E3: Sonic Gems Collection Hands-On

It's the Sonic collection you always dreamed of, with the elusive Sonic CD and Sonic the Fighters included! This will sell a billion units.

Sonic Gems Collection is Sega's gift to GameCube owners who either missed out on some of the more obscure Sonic classics or longed to relive the fun of those games without having to dig up their old arcade boards and Saturn units. Sonic Gems Collection is headed exclusively to the GameCube console and we came away pretty satisfied with what we played last week.

Sonic Gems Collection is basically a compilation disc containing a number of classic Sonic titles including such notables as Sonic The Fighters; Sega's hard-to-find Model 2 arcade fighting game that was based on characters from the Sonic universe, and Sonic CD; Sonic's first CD-based adventure which was first released on the Sega CD/Mega CD.

Sonic The Fighters has never been seen outside arcades before

In Sonic The Fighters, like most other 3D fighting games, players pick a fighter from the game's roster of characters from the Sonic universe, and battle against AI- and human-controlled opponents within a variety of walled arena settings. Various types of fighting combos can be performed utilizing the game's punch, kick, and block button layout - and similar to other Sega fighters, throwing maneuvers can also be performed by simultaneously pressing the punch and guard buttons. For the most part the game seems to retain much of the graphical quality as the coin-op classic and controls really well with the GameCube controller.

Sonic CD is one of the high points of Sonic's career

The other playable title, Sonic CD, looked and played exactly as we remember - right down to the pixelated 3D bonus stages. In Sonic CD players take control of the lightning-quick hog who had to travel through time in order to battle the evil Metal Sonic. The game retains a great number of the gameplay conventions that made the Genesis versions such instant classics, while introducing a few additional elements into the mix.

Sonic R was a graphically delicious Sega Saturn racer

Graphically the game looks identical to the Sega/Mega CD classic so don't go expecting any significant visual updates. The Japanese version of Sonic CD has long been sought after for its amazing redbook audio soundtrack which was completely changed when brought over to the States. So, since we weren't able to sample any of the music in the E3 demo there still remains a big question mark as to which version of the soundtrack will be included in the GameCube version.

"Both" would be a good solution if you're listening, Mr. Sega. Hopefully with the additional space provided by the GameCube's 1.5 gig optical discs in comparison to ancient CD-ROM technology, an option to select between the original Japanese tracks and the altered US tracks will be available. If not you can sure as hell bet that we're on our knees praying for the original Japanese tracks to be decided on for this release.

When Sonic Gems Collection lands on store shelves this Summer players will also have the opportunity to check out Sonic R - the Sega/Traveller's Tales designed racing game that was originally released on the Sega Saturn; it had some pretty sensitive controls and an extremely cheesy but catchy soundtrack from revered music dude, Richard Jacques. But that's not all, along with the aforementioned Sonic titles, players will also be able to play through six of Sonic's Game Gear games, including Sonic Spinball, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Drift Racing 2, Tails Adventures, Tails' Skypatrol, and Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble. Great!

All in all, we had a lot of fun playing through the two playable demos and were left craving for more. With a solid number of titles included in this compilation, Sonic Gems Collection is a real, um, 'gem' of a collectors item. We'll keep you posted.

Joseph Jackson
Executive Editor, Kikizo Games