also added a new final boss stage utilising Hyper Sonic and...it's just a marvel of a setpiece especially for a Mega Drive game. Sonic 3 & Knuckles is one of the best games I have ever played.
I don't know about Sonic Mania, but in Sonic and Knuckles, while Lava Reef Zone Act 1 is a lava level like the name suggests, Lava Reef Zone Act 2 transitions to a crystal cave, like all the lava has suddenly solidified, and the music changes to reflect this.
Sonic Mania and Sonic Generations in particular are celebrations of Sonic so they pay homage to previous games with remixed older levels and new versions of old songs. People have been begging for a Mania 2 for a while. Mania is more an homage to the 2D era while Generations combines "Classic(2D)" and "Modern(3D)" Also, you could plug other Sonic games into Sonic and Knuckles. Doing it with Sonic 3 basically combined the games and you could play as Knuckles as well. If you did it wil Sonic 2 you could play thru Sonic 2 as Knuckles
My favourite game of all time and my favourite zone of all time :) Absolutely love all versions of Lava Reef but man 3&K's Act 2 just absolutely got me as a kid and still gets me every time I listen to it to this day. The visual transition between both acts, in both games, are great too!
Lava Reef is such a banger, Biosleeve got me covered since this is a song I was thinking of suggesting at one point. I love how the lower end of the song makes me think of slowly flowing magma. The melody is perfection. I like the new additions Tee Lopes added because the original was pretty simple with a very short loop. The original is a lot more simple but it's fantastic for the time. Act 2 is really cool too, I like the more chill feel it has. It fits the feel of being in a cave, it's not as intense but there's still danger.
There are no official per-track credits for Sonic 3 or Sonic & Knuckles, but the rip I have credits Lava Reef act 1 to Tatsuyuki Maeda, Sachio Ogawa and Masanori Hikichi. act 2 is credited to those three plus Masayuki Nagao. Those three (Maeda, Ogawa and Hikichi) are credited with most of the stage themes in the two games overall.
I love Sonic 3 & Knuckles so much. I think the sound of the Sega Genesis in general might be solely responsible for me getting into Funk music. Act 1 of this reminds me of something I would hear on Slave's "Stone Jam" album.
8:00 both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were supposed to be one complete game. but due to time constraints and hardware limitations, they planned to release each half of the game individually Sonic & Knuckles has a really weirdly shaped cartridge that has its own cartridge slot ontop of it, so you can plug Sonic 3 into Sonic & Knuckles and play the complete package as Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the original genesis
even today still feels like magic to conect sonic 3 on top of sonic and knuckles and get the complete game, or sonic 2 and get knuckles even in the start screen instead of sonic and tails
Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles came out as 2 games but Sonic and Knuckles cartridge had another cartridge slot on top of it so you were able to put S3 on top of S&K and play the 2 as one game. A cool thing with that was you could also play as Knuckles in Sonic 2 by attaching S2 on top of S&K.
I really like the lore of Lava Reef. Act 1 doesn’t really have much going on but Act 2 is when you get deeper into the area and find Hidden Palace, where the Master Emerald used to be held along with the mural that depicts the final boss of Super Sonic vs Eggman in space and also where Gerald Robotnik got inspiration for Shadow during the development for Project Shadow. In the Act 2 boss of Lava Reef you see the Death Egg which crashed into Angel Island after Sonic defeated Eggman in space halfway through Sonic 3 & Knuckles
one of my oldest remix albums ive listened to is project chaos from OCremix, and its an album based on sonic 3 + sonic & knuckles and while its pretty dated now i still remember them clearly
I wouldn't have been mad if you re-listened to Mania's Act 2 as well, to have it fresh on your mind. Because you mentioned that you remember Mania's Act 2 being _vastly_ different from Sonic & Knuckles' original composition, but there are a ton of similarities! =D
Lava Reef Act 1 and Lava Reef Act 2 are a bit of an exception to the act 1 & 2 music. Usually they're a lot more simialr to each other. However act 1 being a pretty standard lava level and act 2 being a crystal cavern basically means they might as well be two completely different zones. And the music reflects that.
I played a ton of Sonic 3 & Knuckles on Genesis as a kid. Going into Sonic Mania completely blind on release day and seeing Lava Reef zone again was something special.
The latest games in the timeline before Frontiers (Sonic 4, Generations, Mania, and Forces) tried reusing levels with little tweaks but it's understandable in Generations as it's like an anniversary game that literally sents you back to old levels modernized, and Mania is an official game made by fans so they did good using old levels and making something new, the other 2 really feels awful (though 4 episode 2 did an effort to be more original) and it's surprising how many years it passed without something fresh and good... (Without counting Mania, I got headache with Lost World and I enjoyed the only level that everyone seems to hate) It was a joke about seeing Green Hill (or a version of it) one more time... It was tiring. Though Sonic Adventure 2 did it first by adding Green Hill as a stage, it was actually a secret stage you unlock by 100% the game so it was fine. Pd: Also, the reason why S3's act 2 sounds more cool or chilling, it's because the lava in the level cools down and everything turns crystalized. Beautiful transition
Genius. A style like this revists an old song and makes me go back to your other video giving you more views. Hope to see more sonic tracks revisited like this so I can go down memory lane!
