Welcome back to the Crystal Islands!!! A year ago I unveiled the tale of Silver Sonic's third adventure, off to simp for save his fellow Master Robot Splashy, who is totally not Splash Woman from Mega Man 9, nuh-uh. While it was definitely an improvement over the previous two entries in the series, (Especially The Revenge, yikes) it still had a lot of problems, with the level design still being on the harder side, audiovisual bugs being plentiful, confusing versions and overall, a severe lack of polish. These all problems have now all been fixed! (mostly)

This is still the same adventure that we all know and love, (Or at least the one we know) featuring Silver Sonic going to an archipelago of strange crystalline islands, filled with even weirder crystalline creatures, going through 6 zones to free Splashy the Mermaid (The seventh Master Robot that Sonic never encountered or destroyed in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 8-bit) from Robotnik's control and stop her from conquering the world with the islands's creatures, culminating in Silver Sonic disabling her evil program, leaving her free to be good and do as she pleases.

However, multiple aspects of the game have been greatly improved since the last contest, turning a disappointing hack with potential into a fun little hack with its potential unleashed! Both old and new players alike will be able to enjoy the Refreshed experience, with it being much more on par with the original 8-bit game it is based on, if not better.

• Cleaned-up SHC Entry! The story has now been moved to the Extras, freeing the page of much filler, making it much more readable and (slightly) less of a massive wall of text.
• New and Fun Level Redesigns! No need to double-guess where you'll end up after a jump and to move precisely to avoid being knocked into a pit now! All 17 levels have had their level design reviewed and redesigned (Dare I say...Refreshed?), with fairer enemy placements, more rings, less bottomless pits and extra powerups to make the adventure a breeze! (Maybe a little too much of a breeze? At least now you won't Game Over in Mineral Mine Zone...At least you shouldn't.) There's also many more Arrow Monitors now, so starting from the beginning of a stage shouldn't be a problem anymore for most stages. (Unfortunately, The Edgeworld Act 2 can't have Arrow Monitors, or going through the last door kills you.)
• Improved Graphical Assets and Colors! While the original hack was still pretty, many of the zones (Especially the earlier ones) lacked a lot of graphical polish, some of the palette choices were questionable, and Silver Sonic had a lot of inconsistent shading and misalignment issues. These have all been Refreshed! The title screen and level completion screens have received a bright new palette, (With the title screen even getting all-new beautiful clouds, which are also featured in Mineral Mine Zone) Silver Sonic's sprites have been fixed and their shading have been made more consistent with its original sprites from Sonic 2 8-bit, (Noticeably on the face and belly) and both the monitors, rings and in-game hud have received brand-new looks and shading, courtesy of Ninjacat25. (Thank you!) The zones themselves have also had their looks improved, from the all-new crystal tiles, clouds and palette for Mineral Mine Zone, (The latter two hailing from the title screen) to the unique water tiles and properly transparent blocks in Crystal Egg Zone, to various unused decorations in Seaside Gem Zone being re-added. This even applies outside of the game, with the brand-new and much-better custom box art, much more in line with the one for Rise of the Death Egg, this time being based on the JP box art for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The Special Stage also received its own unique palette, more purple than pink. Speaking of...
• Brand-New Special Stages! While previously, only two different layouts existed for the Special Stage, (With one just being a placeholder accidentally kept in) the only difference between each entry being which items on offer, now there are four complete layouts, with them only being repeated once with different items. The original layout re-appears, but there's now a new one featuring large amounts of bumpers and a moon, another one featuring tons of rings and springs, and a final vertical one. It is also now possible to exit the Special Stage with a signpost, allowing you to use the ring bonus and not have to wait for the end of the timer before exiting. This is definitely the most Refreshed aspect of the game by far from how different it is to the original game.
• Single Unified Version! One of the most confusing things about the original version was the different versions, with there being Easy, Hard and "Perfect". Refreshed refreshes this situation and eliminates this problem, now only offering one unified version rather than 3 with confusing names, with it being based on the original Easy version.
• Wacky Extras Revamped! While most of the extras have been generally of good quality, the Art and Development Assets and Manual extras have had problems, on top of useless stuff often being thrown in previously. The manual and GBA port have both been scrapped (Though the manual's info on each enemy has been turned into the Bestiary), the Art and Development assets do make a return albeit with a major clean-up, with assets being made easier to use, useless ones being removed, and everything being recategorized. A much-needed refresher! (Okay, I'll stop now)

Other than those improvements, it's the same adventure and locales you can expect. Silver Sonic will have to go through Seaside Gem Zone with its waterlogged temples, with Tsumuris, Gemcrabs, the flying Valkidrones and the stealthy Crystaljaws roaming around, Mineral Mine Zone, with its fragile (Though slightly reinforced) bridges built over the speeding river and the crystalline caves, where Terrasalmus (Plural, Terrasalmi) leap out and the alien Sherumis crawl around, Crystal Egg Zone, the evil doctor's abandoned and flooded fortress, its Flying Choppers still floating around dangerously despite now being the home of Crystalkillers and Crystaljaws, Chromed Jewel Zone, bearing many jewels in its walls with properties similar to those of the Chaos Emeralds and doubling as a water filtration system, now being guarded by the firece Minerarumoru, purple bipedal mole-like creatures with their powerful emerald drill-beak, a few leftover robotic Unidus Orbinauts, on top of the shy exploding Tirufaias, finally Aqua Mermaid Zone, Splashy's homebase where both the green robotic Tropishes and the equally robotic Mecha-Kumanomis patrol the water, looking to bite any intruder not controlled by their mermaid goddess. And last but not least, after a climatic fight with Splashy, Silver Sonic will enter the portal to The Edgeworld, home of the Sherumis who invited plenty of Seaside Gem Zone natives as honored guests, who the robotic hedgehog will have to brave on top of the many cannons Robotnik's Reconaissance Airship possesses if he wants to get in and disable Splashy's evil program.

Will he succeed, or will he end up as metal scrap? You will only find out if you play Silver Sonic & The Crystal Islands Refreshed!, today! Have fun.

(By the way, if you're looking to listen to the soundtrack, it's available in both the Extras as a VGM and MP3 download, but also on this YouTube playlist right here!