Sonic 3 A.I.R.

- Angel Island Revisited

GAME MANUAL
Welcome to the Game Manual of Sonic 3 A.I.R.!

What you can find here:

• Installation instructions
• Help on common issues
• Details on the game options
• ...and more, see the table of contents below!

In case you don't want to read it all, the important things are written in bold.

For modders:
There is a separate document in the "docs" folder going into details on how to make mods.
CONTENTS

Installation & First Time Setup.................................................................3

What you need...........................................................................................................3
Windows...................................................................................................................4
Mac..........................................................................................................................5
Linux........................................................................................................................7
Android.....................................................................................................................9
iOS / Web................................................................................................................11
Nintendo Switch.......................................................................................................12

Controls..............................................................................................13
Keyboard.................................................................................................................13
XBox Controller........................................................................................................13
Other Gamepads / Custom Keyboard bindings..............................................................13

Special Character Moves........................................................................15

Tails Assist...............................................................................................................15
Easier Flight Controls................................................................................................15
Flight Cancel............................................................................................................15

Game Options......................................................................................16
Mod Options.............................................................................................................16
System....................................................................................................................16
Display....................................................................................................................16
Audio......................................................................................................................17
Visuals....................................................................................................................17
Gameplay................................................................................................................18
Controls..................................................................................................................19
Tweaks....................................................................................................................20

Troubleshooting....................................................................................21
Graphics..................................................................................................................21
Crash on Startup......................................................................................................21

Mods..................................................................................................22
Where to get Mods?..................................................................................................22
Installation of Mods..................................................................................................22
Mod Options.............................................................................................................23

About this Fan Game.............................................................................24

Credits and Thanks...............................................................................24

INSTALLATION & FIRST TIME SETUP

What you need

To play Sonic 3 A.I.R., you need two things:

1. The original combined Sonic 3 & Knuckles ROM file from the Steam version of Sonic 3 &
Knuckles that is a part of the SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classic Collection. It‘s needed
because Sonic 3 A.I.R. is loading large parts of game data from that exact ROM.

If you own Sonic 3 & Knuckles on Steam (as part of the SEGA Genesis & Mega Drive
Classics), then make sure to download / install it on your PC or Mac.

Unfortunately, this game was removed from the Steam shop on May 20th, 2022.
Since then, obtaining the right ROM in a legally safe way will get trickier, but one of the
alternatives might work for you.

Note that the developers of Sonic 3 A.I.R. can't give any support on getting the ROM.

2. The Sonic 3 A.I.R. game app from sonic3air.org.

Choose the right download, depending on your platform. There‘s downloads for Windows,
Linux and Android, and links to download pages for Mac, iOS and Switch.

Find more information about installation on the various platforms below.

Windows

Install Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Prerequisites
• You need Windows 7 or higher to play, at least Windows 10 is recommended.
• A dedicated Nvidia / AMD graphics card or a not too old Intel graphics card (HD 3000 or
above) or later is recommended, with up-to-date drivers. Otherwise you might need to
switch to fail-safe mode.
• And as mentioned, the Sonic 3 & Knuckles Steam ROM is a must as well.

How to install
• To install, simply unpack the downloaded ZIP file to a place on your hard disk, e.g. into a
folder on your desktop or in your user files. Easy as that.
• Make sure you really unpacked it, and don‘t start the game directly from inside the ZIP file.
This will only lead to an error message box like "Script execution completely stopped
because call stack was emptied".

Add the Sonic 3 & Knuckles ROM

• If you have the Steam version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles installed on your hard disk, no further
steps are required. Sonic 3 A.I.R. can usually find it by itself and load the ROM data from
there.
• If not, Sonic 3 A.I.R. will ask you for the ROM on first startup.
The usual location of the ROM file is this:
C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Sega Classics\
uncompressed ROMs\Sonic_Knuckles_wSonic3.bin
• Or you can try to find it using Steam‘s own functionality to browse the local files as follows:
1. Open your Steam Library and make sure Sonic 3 & Knuckles is installed
2. Right-click "SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics" and select "Properties…"
3. A new menu will pop up, navigate to "Local Files" there and click the "Browse" button
in the upper right
4. This will take you to the installation folder of the SEGA Classics, where you can find
the game ROMs inside the sub-folder named "uncompressed ROMs"
5. Select the file "Sonic_Knuckles_wSonic3.bin" there - that's the Sonic 3 & Knuckles
ROM.

Start Sonic 3 A.I.R.

To start the game, just double-click the "Sonic3AIR.exe" file. Note that the .exe file extension
might be hidden on your PC.

You will likely get a Windows Smart Screen message

like this on first start, warning that Sonic 3 A.I.R. is an
unrecognized app.
This can be safely ignored and easily skipped by clicking
"More Info", then "Run anyway".

Got technical issues?

If you encounter problems after game launch, like graphics issues or the game crashing, have a
look at the Troubleshooting section in this manual.
Where‘s your saved data
Sonic 3 A.I.R. saves all your settings, saves, mods etc. in a separate folder. This way, it‘s safe to
completely delete the game installation and replace with another one when an update comes out.

To get to the saved data folder:

• Open the Windows File Explorer, copy the following into the address line and press Enter:
%appdata%\Sonic3AIR
• Alternatively, do a right-click into the running game and select the option "Open saved data
folder" there.

Option for a portable installation:

If you prefer to use a saved data folder right inside the game installation, simply create a folder
"savedata" in there, i.e. right next to "Sonic3AIR.exe".
If this exists, it will serve as the location where the game stores your data.

