The classic blue blur from the Sega Genesis is back. After a few mediocre attempts to to create Sonic in three dimensions, Sega and Sonic Team wised up and went back to the series' roots. Sonic Mega Collection is an ensemble of every great Sonic game to grace the Sega Genesis. The collection is entertaining and nostalgic, but still leaves a bit to be desired.
There are six games accessible when you first boot up Sonic Mega Collection: Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic and Knukles, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, and Sonic Spinball. The first four games mentioned, the "real" Sonic games, are a blazingly fast trip down memory lane. All of them stand the test of time well, still as entertainng as they were in the early '90s. Each game is progressively better than the last, Sonic & Knuckles being the epitome of the series. All four games control tightly and responsively on the GC, movement feeling just as intuitive as it did on the Genesis. These are four excellent games no gamer should be without.
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bachine is more or less a Tetris clone. It's not as deep or as fun as Pokemon Puzzle League, the ultimate Tetris clone, but it is passable. A weak plot ties together the singe-player mode, which is surprisingly challenging. There's a practice mode to mess around in, and of course multi-player is a given.
Sonic Spinball is a pathetic excuse for a pinball game. Sonic, the pinball, must be guided around a board of sort in normal pinball fashion in order to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds. Don't bother with this game. It's the exact opposite of fun.
There are also several bonus games, namely the "& Knuckles" series which could be found on the Genesis if you connected Sonic & Knuckles to Sonic 2 or Sonic 3. In Sonic 2, this simply allows you to play as Knuckles throughout the game, gainin access to a few areas that only Knuckles can reach. In Sonic 3, though, things are drastically changed. Sonic 3 and Sonic & Kuckles are combined into one huge adventure, which you can play as Sonic or Knuckles throughout. It was quite an ingenious move by Sega way back when, and that fact still holds true today. Two other games, by the names of Flicky and Ristar (I believe...I haven't actually unlocked them yet :P) are available on the disk. They are completely unrelated to the Sonic franchise and are more or less filler for the software.
All of the games on the disc are identical to their Genesis counterparts in the audio and visual departments. Some of the later titles looked amazing, and I always found the Sonic tunes to be catchy, so this really isn't a bad thing.
There are also numerous bonus features contained on the disc, the most interesting being the comic collection. Sonic Team has assembled a collection of every comic book cover from the Archie-produced Sonic the Hedgehog series. More notably though, an entire comic book, more than 30 scanned pages, is included on the disk. This is quite an entertaining read, and almost compels you to go buy the rest of the 100+ issues in the series. Unfortunately, the rest of the bonus features are rather dismal. A few uninteresting movies of past and future Sonic titles and an ill-concieved "History of Sonic" cinema that lasts for about five minutes aren't worth much.
Overall, Sonic is an excellent buy for around $30. It's currently retailing for $40. If you can find it for 30 bucks, pick it up without hesitation. Otherwise, only the hardest of core Sonic fans (who DON'T have the Genesis games anymore) should dare approach this title.
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