Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Sonic & Knuckles Leftovers

This is a sub-page of Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Considering that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were worked on together, it's no surprise there are loads of leftover bits of data from the latter while it was still in development. However, there's still quite a bit in here.

Knuckles Leftovers

Some data for Knuckles as a playable character seems to still exist in the game. Game Genie codes ASCA-AAHC ASCA-BA9Y or Patch Code FFEF4C:0003 will allow you to "select" Knuckles as your character. You will play as Sonic, but have Knuckles' character select, continue icons, and "level-clearing" text. The end signpost will also feature Knuckles, though the image uses Sonic's blue palette, and the markers on the score screens that appear after a Special Stage use Knuckles' palette. As you might expect, this code will save properly, allowing you to apply the code, create a save, then continue to use "Knuckles" even without the Game Genie.

FFFA80:0101 makes a few bosses behave like Knuckles' versions: Fire Breath shoots missiles, Robotnik doesn't fly down when he creates the water spout in Hydrocity, the spiked cylinder is in the Tunnelbot battle, and the second boss in Launch Base Act 2 plays a broken version of Knuckles' bomb cutscene when you defeat it (the bomb that should fly out of the wreckage appears with glitched graphics). This suggests that Knuckles was not meant to fight Big Arms at this point in development and was meant to go straight to Mushroom Valley/Hill, or even that Big Arms wasn't originally intended to be in the game at all, a theory reinforced by the prototype. After this cutscene plays, nothing else happens. The game crashes some time after the cutscene for unknown reasons.

FFB038:0200 will add in Knuckles' ability to destroy barriers, allowing you to access any Knuckles-exclusive areas. This doesn't work in Ice Cap and will result in bounds of the map glitches (because it shared Tails' bounds). The code also disables the Insta-Shield ability as Knuckles does not have it normally.

Bugs and Oddities

• The cutscene where Sonic arrives on Angel Island is glitched. The cutscene starts where Knuckles would normally start in the level. For some reason, the fire-bombing cutscene starts while the glitched intro is going on and Sonic can fall through the ground and die.
• The Insta-Shield graphics disappear at times.
• The cutscene at the beginning of Ice Cap Act 1 is the same as Tails'.
• The pit at the beginning of Ice Cap Act 1 doesn't work correctly: the part where the bottom of the stage should connect to the top instead acts like a bottomless pit, causing you to lose a life.
• In Launch Base Act 1, the cutscene where Knuckles throws a bomb works, but the building does not load. This is because when you play as Knuckles in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the building is already destroyed and the game simply does not load it.
• The game softlocks after defeating the Launch Base Act 1 boss. Sonic can still be controlled, but nothing else will happen. This is because Knuckles was supposed to fight two of them.
• If you use the last code mentioned above and break the rocks leading to Knuckles' boss arena, the water will lower (as it does for Knuckles), but the screenlock will not lower sometimes and prevent you from continuing.
• Although there is no boss in the Knuckles area in Angel Island, there are three hidden end-of-Act monitors in place: one each of Thunder Shield, Aqua Shield, and 10 Rings. Obviously, since there is no mini-boss to defeat and no signpost to uncover them with, they are completely inaccessible. These monitors are present in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, with the same items.

Sonic & Knuckles Zones

To do: Lava Reef has special rock code.

A few remnants of the Sonic & Knuckles Zones are still left in the game. Most of the data that once belonged to these levels either isn't present in Sonic 3 anymore or isn't currently accessible. None of these Zones have collision data intact, requiring the player to use Debug Mode to land on whatever collision the game recognizes as solid ground.

