Gems Collection is burned into my mind as one of my Gamecube staples. Being able to activate Super Sonic at the end of Fighters and trying to figure out what people saw in CD are some of my oldest memories of the series that aren't directly linked to the Adventure games. Those unlockable music pieces were amazing too.
If Sonic Origins is a hit when it comes out next year, I’d love to see another compilation game of Sonic games that haven’t been widely played outside of their original platforms. Picture this: a hypothetical modern Sonic Gems Collection that includes Sonic the Fighters, Knuckles’ Chaotix, the Sonic Advance Trilogy, Sonic Battle, Sonic Pocket Adventure, Sonic Spinball, Sonic Shuffle, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Rivals 1 & 2, maybe even Riders 1 & 2 and some of the Japan-exclusive arcade games. Many Sonic games that have been left behind that deserve to be brought back on current-gen systems. (Though I’m not so sure if Rush or Chronicles could be ported due the design architecture of the DS.
A big part of CD's appeal, honestly, was its almost mythical status. It was released for a console add-on nobody owned, got one PC port a few years later and was forgotten for years. That combined with the concept of a time travel game, its unique aesthetic, anime intro, and the debates about the two soundtracks made it kind of a white whale for a lot of fans. Something that was always in discussion but few had experienced firsthand. (Plus, that Peel Out animation just looked really cool, dammit!) I had the PC version growing up, so I was already familiar with it by the time Gems Collection came out. The Christian Whitehead port finally made the game easily accessible beyond GameCube owners. But in becoming so easy to obtain, it lost its biggest draw: its obscurity. I enjoy Sonic CD, but I can totally understand why it doesn't jive with a lot of people. It's a bizarre game.
@@GamingintheAM0801 I understand you think it’s obscurity was an important part of Sonic CD, but in my opinion no good game deserves to be left forgotten and inaccessible.
@@GamingintheAM0801 Are you saying that some really good Sonic games should remain inaccessible?! That would not jive well for die-hard fans, especially if it’s a good one like Pocket Adventure or the Advance Trilogy.
@@benmalsky9834 Oh no, not at all! It was just an observation from someone who's been in this fandom for a long time. Once the 2011 re-release came out, public opinion on Sonic CD really started to shift toward the negative, which was such a change from the days when it was an obscure relic that people would call the "secret best Sonic game that nobody's played." When it lost that mystique, people started to think the game was maybe overhyped a bit.
Sonic Mega Collection was like the one game I love playing. The extras music was huge part of my childhood whenever I had a bad day at school or having problems the music always helps me calm down. Listening to it now brings me to tears.
36:28 Thank you for actually mentioning New Zealand. Everyone seems to fail to acknowledge that we exist and that we also got this collection. Great video, as well!
Mega Collection Theme hits different Edit: even if Origins lacks bonus content, i will buy this collection with a big smile on my face. Unlocked 3&Knuckles on Mega Collection naturally and was blown away. Still cant get enough of these games.
Yeah dude all the classic games remade and remastered in widescreen on modern consoles, it's perfect. Wish Knuckles Chaotix was included though, that game has a lot of room for improvement and the remakes have done nothing but improve.
I remember i immediately cheesed the game to unlock S3&K (the opening and closing) I had already beaten S3 as a kid so i wanted to do knuckles since we only rented S&K as a kid. Didnt bother getting the Chaos emeralds because i assumed knuckles didn't have a super transformation like tails. Only to beat launch base zone and find out about super emeralds. Then got the rest of the chaos emeralds, then the super emeralds and unlocked Hyper Knuckles. Then i HAD to get them as Sonic and my brain was blown.
Mega Collection remains a GameCube favorite of mine, but I had Gems Collections forever tattooed into my subconscious because a lot happened the day I got it: it was the summer before I started middle school, i tried Orbit's then-new Sweet Mint flavor (my family gets it pretty often) and my dad took me to see Sky High in Theaters. If any of those things come up, I almost always think of the others. Quelling my nerves before school chewing gum and playing an obscure Sonic fighting game...2005 was wildin.
The track called "History" in Sonic Mega Collection is low-key one of my absolute favorite pieces of VGM, ever. I have such a strong nostalgic and calming response whenever I hear that track.
A few months ago I booted up Sonic Mega Collection on my Gamecube out of sheer boredom. I had not played it once since I was 7-10 years old and couldn't remember much of anything of it at the time. As soon as that title screen came up and the music started playing a rush of memories came flooding back to me of forgotten friends and small blurry televisions that I would gaze at for hours while playing Sonic games on my new Gamecube. It made me realize just how long I've followed this series and is honestly the strongest hit of nostalgia I've had in my entire life. Thanks for making such a great and in depth video.
Sonic Jam was what made me love Sonic (and played the classics on easy for my young skill set) Sonic Mega Collection Plus made me fully complete the classics as intended and also introduced me to the archive comics (I'm from the UK so i had Fleetways Sonic the comic which was awesome too)
Sonic Jam will always be the best Sonic collection imo. I have lost so many hours of my childhood in Sonic World running around and watching those videos over and over again
Being a Sonic fan back in those days was the best thing that can happen to you back in the day, even if video games were stigmatized during the time. I was already a fan of the series before we had Sonic Mega Collection. In fact i first experienced Sonic at a kiosk in Toys R Us with my dad playing a kiosk version of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle when i was 5. Eventually i gotten to play Sonic 1 in a Genesis collection that had only 5 games in one during that year i remember. Sonic 1, Revenge of Shinobi/Super Shinobi, Streets of Rage 1, Golden Axe 1, and Columns. Eventually a couple of years later i gotten a Gamecube from my dad and his girlfriend before they split with Sonic Mega Collection and later on next year the Sonic Adventure Duology. I also gotten Gamecube from my Grandmother to play at her house the same year i gotten the other one and Sonic Heroes for it a year later. Along with already having Sonic Advance 1, 3, and at that same day Sonic Battle for Game Boy Advance. Then on my birthday the following year i gotten Sonic Advance 2. Being a Sonic fan during that time was an adventure in and of itself and i wish i could go backk and experience it all again before the dark ages arrived.