Update Sonic 3 A.I.R.

To update from a previous Sonic 3 A.I.R. version, all you need is to install it alongside your
existing Sonic 3 A.I.R. installation. Your saved data won‘t get lost this way, as it‘s stored elsewhere
anyway – see Saved Data Folder below.
Only exception to this is if you opted for a portable installation that includes the saved data, as
described in the "Option for a portable installation" box below.

To be on the safe side, here‘s the recommended steps for updating:

1. Install the new version of Sonic 3 A.I.R. as described above, but use a different target
location (e.g. a different folder name) than your existing game installation.
2. Start the new version once, to make sure your settings and save games are still
present.
3. If everything looks good so far, it‘s safe to delete the old game installation now.
4. Have fun with the update!

Mac

Install Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Prerequisites
• You need macOS 10.9 or later to play. Any Mac made since 2009, along with a few older
ones should be able to run the game.

How to install
• Installation of the game is simple: Just mount the downloaded DMG file and copy
Sonic 3 AIR to your Applications directory. Easy as that.

Add the Sonic 3 & Knuckles ROM

• If you have the Steam version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles installed on your hard disk, no further
steps are required. Just click the Steam button and Sonic 3 A.I.R. can usually find it by itself
and load the ROM data from there.
 • If not, Sonic 3 A.I.R. will ask you for the ROM on first startup.
The usual location of the ROM file is this:
~Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Sega Classics/
uncompressed ROMs/Sonic_Knuckles_wSonic3.bin
• Or you can try to find it using Steam‘s own functionality to browse the local files as follows:
1. Open your Steam Library and make sure Sonic 3 & Knuckles is installed
2. Right-click "SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics" and select "Properties…"
3. A new menu will pop up, navigate to "Local Files" there and click the "Browse" button
in the upper right
4. This will take you to the installation folder of the SEGA Classics, where you can find
the game ROMs inside the sub-folder named "uncompressed ROMs"
5. Select the file "Sonic_Knuckles_wSonic3.bin" there - that's the Sonic 3 & Knuckles
ROM

Start Sonic 3 A.I.R.

To start the game, just double-click the "Sonic 3 AIR" app.

Got technical issues?

If you encounter problems after game launch, like graphics issues or the game crashing, have a
look at the Troubleshooting section in this manual.

Where‘s your saved data

Sonic 3 A.I.R. saves all your settings, saves, mods etc. in a separate folder. This way, it‘s safe to
completely delete the game installation and replace with another one when an update comes out.

To get to the saved data folder:

• Open the Finder, and hold the Option key while opening the "Go" menu.
Then select "Library" and navigate to /Application Support/sonic3air/Sonic3AIR/
• Alternatively, do a right-click into the running game and select the option "Open mods
folder…" there. Your save data is one folder up from the mods folder.

Update Sonic 3 A.I.R.

To update from a previous Sonic 3 A.I.R. version, all you need is to replace your existing Sonic 3
A.I.R. installation with the new app. Your saved data won‘t get lost this way, as it‘s stored elsewhere
anyway – see Saved Data Folder below.

To be on the safe side, here‘s the recommended steps for updating:

1. Install the new version of Sonic 3 A.I.R. as described above, but use a different target
location (e.g. a different folder name) than your existing game installation.
2. Start the new version once, to make sure your settings and save games are still
present.
3. If everything looks good so far, it‘s safe to delete the old game installation now.
4. Have fun with the update!
Linux

Install Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Prerequisites
• You need a 64-bit Linux, on a x86_64 PC (i.e. ARM CPUs are not supported).
• Sonic 3 A.I.R. has been tested on various distributions / desktops, including Ubuntu 20.04,
Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon, Fedora 32 and Manjaro Xfce. However, there‘s no guarantee that
all distributions work.
• Make sure to have all drivers installed for OpenGL support, otherwise you might need to
switch to fail-safe mode.

How to install
• After download, unpack the .tar.gz file to a place on your hard disk where you have full
user rights.
• Optional: Execute the setup_linux.sh bash script in the just unpacked sonic3air_game
directory. To do so, open Terminal in the sonic3air_game directory and type:
bash ./setup_linux.sh
• This will add a "Sonic 3 A.I.R." launcher link to the applications / start menu, if supported by
your desktop (it should work for e.g. Gnome and Cinnamon, but does not for Xfce).

Add the Sonic 3 & Knuckles ROM

• If you have the Steam version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles installed on your hard disk, no further
steps are required. Sonic 3 A.I.R. can usually find it by itself and load the ROM data from
there.
• If not, Sonic 3 A.I.R. will ask you for the ROM on first startup.
The usual location of the ROM file is this:
~/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Sega Classics/
uncompressed ROMs/Sonic_Knuckles_wSonic3.bin
• Or you can try to find it using Steam‘s own functionality to browse the local files as follows:
1. Open your Steam Library and make sure Sonic 3 & Knuckles is installed
2. Right-click "SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics" and select "Properties…"
3. A new menu will pop up, navigate to "Local Files" there and click the "Browse" button
in the upper right
4. This will take you to the installation folder of the SEGA Classics, where you can find
the game ROMs inside the sub-folder named "uncompressed ROMs"
5. Select the file "Sonic_Knuckles_wSonic3.bin" there - that's the Sonic 3 & Knuckles
ROM

Start Sonic 3 A.I.R.

