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Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Sonic & Knuckles Leftovers

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This is a sub-page of Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Considering that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were worked on together, it's no surprise there are loads of leftover bits of data from the latter while it was still in development. However, there's still quite a bit in here.

Knuckles Leftovers

Some data for Knuckles as a playable character seems to still exist in the game. Game Genie codes ASCA-AAHC ASCA-BA9Y or Patch Code FFEF4C:0003 will allow you to "select" Knuckles as your character. You will play as Sonic, but have Knuckles' character select, continue icons, and "level-clearing" text. The end signpost will also feature Knuckles, though the image uses Sonic's blue palette, and the markers on the score screens that appear after a Special Stage use Knuckles' palette. As you might expect, this code will save properly, allowing you to apply the code, create a save, then continue to use "Knuckles" even without the Game Genie.

FFFA80:0101 makes a few bosses behave like Knuckles' versions: Fire Breath shoots missiles, Robotnik doesn't fly down when he creates the water spout in Hydrocity, the spiked cylinder is in the Tunnelbot battle, and the second boss in Launch Base Act 2 plays a broken version of Knuckles' bomb cutscene when you defeat it (the bomb that should fly out of the wreckage appears with glitched graphics). This suggests that Knuckles was not meant to fight Big Arms at this point in development and was meant to go straight to Mushroom Valley/Hill, or even that Big Arms wasn't originally intended to be in the game at all, a theory reinforced by the prototype. After this cutscene plays, nothing else happens. The game crashes some time after the cutscene for unknown reasons.

FFB038:0200 will add in Knuckles' ability to destroy barriers, allowing you to access any Knuckles-exclusive areas. This doesn't work in Ice Cap and will result in bounds of the map glitches (because it shared Tails' bounds). The code also disables the Insta-Shield ability as Knuckles does not have it normally.

So, does this mean we can play as Knuckles without Lock-On? Sonic?! What the devil are you doing here?!

Bugs and Oddities

  • The cutscene where Sonic arrives on Angel Island is glitched. The cutscene starts where Knuckles would normally start in the level. For some reason, the fire-bombing cutscene starts while the glitched intro is going on and Sonic can fall through the ground and die.
  • The Insta-Shield graphics disappear at times.
  • The cutscene at the beginning of Ice Cap Act 1 is the same as Tails'.
  • The pit at the beginning of Ice Cap Act 1 doesn't work correctly: the part where the bottom of the stage should connect to the top instead acts like a bottomless pit, causing you to lose a life.
  • In Launch Base Act 1, the cutscene where Knuckles throws a bomb works, but the building does not load. This is because when you play as Knuckles in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the building is already destroyed and the game simply does not load it.
  • The game softlocks after defeating the Launch Base Act 1 boss. Sonic can still be controlled, but nothing else will happen. This is because Knuckles was supposed to fight two of them.
  • If you use the last code mentioned above and break the rocks leading to Knuckles' boss arena, the water will lower (as it does for Knuckles), but the screenlock will not lower sometimes and prevent you from continuing.
  • Although there is no boss in the Knuckles area in Angel Island, there are three hidden end-of-Act monitors in place: one each of Thunder Shield, Aqua Shield, and 10 Rings. Obviously, since there is no mini-boss to defeat and no signpost to uncover them with, they are completely inaccessible. These monitors are present in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, with the same items.

Sonic3 Knuckles Boss AI Unused monitors.png

Sonic & Knuckles Zones

Hmmm...
To do:
  • Lava Reef has special rock code.

A few remnants of the Sonic & Knuckles Zones are still left in the game. Most of the data that once belonged to these levels either isn't present in Sonic 3 anymore or isn't currently accessible. None of these Zones have collision data intact, requiring the player to use Debug Mode to land on whatever collision the game recognizes as solid ground.