I miss Sonic at store kiosks! I still remember freaking out in a Circuit City when they had an SA2 DC demo running White Forest. Who was this other hedgehog, look at those speed lines, oh my god the music!! Seven-year-old me was in a whole other world...
@@MykonosFan your welcome also nice to see that you covered sonic classic collection in this video I grew up with that game and it was neat to experience classic sonic on a hand-held gaming console it was also my first experience with sonic 3 and sonic and knuckles and knuckles in sonic 2 and sonic 3 and knuckles
Great video dude! Your research is really top notch! Fun tid bit about the 3d classic collection. The developers of the project M2 pushed the 3ds to its limits trying to get Sonic 1 to run smoothly and even got in touch with Yuji "don's steal my engine" Naka, to get tips on how to implement the spin dash into the games code years after he left Sega to work on other things.
If this video already wasn't so long, and if the 3DS' 3D was possible to show through TH-cam video, I'd have loved to spend some time on that collection. I dearly love those 3D SEGA releases, bought each and every one of them and each one was a delight. Shame we didn't get them all physically, but man, what a great line up.
It bothers me that Sonic Jam didn't feel properly marketed when it. Seeing ads for it, I assumed it was just the four main Sonic games that I already had and put hundreds of hours into. I had no idea about the hub world, extra features, or changes to the levels.
Mega Collection Plus and Gems Collection were so close to being a complimentary complete collection. The dream would be what I will dub "ultimate Classic Sonic Collection" or something to that extent
I'm in a weird spot where I have a lot of nostalgia for the genesis originals but ALSO mega and gems collection. Loved both of those releases and dropped so many hours into both gc games. Great job on the vid! A fun trip down memory lane
19:55 HOLY SHIT! I was also introduced to Sonic 1 via the Sega Smash Pack compilation. Actually, my introduction to Sonic in general was on the Dreamcast, with SA1, SA2 and Sonic 1.
Exactly the way I got into Sonic! That and catching the end of the Sonic OVA on Starz as a kid, I don't know why we had Starz but man it was so cool seeing it. All that cemented me as a helpless Sonic fan for life lol.
Fun fact: on the PC version of mega collection plus you can code the game file's to unlock all games and hints plus you can make the screen resolution better.
I wanna say I heard somewhere that Gems excluded the Streets of Rage games in the US because it would be bumped to a T rating. I may be mistaken, though.
Came here from The Golden Bolt's new SA2 essay!!! Awesome history video! Wish more developers had the same time, care, and money to continue to make detailed compilations a regular thing. I grew up with the DS collection as my only way to play the classics. It wasn't perfect, but I'm grateful for what it did have...
Thanks for coming over! TGB is a close friend of mine so it's nice to see. I can't help but agree. There have been some great ones here and there, hat SNK 40th anniversary collection is obscure to young ones like us, but it's a high bar that others should be striving for imo. Fingers crossed for more great ones!
Finding out the Sonic and Garfield pack WAS ACTUALLY real and not a Twitter joke threw me for a loop. I saw it on Twitter like you said and totally thought it was a photoshop. Wild.
9:54 Nice video so far and...wait...is that...no...this mad lad put the Heathcliff theme song in this! Thus masterpiece was just elevated to a certified hood classic my dude
When you were talking about the inane methods of unlocking those other games in Mega Collection, I had a slight panic attack about Flicky cause I did get that unlocked for the collection, but couldn't remember how so I was fretting over whether or not my brother or I had played that much Bean Machine back then. So once you said "SA2B on memory card", I felt very relieved lol
Me finding a 40 minute video from a small creator on a topic I was interested in all I could think was, "please have a good speaking voice". Suffice it to say, the speaking voice was indeed good. As was the video. Subbed!
Sonic Mega Collection has a special place in my mind and heart. Its the game that got me in to Sonic the Hedgehog. I remember going to target one day after school on Friday back in 2004. I saw the game and my uncle bought it for me. After playing it nonstop after getting home that day, I just fell in love with Sonic. The music, games, sound effects... everything about Sonic Mega Collection makes me reminisce about my childhood days being in to Sonic.
Phenomenal video!! What a trip down memory lane. There actually was a Sega Smash Pack II that was released for PC, though it seems to be a little obscure nowadays. But it included Sonic 2, Flicky, Comix Zone, Shining Force, Vectorman 2 and others I'm sure I am forgetting about. It was actually my first time experience any of those games along with the Sonic and Knuckles Collection and Sonic CD PC rounding off my introduction to Classic Sonic haha!
@@MykonosFan No doubt! As rough as Sega's post-Dreamcast future was for a bit, they did such a phenomenal job of making sure their legacy titles could reach new players on PC early on. I probably never would have become such a huge fan without them being willing to do that!
My *earliest* memory is playing Sonic 2 on my Genesis and the series was literally life. While I played tons of games from the series I didn't get to play all of the Genesis or Gamegear games until Mega Collection, DX and Gems collection so getting collections of these games that I didn't even know existed absolutely blew my 10 year old mind. I was always mad that 3D Blast was the Genesis version and not the Saturn version that I was so familiar with. I really wish that Sega would port that version instead of the Genesis one like we always get. Also I spent so much time in mega collection's galleries reading every comic and manual that was available and looking at all of the illustrations and videos. I must have sunk hundreds of hours into that disc alone.
Hey man, this is a fantastic look at all the collections! Great job! As a kid I lost my mind trying to figure out how to unlock the hidden games in Mega lol
I miss when the final boss fights were intense, Darkspine Vs Alf Layla Wa Layla is honestly the most intense and pretty gruesome with Darkspine Sonic, remember when Sonic mercilessly assaulted a big heart? Good times.
