Sonic Classic Collection

"It serves up a brilliant dose of retro platform action...  Darren Cartledge, RealGamer.com
"...Sonic the Hedgehog at his old fashioned finest.  Kombo.com
"...the quality gameplay shines through.  Official Nintendo Magazine UK

Ign.com 7 of 10
By now you should know the games: the classic Sonic trilogy (and the "lock-on" spin-off) have been produced on any system that can emulate the original Genesis/Mega Drive hardware. Chalk up another system: the Nintendo DS. SEGA's 16-bit platformers have made the move to the Nintendo handheld completely intact, or, as intact as the portable can handle. The lesser resolution is obvious but not a game killer, but the larger issue is the lack of elegance in the presentation: it's the games, a couple of pieces of art, and that's about it. If that's all you want, it's a decent package for a good value...The compilation is four games: Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles, with the additional "lock-on" element of playing Knuckles in Sonic 2 and Sonic 3. That's pretty much all you're getting, though: there's no "whiz bang" production here, just a static "select game" menu with only the basics of legacy material like character art...At the very least the producers of this compilation -- The Creative Assembly all the way there in Australia -- managed to show that the Nintendo DS can actually emulate the SEGA Genesis, with some subtle flaws. The Nintendo DS screen doesn't have enough resolution to accurately represent the Genesis visuals, so the ol' "take out scanlines and squash the image" trick was applied to the final product. It also does a good job showing off that the Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis games are still pretty fun even 20 years later...But the two player was stripped out of Sonic 2, and the "save your game anywhere" feature doesn't actually save the game at the moment it was selected -- it just kicks you back to the start of the level that you were playing...And the fact that you can get these games in a variety of different ways -- from Virtual Console to Xbox Live to plug-and-play TV editions and even licensed stand-alone Genesis portables -- the impact of getting these titles on a DS cart is lessened. Plus, why not include the whole Genesis Sonic shebang like Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast if these are just emulations...Sonic Classic Collection is a good, but flawed compilation for the Nintendo DS that just screams "small budget, short development cycle!" It is what it is: four great Sonic games accurately ported to a half-assed compilation. - Craig Harris

VideoGamer.com 8 of 10
It seems almost pointless talking about if Sonic Classic Collection on the DS is good. This is the four Mega Drive platforming games together on the DS for the first time, and you also get the option to link up fourth game, Sonic & Knuckles, with Sonic 2 and Sonic 3. It's without a doubt, a great selection of games, and quite rightfully classics of the 16-bit era, but as a collection, it feels a little lightweight...It's hard to believe anyone reading this doesn't know who Sonic is and what his games are like, but just in case, here's a very brief overview. Sonic, a blue hedgehog, and in later games his buddy Tails the fox and Knuckles the echidna, run across colourful 2D stages, jumping on enemies and collecting rings. Arch enemy Dr Robotnik wants the Chaos emeralds and Sonic takes it upon himself to prevent him from getting his hands on them. This results in a series of end of stage boss encounters in which Robotnik fights in numerous maniacal machines...Sadly missing are all the two-player elements seen in the series, with the games here all limited to just solo play. This isn't a huge problem, given that playing with a friend who also has a DS wouldn't have been common anyway, but a shame nonetheless. In terms of extras there's extremely little here to get excited about, with a collection of character art accessible from the main menu and a fairly basic save function...More troublesome is the lack of other Sonic games. Sonic CD is perhaps the biggest omission, as it is a 2D platformer in the series from the same era. It also happens to be one of the best Sonic games ever and deserves a place in this collection. Other games, such as Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D aren't so essential, but would have added to the overall package, while the Master System Sonic games would have been a nice bonus too...Sonic Classic Collection, despite being bare bones in the extreme, still comes recommended. You're getting four great platform games from the Mega Drive, playable on the DS for the first time. A bit more bang for your buck would have been great, but retro gaming still doesn't get much better than this. - Tom Orry