Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble is a fast-paced action & adventure game where Dr. Robotnik has stolen all the Chaos Emeralds and scattered them across the island due to his experiment's failure. While Sonic & Tails search for them, Dr. Robotnik convinces Knuckles that Sonic wants to steal the remaining emeralds, while Nack the Weasel seizes the opportunity to take them for himself. As a result, it's now a 4-way race to retrieve the emeralds.
The gameplay in Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble is similar to other Sonic titles, where you can play as Sonic or Tails and try to reach the Chaos Emeralds first. A new feature in this game is that when hit, a set amount of rings (30-50) are lost instead of all of them.