It unfortunately seems Robotnik left one of his diabolical traps in the game, which leads the Knuckles Bonus Stage starting positions to be messed up.To fix said starting positions, use the following Game Genie/PAR codes:

AALW-TCHL/2815EA:0100 fixes the Knux X pos in the Gumball stage.

EALW-TCHN/2815EC:0120 does so for the Y pos.

TALW-TCHW/2815F2:0180 fixes the Knux X pos in the Pachinko stage.

2ALW-T4HY/2815F4:0DC0 does so for the Y pos.

Adding this just to clarify because it seems like a few people have gotten it confused: This is a hack of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, not just Sonic 3 alone. Just thought I'd clear that up in case anybody wasn't sure since the name might be misleading.

Hope this is the foundation for something better on a future release, because so far all I've seen are some (interesting) pallete changes, minor layout edits, and not that much yet in the music department. Nothing that ticks the "wow" factor so far, except maybe for the new titlescreen...

I really think there is a lot of potential here. First I am really glad to see a S3K hack that's not an AIR mod! Second, I love your overall stage design! I feel like your design is such that it offers a lot opportunities to explore, which in turn gives this hack a lot of replay value.

In particular, I love the darker colors you used in AIZ, it gives me Knuckles'' Chaotix vibes. I am not a big fan of AIZ being set ablaze again, considering this is the sequel to S3&K, I was hoping it would remain green. That being said, I know nothing of the technichal issues of working with this stage and so as far as I know, such may not be possible, and this is not something I'd hold against this project.

I love what you did with LRZ act 1! I loved how you added so many new speed sections, as well as some new gimmicks, such as the exploding bridge! LRZ act 2, I enjoyed too, but I felt like there were some unfair obsticals and traps there, such as spikes at the end of a wall you have to run up, but there's no way you'd know they are there until you've played.

As for the music, I am not a big fan of the Sonic 3D Blast tunes, but I love the Sonic 3&K remixed and inspired tracks.

All in all, I absolutely loved this game and I look forward to seeing where you take the story. I'd give it 90-95/100.

Also I learned the level select code works for this game, but was wondering if you have a debug cheat?

I love the stage design so far, I was completely blown away by the new changes applied to LRZ!

It's really a good hack, good designs and quite replayable, pretty good palettes along with some curious details like the intro surf of 1103 proto, i honestly would have liked the hack to have a new ost or SMPS from other games and new graphics but really the hack does not disappoint at all, great work!