You can "access" these zones using the following Game Genie codes:

Zone Act 1 Code Act 2 Code Crash Fix
Mushroom Valley ABZA-ARFL AFZA-ARFN NKCA-LABC
Flying Battery ABZA-AJE8 AFZA-AJFA None; see below.
Sandopolis ABZA-ATFR AFZA-ATFT NKCA-LABE
Lava Reef ABZA-AWFW AFZA-AWFY NKCA-LABG
Sky Sanctuary ABZA-AYF0 AFZA-AYF2 NKCA-LABJ
Death Egg ABZA-A0F4 AFZA-A0F6 NKCA-LABL
The Doomsday ABZA-A2GG AFZA-A2GG NKCA-LABN
Glowing Spheres Bonus Stage ABZA-BJF8 AFZA-BJGA
Slot Machine Bonus Stage ABZA-BLF8 AFZA-BLGA
ID 0D ABZA-A4ER AFZA-A4ET NKCA-LABR
Lava Reef Act 3/Boss ABZA-BNEW
Hidden Palace AFZA-BNEY
Death Egg Final Boss ABZA-BRE0
Hidden Palace (Special Stage Ring) AFZA-BRE2

Each level can be played through the level select. Lava Reef, Sky Sanctuary, and Death Egg are accessible using the first, second, and third 2P VS options respectively while The Doomsday Zone uses the Sound Test option. The glowing spheres and slot machine bonus stages can be played by selecting "Bonus" on the level select. "ID 0D" can be accessed by selecting Angel Island Zone Act 1 and 2. Lava Reef Act 3 and Hidden Palace can be played by selecting Hydrocity Zone. Finally, the Death Egg final boss and Hidden Palace (Special Stage Ring) can be accessed through Marble Garden Acts 1 and 2.

Note that you need to access Flying Battery in a specific way. Currently, using only these codes will crash the game for this Zone, but it'll still play the correct music. Flying Battery can be fixed using codes W4ZT-LE0R 3CZT-LJ8W for Act 1 and W4ZT-LE1G 3CZT-LJ9L for Act 2. It will be corrupted with glitchy collision and Ice Cap tiles appearing all over the place. However, some graphic tiles will not be overwritten and will use whatever was last loaded there, which can make this Zone even glitchier. Other Sonic & Knuckles Zones such as the Death Egg final boss, Hidden Palace, Lava Reef Act 3/boss, and Hidden Palace (Special Stage Ring) can be accessed without the game crashing, although they are very glitched. The bonus stages will work, but only on a real console for some odd reason. Most of the Sonic & Knuckles Zones originally crashed due to reading a pointer table that did include entries for most of the Sonic & Knuckles Zones. However, the data the pointer table pointed to only went up to Launch Base, meaning garbage data was being read, causing the game to lock-up. When the "crash fix" codes are enabled, they overwrite PLC data for Angel Island which causes it to crash, but only as long as the codes are enabled.

It is possible to use Sonic 3C's savestates to access the remains of the Sonic 3 Zones and for the most part it works the same way as using the codes above.

Flying Battery Zone

I wonder where Tails went?

This Zone, perhaps, retains the most data out of all the Sonic & Knuckles Zones.

  • Uses Ice Cap's graphics and palette.
  • There are some rings near the beginning of each Act.
  • No objects appear here other than bosses.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, debug rings, a vertical spike, and various facing springs; it also contains the two Flying Battery Zone badniks.
  • Both the Act 1 and Act 2 bosses appear in this Zone. For some reason the Act 2 sub-boss does not appear here, even though it exists fully functional within the game.
  • You need debug mode in order to reach the bosses as there is no easy way to get to them.
  • Act transitions are broken: after you beat Act 1 it doesn't take you to Act 2 and likewise, it doesn't take you anywhere when you beat Act 2.
  • The title card correctly refers to this Zone as "Flying Battery".

Flying Battery would have been played between Carnival Night and Ice Cap, but when the game was split into two it was moved into Sonic & Knuckles to give it more levels. Still, the data select icon, music, and even bosses are intact in Sonic 3.

Mushroom Valley Zone

Sonic & Tails standing atop two monitors. One is a Super Ring, the other is a Water Shield.

Retains a little less data than Flying Battery, but still has some interesting leftovers.