Love this song. Also really love a remix of it called Diamond Crush from Dwelling of Duels (basically a VG remix competition website/group). Honestly can't believe this amazing song only has 54 views (as of right now), it's almost 8 minutes of lovely guitar goodness. What Mania really is, is a bit hard to describe. It's about half a celebration of the classic games. It takes some of the level themes and songs and whole stages are based on that. And about half of it is also completely new. It's sorta both an anniversary of the old games while at the same time being a sequel, but fully calling it an anniversary or sequel of them would also not be right.
You should hear the Sonic 3D Blast song, Green Grove Zone Act 1, and then Tee Lopes' recreation of it. I think you'd love it. To note though, the Tee Lopes Green Grove is not from any game or remake, it's just the song he reimagined.
You should react to Super Sonic Racing from sonic R. I think you already listened to Can you feel the sunshine. It has a strong Eurobeat feel with amazing lyric sung by TJ Davis.
Sonic & Knuckles was a Standalone expansion to Sonic 3, which could either be played on it's own or via 'lock on technology' (basically the cartridge had it's own cartridge port on top) could be played with Sonic 3 (which let you play all levels from 3 and then &K in order, including as Knuckles in Sonic 3's levels) or 2 (which let you play as Knuckles in Sonic 2, with a little modification to accommodate his moveset better). It also let you lock onto Sonic 1 (and various other games) and play... I think procedurally generated... Blue Spheres levels, the bonus stage, based on the cartridge data that was locked into it. The reason for this is, similar to how you remember it, that Sonic 3 wasn't going to be ready for the deadline otherwise. I think I've read that they did more with &K than the original plan for Sonic 3 would have been because they suddenly had much more time to work on basically half (or maybe a third) of a game than the original scope suggested, but I'm not as certain of that.
Sonic generations was like a “greatest hits”, in a way, and each act was more or less split into one act of classic 2D sonic, one act more modern, 3D Sonic… Remixing the stages to fit the style of the other… Sonic Mania was more or less a tribute to classic Sonic specifically and featured many stages from previous games, but also had some original stages and added to the classic stages, second acts often adding new mechanics to them.
I remember I touched on the topic a bit already back when you reacted to the Sonic 3 and Mania versions of Hydrocity Zone, but Tee Lopes said he wanted his Act 1 songs to be pretty faithful to the originals, while Act 2 makes some changes here in there to stand out a bit from the original version of the Act 2 song. Hydrocity was an exception, as he didn't change it much at all because he felt the song was pretty perfect as is. But you can really hear Tee Lopes approach put into practice here with Lava Reef Zone. Act 1 feels very faithful, and updated a bit. While the difference in both Act 2 versions is very apparent. I will always adore the original Lava Reef songs, but I also absolutely love what Tee Lopes did with the Sonic Mania versions. That sort of "90s dance floor" sound you mentioned added to his Lava Reef Act 1 really elevates the song for me. Plus Act 1's loop is slightly longer here too, which is nice, because the original version I think might be one of the shortest loops in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Which is kind of funny, because Lava Reef Zone is probably one of the biggest/longest levels in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Well act 2 of Lava Reef was always very different and more chill but also mysterious. Also there wasn't much to act two, not gameplay wise. It was more like a playable cutscene. You discovered this underground temple and there weren't any enemies to fight, you just breeze through until you face Knuckles. And that's when you fight him and he finally realizes Eggman was the bad guy all along.
One thing you have to bear in mind with Sonic Mania, is that while it was officially released by Sonic Team, it was effectively made "by the fans, for the fans". Programmed by former Sonic fan game developers Taxman & Stealth, and Tee Lopes has a history of making fan remixes of Sonic music as far back as 15 years ago. They're all still on his RUclips channel, and they're fantastic, he really was the perfect choice for Mania's soundtrack! He's since gone on to make banger soundtracks for other games (such as TMNT : Shredder's Revenge) and feature as guest composer on Team Sonic Racing and Streets of Rage 4!
Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles are two halves of a single game. Sega wanted to release it as one game but there wasn't enough memory on the cartridges for it, so they released part 1 as Sonic 3 and part 2 as Sonic and Knuckles. The Sonic and Knuckles cartridge was unique in that the top of it had a cartridge slot like the console itself, so you could connect another Genesis cartridge to it. Doing this with Sonic 3 would give you the whole experience; called Sonic 3 and Knuckles, but you could also do this with Sonic 2 which would allow you to play it as Knuckles. You can also connect Sonic 1 to it (obviously), and the result is probably not what most would expect. Instead of being able to play Sonic 1 as Knuckles as people might expect especially from the result of doing so with Sonic 2, you get what's called Blue Sphere. For context, in Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles there are what's known as Special Stages (I mean, most Sonic games have their own Special Stages) They're entered by running into any of the giant rings that can be found in multiple locations in any given level. The Special Stages are where you get the Chaos Emeralds. They're are pseudo-3D spaces where you have to 'get' all the Blue Spheres. Touching a Blue Sphere turns it red, and touching a Red Sphere ends the stage in failure. There are 7 Chaos Emeralds, so when playing Sonic 3 or Sonic and Knuckles separately there are 7 Special Stages. However, when playing them together, after reaching the part of the combined game that is the Sonic and Knuckles level, if you have all 7 Chaos Emeralds you can begin unlocking an upgraded version of them, which takes playing another 7 Special Stages. So that's 14. The Blue Spheres game that boots up when you connect Sonic 1 to Sonic and Knuckles is a compilation of over a hundred million (yes, you read that right) stages like those Special Stages. I'm pretty sure the Special Stages from Sonic 3 and Knuckles are the first 14 stages you play in the Blue Spheres compilation.
