Post by Pimpjira on Jun 22, 2016 21:31:10 GMT
Sonic the Hedgehog's 25th anniversary is this week so I decided on a Sonic game for my next review. Sonic the Hedgehog was originally released on the Sega Genesis on 6/23/1991. Of which that game happens to be a part of this small but interesting collection. Now onto the review.
Sonic Jam is a collection of the main Genesis games in the series, Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3 as well as Sonic & Knuckles which was released for the Sega Saturn in 1997. There are much bigger Sonic collections released since then on the PC, Gamecube/PS2/Xbox, PS3/360, 3DS and maybe even more that I'm not thinking of at the moment but this collection in particular is interesting for a few things that were not present in any of them since then.
For starters as with these either collections, the games in this collection are not emulated but were actually ported over to the Saturn. Being in the CD format there is some differences in the music of which also the invincibility theme for the original Sonic the Hedgehog is also used in Sonic 2 for some reason, it's expected that this was a coding error. All of the games come packing the lock-on capability with Sonic & Knuckles(which is seen in some collections since but missing in others) and I believe to be still exclusive difficulty settings. All four games have original, normal, and easy options.
Original is well, the original games. Normal is slightly reduced difficulty. And then easy is an even easier option. The normal versions alter the levels a little a bit like removing the blue blobs and other such changes to reduce the challenge of the levels a bit as well as scattering more rings around the stages. The easy mode goes a bit further in this and even goes as far as removing some stages entirely. For anyone that likes Sonic but finds the Genesis games to be too hard, this would be a good option for them. The spin dash that was introduced in Sonic 2 is now also available to be used in the first Sonic the Hedgehog, on any of the difficulty settings. Now here is a slight overview on each of the games.
Sonic the Hedgehog - It's the game that started at all. After Alex Kidd wasn't really popular enough, this was Sega's answer and their new mascot to compete with Nintendo and the Mario games. Sonic of course as we know is built a bit more around speed and momentum as opposed to the more tight and focused platforming found in Mario. It's not all about going fast though as the game has many traps to trick those getting too ahead of themselves as well as different paths and collectibles to miss if going ahead without any thought. Sonic is the only playable character in this game as Tails wasn't introduced until Sonic 2. The chaos emeralds are present in this and required to get the true ending which has been a staple in the series. Here if ending a stage with 50 or more rings, Sonic can enter the special stage which is a rotating maze. It was a great first start for the series with challenging but fun levels, cool boss battles, and nice graphics.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Sonic 2 has the same base formula as the first game but is bigger and better. It introduces Tails, both competitive and cooperative 2-player modes, Super Sonic(after collecting all the chaos emeralds) and redesigned special stages as well as Sonic's iconic spin dash. Here the special stages(which are no 3D stages which are all about collecting enough rings and avoiding bombs) are still accessible once 50 rings are collected but are gone to at any of the checkpoints in the game so it's actually possible to collect all seven chaos emeralds by act 2 of the first level is skilled enough. Sonic 2 evolved quite a bit while also not changing the formula and makes for an excellent sequel.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Sonic 3 doesn't have many new additions to the series as 2 did but it does introduce Knuckles, Sonic's rival/friend who Robotnik has tricked into working against him. Instead of more new features(although there are more types of shield power-ups now), Sonic 3 experiments more with the level design and does once again change how the special stages work. Here there are big rings hidden in each of the levels that lead to the them and they (again 3D) overhead levels where the object is to collect all the blue spheres but avoid the red ones. Bonus stages are reached the same way as the special stages in 2 and they are for collecting extra lives and power ups. Sonic 3 only has 6 zones but the stages are also longer so it's still a decent length game. I personally like Sonic 2 the best but this is another well done sequel.
Sonic & Knuckles - Sonic & Knuckles uses the same formula as Sonic 3 but loses the multiplayer and now either Sonic or Knuckles are available for play, but only separately. It has the same bonus/special stage set ups and all new levels(8 this time so the multiplayer is gone but a couple more zones) Sonic 3 & Knuckles was initially meant to be one big adventure but was eventually split into two games so the game play in them is quite similar. Sonic & Knuckles had a unique lock on function, where the game cartridge had a flip top and could be connected with both Sonic 2 and 3 making Knuckles playable in the single player portion of those games. It also gives access to the Blue Sphere mini game which is similar to the special stages in Sonic 3 and Knuckles.