You can start the sonic3air_linux executable directly in Terminal. Open a Terminal window in the
main installation directory (i.e. in sonic3air_game) and type:
./sonic3air_linux

If you added a Sonic 3 A.I.R. launcher link with the setup_linux.sh script, you can use that as
well.

Got technical issues?

If you encounter problems after game launch, like graphics issues or the game crashing, have a
look at the Troubleshooting section in this manual.
Where‘s your saved data
Sonic 3 A.I.R. saves all your settings, saves, mods etc. in a separate folder. This way, it‘s safe to
completely delete the game installation and replace with another one when an update comes out.

To get to the saved data folder:

• In Terminal or your favorite file browser, navigate to ~/.local/share/Sonic3AIR
• Alternatively, do a right-click into the running game and select the option "Open saved data
folder" there.
• Note that the flatpak version uses the following path instead:
/home/.var/app/org.sonic3air.Sonic3AIR/data/Sonic3AIR

Option for a portable installation:

If you prefer to use a saved data folder right inside the game installation, simply create a folder
"savedata" in there, i.e. right next to "sonic3air_linux".
If this exists, it will serve as the location where the game stores your data.

Update Sonic 3 A.I.R.

To update from a previous Sonic 3 A.I.R. version, all you need is to install it alongside your
existing Sonic 3 A.I.R. installation. Your saved data won‘t get lost this way, as it‘s stored elsewhere
anyway – see Saved Data Folder below.
Only exception to this is if you opted for a portable installation that includes the saved data, as
described in the "Option for a portable installation" box below.

To be on the safe side, here‘s the recommended steps for updating:

1. Install the new version of Sonic 3 A.I.R. as described above, but use a different target
location (e.g. a different folder name) than your existing game installation.
2. Start the new version once, to make sure your settings and save games are still
present.
3. If everything looks good so far, it‘s safe to delete the old game installation now.
4. Have fun with the update!
Android

Install Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Prerequisites
• You need Android 6.0 or above.
• Sonic 3 A.I.R. has been tested on various Android devices. However, there‘s no guarantee
that it works well on all of them.

How to install
• Open the download page on your Android device.
• Download and install the Android APK.
• When the download has finished, launch the APK. (Most browsers will ask you if you want to
install the APK anyway).
• It's possible you get a warning about installing from an untrusted source. If so, follow the
on-screen instructions to make sure that such installations are allowed.

Add the Sonic 3 & Knuckles ROM

You need to copy over the Sonic 3 & Knuckles Steam ROM using a PC or Mac. This is only required
to be done once.

• Find the ROM

On your PC / Mac, first make sure you have the ROM from the Sonic 3 & Knuckles Steam
version installed. Then locate the ROM file as described in the installation sections for
Windows, Mac or Linux, respectively.

• Copy the ROM to your Android

Connect your Android device to your PC / Mac with a USB cable, and access its file system.
Or alternatively, you can use your Google Account to transfer the file. Both is described
here. It does not matter where exactly you copy the ROM file, it could be e.g. the
Downloads folder.

• Method A: Open ROM using the file selection

Now start Sonic 3 A.I.R. on your Android device. On first start, you will get a warning that
the Steam ROM is needed and will be asked to select the game ROM. Tap "OK" and use the
file selection dialog to find the ROM you previously copied to your device (or to your Google
Drive, if you went for that option). After file selection, the game should load now.
If you can‘t find the ROM in the file selection dialog, double-check where exactly you placed
it before.
Unfortunately, file selection does not work on all devices - e.g. Android TVs just show a brief
error instead of opening the file selection. So if this does not work for you, try method B.

• Method B: Launch the ROM file itself

Open a file management app, e.g. the (often pre-installed) app called "Files", or any other
("FX", "Samsung My Files", "ES File Explorer", etc.). Or in case you‘re using Google Drive for
tranferring the ROM, use the Google Drive app.
Navigate to where you stored the ROM, and select to open / launch the file. If the app
supports it, this should pass the ROM to Sonic 3 A.I.R. or give you the option to do so.
Note that this method works best while Sonic 3 A.I.R. itself is not running in the
background.
If this still does not work, there‘s only method C left to try.
 • Method C: Directly access the save data folder
In short: Use a file management app to copy the ROM file from where you previously placed
it in your device‘s file system to Sonic 3 A.I.R.‘s save data folder at
"Android/data/org.eukaryot.sonic3air/files".
You can find the details on how to access the save data folder further below, in the "Where‘s
your saved data" section.
This method requires that the Sonic 3 A.I.R. app was started at least once before. And after
you copied the file, kill and restart Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Start Sonic 3 A.I.R.

After installation, simply tap the Sonic 3 A.I.R. app icon on your home screen or in your apps menu.

Got technical issues?

If you encounter problems after game launch, like graphics issues or the game crashing, have a
look at the Troubleshooting section in this manual.

Where‘s your saved data

Sonic 3 A.I.R. saves all your settings, saves, mods etc. in a folder at
"Android/data/org.eukaryot.sonic3air/files". Note that you need to have started Sonic 3
A.I.R. at least once, so that it had a chance to create that save data folder already.

