Sonic Mega Collection Plus

"If you're a Sonic fan who despised Shadow the Hedgehog, then you'll love this game!"

Just to let you know, my six-year old cousin actually owns this game, not me. But whenever I play this game with my cousin, it's just plain fun. Meanwhile, I enjoyed Sonic as a child, but I never really played a Sonic game myself. But when I reached my teen years, I've played Sonic Advance 1 for the GBA, and boy did I realize why the series was good while I learned why the 3D Sonic games were bad after getting a taste of Sonic Adventure 2's boring rail-shooting and frustrating treasure hunting. Sure, Sonic Mega Collection Plus has a series of other Genesis and Game Gear games that aren't up to par with the Genesis Sonic trilogy, but at least it's got the original Genesis Sonic trilogy regardless. So if you enjoyed the original Genesis Sonic trilogy, the Sonic Advance trilogy for the GBA, and/or Sonic Rush for the DS, but despise the 3D Sonic games like Shadow the Hedgehog for lacking the speed that made Sonic lovable, or you haven't played a Sonic game before but want to know about it, Sonic Mega Collection Plus is for you.

The plus in the title means that unlike the original Gamecube version that lacked the plus in the title, the Xbox and PS2 versions have special features and Game Gear games that wasn't on the Gamecube. But thankfully, you can just ignore the Game Gear games as well as games like the Oooz, Comix Zone, and/or even Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast, or even Mean Bean Machine and at least some of the other extras for that matter. The biggest recommendation and major show stealer of them all is the original Genesis Sonic trilogy.

Sonic 1: 8/10. Once upon a time, Sega and Yuji Naka decided to compete with Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto in the console race by introducing their own mascot to match with Mario, the ever-lovable Italian stereotype. So they made Sonic, and unlike Mario's games, Sonic 1 became super-hip for using a strong sense of speed other plat-formers lacked. You still had to slowly time difficult jumps, dodge obstacles, make sure you don't go too fast, and beat up bosses, like in other platformers. But because it's the first Sonic game in the franchise, at least it didn't have guns and other features that made the 3D Sonic games mediocre, that got in the way of the seizure-inducing speed. The rings are a mix of the super mushrooms and the coins from Mario. Sonic can die if he has no rings, so you need at least one ring to keep him alive as possible. When Sonic gets hit by spikes or an enemy, he loses those rings and is vulnerable unless he collects more rings. There's also power-ups like barriers and speed boosts, and the levels are divided by zones, each with three acts and a fight against one of Eggman's mechs in the end of each zone. It also had secret stages, where if you manage to make it to the end any first or second act of certain zones with 50 rings intact, you can enter them in order to win bonus lives and even the six Chaos Emeralds required to unlock a hidden ending. That maybe slow-paced as well, but at least like the speed, it gave players an actual sense of accomplishment without punishing people with a stupid E-ranking for completing a stage. And by the way, the original 2D Sonic games didn't have bad ranking systems, meaning that you can slow down as much as you want in order to collect the Chaos Emeralds, and still feel like a god instead of a peon like in the 3D Sonic games.

Sonic 2: 8/10. This game was an upgrade to an already good game, and a heck of an upgrade as well. The graphics, sound, and ever-famous speed were risen a little to the point of inducing more seizures, and the special stages needed to collect the Chaos Emeralds to unlock a hidden ending, are now pseudo-3D. Plus it introduced Sonic's overlooked, under-appreciated side-kick, Tails. He may seem like a stock side-kick, but whenever he follows you around he can collect rings Sonic mistakenly missed as well as deal extra damage to almost any of the bosses Sonic fight against. Why no one likes Tails is beyond me, nor should anyone hate or neglect Tails just for being who he is. Tails' first introduction and his actual strength, speed, reliability, and beautiful friendship and cooperation between him and Sonic also proved that even though Sonic's fast and strong, he still can't do everything alone and is much better when he relies on powerful friends like Tails to help him in battle, even during some times and situations where he's better alone. After all, all those small animals Eggman imprisons in his robots can't rely on Sonic all the time, and sometimes must rely on either themselves or other heroes like Tails. And if Jack Thompson were reading this right now, I hope that he'll learn that even video games can still teach people about valuable life lessons, like the fact that Sonic's even better with friends traveling with him and helping him in battle, instead of ruin their lives.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles: 8/10. I know, this game is actually two separate games, one of them with a lock-on feature that lets you play as Knuckles in Sonic 2 and the Sonic 3 levels, and Tails in the Sonic and Knuckles levels. But there's a good reason why I'm reviewing Sonic 3 & Knuckles as one game instead of two: Because Sega originally intended it to be one game, but didn't have enough production time. So instead they sold the game as two separate ones with S&K's lock-on technology to make up for it. Sonic 3 & Knuckles contains not six or seven, but fourteen zones, seven in Sonic 3, seven in Sonic & Knuckles. The game also introduced not only the hidden Super Sonic level that can only be unlocked by collecting all seven hidden Chaos Emeralds, but also introduced Knuckles. This game was also the first in the series to reveal more about the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic 1 and 2, where they came from, and why they were created. Knuckles, descendant of the ancient Echidna race who created the Chaos Emeralds, is the guardian of the Master Emerald, which controls the seven Chaos Emeralds. And even though he's the enemy alongside Eggman, he's also playable and just misguided. Eggman tricked Knuckles into believing that Sonic and Tails are the bad guys, and thus Knuckles not only went into battle to protect the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald from Sonic and Tails, but also from Eggman. By playing between Sonic/Tails and Knuckles, you'll be able to learn that Knuckles isn't really evil at all, but just doing his duty, and that you should never hurt anyone until you know what makes them tick. Each of the three characters have special abilities that can allow them access new paths that one or the other couldn't reach, while still retaining the crazy speed instead of over-shadowing that said speed like in the 3D Sonic games. Sonic can just run straight-forward like usual, with another player using the second controller to control Tails into flying and carrying Sonic to unaccessible areas in case Tails is following Sonic. Meanwhile, unlike when he was playable in Sonic 2, Tails can now fly to access unreachable heights and jumps not even Sonic could access. And Knuckles, being the strong type, can climb up walls, glide, and mow through walls without even spin-dashing. It still retained the speed and other aspects that made Sonic 1 and 2 cool, only upgraded from these games real good-like. I don't see why no one liked that game, or even Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles as separate games for that matter. But still, at least it lives on in our hearts and SMC+ because it's bigger, longer, faster, more challenging, and teaches valuable life lessons in the process just like Sonic 2.

Overall, if you're a Sonic fan whose childhood memories are being massacred by the mediocre 3D Sonic games, and the Sonic Advance trilogy and Sonic Rush aren't enough to save those said memories, then get Sonic Mega Collection Plus, and go back to the old, better days when you used to play the original super-fast Sonic trilogy for the Genesis. And if you're new to the series, don't bother getting Sonic Heroes or Shadow the Hedgehog, and instead either get this, the Sonic Advance trilogy for the GBA, or Sonic Rush for the DS. But since this is a review of SMC+ starring three of the Genesis' greatest Sonic games, Sonic 1 through 3&K, you'll most likely get that instead of the Sonic Advance trilogy or Sonic Rush. And thankfully I don't mind as long as you try and enjoy the Sonic Advance trilogy and Sonic Rush as well, while avoiding the 3D console Sonic games at all costs.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/07/06