And those are the games included. Full reviews aren't really necessary because they've been done a million times by now and people either like Sonic or they don't. Sonic 2 is my favorite of the bunch but they are all fun and well designed games. I am not going to say I like them more than the Mario series but I lot of good memories with them. With that though, the games included in this collection are perhaps not the most interesting thing about it and with those out of the way I will get to that now. Aside from the four ported games, Sonic Jam also includes another mode called Sonic World. Sonic World is not a full game but a 3D hub area which feels more like a demo than anything else but it is slightly fun and interesting to play around with.
Sonic World is fully 3D area that works as a virtual museum and provides a few challenges. Here there is access to several time attack challenges which involve collecting enough rings within a time limit or finding Tails somewhere in the area within the time allotted. There are also a number of extras here such as videos, art, advertisements, etc. Sonic World doesn't add a whole lot to the package for most but would be an interesting tidbit for big fans of the series. This was the best thing the Saturn ever got when it came to a fully 3D playable Sonic adventure as Sonic X-treme was cancelled earlier in the year. Not getting a main Sonic game on the Saturn was still a big loss(it did also receive a slightly enhanced port of the Genesis Sonic 3D Blast, and Sonic R a racing game but no new Sonic Adventure) but it did give a hint at what a 3D Sonic game could have been like. Of course now there are plenty of 3D games and even the X-treme prototype is playable for the curious so this collection may not provide much for most but the biggest of Sonic or collectors of Sega Saturn titles.
The US version of Sonic Jam has actually gotten quite pricey. Just checked and it seems to be selling for $100+ so even though it's interesting I could only recommend it for hardcore Sonic fans or collectors. However though the import version is a lot cheaper and there isn't much need to be able to read since the menus would be able to be figured out with some trial and error.
Sonic Jam is a collection of the main Genesis games in the series, Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3 as well as Sonic & Knuckles which was released for the Sega Saturn in 1997. There are much bigger Sonic collections released since then on the PC, Gamecube/PS2/Xbox, PS3/360, 3DS and maybe even more that I'm not thinking of at the moment but this collection in particular is interesting for a few things that were not present in any of them since then.
For starters as with these either collections, the games in this collection are not emulated but were actually ported over to the Saturn. Being in the CD format there is some differences in the music of which also the invincibility theme for the original Sonic the Hedgehog is also used in Sonic 2 for some reason, it's expected that this was a coding error. All of the games come packing the lock-on capability with Sonic & Knuckles(which is seen in some collections since but missing in others) and I believe to be still exclusive difficulty settings. All four games have original, normal, and easy options.
Original is well, the original games. Normal is slightly reduced difficulty. And then easy is an even easier option. The normal versions alter the levels a little a bit like removing the blue blobs and other such changes to reduce the challenge of the levels a bit as well as scattering more rings around the stages. The easy mode goes a bit further in this and even goes as far as removing some stages entirely. For anyone that likes Sonic but finds the Genesis games to be too hard, this would be a good option for them. The spin dash that was introduced in Sonic 2 is now also available to be used in the first Sonic the Hedgehog, on any of the difficulty settings. Now here is a slight overview on each of the games.
