Prerelease:Sonic the Hedgehog 3
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
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Unlike other Sonic games, Sonic 3 was barely given any promotion likely due to the mess that was happening with its development; it's to the point that people have questioned whether builds were given out to magazines, though the November 3rd prototype confirms at least one build was sent out.
Many of the stage concept art was reused from Sonic 2's development, with Metropolis Zone's hilariously being changed to "interior of a blimp" (most likely referencing Flying Battery).
Contents
Development Timeline
- Late 1992 - Early 1993: The Sega Technical Institute division that developed Sonic 2 is split into two teams: one comprising the American developers, and the other comprising the Japanese developers. It is the Japanese developers who develop Sonic 3.
- 1993:
- January: Development begins with the working title Sonic 3D. The game is intended to use the Sega Virtua Processor (SVP) chip to allow for 3D graphics. The game is given a deadline of February 1994, to coincide with a McDonald's Happy Meal promotion.
- June: it becomes clear that the SVP chip will not be finished in time for February 1994, so development comes to a halt. Since the game must be released by February 1994 no matter what, the decision is made to restart Sonic 3 as a more conventional side-scroller built off of the Sonic 2 engine.
- September - October: The developers realize that the game's scope and size is too large to make it possible to complete it before the deadline. Not wanting to compromise their vision, the decision is made to split the game into two parts: Sonic 3 Part 1 and Sonic 3 Part 2.
- November:
- November 3: The Sonic 3 prototype is dated on this day, though the header indicates that its data is actually from the previous month.
- November 20: The first part is completed as Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
- December 10: The first issue of the UK Sega Magazine (cover-dated January 1994), containing the most extensive preview coverage of Sonic 3 prior to its release, is published. The screenshots published in the issue are later discovered to have originated from the November 3 prototype.
- 1994:
- February 2: Sonic 3 is released in North America. Development on the second half, to become Sonic & Knuckles, continues.
Production Cycle
Sonic 3D
Sonic 3 was originally developed under the working title Sonic 3D, and was planned to be a drastically different game compared to its predecessors. Unlike the side-scrolling Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, Sonic 3D was to be an isometric game using pre-rendered 3D graphics, while the special stages featured a polygonal Sonic in a figure eight-shaped stage. This was to be accomplished using Sega/Samsung's SSP1601 chip, the Sega Virtua Processor (SVP).
Development on this initial version of the game lasted until June 1993, when the developers were informed that the SVP wouldn't be available in time, which would result in a long delay. Even then, a delay was not possible because Sega had signed a promotional deal with McDonald's that mandated that Sonic 3 be out in February 1994. Due to this, the developers scrapped all their work and decided to build Sonic 3 off Sonic 2. In the end, the SVP would only be used for Virtua Racing, which it was initially developed for.
Not all the work on Sonic 3D went to waste; the character renders were re-used for the title screen of Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles and the "No Way!" screen; the in-game sprites of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were also designed to resemble these renders. The isometric concept also ended up getting used in Sonic 3D Blast in 1996.
Final Version
Due to the success of the previous two games, Yuji Naka was given more creative freedom and wanted Sonic to go through a large game, essentially doing what they wanted to do with Sonic 2. Early on, the developers had already planned all the stages for the final game, spanning 14 zones, however Sega had a cross-promotion with McDonald's that required the game out by February 1994.
Due to the short development time left, the developers decided to essentially split the game in two; the first seven zones would be polished and released as Sonic 3, so that the final seven zones could be worked on and released as a second part. Flying Battery Zone was planned to be the fifth zone, proceeding Carnival Night and preceding IceCap, however it was later moved to Sonic & Knuckles due to time constraints. During this, Sonic Spinball was created so that a new Sonic game could be released in time for Christmas 1993.
The Michael Jackson Conundrum
Arguably one of the most famous mysteries surrounding the development of Sonic 3 regards Michael Jackson's involvement with the composition of its soundtrack. Masato Nakamura, who composed the first two Sonic games, was highly successful and popular in Japan, and his asking price for Sonic 3 was significantly higher as a result. As such, Sega chose not to hire him to compose Sonic 3 's soundtrack and instead look elsewhere. It was then that Michael Jackson, who was at the height of his fame and was a Sonic fan, approached Sega and was hired to write tracks for Sonic 3.