You can then access this folder using a file management app like the usually pre-installed "Files"
app, or something like "Samsung My Files", "FX", etc.
• Open that app, and start at the internal storage root folder (in the "Files" app, it's called
"Main Storage").
• From there, navigate to the path "Android/data/org.eukaryot.sonic3air/files".
• This is the save data folder, and it's built up the same way as on the Windows / Mac / Linux
versions of Sonic 3 A.I.R.
• This is the place where the Steam ROM is expected. But it‘s also where you can put save
games, or mods inside the "mods" sub-folder.
• Use the app to copy files from somewhere else - like your Downloads folder - to that
location.
• Before making changes there, it's a good idea to kill (not just close) the Sonic 3 A.I.R. app
in case it‘s still running. That‘s not necessary for mods, those should get updated next time
you enter the in-game Mods menu.

As alternative to a file management app, you can also access the Android file system from your
PC / Mac, and transfer files this way – however, this does not work as reliably, as it (at least
Windows) does not always show all files and directories.

Update Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Just install the new APK.
But do not uninstall the old Sonic 3 A.I.R. version before, as this would delete your save files!
iOS / Web

Install Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Prerequisites
• You need an iPhone or iPad device that is running iOS 13 or later.

How to run in browser

• Visit the web site for the current iOS / Web release and find the link at the bottom of the
page to play in a browser. Web browsers require support for both WebGL and WebAssembly.
This is available in most browsers released after 2017.

How to install as an iOS app

• Visit the web site for the current iOS / Web release in Safari and tap the share button in the
browser toolbar. In the share menu that appears, you’ll find an “Add to Home Screen”
option. Use this to add the game icon to your home screen.

Add the Sonic 3 & Knuckles ROM

• On your PC / Mac, first make sure you have the ROM from the Sonic 3 & Knuckles Steam
version installed. Then locate the ROM file as described in the installation sections for
Windows, Mac or Linux, respectively.
• Copy the ROM to somewhere that you can access from the Files app on your iOS device,
such as your iCloud Drive, other cloud drive storage apps, or a USB drive if you have the
ability to connect it to your device.
• The first time you launch the game, you will be prompted to select the ROM after the game
data is downloaded. Tap the “Select File…” button and pick the “Browse…” option from the
menu that appears. Browse to the place where you saved the ROM file and select it.

Start Sonic 3 A.I.R.

After installation, simply tap the Sonic 3 A.I.R. app icon on your home screen.

Got technical issues?

If you encounter problems after game launch, like graphics issues or the game crashing, have a
look at the Troubleshooting section in this manual.

Where‘s your saved data

The iOS / Web version of Sonic 3 A.I.R. has a built in file manager that appears when you quit the
game. From the main menu, select “Exit”. The file manager allows you to upload files to your
savedata folder, including mods into the mods folder, as well as download existing files like your
save file and settings for when you’re ready to upgrade to a new version.

Update Sonic 3 A.I.R.

The iOS and Web version of the game is designed to work entirely without an internet connection.
After the game has finished downloading, you currently cannot update it. New versions can be
installed manually the same way you installed the previous version, you can have multiple versions
installed on the same device. Use the built-in file manager to manually back up your save data by
downloading it, then uploading it into the same place using the file manager in the new version that
you install.
Nintendo Switch

Install Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Prerequisites
• Make sure your Switch can run homebrew.

How to install
1. Extract the contents of this ZIP to the root of your SD card.
2. Copy Sonic_Knuckles_wSonic3.bin to /switch/sonic3air on your Switch's SD card. After
installing the Steam version, you should be able to find it in one of the directories listed in
the section Sonic 3 & Knuckles Steam ROM.
If you installed Sega Classics to a different location, you'll need to check manually.
3. Extract the contents of this ZIP to the root of your SD card.
4. Copy Sonic_Knuckles_wSonic3.bin to /switch/sonic3air on your Switch's SD card. After
installing the Steam version, you should be able to find it in one of the directories listed in
the section Sonic 3 & Knuckles Steam ROM.
If you installed Sega Classics to a different location, you'll need to check manually.

Add the Sonic 3 & Knuckles ROM

• Use a PC (with Windows or Linux) or a Mac to install the Steam version of Sonic 3 &
Knuckles, and get the ROM from there.
• Find more information on that in the installation sections for Windows, Mac or Linux,
respectively.

Start Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Start Sonic 3 A.I.R. via hbmenu (or whatever method you prefer).

NOTE: It is recommended to give the game full RAM access. This means you shouldn't launch
hbmenu from the album applet when running this. With the latest Atmosphere build and its
default config, you can hold R while starting any game to open hbmenu with full RAM access. If
you have any issues make sure the game has full RAM access before reporting them; launching
as an applet will not be supported.

Got technical issues?

If you encounter problems after game launch, like graphics issues or the game crashing, have a
look at the Troubleshooting section in this manual.

Where‘s your saved data

The Switch version of Sonic 3 A.I.R. stores its data in the "savedata" folder that is part of the
installation.

Update Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Simply extract the new ZIP to the root of your SD card and overwrite all files.
CONTROLS

Keyboard

In menus:
• Up, Down, Left, Right = Selection change
• Enter = Accept selected option, or start the game

In game:
• Up, Down, Left, Right = Movement
(including crouching, rolling, etc. - you probably know the classic Sonic game controls)
• Q, A, S, D = Jump and usage of character ability (shield power, flying, or gliding)
• W = Super Transformation and Super Cancel
• W = Fast forwarding of certain cutscenes
• W = Restart in Time Attack mode
• Enter = Pause game

General:
• F1 = Bring up an overview of hotkeys
• Escape or Alt + Enter = Toggle fullscreen
• Alt + F4 = Quit the game completely
• Numpad Plus and Minus = Change audio volume
• Alt + F and Alt + G = Change the pixel filter
• Alt + H = Change the frame sync method
• Alt + B = Change the background blur effect
• F3 = Rescan for gamepads
• F4 = Switch player controls

XBox Controller

In menus:
• Up, Down, Left, Right = Selection change
• Start/Menu = Start the game

In game:
• Up, Down, Left, Right = Movement
• A, B, X = Jump and usage of character ability
• Y = Super Transformation and Super Cancel
• Y = Restart in Time Attack mode
• Start/Menu = Pause game

Other Gamepads / Custom Keyboard bindings

Other gamepads should work as well, even if they are not compatible to the XBox Controller.
The default button bindings may not fit in this case, but you can use the Controller Setup menu
in the Options under Controls to redefine the bindings to your liking.

