Sonic & Knuckles (Sega Genesis, 1994)

just like the rest of the reviews say, it adds a 'whole new game'. It is the second half of Sonic The Hedgehog 3. The whole gme was intended to be on one cartridge. Locking on Sonic The Hedgehog with Sonic & Knuckles enables you to play in 500 levels of the 3D special stage, you can choose between Sonic or Knuckles. Locking on Sonic The Hedgehog 2 will bring you Sonic The Hedgehog 2, only you get to play as Knuckles. Everything else is the same in the game, only some of the cheat codes are changed and you can't play in 2-player split screen mode. Difficulty is harder in the game due to Knuckles not being able to jump as high as Sonic & Tails can. Locking on Sonic The Hedgehog 3 brings you the complete, true storyline that the game is all about, yet the rest is up to you to see the proper good ending. In Sonic 3 locked onto Sonic & Knuckles (Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, or S3&K for short) gives you the ability to experience more levels, full gameplay, and extra goodies. All Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles levels are joined together, where launch base zone (last level of Sonic 3 which is zone 6) crosses over to Mushroom Hill zone (first level of Sonic & Knuckles which is in this case, zone 7). As usual, the chaos emeralds play a part in the game, but in S3&K, there are also Super Emeralds to collect, giving Sonic & Knuckles the ability to transform into a level of power greater than that of their super form from just the chaos emeralds, they get to experience 'Hyper form' or better known as Hyper Sonic & Hyper Knuckles. However, Tails cannot utulize the power of the chaos emeralds, and can only turn into Super Tails by aquiring all sets of the 7 Chaos and 7 Super Emeralds. Sonic's power in Hyper form gives him invincibility and the ability to double jump. At the instance of when Sonic starts his second jump, the whole screen will flash white for a split second, and will destroy all of the enemies in the screen. Knuckles power in Hyper form gives him invincibility and the ability to shake the walls and kill all of the enemies in the screen. To do this, just simply glide into a wall, but you need to start at a distance or have a bit of speed when gliding into the wall. Tails's power in Super form gives him invincibility and the ability to fly faster and have flickies (or just simply yellow flashing bird friends) following him and they peck the enemies to death (just one hit). The other feature that S3&K gives you is of course the ability to save just like in Sonic 3, but also adds 2 additional save slots, and the ability to save your continues as well as your lives. 2 player competition is the same as in Sonic 3 not being locked onto Sonic & Knuckles with all 3 characters available. This game (S3&K) lets you play as Sonic & Tails, Sonic alone, Tails alone, and Knuckles alone.

In order to go to doomsday zone (zone 14) you will need either the 7 Chaos Emeralds. Super Emeralds are optional for this stage, but is better if you want the fully fleged, good proper ending.

One of the best games for the Sega Genesis with hours of play alone. The cartridge has a lock-on capability allowing you connect another Sonic for the Genesis to it. Compability with Sonic the Hedgehog is limited, as it initially allows no gameplay, but with a simple code you could find without trouble online, you are suddenly playing a game referred to as "Blue Sphere". This "Blue Sphere" game is actually the emerald challenge special stage from Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and is quite fun. Blue Sphere offers literally hundreds of levels and is definitely a challenge for any gamer. Now, when connected to Sonic 2, it does not change the game per say. However, it does allow you to play the entire game as Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles can glide and latch to walls and climb them once latched. This allows him to get to areas with ease that Sonic would never be able to reach. Finally, when you mix Sonic & Knuckles to Sonic 3, a whole world of possibilities comes to life. This is probably the most common connection for Sonic & Knuckles because as well as allowing you to play as Knuckles in the Sonic 3 world/levels, it also lets you continue gameplay into the Sonic & Knuckles universe once you have completed all levels of Sonic 3. So, you could potentially use Tails in the Sonic & Knuckles levels, which without Sonic 3, is impossible. Overall, this game is probably rated as one of the top 10 by anyone to ever play a Sega Genesis and easily makes my Top 5. Wonderful game with multiple capabilities. Don't ever hesitate to purchase this game as it is one of the best and will keep you occupied for hours with it's complexity and variety.

This game was one of the most innovating gaming technologies introduced during the cartridge era of video games. In a way, it is similar to the expansion packs that have become very popular in PC gaming. To my knowledge, the "lock-on" technology was never duplicated outside of cheat cartridges.

There are four different "modes" that this cartridge can take:

1) Standalone. Play as Sonic or Knuckles through several well-designed and beautiful levels.

2) Lock on to Sonic 3. Integrates the Sonic and Knuckles levels into your Sonic 3 game, and allows you to play as Knuckles! When used in such a fashion, you can take advantage of save games and it also allows you to play as Tails in the Sonic and Knuckles levels. Very cool!

3) Lock on to Sonic 2. Re-experience the levels of Sonic 2 with Knuckles. Knuckles' abilities make this a very new experience.

4) Lock on to any game (other than Sonic 2 or Sonic 3), and press A+B+C. You can play the blue sphere collection minigame, with boards based on the cartridge you put in.

All of these features are guaranteed to please any Sonic the Hedgehog fan.

By itself, this may be the best in the Sonic series for graphics for the Genesis / Mega Drive systems. Gameplay feels a little slower than Sonic The Hedgehog or Sonic The Hedgehog 2 or Sonic The Hedgehog 3 but it is still the same side-scrolling action you would expect from the Sonic series.

The lock on feature will allow you to connect your Sonic The Hedgehog 2 or Sonic The Hedgehog 3 game cartridge on top of this cartridge to give you a combined new game. In this way, it's like being able to play 3 different games.

Many people refer to this as simply a lock-on cartridge for the Genesis but it is a full and fun game by itself but also adds expandability through the lock-on port.

Is it a "MUST HAVE" item?
As a collector, YES, it should be in anyone's Sega Genesis collection.

As a Sonic fan, YES, it is a very good Sonic game by itself. Additional Sonic games can be accessed by joining this game with Sonic 2 or with Sonic 3.

As a 16-bit gamer with no extra love for Sonic or Sega or the Genesis system in particular, then NO, you have likely already played a Sonic game or platformer and you won't need to pick this up but you should still check it out by renting or borrowing. It is a great game, a very good Sonic game and a unique item for the Sega Genesis in that it is both hardware and software.

play as sonic & knuckles by itself or lock-on with other sonic games. this games revolutionary lock-on technology adds all new features to your other sonic games for ultimate replays! play with sonic and let loose on robotnik with amazing new powers. play as knuckles and tackle robotnik and metal-sonic with bare-fisted attacks, high-speed glides and wall-climbing power. you can lock-on with your sonic 3 game and transform Floating I sland into a huge 34 meg Sonic-epic loaded with new secrets! play as sonic, knuckles, and even tails- with game save! You can lock-on to your sonic the hedgehog 2 game and play as knuckles with all of his signature moves.