I was just thinking the other day too that, despite associating Sonic mostly with chiptune music and being surprised by all the other music, you should listen to more retro Sonic music because chiptune or not, Sonic music slaps ahead of its time. And Lava Reef, Hydrocity, and Ice Cap are some of the stages I thought of too.
Classic 2d sonic games had a 10 minute time limit on every stage and running out would get you a Time Out and make you lose a life. The faster you completed a stage the greater your time bonus. Many stages could be completed in around a minute flat if you know them well enough. Also Mania act 1 stages are very faithful to the original games in level design, while act 2 level design introduced entirely new gimmicks like a remix which makes the musical changes absolutely genius
If you read this, first off I’m honored, and secondly I hope this clears up the confusion alongside many other great comments here. You have the “classic” 2D Sonic games. Sonic 1, CD, 2, 3, S&K and the latter 2 connect into one story called Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Then there’s a small handful of basically practice 3D Sonic games experimenting with gimmicks and genres. Nothing big or major. Like Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic R (racing game), Sonic Fighters…. Then you have the mainstream 3D titles emphasizing lore and storytelling with voice acting and such. Sonic Adventure. Sonic Adventure 2. (10th anniversary) Sonic Heroes. Shadow The Hedgehog. Sonic Unleashed. Sonic Colors… Some hand held titles and side games for racing and unique gimmick stories like Black Knight and Secret Rings. Sonic The Hedgehog aka Sonic 06 is a game that was a like a reboot as it portrays the Sonic world a bit more grounded and gritty. But it was a one time thing and went back to…. well the levels of silly and serious or cartoony fluctuates. Sonic Generations (20th anniversary) features “Modern Sonic” and “Classic Sonic” both going through one returning level from each mainline Sonic game over the past 20 years and makes a lot of callbacks and Easter eggs and has a lot of remixed music They think spend the rest of the 2010’s being more lighthearted and referencing retro environments, concepts and gimmicks. In 2017 we get Sonic Mania, an official and new 2D game made by individuals who got popular online making fan games. It, like Generations, recalls a lot of pre-existing stages and features many remixes. This “classic Sonic” ends up being transported somewhere else at the end of the game. A few months later, Sonic Forces came out, a Modern 3D game where Classic Sonic suddenly appears. And it turns out that it’s the version of Sonic they met in Generations. They word it in a way that confused the fanbase for a while but it’s essentially now an alternate version of Modern Sonic’s past self thanks to the story in Generations. And since Forces, we got Sonic Frontiers. But October 2024 we are getting a re-release of Sonic Generations with a whole new campaign called Shadow Generations. The game as a whole is now called Sonic x Shadow Generations. Shadow’s storyline through time will feature even more reused stages and remixes. lol
There's this rumor, almost proven true (not completely, because of the obvious impossibility), that Michael Jackson Himself was in charge of the soundtrack of Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and its "& Knuckles" counterpart. In my humble opinion, SHK3 has the absolute best soundtrack of all the series. Btw, within this soundtrack, you can clearly listen to many references of the late artist's historical pieces.
I know this is a bit out of topic, but I really like the background song that is played between each reaction. Does anybody know the name of it? Also really like your videos your reactions are amazing!
Oh yeah, since he never played sonicmania or sonic and knuckles, he can experience flying battery for the first time. Please people that give him money, make him listen to it
Is this for the fire themes video? You mentioned in previous reactions? If so then please also listen to the Teostra Theme from monster hunter, it is way to fitting for fire themed music.
Sonic 3 ended up rushed to the deadline and they had to cut, basically, half of the game. Later, Sonic Team made Sonic and Knuckles as a spin-off game with all the cut content from Sonic 3 but.. they made it so that the cartridge could be attached with the Sonic 3 one to get the full game that was originally planned. Sonic 3 & Knuckles had a lot of uncredited composers for the various songs but for Sonic 3 it is highly speculated with some very strong clues that prove that MJ and his sound team were involved. For Sonic and Knuckles, all involvement with MJ was removed. One of the confirmed composers who worked for both games is Jun Senoue who also works with Crush 40.
Tee Lopes has an uncanny ability to capture what you remember a song sounding like, while adding his own flair.
The little things he does to the songs to give them a bit of a modern update while still keeping them recognizable are so good. There's a lot of that in this song in particular.