You can "access" these zones using the following Game Genie codes:

Zone	Act 1 Code	Act 2 Code	Crash Fix
Mushroom Valley	ABZA-ARFL	AFZA-ARFN	NKCA-LABC
Flying Battery	ABZA-AJE8	AFZA-AJFA	None; see below.
Sandopolis	ABZA-ATFR	AFZA-ATFT	NKCA-LABE
Lava Reef	ABZA-AWFW	AFZA-AWFY	NKCA-LABG
Sky Sanctuary	ABZA-AYF0	AFZA-AYF2	NKCA-LABJ
Death Egg	ABZA-A0F4	AFZA-A0F6	NKCA-LABL
The Doomsday	ABZA-A2GG	AFZA-A2GG	NKCA-LABN
Glowing Spheres Bonus Stage	ABZA-BJF8	AFZA-BJGA
Slot Machine Bonus Stage	ABZA-BLF8	AFZA-BLGA
ID 0D	ABZA-A4ER	AFZA-A4ET	NKCA-LABR
Lava Reef Act 3/Boss	ABZA-BNEW
Hidden Palace	AFZA-BNEY
Death Egg Final Boss	ABZA-BRE0
Hidden Palace (Special Stage Ring)	AFZA-BRE2

Each level can be played through the level select. Lava Reef, Sky Sanctuary, and Death Egg are accessible using the first, second, and third 2P VS options respectively while The Doomsday Zone uses the Sound Test option. The glowing spheres and slot machine bonus stages can be played by selecting "Bonus" on the level select. "ID 0D" can be accessed by selecting Angel Island Zone Act 1 and 2. Lava Reef Act 3 and Hidden Palace can be played by selecting Hydrocity Zone. Finally, the Death Egg final boss and Hidden Palace (Special Stage Ring) can be accessed through Marble Garden Acts 1 and 2.

Note that you need to access Flying Battery in a specific way. Currently, using only these codes will crash the game for this Zone, but it'll still play the correct music. Flying Battery can be fixed using codes W4ZT-LE0R 3CZT-LJ8W for Act 1 and W4ZT-LE1G 3CZT-LJ9L for Act 2. It will be corrupted with glitchy collision and Ice Cap tiles appearing all over the place. However, some graphic tiles will not be overwritten and will use whatever was last loaded there, which can make this Zone even glitchier. Other Sonic & Knuckles Zones such as the Death Egg final boss, Hidden Palace, Lava Reef Act 3/boss, and Hidden Palace (Special Stage Ring) can be accessed without the game crashing, although they are very glitched. The bonus stages will work, but only on a real console for some odd reason. Most of the Sonic & Knuckles Zones originally crashed due to reading a pointer table that did include entries for most of the Sonic & Knuckles Zones. However, the data the pointer table pointed to only went up to Launch Base, meaning garbage data was being read, causing the game to lock-up. When the "crash fix" codes are enabled, they overwrite PLC data for Angel Island which causes it to crash, but only as long as the codes are enabled.

It is possible to use Sonic 3C's savestates to access the remains of the Sonic 3 Zones and for the most part it works the same way as using the codes above.

Flying Battery Zone

This Zone, perhaps, retains the most data out of all the Sonic & Knuckles Zones.

• Uses Ice Cap's graphics and palette.
• There are some rings near the beginning of each Act.
• No objects appear here other than bosses.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, debug rings, a vertical spike, and various facing springs; it also contains the two Flying Battery Zone badniks.
• Both the Act 1 and Act 2 bosses appear in this Zone. For some reason the Act 2 sub-boss does not appear here, even though it exists fully functional within the game.
• You need debug mode in order to reach the bosses as there is no easy way to get to them.
• Act transitions are broken: after you beat Act 1 it doesn't take you to Act 2 and likewise, it doesn't take you anywhere when you beat Act 2.
• The title card correctly refers to this Zone as "Flying Battery".

Flying Battery would have been played between Carnival Night and Ice Cap, but when the game was split into two it was moved into Sonic & Knuckles to give it more levels. Still, the data select icon, music, and even bosses are intact in Sonic 3. The prototype confirms that Flying Battery was stage 5 instead of Stage 8.