These days I go to Kirby for that. In Kirby Star Allies he too assaulted Void Termina's beating, bleeding, "heart". Kirby also often gets new powers before the final battle like Sonic used to do.
Played Sonic 2 on Genesis at about 2 years old, but actually got into Sonic (and what I'd say Properly introduced to the series) through Mega Collection throughout elementary school. Going home every night, throwing my bag down and instantly jumping into Sonic 2 and 3 was a blast, and unlocking Ristar was the absolute best.
Sonic Mega collection on Gamecube still holds a special place in my heart God the many hours where i literally just sat there in the history section listening to one of my favorite soothing music in any game ^_^
Sonic Jam was one of the high lights of the Saturn, just a cool look at his past along with a glimpse of the future to come. I remember playing the originals on the Genesis to death and while I never owned a Saturn my best friend growing up was all about Sega so he of course had Sonic Jam. We used to mess around in Sonic World for hours, especially when Super Mario 64 got us all hyped for a 3d Sonic title.
Sonic & Knuckles Collection was my introduction to the series. My elementary school would let kids play it while waiting for the school bus, and I loved it so much I had my mom buy me the Sonic Action 4 Pack from a toy store one day. I have lots of nostalgia for the games that were included in the 4 Pack, especially 3 & Knuckles.
oh man it's cool yet strange hearing your voice without any of the other guys alongside it the vid gave me a few chuckles and I like the deep cut music choices from the extra Sonic CD music
I spent so much time with Mega Collection and Gems Collection on GameCube. I still have vivid memories of sitting in my room late at night, playing Sonic CD and listening to the Samurai Champloo soundtrack on loop
29:39 Finally... Vindication for how I always pronounced "Ristar" 😂 For real though, really great video! Sonic Mega Collection was how I fell in love with those old games when I was a kid, and it's so nice to see it talked about here. And I remember opening and closing those individual games just to unlock the extra ones, I was persistent when it came to Sonic 😂.
Never knew their was so many collections of sonic, well I did to a certain extent lol but I still have my sonic mega collection since 2002 and it gives me tingly nostalgic feelings every time I even look at the cover art I love the music of the menus , so many sonic games better than most compilations/collections from past to new and also all the good extras that’s jam packed is basically the icing on the cake and the cherry on top. I love every bit of it. Nostalgic vibes
Sonic 1 & 2 on the mega drive have a special place in my heart. But so does Sonic jam, because my friends copy of that is where I was introduced to S3&K and I played it all the time with my childhood friend. I have so many memories attached to that collection.
Crazy intro, my first game was gems collection, specifically sonic r with fighters right behind. My cousins bought it to me as a gift for my GameCube and man I used to play it alot
Here’s all the Sonic Collections I have. Sega Genesis Classics for Nintendo Switch The Sega Genesis games with Nintendo Switch Online Sonic Classic Collection for the Nintendo DS Sonic Gems Collection for the Nintendo GameCube I have that Sonic 25th Anniversary AtGames Sega Genesis Classic system And I have the Deluxe version of Sonic Origins pre-ordered on my Switch I do wanna get the other collections too someday. Like Sonic Jam, Mega Collection, Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, and the Sega Genesis Mini.
My first compilation was Mega Collection Plus, and I didn't know about 3k, 2K or Ristar, so I only played those on the DS classic collection and Mega Drive Ultimate Collection.
Sonic Jam is one if not my favorite Sonic game ever! I'm so glad my childhood had this amazing game. Mega Collection kept me entertained in my High School years!
I'm looking forward to Origins as well - I'm a new Sonic fan and I hope sega can make as many compilations and ports as possible of the older games so I can experience them.
After Rare Replay, my dream Sonic collection became something similar but for Sonic Team. It'd be so cool to just have everything from 1991 to 2001 tossed into a comprehensive set. All of the Sonics, NiGHTS, Burning Rangers, Chu Chu Rocket...Samba de Amigo and Phantasy Star Online probably wouldn't work, but I'd be over the moon!
Yeah, the big reason to use sth/ sonic classics is because it gives you a selection on which blue sphere stage you can play, the other cartridges only give one stage assigned to a id number in the code of the game
I became a Sonic fan largely because of Sonic Mega Collection Plus on PS2. I’m super glad they released SMC again with more Game Gear games for PS2, because I don’t think I would have ever learned about Sonic until the movie came out if I never got Sonic Mega Collection Plus as a kid.
i couldn't tell you how much sonic mega collection plus means to me besides it being my introduction to the sonic series at age 11 but introduced me to sonic 3 one of my favorite 2d platformers of all time and i still listen to the start up menu and main menu music to this day
What a great idea for a video! I played a few Sonic games as kid beforehand, but the first Sonic game I ever owned was Mega Collection on the gamecube. I played the heck outta that thing! It’s also how I was introduced to the Sonic OVA (I mistook the CD opening for part of the “Sonic Movie” a friend had told me about) and the Archie Sonic comics. Big nostalgia for that game.
Actually glad I was able to find Sonic Mega Collection(also have the + version for my PS2) & Gems Collection for my GameCube. One of my favorite finds. Took me yrs to find Gems. But I got it
19:57 Oh my goodness! SEGA Smash Pack vol. 1 was my first experience playing Sonic 1 as a kid too!! (but my first Sonic game I’d ever played was Sonic Adventure!)
There used to be a discount book shop near where I live that for some reason in 2015 suddenly stocked a bunch of Sega 10 in 1 PC games made for like Windows XP.
