Good things they say come in the three's, and with Sonic the Hedgehog, that is what happened. When Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were at a console war, Mario and Sonic were the rival's of the 90's. Mario had some stellar titles and Sonic was kicking it with Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Then Sonic the Hedgehog 3 came around and kept giving Sonic that extra boost to keep in the competition.

What: Dr. Robotnik is up to his old tricks again! After Sonic took out the Death Egg in Sonic 2, Robotnik is frantically working to get his evil invention back into the sky. Team up with Tails and defeat the evil doctor once again! However, this time, Robotnik has an evil ally, but is he really that evil?

Why: This the obvious 3rd in the popular Sonic series on Sega Genesis, and I consider it one of the best Sonic games ever. The colorful levels, the ability to play an effective 2 player, the music is awesome, and they add a lot more power-ups in this game. This game also introduces franchise main stay Knuckles. When I was a kid, I thought Knuckles was the coolest character. When you heard that music come up, you knew that he was a dude to be dealt with.

Gameplay-wise, it played much like the first two games in the series, and that's what's nice about it. Maybe that's why Mario has stuck around so long? Maybe? Why fix what ain't broke right? Anyway, what I also liked about this game was the save feature. I know, a game without being able to save? Who knew! This was the first Sonic game you were able to save your progress in, and while a small feature, it was nice to go back and be able to chose your levels to replay and get and 'Big Rings' you may have missed.

Later in the series, another game came out named 'Sonic & Knuckles,' but that's a whole 'nother GTTBYD which will, shall we say, 'LOCK ON' to this one? (See what I did there?)

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (and S&K) was sadly the last Sonic games that I considered great. The series after this started to slow down and begin to tank. They released games like Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic R, etc. Sonic CD was good, but still not as good as the main 4 games. While Mario continued on into the 3D world, Sonic stumbled and fell hard. Sonic still tries to get back to his glory days, but every time he tries, it never really works out. Surprisingly, his games still sell quite well though!

Last thing, did you know that Michael Jackson had a part in this game? Watch the video below!

 

More From 97.9 WGRD