I'm so sad we never got a proper follow-up to this game. And still a bit gutted that there were so many old zones in this game. I mean, they did a great job. Seeing new versions of the zones was cool and hearing Tee Lopes' new remixes was amazing. But the original idea wasn't to re-use zones at all. That was all Sega's doing. And if we'd gotten a proper follow-up with all new zones, that would have been amazing.
Act 1 - Active volcano. Lots of flowing lava. Red color scheme.
Act 2 - The volcano is no longer active, and everything crystalizes. No more flowing lava. So way way more chill.
Act 2 has more of a blue colour scheme. I think that's what you were getting at. But you didn't actually say it.
RE re-using songs: Sonic Mania was a love letter to the OLD old Sonic games, so included a stage from each of the old 2d games, then like four original stages? Act 1 was an old school stage, then Act 2 was a more modern design/built upon the themes of the OG. It was a pretty great game.
To be more specific:
In Mania it's 8 classic zones (from Sonic 1, 2, 3&K and CD), and 4 new Zones plus the Final-Boss which has its own stage called "Egg Reverie Zone", but it's just the battle. =D
It wasn't even meant to have old zones included, but Sega insisted. In a way I'm glad. But I wanted more new stuff too. A sequel would have solved that problem, but no.
@@PiousMoltar Well, Sonic Superstars exists. That's an all-new sequel! =P
Tee Lopes made Mania’s entire OST. On the first act of returning stages he did a lot more faithful remix and then with the act 2s he just went in a newer direction. Then with with the new zones he just went crazy with both acts.
Shoutouts and paying my respects to SonicKAI for giving us some best in-game soundtracks for Sonic games. He passed away sometime after he uploaded the Sonic Forces soundtrack.
Post Script: Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles are two halves of the same game. SEGA of America had a promotional deal with McDonalds and had to split the game in two to meet the deadline. What's crazy is that Sonic & Knuckles was basically the first DLC/expansion pack while also being its own standalone game.
SONICKAI IS DEAD??????? NO...
DUDE I DIDN'T KNOW HE DIED WHAT?
rip man
Wait SonicKAI died!? I just thought he left RUclips. RIP. 😢
What? 🙁
Generations was the game that Sega put out to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary. A few years before it, they ran a poll on both their internal staff and parts of the fanbase over what were their favorite stages throughout the series, and the results ended up being revisited for the game in the form of 2 acts; 1 being classic (played in classic 2D side scrolling fashion, but with entirely new level designs based on these reused concepts) and 1 being modern (played in 3D, akin to how most mainline Sonic titles have been structured since Unleashed; once again, with entirely new level designs but with the reused concepts). Basically, the entire point of that game was to revisit old stages that were regarded as fan favorites as a celebration of the series.
Mania was a game released for the series' *25th* anniversary, and was actually not developed by Sega, just licensed and published by them. The developers are actually best known for working on Sonic fangames and romhacks prior to establishing a studio and proposing Mania to Sega. Mid-development, Takashi Iizuka (who's head of Sonic Team at Sega), requested them to revisit a couple levels from Sonic 1, 2, CD and 3 (along with the new zones created just for Mania), which is why we ended up getting stuff like Hydrocity and Lava Reef. They once again had entirely new level designs based on the old concepts and all that.
While I do think they did a great job at it, this did kind of lead to a meme regarding how often levels like Green Hill Zone wound up getting repeatedly revisited throughout the series, which I'm pretty sure Sega themselves eventually noticed and stopped doing it for the more recent games.
I'd assume that Iizuka-san didn't just have the idea about more classic stages mid-development.
Usually you plan out the scope of a game in the beginning of a project, not mid-development.
But for designs and a bunch of other stuff Sonic Team did provide the team direct feedback, so it's not entirely fair to say that they took no part in development. =)
Sonic & Knuckles was the second half of Sonic 3. If I remember right, they wanted to get Sonic 3 out in time for Christmas but couldn't get the full game finished in time, so they split it in two - Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles. When Sonic and Knuckles released, the cartridge had a slot on top that let you plug Sonic 3 onto it to link the two games together, which added extra features such as Hyper Sonic and Super Tails. You could also plug in Sonic 2 and play through it as Knuckles, or any other Mega Drive/Genesis cartridge and it would generate a new Blue Sphere special stage to play through. Sonic 3 and Knuckles is up there in top place with Sonic Mania as the best Sonic game for me, with fantastic music across both.
As others have already pointed out, Sonic Mania was a love letter to the original Sonic games, reusing stages from from Sonic 1, 2, 3, Knuckles, and CD (although the stages themselves were redesigned and remapped) with remixes of their music, and included 4 brand new stages on top. If you loved classic Sonic, I couldn't recommend it enough.
Specifically they needed to get Sonic 3 out in time for a McDonald's commercial of all things.
I miss the days where I could just smash 2 separate games into each other to create a game that combines the 2 and even has some extras.
The use of S&K was called “Lock-On” Technology and is probably the earliest version of what we now consider “DLC” or “Add-on Content.”
Tee Lopes was kind of a famous RUclipsr in the Sonic community for doing amazing remixes of Sonic music, which is how he got the Mania job. For the returning stages, Act 1 is a faithful recreation and Act 2 is a new interpretation. The levels are designed that way too.
