Esrever wrote:I'm pretty sure the Super emeralds and their set of seven bonus stages were only conceived AFTER Sonic 3 and S&K were split into two games. The addition of the yellow spheres to S&K's bonus stages is a pretty clear sign that they were designed separately, after the original seven had been made.
Sonic and Knuckles needed it's own set of bonus stages to function as a stand alone game, and in that stand alone game those stages give you regular chaos emeralds. The Super Emeralds only "exist" as a way of integrating those extra bonus stages into the original. If Sonic 3 and S&K had never been divided into two games, there almost certainly would have only been seven bonus stages in the whole game. (And probably a few less bonus stage entrances, too.)
That's pretty much what I was thinking, you just worded it better than me.
