Sonic 3D Blast is a platform game presented from an isometric perspective. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog, whose goal is to save the Flickies, collect the seven Chaos Emeralds, and defeat Doctor Robotnik and his robot army. Sonic retains most of his abilities from prior games: he can jump and spin in mid-air to defeat robots or hop on platforms, perform a spin-dash on the ground to gain speed, and collects rings as a form of health. Sonic can also collect power-ups, such as elemental shields, speed shoes, or invincibility, by breaking television monitors containing them.
The game is split into several levels called zones. Every zone has three acts: two standard levels, where the player must collect Flickies by defeating robots in order to proceed; and a boss fight against Robotnik, without any Flicky-collecting involved. In normal levels, once the player collects all five Flickies from each section of an act, Sonic is either further advanced into the act, or taken to the next act. If Sonic and the following Flickies are hit by an obstacle or enemy, the Flickies and the rings Sonic collected will scatter. Each individual Flicky's color determines its behavior: blue, pink and orange Flickies make an effort to find Sonic, while green and red Flickies wander off at random; the latter even jumping about, making them harder to re-collect. Sonic starts the game with four lives; if he is hit with no Flickies or rings in his possession, he will lose a life. Losing all lives results in a game over. Lives can be replenished by collecting a 1-up or collecting ten Sonic-shaped medals.
As with previous games, Sonic 3D Blast includes "special stages", in which the player collects Chaos Emeralds. Obtaining all seven Emeralds allows the player to play the final boss battle and discover the true ending of the game. To access these stages, the player must find one of Sonic's friends (either Tails or Knuckles the Echidna) hidden within a level, and stand next to them with at least 50 rings collected. Doing so allows the player to exchange the rings in order for the chance to play the game's special stage. During special stages, the camera shifts to behind Sonic as he runs down a preset path and must collect rings while avoiding obstacles that, when run into, make him lose rings. A certain number of rings need to be obtained at certain checkpoints to continue through the stage, and ultimately be able to make it to the end in order to receive a Chaos Emerald. Collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds also allows the "Final Fight" level to be played, consisting of a final boss fight and the good ending of the game.
Plot
Doctor Robotnik discovers mysterious birds called Flickies that live on an island in an alternate dimension. He learns that they can travel anywhere using large rings, so he decides to exploit them by turning them into robots to help him search for the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic arrives at the island only to discover the presence of Robotnik, and he is tasked with saving the Flickies and defeating his nemesis.
Sonic travels through the island, saving the Flickies and clashing with Robotnik in his various machines. If the player collects all the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic proceeds into a black void, where he engages in a final battle with Robotnik, who pilots a large robot. Sonic manages to destroy the robot's weapons and defeats Robotnik, freeing the Flickies. If the player fails to collect the Emeralds, Robotnik escapes in their possession.
Release
Sonic 3D Blast was released for the Genesis in North America on November 1996, and in Europe within the same month. The Saturn version was released in North America in fall later that year and in Europe on February 1997. The Genesis version was not physically released in Japan; only the Saturn port was, on October 14, 1999. A port of the Sega Saturn version was released for Microsoft Windows in Europe on September 11, 1997, and worldwide later that year. The game's launch coincided with the release of the similarly-titled Game Gear game Sonic Blast, which also features pre-rendered 3D graphics.
The Genesis version of the game is available in several Sonic-themed compilations. These include Sonic Mega Collection for the GameCube; Sonic Mega Collection Plus for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows; and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was also digitally rereleased for the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007 and Valve's Steam marketplace in 2010.
Reception
Sonic 3D Blast received mixed reviews, according to the review aggregator GameRankings. Mike Wallis, an employee of Sega at the time, recalled in an interview that the Genesis version was successful for the company, eventually selling over 700,000 copies. The Saturn version was also a commercial success and was one of the system's better-selling games, according to Wallis.
Critics generally disapproved of Sonic 3D Blast's gameplay style, some finding its isometric perspective limiting. GamePro's Art Angel found that it made timing jumps and spin dashes to either destroy enemies or land on moving platforms frustrating at first, and that once those techniques are mastered the game suddenly becomes too easy. Crispin Boyer of Electronic Gaming Monthly remarked that "The game doesn't hold nearly as many secrets as earlier Sonic the Hedgehog games, and it gets repetitive after a while." Lucas M. Thomas of IGN lamented that "the sense of speed and intense action that Sonic's name was built on is absent here, replaced by, essentially, a looping, lazy fetchquest". Austin Shau of GameSpot echoed this concern, calling the gameplay "an exercise in tedium".
Besides the game's goals, Shau and Thomas criticized the controls, particularly in the area of Sonic's overly slow-paced movement and slippery deceleration. Thomas did admit that the game "has its moments" of quick-footed vigor, but characterized these as few and far between, and Shau summarized that, while not unsalvageable in isolation, the game's elements violently clashed and customers would be "spending 800 Wii points for a vat of oil and water". Damien McFerran of Nintendo Life stated that its repetition was broken only by its boss battles and special stages, the latter of which Shau wrote off as "childishly easy".
However, Shawn Smith and Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly both found the gameplay formula to be well thought-out, with Smith remarking, "I like having to retrieve the animals in each level and the various warps make the levels seem huge." Though he compared the gameplay unfavorably to previous Sonic games, Sega Saturn Magazine's Lee Nutter found it had a great deal of fun to offer and praised it as being more challenging than any previous Sonic game. Despite his criticism of the isometric format, Art Angel was pleased with the game's level designs. Reflecting on its complaints years earlier upon the game's inclusion in Sonic Mega Collection Plus, Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com called the game "much better than you might be led to believe". Brett Alan Weiss of AllGame voiced a similar opinion, feeling it was a "nice departure" from the style of the side-scrolling Sonic games.
