Sonic Gems Collection -- Initial Impressions.

Next up is Sonic Gems Collection for the Gamecube. SGC is yet another Sonic collection, the third one for the Gamecube, and the fourth one in existence. The others being Sonic Jam on the Saturn, Sonic Adventure DX on the Gamecube, and Sonic Mega Collection on the current consoles. I'm including Sonic Adventure DX on that list because it collects every Sonic related Game Gear game. Fifteen Sonic Game Gear titles in all. Sonic Jam had Sonic 1,2,3, and Sonic & Knuckles, but included a 3D world to run around in. Essentially a mini Sonic game in itself. It also included movies never seen before or since, all the music from the entire series, and never before seen art. Sonic Mega Collection brought together Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis), Sonic Spinball, and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. It also included a wealth of bonus material, including movies, rare artwork, all the comic book covers, and hidden games. So why Sonic Gems Collection then? Because Sonic Mega Collection was missing a few notable games. Sonic Gems Collections contains Sonic R, Sonic CD, Sonic the Fighters, and six of the Sonic Game Gear games. The Game Gear games are Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Spinball, Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble, Sonic Drift 2, Tails' Skypatrol, and Tails' Adventures. It also has the Genesis games Vectorman and Vectorman 2 as hidden unlockables. I don't know why, as the Vectorman games have nothing to do with Sonic or Sonic Team. But I'm not complaining, as they're both from the very small list of Genesis games I missed. It's great to finally have them. Sonic Gems Collection also features more rare artwork, movies, newly created music, hidden demos of other games, and more. So, between all of these games, the Sonic fan has everything they could ask for, or so it would seem. There is still yet more room for another Sonic collection, as we're missing Sonic the Hedgehog (Arcade), and Knuckles Chaotix (SEGA 32X), and people are clamoring for Nights, Burning Rangers, and other Sonic Team games to be included. I will cover more about the main games on the disc as I play them.

Next time will cover the arcade game finally come home in Sonic the Fighters.