Act 2 is where you are deep inside the mountain at the Master Emerald altar, and where you see a mural prophesizing the secret true final boss at the end of the game. For a dang 1994 platformer, it really had that special of storytelling and atmosphere.
And they told that story without hours of dialogue to read. Then again I also loved 16-bit RPGs but they didn't have as much stuff to read as modern day games. But yeah my point was that Sonic told the story without ANYTHING to read. You just experienced it happening, as if you were Sonic himself.
Lava Reef has always been a prominent favourite of mine in this game. The level design and theme, the music, and even story telling - yes, you wouldn't think a 2D Sonic game would attempt to do storytelling but Sonic 3 & Knuckles did, just through level design and music, and a couple of simple animations from the character sprites, and they pulled it off brilliantly.
The tone of Lava Reef as a whole is fairly serious, but act 2 turns it up a few notches. Lava Reef act 1 is all orange and red and flames and lava. In act 2 it completely burns out into this crystalline blue, and this sombre, mysterious music starts. It really sounds like a forgotten, holy place with a very sad atmosphere and I always found act 2 enthralling even as a kid because of this.
The original Sonic 3 came out early 1994; Sonic and Knuckles came out late the same year. I believe they wanted to make it a full game together originally but it was too much for one cartridge, so they created Sonic and Knuckles with ""lock-on technology"" where the top of the cartridge was another cartridge slot, which you put Sonic 3 into, and it because a bigger, full game, Sonic 3 and Knuckles. It seems kind of funny now, and it was always a little wild to have this really tall cartridge sticking out of your console, but it was also cool as all hell to have as a kid.
The games together alter certain things from each game so that it makes sense as a full package; they originally omitted Sonic 3's final boss I guess so that it wouldn't be such a dramatic end in what was now the middle of the game. Both games originally had special stages with Chaos emeralds, the complete collection of which would enable the use of Super Sonic. In 3&K, the Sonic and Knuckles stages now offered Super Emeralds, which would then give you Hyper Sonic, and let me tell you, there is literally nothing cooler than that to a kid. Hell I _still_ think it's cool af. This also added a new final boss stage utilising Hyper Sonic and...it's just a marvel of a setpiece especially for a Mega Drive game. Sonic 3 & Knuckles is one of the best games I have ever played.
I don't know about Sonic Mania, but in Sonic and Knuckles, while Lava Reef Zone Act 1 is a lava level like the name suggests, Lava Reef Zone Act 2 transitions to a crystal cave, like all the lava has suddenly solidified, and the music changes to reflect this.
Mania does the same thing
Sonic Mania and Sonic Generations in particular are celebrations of Sonic so they pay homage to previous games with remixed older levels and new versions of old songs. People have been begging for a Mania 2 for a while. Mania is more an homage to the 2D era while Generations combines "Classic(2D)" and "Modern(3D)"
Also, you could plug other Sonic games into Sonic and Knuckles. Doing it with Sonic 3 basically combined the games and you could play as Knuckles as well. If you did it wil Sonic 2 you could play thru Sonic 2 as Knuckles
My favourite game of all time and my favourite zone of all time :) Absolutely love all versions of Lava Reef but man 3&K's Act 2 just absolutely got me as a kid and still gets me every time I listen to it to this day. The visual transition between both acts, in both games, are great too!
The first time I played Sonic & Knuckles the contrast between Lava Reef act 1 and 2 was so magical. I still get chills thinking about it.
Lava Reef is such a banger, Biosleeve got me covered since this is a song I was thinking of suggesting at one point.
I love how the lower end of the song makes me think of slowly flowing magma. The melody is perfection. I like the new additions Tee Lopes added because the original was pretty simple with a very short loop. The original is a lot more simple but it's fantastic for the time.
Act 2 is really cool too, I like the more chill feel it has. It fits the feel of being in a cave, it's not as intense but there's still danger.
If you ever do Sonic 3 Hydrocity Zone Act 1 & Act 2 ... your musical brain will not be ready for how amazing that soundtrack can be!
Lava Reef Act2 plays in my head all the time… nostalgia biorhythm
There are no official per-track credits for Sonic 3 or Sonic & Knuckles, but the rip I have credits Lava Reef act 1 to Tatsuyuki Maeda, Sachio Ogawa and Masanori Hikichi. act 2 is credited to those three plus Masayuki Nagao. Those three (Maeda, Ogawa and Hikichi) are credited with most of the stage themes in the two games overall.
Tee's last name (as an artist, at least) is pronounced LOWps. He's posted a couple memes about it lol
I love Sonic 3 & Knuckles so much. I think the sound of the Sega Genesis in general might be solely responsible for me getting into Funk music. Act 1 of this reminds me of something I would hear on Slave's "Stone Jam" album.
8:00
both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were supposed to be one complete game. but due to time constraints and hardware limitations, they planned to release each half of the game individually
Sonic & Knuckles has a really weirdly shaped cartridge that has its own cartridge slot ontop of it, so you can plug Sonic 3 into Sonic & Knuckles and play the complete package as Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the original genesis
Sega seemed to have a fascination with stacking peripheral monstrosities.
