Sonic Mega Collection
From Sonic Retro
- For the updated PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC version, see Sonic Mega Collection Plus.
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Sonic Mega Collection (ソニック メガコレクション) is a compilation of all Sonic the Hedgehog games for the Sega Mega Drive, released for the Nintendo GameCube. The games are reproduced by a Mega Drive emulator developed under the supervision of Sonic Team themselves. The collection also features high resolution instruction manual and comic book scans. An updated version, Sonic Mega Collection Plus, was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2004, and Windows PCs in 2007.
The two games released for hardware add-ons to the Mega Drive—Sonic the Hedgehog CD for the Mega-CD, and Chaotix for the 32X—were not included in either the original or Plus version, due to emulation issues (and not size constraints as some believe). The former would later be successfully implemented in Sonic Gems Collection, though the latter remains officially available on its original hardware only.
The compliation also contains the first official name to the secret unlockable game accessed by combining Sonic & Knuckles with Sonic the Hedgehog using lock-on: It was listed as Blue Sphere. This game marks the first appearance of Cream the Rabbit, artwork of whom can be found in the extras section.
Contents
Games included
All of the games in this collection have a pause menu that is accessed by pressing 
at any time during gameplay, allowing the user to reset the game or to exit and return to the game selection. In the case of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, exiting via the pause menu will write all saved games to the collection's system file on the memory card, so is recommended to do so when finishing so progress is not lost.
All of the games (with the exception of Sonic & Knuckles Lock-On games) also include their original manuals in digital form. The manuals available are region-specific, with NTSC-J versions using the Japanese manuals and NTSC-U/PAL versions using the North American manuals. These can be viewed by pressing 
when viewing game information in the Games menu, or by accessing the Manuals menu.
Starting a game will also write to a log in the system file, recording how many times games have been started up. Once a game has been started 50 times, the collection will stop writing to the log for that particular game, resulting in faster startup times. There is no known purpose for this feature other than to track progress towards unlocking hidden games.
Default
- Sonic the Hedgehog (3 revisions)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3
- Sonic & Knuckles
- Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island
- Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
- Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Unlockable
- Blue Sphere — Play Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island 20 times each, or have a Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II save file on the memory card in Slot A.
- Knuckles in Sonic 2 — Play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Spinball 20 times each.
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles — Play Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles 20 times each.
- Flicky — Play Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine 30 times, or have a Sonic Adventure 2: Battle save file on the memory card in Slot A.
- Ristar — Play Blue Sphere, Knuckles in Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Flicky 30 times each.
- The Ooze (Japanese version only) — Press
in the Options menu. - Comix Zone (Japanese version only) — Press and in the Manuals menu.
Extras
The Extras menu contains a variety of bonus content that the user can view. The comics section is a gallery of covers from Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic series from issues #1 to #110 as well as its spin-offs, including all 32 issues of Knuckles the Echidna, all 15 issues of Sonic Super Special, and various other mini-series and one-shots. The entirety of the trade paperback Sonic the Hedgehog Firsts is also included and fully readable. Two covers, those being Sonic the Hedgehog #104 and Sonic Super Special #7, had been altered to censor specific characters due to licensing issues.
The illustrations section includes a variety of artwork from the series history up until 2002. Each of the illustrations are divided into multiple sections around specific characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Eggman, and other characters), as well as miscellaneous sections that contain promotional illustrations for Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Advance. Each illustration is also accompanied by a descriptive blurb that scrolls along the bottom of the screen. Some of the character-specific illustrations are pages taken from Sonic the Hedgehog and his Pals Official Stylebook & Character Manual.
The movies section includes five videos for the user to watch, three of which were edited from their previous showing at the Dai 16-kai Jisedai World Hobby Fair in 2002:
- Sonic CD Intro Movie - The opening animation from Sonic the Hedgehog CD. The opening version of "Sonic Boom" is used for this video.
