Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Part 1: Angel Island Zone (Sonic & Tails)

This is both somewhat repetitive and overkill for me to do, but I'm making of playthrough of Sonic 3 by itself & without the support of its other half: Sonic & Knuckles.

Consider this a bit of a filler playthrough, as I've already made 3 major playthroughs of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, as well as Sonic 2 & Sonic 1 before it and Sonic CD after it.
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Sonic & Knuckles is the dominant half of the combined Sonic 3 & Knuckles. When both halves are split apart, Sonic 3 ends up coming out with more differences in its content.

Some of the things that Sonic 3 has that Sonic 3 & Knuckles lacks is different music: Knuckles' theme, the Act 1 boss theme, the Invincibility/Super Sonic theme, the 1-UP theme, and the title screen theme are all effected by this.

They're all different from Sonic & Knuckles' versions, and when playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the S&K versions are used while the S3 versions are removed.

However, Sonic & Knuckles gave Sonic 3 better support in the Data Select screen. On its own, Sonic 3 data only saves the character(s) you're using, how many Chaos Emeralds you have, and which zone you're currently in.

No lives nor continues are saved in Sonic 3. The data boxes are also smaller, and there are only 6 of them instead of S3&K's 8. Finally, Knuckles isn't playable except in Competition Mode, where he doesn't have the gliding & climbing abilities that he can use when you play as him in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
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The game itself may have some tweaked physics here and there, and different placements for objects, enemies and obstacles. Some are more obvious than others, and I'm tempted to cover some of them in a video that compares Sonic 3 to Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

- One tweaked physic is such that was also used in Sonic 2: If you hit an item TV from below, it will pop up and plummet to the ground. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it just breaks open as usual even if you hit the bottom of it. Because of this, it's notably easier to break any of these boxes open in Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic & Knuckles by itself than it is in Sonic 3 by itself, as in reality, S&K and S3&K lets you break these boxes open from any angle, while Sonic 3 makes you only fall right on them.

- The music doesn't fade away right when Sonic does his victory pose at the end of an Act, which was the case in Sonic 1 & 2. There's also no music at all after he finishes posing in each zone's Act 2.

- The Gumball Machine is the only Bonus Stage in this game. You must have 50+ rings to access it. I can already tell that it's the least favorite of the 3. Getting Rings here isn't easy, and their bubbles only give 10 each at that. It is good if you're looking for shields, though, but the annoying thing here is that every time you enter this Bonus Stage with a shield, it disappears when it starts! Sonic 3 & Knuckles lets you keep it at all times.

In a way, just call Sonic & Knuckles a patch to Sonic 3 that changes these things. Something that is also kept in the combined Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
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Of course, above everything else, this game really is only half of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, as you only get to play through the first 6 zones of that game. The remaining 6-8 zones are reserved for the standalone Sonic & Knuckles. When combined, there's a grand total of 14 different zones. It's more than what Sonic 2 had, excluding its scrapped zones.

Sonic 3 on its own is actually a bit shorter than Sonic 1!

Sonic 1: 6 Zones X 3 Acts Each + Final Zone = 19 Different Levels

Sonic 3: 6 Zones X 2 Acts Each = 12 Different Levels

It's probably made up for by having each Sonic 3 level be greater and larger in depth, ESPECIALLY in Marble Garden & Carnival Night. Regardless, it's mainly due to this smaller number of stages of the reason why some fans don't like Sonic 3 compared to Sonic 2.

THANKFULLY, that got fixed a few months later after Sonic 3 first came out.
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In this video, getting through Angel Island is pretty straightforward, though I used different routes from the ones in my Sonic & Tails playthrough of Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Watch that version and take a gander at everything similar and different I do between them. Everything else I would say about this video, especially Angel Island itself & the game's story, you can see below.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles Version:
   • Sonic 3 & Knuckles Part 1: Angel Isla...