  • The title card refers to this level as "Zone" followed by an Act 1 or 2 depending on which Act you're playing.
  • Uses Azure Lake graphics.
  • Both Acts use the correct music.
  • Both Acts seemingly use some kind of Azure Lake palette.
  • Contains an object layout consisting of path swappers, monitors, springs, and some deleted/broken objects.
  • The object layouts do not match any known layout of this Zone, though the closest match seems to be the Sonic 3C 0408 version.
  • Both Acts contain objects. There are also some rings scattered about.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs. It also contains diagonal springs, horizontal spikes, and moving versions of the springs and spikes.
  • You need debug mode to explore, otherwise you will just fall to your death. (Unless you can make it onto one of the monitors near the start of each Act.)
  • This zone cannot be completed; if an Egg Prison capsule is spawned in and is opened, the game will load data from an invalid Zone and crash.

Level ID 08 (Sandopolis Zone)

Yeah Tails, I agree, this place is rather bland.

Not much remains of this one. It's mostly a wasteland of broken data.

  • The title card refers to this level as "Zone" followed by an Act 1 or 2 depending on whichever you're playing.
  • There is a repeating pattern of rings in this zone.
  • Both Acts use the correct music.
  • Uses Angel Island's intro graphics.
  • Act 1 uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette. Act 2 uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • This Zone cannot be completed.

Lava Reef Zone

Where did all of the lava go?

A little bit less data than Mushroom Valley, but still a good bit more than Sandopolis.

  • The title card refers to this level as "Zone" followed by an Act 1 or 2 depending on whichever you're playing.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • Act 1 has some palette data; it contains the lava palette cycle and the palette cycle for the dark flashing rocks.
  • There are some rings strewn about the level.
  • The start position array (where you start in the level) is intact: you start from the top of the level and fall downwards, just like in Sonic & Knuckles.
  • Act 2 does not have any palette data.
  • Uses Azure Lake graphics, much like Mushroom Valley.
  • The background has some animation or scrolling, however it is just composed of glitched Azure Lake graphics.
  • Both Acts use the correct music.
  • Both Acts seemingly use some kind of Azure Lake palette.
  • This zone cannot be completed.
  • You can actually land on solid ground and continue quite a good bit compared to the other Sonic & Knuckles Zones.
Sonic 3
Sonic 3 Lava Reef Palette cycle 1.png
Sonic 3
Sonic 3 Lava Reef Palette cycle 2.png

Two palette cycles can be found at this zone. They resemble the ones found in Sonic & Knuckles with little difference. They can be found at offsets 002EFE and 002F7E.

Level ID 0A (Sky Sanctuary Zone)

I don't even see a sky...

There is some strange wacky palette that can get loaded here.

  • The title card refers to this level as "Zone", with no Act designation. This is because this Zone doesn't use Act numbers in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
  • There is a repeating pattern of rings in this zone.
  • Uses Angel Island's intro graphics.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • Act 1 uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette. Act 2 uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
  • Act 2 uses Death Egg Act 1's music for some odd reason. This could mean there was originally not going to be a second Act of Sky Sanctuary and instead Death Egg would have three Acts. The unused Sonic & Knuckles bonus stages also have music oddities.
  • This zone cannot be completed; if an Egg Prison capsule is spawned in and opened, the game will start playing the miniboss music and crash with a nonsensical palette.

Level ID 0B (Death Egg Zone)

Is that it?
Thanks for the lift!

This is the only other S&K level besides Flying Battery and Mushroom Valley to include an object layout. Otherwise, it is similar to Sandopolis with a different garbled layout.

  • The title card refers to this level as "Zone" followed by an Act 1 or 2 depending on whichever you're playing.
  • There is a repeating pattern of rings in this zone.
  • Uses Angel Island's intro graphics.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • Act 1 uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette. Act 2 uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
  • For some reason, both Acts use Death Egg Act 2's music. This might have something to do with Sky Sanctuary's music oddity (mentioned above).
  • This zone cannot be completed.
  • An object with an ID of $2, sub-type $89 can be found at coordinates X $550 and Y $0. It appears to be a path swapper/collision change object. It is the only object that remains in Death Egg Act 2, other than the default ring object. It is not present in the Sonic 3C 0408 prototype.

Level ID 0C (The Doomsday Zone)

Isn't this fight supposed to take place in space?

Not much to say about this one, just another Sandopolis basically.

