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.

   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. The PC version is, for the most part, identical to the Saturn version. Where each of the three differ are the Special Stages.

   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 also a mimic of the Sonic 2 half-tube formula, only with less glitz than the Saturn version.

-- Genesis Version --

-- PC Version --

   The game didn't get a Japanese release until three years later (under the European name, Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island), and hit the shelves simultaneously with Sonic Adventure International. Sonic 3D became the last in-house Saturn title released in Japan.

Lots o' Codes: (Saturn version) At the title screen, press the D-pad up and left, plus A and C simultaneously. The "Press Start" message should stop blinking. Now start a game like normal. At anytime during gameplay, pause and press one of the following buttons for the indicated effect:

• A = Skips an Act
• B = Skips a Zone
• C = Skips to Boss of the Panic Puppet Zone
• X = Gives a free Life
• Y = Gives a free Medal
• Z = Gives all seven Chaos Emeralds

• The Chaos Emeralds in the Genesis version appear as they did before their transformation in Sonic & Knuckles: small and in the standard emerald cut. In the Saturn version, they take on their newer look: relatively large and in the diamond cut.
• The Genny version sported something rarely (okay, never) seen in cartridge games: a full-blown FMV intro! Well, okay...so the picture quality is pixelier than PlayStation texture-mapping and it lasts all of four seconds. I thought it was kinda neat...