Sonic 3 Unlocked Brings Amy, Mighty, Ray and Encore Mode to Mega Drive Sonic 3

Amy Rose, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel have joined the original Mega Drive Sonic 3, courtesy of ROM hacker Liliam! A demo of their fan-made project, Sonic 3 Unlocked, is available through Sonic Hacking Contest 2026, and it doesn’t stop at three extra characters. Sonic Mania Plus‘ Encore Mode is part of the package too.

The newcomers bring their movesets from Sonic Origins Plus and Sonic Mania Plus, rather than simply borrowing their appearances. Liliam has adapted their sprites to work within the Mega Drive’s colour palette, drawing additional poses and animations where needed. Ray’s Air Glide and Sonic’s Drop Dash have also been recreated using reverse-engineered code from Sonic Mania Plus, bringing those later abilities back to the original hardware.

Encore Mode gives players a remixed version of Sonic 3 to tackle with different combinations of characters. Much like its Sonic Mania Plus counterpart, you can swap between members of your team during play, with the A button handling character switching.

There’s been plenty of work on the original game itself. Most cutscenes can now be skipped, score countdowns no longer have to run their course, and pushable objects move considerably faster. Certain sequences have been sped up as well, including the Sandopolis Act 1 boss, while players can now jump out of things that previously kept them locked in place, such as the rappel wires in Sandopolis.

Tails has received some welcome attention too. Player one can now control his flight even when he’s acting as Sonic’s support character, making it easier to get a lift when needed. Holding Up also prevents double-jump moves from activating, giving Tails a chance to pick you up without accidentally triggering another ability.

And anyone who’s ever transformed into Super Sonic or Super Knuckles when they really just wanted to use a double-jump ability should appreciate this one: Super transformations now have a dedicated button.

Liliam has also changed how continues work. Using one sends you back to the beginning of Act 1, even in a saved game, although continues are now unlimited in that mode. Running out of time similarly restarts the current act with the timer reset.

There’s a reward for giving each character a proper run through the game, too. Every character has a hidden ability that can be unlocked by completing the regular one-player mode with them. Encore Mode offers another way to earn these abilities, rewarding the characters that remain in your team when you finish the adventure.

The soundtrack hasn’t been left alone, either. Sonic 3 Unlocked includes additional music from official Sonic releases, including tracks recovered from the November 3, 1993 prototype of Sonic 3. The project uses Flamedriver, flamewing’s bug-fixed version of the original sound driver, and draws inspiration from fan projects such as Sonic 3 Complete and Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited.

It’s still a demo, of course, and Liliam has more planned. Encore Mode currently uses Sonic 3‘s original Special Stage layouts, with new layouts and alternative level palettes intended for the completed version. Item monitors will also be rebalanced, Special Stage rings repositioned, and there’s a Museum option on the title screen that the developer isn’t ready to explain just yet.

A couple of issues remain in the current build. Tails and Amy can sometimes catch on level geometry because of their smaller rolling height, while Knuckles’ climbing ability can be interrupted by contact with solid objects. Liliam has acknowledged both, with a replacement fix already planned for the latter.

You can download the 4 MB Mega Drive demo directly from Sonic Hacking Contest, or follow the project’s development through Liliam’s GitHub repository.

Sonic 3 Unlocked is one of 58 accepted entries in this year’s contest, which is currently underway. Community voting is scheduled to close on November 1 at 8:00 AM BST, according to the organizers’ published schedule. You can catch up on Sonic City’s earlier coverage of the event.

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