Mushroom Valley Zone

Retains a little less data than Flying Battery, but still has some interesting leftovers.

• The title card refers to this level as "Zone" followed by an Act 1 or 2 depending on which Act you're playing.
• Uses Azure Lake graphics.
• Both Acts use the correct music.
• Both Acts seemingly use some kind of Azure Lake palette.
• Contains an object layout consisting of path swappers, monitors, springs, and some deleted/broken objects.
• The object layouts do not match any known layout of this Zone, though the closest match seems to be the Sonic 3C 0408 version.
• Both Acts contain objects. There are also some rings scattered about.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs. It also contains diagonal springs, horizontal spikes, and moving versions of the springs and spikes.
• You need debug mode to explore, otherwise you will just fall to your death. (Unless you can make it onto one of the monitors near the start of each Act.)
• This zone cannot be completed; if an Egg Prison capsule is spawned in and is opened, the game will load data from an invalid Zone and crash.

Level ID 08 (Sandopolis Zone)

Not much remains of this one. It's mostly a wasteland of broken data.

• The title card refers to this level as "Zone" followed by an Act 1 or 2 depending on whichever you're playing.
• There is a repeating pattern of rings in this zone.
• Both Acts use the correct music.
• Uses Angel Island's intro graphics.
• Act 1 uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette. Act 2 uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• This Zone cannot be completed.

Lava Reef Zone

A little bit less data than Mushroom Valley, but still a good bit more than Sandopolis.

• The title card refers to this level as "Zone" followed by an Act 1 or 2 depending on whichever you're playing.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• Act 1 has some palette data; it contains the lava palette cycle and the palette cycle for the dark flashing rocks.
• There are some rings strewn about the level.
• The start position array (where you start in the level) is intact: you start from the top of the level and fall downwards, just like in Sonic & Knuckles.
• Act 2 does not have any palette data.
• Uses Azure Lake graphics, much like Mushroom Valley.
• The background has some animation or scrolling, however it is just composed of glitched Azure Lake graphics.
• Both Acts use the correct music.
• Both Acts seemingly use some kind of Azure Lake palette.
• This zone cannot be completed.
• You can actually land on solid ground and continue quite a good bit compared to the other Sonic & Knuckles Zones.

Sonic 3

Sonic 3

Two palette cycles can be found at this zone. They resemble the ones found in Sonic & Knuckles with little difference. They can be found at offsets 002EFE and 002F7E.

Level ID 0A (Sky Sanctuary Zone)

There is some strange wacky palette that can get loaded here.

• The title card refers to this level as "Zone", with no Act designation. This is because this Zone doesn't use Act numbers in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
• There is a repeating pattern of rings in this zone.
• Uses Angel Island's intro graphics.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• Act 1 uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette. Act 2 uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
• Act 2 uses Death Egg Act 1's music for some odd reason. This could mean there was originally not going to be a second Act of Sky Sanctuary and instead Death Egg would have three Acts. The unused Sonic & Knuckles bonus stages also have music oddities.
• This zone cannot be completed; if an Egg Prison capsule is spawned in and opened, the game will start playing the miniboss music and crash with a nonsensical palette.

Level ID 0B (Death Egg Zone)

This is the only other S&K level besides Flying Battery and Mushroom Valley to include an object layout. Otherwise, it is similar to Sandopolis with a different garbled layout.

• The title card refers to this level as "Zone" followed by an Act 1 or 2 depending on whichever you're playing.
• There is a repeating pattern of rings in this zone.
• Uses Angel Island's intro graphics.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• Act 1 uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette. Act 2 uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
• For some reason, both Acts use Death Egg Act 2's music. This might have something to do with Sky Sanctuary's music oddity (mentioned above).
• This zone cannot be completed.

• An object with an ID of $2, sub-type $89 can be found at coordinates X $550 and Y $0. It appears to be a path swapper/collision change object. It is the only object that remains in Death Egg Act 2, other than the default ring object. It is not present in the Sonic 3C 0408 prototype.

