There's a lot this collection does right
A museum full of music, art, and manuals from the classic games is a nice feature to look through.
A story mode bridging together Sonic 1, CD, 2, and 3&K with brand new animated cutscenes that are super adorable is a nice feature for long time fans.
Each game being updated to a widescreen resolution, with Sonic's drop dash ability from Mania being added and lives being replaced by special coins that allow you to retry Special Stages or unlock museum items are all excellent changes.
Yes for the most part, this is just the Taxman mobile ports of Sonic 1/CD/2 ported to consoles (which includes Hidden Palace Zone in Sonic 2) but this is something we've asked for ages so I'm personally glad at the opportunity to finally be able to play these games.
There's some other extras like a mission mode, boss rush, and mirror mode which are nice extras but don't really do much for me.
Another huge plus is that Big Arms and a proper transition to the Sonic & Knuckles portion of S3&K has been added to the Sonic route of the game (S3&K removed the Big Arms fight in the Sonic/Tails route)
Now the collection does have some big flaws
Tails and Knuckles are playable in Sonic 1 but for some reason Knuckles isn't playable in CD
Carnival Night, Ice Cap and Launch Base Zone have had their music changed from the original Sonic 3 release due to the issues surrounding Michael Jackson's involvement on the soundtrack. While I understand why these songs had to be changed, I really don't vibe with a lot of the new music, Launch Base ESPICALLY AS IT DOES NOT FIT AT ALL. I don't mind the new Super Sonic theme but that was an unnecessary change for the sake of using something different from the Sonic & Knuckles invincibility theme.
The museum includes music from Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast, and Knuckles' Chaotix and I love that but it's also like, you included those games full soundtracks but not the games themselves? Like a rerelease of Chaotix would've been really nice, even if it was just the original game.
It also would've been nice if they included Mighty and Ray in these games as well. They borrowed the drop dash from Mania so including those two as bonus characters would've been a nice treat (honestly have the feeling they'll release an enhanced version of this game alongside a physical edition down the line just like they did with Mania)
While I have nitpicks with this collection, it is ultimately the best versions (music from Sonic 3 aside) of the games that defined my childhood and that remain some of my favourite games today, so in that regard, I have so much to love here. It is just unfortunate that there's a few missed opportunities that means this falls short of its potential
A museum full of music, art, and manuals from the classic games is a nice feature to look through.
A story mode bridging together Sonic 1, CD, 2, and 3&K with brand new animated cutscenes that are super adorable is a nice feature for long time fans.
Each game being updated to a widescreen resolution, with Sonic's drop dash ability from Mania being added and lives being replaced by special coins that allow you to retry Special Stages or unlock museum items are all excellent changes.
Yes for the most part, this is just the Taxman mobile ports of Sonic 1/CD/2 ported to consoles (which includes Hidden Palace Zone in Sonic 2) but this is something we've asked for ages so I'm personally glad at the opportunity to finally be able to play these games.
There's some other extras like a mission mode, boss rush, and mirror mode which are nice extras but don't really do much for me.
Another huge plus is that Big Arms and a proper transition to the Sonic & Knuckles portion of S3&K has been added to the Sonic route of the game (S3&K removed the Big Arms fight in the Sonic/Tails route)
Now the collection does have some big flaws
Tails and Knuckles are playable in Sonic 1 but for some reason Knuckles isn't playable in CD
Carnival Night, Ice Cap and Launch Base Zone have had their music changed from the original Sonic 3 release due to the issues surrounding Michael Jackson's involvement on the soundtrack. While I understand why these songs had to be changed, I really don't vibe with a lot of the new music, Launch Base ESPICALLY AS IT DOES NOT FIT AT ALL. I don't mind the new Super Sonic theme but that was an unnecessary change for the sake of using something different from the Sonic & Knuckles invincibility theme.
The museum includes music from Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast, and Knuckles' Chaotix and I love that but it's also like, you included those games full soundtracks but not the games themselves? Like a rerelease of Chaotix would've been really nice, even if it was just the original game.
It also would've been nice if they included Mighty and Ray in these games as well. They borrowed the drop dash from Mania so including those two as bonus characters would've been a nice treat (honestly have the feeling they'll release an enhanced version of this game alongside a physical edition down the line just like they did with Mania)
While I have nitpicks with this collection, it is ultimately the best versions (music from Sonic 3 aside) of the games that defined my childhood and that remain some of my favourite games today, so in that regard, I have so much to love here. It is just unfortunate that there's a few missed opportunities that means this falls short of its potential