Sonic the Hedgehog - It's the game that started at all. After Alex Kidd wasn't really popular enough, this was Sega's answer and their new mascot to compete with Nintendo and the Mario games. Sonic of course as we know is built a bit more around speed and momentum as opposed to the more tight and focused platforming found in Mario. It's not all about going fast though as the game has many traps to trick those getting too ahead of themselves as well as different paths and collectibles to miss if going ahead without any thought. Sonic is the only playable character in this game as Tails wasn't introduced until Sonic 2. The chaos emeralds are present in this and required to get the true ending which has been a staple in the series. Here if ending a stage with 50 or more rings, Sonic can enter the special stage which is a rotating maze. It was a great first start for the series with challenging but fun levels, cool boss battles, and nice graphics.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Sonic 2 has the same base formula as the first game but is bigger and better. It introduces Tails, both competitive and cooperative 2-player modes, Super Sonic(after collecting all the chaos emeralds) and redesigned special stages as well as Sonic's iconic spin dash. Here the special stages(which are no 3D stages which are all about collecting enough rings and avoiding bombs) are still accessible once 50 rings are collected but are gone to at any of the checkpoints in the game so it's actually possible to collect all seven chaos emeralds by act 2 of the first level is skilled enough. Sonic 2 evolved quite a bit while also not changing the formula and makes for an excellent sequel.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Sonic 3 doesn't have many new additions to the series as 2 did but it does introduce Knuckles, Sonic's rival/friend who Robotnik has tricked into working against him. Instead of more new features(although there are more types of shield power-ups now), Sonic 3 experiments more with the level design and does once again change how the special stages work. Here there are big rings hidden in each of the levels that lead to the them and they (again 3D) overhead levels where the object is to collect all the blue spheres but avoid the red ones. Bonus stages are reached the same way as the special stages in 2 and they are for collecting extra lives and power ups. Sonic 3 only has 6 zones but the stages are also longer so it's still a decent length game. I personally like Sonic 2 the best but this is another well done sequel.
Sonic & Knuckles - Sonic & Knuckles uses the same formula as Sonic 3 but loses the multiplayer and now either Sonic or Knuckles are available for play, but only separately. It has the same bonus/special stage set ups and all new levels(8 this time so the multiplayer is gone but a couple more zones) Sonic 3 & Knuckles was initially meant to be one big adventure but was eventually split into two games so the game play in them is quite similar. Sonic & Knuckles had a unique lock on function, where the game cartridge had a flip top and could be connected with both Sonic 2 and 3 making Knuckles playable in the single player portion of those games. It also gives access to the Blue Sphere mini game which is similar to the special stages in Sonic 3 and Knuckles.
And those are the games included. Full reviews aren't really necessary because they've been done a million times by now and people either like Sonic or they don't. Sonic 2 is my favorite of the bunch but they are all fun and well designed games. I am not going to say I like them more than the Mario series but I lot of good memories with them. With that though, the games included in this collection are perhaps not the most interesting thing about it and with those out of the way I will get to that now. Aside from the four ported games, Sonic Jam also includes another mode called Sonic World. Sonic World is not a full game but a 3D hub area which feels more like a demo than anything else but it is slightly fun and interesting to play around with.
Sonic World is fully 3D area that works as a virtual museum and provides a few challenges. Here there is access to several time attack challenges which involve collecting enough rings within a time limit or finding Tails somewhere in the area within the time allotted. There are also a number of extras here such as videos, art, advertisements, etc. Sonic World doesn't add a whole lot to the package for most but would be an interesting tidbit for big fans of the series. This was the best thing the Saturn ever got when it came to a fully 3D playable Sonic adventure as Sonic X-treme was cancelled earlier in the year. Not getting a main Sonic game on the Saturn was still a big loss(it did also receive a slightly enhanced port of the Genesis Sonic 3D Blast, and Sonic R a racing game but no new Sonic Adventure) but it did give a hint at what a 3D Sonic game could have been like. Of course now there are plenty of 3D games and even the X-treme prototype is playable for the curious so this collection may not provide much for most but the biggest of Sonic or collectors of Sega Saturn titles.
+ Good ports of Sonic 1-3 and Knuckles
+ Extras such as the spin dash in Sonic 1 and new difficulty modes
+ Sonic World is a nice bonus and also some cool extras
- More games probably could have fit, like maybe maybe Sonic Spinball and the 8-bit Master System and/or Game Gear games
-Sonic World does feel a little empty, probably rushed to try and make Sonic fans happy after X-treme was cancelled
4/5
The US version of Sonic Jam has actually gotten quite pricey. Just checked and it seems to be selling for $100+ so even though it's interesting I could only recommend it for hardcore Sonic fans or collectors. However though the import version is a lot cheaper and there isn't much need to be able to read since the menus would be able to be figured out with some trial and error.