Sonic jam was the first compilation I played. It was awesome at the time I thought, as it was more convenient to have all the megadrive (Genesis) games on one C.D instead of 4 separate cartridges. Plus playing sonic in 3D blew my mind (even if was just a mini game)
The Museum Theme for Gems is one of my favorite tracks of anything. It honestly edges out the Mega Collection one for me slightly in terms of tear-jerking nostalgic sound. I remember one day as a kid with one of those cheap little battery powered MP3 players, I'd bring it to school and download the Gems OST off khinsider and listened to it on the way back home. All of Gem's included remix tracks and menu songs pretty cemented my taste in music.
First game in "Sonic Mega Collection" (and Plus) was also revised to include spike bug fix (finally) in real Mega Drive ROM. Unfortunatelly, later releases of "Sonic The Hedgehog" were downgraded - SEGA Mega Drive Collection on PS2 uses first revision (US/EU), SEGA Mega Drive Classics Collection on Windows (from 2010-2012 which still on sale) uses second release (Japan).
I think the reason Sonic Jam, Mega Collection, and Gems Collection provide really good content is because of Yuji Naka. I know people like to give him some crap nowadays because of Balan Wonderworld and him just being the programmer of Sonic, but he genuinely respected the craft it took to make Sonic games back in the 90’s and respected the character.
What Yuji Naka doesn't respect are other developers. Sorry but I lost all respect for him, when hearing the way he routinely sabotaged the careers and even well-being of other people just to make his own position in the company look favorable, and how genuinely disrespectful he is to western developers and his own staff.
I remember I was about 6 years old when I got Mega Collection Plus. I remember really wanting to buy Sonic Heroes but I ended up with Mega Collection instead, which was much greater of a value. I got to download my little brain with classic Sonic goodness (or at least the first two acts of each game since I was terrible at precise platforming). After many years though, it's great to return to these classics and play through all of them in their entirety in one package, but I am really crossing my fingers that Sonic Origins becomes like a new definitive classic Sonic compilation. Fullscreen support will be awesome for Sonic 3&K.
I'd just love a convenient way to play all the game gear games. But if I could get a way to conveniently play the advance or maybe even rush games, that'd be hunky dory too.
I had Mega Collection on GameCube, but the disc went missing. So eventually I ended up getting the Classic Collection on DS to fulfill my Genesis Sonic needs until I eventually got some PC versions. Though for a while it was still the only way I could play Knuckles in Sonic 2.
I recently played through the Sonic 8-bit games, and was surprised at how good they were, despite obvious limitations. One game that I find odd never made it into the Gems collection was Dynamite Dux, which is the Pre-sonic arcade game that Bean the Dynamite is from.
I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FORGOT THE SONIC COLLECTION WITH THE VIDEO OF HIM MAKING OUT WITH MARIO THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!! This video was a freaking banger, good shit boy.
I remember getting mega collection plus used at gamestop when i was very young. I never played sonic so my mom asked the cashier what would be a good starting point. He recommended us plus. It was indeed a great starting point, and made me forever attached to the blue fuck
The funny thing is that my first experience with Sonic was with Mega Collection Plus and Gems Collection both on the PS2, I don't even remember where I got Gems lol.
Not sure if it really counts as a Completion, but there was a version of the Master System 2 which has both Sonic 1 and 2 built in. It came out in 1995, about the same time as the Mega Drive Sonic Compilation.
Gems Collection is burned into my mind as one of my Gamecube staples. Being able to activate Super Sonic at the end of Fighters and trying to figure out what people saw in CD are some of my oldest memories of the series that aren't directly linked to the Adventure games. Those unlockable music pieces were amazing too.
If Sonic Origins is a hit when it comes out next year, I’d love to see another compilation game of Sonic games that haven’t been widely played outside of their original platforms. Picture this: a hypothetical modern Sonic Gems Collection that includes Sonic the Fighters, Knuckles’ Chaotix, the Sonic Advance Trilogy, Sonic Battle, Sonic Pocket Adventure, Sonic Spinball, Sonic Shuffle, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Rivals 1 & 2, maybe even Riders 1 & 2 and some of the Japan-exclusive arcade games. Many Sonic games that have been left behind that deserve to be brought back on current-gen systems. (Though I’m not so sure if Rush or Chronicles could be ported due the design architecture of the DS.
A big part of CD's appeal, honestly, was its almost mythical status. It was released for a console add-on nobody owned, got one PC port a few years later and was forgotten for years. That combined with the concept of a time travel game, its unique aesthetic, anime intro, and the debates about the two soundtracks made it kind of a white whale for a lot of fans. Something that was always in discussion but few had experienced firsthand. (Plus, that Peel Out animation just looked really cool, dammit!)
I had the PC version growing up, so I was already familiar with it by the time Gems Collection came out. The Christian Whitehead port finally made the game easily accessible beyond GameCube owners. But in becoming so easy to obtain, it lost its biggest draw: its obscurity.
I enjoy Sonic CD, but I can totally understand why it doesn't jive with a lot of people. It's a bizarre game.
@@GamingintheAM0801 I understand you think it’s obscurity was an important part of Sonic CD, but in my opinion no good game deserves to be left forgotten and inaccessible.
@@GamingintheAM0801 Are you saying that some really good Sonic games should remain inaccessible?! That would not jive well for die-hard fans, especially if it’s a good one like Pocket Adventure or the Advance Trilogy.
@@benmalsky9834 Oh no, not at all! It was just an observation from someone who's been in this fandom for a long time. Once the 2011 re-release came out, public opinion on Sonic CD really started to shift toward the negative, which was such a change from the days when it was an obscure relic that people would call the "secret best Sonic game that nobody's played." When it lost that mystique, people started to think the game was maybe overhyped a bit.
Sonic Mega Collection was like the one game I love playing. The extras music was huge part of my childhood whenever I had a bad day at school or having problems the music always helps me calm down. Listening to it now brings me to tears.
