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June 19, 2005 marked the fourteenth birthday of that mascot of mascots, Sonic The Hedgehog. Sega-16 kicked off a week-long celebration of everything hedgehog with some great content for your enjoyment, including a new “History of” article and a “Sega Stars” feature on Yuji Naka. For starters, enjoy a review of the Genesis’ only Sonic compilation, the Sonic Classics.
Naturally, you can’t talk about Sega without thinking about Sonic. The Sonic the Hedgehog series of games will always be remembered for bringing the Sega Genesis into the spotlight with their fast action and exciting, fun gameplay. Back in 2002 Sega released a compilation disc for the GameCube called Sonic Mega Collection, giving ‘Cube owners the chance to relive Sonic’s Genesis adventures. Now two years later Sega has released a new version of their collection, this time for the PlayStation 2 and X-Box called Sonic Mega Collection Plus. That’s right, Plus, meaning new content not found in the GC collection.
Sonic 3D Blast (also released on the Saturn as a last-second and a comparatively pathetic replacement for the doomed Sonic Xtreme) was the proverbial black sheep of the 16 bit Sonic games. Most gamers view it with downright negativity or, at best, casual indifference. But why? Just look at it… Showy isometric graphics that are full of color and detail, cool stereo tunes and sound effects, and a groundbreaking pre-rendered 3D opening movie! What could be wrong with it?
Sonic & Knuckles represents Sega at its absolute peak, at a time when they defined cool. Sonic was largely responsible for that, wrestling half the video game market away from Nintendo and spawning an unending stream of mascot games. And like any rock star, the time came for the big, epic statement; that definitive work that captures all the themes and summarizes its era, its Sgt. Pepper.
Taking the famous hedgehog out of the side-scrolling world and tossing him into a pinball environment, Sonic Spinball was a decidedly western spin (ha!) on Sega’s flagship franchise. Sonic fans still debate its quality today, and it remains one of the most controversial 16-bit games in the series.