Completion Time: 27h:31m:00s
Rating: 7/10

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My First GameCube Title

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The Sonic Mega Collection was probably the first game I owned on the GameCube, a nice title to have for someone that grew up as a SEGA kid initially. As far as collections go, it’s pretty standard game-wise, but it was the first collection title I ever had, and the Extras provided were golden to me. There were a number of years as a kid where I tried making my own handmade comics, even though I never read any comics growing up, and that was solely due to the gallery of Archie Sonic comic covers hidden away in the Extras menu.

Possibly my favorite of those covers

As far as the actual games go, I spent hours playing a subset of the games like Mean Bean Machine and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 over and over again in an effort to master them, although dedication to specific titles like that is why I barely ever unlocked any of the other games before. So that’s sort of what I did this time around, I went through every game available on the disc and finished each one as best as possible. Only once I finished a title did I sit there, starting and stopping it the required number of times to unlock each subsequent game. I didn’t really complete any of the titles, as that isn’t a requirement for “completing” the collection, but I wanted to do more than just mindlessly sitting there unlocking each game without truly playing anything.

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Sonic the Hedgehog

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The one that started it all, a game that I only played every now and then in this collection since it wasn’t my beloved Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The game is still fun enough, and you can certainly see why it took off as a series and how Sonic supplanted himself as SEGA’s official mascot for years to come. Honestly my only real complaint (and one that extends to much of the rest of the series) is that past the first stage, the speediness of Sonic can feel like its taking a backseat to the way levels are designed. Levels that have waiting around on platforms as a main gimmick, and underwater sections that are no fun when playing most any other character. Those levels tend to neuter the main appeal of the hedgehog in the first place. There certainly need to be obstacles in the game, I just feel some stages handle that implementation better than others. Also, the final Robotnik fight always surprises me in how easy it is. I’m probably just poisoned by Sonic 2’s intense final fight at this point. The first Sonic is a fine game, just not one I revisit too often.

Robotnik's defeated, and next Sonic is coming for YOU

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Sonic the Hedgehog 2

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This one is probably the height of nostalgia for me, it’s the first game I ever really played/had on the Genesis. Of course, the farthest I ever would manage to get was usually Hilltop Zone, as I would always have a single life by the time I got this far. And, as follows, I would end up dying. As with the first game, I completed it for the first-time last year and had a blast doing so. I went through and beat the game start to finish this time around and I still think Sonic 2 holds up and is the better of the first three mainline games all around. Except for the bonus stages with Tails, those are obnoxious and can’t hold a candle to bonus stages in games like Sonic 3 or Sonic CD.

So much blue in one image

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Sonic the Hedgehog 3

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I remember liking this one a bit more than I currently do, even as of last year’s completion of it. But something with it has soured for me and I’m not wholly sure what that is. As far as Sonic games go I certainly don’t dislike it, but I didn’t find this time through fun, and part of it comes down to the worlds that you play through. Excluding the first area I don’t really care for the other stages. Not the desert, not the ice level, not the carnival zone. Maybe since I was playing these in order more directly one after another the “sameness” of it all was hitting me a lot harder than usual, but I did notice the similarities not just between stage designs, but concepts and themes as well. Blue Spheres as a bonus stage is still one of the best concepts ever designed by Sonic Team and the music is a delight as well.

Our boy's still fairly chipper given how often he's had to go through this by now

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Sonic & Knuckles

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It’s Knuckles’ turn now, and boy is he less fun to control than I remember him being. It’s neat that he can fly, but very few stages he’s in I feel are designed well around that concept (though I’m positive speed runners would tell me otherwise). Sometimes I would go to jump on an incline and Knuckles would be slightly off the ground, which would cause him to glide into the side of the hill instead, killing any momentum I had. Actually, thinking back on it, flying kills all of his momentum period, which is kinda the main drive of the Sonic the Hedgehog games. That all being said, Mushroom Hill and Sandopolis DO still stick out in my mind as great Sonic stage concepts. I certainly like them more than any of the stages in Sonic 3.

Knuckles patiently waiting for the boss to recharge

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Sonic 3D Blast

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3D Blast is a strange one, no doubt, but this playthrough finally gave me the push I needed to complete it, which I’ll probably be starting soon. I played this one a bit as a kid, but never really got past the third world. I’m fully invested now though, it’s an off-shoot and not really mainline, which is enough to justify its stranger presentation. However, that also lends itself to some experimentation without the promise of trying to develop the “future of Sonic”. It’s short enough, it’s pretty easy if you know what to expect from the game, and it doesn’t feel broken or cheap in anyway (unlike Spinball), so I actually consider Sonic 3D Blast to be a hearty recommend on my end from anyone that hasn’t played it. You aren’t getting traditional 2D OR 3D Sonic with this one, but somewhere in the middle and I think it pulls it off well.

