Sonic Gems Collection Review (Gamecube)

Compilations should be good.  They should bring the best of the best to the table, with a some hidden gems and perhaps a few turds mixed in.  But what happens when half the games in a compilation are turds.  You get Sonic Gems Collection.

Sonic Gems Collection is an 11-in-1 compilation.  True to the title, there are some gems in here.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of turds in here, too.  Maybe it's because most of these titles are Game Gear games, that's not the only reason.  After all, two of the three main games are shitty.

So, what do we have in here?  First, you have the crown jewel of this disc, Sonic CD.  This is undoubtedly the game people bought the compilation to play.  As such, it doesn't disappoint.  Even with all the glitches (there are plenty), this is the best game on the disc.

The other two main games, Sonic R and Sonic the Fighters, are indeed shitty games.  They look, play, and generally feel like shit.  Other shitty games include Gear Game versions of Sonic 2 and Sonic Spinball.  In fact, this version of Sonic Spinball is one of the worst games I've ever played.

Most of the Game Gear games are at least interesting.  Sonic Triple Trouble is alright (or at least better than Sonic 2).  The Tails games, Tails' Adventure and Tails' Sky Patrol, are kind of neat.  Not happy with just being Sonic games starring Tails, these games mixed things up a bit.  The best of the Game Gear titles has to be Sonic Drift 2.  It's a Mario Kart clone and it's pretty darned good.

A common problem with all the Game Gear titles is that the screen always seems too small (this is why Sonic 2 sucks).  I'm pretty sure the idea was to make you feel as if are playing on a Game Gear, but in most of these games, you'll wish you could see more stuff.  This is especially the case for Sonic 2 and Sonic's Triple Trouble, which play more like tradition Sonic games.  In the case of Sonic Spinball, this (among many other things) makes the game unplayable.

Rounding out the collection, you have Vectorman and Vectorman 2, a pair of non-Sonic games.  These are a platforming shooters and they aren't bad.  Kind of overrated, but still far above average.  It would have been nice to see a few more Sonic games instead of these, but nice additions overall.

In Sonic Gems Collection, we have a mixed bag here.  You have your good games (Sonic CD and Sonic Drift 2), the hidden gems (the Tails games), and the shitty games (Sonic R and Sonic the Fighters).  In other words, it does what a compilation should do.  There were more shitty games than I'd have liked, but sadly they companies seem to like including them.

The one thing this compilation did right above all else was give me a chance to play games I otherwise never would have been able to play.  I never would have been able to play Triple Trouble or either of the Tails games if not for this collection.  On the other hand, I could have done without playing Sonic the Fighters or the Game Gear version of Sonic Spinball.  Either way, there's something to be said about that.  Check it out.