Sonic Classic Collection, the latest collection and re-releasing of classic 2D Sonic games from Sega, comprises the first four Sonic titles on Sega Genesis; the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles. In addition to these games, you also have the lock-on variant games Knuckles in Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles openly accessible from the start without having to unlock them after meeting certain conditions. Along with those games, you have a rather modest collection of Sonic-related illustrations that have been featured in countless other Sonic compilations as well as various other sources… including the Internet.
And that’s about it. No extra games or hidden features. What you see is what you get with Sonic Classic Collection and for the most part, this is actually not too bad. It more than makes up for the shoddy GBA port of Sonic 1.
Now it should be noted that these games aren’t port overs – they are basically a set of ROMs running off an emulator. As such, there might be cases of graphical blurring or some slowdown issues. But that doesn’t really distract from the gameplay unless you’ve logged in many hours on the original Genesis cartridges. All the Sonic games included play, look, and sound pretty much the same way as they did way back when… and for the most part, the games control rather well with the DS Lite’s dinky D-Pad. It’s a fairly decent emulator with no major complaints on my part.
It should be noted that the ROMS for Sonic 2 and 3 (and 3 & Knuckles) have been altered somewhat to remove the two player mode and option menus. This means a lack of multiplayer options, restricting the games to a single player experience only – which will no doubt disappoint some player hoping for quick 2-player games. Also, the removal of menus makes it more difficult (almost impossible) for the old cheat codes to be implemented, forcing you to “tough it out” the old-fashioned way. This may or may not bother some people.
Another annoying aspect is that the pause function is on the touch screen rather than mapped to the Start Button or any other button on the handheld. It’s not a crippling issue, but it’s a truly awkward implementation of something as simple as a pause button. Oh well.
Also in the case of Sonic & Knuckles, its unique and dramatic mid-boss theme was replaced with the messy mid-boss theme from Sonic 3. Strange.
To make up for the changes, a quick save function was implemented to the Sonic games that didn’t originally have one (i.e. Sonic 1 & 2, Sonic and Knuckles, and Knuckles in Sonic 2). This essentially allows you to save your progress and restart at the beginning of the last act you saved at. I haven’t fully tested this, but the quick save function does save any Chaos Emeralds you may have collected along the way. The sole drawback is one save per game, but that seems to work fine.
As Sonic 3 and its lock-on cousin already have save functions, they didn’t get the quick-save function, but that’s alright. They work just fine as is.
Overall, this is a fairly solid collection of Sonic games that show the series’ high point and in all honesty, Sonic on the go is always a good thing. Those who were long-burned by Sega’s butchering of the GBA port of the original Sonic many moons ago will find that Sonic Classic Collection does a fairly good job in redeeming the stain from Sega’s sleeve. Even though they’re merely emulated versions, I suppose that’s the best we could hope for in regards to maintaining the purity of the classic Sonics. Given the last time Sega attempted to port over classic Sonic to a Nintendo handheld, this collection more than makes up for it.
BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 8/10 (true to the Genesis originals – although some blurring may occur)
Sound: 7/10 (some minor audio issues and one changed tune, but otherwise well accurate)
Gameplay: 8/10 (classic Sonic fun plays good – missing multiplayer and sound test)
Challenge: 7/10 (all the Sonic games offer a fair, moderate challenge – seeking Emeralds is also fun)
Replay Value: 7/10 (lack of multiplayer disappointing, but Sonic games are still fun)
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