Sonic Gems Collection

Sonic Gems Collection

North American GameCube cover art
Developer(s) Sonic Team
Publisher(s) Sega
Director(s) Mizuki Hosoyamada
Producer(s) Yojiro Ogawa
Designer(s) Makoto Hirata
Artist(s) Yuji Uekawa
Composer(s) Naofumi Hataya
Tatsuyuki Maeda
Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
Tomonori Sawada
Takeshi Isozaki
Series Sonic the Hedgehog
Platform(s) GameCube, PlayStation 2
Release

GameCube

  • JP: August 11, 2005
  • NA: August 16, 2005
  • EU: September 30, 2005

PlayStation 2

  • JP: August 11, 2005
  • EU: September 30, 2005
Genre(s) Compilation
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Sonic Gems Collection is a compilation of Sonic the Hedgehog video games developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 video game consoles. Unlike Sega's prior Sonic compilation Sonic Mega Collection, which focused on the most popular entries in the series, Gems Collection centers more around rare and obscure games, such as Sonic CD and Sonic R.

The game was released in Japan and North America in August 2005, and in Europe the following month. Only the GameCube version was released in North America; the PlayStation 2 version is exclusive to Europe and Japan. Upon release, the game received mixed reviews; critics generally praised the inclusion of Sonic CD, although opinions were mixed on the remaining content and extras included.

Overview

Sonic Gems Collection is a compilation presented in a similar style to the prior collection in the Sonic series, Sonic Mega Collection. However, as its name suggests, Gems Collection contains more rare and obscure games from the Sonic series. The game also includes an "Extras" feature, where players can look at illustrations and promotional material for the Sonic games, and play demos of some of the Sonic games featured in Mega Collection. All the Game Gear games in Gems Collection were previously included in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut.

SegaSonic the Hedgehog was initially planned for inclusion, but was left out due to problems with properly emulating the game's trackball controls.[1] Sonic Eraser was once considered to be included as well; data referring to it exists in the game's coding.[2] There are also several pages of the art museum dedicated to Knuckles' Chaotix,[3] which has led to speculation that it was once considered for inclusion.

Full games included

Game Gear games

Non-Sonic games

Demo Sonic games

These "demo" games were previously featured in Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic Adventure DX. When the game starts, it jumps to the last act of the last zone in the game, and players are given a time limit to finish the level.

Sega Genesis
Game Gear

Trailers included

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic64/100[5]

Sonic Gems Collection received mixed reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the game has an average score of 64 out of 100, which indicates "mixed or average reviews" based on 32 reviews.[5]

Positive reactions to Gems Collection went to the inclusion of Sonic CD and Vectorman. Critics believed that Sonic CD was a major selling point, with praise directed at its graphics and gameplay. Nintendo Power singled out Sonic CD as being the game's best title.[6] Juan Castro of IGN offered similar praise for Sonic CD, and was also pleased by the inclusion of Vectorman, calling it "the pinnacle of 16-bit gaming". Ryan Davis of GameSpot called CD "far more playable" than the other Sonic games on the compilation.[7][8] Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer called Sonic CD "the reason you might buy this".[9]

Opinions were mixed on the remaining content in the compilation. Castro called Sonic R a "mixture of good ideas and poor implementation", commenting that while the game was enjoyable, it suffered from awkward controls. Davis, on the other hand, claimed the only redeeming quality of Sonic R was its "laughably bad soundtrack". Both Castro and Davis agreed that Sonic the Fighters was comparable to Virtua Fighter, and Phil Theobald of GameSpy claimed that it "looks more fun than it is".[10] The Game Gear Sonic games were met with criticism due to poor emulation; Davis called them "all over the place" in terms of quality, while Castro described their graphical looks as "pretty bad". Davis was also disappointed by the lack of the Streets of Rage games in the Western release,[7][8] while 1UP.com criticized the exclusion of Knuckles' Chaotix and Sonic Pocket Adventure.[11]

Despite these criticisms, Sonic Gems Collection sold relatively well, with the GameCube version receiving Player's Choice status.

References

  1. ↑ "Sega's Yuji Naka Talks!". GameSpy. IGN. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  2. ↑ Entering in the Action Replay code 021CCD5B 0000XXXX replaces some of the game selection icons with icons for the games that were not included in the North American release, such as Streets of Rage. Sonic Eraser is included among these.
  3. ↑ Fulfilling certain objectives in-game unlocks artwork to be viewed. Achieving certain playtime goals in Sonic 2 unlocks Chaotix promotional artwork.
  4. ↑ Gibson, Ellie. "Sonic Gems line-up in doubt". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  5. 1 2 http://www.metacritic.com/game/gamecube/sonic-gems-collection
  6. ↑ T, Steve (September 2005). "Sonic Gems Collection review". Nintendo Power: 85.
  7. 1 2 "Sonic Gems Collection - IGN". IGN. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  8. 1 2 Davis, Ryan. "Sonic Gems Collection Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Bramwell, Tom. "Sonic Gems Collection". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  10. ↑ Theobald, Phil. "GameSpy: Sonic Gems Collection - Page 2". GameSpy. IGN. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  11. ↑ Parish, Jeremy (16 August 2005). "Sonic Gems Collection". 1UP.com. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
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