Alternative method to manually edit the button bindings:

• Start Sonic 3 A.I.R. once, attach the game controller, and close the game again.
 • The "settings_input.json" file in the Saved Data now includes an entry somewhere for your
controller.
• Feel free to make changes there. Note that the buttons here are enumerated the same way
as in Windows' system panel's Gamecontroller details window, but starting with "Button0"
representing button 1, etc.

To change keyboard bindings:

• That works the same way as for game controller button bindings, i.e. there‘s keyboard
entries in "settings_input.json".
• Look for "Keyboard1" for keyboard bindings for player 1, and "Keyboard2" for player 2.
• This is the list of supported key bindings - note that some of these were added in the
November 2020 preview, and won‘t work in previous versions:

"Enter" "0" "A" "Insert"

"Backspace" "1" "B" "Home"

"Tab" "2" "C" "PageUp"

"Space" "3" "D" "Delete"

"Exclaim" "4" "E" "End"

"QuoteDbl" "5" "F" "PageDown"

"Hash" "6" "G" "Up"

"Percent" "7" "H" "Down"

"Dollar" "8" "I" "Left"

"Ampersand" "9" "J" "Right"

"Quote" "Colon" "K" "NumpadDivide"

"LeftParen" "Semicolon" "L" "NumpadMultiply"

"RightParen" "Less" "M" "NumpadMinus"

"Asterisk" "Equals" "N" "NumpadPlus"

"Plus" "Greater" "O" "NumpadEnter"

"Comma" "Question" "P" "Numpad1"

"Minus" "At" "Q" "Numpad2"

"Perios" "LeftBracket" "R" "Numpad3"

"Slash" "Backslash" "S" "Numpad4"

"LeftShift" "RightBracket" "T" "Numpad5"

"RightShift" "Caret" "U" "Numpad6"

"LeftCtrl" "Underscore" "V" "Numpad7"

"RightCtrl" "BackQuote" "W" "Numpad8"

"LeftAlt" "X" "Numpad9"

"RightAlt" "Y" "Numpad0"

"CapsLock" "Z" "NumpadPeriod"

SPECIAL CHARACTER MOVES

There are some moves in Sonic 3 A.I.R. that are not part of original Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Note that some of these can be disabled or configured in the options menu.

Tails Assist
• You need to play with Tails as an AI-controlled second character.
• Jump and when both you and Tails are in mid-air, press Up + Jump to make Tails fly. You
can then hang on to him and let him carry you around.
• While being carried, control the flight with the Up, Down, Left, Right buttons.
• When pressing no button at all, Tails will try to hover in place until he gets tired.
• Tails Assist styles:
◦ Sonic 3: Jump off with a Jump button, gain height with Up.
◦ Sonic Mania: Jump off with Down + Jump, gain height with Jump or Up.

Easier Flight Controls

• When playing as Tails, just hold the Up button to gain height during flight. There is no need
to repeatedly press the Jump button (though that still works as well).

Flight Cancel
• When playing as Tails, you can cancel his flight at any time by pressing Down + Jump.
• This will curl Tails into a ball again. Use this move to attack enemies from above!
GAME OPTIONS

In the game‘s Options menu, you can find various settings to customize the game to your liking.

Mod Options

If you have mods installed and activated that feature their own options, you can find them all in the
Mods tab. It's left to the System tab, and only appears if there's actual options for at least one
active mod.

System

The System tab for the most part is not about options, but more of a start page with various
information, links, etc.

You can use the Update Check to search for new game updates. Choose whether your search
should include only the well-tested stable updates, the more experimental previews as well, or
maybe even the bleeding-edge test builds.

More Info contains links taht will be opened in your web browser - namely to the game homepage,
and to the online version of the game manual that you're reading right now.

Under Debugging, there's a few special technical settings, but these are really only meant as a last
resort for certain very specific bugs. It's highly recommended to leave them at "Auto (Default)",
unless you have a good reason to switch to something else.

