Just a warning. The games we'll be looking at have not been announced by Sega for release on the PlayStation just yet, and they may never be. All images and video are pulled from the Saturn versions (yes, we're trying to put a bit of the old Saturn World onto IGN Insider).
Be sure and check out last week's story on Panzer Dragoon.
This week, we present one of the coolest game collections ever, Sonic Team's super Sonic compilation, Sonic Jam.
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Later this year, Sega will be celebrating in style, bringing us a brand new 3D adventure on Dreamcast (with some of the best graphics seen to date on any next generation system) and a brand new side scroller on -- of all things -- Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. And of course, IGN Insider readers have heard about Sonic Team's yet unannounced plans for Sonic on the Nintendo GameCube.
As we celebrate the birth of the Big Blue (Sonic snatched the nickname from IBM, right?), let us not forget the past, the Sonic games that started it all. The four side-scrolling Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Genesis are among the finest games ever brought to the screen, and back in 1998, Sega graced the few Saturn owners who cared with Sonic Jam, a collector's package featuring the four games along with a bit of Sonic history. And now, with Sega making the big multiplatform push, we can't think of a more perfect game to remind everyone, this time through a viable platform, what attitude and speed are all about.
You're probably down with all the Sonic basics (you wouldn't be a member of IGN Insider if you weren't), so let's skip right to a look at the four games included on the "jammin'" Sonic Jam CD:
- SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
1991 is when it all began. The fiendish Dr. Ivo Robotnik (yes, he has a first name in the American instruction manual -- although the manual also says "Be Sonic! Be atomic!" so trust it at your own risk) had snatched up all the animals and turned them into robots. It was up to "one tough dude" (more from the instruction manual) to restore peace to the land of Moebius. Welcome to the next level with Sonic the Hedgehog (from Mega Drive!).
Sega brought in the Sonic Team developed game to make gamers buy Genesis instead of Super Nintendo. And it worked. While the SNES still sold well, Sonic and his attitude (along with Madden and a few others) made Genesis the cool system, and Sega the new household name in videogames. People on TV weren't playing Nintendo, they were playing Sega, and gamers had a new icon developer in the form of Yuji Naka (who, in addition to design, also served as the chief programmer on the game).
In retrospect, the original Sonic the Hedgehog seems to represent a transition in Genesis programming, from games that for the most part looked inferior to the Super Nintendo to games that could compete and in many ways beat the Super Nintendo. In fact, due to the perfect use, and not abuse, of the hardware, Sonic the Hedgehog still looks gorgeous today; it has a sort of graphical and aural perfection about it, where you can't see any of the hardware's limitations (ie, no dithering, no dirty sound samples). All this, and a lengthy game, on a four megabit cartridge.
- SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2
Featuring the debut of Sonic sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower, this sequel took off on Sonic Tuesday the year after the original Sonic's release. Dr. Robotnik was at it again, although this time with a purpose. The mad scientist had conceived the ultimate weapon, the Death Egg, and was transforming the fluffy animals of Moebius into robots in order to construct the fortress. Now all he needed were the seven Chaos emeralds, and he would be unstoppable. Can't let that happen, eh Sonic?
Amazingly, the 8 megabit Sonic 2 seemed to double the speed of its predecessor (the difference is readily apparently -- compared to Sonic 1, it's almost as if you're always wearing speed shoes in Sonic 2), and also added an all-new spin dash move which allowed you to launch Sonic to great speed from a standstill. Sonic Team also showed off their cool with 3D bonus rounds that bested the "Mode 7" effects on the early Super Nintendo titles. Beat the game with all seven Chaos Emeralds, and you became Super Sonic, allowing you to run through all the levels at double speed.
The game had a few obvious problems, unfortunately. First off, it was clearly rushed, with bugs all over the place, ranging from sound issues to occasional freezes. Also, the game had the Super Mario Brothers 2 syndrome, and was so long that without a save feature, you were practically required to break health regulations in order to finish it.
- SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3
In 1993, Sonic sat out the sidescrolling plains of Moebius on the Genesis. Instead, Sega gave the market more of America's number one character through Sonic CD and Sonic Spinball. Early the next year, though, Sonic Team came back with a vengeance through the 16 megabit Sonic the Hedgehog 3. This game added a much needed battery backup save feature along with all new moves ranging from swinging on vines to spin dashing to make platforms rise. Oh, and let's not forget the first appearance of Knuckles, who would remain a fixture in the Sonic universe as Sonic's "friendly" rival.
