Sonic Triple Trouble

Triple Trouble is a side-scrolling platformer similar to that of previous Sonic games. The story follows Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails in their efforts to stop the powerful Chaos Emeralds from being acquired by Doctor Robotnik, who has tricked Knuckles the Echidna into aiding him. Treasure hunter Fang the Sniper (Nack the Weasel in international releases) is also in search of the Emeralds.

Players can choose to control either Sonic or Tails through six differently themed areas referred to as zones. Each zone consists of three levels, with the third containing a boss fight. Both characters play similarly and can execute a spin dash to accelerate forward in a rolling formation. Sonic can also perform a peel-out move, previously introduced in Sonic CD, whereas Tails can fly for a short amount of time.

Triple Trouble was developed by Aspect and is the sequel to Sonic Chaos (1993). The game introduced a new character in the Sonic series, Fang the Sniper, who was originally called Jet during development; he was renamed Nack the Weasel in international releases. Fang was shown with a gun in early promotional screenshots, but this was removed in the final game. The game was originally titled Sonic Chaos 2 in the West, with releases planned on both of Sega's 8-bit systems, the Game Gear handheld console and Master System home console.

The game was ultimately only released for the Game Gear, making it the first Sonic platformer released exclusively for the system. It was released in Western territories in November 1994 and in Japan on November 11 specifically, in which it was titled Sonic & Tails 2.

Critics felt Triple Trouble was fun but too similar to previous Sonic games, and thought the series was beginning to stagnate. Other than the addition of vehicles, many criticized the game for lacking in originality. Steve Merrett of Mean Machines Sega wrote that it lacked "surprises and gameplay innovation," and remarked that the Game Gear Sonic titles were "going through the same mid-life crisis here that Sonic and Knuckles represents on the Mega Drive". However, he found the game to be a good 8-bit counterpart to Sonic 3, as did Richard Leadbetter of Sega Magazine, who noted similar level themes shared between the games. Leadbetter and Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly appreciated the levels for their large size and found that they invited exploration.

The graphics received universal praise. Paul Bufton of Mean Machines Sega wrote that the backgrounds and character sprites were "the best to grace the Game Gear" and believed them to be superior to those in previous Game Gear Sonic games. Additionally, Sega Magazine and Sega Pro thought the visuals approached the 16-bit quality seen on the Mega Drive Sonic games. Sega Magazine also noted that other Game Gear Sonic games were cropped versions of the Master System versions and thus suffered gameplay-wise, and felt this was not a problem with Triple Trouble.

In August 2022, an unofficial fan remake titled Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit, by indie developer Noah Copeland, was released for Windows via Game Jolt, with Android and macOS ports later following. It is built on the GameMaker Studio engine with a style reminiscent of the 16-bit Sonic games. Copeland was inspired to remake Triple Trouble after playing it and thinking it was a "good classic Sonic game buried under 8-bit limitations". The remake received overwhelmingly positive reception from critics - Stuart Gipp of TechRadar called it a "world-class fangame" that vastly improved on the original, praising its "joyous set pieces" and "masterful compositions".

Alex Donaldson of VG247 described it as one of his favorite Sonic fangames, saying that it constantly added new mechanics and had an excellent soundtrack, and summing it up as a "worthy successor to Sonic Mania that would have been "dangerously close to a 5-star [...] review", were it official.