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Sonic 3D Blast
-- Intro --
They call him Flicky, Flicky...faster than lightning! (Actually, I always
thought that Pocky deserved his own game.) What we have here is a mixture of Sonic,
Marble Madness, and the original Genesis Flicky. In fact, it's almost a direct
sequel to the latter. The premise is the same: run around the level, collecting the little
birds, then getting them safely to the exit. They follow you in a row, and scatter when you take
damage. Unfortunately, 3D Blast gets boring just as fast as its feathery predecessor...
-- Story --
Flicky Island is home to the mysterious Flicky birds. Legend has it that
Flickies, which are rarely seen, are closely related to the location of the Chaos Emeralds...ooh,
freeeaaaky! Sonic decides to take a little trip to Flicky Island in search of the super stones.
Robotnik, meanwhile, has his own plans (but I bet you already assumed that, didn't you?).
Eggman's discovered the secret of the Flickies...they live in a parallel universe and teleport
via Dimension Rings. Ah, so desu? Always the opportunist, Robotnik whips up the Dimension Ring
Generator, which plucks Flickies from their home dimension and turns 'em into the robots he's
so obssessed with.
When Sonic arrives, he finds Flicky Island in pandemonium. He's got to free
all the Flickies Robotnik's given his mechanical makeover to and return them to their dimension;
not to mention nabbing the Chaos Emeralds before the Doc gets his hands on those, too.
-- Gameplay Info --
Control is essentially according to the classic Sonic schema...the big
difference is that you're playing on 3D boards rather than 2D planes. The premise, though, is a
bit different. Before you get to the exit (a Dimension Ring), you must first find and collect
the six Flickies scattered around each Act. They're always trapped inside Badniks, so bust the
six baddies then grab the birds. Once you've got the six-pack, make for the exit to move on.
Most of the Sonic staples are here: high-speeds, Rings, springs, the Spin
Dash, and Badniks. New to the mix are Sonic Medals...collect ten to score a continue. There are
seven Zones, with two Acts and a boss round each. They are:
- Green Grove -- It's sorta tropical with the palmtrees and stuff, but sorta not with the
mushrooms and moles. *shrugs*
- Rusty Ruin -- Robotnik's outfitted the old booby traps from the ruins of Atlantis with modern
machinery. In the Saturn version, there's fog and rain of varying intensities around the Zone.
- Spring Stadium -- There's alotta springs and stuff all over the place around here. Your
biggest enemy are the spike traps scattered about.
- Diamond Dust -- Walkin' in a winter wonderlaaand... Snow-covered evergreens, Badnik snowmen,
and all that good wintery stuff! There's random snowfall in the Saturn version.
- Volcano Valley -- It's back into a volcano, only this one seems to have recently erupted: the
toasted trees around the foot are still on fire, and the lava's still flowing and hot.
- Gene Gadget -- It's the contingent metallic Zone, but it's got a bit of everything: pipes,
electric floors, industrial fans, and other not-good things.
- Panic Puppet -- If you think the name is weird, wait until you see Act 2... Act 1 is full of
Flickies that haven't yet been turned into robots. Act 2 is just a race for survival, weaving
around a giant image of Robotnik. (This must be the kind of nightmares Sonic has after a night
of partying.)
Take a hit and you'll lose your Rings...as well as your Flickies. Grab 'em
back ASAP, 'cause they each have a different reaction to Badnik smacking:
- Blue Flickies -- Classic blue Flickies fly around in circles at the area you got hit.
- Pink Flickies -- These friendly Flickies will try their best to follow you, making them the
easiest to grab back. If you don't decide to be mean and outrun them, you fiend.
- Red Flickies -- Randomly hop around all over the place. They're quite tricky to catch...
- Green Flickies -- Randomly roam around the board. They'll wander all over the entire level
if you let them, making them the most difficult to grab back.
Items for the collecting include:
- Super Ring -- Worth 10 Rings
- Blue Shield -- Protects you from one hit and absorbs electrical damage
- Red Shield -- Protects you from one hit and absorbs fire damage
- Gold Shield -- Protects you from one hit and enables the Blast Attack, which allows you to
hone in on enemies
- Power Sneakers -- Temporarily raise your speed
- Invincible -- Makes you invincible for a short time
- 1-Ups -- Give you an extra chance
3D Blast comes in three flavors: Genesis, Saturn, and PC. The Genesis version
was designed to mimic Donkey Kong Country-style rendered graphics...quite a feat
considering the Genny's paltry 64-color palette. Still, it worked pretty good. The Saturn
version was thrown together at the last minute to replace the fallen X-Treme, sporting a
higher color palette, more graphic detail, weather effects (such as rain in Rusty Ruin and snow
in Diamond Dust), and a brand new CD-quality score from Richard Jaques.
Special Stages are entered the same way in all three: collect 50 Rings, then
take 'em to Tails or Knuckles. In the Genny version, you're running over this pseudo-3D
"bridge", grabbing Rings and avoiding Mines. Snag the requisite number of Rings by the end of
the stage and you're rewarded with a Chaos Emerald.
Over in Saturnland, the stages mimic the half-tubes found in Sonic 2...but with
style! For one thing, they're in real, beautiful 3D now. You'll also be running through
tunnels, spirals, bouncing off Springs, and all kinds of fancy 3D tricks. The final two stages
even sport genuine polygon transparencies...a feat many thought the Saturn incapable of
handling. The premise, though, is still the same: get the requisite number of Rings by the end
of the stage to score a Chaos Emerald.
The PC version is, essentially, a port of the Saturn version. The main
differences are lower-res graphics and watered-down Special Stages. And BOY is it ever ugly.
If you like big, fat pixels, then the PC version is the one you want.
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Information
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Review By:
Green Gibbon
Debut:
November, 1996 (Sonic 3D Blast)
Europe
Players:
1
Publisher:
SEGA
Developer:
Traveller's Tales |
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Codes & Cheats
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Change Views in Special Stage
When you're about to get a Chaos Emarald, press X to "freeze" the view. For example, if you freeze the view while the view is above Sonic, you'll see Sonic grab the Chaos Emerald from that viewpoint.
To view the emerald from below, hold Z as you approach it.
Cheat Mode
At the title screen hold C and press Start. To use the codes, pause the game while playing and press any of the following keys:
A Skip to next Act
B Skip to next Stage
C Skip to the final boss
X Gain 1 life
Y Gain 1 medal (10 medals = 1 continue)
Z Gain all Chaos Emeralds
Note: You must earn every 10th medal. That is, you can gain 9 medals with the cheat code, earn 1, gain 9 more, etc.
Extra Life in Diamond Dust
To find the extra life icon at Diamond Dust, go across the icy river at the beginning of the level to the ice sickles. With a Sonic Spin break through the ice and duck down the hidden tunnel!
Extra Life in the Rusty Ruins
At the very begining of Rusty Ruins, there is a door behind you. Go back to that door and do the spin attack to open it. Inside you'll find an extra life.
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Music |
Green Grove Zone Act 1
Volcano Valley Zone Act 1
Volcano Valley Zone Act 2
Diamond Dust Zone Act 1
Gene Gadget Zone Act 1
Panic Puppet Zone Act 1
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Pictures
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