Level ID 0C (The Doomsday Zone)

Not much to say about this one, just another Sandopolis basically.

• The title card refers to this level as "Zone" without any "Act 1" or "Act 2". This is because this Zone didn't use Act numbers in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
• There is a repeating pattern of rings in this zone.
• Uses Angel Island Zone intro graphics.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, a vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• Act 1 uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette. Act 2 uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
• Act 2 of this zone was never used in Sonic & Knuckles. (This act is not to be confused with the Doomsday Act 2 that is listed in the level selects of both Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.)
• Both Acts use the correct music.
• This zone cannot be completed.

Level ID 0D

Has some wacky palette problems like Sky Sanctuary.

• The title card refers to this level as "Zone" followed by an Act 1 or 2 depending on whichever you're playing.
• Uses Angel Island graphics.
• This zone contains randomly placed rings.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• Act 1 uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette. Act 2 uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
• Uses the Special Stage music.
• This zone cannot be completed, nor can it even be started normally: Entering either Act causes the game to shove your character through to the left boundary of the stage. This now sets your position to illegal coordinates and begins corrupting the object load manager and other RAM addresses. The camera scrolls to the left, then seemingly freezes and the HUD vanishes for about 5 seconds. During this time the game enters demo mode and you can hear the sound of your character dying. Then, the game continues and the HUD reappears, but sets the camera to another position within the Zone and locks up completely, but not before hearing the sound of your character dying again. The Z80 sub-processor also fails and lets out a loud ringing sound. The reason for this is because during the RAM corruption the game enters demo mode (much like breaking too many S Monitors in Sonic 3 & Knuckles). This cannot be escaped with debug mode, but can be escaped by using Start + A or pressing Start at the correct time during this sequence.

• Escaping the Zone by using Start + A results in the Level Select displaying a near-endless selection of real Zones with strange glitches, and many invalid levels.

Act 2 of this Zone would be used for the ending in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles; Act 1 was never used, as it was instead used as a dummy slot for loading in the stage palette instead of the intro cutscene palette when skipping the intro cutscene in Angel Island Zone act 1. Otherwise, this Zone is almost exactly the same as it was in the Sonic 3C 0408 prototype.

Level ID 14 (Glowing Spheres Bonus Stage)

• The title card correctly refers to this zone as "Bonus Stage".
• Some of the level layout is intact. It is nearly identical to the Sonic 3C 0408 layout.
• There are a few rings, but they don't appear to go with the level layout at all.
• The HUD uses glitched graphics, and only has "RINGS".
• You can access this Zone using a real console or a Sonic 3C 0408 save state.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• This Zone curiously uses the Slot Machine Bonus Stage music.
• You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels).
• This bonus stage cannot be completed.

Sonic 3/Sonic 3C (0408 Prototype)

The palette data is intact, and the color arrangement is exactly the same as that used for this stage in Sonic 3C 0408. The color palettes have no color changes like Sonic & Knuckles.

Level ID 15 (Slot Machine Bonus Stage)

Sonic 3	Sonic & Knuckles

• Unused color palettes can be found at level ID 15, which is used by the Slot Machine Bonus Stage in Sonic & Knuckles. This arrangement is quite different from what is used in Sonic 3C (0408 Prototype) and Sonic & Knuckles, but it is still very similar.

The map is intact, unfortunately the blocks and tiles has been removed. It is possible to note that this Bonus Stage would be very different from the Sonic 3C 0408 version, its size is very small.

The map contains a very large background. Apparently incomplete and duplicate.

This Bonus Stage is present intact in the November 3, 1993 prototype. Although not unlike the Sonic & Knuckles version, its coloring and graphics are different.