Sonic and friends ascending to the heavens

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Sonic Spinball

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Nope, still can’t stand this one. Another that I completed relatively recently (a few years ago?) and I’ve dreaded going back and finishing it as a part of this little exercise I’m engaging in here. But here I am playing a game I hate. It’s pinball, with the added benefit of being able to control the ball (i.e. Sonic), but only barely so. And more often than not he’s moving so fast as a part of the nature of the pinball game that he flies directly between the bumpers and I can’t manage to hit him. Not to mention the fact that numerous times I glitched into the paddle as I struck Sonic, which would usually kill him. And I don’t think that’s a problem with however this GameCube compilation is emulating the games because that’s something I ran into completing it on Genesis last time. Bad music, ugly art, awful design. Yeah, I don’t like Sonic Spinball, and I’m planning on this being the last time I play through this one.

Beating up the man that drafted up this unholy hell maze

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Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine

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I played an awful lot of this one growing up, but this might’ve been the first time I actually struggled with the game, and I’m not positive why. Again, at least in my eyes, no real completion criteria here other than finishing the game, but that proved more complicated than when I was a kid. Was I just better at games? Quite possibly, though I distinctly remembered whenever getting to the Robotnik fight, the strategy was to let him destroy himself. It was NOT that easy this time around, felt like I was going mad the amount of time I had to replay that fight. I got pretty good at setting up combos moving up to three sets, but my brain can’t move past that point, I would just have to get lucky or stupidly stumble into a huge combo that would break him.

Me on the cusp of my final victory

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Blue Spheres

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Now it's time to move into the "unlockable" games. Played this one here for a good 30 minutes, and I really do think they made a good choice making this one fully playable on its own. I know I’ve stated before that Blue Spheres is the best iteration of the Sonic bonus stage, because it has enjoyable music, a great level of challenge, and it feels like there’s a good amount of skill involved compared to the others (especially Sonic 2). Given that it’s a bonus stage, it’s a lot more arcade-style as well, and I felt no real pressure to actually finish each stage since you can just go back to that level or difficulty if you desire. Blue Sphere’s a lot of fun to mess around in.

Nothing less than complete Blue Sphere perfection

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Knuckles in Sonic 2

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So this is kinda the same as my Sonic & Knuckles entry, but I actually enjoy flying Knuckles around these stages. Maybe that’s because I know that these stages would’ve had no reason to be designed around his inclusion, so mentally I felt I was just breaking something that already existed. And I guess in a sense that IS what I was doing. But I’m sure that being able to explore a game I’m nostalgically attached to in such a different way than what I’m familiar with is the primary reason I’m into this. It’s a good chunk of the freedom that comes with debug mode with all the mechanics of actually playing the game. Still unfortunate that flying kills all of Knuckles running momentum, but I guess that's the trade off of having that ability. Oh well.

Knuckles bypassing all obstacles in his way

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Sonic 3 & Knuckles

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Truly what can I say here that wasn’t already said before, this is the culmination of both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles with the ability to play as whoever you want for almost all of the stages. I do find the concept itself fascinating, at least in its original form. The ability to lock on an additional cartridge to your first game to get a full experience is one that I wish more games took advantage of. I should say that locking Sonic & Knuckles onto the first two games gives you Blue Spheres and Knuckles in Sonic 2 respectively, but it’s here where the concept really shines, like a proto-DLC in many ways.

Saying goodbye to the Sonic games in this collection

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Flicky

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A thoroughly enjoyable arcade experience that I played this time for about a half an hour. Collect the chicks and guide them to the exit while avoiding enemies and projectiles. Every couple of stages you’ll get a bonus round where you catch chicks in a net to get points; get enough points and you’ll get another life. Keep going as the stages get generally harder. Like I said, it’s an older arcade title with not much by way of complexity, but it’s fun nonetheless.

Evil Cat Destroys Massive Bird Chain (2023 Colorized)

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Ristar

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My first time playing this one period and I’m a bit conflicted. I like the environmental designs of everything and the stretchy arms are a nice touch, but I don’t really care for the rest of the game. The enemies and bosses feel pretty bland for the most part and the movement feels strange. I like the stretchy arms as a concept more than in execution, but this was one of those games where I would try to fight something or traverse the various pegs that you swing from and fail, but it wouldn’t always feel like it was my fault. Often times I was under the impression that the hitboxes for various objects didn’t line up well enough. Unfortunately, like I said, this was my first time playing this one (hadn’t even unlocked it back in the day), so I don’t know if this is more related to whatever emulation is running through the collection or if this was a problem with the Genesis source as well. I’ll try to give the original version a completion style playthrough on the original hardware soon and see if it still persists, because I wanted to like this one a lot more than I ultimately did.

All Sega mascots mug the camera after brutalizing their enemies

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Completing the Game

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It should also be noted that the games “The Ooze” and “Comix Zone” are unlockables as well, but apparently only in the Japan release of the game. These are also available in Sonic Mega Collection Plus, which is something I own on Playstation 2, but this title was never released on GameCube. There was also Sonic Gems Collection which I own and WAS released on GameCube, and that’s got even more fun titles like Vectorman and Sonic R (which is a guilty pleasure of mine), so certainly looking forward to completing that one in the future. But overall this was a lot of speedy hedgehog content to go through in such a short amount of time, so I’ll probably hold off on anything “blue blur” related for a while.

This is another entry in a series where I go through and complete every GameCube game, as it is the largest part of my video game collection. GameCube Games: 4/652