Sonic 3 Cz is a hack by Hayate which adds Amy Rose and many new gameplay features to Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

History

Originally, the hack was called Sonic 3 Customizable, and came with a customizer program that could be run to turn options on or off. It was inspired and based off Tiddles' hack, Sonic 3 Complete, before the latter had a customizer. However, Tiddles' one was far easier to use, being web-based, and had a lot more options, so Hayate decided to take his hack in a different direction.

Playing as Amy Rose

Amy's is quite a slow character compared to the others, but has a really high jump. She can't roll into a ball (unless forced to do so by the game), instead, she attacks with her hammer.

Pressing , or while Amy is in the air will cause her to swing her hammer. You can even use this after bouncing off springs or similar objects, or after walking off the edge of a platform.

, or while Amy is in the air will cause her to swing her hammer. You can even use this after bouncing off springs or similar objects, or after walking off the edge of a platform. While on the ground, holding and pressing , or will also cause her to swing her hammer. This can be done next to e.g. monitors, or breakable walls.

and pressing , or will also cause her to swing her hammer. This can be done next to e.g. monitors, or breakable walls. Finally, if you build up speed and hold , Amy will turn her momentum into a whirling attack. You can release to stop the attack early and retain some of your speed.

, Amy will turn her momentum into a whirling attack. You can release to stop the attack early and retain some of your speed. There's one more move planned, as well as some sweet moves for Hyper Amy...

Implemented features

Amy Rose as a playable character, as well as Amy + Tails and Knuckles + Tails combinations.

Holding after doing a downwards Water Shield action will make you land or roll instead of bouncing, great for catching quarter-pipes.

after doing a downwards Water Shield action will make you land or roll instead of bouncing, great for catching quarter-pipes. Destroying enemies nets you rings as well as points, more rings if you destroy more enemies in the chain.

A brand new mid-boss in Hydrocity Zone exclusive to Amy.

You can now only enter the Special Stages from climbing all the way up to the top of the Magnet Ball Bonus Stage. And to enter that bonus stage, you have to get 80 rings and hit a checkpoint (20-49 gives you the slot machine and 50-79 gives you the gumball machine, neither of which have tops).

While transforming still requires 50 rings, transformation drains your score which has been renamed to Power, instead of your rings. Giant rings always give 5000 points (and don't give rings, and don't lead to special stages or HPZ). In Doomsday Zone, you start with 5000 points, and you gain 10000 points every 50 rings (instead of every 100 rings as elsewhere in the game).

You have infinite lives, anything that would get you an extra life gets you 10000 points instead. The life counter is no longer displayed. If you die, you lose 10000 points or all your points if you have less than that, but you don't game over even if you don't have enough points.

To transform, press one jump button while holding another (e.g. hold and press ). Doing the same thing while already transformed will de-transform. This means Sonic can transform while he has a shield, and he can also use the Insta-Shield while he has all emeralds and 50+ rings.

and press ). Doing the same thing while already transformed will de-transform. This means Sonic can transform while he has a shield, and he can also use the Insta-Shield while he has all emeralds and 50+ rings. Sonic fights the Sonic 3 final boss at the normal place in LBZ.

The S3 FBZ icon is used in the data select screen.

Many smaller features, to restore the game to be more like Sonic 3 than Sonic & Knuckles were carried out by Tiddles for Sonic 3 Complete and apply to this game too. They include changing the title screen, title cards, music, level select background, and cheat codes (see below).

Planned features

Unique new abilities for Hyper Amy.

Move FBZ in-between CNZ and ICZ for Sonic and Tails; leave it where it is for Knuckles; Amy will be able to visit FBZ at either point.

Rebrand LRZ2 as HPZ1; add a new, original LRZ2; add a new HPZ2 based off of Sonic 2 Beta's HPZ; redo Knuckles' ending completely.

Skip the score tally by pressing .

Bugs

Major bugs

In the LRZ1 cylinders and the SSZ cutscene tower that you run around, the game will lag a lot and may glitch up the graphics, but there will be no other unwanted effects, and the lag will stop once you leave the cylinder. If you're impatient, just hold TAB (or whatever your speedup button might be).

Some places in the game exhibit strange behavior when you take Knuckles + Tails, Amy alone or Amy + Tails into an area originally exclusive to Knuckles. What happens is actually the same as if you somehow accessed the same area in the original game with Sonic/Tails, and is due to a combination of how the game was originally coded, and that these haven't yet been adjusted to cater for the additional characters.

Many objects in the game don't react to Amy's hammer properly. This is because every single one has to be studied and corrected individually.

Many objects in the game force Amy into a ball when she jumps off or out of them - again, every single one needs to be corrected individually.

Minor bugs

Amy needs to jump to enter CNZ vertical wind tunnels.

ICZ pillars don't fall when Amy breaks the lower parts of them with her hammer.

Amy's hammer attack needs balancing - various hitboxes could be improved, and she's sometimes temporarily invincible when she shouldn't be.

Graphical bugs

Some of Amy's animations aren't yet implemented, and display "Pink Sonic" or garbage.

Amy's credits sequence is... interesting.

Signpost graphics often become glitched, or glitch up other graphics in the vicinity, such as the boss box and scaffold in the LBZ1 boss arena and some graphics in ICZ2 (ice dust, bridge shine, buttons).

Cheat codes

Level select cheat is on the title screen (followed by to enter it).

on the title screen (followed by to enter it). Debug mode is 01, 03, 05, 07 in the sound test.

All Chaos Emeralds* is 02, 04, 05, 06 in the sound test; All Super Emeralds* is 12, 14, 15, 16.

(*they don't allow you to transform*.)

Downloads

Old versions