This is a sub-page of Translations:Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Sound Differences/1.
| To do:
- Re-record all of the final songs (and some of the proto songs) with either real hardware, or at least a better emulator like BlastEm. The current rips were recorded with Fusion, which is rubbish for audio (and for emulation in general).
- All of the tracks have differences (albeit some are very subtle, like slight volume changes). They need to be documented.
- Re-document the music ala Sonic 2's Simon Wai prototype.
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Between Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, the sound driver was completely replaced. In this prototype, the replacement driver is in an early state where it hasn't had features from the previous driver re-implemented yet, and it seems to suffer from some glaring bugs. There are also some other general differences:
- Sounds often bug out and sustain until either the game is paused or something else plays on that sound channel.
- Various objects don't play the correct sound effect:
- The underwater "alarm" sound uses a completely different sound; likely just an incorrect ID assignment.
- Many bosses don't play sounds. This includes explosions, zooming, etc. They play one sound when being defeated.
- Oddly the correct sound effects are present in the sound test, but most instances have their assigned sound effects based on Sonic 2.
- Collecting a ring only plays the sound for the right speaker, and doesn't alternate between the ones for the right and left (despite both sounds being present).
- The Spin Dash plays the rolling sound, much like Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis as well as some of the Sonic 2 prototypes.
- Playing a theme that would interrupt the stage theme prevents it from reloading.
- Beating an Act doesn't play the Act-clear jingle, instead continuing to play the stage theme.
- The Speed Shoes play the invincibility theme rather than speeding up the music, and does not cut back to the level music when the effect ends.
- The Sonic 3 miniboss theme doesn't exist (read below), which means all minibosses play the Sonic & Knuckles variation. A remnant of this exists in the final where jumping before drowning during the Hydrocity bosses causes the game to play the Sonic & Knuckles theme.
- If you leave the water before you drown in Hydrocity as Super Sonic, the game will play an early version of Mushroom Hill Act 2, the song that's in slot $10.
- The song used for the Level Select ($2F) does not glitch after listening to it for an extended amount of time, unlike in the final version of Sonic 3.
- The themes for Carnival Night, Ice Cap, Launch Base, Knuckles, and the Competition menu are completely different. Interestingly, MIDI versions of these were later used in Sonic & Knuckles Collection. In fact, all of the music in this build matches up better with their MIDI counterparts, suggesting that all of the music was taken from a later build.
Sound ID
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Name
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Proto
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Final
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Sonic & Knuckles Collection
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Notes
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$01
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Angel Island Zone Act 1
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Rougher instrumentation.
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$02
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Angel Island Zone Act 2
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Missing a few notes, rougher instrumentation, and is slightly slower than the final.
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$07
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Carnival Night Zone Act 1
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The Sonic & Knuckles Collection version plays in a slightly different key.
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$08
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Carnival Night Zone Act 2
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$09
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Flying Battery Zone Act 1
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More powerful lead guitar.
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$0A
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Flying Battery Zone Act 2
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Ditto, the "Woooah" clip is also more bold in this version.
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$0B
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Ice Cap Zone Act 1
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Seems unfinished at this version due to missing drums and a general lack of polish.
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$0C
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Ice Cap Zone Act 2
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The Sonic & Knuckles Collection use crash cymbals at the end of certain parts unique drum samples.
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$0D
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Launch Base Zone Act 1
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The Sonic & Knuckles Collection version plays in a slightly different key and starts with a crash cymbal.
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$0E
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Launch Base Zone Act 2
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$0F
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Mushroom Valley Zone Act 1
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Different bass; this made some people jokingly call the song "Seinfeld Valley Zone" due to its similarities with the Seinfeld theme.
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$10
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Mushroom Valley Zone Act 2
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Ditto.
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$13
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Lava Reef Zone Act 1
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$14
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Lava Reef Zone Act 2
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Rougher instrumentation.
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$15
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Sky Sanctuary Zone
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Rougher instrumentation.
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$1A
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The Doomsday Zone
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Has a rather unpleasant (and loud) synth instrument instead of a star sound.
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$1C
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Special Stage
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Uses the usual snare drum instead of a unique snare drum.
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$1F
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Knuckles' Theme
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Sonic & Knuckles Collection uses a unique drum sample for this track.
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$21
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Balloon Park
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Plays in a slightly different key.
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$22
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Desert Palace Zone
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Ditto.
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$23
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Chrome Gadget Zone
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Ditto.
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$26
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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Credits
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The loop features a different percussion section not present in Sonic & Knuckles Collection, the removal might be due to problems with the MIDI porting process; it's believed that this song was composed by Tatsuyuki Maeda since he's known for his PSG-heavy Genesis songs (like Diamond Dust Zone).
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$29
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Act Clear
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Rougher instrumentation.
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$2A
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1-Up
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Louder and faster than the final.
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$2D
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Competition Menu
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Seems unfinished at this point due to a general lack of polish.
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- The unused theme from the PC game is also present as slot $2E, which is where the Sonic 3 miniboss theme is in the final release. In Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, this slot contains a duplicate of the Sonic & Knuckles miniboss theme, which is used instead of slot $18 to play music for the minibosses. This renders slot $18 unused in all final retail releases of Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles except for Sonic & Knuckles Collection.
Proto
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Sonic & Knuckles Collection
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