October
25, 2004
First
comes invention, then refinement, and then finally perfection.
Sonic
3 & Knuckles represents Sega at its absolute peak, at a
time when they defined cool. Sonic was largely responsible for that,
wrestling half the videogame market away from Nintendo and spawning
an unending stream of mascot games. And like any rock star, the
time came for the big, epic statement; that definitive work that
captures all the themes and summarizes its era, its Sgt. Pepper.
Perhaps
it is unusual that I define Sonic in rock ‘n roll
terms, but there’s no denying the pop appeal the character
generated. Also, the first four Sonic titles – 1991’s
Sonic the Hedgehog, 1992’s
Sonic the Hedgehog 2, 1993’s
Sonic CD, and 1994's Sonic
3 & Knuckles – remind me of The Ramones’ first
four albums, which for all intents and purposes defined punk rock.
These four titles redefined games with its speed, invention, and
sense of attitude.
The
first Sonic the Hedgehog started at full bore but spend
most of its time stuck in mid-tempo. Sonic 2 focused on
the speed, but the worlds were still not large enough; it was all
over too fast. Naka and his team were still working to find that
ideal balance between barreling speed and intricate level design.
In S3K, they finally found that perfect balance, without
sacrificing either element. If anything, this Sonic seems
even faster, if that were possible.
The
enormous size of the game worlds allow for some truly amazing speed
runs, torpedoing through loops, twists, turns. There are eruptions
of water, deep, pummeling vertical drops, snowboarding down mountains,
elevator cars run amok, runaway spinning tops. One of my favorite
moments are the “racetrack timers” in the Death Egg
Zone, which grab Sonic and hurl him in chaotic loops through open
space. It’s completely gratuitous, of course, but a terrific
rush (and clearly predicts NiGHTS).
This
is the one videogame that I think captures the essence of a speed
junkie’s highs and lows. When you’re high, you’re
flying so fast so can’t catch breath. But when it’s
time to slow down, the panic sets in. S3K features numerous
moments of moving walls and collapsing ceilings, crumbling backdrops
and closing walls. And the timer, almost completely useless in the
first two Sonic games, looms over your head from start to finish;
those large worlds guarantee you’ll often run out of time
before reaching the exit or defeating the bosses. This tension is
one of the game’s calling cards.
Sonic
3 & Knuckles is blessed with some of the finest and intricate
level design, and this is the balance that truly makes the game
great. There’s the obvious Mario influence in the
way surprises and rooms are hidden away, but now they are plentiful
enough to actually justify all that wandering. You are amply rewarded
for your curiosity, with its secrets and multiple pathways, and
that’s what keeps you coming back again and again. I suppose
you could run through the various zones several times and still
not take the same exact path twice.
The
smartest move was to take the giant rings from the original Sonic,
and tuck them away for you to discover. These rings whisk you away
to the magnificent bonus rounds, which involve navigating through
a spherical maze of red and blue spheres. It ranks among the best
visual effects seen on the Genesis (or the Super Nintendo, for that),
and it’s the best of the whole series; they’re fun and
challenging enough to stand as a game of their own.
Yuji
Naka was the creative mind behind this game, and just like Sonic
1 and 2, it’s his baby to the core. The enormous
success of Sonic 2 gave him the leeway to start making
demands, and he brought over a number of people from Japan to America
for the third Sonic, including Takashi Yuda, the character
designer responsible for Knuckles. Oddly enough, Sega didn’t
have the rights to the signature theme, since the original songs
were written by a member of the Japanese pop group Dreams Come True,
so instead of paying hefty royalty fees, they had to compose new
music for this venture; thankfully, it’s as vibrant and catchy
as one could ask.
S3K
is videogaming’s great double album. I say that because it
is, in fact, two Genesis cartridges: Sonic the Hedgehog 3
and Sonic & Knuckles, each half released eight months
apart. When Sonic 3 was released in February of 1994, we
were thrilled, but a bit puzzled as to why it seemed cut short.
Then when Sonic & Knuckles appeared, that sense of
burnout began to set in. That cynicism set in, that sinking feeling
that we were merely being worked over for a few more bucks, just
as Capcom had pulled with Street Fighter 2.
I
remember being especially critical in my own fanzine at the time;
the 16-bit market had become saturated with beat-em-ups, fighters,
and mascot titles and we were, frankly, tired of it. Perhaps that
resulted in a throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater approach, which
meant that we never gave late-era Genesis classics (like Gunstar
Heroes, for instance) the attention they deserved.
It
was only much later that I truly recognized S3K’s
brilliance, understood how Sega’s politics influenced the
release of the game in two halves. This was not only Sega’s
peak, you see, but also the beginning of their downfall. Their corporate
senses just, bafflingly, drifted away, leaving the company to make
poor decision after poor decision, until they had to exit the console
hardware business entirely. The hubris had taken over.
So
we’re back to the rock star analogies again. It doesn’t
matter. In the end, we remember the artists’ achievements:
its zones that vary in tempo and style; its lush, beautiful environments
and visual effects; its challenging bosses, both large and small;
and that magnificent sense of speed, speed, speed. Sonic 3 &
Knuckles belongs on any short list of the greatest videogames. |