Display

General
• Renderer: The OpenGL Hardware Renderer is the recommended option, as it‘s usually
faster and allows for higher quality of certain effects like background blur. However, if you
encounter large graphics errors in the game, try the OpenGL Software Renderer instead.
And if OpenGL doesn't work for you at all, there's still the Fail-safe / Software Renderer.
• Frame Sync: Enable or disable vertical synchronization with your screen (V-Sync). This is
usually recommended to have enabled, especially if you‘re using a monitor with 60 Hz
refresh rate. In case your monitor has a higher refresh rate than 60 Hz, try the V-Sync +
FPS Cap option. If you encounter input lag or an unsmooth frame rate, maybe turning V-
Sync off is a good choice.
You can change this setting at any time by pressing Alt+H.
• Upscaling: Use either as much as possible of your window / screen with Aspect Fit, or
select Integer Scale if you prefer all pixels to be the same size (which can be nice for the
Sharp filter).
• Backdrop: If you have a screen wider (or higher) than 16:9, you can enable a background
image for the outer screen region here.
• Screen filter: Want your game to be crisp like the original? Or smoothed using a filter?
Note that xBRZ can be pretty performance consuming, depending on your graphics card.
You can change this setting at any time by pressing Alt+F or Alt+G.
• Scanlines: Adds horizontal black stripes to resemble a good old CRT TV.
 • Background Blur: This effect blurs the game‘s backgrounds so the foreground stands out
better. Leave it off for the original game feeling, or set it to up to 100% if you like the effect.
You can change this setting at any time by pressing Alt+B.

Window Mode
• Current Screen: Choose between a resizable window, a borderless fullscreen window
(recommended), or the old-fashioned exclusive fullscreen at your desktop resolution.
• Startup Screen: Same as above, but here you can set which window mode the game will
start in.

Performance Output
• Show Performance: Display performance measurements on the screen, either the frames
per second (FPS) or a more detailled profiling - this is mainly meant for diagnosing
performance issues.
You can change this setting at any time by pressing Alt + P.

Audio

Volume
• Overall Volume: Base volume for all audio output.
• Music Volume: Relative volume for music playback.
• Sound Volume: Relative volume for all sound effects.

Soundtrack
• Soundtrack Type: The remastered soundtrack uses higher quality samples, but is still very
close to the original (here emulated) music.
• Sound Test: Check out the game‘s music!

Theme / Level / Music Selection

• Select Sonic 3 or Sonic & Knuckles version of different themes.
In some cases, there are additional options to choose from, like the Sonic 2 Super Theme.
Or the "Pick by Zone" option, which selects the Sonic 3 version of a music track in the Sonic
3 zones and the Sonic & Knuckles version in the S&K zones (starting in Mushroom Hill
Zone).

Music Behavior
• On Level (Re)Start: Choose whether to continue the music when restarting a level, or
restart it.

Effects
• Underwater Sounds: Enable a muffled playback of music and sounds while under water, or
stay with normal playback with no changes.

Visuals

Visual Enhancements
• Character Rotation: Use a smooth 360° rotation for characters (and few other objects), or
stick to the original 8-way rotation.
• Time Display: The extended time display shows hundredths of seconds as well (as Sonic
CD and Mania), the original display is only minutes and seconds.
• Lives Display: You can show the lives counter either in the lower left corner as in classic
Sonic games, or in the upper right corner as in the mobile remasters of Sonic 1/2/CD.
• Speed Shoes Effect: Enable or disable the ghost effect when speed shoes are active.
 • Sonic Fast Run Animation: For really high speeds, enable an additional run animation
resembling Sonic CD‘s Super Peel-Out animation. Affects only Sonic.
• Flicker Effects: Certain flickering palette effects get more or less reduced by this option,
including Hyper Sonic sprites, emerald flickering, Carnival Night lights, Slot Machine bonus
stage animations, and some others.

Camera
• Outrun Camera: Allows you to get ahead of the camera when you‘re going really fast. This
effect is known from Sonic 2 and Sonic Mania, but not part of original Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
[Always disabled in Time Attack]
• Extended Camera: Moves the camera a bit ahead when moving fast, similar to the camera
in Sonic CD.

Objects
• Monitor Style: Either the Sonic 3 / Sonic & Knuckles monitors or the even more classic
Sonic 1 / Sonic 2 monitors.
[Always S3&K monitors in Time Attack]

Color Changes
• IceCap Startup Time: The Morning Dawn palette starts IceCap zone just at sunrise instead
of during daytime. Carnival Night was at night after all. ;)

Special Stages
• Blue Spheres Style: Go with the smoothed modernized look of the Blue Spheres stages, or
keep a more close to the original look. Both update the screen at full 60 FPS.
• Ring Counter: Let the ring counter display count up like in the original game, or down to
always know how many rings remain for a perfect run.

Gameplay

Levels
• Level Layout: Choose between the original level layouts used in Sonic 3 (without Sonic &
Knuckles), those from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, or the A.I.R. level layouts with some smaller
changes compared to Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
[Time Attack always uses A.I.R. layouts]

Difficulty Changes
• Angel Island Bombing: Want a more engaging version of the bombing sequence just
before the Angel Island Zone Act 2 boss fight? Or keep the original, and hold right to win?
• Big Arms Boss Fight: Optionally reintroduces the final boss fight of Launch Base Zone Act
2 for Sonic & Tails as well, which was part of only Sonic 3, but not Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
• Sandopolis Ghosts: If those ghosts realy annoy you, switch them off to make Sandopolis
Zone Act 2 easier.
• Lava Reef Act 2 Boss: Use the recommended setting of 8 hit points for the boss, or the
original 14 hit points.
• Keep Shield aftzer Zone: If enabled, you carry over your shield into the next zone.