  • The title card refers to this level as "Zone" without any "Act 1" or "Act 2". This is because this Zone didn't use Act numbers in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
  • There is a repeating pattern of rings in this zone.
  • Uses Angel Island Zone intro graphics.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, a vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • Act 1 uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette. Act 2 uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
  • Act 2 of this zone was never used in Sonic & Knuckles. (This act is not to be confused with the Doomsday Act 2 that is listed in the level selects of both Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.)
  • Both Acts use the correct music.
  • This zone cannot be completed.

Level ID 0D

Remember when YT had a little indifferent face when a video went down? TCRF remembers.
This page or section has one or more broken YouTube links.
Please find an archived version of the video(s) or a suitable replacement.
Sonic is spooked, maybe he knows something we don't?

Has some wacky palette problems like Sky Sanctuary.

  • The title card refers to this level as "Zone" followed by an Act 1 or 2 depending on whichever you're playing.
  • Uses Angel Island graphics.
  • This zone contains randomly placed rings.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • Act 1 uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette. Act 2 uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
  • Uses the Special Stage music.
  • This zone cannot be completed, nor can it even be started normally: Entering either Act causes the game to shove your character through to the left boundary of the stage. This now sets your position to illegal coordinates and begins corrupting the object load manager and other RAM addresses. The camera scrolls to the left, then seemingly freezes and the HUD vanishes for about 5 seconds. During this time the game enters demo mode and you can hear the sound of your character dying. Then, the game continues and the HUD reappears, but sets the camera to another position within the Zone and locks up completely, but not before hearing the sound of your character dying again. The Z80 sub-processor also fails and lets out a loud ringing sound. The reason for this is because during the RAM corruption the game enters demo mode (much like breaking too many S Monitors in Sonic 3 & Knuckles). This cannot be escaped with debug mode, but can be escaped by using Start + A or pressing Start at the correct time during this sequence.
Alright, yeah, he definitely knows something. I'm gonna bet that Blue Knuckles is responsible for this one.
  • Escaping the Zone by using Start + A results in the Level Select displaying a near-endless selection of real Zones with strange glitches, and many invalid levels.

Act 2 of this Zone would be used for the ending in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles; Act 1 was never used, as it was instead used as a dummy slot for loading in the stage palette instead of the intro cutscene palette when skipping the intro cutscene in Angel Island Zone act 1. Otherwise, this Zone is almost exactly the same as it was in the Sonic 3C 0408 prototype.

Level ID 14 (Glowing Spheres Bonus Stage)

You can make out where the spheres and bumpers would be.
  • The title card correctly refers to this zone as "Bonus Stage".
  • Some of the level layout is intact. It is nearly identical to the Sonic 3C 0408 layout.
  • There are a few rings, but they don't appear to go with the level layout at all.
  • The HUD uses glitched graphics, and only has "RINGS".
  • You can access this Zone using a real console or a Sonic 3C 0408 save state.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • This Zone curiously uses the Slot Machine Bonus Stage music.
  • You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels).
  • This bonus stage cannot be completed.
Sonic 3/Sonic 3C (0408 Prototype)
Sonic3 Glowing Spheres Palette.png

The palette data is intact, and the color arrangement is exactly the same as that used for this stage in Sonic 3C 0408. The color palettes have no color changes like Sonic & Knuckles.

Level ID 15 (Slot Machine Bonus Stage)

Sonic 3 Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic3 Slot Machine Palette.png Sonic&Knuckles Slot Machine Palette.png
  • Unused color palettes can be found at level ID 15, which is used by the Slot Machine Bonus Stage in Sonic & Knuckles. This arrangement is quite different from what is used in Sonic 3C (0408 Prototype) and Sonic & Knuckles, but it is still very similar.
The map is intact, unfortunately the blocks and tiles has been removed. It is possible to note that this Bonus Stage would be very different from the Sonic 3C 0408 version, its size is very small.
The map contains a very large background. Apparently incomplete and duplicate.
You can see parts of the dark blue background through the glitched foreground.
This Bonus Stage is present intact in the November 3, 1993 prototype. Although not unlike the Sonic & Knuckles version, its coloring and graphics are different.
  • The title card correctly refers to this zone as "Bonus Stage".
  • Uses the Gumball Bonus Stage music, like in the November 3, 1993 prototype.
  • There is one ring collectible and another non-collectible ring, but they don't appear to go with the level layout at all.
  • Palette data is intact (as seen above).
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels.)
  • The level layout looks simple, the map is intact, and the background is as well. However, the chunks, blocks, and tiles data has been removed. This map is very different from the Sonic 3C 0408 version.
  • The HUD uses glitched graphics, and only has "RINGS" unlike the November 3, 1993 prototype.
  • You can access this Zone using a real console or a Sonic 3C 0408 save state.
  • This bonus stage cannot be completed.

