Mega Mystery Minus
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:17 am
Even though I already own the majority of Sonic games, I still purchased Sonic Mega Collection Plus due to its addition of the save state facility. The Gamecube original was missing this essential feature and so was completely worthless, as I don't have the time to beat an entire game on single sitting. Despite have absolutely no expectations for any other extras, I've still been disappointed by Sonic Team's latest attempt to cash in on their ageing IP.
If it wasn’t for the save state addition then Mega Collection Minus would have been an appropriate name for this 'update', as much of the content from the Gamecube original is missing. Gone are the story menus and character profiles, which, although were fairly mediocre (barring the brief clarifications provided for the Sonic 3 story), would have been pleasing to see again, especially if Sonic Team had expanded on them. The movie section has withered down to the intro and opening team dark scenes from Sonic Heroes. Storyboards and unfinished versions for each of these movies have been included, but the section hardly makes use of the PS2's DVD capabilities. The manual section still only contains the inferior US versions (apart from the Japanese manual for Sonic Drift), which is obviously a shame, especially as the Sonic fandom has yet to acquire the Japanese manual for G-Sonic.
The storyboards contain a few rejected ideas:
^ The Sonic Heroes logo was originally supposed to have wings
^ Amy's underage drinking is exposed
^ The Team Rose sequence in the opening movie originally had a little less
action
^An oddly drawn Omega from the intro story board (It's unlikely to be a prototype design as he is properly drawn in the Team Dark sketches)
^ Clips from the unfinished opening movie
^ Embarrassed by their real names, the Green Hill Zone robots team up with Naaru to chase the Japanese manuals away
^ The credits section has a new theme
^ Before and after: A comparison of the old and new menu systems
Aside from the savestate feature, most of the enjoyment to be had from ‘Plus’ comes from exploring the game disc on a PC. The ROMs folder contains 3 iterations of Sonic 1, 2 versions of Sonic & Tails and, most interestingly, 2 different copies of Sonic 2. The extra versions of Sonic 1 and Sonic & Tails are probably as the same as those found on the Gamecube release of Mega and Mini-Game Collection, but the alternative Sonic 2 ROM is a complete mystery. Both European and American ROMs for all the games are on the disc, although only Sonic 1 and Sonic & Tails have Japanese editions.
^ The ROM folders
All the manuals are in AFS archives, which when uncompressed produce unreadable BIN files. There are separate archives for Mean Bean Machine and, oddly, Puyo Puyo, although it doesn't appear that any other Japanese manuals are on the disc. Each archive, however, contains more BIN files than the number of pages in the US manuals, so the Japanese scans could be buried in there somewhere.
^ The manual folder
The files in the movies folder are also unreadable, but the folder actually contains more files than the four movies accessible in the game. Some of these files may be the background preview movies that appear when selecting a game to play, but this seems unlikely, as there are less than twenty files. The files titled 'Staff' and 'Title' are self-explanatory.
^ The movie folder
Of course the biggest mystery relates to the GAME offer of a free T-Shirt for all pre-orders. On the day of release, I received an email that my T-Shirt couldn't be shipped with the game due to supply problems, but I was reassured that it will be sent shortly. One week later and I am still waiting - where is it?!
If it wasn’t for the save state addition then Mega Collection Minus would have been an appropriate name for this 'update', as much of the content from the Gamecube original is missing. Gone are the story menus and character profiles, which, although were fairly mediocre (barring the brief clarifications provided for the Sonic 3 story), would have been pleasing to see again, especially if Sonic Team had expanded on them. The movie section has withered down to the intro and opening team dark scenes from Sonic Heroes. Storyboards and unfinished versions for each of these movies have been included, but the section hardly makes use of the PS2's DVD capabilities. The manual section still only contains the inferior US versions (apart from the Japanese manual for Sonic Drift), which is obviously a shame, especially as the Sonic fandom has yet to acquire the Japanese manual for G-Sonic.
The storyboards contain a few rejected ideas:
^ The Sonic Heroes logo was originally supposed to have wings
^ Amy's underage drinking is exposed
^ The Team Rose sequence in the opening movie originally had a little less
action
^An oddly drawn Omega from the intro story board (It's unlikely to be a prototype design as he is properly drawn in the Team Dark sketches)
^ Clips from the unfinished opening movie
^ Embarrassed by their real names, the Green Hill Zone robots team up with Naaru to chase the Japanese manuals away
^ The credits section has a new theme
^ Before and after: A comparison of the old and new menu systems
Aside from the savestate feature, most of the enjoyment to be had from ‘Plus’ comes from exploring the game disc on a PC. The ROMs folder contains 3 iterations of Sonic 1, 2 versions of Sonic & Tails and, most interestingly, 2 different copies of Sonic 2. The extra versions of Sonic 1 and Sonic & Tails are probably as the same as those found on the Gamecube release of Mega and Mini-Game Collection, but the alternative Sonic 2 ROM is a complete mystery. Both European and American ROMs for all the games are on the disc, although only Sonic 1 and Sonic & Tails have Japanese editions.
^ The ROM folders
All the manuals are in AFS archives, which when uncompressed produce unreadable BIN files. There are separate archives for Mean Bean Machine and, oddly, Puyo Puyo, although it doesn't appear that any other Japanese manuals are on the disc. Each archive, however, contains more BIN files than the number of pages in the US manuals, so the Japanese scans could be buried in there somewhere.
^ The manual folder
The files in the movies folder are also unreadable, but the folder actually contains more files than the four movies accessible in the game. Some of these files may be the background preview movies that appear when selecting a game to play, but this seems unlikely, as there are less than twenty files. The files titled 'Staff' and 'Title' are self-explanatory.
^ The movie folder
Of course the biggest mystery relates to the GAME offer of a free T-Shirt for all pre-orders. On the day of release, I received an email that my T-Shirt couldn't be shipped with the game due to supply problems, but I was reassured that it will be sent shortly. One week later and I am still waiting - where is it?!