Finally, the main Sega trilogy is complete on the Virtual Console. After Sonic burst onto the Mega Drive in the original game and was subsequently joined by his mate Tails in the even better sequel, it was only a matter of time before the blue blur scored a hat-trick and returned for a third outing.
Sonic 3 (strangely going by that title in the UK, as opposed to the full Sonic The Hedgehog 3 in the US and Japan) features even better graphics, some all-new moves for Sonic (he can pick up special shields which allow him to turn into, for example, a fireball) and the introduction of Sonic's new nemesis, Knuckles.
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Yes, nemesis. See, Dr Robotnik (aka Eggman) tricks Knuckles into thinking that Sonic is trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds, so throughout the game, Knuckles does everything in his power to hinder Sonic's progress. In a way, he's not so much a bad guy as a confused one, but the fact still remains that in Sonic 3 he's there to cause you all kinds of hassle.
So, most importantly, is it any good? Of course it is. Perhaps it's not quite as enjoyable as the second game in the series, but it's still one of the best platformers ever created. The music is fantastic (rumour has it that Michael Jackson provided the game's score, and Sega dropped his name from the credits after those allegations started), the graphics are some of the best you'll see on a Mega Drive game (check out the end of the first zone where the whole land is set on fire), and it's faster than a cheetah driving an F1 car. Essential.