Level ID 16 Act 1 (Lava Reef Zone Boss/Act 3)

Looks like we got the same problem Sonic 2 has: almost every unused level uses graphics from the first Zone!

Looks to be nothing more than broken data. It doesn't even seem to use Lava Reef's data.

  • Has no title card.
  • Uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette.
  • Uses the Special Stage music just like ID 0D does.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • This act contains a constantly repeating ring. Some are collectible, while others are not.
  • The HUD only has "RINGS" listed. The lives number is also strangely missing.
  • You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels).
  • This act cannot be completed.

Level ID 16 Act 2 (Hidden Palace Zone)

You can see the Death Egg graphics.

This level has a strange trigger that loads Launch Base Death Egg graphics.

  • Has no title card.
  • Uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
  • Uses the Special Stage music just like ID 0D does.
  • Contains a constantly repeating ring, most likely as a placeholder. This ring is strange, however, as it appears even in levels with an ID of 18 and after it, which is odd considering those are not "true levels" but garbage data.
  • Uses Angel Island graphics until a certain point (see below).
  • There is some kind of level "event trigger" that causes Launch Base Act 2 Death Egg graphics to load about halfway through the Act. When this happens, it gets rid of most of the glitched collision and all of the garbled Angel Island graphics. Interestingly, the same thing happens in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, although it is done in a slightly different way.
  • The HUD only has "RINGS" listed. The lives number is also strangely missing.
  • You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels.)
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • This act cannot be completed.

Level ID 17 Act 1 (Death Egg Zone Act 3/Boss)

Even more green HUD/green rings!

Another seemingly empty level slot; it highly resembles Lava Reef Act 3.

  • Has no title card.
  • Uses Angel Island Act 1's intro graphics and intro palette.
  • Uses the Special Stage music just like ID 0D does.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels.)
  • The HUD only has "RINGS" listed. The lives number is also strangely missing.
  • This act cannot be completed.

Level ID 17 Act 2 (Hidden Palace Special Stage Ring)

Basically another Hidden Palace without an event trigger.

In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, this Act is the Hidden Palace you go to upon entering a giant Special Stage ring. Here, however, it resembles ID 16 Act 2 without any Death Egg graphics.

  • Has no title card.
  • Uses Angel Island Act 1's intro graphics and Angel Island Act 2's palette.
  • Uses the Special Stage music.
  • The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
  • You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels.)
  • The HUD only has "RINGS" listed. The lives number is also strangely missing.
  • This Act cannot be completed.
  • All level IDs after this point are just strange garbage data. No other Zones are known to exist.

Level Differences

Flying Battery Zone

Nov 3, 1993 Proto Sonic 3 Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic3 Nov3Proto Flying Battery.png Sonic3 Flying Battery.png SK Flying Battery.png

In Act 1, the mid-boss capsule is in a different position. In the Sonic 3C 0408 prototype, the boss is in the same position as Sonic 3.

Sonic 3 Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic3 Flying Battery2.png SK Flying Battery2.png

A ring layout identical to 3C 408′s in The Doomsday Zone, Death Egg Zone final boss, and the Glowing Spheres Bonus Stage exists in this zone, suggesting that either Flying Battery barely begun development before moving to Sonic & Knuckles, or it was removed from Sonic 3 in a manner similar to Hidden Palace Zone's removal in Sonic 2.

