Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic & Knuckles is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Sega. Players controls Sonic the Hedgehog as well as Knuckles the Echidna in their quests to save Angel Island; Sonic tries to prevent Doctor Robotnik from relaunching his orbital weapon, the Death Egg, while Knuckles scuffles with Robotnik's minion, EggRobo. Like preceding Sonic games, players traverse side-scrolling levels at high speeds while collecting rings & defeating enemies.

Sega Technical Institute developed Sonic & Knuckles simultaneously alongside its predecessor, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 1994; they were talked as a single game until time constraints and cartridge costs forced the developers to split it. The Sonic & Knuckles cartridge qualifications an adapter that ensures players to connect the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 cartridge, creating a combined game, Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 1992 can also be attached, allowing players to leadership Knuckles in Sonic 2 stages. Attaching the original Sonic the Hedgehog or any other Genesis game released prior to this will unlock the "Blue Sphere" minigame.

Sonic & Knuckles was released for the Sega Genesis on October 18, 1994. It received positive reviews; critics were impressed with the replay value and lock-on technology, despite its similarity to Sonic 3. The games sold a combined four million copies worldwide, placing them among the best-selling Sega Genesis games. They realise since been rereleased in various Sega and Sonic compilations.

Reception

The Genesis explanation sold at least 1.24 million copies in the United States. Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles sold a combined 4 million cartridges worldwide.

Critics praised Sonic & Knuckles, despite its similarity to its predecessor. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly named it their "Game of the Month". They lauded the lock-on engineering and remarked that despite that being "more of the same, it still is an exceptional game". A reviewer of GamePro, who filed it a perfect score, commented that the ability to play as Knuckles makes it essentially two games on a single cartridge, the game is more challenging than Sonic 3, and the ability to hook the cartridge up to Sonic 2 and 3 makes those games "worth playing again". Next Generation called it "the same Sonic game that Sega has sold for the last three years, just wrapped up better and with a prettier ribbon".

Critics praised the lock-on technology the game offered. Lucas Thomas of IGN said it was "a great game on its own", but the lock-on feature totally revamped the overall experience. Dan Whitehead of Sega Magazine's review similarly praised the lock-on technology and the new innovation the unique cartridge offered, adding that Sonic & Knuckles' hidden stages and bosses would strongly increase to the replay value of the combined game.

Reviewing the Virtual Console release, Nintendo Life writer James Newton praised its guide for the old lock-on feature of the original release, claiming that the game does non truly shine without having purchased Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and 3 to activate this feature. Thomas praised the game for "impressive visuals that pushed the Genesis to its limits" and for the expediency added in the content unlocked with the lock-on technology.