“Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited” Out Now

Folks, it may be tax season, but we don’t need no Taxman around these parts. Though the widescreen, definitive editions of Sonic 1 and 2 may be trapped on mobile devices (perhaps forever), Eukaryot has your back when it comes to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, because Angel Island Revisited (or A.I.R. for short) is done.

Finally revisit the entirety of Angel Island in native 16:9 widescreen.

Download via Google Drive (recommended):https://t.co/0NS6JRPSbc
Alternative direct download:https://t.co/10W7lzNR7u pic.twitter.com/FrJ4NtoxQA

— Eukaryot (@Eukaryot3K) April 6, 2019

If you’ve forgotten what that is, let me enlighten you: appearing at both SAGE and the Sonic Hacking Contest last year, Sonic 3: A.I.R. is a strange beast that piggybacks off of the data in Sonic 3 offered up in the Sega Genesis Classics collection on Steam, turning the 16-bit ROM file in to a full-on widescreen remaster, essentially matching what Taxman and Stealth did for Sonic 1 and 2 all those years ago, but this time on your PC.

For those of you that are more inclined to play the Sonic 3 Complete ROM hack, worry not, as Angel Island Revisited also implements many of those features, and some of its own:

• Full 16:9 widescreen support
• 360° sprite rotation
• Achievements
• Expanded difficulty options
• Intricate soundtrack selection
• Moveset extensions: Tails Assist, Tails Flight Cancel, flying by just pressing Up, Super Transformation on a separate button, and Super Cancel
• Knuckles & Tails combo (has to be unlocked first)
• Subtle (and optional) gameplay tweaks like faster pulleys in Mushroom Hill, faster pushing of rocks in Sandopolis, a more engaging bombing sequence in Angel Island Zone Act 2
• Whatever is needed to support the wider resolution (i.e. a lot of small modifications especially to bosses and cutscenes)
• Usage of engine effects, like transparent fading out for rings and monitor icons
• Visual overhaul of the Special Stages, including 60fps
• Support for Time Attack mode
• Fixes for bugs and glitches

Now, you will need to own Sonic 3 & Knuckles on Steam in order to play Angel Island Revisited, as it reads data from the original Genesis game. Fortunately, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is only $5 on Steam, so you won’t have to break the bank to play what is as close to the definitive version of the game as we’ll ever get.

If you’d like to see more of Angel Island Revisited in action, Eukaryot posted a full length playthrough of the Sonic & Knuckles portion of game last night:

 Download links and more can be found at Sonic3air.org.