Sonic Gems Collection

Gems of the Collection...maybe?

Brings back memories. Sadly I've never owned a Sega Saturn, CD or a game gear back then. Well as the name says Sonic Gems Collection is a collection of Sonic games from 90s with a scanned version of the manual included in the game. The game that was the most interesting in there plus I have never heard of the game before was Sonic the Fighter. Which is a fighting game featuring most of the Sonic characters all with different styles of fighting. For graphics seeing as its a collection of old games is quite good I guess? Listening to the music I guess was all right. Storylines well uh... I don't think there is one and gameplay is quite basic.

What's the point?

Ok so they put a few rare sonic games on here, with a bunch of crappy game gear games. I was pretty disappointed when i played this game. Although the fighting game wasnt bad.

a review of SONIC CD ONLY

apparently gamepro doesn't have the sega cd available in the "retro section" yet, much less sonic cd itself. so, not caring about the other games on this compilation, I will instead focus on reviewing sonic cd, the highlight of the collection, and beloved to sega cd owners everywhere, instead.

first, what differentiates this entry from the genesis games? what gives it its "cd" edge? that comes in the form of a few fmv footage (intro and ending, to be specific), and cd-quality music. the fmv is pretty neat (well, better than what you'd find in the purely fmv games that were available for the sega cd, certainly), though nothing to write home about. the music just sucks though. BOTH the u.s. version's AND the japanese/euro version's alike. don't believe the hype that tells you how awesome the japanese soundtrack is, unless you like really annoying j-pop. the u.s. soundtrack is just as bad, but instead of bad j-pop, it's bad lounge music instead. screw this, give me the genesis sonics' more primitive, yet far more satisfying tunes.

so, besides the unremarkable cd-exlusive features, how's the game? I must say, thankfully, that it fares much better here. the gameplay features your typical sonic gameplay, rings, loops, time limits, annoying obstacles and enemies, and of course, the classic sonic sense of speed. the twist here is the "time travel" mechanic, where you travel through time by running through sign posts that read either "past" or "future," maintain a good sense of speed long enough, and you will end up in an alternate version of the level. the color scheme, music, and small level design details will all change, for better or worse. to get the good ending, you must finish each level in a "good future" scenario, along with finding and completing all the bonus stages, along with locating these mechanical devices well-hidden in the level and destroying them (whew!). I never found this to be particularly worth the effort, as it takes a lot away from what sonic's always been fun for: just dashing through the levels at high speed, and dodging danger in the process. pure, and simple, just how I like it.

level designs are slightly more restrictive because of this time travel mechanic, meaning you're not afforded as many opportunities to just spin dash to your heart's content. MANY obstacles will meet your way to make damned sure you don't travel through time easily, which either helps or hinders the gameplay, depending on whether or not you care to get the good ending or not.

to close the review, this is a very good sonic game. I slightly prefer the genesis titles (sonic the hedgehog 1 notwithstanding), but you can't go wrong by picking this game up, whether it be a sega cd original or this gamecube compilation (also available for the ps2 in PAL and japan).

Rare Sonic games

When I heard about Sonic Gems Collection for Gamecube I heard all the hype about Sonic CD. I bought the game and all of the hype about the game died inside of me. The game has only 7 Sonic games from the Sega Saturn, Sega CD, and Sega Gamegear plus 2 unlockable games. Sonic the Fighers, Sonic CD, Sonic R, Sonic Triple Trouble, Sonic Drift 2, Tails Adventures, Tails skypatoral, Vectorman, and Vectorman 2 round up the disc. Some of this games show their age like the gamegear games and the sega genesis games. I think Sega should of included Streets of Rage trilogy rather than Vectorman like Japanese gamers did in their Sonic Gems game. The lack of enough games makes this purchase from "getting 100 gold rings" to being knocked down to the bottom of the bargin bin.