To stop Doctor Robotnik from using Chaos Emerald shards to fortify his base, the player controls Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna through 15 levels.

As a Sonic the Hedgehog series platformer, the characters run and jump to reach the end of a level while defeating enemy robots and collecting rings.

In separate bonus stages, the player must run forward and collect rings to earn one of the Chaos Emerald shards.

[3] Power-ups hidden in television monitors provide Sonic and Knuckles numerous boons, including more rings, a burst of speed, shields, invincibility, extra lives, and the ability to save progress in a level.

[3][b] Similar in fashion to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, giant rings leading to special stages are hidden around levels.

[5] The special stages follow the same basic format of those in Sonic the Hedgehog 2: the player-character runs forward and must collect rings to meet a required amount.

[3] Successful completion of special stages will grant the characters extra lives, rings, or one of the Chaos Emerald shards.

[12] The graphics were rendered in 3D before being converted into sprites; the final result has been compared to that of Donkey Kong Country and Mortal Kombat.

[7][6] However, the visuals presented some limitations: Sonic and Knuckles have few animation frames, there is no timer, and the player only loses ten rings when hit.

[18] A port of the game was released for the Master System exclusively in Brazil in December 1997, distributed by Tec Toy.

[5] Some, such as writers from USgamer and NWR, complained the character graphics were too big for the Game Gear's small screen.

[4][24] NWR wrote that the characters' abilities were difficult to use properly since the screen was zoomed so close to them and particularly disliked the water-based levels, calling them nearly unplayable due to sluggish controls.

They shared Nintendo Life's concerns about the level designs, and argued the boss fights lacked difficulty.

[4][7][25] NWR exclaimed the game "should be avoided at all costs",[4] and Retro Gamer said its title screen was the only redeeming quality.

[7] Complex declared it "the worst handheld Sonic game ever" and said "thank God they didn't attempt the '3D' aspect of its 16-bit older brother".