Sonic the Hedgehog 3 "Barrel of Doom"

[DarkOverord]

It's sad that I only found out 10 years later. Originally I just held the turbo button on my controller with a water shield as Sonic and glitched my way through it.

Now I know how to do it, I feel stupid looking back ):

[-Mark-]

You know, the funny thing is, I could have sworn I got past the barrel a few times by alternate (jumping) means the first time I played it. I remember coming back to the game a few years later and then getting stuck, and wondering how the hell I managed to get past it.

Also, I haven't seemed to be able to get through without doing it 'properly' since. It's weird.

[Alejandra Fox]

haha, this was a real smack in the face once you figured it out! ( more like a punch in the stomach...or even a kick to the groin)

The sad thing is, I remember getting to launch base zone, the final boss and everything when I was younger, but after I bought the Sonic MegaCollection maybe like 2 years back, it took me FOREVER to get past that darned barrel (yeah, I just jumped alot...alot...)

[Flyboy Fox]

It was one of those mind-boggling things. I remember my girlfriend and me trying everything we could think of, and then the time running out and us both thinking how totally stupid and ridiculous it was that we'd become SO stuck there at what should have been a very simple junction. The irony was that we tried absolutely everything - even the reverse of what you actually have to do - everything EXCEPT what needed to be done ^^; Good on you, SEGA. You stumped the masses and proved that sometimes a problem with the simplest solution can pose a far bigger road block than one that's more complex, if only because when the solution is right in front of our noses, we can be the most blind to it. I think this says a lot about human psychology, personally

[Boomy]

I have to thank the barrel for not allowing me to finish the game as Sonic or Tails. Without it, I wouldn't have used Knuckles to pass through the stage through alternate routes and ultimately turn me into a Knuckles fanboy.

Still hate that friggin' barrel though. I only got past it once through jumping on the barrel and by then the time was 9:00. Found out about the real way to get past the barrel two years later or so.

[MizukiMoon]

When I was a kid I can't remember ever getting past it. Back in 2002 when I re-bought Sonic 3 I remember I pretty much figured it out after a few goes. I didn't play that level again for a few years so when I did finally play it again last year, I just couldn't figure out how to get past it, eventually I had to look it up on Google which of course helped, now I have no problems getting past it.

[JezMM]

It stumped me for a bit when I first played Carnival Night and I was toying around with the first one I could jump on. It took me all of a good solid 30 seconds to figure it out.

I'm more confused how you can't figure it out, mainly the at the part where it traps you in the room with one. By that point you've needed to figure out at least one.

Really. It's not even a puzzle.

That's the thing though, you really haven't, as many people said. All the previous barrels in the level don't need to have any more motivation than being jumped on to operate, so the game basically tells you "use jumping to get past the barrels".

There's not a single other obstacle in the game that is operated in a way where you use the d-pad to make Sonic do something that isn't obvious (i.e. the spinners in Marble Garden use the d-pad to operate, but Sonic is running as he would on the ground with them, it makes sense). The barrels however Sonic doesn't actually appear to be DOING anything to them. He just stays standing on them, thus the player will only be notified of pushing up/down working if they do it for a good 5 seconds. That might not seem like much, but think about it - if you tried to run through a wall in a Sonic game and the wall was solid, Sonic stopped moving - you're barely gonna even wait anywhere near 5 seconds before giving up on the theory. It's the same case with the barrel controls.

So basically, if you worked it out by chance, that's great, but even then, gameplay elements shouldn't have to be worked out "by messing around for a bit".

[Candescence]

Yeah, that barrel was a bitch. I spent ages with that damn thing. Then I discovered the solution and it just felt like a kick to the balls.

[Tornado]

By that point you've needed to figure out at least one.

Except up to that point the way the game had presented the solution for the previous barrels was completely different from the actual solution for the infamous one.

[Indigo Rush]

This thing.

I figures it out when I was 6. It wasn't that hard. Caused me a little trouble at first, but wasn't that bad for me.

[Gamenerd]

I really can't see how this took YEARS for people to figure out. You're trapped in a closed off room with the barrel, with no indicator of what to do. I imagine that after one or two attempts, anybody should be able to work it out by pure chance after failing with other methods.

[Flyboy Fox]

The thing is, I think it comes down to one of three things:

1) You chance upon the correct method fairly quickly and go on through.

2) You chance upon a method that SEEMS to at least have some effect and therefore become convinced that's how you do it (e.g. jumping) because you've got close several times. Therefore you keep trying this over and over.

and

3) You try a couple of simple solutions that don't work and because the usuals don't work you assume the solution must be a little more complex, hence you bypass another simple solution (the right one) and start looking for hidden/more complex answers or something that you've missed. Because you're looking for a harder solution, you totally bypass the correct one.

A lot of people end up on 2) or 3), and the ones who happened to manage 1) can't understand how it was so hard for the rest of us

[Ferr]

2) You chance upon a method that SEEMS to at least have some effect and therefore become convinced that's how you do it (e.g. jumping) because you've got close several times. Therefore you keep trying this over and over.

Fucking this.