36:28 Thank you for actually mentioning New Zealand. Everyone seems to fail to acknowledge that we exist and that we also got this collection. Great video, as well!
i live in new zealand
Mega Collection Theme hits different
Edit: even if Origins lacks bonus content, i will buy this collection with a big smile on my face. Unlocked 3&Knuckles on Mega Collection naturally and was blown away. Still cant get enough of these games.
Yeah dude all the classic games remade and remastered in widescreen on modern consoles, it's perfect. Wish Knuckles Chaotix was included though, that game has a lot of room for improvement and the remakes have done nothing but improve.
I remember i immediately cheesed the game to unlock S3&K (the opening and closing) I had already beaten S3 as a kid so i wanted to do knuckles since we only rented S&K as a kid. Didnt bother getting the Chaos emeralds because i assumed knuckles didn't have a super transformation like tails. Only to beat launch base zone and find out about super emeralds. Then got the rest of the chaos emeralds, then the super emeralds and unlocked Hyper Knuckles.
Then i HAD to get them as Sonic and my brain was blown.
Mega Collection remains a GameCube favorite of mine, but I had Gems Collections forever tattooed into my subconscious because a lot happened the day I got it: it was the summer before I started middle school, i tried Orbit's then-new Sweet Mint flavor (my family gets it pretty often) and my dad took me to see Sky High in Theaters. If any of those things come up, I almost always think of the others. Quelling my nerves before school chewing gum and playing an obscure Sonic fighting game...2005 was wildin.
The good old days, friend
The track called "History" in Sonic Mega Collection is low-key one of my absolute favorite pieces of VGM, ever. I have such a strong nostalgic and calming response whenever I hear that track.
Me too buddy
19:36 But... Sonic Jam *is* the game I think of when it comes to Sonic collections! :P
A few months ago I booted up Sonic Mega Collection on my Gamecube out of sheer boredom. I had not played it once since I was 7-10 years old and couldn't remember much of anything of it at the time. As soon as that title screen came up and the music started playing a rush of memories came flooding back to me of forgotten friends and small blurry televisions that I would gaze at for hours while playing Sonic games on my new Gamecube. It made me realize just how long I've followed this series and is honestly the strongest hit of nostalgia I've had in my entire life.
Thanks for making such a great and in depth video.
Ah, Sonic Mega Collection Plus, the nostalgic memories. Here’s to hoping Origins re-use the music
Especially the credits song from Plus holy fuck it's a buried gem
you sound like a professional chef and i love it
jarsh finx
42:11 SONIC CLASSIC COLLECTION LETS GOOOO
Sonic Jam was what made me love Sonic (and played the classics on easy for my young skill set) Sonic Mega Collection Plus made me fully complete the classics as intended and also introduced me to the archive comics (I'm from the UK so i had Fleetways Sonic the comic which was awesome too)
Sonic Jam will always be the best Sonic collection imo. I have lost so many hours of my childhood in Sonic World running around and watching those videos over and over again
Being a Sonic fan back in those days was the best thing that can happen to you back in the day, even if video games were stigmatized during the time. I was already a fan of the series before we had Sonic Mega Collection. In fact i first experienced Sonic at a kiosk in Toys R Us with my dad playing a kiosk version of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle when i was 5. Eventually i gotten to play Sonic 1 in a Genesis collection that had only 5 games in one during that year i remember. Sonic 1, Revenge of Shinobi/Super Shinobi, Streets of Rage 1, Golden Axe 1, and Columns. Eventually a couple of years later i gotten a Gamecube from my dad and his girlfriend before they split with Sonic Mega Collection and later on next year the Sonic Adventure Duology. I also gotten Gamecube from my Grandmother to play at her house the same year i gotten the other one and Sonic Heroes for it a year later. Along with already having Sonic Advance 1, 3, and at that same day Sonic Battle for Game Boy Advance. Then on my birthday the following year i gotten Sonic Advance 2. Being a Sonic fan during that time was an adventure in and of itself and i wish i could go backk and experience it all again before the dark ages arrived.
I miss Sonic at store kiosks! I still remember freaking out in a Circuit City when they had an SA2 DC demo running White Forest. Who was this other hedgehog, look at those speed lines, oh my god the music!! Seven-year-old me was in a whole other world...
@@MykonosFan Swap Emerald Coast and Toys R Us and you have my childhood.
It's fantastic to see thiers a video going over all of the different sonic compilations you did a fantastically good job on this
Thank you! I really appreciate that.
@@MykonosFan your welcome also nice to see that you covered sonic classic collection in this video I grew up with that game and it was neat to experience classic sonic on a hand-held gaming console it was also my first experience with sonic 3 and sonic and knuckles and knuckles in sonic 2 and sonic 3 and knuckles
Great video dude! Your research is really top notch!
Fun tid bit about the 3d classic collection. The developers of the project M2 pushed the 3ds to its limits trying to get Sonic 1 to run smoothly and even got in touch with Yuji "don's steal my engine" Naka, to get tips on how to implement the spin dash into the games code years after he left Sega to work on other things.
If this video already wasn't so long, and if the 3DS' 3D was possible to show through TH-cam video, I'd have loved to spend some time on that collection. I dearly love those 3D SEGA releases, bought each and every one of them and each one was a delight. Shame we didn't get them all physically, but man, what a great line up.
@@MykonosFan 3D videos can actually be uploaded to TH-cam and there's probably a way to record 3D 3DS footage either via emulation or a modded console
@@kellymountain A 3D video must be specifically uploaded to TH-cam _as_ a 3D video, though, with proper 3D support.
It bothers me that Sonic Jam didn't feel properly marketed when it. Seeing ads for it, I assumed it was just the four main Sonic games that I already had and put hundreds of hours into. I had no idea about the hub world, extra features, or changes to the levels.
