Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Sonic the Hedgehog 3
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Publisher(s)	Sega
Director(s)	Hirokazu Yasuhara
Producer(s)	Yuji Naka
Designer(s)	Hirokazu Yasuhara Hisayoshi Yoshida Takashi Iizuka
Programmer(s)	Yuji Naka Hiroshi Nikaidoh Masanobu Yamamoto
Artist(s)	Takashi Yuda Satoshi Yokokawa
Composer(s)	List of composers Michael Jackson Brad Buxer Cirocco Jones Bobby Brooks Darryl Ross Geoff Grace Doug Grigsby Sachio Ogawa Tatsuyuki Maeda Jun Senoue
Series	Sonic the Hedgehog
Platform(s)	Sega Genesis, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	Sega Genesis NA: February 2, 1994 PAL: February 24, 1994 JP: May 27, 1994 Microsoft Windows JP: February 14, 1997 NA: 1997 EU: 1997
Genre(s)	Platform game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Japanese: ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ3(スリー), Hepburn: Sonikku za Hejjihoggu Surī^?) is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. The third main game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, it was released for the Sega Genesis worldwide in February 1994, and in Japan three months later. Following the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Dr. Robotnik's spaceship, the Death Egg, crash-lands on a mysterious floating island. There, Sonic and Tails must once more retrieve the Chaos Emeralds to stop Death Egg from relaunching, while making rounds with the island's guardian, Knuckles the Echidna.

Development of Sonic 3 began shortly after the release of Sonic 2 in November 1992. It was developed simultaneously with Sonic & Knuckles; as the games were originally developed as a single title until time constraints and cartridge costs later forced the team to split them in two projects. The Sonic & Knuckles cartridge features "lock-on" technology that allows it to be physically attached to the Sonic 3 cartridge, creating a combined game, Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

As with its two predecessors, Sonic 3 was a critical and commercial success, with critics seeing it as an improvement over previous installments. It sold 1.02 million copies in the United States; though this makes it one of the best-selling Genesis games, its predecessors, bundled with the Genesis in some regions, had sold a combined 21 million. The game has been re-released in compilations and download releases for various platforms, including Sonic Mega Collection for the GameCube and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.