• The title card correctly refers to this zone as "Bonus Stage".
• Uses the Gumball Bonus Stage music, like in the November 3, 1993 prototype.
• There is one ring collectible and another non-collectible ring, but they don't appear to go with the level layout at all.
• Palette data is intact (as seen above).
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels.)
• The level layout looks simple, the map is intact, and the background is as well. However, the chunks, blocks, and tiles data has been removed. This map is very different from the Sonic 3C 0408 version.
• The HUD uses glitched graphics, and only has "RINGS" unlike the November 3, 1993 prototype.
• You can access this Zone using a real console or a Sonic 3C 0408 save state.
• This bonus stage cannot be completed.

Level ID 16 Act 1 (Lava Reef Zone Boss/Act 3)

Looks to be nothing more than broken data. It doesn't even seem to use Lava Reef's data.

• Has no title card.
• Uses Angel Island Act 1's intro palette.
• Uses the Special Stage music just like ID 0D does.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• This act contains a constantly repeating ring. Some are collectible, while others are not.
• The HUD only has "RINGS" listed. The lives number is also strangely missing.
• You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels).
• This act cannot be completed.

Level ID 16 Act 2 (Hidden Palace Zone)

This level has a strange trigger that loads Launch Base Death Egg graphics.

• Has no title card.
• Uses Angel Island Act 2's palette.
• Uses the Special Stage music just like ID 0D does.
• Contains a constantly repeating ring, most likely as a placeholder. This ring is strange, however, as it appears even in levels with an ID of 18 and after it, which is odd considering those are not "true levels" but garbage data.
• Uses Angel Island graphics until a certain point (see below).
• There is some kind of level "event trigger" that causes Launch Base Act 2 Death Egg graphics to load about halfway through the Act. When this happens, it gets rid of most of the glitched collision and all of the garbled Angel Island graphics. Interestingly, the same thing happens in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, although it is done in a slightly different way.
• The HUD only has "RINGS" listed. The lives number is also strangely missing.
• You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels.)
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• This act cannot be completed.

Level ID 17 Act 1 (Death Egg Zone Act 3/Boss)

Another seemingly empty level slot; it highly resembles Lava Reef Act 3.

• Has no title card.
• Uses Angel Island Act 1's intro graphics and intro palette.
• Uses the Special Stage music just like ID 0D does.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels.)
• The HUD only has "RINGS" listed. The lives number is also strangely missing.
• This act cannot be completed.

Level ID 17 Act 2 (Hidden Palace Special Stage Ring)

In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, this Act is the Hidden Palace you go to upon entering a giant Special Stage ring. Here, however, it resembles ID 16 Act 2 without any Death Egg graphics.

• Has no title card.
• Uses Angel Island Act 1's intro graphics and Angel Island Act 2's palette.
• Uses the Special Stage music.
• The debug item list contains the usual ring, super monitor, vertical spike, debug rings, and various facing springs.
• You can only place objects near the beginning; if you try to place objects past a certain point, nothing will happen. (This is also true for some of the other Sonic & Knuckles levels.)
• The HUD only has "RINGS" listed. The lives number is also strangely missing.
• This Act cannot be completed.
• All level IDs after this point are just strange garbage data. No other Zones are known to exist.

Level Differences

Flying Battery Zone

Nov 3, 1993 Proto	Sonic 3	Sonic & Knuckles

In Act 1, the mid-boss capsule is in a different position. In the Sonic 3C 0408 prototype, the boss is in the same position as Sonic 3.

Sonic 3	Sonic & Knuckles

A ring layout identical to 3C 408′s in The Doomsday Zone, Death Egg Zone final boss, and the Glowing Spheres Bonus Stage exists in this zone, suggesting that either Flying Battery barely begun development before moving to Sonic & Knuckles, or it was removed from Sonic 3 in a manner similar to Hidden Palace Zone's removal in Sonic 2.

Nov 3, 1993 Proto	Sonic 3	Sonic & Knuckles

In Act 2, the location of the boss is very different.