Mega Collection Plus and Gems Collection were so close to being a complimentary complete collection. The dream would be what I will dub "ultimate Classic Sonic Collection" or something to that extent
I'm in a weird spot where I have a lot of nostalgia for the genesis originals but ALSO mega and gems collection. Loved both of those releases and dropped so many hours into both gc games. Great job on the vid! A fun trip down memory lane
Sonic Mega Collection > Sonic Origins
Correct 💯
19:55 HOLY SHIT! I was also introduced to Sonic 1 via the Sega Smash Pack compilation. Actually, my introduction to Sonic in general was on the Dreamcast, with SA1, SA2 and Sonic 1.
Exactly the way I got into Sonic! That and catching the end of the Sonic OVA on Starz as a kid, I don't know why we had Starz but man it was so cool seeing it. All that cemented me as a helpless Sonic fan for life lol.
Fun fact: on the PC version of mega collection plus you can code the game file's to unlock all games and hints plus you can make the screen resolution better.
Send the link plz
@@YetAnotherSADXFan I don't have a link
I wanna say I heard somewhere that Gems excluded the Streets of Rage games in the US because it would be bumped to a T rating. I may be mistaken, though.
Ahh, yes I think I heard that too now that you mention it! Shame to miss out on great games, but that does make sense.
Came here from The Golden Bolt's new SA2 essay!!!
Awesome history video! Wish more developers had the same time, care, and money to continue to make detailed compilations a regular thing. I grew up with the DS collection as my only way to play the classics. It wasn't perfect, but I'm grateful for what it did have...
Thanks for coming over! TGB is a close friend of mine so it's nice to see. I can't help but agree. There have been some great ones here and there, hat SNK 40th anniversary collection is obscure to young ones like us, but it's a high bar that others should be striving for imo. Fingers crossed for more great ones!
I recall there being a Sega smash pack 2 on PC back in the 90s as I still have my copy
Finding out the Sonic and Garfield pack WAS ACTUALLY real and not a Twitter joke threw me for a loop. I saw it on Twitter like you said and totally thought it was a photoshop. Wild.
Omg Mega and Gem Collection music took my love of Sonic to a whole new level. That intro to mega collection my favorite title theme of all time.
9:54 Nice video so far and...wait...is that...no...this mad lad put the Heathcliff theme song in this! Thus masterpiece was just elevated to a certified hood classic my dude
To this day the history music from Mega Collection will ALWAYS manage to take me back to my younger years. Same thing with Melees trophy music.
When you were talking about the inane methods of unlocking those other games in Mega Collection, I had a slight panic attack about Flicky cause I did get that unlocked for the collection, but couldn't remember how so I was fretting over whether or not my brother or I had played that much Bean Machine back then.
So once you said "SA2B on memory card", I felt very relieved lol
Allow me to relieve you further...I mean...what
@@MykonosFan 😳
3:20 and of course sonic the hedgehog ... ONE 😂 snap cube references never get old 😁
Me finding a 40 minute video from a small creator on a topic I was interested in all I could think was, "please have a good speaking voice".
Suffice it to say, the speaking voice was indeed good.
As was the video. Subbed!
Sonic Mega Collection has a special place in my mind and heart. Its the game that got me in to Sonic the Hedgehog. I remember going to target one day after school on Friday back in 2004. I saw the game and my uncle bought it for me. After playing it nonstop after getting home that day, I just fell in love with Sonic. The music, games, sound effects... everything about Sonic Mega Collection makes me reminisce about my childhood days being in to Sonic.
dropped in for the channel name, stayed for the video, greetings from Greece brother 🇬🇷
Great video!
21:46 Sega Smash Pack 2 was a PC exclusive release. You can even see it shown earlier in the video during the intro section.
Yeah haha. I probably should have specified it "never came to Dreamcast".
26:00 I know.
My man knows.
Phenomenal video!! What a trip down memory lane.
There actually was a Sega Smash Pack II that was released for PC, though it seems to be a little obscure nowadays. But it included Sonic 2, Flicky, Comix Zone, Shining Force, Vectorman 2 and others I'm sure I am forgetting about.
It was actually my first time experience any of those games along with the Sonic and Knuckles Collection and Sonic CD PC rounding off my introduction to Classic Sonic haha!
That's a pretty decent lineup! Looks like it also had Super Hang-On, man. If that had came to Dreamcast, kid me would have flipped out.
@@MykonosFan No doubt! As rough as Sega's post-Dreamcast future was for a bit, they did such a phenomenal job of making sure their legacy titles could reach new players on PC early on. I probably never would have become such a huge fan without them being willing to do that!
My *earliest* memory is playing Sonic 2 on my Genesis and the series was literally life. While I played tons of games from the series I didn't get to play all of the Genesis or Gamegear games until Mega Collection, DX and Gems collection so getting collections of these games that I didn't even know existed absolutely blew my 10 year old mind. I was always mad that 3D Blast was the Genesis version and not the Saturn version that I was so familiar with. I really wish that Sega would port that version instead of the Genesis one like we always get.
Also I spent so much time in mega collection's galleries reading every comic and manual that was available and looking at all of the illustrations and videos. I must have sunk hundreds of hours into that disc alone.
Hey man, this is a fantastic look at all the collections! Great job! As a kid I lost my mind trying to figure out how to unlock the hidden games in Mega lol
I miss when the final boss fights were intense, Darkspine Vs Alf Layla Wa Layla is honestly the most intense and pretty gruesome with Darkspine Sonic, remember when Sonic mercilessly assaulted a big heart? Good times.
These days I go to Kirby for that. In Kirby Star Allies he too assaulted Void Termina's beating, bleeding, "heart". Kirby also often gets new powers before the final battle like Sonic used to do.
