Well, here's the Floating Island itself, and the Floating Island from S&K. I know it's not _exactly_ alike, but am I the only one who thinks that the bottom of the island looks like the Death Egg?
LAPUTA?
Now you might be thinking - what is 'Laputa'? Well, it's a Japanese anime film about a floating island - and I've noticed more than one strong similarity between the film, and the Floating Island in Sonic 3 (and S&K)! This page contains scans of various scenes from the film, together with screenshots from the game so you can compare them. In my opinion, Sonic Team 'stole' a lot of their ideas for Sonic 3 and S&K from this Laputa film!
(Oh, and if you're wondering, the black border on the scans was caused by the NTSC to PAL conversion.)
Well, here's the Floating Island itself, and the Floating Island
from S&K. I know it's not _exactly_ alike, but am I the only
one who thinks that the bottom of the island looks like the Death
Egg?
Hmm, looks a lot like Sky Sanctuary, don't you think? Especially
the towers, bridges and ruins - take a look below!
Hey look, it's Hydrocity! Complete with arches, pillars, light
shining in...
This look familiar? When the Death egg releases all those
Eggrobos, maybe?
Ooh, a 'power stone' thing that keeps the island afloat! The
Master Emerald?
Right at the end of the film, the whole island collapses, just
like at the end of Sky Sanctuary! (I think someone destroyed the
Power Stone :)
More pics/videos coming when I find my tape :)