Nov 3, 1993 Proto	Sonic 3	Sonic & Knuckles

The prison egg was also dragged a bit far in Sonic & Knuckles.

Mushroom Valley Object Data

Object data of a zone that is found after Launch Base's data can be found at these ranges:

Act 1: 0x0069A4A to 0x0069B4B

Act 2: 0x0069B4C to 0x0069C0B

The data mostly consists of path swappers, springs, and monitors, and a Madmole, which deletes itself once it's loaded, suggesting that this object's data is no longer present or accessible. Interestingly, this zone (ID 07) went through a good bit of layout changes from Sonic 3C 0408 to the final version of Sonic & Knuckles. It could be possible that this is an object layout from a very early version of Mushroom Hill Zone (referred to as Mushroom Valley in this game).

Object List

Act 1

Horizontal	Vertical	Object ID	Variable	Name
0080	0080	00	00	Ring
0080	86B0	01	01	Life
0478	2AF0	07	10	Red Spring to right
0700	86B0	01	06	Thunder Shield
09F8	2AF0	07	10	Red Spring to right
0AE0	88C0	93	00	Removed Madmole
0D08	0170	07	10	Red Spring to right
1180	01C0	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1208	0210	02	51	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1678	2830	07	10	Red Spring to right
1780	0440	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1808	0490	02	51	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
19F8	2AF0	07	10	Red Spring to right
1B00	07C0	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1B88	0810	02	51	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1DD0	0B80	07	02	Yellow Spring to up
1F51	48EB	07	20	Red Spring to down
2288	0170	07	02	Yellow Spring to up
23F8	25F0	07	10	Red Spring to right
2488	8930	01	04	Speed Shoes
24A8	8930	01	03	10 Rings
2580	0130	07	10	Red Spring to right
2608	04B0	07	10	Red Spring to right
2680	0040	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2708	0090	02	51	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2A70	8930	01	03	10 Rings
2A90	8930	01	07	Aqua Shield
2B78	26B0	07	10	Red Spring to right
2C00	0A40	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2C88	0A90	02	51	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2F08	00F0	07	10	Red Spring to right
3140	01F0	07	10	Red Spring to right
3180	0540	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
31E0	0140	02	55	Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
3200	0040	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
3208	0590	02	51	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
34E0	0140	02	55	Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
3500	0040	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
3660	08A0	02	55	Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
3680	07C0	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
36E0	0440	02	55	Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
3700	0340	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch

Act 2

Horizontal	Vertical	Object ID	Variable	Name
0080	0080	00	00	Ring
03C8	8350	01	01	Life
03E8	8350	01	03	10 Rings
0500	08C0	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
0590	0910	02	51	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
0708	07F0	07	10	Red Spring to right
0808	0170	07	10	Red Spring to right
0A60	01C0	02	55	Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
0A80	00C0	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1430	41AB	07	20	Red Spring to down
1690	8290	01	03	10 Rings
16A0	8290	01	03	10 Rings
1860	0740	02	55	Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
1880	0640	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
1908	88F0	01	03	10 Rings
1930	0B88	07	03	Yellow Spring to up
1E88	01B0	07	10	Red Spring to right
2088	0670	07	10	Red Spring to right
2508	0170	07	10	Red Spring to right
2600	0740	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2690	0790	02	51	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2760	01C0	02	55	Invisible Rings - Horizontal Switch
2780	00C0	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2850	47E8	07	20	Red Spring to down
2E80	07C0	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
2F10	0810	02	51	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
30B0	0578	07	00	Red Spring to up
30F0	0518	02	52	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
3100	03C0	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
3400	0840	02	D1	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch
3490	0890	02	51	Invisible Rings - Vertical Switch

Unused Enemies

To do: Upload sprite rips.

Both of these Badniks are curiously listed among all the other Badniks in the US and European manuals for Sonic 3.

