Sega’s biggest mistake with the Sega Saturn console was that there was no fully 3D Sonic title released for it. Instead they were focusing on creating new franchises. This was great for gamers, but bad for their marketshare. At one point a game called Sonic Xtreme was in development, but when it was close to completion the title was inexplicably canceled. Then we had a racing game starring the hedgehog mascot. Sonic R is great but was hardly a worthy replacement for a full blown platforming adventure. As the Sega Saturn was fading away Sega still had yet to grace the console with a full blown 3D platformer based on Sonic. At the last second they threw together what they had been working on to serve as a hub world for a compilation of their older titles. This was Sonic Jam, and it’s actually pretty cool. Let’s take a look.
When I say they made what they had into a hub world I mean it. Those expecting a full blown 3D game or even a fully designed area to explore will be disappointed. The Sonic World mode consists of one 3D area you can explore. There are rings and platforms, but no enemies unfortunately. There are a few time attack related tasks to perform here, as well as secrets too. As a fun little bonus it’s pretty neat. Running around as Sonic exploring 3D space in a Sega Saturn title is a fantastic novelty. A full blown game based on this engine would likely have been amazing The mechanics are actually better than in Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast in my opinion. This is due in large part to the fact that Sega dialed back the speed a bit here which makes a lot of the platforming easier.
There’s more to do in Sonic World than just run around however. There are five different buildings and entering them gives you a variety of neat little Sonic franchise Easter eggs. This includes old commercials for the original titles, interviews, a sound test, etc. The amount of videos included is really impressive especially considering this compilation was thrown together in haste. It’s clear that Sonic Jam in it’s entirety was more of a love letter to fans than anything else. That, and a compilation of all of Sonic’s best games up to that point. I’ll get to that in a bit. I can’t think of any other compilation of games with such care put into it. Sonic Jam was just enough to keep Sega fans hungry back in the day.
If you’re not that interested in Sega’s history you can completely bypass Sonic World and get straight to the games. In an age of lazy compilations Sega actually went back and messed with the original code. This means the ports are optimized them for the more powerful hardware. They didn’t go so far as to redrawn anything or change the designs, but the effort is still pretty clear. This is by no means a lazy port job. I’m downright impressed with the work Sonic Team put in here. Most people have played the original Sonic the Hedgehog, but it’s still as fun here as it ever was. This was the start of the franchise. It’s no wonder it is often heralded as one of the greatest side scrolling platformers of all time.
Your goal is to rescue a series of animals from the grasp of the evil Dr. Robotnik. To do so you must run and jump your way through a series of stages fighting enemies and collecting rings. Often times you must maintain your speed to bypass obstacles. That’s the real gimmick here and it plays nicely into Sonic’s speed. Some of the early stages feature multiple vertical tiers which makes them more complicated than many other games of this kind. Unfortunately the platforming is a little slippery. In many areas you’re required to jump to and from moving objects which can be difficult. Sonic slides just a little too much for the precision Sega is asking for here. It’s still a very good game overall, and Sonic Team added the spin dash from part 2 in here which changes things up a bit.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is up next. This is the bigger and better sequel with improved level design and more abilities. The emphasis is still on speed as you’ll be running through loop de loops as you do battle with a wider variety of enemies. This title also introduces Sonic’s sidekick Tails to the mix. What’s nice is you’re given you the option of playing as either character. The two have a large number of differences and experiencing the same levels as each is really cool. There’s even a split screen competitive mode, but options are limited in it. The new bonus stages are particularly well done and were quite impressive given the limited Genesis hardware. I still think Sonic 2 looks great. It didn’t even need a facelift to look nice by Saturn standards.
Sonic 3 is also included in this package, and is actually my favorite of the original Sonic titles. The developers took a more inventive approach here with several slower paced, but still fun levels. There are several new mechanics and hazards that can be tackled in a number of ways. You can once again play as Sonic, Tails, or both of them with the secondary character following behind. Sonic 3 is the most rounded and polished title of the bunch. This brings me to Sonic and Knuckles. This was originally intended to be a part of the third title, but due to time restrictions was released standalone. This features a new set of levels but recycles most of the mechanics from the third installment. It feels like a mere expansion, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Sonic and Knuckles. I’m happy it made the cut here.
Where this collection shines is in its features. For starters, this game gives you access to digital versions of the instruction manuals for all four of these titles. This is a pretty cool feature. Additionally the developers re-tooled the games a bit to add in different difficulty modes. Original is the untouched game as it was intended to be played. Normal adds more rings and makes some of the platforming sequences easier in each of them, and easy mode bypasses full stages in the zones. Personally I prefer original, and part of me wishes that a hard option had been included. The final new feature is the emulation of the lock-on technology advertised with the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge. All of the features have been included in this collection.
You can access the blue sphere mini-game by ‘locking on’ to the original, or choose to play as Knuckles in both Sonic 2 and 3. This is such a nice inclusion and shows that the team behind this release really cared. The graphics and audio are mostly unchanged in these Sonic Jam versions. There are some noticeable differences in sound effects, but it’s nothing major and in some cases actually sounds better.