Nov 3, 1993 Proto Sonic 3 Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic3 Nov3Proto Flying Battery3.png Sonic3 Flying Battery3.png SK Flying Battery3.png

In Act 2, the location of the boss is very different.

Nov 3, 1993 Proto Sonic 3 Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic3 Nov3Proto Flying Battery4.png Sonic3 Flying Battery4.png SK Flying Battery4.png

The prison egg was also dragged a bit far in Sonic & Knuckles.

Mushroom Valley Object Data

Object data of a zone that is found after Launch Base's data can be found at these ranges:

Act 1: 0x0069A4A to 0x0069B4B
Act 2: 0x0069B4C to 0x0069C0B

The data mostly consists of path swappers, springs, and monitors, and a Madmole, which deletes itself once it's loaded, suggesting that this object's data is no longer present or accessible. Interestingly, this zone (ID 07) went through a good bit of layout changes from Sonic 3C 0408 to the final version of Sonic & Knuckles. It could be possible that this is an object layout from a very early version of Mushroom Hill Zone (referred to as Mushroom Valley in this game).

Object List

Act 1

Horizontal Vertical Object ID Variable Name
0080 0080 00 00 Ring
0080 86B0 01 01 Life
0478 2AF0 07 10 Red Spring to right
0700 86B0 01 06 Thunder Shield
09F8 2AF0 07 10 Red Spring to right
0AE0 88C0 93 00 Removed Madmole
0D08 0170 07 10 Red Spring to right
1180 01C0 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1208 0210 02 51 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1678 2830 07 10 Red Spring to right
1780 0440 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1808 0490 02 51 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
19F8 2AF0 07 10 Red Spring to right
1B00 07C0 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1B88 0810 02 51 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1DD0 0B80 07 02 Yellow Spring to up
1F51 48EB 07 20 Red Spring to down
2288 0170 07 02 Yellow Spring to up
23F8 25F0 07 10 Red Spring to right
2488 8930 01 04 Speed Shoes
24A8 8930 01 03 10 Rings
2580 0130 07 10 Red Spring to right
2608 04B0 07 10 Red Spring to right
2680 0040 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2708 0090 02 51 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2A70 8930 01 03 10 Rings
2A90 8930 01 07 Aqua Shield
2B78 26B0 07 10 Red Spring to right
2C00 0A40 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2C88 0A90 02 51 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2F08 00F0 07 10 Red Spring to right
3140 01F0 07 10 Red Spring to right
3180 0540 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
31E0 0140 02 55 Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
3200 0040 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
3208 0590 02 51 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
34E0 0140 02 55 Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
3500 0040 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
3660 08A0 02 55 Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
3680 07C0 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
36E0 0440 02 55 Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
3700 0340 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch

S3 MVZ1 Obj map.png

Act 2

Horizontal Vertical Object ID Variable Name
0080 0080 00 00 Ring
03C8 8350 01 01 Life
03E8 8350 01 03 10 Rings
0500 08C0 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
0590 0910 02 51 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
0708 07F0 07 10 Red Spring to right
0808 0170 07 10 Red Spring to right
0A60 01C0 02 55 Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
0A80 00C0 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1430 41AB 07 20 Red Spring to down
1690 8290 01 03 10 Rings
16A0 8290 01 03 10 Rings
1860 0740 02 55 Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
1880 0640 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1908 88F0 01 03 10 Rings
1930 0B88 07 03 Yellow Spring to up
1E88 01B0 07 10 Red Spring to right
2088 0670 07 10 Red Spring to right
2508 0170 07 10 Red Spring to right
2600 0740 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2690 0790 02 51 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2760 01C0 02 55 Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
2780 00C0 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2850 47E8 07 20 Red Spring to down
2E80 07C0 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2F10 0810 02 51 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
30B0 0578 07 00 Red Spring to up
30F0 0518 02 52 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
3100 03C0 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
3400 0840 02 D1 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
3490 0890 02 51 Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch

S3 MVZ2 Obj map.png

Unused Enemies

Hmmm...
To do:
Upload sprite rips.

Both of these Badniks are curiously listed among all the other Badniks in the US and European manuals for Sonic 3.