- Sonic CD Ending Movie - The ending animation from Sonic the Hedgehog CD, which mixes footage from both the good and bad endings of the game. The ending version of "Sonic Boom" is used for this video.
- Sonic Adventure 2 Battle - A promotional trailer for Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. "Won't Stop, Just Go!", the theme for Green Forest, is used for this video.
- Sonic Advance 2 - A promotional trailer for Sonic Advance 2, notable for featuring a prototype of the game and a song not present in the final game.
- History of Sonic - A retrospective video highlighting various games in the history of the Sonic series prior to the release of Sonic Mega Collection. Game footage used in this video include Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog CD (NTSC-U only), Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island, Sonic Jam, Sonic Adventure and Sonic Advance.
Music and sound
History
Sales data
NOTE: The following sales data comprises of sales of Sonic Mega Collection Plus in addition to sales of Sonic Mega Collection.
| Number of copies sold | (Sega) IR Reference | Platforms | Regions | Cumulative sales total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,190,000 | FY2005 Full Year and Annual Reports | PS2/XB | US | 2,190,000 |
| 190,000 | FY2006 1st Quarter Results | " | N/A | 2,380,000 |
| 240,000 | FY2007 Interim Results | PS2/XB/GC | US | 2,620,000 |
| 170,000 | FY2007 3rd Quarter Results | " | " | 2,790,000 |
| 160,000 | FY2007 Full Year Results | " | " | 2,950,000 |
| 70,000 | FY2008 1st Quarter Results | " | " | 3,020,000 |
| 68,300 | FY2008 Interim and 3rd Quarter Results | " | " | 3,088,300 |
| 1,380,000 | The Magic Box - US Platinum Videogame Chart (as of 2007) | GC | US | 1,380,000 |
| 1,440,000 | " | PS2 | US | 1,440,000 |
Production credits
Manuals
Magazine articles
Artwork
Wallpaper
800x600
1280x1024
800x600
1280x1024
Physical scans
 Reception »
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| GameCube, FR |
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| GameCube, FR (Player's Choice) |
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| GameCube, DE |
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Technical information
ROM dump status
| System | Hash | Size | Build Date | Source | Comments | |||||||||
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1,459,978,240 | Disc (US) | |||||||||||
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1,459,978,240 | Disc (EU) | |||||||||||
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1,459,978,240 | Disc (JP) | |||||||||||
| ?
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1,459,978,240 | 2002-08-15[9] | NR Disc[9] | Page |
External links
- Sega of Japan catalogue pages (Japanese): GameCube (archive)
- Nintendo catalogue pages: JP, US (archive), UK
References
- ↑ http://www.nintendo.com/games/gamepage/gamepage_main.jsp?gameId=1378 (Wayback Machine: 2003-02-19 22:57)
- ↑ Press release: 2002-11-04: SEGA Delivers Great Games for All Ages and All Consoles This Holiday Season
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://sega.jp/gc/sonicmc/ (Wayback Machine: 2004-08-21 12:25)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-GameCube/Sonic-Mega-Collection-268753.html (archive.today)
- ↑ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonic-Collection-Gamecube-Players-Choice/dp/B0002WPQ28 (Wayback Machine: 2016-04-19 20:30)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.fr/Jeux/Nintendo-GameCube/Sonic-Mega-Collection-268753.html (archive.today)
- ↑ http://www.amazon.fr:80/Sonic-Mega-Collection-Players-Choice/dp/B000620PT8 (Wayback Machine: 2012-12-29 18:28)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.de/Spiele/Nintendo-GameCube/Sonic-Mega-Collection-268753.html (archive.today)
| Sonic Mega Collection | |
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Manuals |
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| Sonic the Hedgehog games for the following systems | |
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2001 Sonic Adventure 2: Battle 2002 Sonic Mega Collection 2003 Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut | Sonic Heroes 2005 Sonic Gems Collection | Shadow the Hedgehog | Duo Pack: Sonic Heroes/Super Monkey Ball 2006 Sonic Riders Unknown date Sonic Team JoyCarry Collection
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