@@JessesAuditorium Imagine a genesis with a CD addon and Sonic 3 & Knuckles plugged into the slot of a 32x addon
even today still feels like magic to conect sonic 3 on top of sonic and knuckles and get the complete game, or sonic 2 and get knuckles even in the start screen instead of sonic and tails
Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles came out as 2 games but Sonic and Knuckles cartridge had another cartridge slot on top of it so you were able to put S3 on top of S&K and play the 2 as one game. A cool thing with that was you could also play as Knuckles in Sonic 2 by attaching S2 on top of S&K.
I really like the lore of Lava Reef. Act 1 doesn’t really have much going on but Act 2 is when you get deeper into the area and find Hidden Palace, where the Master Emerald used to be held along with the mural that depicts the final boss of Super Sonic vs Eggman in space and also where Gerald Robotnik got inspiration for Shadow during the development for Project Shadow. In the Act 2 boss of Lava Reef you see the Death Egg which crashed into Angel Island after Sonic defeated Eggman in space halfway through Sonic 3 & Knuckles
one of my oldest remix albums ive listened to is project chaos from OCremix, and its an album based on sonic 3 + sonic & knuckles and while its pretty dated now i still remember them clearly
I wouldn't have been mad if you re-listened to Mania's Act 2 as well, to have it fresh on your mind.
Because you mentioned that you remember Mania's Act 2 being _vastly_ different from Sonic & Knuckles' original composition, but there are a ton of similarities! =D
Lava Reef Act 1 and Lava Reef Act 2 are a bit of an exception to the act 1 & 2 music. Usually they're a lot more simialr to each other.
However act 1 being a pretty standard lava level and act 2 being a crystal cavern basically means they might as well be two completely different zones. And the music reflects that.
It actually DOES carry over a specific melody from Act 1, you can hear in the 8-bit instruments.
@@SonicPlayer2004 I never said they don't share a melody, just that the feel of both acts is completely different.
@@Game_InSky
Oh. Alright then.
I played a ton of Sonic 3 & Knuckles on Genesis as a kid.
Going into Sonic Mania completely blind on release day and seeing Lava Reef zone again was something special.
The latest games in the timeline before Frontiers (Sonic 4, Generations, Mania, and Forces) tried reusing levels with little tweaks but it's understandable in Generations as it's like an anniversary game that literally sents you back to old levels modernized, and Mania is an official game made by fans so they did good using old levels and making something new, the other 2 really feels awful (though 4 episode 2 did an effort to be more original) and it's surprising how many years it passed without something fresh and good... (Without counting Mania, I got headache with Lost World and I enjoyed the only level that everyone seems to hate) It was a joke about seeing Green Hill (or a version of it) one more time... It was tiring.
Though Sonic Adventure 2 did it first by adding Green Hill as a stage, it was actually a secret stage you unlock by 100% the game so it was fine.
Pd: Also, the reason why S3's act 2 sounds more cool or chilling, it's because the lava in the level cools down and everything turns crystalized. Beautiful transition
My favorite song from sonic and knuckles followed closely by sky sanctuary's ost.
Genius. A style like this revists an old song and makes me go back to your other video giving you more views. Hope to see more sonic tracks revisited like this so I can go down memory lane!
Love this song. Also really love a remix of it called Diamond Crush from Dwelling of Duels (basically a VG remix competition website/group). Honestly can't believe this amazing song only has 54 views (as of right now), it's almost 8 minutes of lovely guitar goodness.
What Mania really is, is a bit hard to describe. It's about half a celebration of the classic games. It takes some of the level themes and songs and whole stages are based on that. And about half of it is also completely new. It's sorta both an anniversary of the old games while at the same time being a sequel, but fully calling it an anniversary or sequel of them would also not be right.
You should hear the Sonic 3D Blast song, Green Grove Zone Act 1, and then Tee Lopes' recreation of it. I think you'd love it. To note though, the Tee Lopes Green Grove is not from any game or remake, it's just the song he reimagined.
You should react to Super Sonic Racing from sonic R. I think you already listened to Can you feel the sunshine. It has a strong Eurobeat feel with amazing lyric sung by TJ Davis.
Ooh, Tee’s last name is pronounced like “Low-ps” (Loeps or L’ohps) [Lōps]. Not “Low-pez”
Sonic & Knuckles was a Standalone expansion to Sonic 3, which could either be played on it's own or via 'lock on technology' (basically the cartridge had it's own cartridge port on top) could be played with Sonic 3 (which let you play all levels from 3 and then &K in order, including as Knuckles in Sonic 3's levels) or 2 (which let you play as Knuckles in Sonic 2, with a little modification to accommodate his moveset better). It also let you lock onto Sonic 1 (and various other games) and play... I think procedurally generated... Blue Spheres levels, the bonus stage, based on the cartridge data that was locked into it.
The reason for this is, similar to how you remember it, that Sonic 3 wasn't going to be ready for the deadline otherwise. I think I've read that they did more with &K than the original plan for Sonic 3 would have been because they suddenly had much more time to work on basically half (or maybe a third) of a game than the original scope suggested, but I'm not as certain of that.