Played Sonic 2 on Genesis at about 2 years old, but actually got into Sonic (and what I'd say Properly introduced to the series) through Mega Collection throughout elementary school. Going home every night, throwing my bag down and instantly jumping into Sonic 2 and 3 was a blast, and unlocking Ristar was the absolute best.
Sonic Mega collection on Gamecube still holds a special place in my heart
God the many hours where i literally just sat there in the history section listening to one of my favorite soothing music in any game ^_^
Sonic Jam was one of the high lights of the Saturn, just a cool look at his past along with a glimpse of the future to come. I remember playing the originals on the Genesis to death and while I never owned a Saturn my best friend growing up was all about Sega so he of course had Sonic Jam. We used to mess around in Sonic World for hours, especially when Super Mario 64 got us all hyped for a 3d Sonic title.
I remember the PC release of Sonic and knuckles collection back when I was a kid
Sonic & Knuckles Collection was my introduction to the series. My elementary school would let kids play it while waiting for the school bus, and I loved it so much I had my mom buy me the Sonic Action 4 Pack from a toy store one day. I have lots of nostalgia for the games that were included in the 4 Pack, especially 3 & Knuckles.
oh man it's cool yet strange hearing your voice without any of the other guys alongside it
the vid gave me a few chuckles and I like the deep cut music choices from the extra Sonic CD music
also my introduction firsthand was the DS collection hell yeah
oh shit i've also been to that mothman statue with the ass too
I spent so much time with Mega Collection and Gems Collection on GameCube. I still have vivid memories of sitting in my room late at night, playing Sonic CD and listening to the Samurai Champloo soundtrack on loop
Well, that last part certainly did age like milk.
29:39 Finally... Vindication for how I always pronounced "Ristar" 😂
For real though, really great video! Sonic Mega Collection was how I fell in love with those old games when I was a kid, and it's so nice to see it talked about here. And I remember opening and closing those individual games just to unlock the extra ones, I was persistent when it came to Sonic 😂.
@@ZingZangZote thanks for the correction!
Never knew their was so many collections of sonic, well I did to a certain extent lol but I still have my sonic mega collection since 2002 and it gives me tingly nostalgic feelings every time I even look at the cover art I love the music of the menus , so many sonic games better than most compilations/collections from past to new and also all the good extras that’s jam packed is basically the icing on the cake and the cherry on top. I love every bit of it. Nostalgic vibes
Sonic 1 & 2 on the mega drive have a special place in my heart. But so does Sonic jam, because my friends copy of that is where I was introduced to S3&K and I played it all the time with my childhood friend. I have so many memories attached to that collection.
Sonic Mega Collection Plus is how I grew up with the Genesis games without being a 90’s kid
Crazy intro, my first game was gems collection, specifically sonic r with fighters right behind. My cousins bought it to me as a gift for my GameCube and man I used to play it alot
Here’s all the Sonic Collections I have.
Sega Genesis Classics for Nintendo Switch
The Sega Genesis games with Nintendo Switch Online
Sonic Classic Collection for the Nintendo DS
Sonic Gems Collection for the Nintendo GameCube
I have that Sonic 25th Anniversary AtGames Sega Genesis Classic system
And I have the Deluxe version of Sonic Origins pre-ordered on my Switch
I do wanna get the other collections too someday. Like Sonic Jam, Mega Collection, Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, and the Sega Genesis Mini.
My first compilation was Mega Collection Plus, and I didn't know about 3k, 2K or Ristar, so I only played those on the DS classic collection and Mega Drive Ultimate Collection.
Sonic Jam is one if not my favorite Sonic game ever! I'm so glad my childhood had this amazing game. Mega Collection kept me entertained in my High School years!
I'm looking forward to Origins as well - I'm a new Sonic fan and I hope sega can make as many compilations and ports as possible of the older games so I can experience them.
After Rare Replay, my dream Sonic collection became something similar but for Sonic Team. It'd be so cool to just have everything from 1991 to 2001 tossed into a comprehensive set. All of the Sonics, NiGHTS, Burning Rangers, Chu Chu Rocket...Samba de Amigo and Phantasy Star Online probably wouldn't work, but I'd be over the moon!
15:37 this is the most enjoyable theme I've ever heard from a Sonic Album
This was a nice and cozy video. Hopefully Origins reaches the highs of Mega Collection but we'll see I suppose!
Lmfao @ 9:57 you have Heathcliff music for Garfield.👌👌💯
When I saw the post about this I didn't understand what you meant. But you are reviewing a collection of collections damn this is a hefty boy!
Fun fact: You get the Blue Sphere game for games that aren't compatible with Sonic and Knuckles. It does that for every other genesis game
Yeah, the big reason to use sth/ sonic classics is because it gives you a selection on which blue sphere stage you can play, the other cartridges only give one stage assigned to a id number in the code of the game
I wonder what stage we get if, shall we say, inserted home brew games like Xeno Crisis, Tanglewood, Tänzer, Paprium, Pier Solar and others, on it?
Great stuff, Chris!
I'm glad you enjoyed it, bud. 😎
I became a Sonic fan largely because of Sonic Mega Collection Plus on PS2. I’m super glad they released SMC again with more Game Gear games for PS2, because I don’t think I would have ever learned about Sonic until the movie came out if I never got Sonic Mega Collection Plus as a kid.
i couldn't tell you how much sonic mega collection plus means to me besides it being my introduction to the sonic series at age 11 but introduced me to sonic 3 one of my favorite 2d platformers of all time and i still listen to the start up menu and main menu music to this day
Game compilations : the most recent is the best
Sonic compilations : guess i'll go backwards
What a great idea for a video! I played a few Sonic games as kid beforehand, but the first Sonic game I ever owned was Mega Collection on the gamecube. I played the heck outta that thing! It’s also how I was introduced to the Sonic OVA (I mistook the CD opening for part of the “Sonic Movie” a friend had told me about) and the Archie Sonic comics. Big nostalgia for that game.
