Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)

Sonic 3D Blast
Also known as: Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (EU/AU) Developers: Traveller's Tales, Sonic Team Publishers: Sega (US/EU/AU), Tec Toy (BR) Platform: Genesis Released in JP: December 19, 2002 (Sonic Mega Collection) Released in US: November 7, 1996 Released in EU: November 14, 1996 Released in AU: 1996 Released in BR: December 1996 This game has unused areas. This game has hidden developer credits. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused music. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has a development article This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article This game has a bugs page

Sonic 3D Blast is Sonic, but in isometric 3-D! Analog control not included.

Released as a stopgap during a rather tumultuous time in Sega's history, 3D Blast is a combination of the Sonic formula and Flicky's gameplay. The game would later be ported to the Saturn and Microsoft Windows, where it originally received mixed reviews due to the two game concepts clashing with each other.

In December 2017, Jon Burton (the game's lead programmer) created a "Director's Cut" patch to improve on many of the flaws present in 3D Blast, leading to a critical re-evaluation of the game.

To do: Document unused leftover sound effects from previous Sonic games.

Sub-Pages

Development Info

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Bugs

Level Select

Press B, A, Right, A, C, Up, Down, A (BARACUDA, seemingly a misspelling of "barracuda") at the title screen. You'll hear a twinkly sound and be taken to the main menu. Set your desired options, choose "START", and you'll be presented with the Level Select.

(This is probably much better for the long-term health of your console and cart than the next method.)

Cleverly-Disguised Crash Handler

A somewhat unique exception handler where, unlike (for example) the Sonic 1 crash-and-print-text-on-the-screen, the game congratulates you and loads up the Level Select. Obviously, this method of crashing is much more appealing to the player than a complete lockup, and may have prevented a number of angry tech support calls. This was done to pass quality assurance from Sega and to prevent the game from printing an exception handler, as any exceptions the game threw up would simply redirect the player to this screen.

There are numerous methods for activating this screen: loading a bad savestate from an emulator, using a bad Game Genie or Pro Action Replay code, pulling the cart out and putting it back in, having dirty contacts on the cart/console, hitting an obscure program bug, etc.

Jon Burton, the game's lead programmer (who has made a number of videos detailing 3D Blast and other Traveller's Tales games), explained in a YouTube video that this was done to bypass Sega's rule against releasing games that were prone to crashing. Since crashing this particular game instead brings up the level select screen, it disguises the fact that anything went wrong.

(Source: GameHut)

Unused Music

Gumball Machine

The Gumball Machine Bonus Stage track from Sonic the Hedgehog 3. It is not possible to play in-game, as it is not referenced by the sound driver. Located at 0xCAE1C.

Full Invincibility

While only partially unused, the invincibility theme only plays for about 18 seconds in-game, but there's a bit more to it that can only be heard in the Sound Test. This can also be heard if the player pauses at the same frame the music begins.

Unused Areas

To do: There needs to be map rips with the unused areas highlighted instead of the in-game screenshots.

Green Grove Zone Act 1

After passing the first loop of Act 1, there is a large empty area blocked off by a wall. In the E3 prototype, this area is properly accessible; apparently, only the collision was removed. Lower down, there is another area that does not appear in the E3 prototype.

Diamond Dust Zone Act 2

An alternate route exists blocked off towards the beginning of the Act, just after the first spring.

Spring Stadium Zone Act 2

There's a blank collision area set at a very low level near the coiled tube.

Sound Driver Credit

Present at 0xD2E82.

Sound Driver for Sonic Series
Coded by Y.Kashima & M.Sets.
Sun Sep  1 1996 17:02

Music Credits

For some reason, Sonic 3D Blast contains bits of plain text right before most song headers, which contain detailed credits. Listed in the order found inside the ROM:

ID	Track	Text	Composer	Arrangement	Location
01	Green Grove 1	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xC0000
02	Green Grove 2	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xC116B
03	Rusty Ruin 1	Song by T.Maeda Arrange by T.Maeda	Tatsuyuki Maeda		0xC287C
04	Rusty Ruin 2	Song by T.Maeda Arrange by T.Maeda	Tatsuyuki Maeda		0xC39C3
05	Volcano Valley 2	Song by T.Maeda Arrange by T.Maeda	Tatsuyuki Maeda		0xC4771
06	Volcano Valley 1	Song by T.Maeda Arrange by T.Maeda	Tatsuyuki Maeda		0xC5026
07	Spring Stadium 1	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xC5715
08	Spring Stadium 2	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xC634E
09	Diamond Dust 1	Song by T.Maeda Arrange by T.Maeda	Tatsuyuki Maeda		0xC706D
0A	Diamond Dust 2	Song by T.Maeda Arrange by T.Maeda	Tatsuyuki Maeda		0xC8000
0B	Gene Gadget 1	Song by T.Maeda Arrange by T.Maeda	Tatsuyuki Maeda		0xC8BBA
0C	Gene Gadget 2	Song by T.Maeda Arrange by T.Maeda	Tatsuyuki Maeda		0xC9699
0D	Panic Puppet 2	Song by T.Maeda Arrange by T.Maeda	Tatsuyuki Maeda		0xCA084

ID	Track	Text	Composer	Arrangement	Location
0E	The Final Fight	Song by M.Sets. Arrange by M.Sets.	Masaru Setsumaru		0xCA8BC
??	Gumball Machine	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xCADF8
10	Special Stage	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xCBB31
11	Panic Puppet 1	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xCC66B
12	Boss Theme 2	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by M.Sets.	Jun Senoue	Masaru Setsumaru	0xCCFEE
13	Boss Theme 1	Song by T.Maeda Arrange by T.Maeda	Tatsuyuki Maeda		0xCD5fC
14	Intro	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xCDD74
15	Credits	Song by S.Okamoto Arrange by J.Seno.	Seirou Okamoto	Jun Senoue	0xCE1B2
16	Game Over	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xD0000
19	Extra Life	Song by H.Drossin. Arrange by M.Sets.	Howard Drossin	Masaru Setsumaru	0xD0AEE
1A	Chaos Emerald	Song by Y.Makino Arrange by Y.Makino	Yukifumi Makino		0xD0C3F
1B	Invincibility	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xD0D32
1C	Main Menu	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by J.Seno.	Jun Senoue		0xD1103
0F	Ending	Song by J.Seno. Arrange by M.Sets.	Jun Senoue	Masaru Setsumaru	0xD168F