Sonic & Knuckles Coming to XBLA With Lock-On

[Tom Goldman]

Sonic & Knuckles Coming to XBLA With Lock-On

Not only will Sonic & Knuckles be coming to XBLA in early September, it will feature lock-on emulation.

Sonic & Knuckles will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade on September 9, 2009, but the real news is that the game will support "lock-on" technology emulation. "Lock-on" is a feature of the bygone cartridge era that unlocked special features in the first three Genesis Sonic titles by literally jamming their cartridges into the top of a Sonic & Knuckles cartridge.

According to the Sega Blog, owning one of the following titles and using "lock-on" in Sonic & Knuckles will do the following:

Sonic the Hedgehog: Unlocks the game "Blue Sphere", the bonus/Chaos Emerald level from Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Lets you play as Knuckles, complete with the ability to get to previously inaccessible areas of the game, and new power-ups added for playing as Knuckles.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Play as Knuckles in Sonic 3, and also changes the flow of the game and connects it directly to Sonic & Knuckles, so that you can play the two seamlessly!

Another Genesis title to keep an eye out for on XBLA is the original ToeJam and Earl, which recently won a poll [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93899-Vote-for-Segas-Next-Genesis-Game-on-XBLA] to be Sega's next game on the service. If only we could jam it into the top of something to get better high tops and bling.

Sources: CVG [http://blogs.sega.com/usa/2009/08/28/sonic-knuckles-out-on-xbla-on-september-9th/]

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[TheBarefootBandit]

Cool but... I don't own an XBox!!!

 

[Quadtrix]

I'd rather just play Sonic Mega Collection.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

One day, we will get a Sonic game as good as this...

 

[AboveUp]

Eh, I got Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, so I'll pass.

Same here. SEGA Should focus on releasing games not on the collection disc.

 

[Magnatek]

Your information is kind of "off". Any cartridge other than Sonic 2 or 3 put in Sonic and Knuckles results in Blue Sphere (At least, that's how it was.). Other than that,...

I'd rather just play Sonic Mega Collection.

Excellent point. If only I didn't trade my copy into Gamestop.

 

[Ophiuchus]

Don't care about anything Sonic-related, but Toejam & Earl?! That's put a smile on my face.

 

[Quadtrix]

Your information is kind of "off". Any cartridge other than Sonic 2 or 3 put in Sonic and Knuckles results in Blue Sphere (At least, that's how it was.). Other than that,...

I'd rather just play Sonic Mega Collection.

Excellent point. If only I didn't trade my copy into Gamestop.

I gave my copy to a friend, so I'll have to buy a new one. I have Gems Collection, but Sonic CD is really the only memorable game it that collection.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Sonic 3 and knuckles was my favourite sonic game. You could play as tail but they left him out of the title lol.

 

[Jaebird]

...Hey! Who put 1994 hardware in my 2009 software?!

 

[DazZ.]

I loved Sonic 2 as Knuckles. He was defiantly the best character.

Wish I still had the PS2 versions...

 

[Kross]

I still remember renting Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles one weekend with a friend. We played all the way through 3 (co-op, Sonic and Tails) and almost beat Sonic & Knuckles only to die on Robotnick's last form.

 

[joystickjunki3]

I thought we had already been informed about this awhile ago.

 

[DaxStrife]

Very cool, especially since they're including the "lock-on" features, but it seems a bit unfair... Sonic's already had a ton of re-releases. Give ToeJam and Earl some love, already!

 

[DaMunky89]

Sega is notorious for whoring out their classic Sonic code.. I mean, they're good games, but we've already played them on 10 other systems! What we really need is an awesome return to form, like what the New Super Mario Brothers did for that franchise. (Sonic Rush didn't do it for me.. the level design just didn't flow like the old Sonic games.)

I still remember renting Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles one weekend with a friend. We played all the way through 3 (co-op, Sonic and Tails) and almost beat Sonic & Knuckles only to die on Robotnick's last form.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles has a save system. Why didn't you just try that zone over from the start? Or were you playing Sonic & Knuckles without the lock on? I'm pretty sure doing it that way lacks a save..

Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Play as Knuckles in Sonic 3, and also changes the flow of the game and connects it directly to Sonic & Knuckles, so that you can play the two seamlessly!

There's actually a very good reason for this, other than just that it was an awesome idea. Sonic 3 was originally meant to encompass all of the levels seen in Sonic & Knuckles, but the game got so huge they decided to split it into two separate halves. That's why the boss at the end of Sonic 3 isn't a giant egg-suit like it usually is.. that was always meant to be a level boss and not a final boss. The locked on Sonic 3 & Knuckles is actually the way Sonic 3 was originally intended to be played.. Knuckles in Sonic 2 was just a neat bonus.

 

[Kiutu]

When I heard about this a month ago, all the people were going on about how it better be able to do this...guess they will be happy. I will too.

 

[Denmarkian]

It's about freaking time they figured out how to emulate the S&K lock-on with Sonic 3. As far as I know they've never had that available on any previous iterations of Sonic re-releases.

 

[Kross]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles has a save system. Why didn't you just try that zone over from the start? Or were you playing Sonic & Knuckles without the lock on? I'm pretty sure doing it that way lacks a save..

We were using the lock on, but it was so long ago I don't remember much outside of being shot by that giant laser repeatedly and losing our last coin.

* I lied, we didn't quite make it to the final form now that I did some reading, but it was pretty close.