Collection essentials #330: Sonic Jam (Saturn)

Sonic the Hedgehog is obviously, far and away, Sega’s most popular, successful and iconic character and franchise. So it comes as somewhat of a surprise that Sonic is not strongly associated with the Sega Saturn. And perhaps that is one of the reasons why the console didn’t sell very well outside Japan. When it first launched, there was no big Sonic title available or even one coming within a reasonable timeframe for fans to look forward to. It would take a full year and a half for a Sonic title of any kind to appear on the system. And even then, it was a spruced-up version of a game that had been developed and launched for the Sega Genesis at the same time (Sonic 3D Blast), and primarily developed by a foreign company rather than the series’ creators, so it wasn’t even really an exclusive or all that special. A brand new Sonic game was planned for a Saturn release, but eventually got cancelled.

Sonic Jam launched over two years after the system’s American launch. This is basically the equivalent of Nintendo’s “Super Mario All-Stars” in the previous generation. Sonic Jam takes the main Sonic titles on the Sega Genesis and packages them into one disc with various extras. Unlike Super Mario All-Stars, the games were not given new graphics or music, as they tried to make them faithful one-to-one ports. However, the disc does come with various modes and bonuses which still make this a noteworthy release.

One cool thing, shown in the photo above, is a small three-dimensional area that you can explore as Sonic. This seems to be done to give gamers a little taste of what a true 3D Sonic game would be like someday. There’s not a whole lot to do in this area, as it primarily serves as a sort of menu where you can go check out bonus features.

Sonic Jam also has features that affect the games themselves. There are now easier difficulty modes available. There’s a “Time attack” mode where you can try and finish levels as fast as possible, which Sonic’s gameplay lends itself to very well. And something really cool they added is an option to have the “spin dash” move in the first game. Sonic’s spin dash instantly became a permanent feature for the series when it debuted, and so being able to use it when revisiting the original adventure feels right even though it wasn’t originally included. Unfortunately, this compilation falls short of being the definitive classic Sonic experience, because there are sometimes issues with sound and slowdown that aren’t present in all other versions of these games. 

Despite its issues, I think Sonic Jam is a really cool package. As a fan of the classic Genesis Sonic titles, it’s little surprise that I consider this to be a collection essential.