Listing these as one game, though I only played Sonic & Knuckles on the Genesis and later played the whole thing through emulation and on a collection on Gamecube.

As a fanboy, this has the “epic” quality that appealed to me - more characters, quite a bit more storytelling through the sequence of stages and mini cutscenes. It seemed bold that Knuckles' story ended before Sonic's did. Looking back on the design of the games, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 feels like it had a better editor - the game is simpler and brighter and a little more fun. Still, the addition of the save system in 3 made a world of difference in terms of seeing all the game content and getting to jump to the parts I enjoyed.

It's kind of amazing that these two parts came out just months apart: Sonic 3 in February 1994, and Sonic & Knuckles in October. When Sonic 3 came out there were McDonalds toys promoting it. Sonic & Knuckles seemed much cooler though with its red-and-black minimal cover art. I received S&K for Christmas that year, along with a stuffed Sonic doll that in 2021 is still sitting on the wall in my office.