Compilations in the Sonic series

This article covers the number of compilations in the Sonic series.

Dreamcast Collection

Main article: Dreamcast Collection

This is a Dreamcast Collection compilation of four Dreamcast titles:

It was released for Xbox 360 and the PC on February 22, 2011 in North America and February 25, 2011 in Europe.[1] These games are also being released individually for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and Steam.

Sega Mega Drive Collection/Sega Genesis Collection

A compilation of 28 Mega Drive/Genesis games released for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are included.

Sonic & Garfield Pack

This pack contains the PC versions of:

Sonic & Knuckles Collection

Sonic & Knuckles Collection is a Sonic the Hedgehog compilation game for Microsoft Windows-based PCs, released in 1997.[2]

This collection includes:

The European and North American versions of the collection also includes Sonic the Screensaver which the player can customize Windows with Sonic themes, wallpapers, icons, and music from Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles, and the Japanese & European soundtrack of Sonic the Hedgehog CD in 11 kHz WAV format. However, in Japan, Sonic & Knuckles Collection and Sonic the Screensaver were released separately, on the same day. Some tracks in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 were replaced due to sound card limitations.

This game is virtually impossible to play in windowed mode on any system with a CPU faster than 350 MHz, because the game does not have speed-limiting routines enabled in this mode. The timings used by the game are based on the monitor's refresh rate. Switching the game to fullscreen mode lets the game play properly, no matter what the system speed is. In windowed mode, the game can be played at the correct speed whenever the screen refresh rate is at 60Hz. Sega has also provided a patch to fix this problem without reducing the refresh rate. The patch adds the following lines in the "S3K.ini" file in the Windows directory:

[Debug]
MukaiDropFrame=0

Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut

Main article: Sonic Adventure

The Director's Cut version of Sonic Adventure features 12 unlockable Game Gear titles from the Sonic franchise:

6 titles later appear in Sonic Mega Collection Plus, with the other 6 later appearing in Sonic Gems Collection. It also features Metal Sonic as a playable character in the primary game.

Sonic Classic Collection

Sonic Classic Collection is a video game compilation for the Nintendo DS developed by The Creative Assembly Australia, under supervision by Sega Australia and Sega of Europe.[3] It is a collection of:

This compilation was officially announced on December 2, 2009 by Sega of America and was released March 2, 2010, although news of this compilation first broke when it was classified by the Australian Government's OFLC.[4] It features two extra lock-on modes from the originals, which allows the player to play as Knuckles in Sonic 2 and to play the complete version of Sonic 3 (titled "Knuckles in Sonic 3" as opposed to the original "Sonic 3 & Knuckles" title).[5] The games receive the addition of a save option; while players can "save anywhere" as billed, they must restart the act in which they saved - they are, however, allowed to keep their score and Chaos Emeralds from when they saved, as well as any extra lives and continues earned. The collection also includes a gallery of images.[6]

It was originally supposed to also include Sonic Spinball, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Sonic 3D Blast (just like in Sonic Mega Collection), but none of those 3 games made it into the final product.[7]

The game was met with mixed to positive reactions from critics, receiving a 70 out of 100 on Metacritic. Praise was directed at the quality of the games included, but was criticized for its lack of a multiplayer mode and how the artwork included was the only extras included.

Sonic Compilation

Sonic Compilation is a video game compilation released in 1995 for the Sega Mega Drive. It contains three previously released Sonic titles:

In 1997, the Genesis version was released in North America under the name Sonic Classics 3 in 1 (making it the final Sonic game released for the console). Sonic Compilation was the first collection of multiple Sonic games on one cartridge. In some locations, it was bundled with the Mega Drive console during its later years. The three games appear in exactly the same form as in their original release. The only new content is a game selection menu, controlled by using the left and right directions on the D-pad and new sprite renderings of the box art for each of the three games. The menu was changed in later released versions. Once a game is selected, players are not able to go back to the menu unless the console is reset or turned off and on again. This game is one of two that, when "locked on" with Sonic & Knuckles, will enable players to play the entire Blue Sphere game, instead of just 1 level. The other game that enables this is the standalone version of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic Gems Collection

Sonic Gems Collection is a compilation of some of the more obscure titles from the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series.

It was released for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 in Japan on August 11, 2005 and in Europe on September 30, 2005. In North America, on August 16, 2005, only the GameCube version was released. Content differs between the Japanese and Western versions, such as the omission of the Streets of Rage and Bonanza Bros. games from the Western version in order to obtain a lower ESRB rating. The European version also uses the American soundtrack for Sonic CD.

Reviews of Sonic Gems Collection were mixed. Most of the praise went to the inclusion of Sonic CD, while opinions were mixed on the remaining content in the compilation. Many reviewers were also disappointed by the omission of Streets of Rage from the North American version. It sold very well and the GameCube version received Player's Choice status.

The PC versions of Sonic CD and Sonic R were used for their respective ports (although the manual artwork of the Saturn version of Sonic R was included).