The entire soundtrack of Sonic 3 & Knuckles is fantastic, listen to more of it if you find the time. It's really very impressive.
Y'know, putting this SkullGirls track on loop in all your vids, you're making it really difficult not to boot up the game again.
I’m glad you’re listening to more and more Sonic music lately 😀 so many god tier tracks in the series
Another awsome lava themed sonic music is volcano valley act 1and 2
Sonic generations was like a “greatest hits”, in a way, and each act was more or less split into one act of classic 2D sonic, one act more modern, 3D Sonic… Remixing the stages to fit the style of the other…
Sonic Mania was more or less a tribute to classic Sonic specifically and featured many stages from previous games, but also had some original stages and added to the classic stages, second acts often adding new mechanics to them.
I remember I touched on the topic a bit already back when you reacted to the Sonic 3 and Mania versions of Hydrocity Zone, but Tee Lopes said he wanted his Act 1 songs to be pretty faithful to the originals, while Act 2 makes some changes here in there to stand out a bit from the original version of the Act 2 song. Hydrocity was an exception, as he didn't change it much at all because he felt the song was pretty perfect as is. But you can really hear Tee Lopes approach put into practice here with Lava Reef Zone. Act 1 feels very faithful, and updated a bit. While the difference in both Act 2 versions is very apparent.
I will always adore the original Lava Reef songs, but I also absolutely love what Tee Lopes did with the Sonic Mania versions. That sort of "90s dance floor" sound you mentioned added to his Lava Reef Act 1 really elevates the song for me. Plus Act 1's loop is slightly longer here too, which is nice, because the original version I think might be one of the shortest loops in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Which is kind of funny, because Lava Reef Zone is probably one of the biggest/longest levels in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Well act 2 of Lava Reef was always very different and more chill but also mysterious. Also there wasn't much to act two, not gameplay wise. It was more like a playable cutscene. You discovered this underground temple and there weren't any enemies to fight, you just breeze through until you face Knuckles. And that's when you fight him and he finally realizes Eggman was the bad guy all along.
Eggman? What's wrong with me? Robotnik.
One thing you have to bear in mind with Sonic Mania, is that while it was officially released by Sonic Team, it was effectively made "by the fans, for the fans". Programmed by former Sonic fan game developers Taxman & Stealth, and Tee Lopes has a history of making fan remixes of Sonic music as far back as 15 years ago.
They're all still on his RUclips channel, and they're fantastic, he really was the perfect choice for Mania's soundtrack!
He's since gone on to make banger soundtracks for other games (such as TMNT : Shredder's Revenge) and feature as guest composer on Team Sonic Racing and Streets of Rage 4!
Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles are two halves of a single game. Sega wanted to release it as one game but there wasn't enough memory on the cartridges for it, so they released part 1 as Sonic 3 and part 2 as Sonic and Knuckles. The Sonic and Knuckles cartridge was unique in that the top of it had a cartridge slot like the console itself, so you could connect another Genesis cartridge to it. Doing this with Sonic 3 would give you the whole experience; called Sonic 3 and Knuckles, but you could also do this with Sonic 2 which would allow you to play it as Knuckles.
You can also connect Sonic 1 to it (obviously), and the result is probably not what most would expect. Instead of being able to play Sonic 1 as Knuckles as people might expect especially from the result of doing so with Sonic 2, you get what's called Blue Sphere. For context, in Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles there are what's known as Special Stages (I mean, most Sonic games have their own Special Stages) They're entered by running into any of the giant rings that can be found in multiple locations in any given level. The Special Stages are where you get the Chaos Emeralds. They're are pseudo-3D spaces where you have to 'get' all the Blue Spheres. Touching a Blue Sphere turns it red, and touching a Red Sphere ends the stage in failure.
There are 7 Chaos Emeralds, so when playing Sonic 3 or Sonic and Knuckles separately there are 7 Special Stages. However, when playing them together, after reaching the part of the combined game that is the Sonic and Knuckles level, if you have all 7 Chaos Emeralds you can begin unlocking an upgraded version of them, which takes playing another 7 Special Stages. So that's 14. The Blue Spheres game that boots up when you connect Sonic 1 to Sonic and Knuckles is a compilation of over a hundred million (yes, you read that right) stages like those Special Stages. I'm pretty sure the Special Stages from Sonic 3 and Knuckles are the first 14 stages you play in the Blue Spheres compilation.
I'd heard they rushed Sonic 3 out early because it needed to coincide with a McDonald's promotion.
Cartridge memory had nothing to do with it. They simply had to get "Sonic 3" out on time by any means necessary and they did so by cutting it in half.
I was just thinking the other day too that, despite associating Sonic mostly with chiptune music and being surprised by all the other music, you should listen to more retro Sonic music because chiptune or not, Sonic music slaps ahead of its time.
And Lava Reef, Hydrocity, and Ice Cap are some of the stages I thought of too.
Classic 2d sonic games had a 10 minute time limit on every stage and running out would get you a Time Out and make you lose a life.
