Sonic & Knuckles © 1994 Sega Enterprises, Limited.
Players control Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna in their quests to save Angel Island; Sonic tries to prevent Doctor Robotnik from relaunching his orbital weapon, the Death Egg, while Knuckles scuffles with Robotnik's minion, EggRobo. The game takes place across six levels in which the player collects rings and fights bosses.
![Goodies for Sonic & Knuckles [Model G-4124]](images/covermini160/93921_1.jpg)
Game ID: G-4124
Package ID: 671-5483
Cartridge ID: 670-5496
Sonic & Knuckles for Mega Drive was released on October 18, 1994 in Japan.
The Japanese members of Sega Technical Institute in California developed Sonic & Knuckles simultaneously alongside Sonic 3. The two were intended to be released as a single game, but time constraints and small cartridge sizes forced Sega to split the project.
Sonic & Knuckles utilizes 'lock-on technology' that lets the cartridge plus the Mega Drive access data from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 so that elements of both Sonic & Knuckles and the locked-on game are combined. To play these combined games, the hatch on top of the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge can be flipped open and the second game placed inside. This game is known as Sonic 3 & Knuckles when locked on with Sonic 3 and as Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic 2 when locked on with Sonic 2.
The game was backed by a $45 million marketing campaign; at the time, video games typically had a marketing budget of $5 million. It was released around the same time as Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country. Industry figures called the coinciding releases a battle as both advertised revolutionary technological advances (lock-on technology for Sonic & Knuckles and 3D-rendered graphics for Donkey Kong).
Sony PlayStation 3 (feb.10, 2009) "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" by SCEI