Hell yeah. I only wish kids today could get a similar experience tbh. Not sure Origins is gonna be "it", so to speak
Mega 6 Volume 3 was a pack in cartridge for the Mega Drive II in the UK for a while. Good way to start a library.
Thank you do much for making
this much needed video. 👍
10:14 I had this as a kid. I think it came from a Big Lots store. Wish I had kept up with it.
i know this is a video about sonic game collections, but i couldn't help but notice the gene gadget act 1 saturn version, great taste my guy
Actually glad I was able to find Sonic Mega Collection(also have the + version for my PS2) & Gems Collection for my GameCube. One of my favorite finds. Took me yrs to find Gems. But I got it
8:46 THE MOMENT WE ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR WHEN CLICKING THE VIDEO
19:57 Oh my goodness! SEGA Smash Pack vol. 1 was my first experience playing Sonic 1 as a kid too!! (but my first Sonic game I’d ever played was Sonic Adventure!)
Same!
This is a well done video. I hope you become a big content creator
Great video, man. Keep up the good work!
There used to be a discount book shop near where I live that for some reason in 2015 suddenly stocked a bunch of Sega 10 in 1 PC games made for like Windows XP.
Sonic jam was the first compilation I played. It was awesome at the time I thought, as it was more convenient to have all the megadrive (Genesis) games on one C.D instead of 4 separate cartridges. Plus playing sonic in 3D blew my mind (even if was just a mini game)
The Museum Theme for Gems is one of my favorite tracks of anything. It honestly edges out the Mega Collection one for me slightly in terms of tear-jerking nostalgic sound.
I remember one day as a kid with one of those cheap little battery powered MP3 players, I'd bring it to school and download the Gems OST off khinsider and listened to it on the way back home. All of Gem's included remix tracks and menu songs pretty cemented my taste in music.
21:19 It has to be a crime to absolutely murder Yuzo Koshiro's soundtrack like that...
It's pretty atrocious! Haha
First game in "Sonic Mega Collection" (and Plus) was also revised to include spike bug fix (finally) in real Mega Drive ROM. Unfortunatelly, later releases of "Sonic The Hedgehog" were downgraded - SEGA Mega Drive Collection on PS2 uses first revision (US/EU), SEGA Mega Drive Classics Collection on Windows (from 2010-2012 which still on sale) uses second release (Japan).
I think the reason Sonic Jam, Mega Collection, and Gems Collection provide really good content is because of Yuji Naka. I know people like to give him some crap nowadays because of Balan Wonderworld and him just being the programmer of Sonic, but he genuinely respected the craft it took to make Sonic games back in the 90’s and respected the character.
What Yuji Naka doesn't respect are other developers. Sorry but I lost all respect for him, when hearing the way he routinely sabotaged the careers and even well-being of other people just to make his own position in the company look favorable, and how genuinely disrespectful he is to western developers and his own staff.
I remember I was about 6 years old when I got Mega Collection Plus. I remember really wanting to buy Sonic Heroes but I ended up with Mega Collection instead, which was much greater of a value. I got to download my little brain with classic Sonic goodness (or at least the first two acts of each game since I was terrible at precise platforming). After many years though, it's great to return to these classics and play through all of them in their entirety in one package, but I am really crossing my fingers that Sonic Origins becomes like a new definitive classic Sonic compilation. Fullscreen support will be awesome for Sonic 3&K.
Mega collection on Gamecube was my most familiar Sonic Compilation
Thank you for making this video, this video was entertaining. You are good at explaining things.
Thank you! I always wonder how well I'm explaining things so that's made me happy to hear.
I had the Sonic Mega Collection for the PS2. The bonus comics were an amazing read and that's how I found out about the Archie Sonic Comics.
I'd just love a convenient way to play all the game gear games. But if I could get a way to conveniently play the advance or maybe even rush games, that'd be hunky dory too.
I'm glad I found this gem of a retrospective. You just earned a sub my friend.
I'm happy you enjoyed it!
I had Mega Collection on GameCube, but the disc went missing. So eventually I ended up getting the Classic Collection on DS to fulfill my Genesis Sonic needs until I eventually got some PC versions. Though for a while it was still the only way I could play Knuckles in Sonic 2.
I remember the spindash being louder than usual in Sonic Classic Collection
Yep me too
I recently played through the Sonic 8-bit games, and was surprised at how good they were, despite obvious limitations. One game that I find odd never made it into the Gems collection was Dynamite Dux, which is the Pre-sonic arcade game that Bean the Dynamite is from.
"Hey all, Scott here and DAMN IT I own Sonic Jam!"
I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FORGOT THE SONIC COLLECTION WITH THE VIDEO OF HIM MAKING OUT WITH MARIO THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!! This video was a freaking banger, good shit boy.
I will find you, Jtart9.
@@MykonosFan you wish you could
Loved this video/Got a new subscriber!Best of wishes dude! :D
I’ve played Sonic R multiplayer via Gems collection quite a bit. It’s a really fun game
I own and still play Mega Collection Plus on my PS2 as a Fall back event I do, in the month of October I play only PS2, GameCube and Wii titles.
I remember getting mega collection plus used at gamestop when i was very young. I never played sonic so my mom asked the cashier what would be a good starting point. He recommended us plus. It was indeed a great starting point, and made me forever attached to the blue fuck
The funny thing is that my first experience with Sonic was with Mega Collection Plus and Gems Collection both on the PS2, I don't even remember where I got Gems lol.
Not sure if it really counts as a Completion, but there was a version of the Master System 2 which has both Sonic 1 and 2 built in. It came out in 1995, about the same time as the Mega Drive Sonic Compilation.
Sonic Classic Collection is my first Sonic game
Sega Smashpack on the dreamcast was my game as a kid, Virtua Cop 2 was the absolute slap