The faster you completed a stage the greater your time bonus. Many stages could be completed in around a minute flat if you know them well enough.
Also Mania act 1 stages are very faithful to the original games in level design, while act 2 level design introduced entirely new gimmicks like a remix which makes the musical changes absolutely genius
I need to play this game. Been on my backlog a long long time.
It holds up REMARKABLY well. I have SO few complaints with this game and I’m just in love with it
It's amazing. It makes me happy when I play it.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles is one of the best 2D platformers ever made.
@@FSAPOJake I agree to this statement as well
Ooo. You gonna react to Sky Battery Zone themes, next? The cream of the crop of the Megadrive-era Sonic OSTs, IMO!
31 minutes after release! I dunn made it!!! FINALLY!!!! Seeing Jesse discover Sonic music is just nice!
If you read this, first off I’m honored, and secondly I hope this clears up the confusion alongside many other great comments here.
You have the “classic” 2D Sonic games.
Sonic 1, CD, 2, 3, S&K and the latter 2 connect into one story called Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Then there’s a small handful of basically practice 3D Sonic games experimenting with gimmicks and genres. Nothing big or major. Like Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic R (racing game), Sonic Fighters….
Then you have the mainstream 3D titles emphasizing lore and storytelling with voice acting and such.
Sonic Adventure.
Sonic Adventure 2. (10th anniversary)
Sonic Heroes.
Shadow The Hedgehog.
Sonic Unleashed.
Sonic Colors…
Some hand held titles and side games for racing and unique gimmick stories like Black Knight and Secret Rings.
Sonic The Hedgehog aka Sonic 06 is a game that was a like a reboot as it portrays the Sonic world a bit more grounded and gritty. But it was a one time thing and went back to…. well the levels of silly and serious or cartoony fluctuates.
Sonic Generations (20th anniversary) features “Modern Sonic” and “Classic Sonic” both going through one returning level from each mainline Sonic game over the past 20 years and makes a lot of callbacks and Easter eggs and has a lot of remixed music
They think spend the rest of the 2010’s being more lighthearted and referencing retro environments, concepts and gimmicks.
In 2017 we get Sonic Mania, an official and new 2D game made by individuals who got popular online making fan games. It, like Generations, recalls a lot of pre-existing stages and features many remixes.
This “classic Sonic” ends up being transported somewhere else at the end of the game.
A few months later, Sonic Forces came out, a Modern 3D game where Classic Sonic suddenly appears. And it turns out that it’s the version of Sonic they met in Generations. They word it in a way that confused the fanbase for a while but it’s essentially now an alternate version of Modern Sonic’s past self thanks to the story in Generations.
And since Forces, we got Sonic Frontiers.
But October 2024 we are getting a re-release of Sonic Generations with a whole new campaign called Shadow Generations. The game as a whole is now called Sonic x Shadow Generations.
Shadow’s storyline through time will feature even more reused stages and remixes. lol
If you want another lava filled area theme from Sonic, should give Sonic 3d blast a listen! Volcano valley is a hit! Mostly the Sega genesis version.
There's this rumor, almost proven true (not completely, because of the obvious impossibility), that Michael Jackson Himself was in charge of the soundtrack of Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and its "& Knuckles" counterpart.
In my humble opinion, SHK3 has the absolute best soundtrack of all the series.
Btw, within this soundtrack, you can clearly listen to many references of the late artist's historical pieces.
The Sega Genesis and Mania Sonic Soundtracks are my favorite OSTs alongside Pokemon music.
I know this is a bit out of topic, but I really like the background song that is played between each reaction. Does anybody know the name of it? Also really like your videos your reactions are amazing!
Quartz Quadrants present from sonic cd please🙏🏼
Oh yeah, since he never played sonicmania or sonic and knuckles, he can experience flying battery for the first time.
Please people that give him money, make him listen to it
I kept hearing Conga by Gloria Estefan during the first one.
Bury me in lava reef
In my opinion Lava reef act 2 theme is to me the hidden palace theme
sonic generations was all revisted stages along with sonic mania minus 4 new stages
9:58 The reason Sonic 3 was split into two games is that the first half needed to be out in time for a McDonald's promotion.
Is this for the fire themes video? You mentioned in previous reactions? If so then please also listen to the Teostra Theme from monster hunter, it is way to fitting for fire themed music.
couldn't understand a word you were saying during the songs cause the music was loud af (understandable tho) but good video
Sonic 3 was too big for the Carthage so it got split. And a McDonald’s toy promo the make.
3 minutes ago is wild not gonna lie lol
Sonic 3 ended up rushed to the deadline and they had to cut, basically, half of the game.
Later, Sonic Team made Sonic and Knuckles as a spin-off game with all the cut content from Sonic 3 but.. they made it so that the cartridge could be attached with the Sonic 3 one to get the full game that was originally planned.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles had a lot of uncredited composers for the various songs but for Sonic 3 it is highly speculated with some very strong clues that prove that MJ and his sound team were involved.
For Sonic and Knuckles, all involvement with MJ was removed.
One of the confirmed composers who worked for both games is Jun Senoue who also works with Crush 40.