Sonic Mega Collection Plus

Sonic Mega Collection Plus is a collection of classic Sonic the Hedgehog games for the Sega Genesis and Sega Game Gear along with a few extra goodies thrown in. For $20 you can get 20 games from the days when Nintendo vs. Sega dominated schoolyard discussion and the concept of Microsoft entering the console game market was unheard of. This is a trip down memory lane and full enrollment into the “old school”. Sonic Mega Collection Plus is a title that any gamer can be proud to own.

20 Games For $20

The games included in Sonic Mega Collection are:

• Sonic The Hedgehog (Genesis)
• Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)
• Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (Genesis)
• Sonic & Knuckles (Genesis)
• Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis, Saturn)
• Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball (Genesis)
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Genesis)
• Sonic & Knuckles lock-on: Sonic The Hedgehog 2
• Sonic & Knuckles lock-on: Sonic The Hedgehog 3
• Sonic & Knuckles lock-on: Blue Spheres
• The Ooze (Genesis)
• Comix Zone (Genesis)
• Flicky (Genesis)
• Ristar (Genesis)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear)
• Sonic Chaos (Game Gear)
• Sonic Drift (Game Gear)
• Sonic Labyrinth (Game Gear)
• Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Game Gear)
• Sonic Blast (Game Gear)

Some of them are open from the beginning but many of the games have to be unlocked by beating the various games in the collection. This system works well because the titles that are open when you start are great fun on their own, but the real meat of Sonic Mega Collection Plus is locked away and it is satisfying to open everything up. A nice aspect of the collection is that you can now save your game at any point and come back later in all of the included titles.

But Wait, There's More!

Sonic Mega Collection Plus, in a nutshell, is a collection of ROMs and emulators that allow you to play these old games on your newer systems. That is both a good and a bad thing because while the games are absolutely perfect, they haven’t been improved at all or even had the glitches fixed. It was all done in the name of nostalgia, though, so you can’t really complain too much. The same graphical issues, framerate problems, and gameplay glitches that appeared in the original versions of the games are back and it is actually pretty fun to experience them all and remember a simpler time.

In addition to the twenty games in Sonic Mega Collection Plus, Sega has added a ton of bonus material to go over. There are drawings and renders of all of the characters that have appeared in the Sonic games and they cover not only the original titles but the Sonic Adventure games as well. You can also find some movies from the recently released Sonic Heroes. There are also several Sonic comic books that you can look through and you can also look at the cover art from the entire run of the series. Instruction manuals for all of the games in the collection are included in their entirety as well.

Graphics and Sound

You can’t really expect too much from the graphics because these are games that were released ten years ago or more. The games are all bright and colorful and look good considering the hardware they ran on and how old they are. The Game Gear games don’t look nearly as nice as the Genesis titles because they were intended to be played on a small screen. Blowing them up to play on a TV screen didn’t produce very nice looking visuals, but they are still very playable.

The sound is also just as you remember it from the original versions of the games. Simple bleeps and bloops make up the sound effects and the music is equally simple. The MIDI soundtracks can’t compare to the full orchestral scores we have in games today, but the music in old games like this still very appealing.

Bottom Line

Overall, Sonic Mega Collection Plus is highly recommended. Whether you are playing them for the first time or the tenth time, there is a reason why the Sonic games were so popular. They are fast and fun and have held up surprisingly well over the years. Not only do you get twenty games in this compilation, but you also get artwork and comics and much more. This is a good value, and for $20 you can’t go wrong. Sonic Mega Collection Plus is a solid buy.