What even is "Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic The Hedgehog 2 + Sonic The Hedgehog 3"?

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Arctic Circle System
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What even is "Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic The Hedgehog 2 + Sonic The Hedgehog 3"?

Post by Arctic Circle System »

What is "Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic The Hedgehog 2 + Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (World) (Virtual Console).md "? We've seen this ROM around, including from before omonim2007's dumps of it, so it seems to be real, but where did it come from? How would one access it? When running it in an emulator, it's just Sonic 3 & Knuckles with no Sonic 2 in sight. So how does this work? ~Charlie
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dreimer
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Re: What even is "Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic The Hedgehog 2 + Sonic The Hedgehog 3"?

Post by dreimer »

Sonic and Knuckles has a slot to plug another game into. And if specific games are used, you get another output ROM. Or just copied from Wikipedia:

Sonic & Knuckles features "lock-on technology" that allows players to open the hatch on the cartridge and insert a second cartridge. When Sonic 3 is inserted, the player can play through both games as one, Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This features several changes to the games,[3] such as slightly altered level layouts,[9] the ability to play through Sonic 3 levels as Knuckles[3] or Sonic & Knuckles levels as Tails, and the ability to save progress in Sonic & Knuckles levels.[4] Additionally, combining the cartridges is the only way to collect "Super Emeralds", earned by accessing Special Stages in the Sonic & Knuckles levels after collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds from Sonic 3. When all Super Emeralds have been collected, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails can transform into Hyper Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, and Super Tails respectively, each with unique abilities.[10]

Inserting Sonic 2 unlocks Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, wherein the player can play Sonic 2 using Knuckles' abilities.[3]

If the player attaches any other Genesis game released prior to Sonic & Knuckles, a screen with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Robotnik stating "No Way!" is displayed.[11] From here, the player can also access a minigame based on Sonic 3's and Sonic & Knuckles's Chaos Emerald Special Stages.[12] The attached cartridge determines the Special Stage layout. If the player attaches the original Sonic the Hedgehog,[12] they are able to access all of the possible variations of the special stages, each with a unique level number and corresponding password. This game is named Blue Sphere in Sonic Mega Collection.[10]
KingMike
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Re: What even is "Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic The Hedgehog 2 + Sonic The Hedgehog 3"?

Post by KingMike »

From what I read, Sonic & Knuckles contains an update patch ROM for Sonic 2 to enable the special mode (when Sonic 2 is inserted).
Sonic 3 was designed with S&K in mind, so it didn't need an update.

I can only guess that somehow the Wii VC release needed all three games combined to operate (and it would only allow the user to play the full game if they had paid for all three individual games).
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Arctic Circle System
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Re: What even is "Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic The Hedgehog 2 + Sonic The Hedgehog 3"?

Post by Arctic Circle System »

dreimer wrote: 29 Jun 2021 17:25 Sonic and Knuckles has a slot to plug another game into. And if specific games are used, you get another output ROM. Or just copied from Wikipedia:

Sonic & Knuckles features "lock-on technology" that allows players to open the hatch on the cartridge and insert a second cartridge. When Sonic 3 is inserted, the player can play through both games as one, Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This features several changes to the games,[3] such as slightly altered level layouts,[9] the ability to play through Sonic 3 levels as Knuckles[3] or Sonic & Knuckles levels as Tails, and the ability to save progress in Sonic & Knuckles levels.[4] Additionally, combining the cartridges is the only way to collect "Super Emeralds", earned by accessing Special Stages in the Sonic & Knuckles levels after collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds from Sonic 3. When all Super Emeralds have been collected, Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails can transform into Hyper Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, and Super Tails respectively, each with unique abilities.[10]

Inserting Sonic 2 unlocks Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, wherein the player can play Sonic 2 using Knuckles' abilities.[3]

If the player attaches any other Genesis game released prior to Sonic & Knuckles, a screen with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Robotnik stating "No Way!" is displayed.[11] From here, the player can also access a minigame based on Sonic 3's and Sonic & Knuckles's Chaos Emerald Special Stages.[12] The attached cartridge determines the Special Stage layout. If the player attaches the original Sonic the Hedgehog,[12] they are able to access all of the possible variations of the special stages, each with a unique level number and corresponding password. This game is named Blue Sphere in Sonic Mega Collection.[10]
We know about lock-on technology, I just have no idea why there are three ROMs combined here. ~Charlie
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