Sonic the Hedgehog platforming of the main levels. The 16-bit "Sonic the Hedgehog " consisted of a giant rotating maze, which many considered a major technical achievement. The most common special stages, however, were segments with the character running through a long tunnel to collect certain items. 3D "collect item" levels, as in "Sonic 3" and "Sonic & Knuckles", used the same perspective but had Sonic collecting all the blue-colored orbs on the surface of a giant sphere. Finally, "Sonic Advance 2" employed a 3D ring-collecting stage, and "Sonic Chaos" ("Sonic and Tails" in Japan) used a variety of gimmicks for its levels.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 coloration was inspired by Jamaica's flag. The original name for the character was "Dreds", referring to his dreadlocks. In 2005, Hector stated that Sega hired American pop musician Michael Jackson, a "Sonic" fan, to compose music for "Sonic 3." According to Hector, Jackson's involvement was terminated and his compositions reworked following the allegations of sexual abuse against Jackson. The website of musician Cirocco Jones, who contributed music to "Sonic 3" and is credited as "Scirocco", credits himself along with Jackson and Jackson collaborator Brad Buxer for musical cues for "levels 2 & 3" of ""Sonic the Hedgehog"". Sonic co-creator Naoto