However, Jackson left before the game was completed and is not credited in the final game. The extent of his contributions - or whether his contributions remain in the game at all - remains a source of debate. Over the years, developers who worked on the game have provided conflicting reasons for his departure. Sega Technical Institute head Roger Hector, who first revealed Jackson's involvement in 2005, has stated that Sega fired Jackson following the first accusations of child sexual abuse against him, which arose during the game's production. This stance was backed up by Naoto Ohshima in 2018. Additionally, Sega staff, including then-Sega of America president Tom Kalinske, have said that no contracts or agreements were signed.
In contrast, Brad Bruxer (one of Sonic 3's composers) stated that Jackson left because he was unsatisfied with how his music sounded on the Genesis. Doug Grigsby, Cirocco Jones, and Buxer have also stated that Jackson's contributions remained, and that he chose to go uncredited. This was corroborated by an anonymous source who spoke to GameTrailers in 2013, who stated that Jackson himself had chosen to go uncredited; the developer identified the music for Carnival Night Zone was one of the pieces that Jackson had contributed. Carnival Night's theme contains identical notes to Jackson's "Jam", and contains a sample that was later confirmed to have originated from "Jam".
The 1997 PC version of Sonic 3 titled Sonic & Knuckles Collection ended up replacing the themes for Carnival Night, IceCap, Launch Base, Knuckles, the Sonic 3 credits and the competition menu, which were all presumably composed by Michael Jackson or somebody from his team (namely, IceCap was based off Brad Bruxer's unreleased track "Just Hard Times"). It was originally believed that licensing issues or issues with the MIDI format (which is notoriously awful at handling voice clips) forced Sega to hastily compose the music, however the release of a prototype debunked that, instead revealing that the aforementioned tracks were the originals. Since that prototype is dated around October, this means that Jackson's music was likely implemented at the last minute.
Level Changes
Angel Island Zone
| November 3rd, 1993 Prototype | Late Prototype | Later Prototype | Final |
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The intro went through three variations after the November 3rd prototype; in the first version Sonic's sprite has been changed to the final but Knuckles' green socks were changed to yellow during cutscenes to avoid turning the HUD green (due to both using the same palette), the HUD appears during the intro and the camera is less centred than the final. The second version has the final palette, lack of HUD and is more centered on Sonic, but swapped the purple and blue Chaos Emeralds so they could be better seen in front of the waterfall.
IceCap Zone
At this point in development, Act 2 is still using Act 1's palette (as evidenced by the black water) and the HUD's numbers are still shaded.
Early Sprites
 | To do: Upload the images, the current tables are placeholders |
For some bizarre reason, certain sprites of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in the Game.com version of Sonic Jam are based on sprites from earlier builds of Sonic 3. This went unnoticed until 2020, after the release of the November 3, 1993 prototype. One set of sprites that differ from the final's (Tails' hanging sprites) are the same as they were in Sonic 3C 0408, and the early whistling sprite.
| Sonic Jam | Restored | Sonic 3 |
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The second of Knuckles' three skidding frames is drawn like his November 3rd design. Which becomes even more odd when you consider the other two are from the final version, this proves in really early development Knuckles was gonna be a playable character than an obstacle.
| Sonic Jam | Restored | Sonic 3 |
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An early laughing animation. The Sonic Triple Trouble version of Knuckles' laughing animation appears to be based on this one. It is completely different of what we had in the final. He doesn't chuckle, this was redrawn for the final.
| Sonic Jam | Restored | Sonic 3 |
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Knuckles' pushing animation is more static, which matches up with Sonic and Tails'. While frames two and four are the same, one and three were redrawn to add more motion.
| Sonic Jam | Restored | Sonic 3 |
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Sonic's arms in his "hurt" frame are more straight. This lines up with the competition sprites, indicating that this is sourced from an early build of the game.
