X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Sonic & Knuckles

by Richard Mitchell { Sep 9th 2009 at 4:45PM }

If you were a Sega Genesis gamer growing up, then this is a special week for you. This week marks the release of Sonic & Knuckles (400

/ $5) on Xbox Live Arcade. Sonic & Knuckles, as you will no doubt remember, was once the most amazing piece of technology ever created. It's not quite as amazing these days, but it's still a great platformer. It still "locks on" to the first three XBLA Sonic games as well. Combine Sonic & Knuckles with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and you've got the best Sonic game ever made.

Watch this week's XBLA in Brief and get a glimpse of the days when Sonic games were still good.

Download the trial version of Sonic & Knuckles

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Tags: sega, sonic-and-knuckles, x3f-tv, xbla, xbla-in-brief

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

CrissCross87 @ Sep 9th 2009 4:58PM

If there was ever a Behind the Music-like show for video game characters, I'm sure Sonic would be one of the first episodes.I kinda wonder, for the new 2010 Sonic game, I wonder how many Genesis vets will be working on it... and if will only feature Sonic... and possibly just Tails. and maybe Knuckles.

Mazrael @ Sep 9th 2009 5:02PM

got it soon as I saw it... It's Sonic the way it should've stayed..

Halwende @ Sep 9th 2009 5:10PM

Dizzy... watching... special... stage... *gets up from computer desk and falls over*

D taktics @ Sep 9th 2009 5:11PM

Sonic and Knuckles was probably my all time favorite game.

Paulo Eifel @ Sep 9th 2009 5:11PM

Here`s an honest question: I played just a little bit of Sonic back in the day, cause everyone had a SNES around here.
I tried a couple of the old(not the 3D ones, mind you)ones lately and actually I don`t think they are fun at all. From my point of view, Super Mario plays in a whole other league.
Could someone explain what`s so special about Sonic games?
Cheers

GewurztraminerX @ Sep 9th 2009 5:28PM

Can't. They are, by default, INDESCRIBABLY fun.

Well, ok fine.

For me, I had a Genesis first, and the SNES a good 3-4 years later. The first Sonic was OK but by Sonic 2 the series drastically improved. Awkward 2P co-op and all. Add in Supersonic, and you have a game that moves along at a fast pace, yet still has quite a bit of length to it (I think Sonic 2 was the longest of the Genesis games). And the end boss took a lot of patience because even if you sped through the game practically invincible as Supersonic, now you're back to a one-hit-kill scenario. Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles (together, mind you) became another epic game even better than Sonic 2.

But that's just my 2 cents.

jeff @ Sep 9th 2009 5:27PM

that gum you like is going to come back in style.

themodlsociety @ Sep 9th 2009 5:33PM

400MPS = $5

Richard Mitchell @ Sep 9th 2009 5:50PM

Oops. Fixed.

GewurztraminerX @ Sep 9th 2009 5:36PM

haha. congrats on the 'Perfect'. I remember trying to study maps of the special stages to figure out the best route for the chaos emeralds. The S&K stages were infinitely more dizzying than in Sonic 3.

good times.

Jonman @ Sep 9th 2009 5:59PM

FYI JOYSTIQ:

Your link goes to Sonic 3 on Marketplace, not Sonic & Knuckles

Drunk Ste @ Sep 9th 2009 6:04PM

I really regret selling my whole Mega Drive/Genesis collection which included all the Sonic games. I picked up Sonic Jam for the Saturn but it still would have been nice to have the originals for nostalgia value.

FlamingEffigy @ Sep 9th 2009 7:08PM

I saw Richard. I saw!

Rhamsey @ Sep 9th 2009 7:58PM

Thinking about picking it up, but I already own this and some emulations on the ds and pc. So yeah, not sure. Still, nice perfect run, I remember sucking at those when I was young.

Doody Beard @ Sep 10th 2009 12:08AM

Sonic and knuckles didnt hook up with sonic 1, it gave you a "nice try" message.

vtnwesley @ Sep 10th 2009 2:38AM

I wouldn't buy this without Sonic 3 first. S&K is okay on it's own but it has no save functionality. Sonic 3 had some shacky development, and S&K is the patch. When you combine them you get what the game should have been, plus some. It's great fun. Plus, S3 + K has the full save functionality restored.