Everything’s tied up in a neat little package
Mega Collection is a compilation of all of Sonic’s games which were featured on the Megadrive between 1991 and 1996; the four main titles (Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic and Knuckles) and three spin-off titles (Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D: Flicky’s Island), as well as five hidden games. On top of that, there are comic book covers from the Archie Sonic series, a complete comic from the aforementioned series, concept art for all of the Sonic characters, manuals for all of the Sonic games and a stack of movies including the Sonic CD intro and ending, a Sonic Adventure 2: Battle preview, a Sonic Advance 2 preview and the History of Sonic video from the 2002 World Hobby Fair.
More Sonic than you can shake a hedgehog at
The menu system provided is broken up into four options; Games, Extras, Manuals and Options. Overall, its pretty easy to navigate, though you should be wary of the small load times between each. One must wonder at the lack of optimization that went into this title, considering that many other games on the Gamecube have instantaneous loading, yet are loading up for more data than Sonic Mega Collection. In the games menu, you have a choice of 12 games, 7 readily available and 5 unlockable. Here’s a small explanation of each.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic’s debut game. 6 action packed zones, full of animal rescuing goodness. Race to the end of the levels, destroy Robotnik and collect the 6 chaos emeralds.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic’s adventures continue in the 1992 sequel. Sonic is joined by Miles Prower, otherwise known as Tails the fox (because he has two tails). A new spin attack move has been added for those slightly annoying hilly bits. 10 or so more zones, filled to the brim with animal rescuing and Robotnik ass busting, as well as an all new two player split screen mode. Collecting the 7 Chaos emeralds will also unleash the power of Super Sonic
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Sonic and Tails are back! Unfortunately for them, Robotnik has enlisted the aid of a new animal, Knuckles the Echidna. Robotnik has told Knuckles porky pies about Sonic attempting to steal the Master Emerald, a powerful gem which keeps Knuckle’s home island levitating over the planet. Sonic 3 includes 6 more zones of Sonic fun, as well as a revamped two player mode.
Sonic and Knuckles
The last of the traditional Sonic style games on the system. Sonic and Knuckles actually included a lock on system, where you could clip another Sonic cart into the top, and play as Knuckles in that game, as well as a randomly generated special stage for every Megadrive cart there was. Sonic and Knuckles includes more levels of Sonic mayhem and rounds up one of the best 16-bit series ever.
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Take Compile’s Puyo Puyo, throw Dr. Robotnik and his cronies into the mix, and you have Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean machine. Match up the beans and destroy your opponent in this challenging puzzle game.
Sonic Spinball
Some brilliant Sega executive liked Casino Night Zone so much that they decided to base an entire game around the pinball sections. Get the Chaos emeralds and destroy Robotnik.
Sonic 3D: Flicky’s Island
The other games featured in the collection must be unlocked, but we’ll avoid spoilers for now. The games play exactly as they did on the Megadrive, though maybe a little better if the Gamecube pad is your preferred peripheral. Emulation is fairly solid on the whole, though some little differences between the authentic experience and the compilation do come into play.
The extras on the disc are probably the most disappointing feature. The Sega Saturn’s Sonic Jam was filled to the brim with all sorts of Sonic extras, including 3D overworld levels, and a museum with far more information than that which was included in this package. The history of Sonic video leaves out about 2/3 of the Sonic games which were released over the years. Many people also were disappointed by the exclusion of Sonic CD despite the exclusion being justified by the Sonic Team. The beginning and ending movies of the game are still included in the package for some weird reason, and are definitely showing their age in terms of animation and drawing. Comic book covers and the full length comic are highly unnecessary, in my opinion, and are probably the biggest waste of space on the disc. Concept art is relatively nice, although it seems to show that the Americans were hopeless with drawing the animal. A bunch of trailers have also been included on the disc, but seeing as these games are out now, you won’t be watching them more than once, if at all.
The games in the compilation are all 16-bit titles, so the graphics are most certainly unable to compete with today’s standards. Due to the fact the games are emulated, all of the slowdown that is present during certain parts of the games will still hang around. The menu interface is still fairly attractive by today’s standards. It is hardly fair to judge this one by its graphics, though.
Sound emulation is spot on, and the music featured in the Sonic games is still pretty good (not to mention catchy) by today’s standards. Sound is crystal clear, but no voice work or surround sound is present.
Sonic Mega Collection isn’t the almighty Sonic compilation experience we were all hoping for. The games are there, they’ve been emulated well on the whole, but the extras and incentives to actually buy this product are missing. In fact, I feel that Sonic Mega Collection may be more at home on the Game Boy Advance, sans extras of course. It just feels like that the game was rushed out to meet Christmas in the USA and Japan last year. Even an altered port of Sonic Jam from the Saturn would be better than what we have received. If you like Sonic, and hate pulling your Megadrive out to play it all the time, or wish to relive some childhood memories, pick it up immediately. Just don’t get it for the extras alone.
My opinion is that the graphics should have got a higher mark, along with the sound (Sonic music is just brilliantly composed; I tend to pay more attention to Bo's masterful tunes than the actual hardware limitations).
) because I think that the Sonic games are so heavily stylised, to rip them for being 2D really misses the point. The art's superb, and the colours... wow. They still impress me when I play them on the good old Mega Drive, and that's what matters. I think making a big point about 'progress' is a stupid thing to do when you have a compilation of old-school games, and your tone suggests that, regardless of any talent or style imposed by the creator, graphics on newer consoles ALWAYS look better. I disagree with this; I think that Sonic 2 looks a hell of a lot better than, say, something like Turok on the Gamecube simply because it does what it tries to do near-perfectly. I don't really want to go too far into this because I'm planning on writing an article on it, but... with games that strive for 3D realism, all you remember is what they miss. Something like Sonic aims to be a fast, bold 2D game and should get good marks just for being almost perfect in that category.
Ah, you know you love it really...
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