  • Technosqueek: This Badnik later shows up in Sonic & Knuckles. For some reason, if you place a sideways one in Debug Mode, it crashes the game.
  • Blaster: Apparently the same as in Sonic & Knuckles, but their projectiles can be destroyed with a spin attack, freeing an animal.

Unused Bosses

Hmmm...
To do:
Upload Marble Garden Act 2 Boss sprite rips.
  • Gapsule: The Flying Battery Act 1 boss. Nearly identical to the one in Sonic & Knuckles.

Sonic 3 Flying Battery Gapusle Boss Unused.png


  • Flying Battery Laser Boss: The first boss of Flying Battery Act 2. Nearly identical to the one in Sonic & Knuckles, except for missing sound effects.

Sonic 3 Flying Battery Unused Boss Control Panel.png Sonic 3 Flying Battery Laser Boss.gif Sonic 3 Flying Battery Laser Boss Beam.gif

This boss doesn't appear in the unfinished Flying Battery like in Sonic 3 Nov-3-1993 Prototype ; you can place it there with the following Action Replay codes:

05BFCC:0004 
05BFCE:D558 
05BFD0:0016 
05BFD2:37FE 
05BFD4:252E 


  • Hang Mobile: The second boss of Flying Battery Act 2. Almost the same as the one in Sonic & Knuckles, it is only slightly different (in terms of coding) and is missing sound effects.

Sonic 3 Flying Battery Unused Hang Mobile Boss.png


  • Knuckles' Marble Garden Act 2 Boss: This boss actually still exists in the game, but is not surprisingly unused. It acts nearly identical to the one in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, except that it's invincible.

Starting Points

In Sonic 3, multiple starting points found at offset 05E018 are left intact, which may suggest that many levels have already been cut with enough content. In comparison with Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the starting points for Flying Battery Act 2, Lava Reef Act 1, and the ending cutscenes have never been changed.

The other levels that have not been mentioned could have had different level designs from what we know. Hidden Palace, Lava Reef Act 2 Boss, the Final Boss of Death Egg, and the Glowing Spheres and Slot Machine Bonus Stages share the same starting points, which suggests that these levels were too incomplete or did not yet have custom starting locations.

Zones Sonic 3 Sonic 3C 0408 Prototype Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Flying Battery Zone 1 0060-06EC 0060-076C 0060-076C
Flying Battery Zone 2 0060-05EC 0060-05EC 0060-05EC
Mushrom Hill Zone 1 0080-06AA 00A8-0200 00D8-0500
Mushrom Hill Zone 2 0080-03AA 0150-07AC 0150-07AC
Sandopolis Zone 1 0230-01AC 00C0-0400 00C0-0400
Sandopolis Zone 2 0230-01AC 0140-03AC 0140-03AC
Lava Reef Zone 1 0100-0020 0100-0020 0100-0020
Lava Reef Zone 2 0100-0020 0990-076C 09E0-076C
Sky Sanctuary Zone 0060-06AC 0100-0C00 0100-0C00
Sky Sanctuary Zone Knuckles 0060-056C 0080-0020 0080-0020
Death Egg Zone 1 0060-06AC 0060-09AC 0030-09AC
Death Egg Zone 2 0060-05AC 0140-03AC 0140-03AC
Doomsday Zone 0060-02AC 0140-0020 0000-0100
Doomsday Zone (Unused) 0060-058C 0060-058C 0060-058C
Special Stage 0060-01EC 0060-01EC 0060-01EC
Special Stage (unused) 0060-012C 0060-012C 0060-012C
Bonus Stage Glowing Spheres 0060-0070 0060-0070 0140-0DC0
Bonus Stage Glowing Spheres (Unused) 0060-0070 0060-0070 0060-0070
Bonus Stage Slot Machine 0060-0070 0460-0350 0460-0350
Bonus Stage Slot Machine (Unused) 0060-0070 0060-0070 0060-0070
Lava Reef Zone (Boss) 0060-0070 0040-0070 0040-0070
Hidden Palace Zone 0060-0070 0060-0AEC 0030-0AEC
Death Egg Zone (Final Boss) 0060-0070 0060-0070 0060-0070
Altar of the Emeralds 0060-0070 1640-03AC 1640-03AC