Time Attack
• Max. Recorded Ghosts: In Time Attack, you can race against your own best times,
visualized as "ghosts". Choose the upper limit for how many of your best runs will be shown
at the same time.
• Quick Restart: Make the Y button (W on keyboard) either instantly restart Time Attack, or
require holding it for a brief period of time, to avoid unintentional restarts.
Controls

Unlocked by Secrets
• First complete some achievements, then you will get the respective options here. Note that
after unlocking, these are still disabled by default, so you have to enable them here.
[These are always disabled in Time Attack, except for that secret unlockable category]

Controllers
• Setup Keyboard & Game Controllers: Opens a menu where you can reassign keyboard
and controller bindings for game controls.
• Controller Player 1: If you have a gamepad or other controller connected, select it here for
the main player.
• Controller Player 2: And this is the controller for player 2, in case you want to play
together with a friend.
• Other Controllers: Choose what to do with connected controllers that are not manually
assigned to player 1 or 2 with the options above. You can e.g. automatically assign any
connected controller to player 1 (that‘s the default).

Virtual Gamepad (only on Android and iOS)

• Configure Touch Gamepad: Enter this option using the on-screen touch controls to bring
up a screen where you can move around the touch controls to where you like them most.
• D-Pad Size: Change the size of the touch controls D-Pad here.
• Buttons Size: Change the size of the four buttons in the touch controls.
• Visibility: Use this option to change the transparency of the touch controls.

Abilities
• Sonic Insta-Shield: Optionally disable Sonic‘s Insta-Shield attack.
[Always enabled in Time Attack]
• Tails Assist: When playing with Tails as second character, you can make him carry you
around. With Sonic 3 Style, pressing a Jump button will let you jump off; use the Up button
to go higher. With Sonic Mania Style, you need to press Down + Jump to jump off instead.
• Tails Flight Cancel: Press Down + Jump to roll into a ball again while flying around.
[Always enabled in Time Attack]
• Roll Jump Control Lock: Allows you to control your movement after jumping out of rolling
on the ground. Enable it for more control, like in Sonic Mania, or disable it for the original
game behavior.
[Always enabled in Time Attack]
• Bubble Shield Bounce: Stay with Sonic 3‘s original bubble shield behavior or select the
more bouncy version from Sonic Mania.
[Always Sonic 3 style in Time Attack]

Super & Hyper Forms

• Tails Super Forms: Use a Super & Hyper form for Tails like with the other characters, or
stick with the original Super Tails that requires all 14 emeralds.
• Super Cancel: Allows for the W key / Y button to cancel a Super or Hyper form again and
go back to normal.
• Super Sonic Jump Ability: Optionally enable a Super Dash as a somewhat weaker version
of the Hyper Dash. Or a directional dash depending on which shield you currently have.
• Sonic Hyper Dash: With Hyper Sonic, perform the Hyper Dash ability in mid-air either only
when also pressing Up / Down / Left / Right, or no matter whether a direction key is
pressed.
Tweaks

Unlocked by Secrets
• First complete some achievements, then you will get the respective options here. Note that
after unlocking, these are still disabled by default, so you have to enable them here.

Accessibility
• Infinite Lives: In case you are new to Sonic 3 or Sonic games in general, try enabling so
you don‘t have to care about lives any more.
• Infinite Time: No need to hurry, this game is not about speed. Or is it?

Game Variety
• Shields: If you like the classic shield, enable it here. It‘s either classic shield only, elemental
shields only (as in Sonic 3 originally), or a mix of all like in Sonic Mania. And then there‘s
the additional option of upgradable shields: At first, all shield monitors will give you the
basic classic shield, afterwards monitors turn into elemental shields.
• Randomized Monitors: If you‘re bored of the monitor / item box contents in the usual
game, you can mix them up here. Choose between randomization of only the shield
monitors or all monitors.
[Time Attack always uses normal monitors]
• Monitor Behavior: Do you prefer the monitor to bounce and fall down if hit from below,
like in Sonic 1 and 2? There's an option for that!

Special Stages
• Special Stage Layouts: Use the original layouts or a random pick of the Blue Sphere mini-
game‘s generated stages (you know, the game when you lock-on Sonic 1 to the Sonic &
Knuckles cartridge). But be warned, the generated ones can be hard.
• On Fail: When you miss a Chaos Emerald in a Special Stage, do want to get another chance
at the next Giant Ring? Or rather advance to the next special stage like in original Sonic 3 &
Knuckles?

Region
• Region Code: Switch between the Western and Japanese versions of the game. Most
notable difference is the in-game name of Miles "Tails" Prower.
TROUBLESHOOTING

Graphics

On some computers, the main menu looks fine, but the in-
game graphics are messed up with black bars and missing
sprites, like in the screenshot on the right.
In that case, try out the OpenGL Software Renderer. You
can find the respective setting in the Options menu under
Display.

Note that the Software Renderer lacks a few features and

should only be used if the default Hardware Renderer does not work correctly.

Crash on Startup

If the game crashes immediately after start, before even showing the disclaimer screen:

Windows
Try switching to the "fail-safe" mode. This will disable certain graphics features and automatically
switch to a very basic software renderer that does not have any OpenGL dependency.
• Open Windows Explorer and copy this into the address line:
%appdata%\Sonic3AIR
• After pressing Enter, this takes you to the folder where the game stores settings and other
data
• Open the file "settings.json" or just "settings" with a text editor (use Notepad if there's
nothing better installed)
• Search for the following part:
"FailSafeMode" : false,
• Change the word false to true, then save the file and start the game

macOS
Please check the log file in ~/Library/Application Support/sonic3air/Sonic3AIR/. Failsafe mode
should not be needed on the macOS version as all Macs should support hardware rendering.

iOS
Restart your device by shutting it down and turning it back on again. The current iOS port has to
load all game data into memory at once, so the more mods you have installed the more likely you
will run into problems.