• Technosqueek: This Badnik later shows up in Sonic & Knuckles. For some reason, if you place a sideways one in Debug Mode, it crashes the game.
• Blaster: Apparently the same as in Sonic & Knuckles, but their projectiles can be destroyed with a spin attack, freeing an animal.

Unused Bosses

To do: Upload Marble Garden Act 2 Boss sprite rips.

• Gapsule: The Flying Battery Act 1 boss. Nearly identical to the one in Sonic & Knuckles.

• Flying Battery Laser Boss: The first boss of Flying Battery Act 2. Nearly identical to the one in Sonic & Knuckles, except for missing sound effects.

This boss doesn't appear in the unfinished Flying Battery like in Sonic 3 Nov-3-1993 Prototype ; you can place it there with the following Action Replay codes:

05BFCC:0004 
05BFCE:D558 
05BFD0:0016 
05BFD2:37FE 
05BFD4:252E 

• Hang Mobile: The second boss of Flying Battery Act 2. Almost the same as the one in Sonic & Knuckles, it is only slightly different (in terms of coding) and is missing sound effects.

• Knuckles' Marble Garden Act 2 Boss: This boss actually still exists in the game, but is not surprisingly unused. It acts nearly identical to the one in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, except that it's invincible.

Starting Points

To do: November 3rd proto starting locations

In Sonic 3, multiple starting points found at offset 05E018 are left intact, which may suggest that many levels have already been cut with enough content. In comparison with Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the starting points for Flying Battery Act 2, Lava Reef Act 1, and the ending cutscenes have never been changed.

The other levels that have not been mentioned could have had different level designs from what we know. Hidden Palace, Lava Reef Act 2 Boss, the Final Boss of Death Egg, and the Glowing Spheres and Slot Machine Bonus Stages share the same starting points, which suggests that these levels were too incomplete or did not yet have custom starting locations.

Zones	Sonic 3	Sonic 3C 0408 Prototype	Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Flying Battery Zone 1	0060-06EC	0060-076C	0060-076C
Flying Battery Zone 2	0060-05EC	0060-05EC	0060-05EC
Mushrom Hill Zone 1	0080-06AA	00A8-0200	00D8-0500
Mushrom Hill Zone 2	0080-03AA	0150-07AC	0150-07AC
Sandopolis Zone 1	0230-01AC	00C0-0400	00C0-0400
Sandopolis Zone 2	0230-01AC	0140-03AC	0140-03AC
Lava Reef Zone 1	0100-0020	0100-0020	0100-0020
Lava Reef Zone 2	0100-0020	0990-076C	09E0-076C
Sky Sanctuary Zone	0060-06AC	0100-0C00	0100-0C00
Sky Sanctuary Zone Knuckles	0060-056C	0080-0020	0080-0020
Death Egg Zone 1	0060-06AC	0060-09AC	0030-09AC
Death Egg Zone 2	0060-05AC	0140-03AC	0140-03AC
Doomsday Zone	0060-02AC	0140-0020	0000-0100
Doomsday Zone (Unused)	0060-058C	0060-058C	0060-058C
Special Stage	0060-01EC	0060-01EC	0060-01EC
Special Stage (unused)	0060-012C	0060-012C	0060-012C
Bonus Stage Glowing Spheres	0060-0070	0060-0070	0140-0DC0
Bonus Stage Glowing Spheres (Unused)	0060-0070	0060-0070	0060-0070
Bonus Stage Slot Machine	0060-0070	0460-0350	0460-0350
Bonus Stage Slot Machine (Unused)	0060-0070	0060-0070	0060-0070
Lava Reef Zone (Boss)	0060-0070	0040-0070	0040-0070
Hidden Palace Zone	0060-0070	0060-0AEC	0030-0AEC
Death Egg Zone (Final Boss)	0060-0070	0060-0070	0060-0070
Altar of the Emeralds	0060-0070	1640-03AC	1640-03AC