Sonic Mega Collection

Sonic Mega Collection is a video game compilation developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega in 2002 for the GameCube. The compilation contains twelve to fourteen games (depending on region) originally released on the Sega Genesis.

An enhanced version of the game, titled Sonic Mega Collection Plus, was released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox and 2006 for PC, which, in addition to all of the Genesis games, also includes a few Game Gear games.

Genesis

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (the Knuckles version is unlockable)
 * Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (the & Knuckles version of the game is unlockable)
 * Sonic Spinball
 * Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
 * Sonic & Knuckles
 * mh:crappygames:Sonic 3D Blast
 * Flicky (unlockable)
 * Blue Sphere (unlockable)
 * Ristar (unlockable)
 * Comix Zone (unlockable)
 * The Ooze (unlockable)

Game Gear (Plus version only)

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Sonic Chaos
 * Sonic Drift
 * mh:crappygames:Sonic Labyrinth
 * Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
 * mh:crappygames:Sonic Blast

Why It's Mega

 * 1) The game itself is a throwback to pretty much all the Sega Genesis titles that Sonic has received, including some Game Gear titles. Most of these games, in the first place, have been critically acclaimed by critics and fans and considered to be some of the greatest Sonic games ever made.
 * 2) The game isn't just a game compilation slapped for 20 bucks, it includes a lot of extras. Considering this, it had previews of the then-upcoming Sonic Heroes video game's cutscenes. It also had manuals of the games (at least for the main Genesis and Game Gear games) which also explained the game's controls and plot, which is helpful to newcomers of the franchise.
 * 3) *The Plus version is even better as it has 8 extra games, 6 game gear games and 2 games that were available on the Japanese version of Sonic Mega Collection
 * 4) The emulation of all games are responsive. They play very fine no matter what the system is. If you're playing the PS2 port on a PlayStation 3, it works. If you're playing the GameCube port on the Wii, it also works. It also applies to playing the Xbox port on the Xbox 360.
 * 5) You can save at any time you want in the games.
 * 6) Despite the name, it has lots of games that aren't Sonic games, it has 4 unlockable games that are also well received
 * 7) When you leave the title screen on, it then shows a cutscene involving every main Sonic game for the Sega Genesis on this game. It's there to hook you up on how much fun you're gonna have.
 * 8) On the GameCube port, if you have save data for Sonic Adventure 2: Battle or Sonic Heroes, you automatically unlock a new game.
 * 9) Very memorable and smooth-sounding soundtrack for the menus.
 * 10) The game even has the not-so well-remembered Archie Sonic comic books to read. The best part? They are set during the mh:besttvshows:Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog era, which the comics themselves, are more faithful to the games.
 * 11) The compilation also gives you the option to use the features of the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge such as playing with Knuckles in Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and playing Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some mediocre games are present, like in most Genesis compilations.
 * 2) The soundbyte for the games are okay, but they sound a little different from the games (if anything, they have a little lower pitch shift than the originals). Sonic Spinball's option screen music in there has been widely criticized and considered to be one of the worst video game music ever.
 * 3) Unknowningly for first timers, you unlock other games like the lock-on variants of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 by playing games (that is, initiating them until the title screen, then go to the main menu and repeat) 20 times, which feels unnecesary and can go unnoticed considering they're short games. Though as said before, you unlock some by having save data of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle or Sonic Heroes in the GC version, which is not bad.
 * 4) It was a wasted potential to not add Sonic CD in the collection; it was meant to be in the collection but SEGA decided to release the game in a different collection instead.
 * 5) The PC port of game is very inferior for having a DRM (absent in the Sonic PC Collection) which will no longer run on modern hardware, prone to crashing even when attempting to put the game in fullscreen, emulation issues and bugs, and can refuse to launch and in some cases, it also can refuse to install.
 * 6) *These can be fixed with mods however.
 * 7) The original GameCube version doesn't have save states (However they were added in Plus)
 * 8) If you have the PAL version of both the original GameCube version and Plus, the Genesis/Mega Drive games (Sonic 1 in particular) will run much slower than it's NTSC counterpart, because for some reason they decided to use the PAL roms in the PAL release.

Reception
Both versions of the game have been widely positive by critics and fans. Both versions also have the "generally favorable reviews" rating on Metacritic.

Videos
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