Bad news for Sonic Gems Collection

[WhoopA]

Back on topic...

1.) The US version of Sonic Gems Collection will NOT have the Japanese soundtrack in it.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

I, for one, will be boycotting this game. Who's with me?

[Kishi]

Or you could just non-boycott the Japanese version.

[Dunjohn]

Sonic R is fantastically weak. Sonic CD is alright, but I've already played it to death and it's not a patch on the later Megadrive games. Sonic: The Fighters has always intrigued me, as I've never even seen it in motion, but it's bound to be dated as hell.

Knuckles Chaotix would have sealed the deal for me, but it's gone??? Great. I'm not gonna shell out just for Sonic Fighters.

[Crazy Penguin]

What about the European version? That should have the original soundtrack right?

"SEGA confirms Streets of Rage will not be included in the U.S. version of its title Sonic Gems Collection. While Streets of Rage will ship with Sonic Gems Collection in other markets, the more mature game does not conform to the E-rating of Sonic The Hedgehog games in North America."

It'd be a stretch to call Streets of Rage a "T" game. That's fucking crazy. Again, I have to wonder about how the European edition will shape up.

And no other Sonic games hidden in at all? This is an absolutely bloody disappointment.

I have a similar stance on game compilations as Esrever - I love the idea of them, infact I'd go as far to say I'm a very big supporter of them - I don't consider it very different from old music getting CD releases. But with video games these collections are seldom done right - we get stuck with half-assed mish-mash selections of poorly emulated games.

Single game ports are getting entirely out of hand too, especially as mentioned with Nintendo on Game Boy Advance and DS, particularly the Mario Advance series and Mario 64. Paying full price for games over 10 years old that aren't up to par with their original outings and have unnecessary new crap sloppily thrown into the mix. It's half-assed and it's stupid.

However, I'd be all up for say, a GameCube collection featuring perfect ports of all (and I mean ALL, including regional variations) of the arcade, NES, SNES, Game Boy and Game Boy Colour Mario games (including Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong etc).

I mean fuck, present old games to a new audience, that's great, just give them the respect they deserve.

[minnietguinea]

As the old systems become harder to find, I become a stronger supporter of rehashes. I'm big in to music, and without album to CD rehashes, I'd be screwed. Plus, I've never played Sonic R, Fighters, and my version of CD is really buggy. So I'm interested. But maybe not $40 interested...

[Delphine]

Please come to San Diego comic-con and purchase my book.

IF YOU WERE AT EXPO I WOULD YOU STUPID BASTARD.

[plasticwingsband]

Some things don't suck! For example, my book:



Please come to San Diego comic-con and purchase my book.

I've lived in a suburb of San Diego for about 5 years now, but for whatever reason I've lacked the funds/drive/whatever to attend Comic-Con in the past. However, I am definitely going to attend this year. I look forward to meeting you and picking up the book as well.

[Baba O'Reily]

Will you be distributing the book for mass profit?

[One Classy Bloke]

I understand what you all are on about. We gamers need more original titles and not just rehashes, remakes, compilations, or direct ports of existing franchises. That's why we loved NiGHTS into Dreams. That's why we loved the classic Sonic games. That's why we loved Katamari Damacy, Ristar, or Jet Set Radio. I'm starting to get why you guys always frown upon the industry as of late. We feel the gaming industry should take advantage of the technology we have today and create new forms of gameplay, as well as new worlds. But no, we only evolve graphically. This is why Sonic Adventure DX is reffered to as a "shoddy-ass port" here. It's the same goddamn thing but with new textures and nifty water effects. We didn't like Sonic Heroes because it barely showed any evolution at all from Sonic Adventure 2. It played exactly the same way, but only with that rediculous team gimmick.

*Exhales* Well, you guys taught me something. Gaming is about looking for fun and new ways to explore these virtual worlds that allow us to do things we have never, ever concieved of doing before. It's not about who's the better character, or which system gets the most sales. It's all in ORIGINALITY! *Flings magic wand*

I think ORIGINALITY will come back eventurally. Once the graphical revolution is over with, it'll all be about ORIGINALITY again. Or at least some creativity.

[Locit]

Will you be distributing the book for mass profit?

That is his plan, or so his site says. Which is good, as I cannot afford plane tickets to San Diego.

[firemario1001]

I think ORIGINALITY will come back eventurally. Once the graphical revolution is over with, it'll all be about ORIGINALITY again. Or at least some creativity.

Games will always be catered to the mainstream though. And I think there will be "other" revolutions that will take place after developers can render the entire game as one world at full frames. Like artificial intelligence.

[Esrever]

It's just like the film industry. The big budget studio games will always cater to the mainstream, because they are expensive to make. There is a greater need for them to be a "sure thing" and return on the massive investment. But like film, smaller independent studios and developers will pop up to try something different and fill in the gaps.

It's already happening on the PC. And I think you'll see it happen on the consoles too, once online support is more common and small developers can avoid the prohibitive expense of a retail release and sell direct downloads.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

But will you be willing to pay another $40 for Chaotix, Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car, and Sonic's Schoolhouse in Sonic Ultra Collection next year?

Nah. Chaotix sucked the first time, and the Pico games are a waste of money.

People just want to play Metal Gear 12 and the sixteenth edition of Final Fantasy II, which will have two new enemy sprites and another 3 minutes of CG cutscenes.

Don't forget Mario Party 20, Sonic Adventure 8, Mega Man X15, Jak 13, and Dance Dance Revolution Supreme Ultimate Perfect Ver. 3.45689285749.

Being serious, though, Gems Collection looks like, to me, the rest of the bunch of Sonic games I cared to play. Chaotix was lame then, we're never getting the Master System versions of the Game Gear games, and SegaSonic the Hedegehog making it is more or less a pipe dream. Even if these games were to show up in the next collection, I wouldn't buy them. The only reason I'm into the idea of Gems Colection in the first place is to preserve Sonic CD and play a couple of other Sonic games I never got to play. M ywanting it has nothing to do with rehashing; buying this is no worse than buying Mega Collection.

[Omni Hunter]

I would have to agree there, barring ROMs I never got to play some of the titles present in Gems Collection. I would most probably buy it and class it as the last Sonic games collection I would buy.

Esrever, would I be able to get your book in the UK?

[VGJustice]

I'm at least mildly interested in Gems, as I've never played many of the titles it has. Well, I'm sure that most of those games can't be worse than Sonic 3d Blast.

[Cuckooguy]

Speaking of Sonic 3D Blast, it would've been logical to add the Saturn and PC Version of Sonic 3D Blast in the Gems Collection (if it had all the proper games that <i>should</i> go with it). I mean, different soundtrack and graphics and all (though I actually prefer the Mega Drive version soundtrack).