At first, Knuckles was trained to believe that Sonic was the enemy. Apparently, Robotnik's Death Egg machine wasn't destroyed at the end of Sonic 2. Instead, it crash landed on the mysterious Floating Island, which stays afloat through the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Guarding those emeralds was, you guessed it, Knuckles the Echidna (Sega's marketing campaign for the game involved the very question of what exactly an Echidna is -- it's real, folks, unlike the made-up "hedgehog"). Robotnik convinced Knuckles that Sonic and Tails were trying to steal the Emeralds, starting a rivalry that would span multiple encounters throughout the game.
Wait¿ this doesn't make any sense¿ in the beginning of the game, Knuckles steals the emeralds from Sonic. How could they have been keeping the island afloat when Sonic had been holding them? Ahh forget it!
- SONIC & KNUCKLES
Sonic 3 wasn't the end for Sonic in 1994. Alongside the 32x system that signaled the start of Sega's descent into hell, Sega also released the far more revolutionary 18-meg Sonic and Knuckles cartridge in time for Christmas. This game featured a cartridge port on one end that allowed gamers to "lock on" the previous three side scrolling Genesis titles for some bonuses. Lock on to Sonic 2, and you could use Knuckles in the game, complete with his penchant for hovering and climbing (new power-ups managed to appear in previously unreachable places). Lock on to Sonic 3, and you had the largest Sonic game ever, playable as either Sonic or Knuckles. Of course, the game was playable by itself as either Sonic or Knuckles through a set of all new levels.
You could even lock on the game to Sonic 1, although we presume due to changes in the game engines (the Sonic games following part 1 were, as mentioned, much faster), you weren't able to add new characters to the game. Instead, locking on to Sonic 1 gave you countless variations on the Sonic 3 bonus round -- a more than worthy thing, considering the Sonic 3 bonus round is practically a game unto itself.
Sonic and Knuckles brought Sonic's saga on Genesis to a inspiring grand finale, as anyone who's played through to the end will testify (Super Sonic goes into space for the ultimate battle!). We will ignore the isometric game that followed and the side scrolling game that never saw the light of day.
We presume that when bringing these games to the Saturn, Sonic Team made use of a Genesis emulator. The result was a pretty much spot on experience, except for a bit of slowdown. The music sounded identical to the Genesis version, but the dynamic effects, such as speeding up the sound instantaneously when you pick up speed boots were gone. In all, though, it was a remarkably close rendition of the original titles.
Sega also saw fit to beef up the games with added options. You can play through the original Sonic with the Spin Dash move included. You can play through all games with multiple difficulty settings, and can try out time attack modes to aim for the fastest time. The game even lets you try out the bonus stages without playing through the final game.
The biggest addition comes in the form of a 3D Sonic Museum in which you control Sonic through a small outdoor 3D area. You can make Sonic run around the world (he moves about half the speed of his Sonic Adventure counterpart), jumping onto platforms, bouncing off springs, crossing bridges, and picking up rings along the way. Tails is even flying about, ready to take Sonic for a tour of the area (see the movies below).
The main point of this 3D Museum is to access rooms which contain a bit of Sonic history. You'll find a music shop, which allows you to sample all the music, a movie theater which shows advertisement clips (Japanese only) and short animations, a character room, which profiles all the characters, and an art gallery. In addition to these, you can take part in multiple mini games set in the 3D world, from collecting rings to tagging signposts.
The museum's 3D interface is the only area we fear might end up getting cut from a PlayStation version of the game. The 3D engine in Sonic Jam was pure second generation Sonic Team stuff, featuring the Saturn's most convincing 3D world, aside from the world found in Panzer Dragoon Saga. Sonic and Tails are well animated, and can see far off into the distance of an incredibly detailed world. It would take a talented, experienced developer to put this onto the PSX, but losing the 3D part of the museum wouldn't be that big a deal. Instead, we'd rather Sega spend time adding more goodies, including possibly some American commercials (these were originally omitted due to copyright issues).
We're certain that, included in the 80,000,000 PSX owners worldwide are a few who once owned a Genesis and want to relive these games, as well as a few who want to see what all the fuss was all about, with or without the 3D stage. So, Sega¿ can we get the Sonic Overload on PlayStation?
-- Anoop Gantayat, Contributor
SONIC JAM MEDIA COLLECTION