Full Sonic games included

Demo Sonic games included (unlockables)

The full versions of these games were included on the game disc, but only a demo was made available. This was done by setting a time limit for which the player can play the corresponding game. Furthermore, when the game starts, it jumps to the last act of the last zone in the game. However, once that act has been completed and the credits watched, the game can be restarted from the beginning, although this does not reset the timer so the player cannot get very far. The time limit itself depends on the time needed to complete the game's last act. For example, for Sonic The Hedgehog 3, 15 minutes are given, but for the 8-bit version of the original Sonic The Hedgehog, only 5 minutes are given.

Non-Sonic games included

Trailers included

Sonic Jam

Main article: Sonic Jam
Sonic explores Sonic Jam's overworld, in which missions can be performed.

Sonic Jam (ソニック ジャム) is a compilation of titles in the Sonic the Hedgehog series that were originally released on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Released for Sega Saturn in Japan on June 20, 1997, in North America on July 31, 1997 and in Europe on the 28th of August 1997, it includes Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles. Upon selecting Sonic & Knuckles, the player can utilise the original cartridge's "lock-on technology" to link the game to any of the other three games in the collection; this makes Knuckles in Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Blue Sphere playable.

Sonic Jam includes the option to play the games using three different difficulty settings. When played in "Original" mode, the games are identical to their original Mega Drive/Genesis releases. "Normal" difficulty adds extra rings and alters other aspects of the levels' design to make them less challenging, and the "Easy" setting further reduces the challenge of progressing through the games by entirely omitting certain stages. A time attack feature is also included, which saves the player's three fastest completion times for each Act; this mode utilizes the altered level variants from the Normal difficulty setting. Sonic Jam also implements the ability to use Sonic's signature Spin Dash manoeuvre in Sonic the Hedgehog (on any of the above difficulties); originally, it did not debut until Sonic 2. Sonic Jam also fixes certain bugs, particularly in Sonic 3. Unlike later Sonic compilations, in Sonic Jam the Mega Drive games were not simply emulated, but instead were ported to the Saturn hardware.

The compilation also includes a 3D "Sonic World" mode, which allows players to access virtual museums featuring Sonic the Hedgehog history, art and music, as well as videos such as advertisements and remastered and uncut versions of the animation sequences from Sonic CD. In addition to functioning as a hub for these extras, the Sonic World environment also contains several time attack missions, which challenge players to tasks such as ring-collecting, reaching markers, or finding Miles "Tails" Prower. Completing all the missions unlocks the credits for Sonic Jam.

A licensed Game.com version by Tiger exists and features black-and-white versions of Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, and except for the colorized Sonic The Hedgehog, they are very different from the Mega Drive/Genesis originals. Curiously, this version's box art features the same render found on that of Sonic R.

Sonic Mega Collection

Main article: Sonic Mega Collection

A compilation released for Nintendo GameCube and later PlayStation 2 as well as Xbox as Sonic Mega Collection Plus, containing all the Sonic games released for the Mega Drive/Genesis, including their lock-on combinations, as well as a few other Mega Drive titles. The Plus edition also contains 6 Game Gear titles.

Sonic PC Collection

Sonic PC Collection is a Europe and Australia/New Zealand exclusive compilation of Sonic the Hedgehog games originally developed by Sonic Team. It only includes Sonic games previously released on PC for Windows XP/2000; there are no exclusive games present, and games originally released as double CD-ROMs remain as is. These are: Sonic Riders, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Adventure DX, and Sonic Mega Collection Plus.

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection/Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection

A collection of 40 Mega Drive/Genesis titles, as well as 9 unlockable Arcade and Master System titles, which can be played with optional widescreen ratios and HD smoothing. The game contains all the main Sonic games released for the Mega Drive though, unlike Sonic Mega Collection, it does not feature the lock-on combinations.

Sonic Action 4 Pack

Sonic Action 4 Pack was essentially just a repackaging of games formerly released on PC but without their instruction manuals which were included in various forms on the discs themselves. It contained Sonic & Knuckles Collection, Sonic CD, Sonic R and Sega Smash Pack 2.[8]

Sega Genesis Classic Collection: Gold Edition

A compilation of Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games for PC that was originally 4 separate compilations in Europe, the Sonic games that are found in the entire set are Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles as well as Sonic Spinball, 3D Blast and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.

Sega Smash Pack

Main article: Sega Smash Pack

A series of Mega Drive/Genesis compilations that have been released for PC, Sega Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance. These compilations have included Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball.

Sega Puzzle Pack

Main article: Sega Puzzle Pack

One of the three games included in this compilation for PC is Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.

Sega 3D Classics Collection

One of the games included in this compilation for Nintendo 3DS is the 3D Classic version of the original Sonic the Hedgehog.

Oculus Arcade

The original Sonic the Hedgehog is confirmed to be one of the games that will be available in the Oculus Arcade application for the Oculus Rift.

References

  1. ↑ Archived January 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Sonic & Knuckles Collection release data, GameFAQs.com.
  3. ↑ Harris, Craig (5 March 2010). "Sonic Classic Collection Review". IGN. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Game.co.uk
  5. ↑ "Sonic Classic Collection for Nintendo DS". GameStop. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
  6. ↑ Sega.co.uk
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ "Sonic Action 4 Pack - Sonic Retro". Info.sonicretro.org. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
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