Sonic 3D Blast (1996)

2.5 stars for the Saturn version, 2 stars for the Genesis version.

The running joke is that Sonic had a rough transition to 3D, but this is just a weird isometric style that makes platforming more frustrating than it should be and slippery controls that will unfortunately continue in many of the 3D titles to come.

In this entry, Sonic has to free 5 Flicky birds before he can continue through checkpoints before eventually finishing the level. Throughout the stage, you can find Knuckles or Tails to give 50 rings to unlock special stages and collect the Chaos Emeralds. Act 3 always has a boss fight.

I played this way back when it came out on the Genesis, but never finished it. I think I got to Panic Puppet Zone and got a Game Over then never came back. It was always my least favorite classic Sonic game as I just never finished it. Even with all the re-releases of this game, like on the Sonic Mega Collection, I never got far in this game. Turns out I was missing on how to make it a slightly better experience: just play the Saturn version. The Saturn version has better visuals, better music (IMO), and better special stages. However, I can't possibly call this game good. At best, it's average. Some stages are unfair while the bosses are too easy (except the last two which are kind of like gauntlets). At first, I thought it was Flicky gathering that I thought slowed down the gameplay. However, Panic Puppet Act 2 has no Flickies to collect, and the gameplay is still frustrating and clunky, so that was never the issue.

I wanted to finish this as I've been playing it since it came out back in the 90s, but it felt good to both finish it and 100% it. I wouldn't recommend this unless you're a hardcore Sonic fan, but if you are that, you've probably already played this.

Day 31: Some of you think the Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast's soundtrack is better. But then you missed Diamond Dust from the Genesis version.

Translation for Europeans:

Some of you think the Saturn version of Sonic 3D Flicky's Island soundtrack is better. But then you missed Diamond Dust from the Megadrive version.

Edit: Here's the actual link because I a dumb dumb.

](https://youtu.be/6U7JZQanK80)

I played through the original version for Sega Genesis (thinking it was the DX version) and thought it was a pretty fun experience. The music is great and some of the level design is really nice. The game does get a bit repetitive though. It's also quite short. I beat it without getting a Game Over. For some reason I thought I had the DX version loaded up but I guess I didn't lol. It will be interesting to get that a spin, as well as the Saturn version.

I think the game is better than it gets credit for, but it's not great.

So: Sonic 3D Blast. I had it as a kid on Genesis. I thought I was really bad at it. I played it again as an adult. I was still really bad at it, but this time I blamed it on the controls, the inconsistent sense of depth, and slippery platforms.

But I recently hacked a New Nintendo 2DS XL for fun, and for whatever reason I chose this system to experience the original programmer's Director's Cut hack that promises to fix and enhance the Genesis version of the game.

I ended up enjoying it a lot more, I think for two main reasons:

• The Director's Cut really does fix a lot of issues.
• The circle pad is kind of the perfect control mechanism for Sonic in this particular game. I normally favor the d-pad for 2D games, but something about it feels right here. It's a shame it never officially made it to the console!

The experience is still far from perfect: Depth is still an issue, losing and retrieving flickies still feels like bothersome runtime padding, and it lacks the improved visuals, music and special stages of the Saturn release. But it's the only version I've ever been compelled to finish, and it's hard to imagine a better version of an isometric Sonic game within the same constraints.