Those familiar with the Sega’s last pre-needlemouse “traditional” Sonic the Hedgehog title remember it’s big selling point – the Knuckles “Lock-On” feature, that allowed gamers to play as the feisty red Echidna in both Sonic 2 and 3.  Despite being left out of “Sonic’s Gensis Collection on PS3 and 360, Nintendo’s Virtual Console Release retains the feature for gamers who previously purchased the other titles.
From the Press Release:
This game features Lock-On Technology, which allows you to play as Knuckles in other Sonic titles available for the Virtual Console, including Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Sonic The Hedgehog 3, as long as these titles are part of your Virtual Console library.
Although this feature is also present for Xbox Live and PSN versions of Sonic & Knuckles, it nonetheless an awesome addition to the VC, and a neat feature that adds a ton of replay value to Sonic 2 and 3. Â If you’re a classic hedgehog fan, be sure to check it out.
I thought it was really cool that they included this feature on the Virtual Console. Back in 1994, I asked for a Genesis, Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles for this very reason. Given Knuckles' ability to glide, so many new areas of Sonic 2 & 3 were open to exploration. Even though it's neat to see the lock-on feature on the Virtual Console, I'll stick to playing the game on the same Genesis I've had for 15+ years.
BTW, can you play the Blue Sphere game by locking on to Sonic 1 like you could with the Genesis carts?
Very cool I was wondering about that, and now I know. 😀
Wow, that's totally awesome. Sega didn't drop the ball on this.
Oh nice, I too was also wondering if they did that.
Relay, how did you play the blue sphere game by locking on with Sonic 1? Whenever I connected Sonic 1 to Sonic & Knuckles on my Genesis, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Egghead showed up on my screen saying it wouldn't work. 🙁
I'm really confused to this feature for the Wii. Now I know I played with this lock on technology before, and its really neat for Sega to summit this to the Virtual Console section of the Wii Shop Channel, but how do you enable this feature on the Wii? I really need help on this.
Thanks,
Micky D.
\(^O^)/ < woo hoo!
Never mind. I watched a video on how to do this. And, WOW is all I have to say!