How much time wasted jumping onto the stupid barrel because it was the only move that looked to make the barrel go down...

I finally managed it, dont remember how, but It took me some weeks xd

[Covskin]

I didn't own Sonic 3 until Sonic Mega Collection, but I did borrow it from friends a couple of times. Me and my brother both had the same problem as pretty much everyone else - damn thing made no sense! We;d try jumping in unison, we'd try jumping out of sequence, we'd try Tails dropping Sonic onto the platform...nada! We'd give up and use our friend's saved game to go to Ice Cap.

Not until Sonic The Comic published the solution (they too said it was often requested - it appeared in the letters page rather than the game hints section!) did we kick ourselves. When we borrowed the game again we took great delight in getting past that damned barrell.

Sonic 2's final boss, though? THAT's some trial and error to cry over. At least it's far less likely to die when you're jumping up and down on a red/white cylinder.

...trial and error? Big thing comes down. Avoid it. Big thing chases you. Run away as far as you can. Don't move until big thing is about to land. Hit big thing when it finally bends down low enough for you to hit. Repeat.

Time consuming, yes. Difficult - the timing can be, yes. But trial and error? Never seen it as that.

[Auther]

I found the solution by total accident. I think I was saying to myself, "What am I supposed to do? I've tried everything! Maybe it's something stupid like pushing up and... -cue headbashing-"

[SuperStingray]

It still puzzles me to this day that so many people never would have considered pressing up or down on what is obviously a loose definition of an elevator. It still confused me the first time, I'll admit, but I find the concept that a puzzle like this would take years to solve is, quite bluntly, ridiculous.

Here's the thing: NOTHING in the game hints that pressing up and down can control anything.

[7Force]

I remember this part. Me and my friend was talking about this in school and was both totally stuck on this bit, I think I later found out how to get past it from a games mag.

[SABRINA]

AHHHHHHHHH

I HATED that barrel. I have NIGHTMARES about it. The best way I found to get past it was to make sure you AND tails jump at PRECISELY the right moment and ZOOM. You're off

[SykoTech]

I don't see why some of you are acting as if one would have to be a block head in order to get stuck at the barrel.

There isn't exactly any point in Sonic 3 (or any other Sonic game back then...or even now) that used such a method of platforming. The room gives no hint as what is neeeded to be done either, leaving the player to figure out on thier own. Nearly every obstacle in a Sonic game can be overcome using two methods: speed and jumping. Since the small space left do room for speed, jumping was the thing to logically proceed with. Besides, there were barrels earlier in the level that could be overcome by jumping. And due to the fact that the barrel began to joust up and down, one can easily be misled to thinking that jumping was the right thing to do. Just that they weren't doing it good enough.

My sis and I even went to the extreme with this back in the day by going to a Bonus Stage and getting a Bubble Shield before we got to the room. Then we'd bounce up and down on the barrel, trying to force it to the bottom. Good times. Good, fustrating times.

But anyways, it wasn't the difficulty of the puzzle that got people stuck, just the random implication and misleading results. I'm not sure how long it would hve taken me to figure out though. I was like four at the time, and got help when I was playing Sonic 3 at a neighbor's house not too long after.

[Half]

I have never gotten past it on my Genesis to this very day. On game collections yeah, but damn, I never could get past that damned barrel. Thank god for using Knuckles!

[RhikoruFa-La-La-La-♪]

Here's the thing: NOTHING in the game hints that pressing up and down can control anything.

Still, it depends on who's playing. Back in the day, most of us were kids, right? Today, we know enough that we should try all our options (And by options I mean using resources like guides or the internet or experimentation), but then, there WAS no indication on what to do, and for a lot of us, no internet to look up how to beat the dang thing.

Today it's a piece of cake, but it sure did pwn me back then.

[Dr_Ultimate]

Ah yes, the barrell of doom. I remember having to ask my friend how to do this bit.

[Legendary Emerald]

I have a long and complicated history with Sonic 3. When I got the game as I child, I could never get past that damn wall that chased you in the begining of Hydro City act 2. I can't remember how many years ago, but I did get past it eventually.

Only to get stuck by the Barrel From Hell.

Luckily, this was the age of the internet and I was able to find the solution on the internet after starting the entire leve over again many times and trying to see if there was any way to get past it. So yeah, I hate that barrel as all video game fans should. It's as natural as hating the birds in Ninja Gaiden and falling in love with the Companion Cube in Portal.

[Random Rhyme]

I used the jumping technique to get past it. I didn't get stuck there for long I just got bored and started doing whatever came to my mind.

[Sega DogTagz]

My sis and I even went to the extreme with this back in the day by going to a Bonus Stage and getting a Bubble Shield before we got to the room. Then we'd bounce up and down on the barrel, trying to force it to the bottom. Good times. Good, fustrating times.

lol, I tried that too.

I remember me and my bro sitting around for hours trying to coordinate Sonic and Tails jumps perfectly to get a maximum rebound effect. I was so young back then. If someone had told me that a puzzle in a Sonic game had a solution other than running, jumping, or spinning, my head would likely have exploded.

That Barrel was the bane of my existence until I figured it out.