Other platforms
Try switching to the "fail-safe" mode, as described for Windows above.
This requires manual access to the game‘s save data folder. Check out the respective section
"Where‘s your saved data" for your platform under Installation & First Time Setup.
MODS

This game supports different kinds of mods, including replacement of the music tracks, character
sprites, and even most of game functionality.
Mods are in general compatible with Sonic 3 A.I.R. for all platforms.

Find all the information about making your own mods in the modding PDF inside the "doc" folder.

Where to get Mods?

There‘s no official place where to get Sonic 3 A.I.R. mods.
Instead, a quick search using your favorite internet search engine should find something
interesting. Try searching for "sonic 3 air mods download" or similar.

Installation of Mods
If you‘re only interested in installing a mod, here‘s how.
Let‘s say you already downloaded a mod. If it follows the recommended mod structure, it is a ZIP
file containing a folder with the mod‘s name and all of the mod‘s content inside that folder.
The following instructions tell you where to extract that ZIP file to.

After installation of a mod, you can quickly test if it was installed correctly and found by the game.
Go to the "Mods" menu to see whether the mod appears there. Close the menu and re-open it to
update the mods in there. If that does not work, restart Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Windows / Linux
• Open the "mods" folder. While Sonic 3 A.I.R. is running, right-click inside the game window
to bring up a little menu. Select "Open mods folder" there.
• Alternatively (if the above does not work for some reason), access the game‘s save data
folder as described in the section "Where‘s your saved data" for Windows or Linux. Inside
there, open the "mods" folder.
• If the mod follows the recommended mod structure, you simply place the ZIP file right in
the "mods" folder and you're good to go.
• But note that this only works for ZIP files - not for RAR, 7z, TAR.GZ, etc. Etc.
So if you got a different file format… well, extract the file and make sure that you see a
structure like this:

There might be more subfolders and files in there, but the "mod.json" is the central file.
It tells the game that this is indeed a valid mod.
macOS
• From the "Sonic 3 A.I.R." menu, select "Open mods folder…".
• The mods folder should open automatically.
• If the mod follows the recommended mod structure, it‘s a ZIP file that you only need to
place in the "mods" folder.
• And if it doesn‘t… see the Windows section above for how a mod should look like.

Android
• You need a file manager application like "Files" or a USB-connected PC/Mac with file access
to your device.
• Open the saved data folder as described in the section "Where‘s your saved data" for
Android.
• If the mod follows the recommended mod structure, it‘s a ZIP file that you only need to
place in the "mods" folder.
• In case the mod is not a ZIP file - but a RAR or 7z or other archive file -, you need to
manually extract its content. For ZIP files, that‘s not needed.
• Unfortunately, this way of installing only works with access to the save data folder.

iOS / Web
• Use the "Exit" button in the game‘s main menu to get back to the built-in file manager.
• Upload a mod ZIP file into the "mods" folder.
• In case the mod file is not a ZIP - but a RAR or 7z or other archive file -, you need to first
repackage it as a ZIP, which is best done on a PC or Mac and possibly requires additional
software (like 7zip) that can open the mod file.

Mod Options

Some mods feature their own set of settings. You can find them in the "Mods" tab of the Options
menu - it's left of the "System" tab.
Note that this tab will only appear if there's any mod options at all, and show only the options of
mods that are activated in the Mods menu.
ABOUT THIS FAN GAME

As the in-game disclaimer will tell you as well:

Sonic 3 A.I.R. is not affiliated with SEGA® or Sonic Team®. They are the original developers of the
Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles games, which Sonic 3 A.I.R. is heavily building upon, and are holding
all copyrights to these games. This includes most of the content in Sonic 3 A.I.R.

Sonic 3 A.I.R. is developed as a fan game that regards itself as a modification of the original game.
There is no intent to infringe SEGA®s copyrights and trademarks.
Also no financial interests are involved in making this game. It is freeware and may not be sold.

CREDITS AND THANKS

Sonic 3 A.I.R. was developed by Eukaryot.

Remastered music created by G Spindash.
Ported to macOS and iOS / Web by Sappharad.
Ported to Nintendo Switch by heyjoeway.
Script improvements contributed by Vinegar (Github fork).

Using content from Sonic 3 & Knuckles by Sonic Team®.

Plus the original Sonic 2 Super Sonic Theme and Boss Music from Sonic 1 & 2 by Masato
Nakamura.

Additional credits go to:

• CarJem Generations for providing supplementary tools like the Mod Manager and
Animation Editor
• MarkeyJester, Linncaki and Flamewing for their documented S&K sound driver
disassembly, which is the basis for emulated music and sound in Sonc 3 A.I.R.
• Hyllian for creating the xBRZ pixel filter
• Sewer56 for contributing frame pacing improvements (Github fork)

Special thanks to:

• Fred Bronze / Neo for sharing lots of interesting technical insights in his Sonic 3 Unlocked
blog
• MainMemory for investigating on the details of Sonic Mania‘s Drop Dash
• ValleyBell for his research and software on Genesis / Mega Drive music
• All contributors to the great community-made documentations at sonicretro.org which
helped a lot getting the code porting started (especially the RAM Editing docs)
• Saxman and his ProSonic project – a huge inspiration in the early days of Sonic 3 A.I.R.
• Jermaphobe and Thorn for their invaluable feedback and throrough testing
• And everyone else supporting this project on Twitter, Discord and other media by giving
feedback and reporting bugs!