Ranking the Games Included in Sonic Gems Collection

During the lifespan of the Nintendo Gamecube, Sega released seven games featuring their greatest superstar, Sonic the Hedgehog. Many of these were ports or remakes of classic Sonic games released while Nintendo and Sega were bitter rivals. One such game was Sonic Gems Collection, a compilation of some lesser-known Sonic games and a follow up to Sonic Mega Collection, a collection of Sonic's Genesis games. While the latter title had lots of solid titles (only Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast were weak), the former game features games that are a decidedly mixed bag of quality. Some games are fairly good, some are mediocre, and some are just plain bad. My duty today is to take the eleven games (including the two unlockable titles) and list them in order from worst to best. The list is as follows...

11. Sonic Spinball: This Game Gear version of the Genesis classic was decidedly dumbed down and inferior. The frame rate was on the slow side, most of the music was replaced by somewhat boring tracks, and the bonus stages were quite dull. The challenge level was also lowered quite a bit, and the credits simply take forever to sit through. At least the 16-bit version benefited from such features as fun bonus stages, a cool soundtrack, and cameos by characters from the Archie comic book and Sonic SatAM cartoon. While not the worse Sonic Game Gear game in existence (Sonic Labyrinth holds that dubious honor), this title is still a huge letdown.

10. Sonic the Hedgehog 2: This game is challenging...and I mean that in the worst way possible. Cheap deaths around every corner, hang glider controls that are unintuitive, Chaos Emeralds in hard-to-reach spots, and no rings at all in the boss battles. You are pretty much guaranteed to die from such things as tubes that hurl you into spike pits when you have no way of knowing where they will take you and rocks that bounce with no apparent pattern in the first boss battle. Sega made a masterpiece out of the Genesis version of Sonic 2, so why couldn't they do the same for the Game Gear version? Alas, we may never know.

9. Tails Sky Patrol: This game was originally a Japanese exclusive, and as far as I am concerned, it might as well have just stayed there. It is quite hard in parts (though you do get unlimited continues), and the music is mostly terrible. The worst feature, however, is reserved for the game's length: only five stages, and a bare bones ending when all is said and done. Experienced players could feasibly beat the game within half an hour. The entire title feels more like a demo, and since you must play it for nearly two-and-a-half hours to unlock some pictures in the Museum, you should be prepared for lots of boredom.

8. Sonic R: Sonic's first console racing game could have been super sweet, but it is a letdown. There are only five tracks in the entire game, the mini games are quite boring, and the tokens and Chaos Emeralds can be so far off the beaten path that you can fall behind rather quickly. The controls are rather loose, as well. About the only redeeming factor is a catchy soundtrack that will have you singing along with the lyrics. However, this game came out in 1997, the same year as the superior Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing, and yet it has less substance than either of those games. Sonic has yet to star in a great console racing game, which is a shame.

7. Vectorman 2: One of the last Genesis games to be released is, sad to say, not all that impressive. Sure, you have some nice-looking graphics like its prequel, but you also get some rather brutal difficulty in parts, a lack of handy checkpoints, and no way to continue should you lose all of your lives. This was a 1996 game, and there was no cartridge or password save or even continues? Sonic 3D Blast also had this glaring problem save for the continues part, but this is inexcusable. I know that the gems Collection version uses save states, but if you are too careless about making your saves, you are basically out of luck.

6. Sonic the Fighters: While I applaud Sega's efforts to bring this rarely-seen arcade classic to the Gamecube, I wished they they had added more to it. Basically, you have to fight through ten opponents to beat the game, but it is quite short and can be monotonous. To its credit, there are some nice locations from past Sonic games, good music, and appearances from lesser-known characters such as Nack the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Dynamite. If you are expecting a deeper fighting game, however, you are in for a disappointment.

5. Vectorman: For a game released late in the Genesis era, it looks amazing with its dazzling rendered graphics. However, it, like its sequel, suffers from madding difficulty and no save or continue features. On top of that, you are actually penalized if you enter any cheat codes, because doing so means that you will not be able to see the true ending. I appreciate the message that this action sends-that cheaters never prosper-but what about people who are not all that good at the game? Here's hoping that if Vectorman gets a revival, Sega will focus on making it a truly strong franchise instead of one more obscure series.

4. Sonic CD: Many people say that this is one of the best Sonic games ever released, but I do not quite agree wholeheartedly with them. On the plus side, there are some nice graphical effects not possible on the Genesis, awesome music, and nice anime opening and ending movies. However, the bonus stages are nearly impossible to clear, some of the boss fights are a bit too challenging, and the time travel feature takes a bit of getting used to. There is a solid game in here somewhere, but it does not quite top most of the hedgehog's 16-bit adventures.

3. Sonic Triple Trouble: Now for a game that is actually solid all around. This game truly feels like the Sonic games of yore, with levels that are fun and not too frustrating and some rather neat bonus stages. You also get cool boss battles, the option of playing as Tails, and even the ability to use vehicles. About the only drawbacks are a rather short length and the inability to collect Chaos Emeralds after a certain point, which leads to the bad ending if you do not have them all. Otherwise, this is a surprisingly good game and one that Sonic fans should try out.

2. Sonic Drift 2: While not quite as good as Mario Kart, this racing game is still pretty fun. The tracks are challenging, and there are 18 of them instead of Sonic R's measly five courses. You can play as seven characters, including Knuckles, Nack, and Metal Sonic (new to the Sonic Drift series). Add some fairly good power ups and you have a racing game that makes up for its limited features with a real sense of fun. Why Sonic R could not make that same claim, I will never know.

1. Tails Adventures: The best game in this entire collection does not star Sonic at all, but rather his little sidekick, Tails. Here, you have a nice mixture of platform and RPG features, complete with items to equip, puzzles to solve, and multiple paths that remain blocked until you are sufficiently powered up. The music is quite good, the boss battles are exciting, and the underwater missions are addictive. Only a lengthy password feature keeps the game from being absolutely perfect, but as a whole, it is one of the best Sonic-related games in existence, and one that all fans must play.

It is a shame that the bad games outweigh the good ones in Sonic Gems Collection. You have games that are solid in just about every area. There are those that have some good ideas in them, but they were not implemented to the greatest extent. Some fail to rise above mediocrity, and some should never have seen the light of day at all. However, each game is worth trying out at least once, if only to discover just how good or bad they really are. Sonic Gems Collection is a bit tricky to track down nowadays, with Gamestop being about the only place outside of e-bay or flea markets that might carry it. If you do go and pick it up, do not set expectations up too high, as some of these games will likely disappoint you. If ever Sega releases another Sonic compilation for Nintendo's systems, here's hoping that they pick some truly solid games instead of mediocre or worst titles.