Sonic Mega Collection

[ShinobiMan]

I picked up this little nugget for 25 bucks for some good old 16 bit fun. Anyone find themselves doing the same? And if so, have you bothered to spend the hours of logging in and out of a game to unlock Ristar?

[Anonymous]

Hey Shinobiman, good to see you again! I checked the game out a couple weeks before it was released, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[BHvrd]

I sure hope this collection is emulated better than the Smash Pack collection they released on Dreamcast.

Btw, is $25 what it is retailing for, or did you get a deal?

[ShinobiMan]

Got a deal my friend. $30 bucks at Best Buy with a 5 dollar off coupon. The games are emulated perfectly... I too hated the smash pack. I have also noticed that they have improved the sharpness of the image. I guess that's to be expected.

[Lady Jaye]

Well, I did do a similar thread a couple of weeks ago when I got Sonic Mega Collection AND Mario Sunshine. The emulation is perfect, but the collection is a bit thin on extras (but that's okay). And it's too bad that you can't zoom in enough in the first issue of Sonic the comic book to read the dialogs. Still well worth the money, though.

Oh, and I haven't unlocked any extra game yet (I haven't really done the logging-in-and-out trick).

[kainemaxwell]

Nice to see you back ShinobiMan and great deal you got!

[den68]

what is this logging in and out trick you speak of? I was curious about how to unlock the other games. I see Ristar is one, what are the others?

[Cafeman]

I haven't yet, but I will own this someday soon. I only recently discovered Ristar, maybe 2-3 years ago, it's an awesome game by many Sonic Team members. I was playing it on Genesis just a few days ago. When Ristar defeats each 3 stages including the boss and flies in space to the next world, it plays NiGHTS into Dreams -style music and really invokes the NiGHTS feel, it gave me a emotional pull first time I experienced it, since I had played NiGHTS so many years yet Ristar was an earlier game.

I'm not all that excited about the Mega Collection since I own Sonic Jam on Saturn, which is flat-out awesome (it's visuals are also better than when I play via Genesis, plus Stereo Sound which my mono Genny plug doesn't permit) but it doesn't have Ristar or the other unlockable games. Still, I enjoy reading about others' experiences and I will get this collection too someday.

[ShinobiMan]

@den68: The logging in and out trick is farely simple, but a time killer. Every time you log into one of the games on the collection it records how many times you have done so, for each game. Take Mean Bean Machine for example, log in and out of that game about 30-50 times and you open up "Flicky."
Ristar is the hardest to get and perhaps it should be... it's a great game. You much "break the log barrier" on Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic and Knuckles, and Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles (You know, both of those games combined. It is opened once you "break the log barrier" with Sonic 1, 2, 3 and Knuckles.). You will know when you have broken the log barrier when it stops recording your log's for that game. Confusing huh?

Anyway, I suppose I'll try to do this a little bit each day. I'm not going to sit there for 2 hours doing nothing.

[den68]

wow! that does sound tedious. I've never played (or seen) Flicky or Ristar, maybe I'll give it a shot.

just found this:

Unlock Hidden Games
When you run Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic And Knuckles, Sonic 3D blast, Dr. Robotnic's Mean Bean Machine, and Sonic Spinball the screen says that it is 'logging the game data'. After running a game fifty times, it no longer shows that game-logging screen. To unlock a hidden game, you must start a particular Mega Collection game fifty times, continually pressing Z to exit it, then entering back in. Some hidden games don't require all 50 restarts.

Flicky: Start Dr. Robotnic's Mean Bean Machine before reaching 50 times.

Blue Spheres: Start Sonic The Hedgehog about 18 to 21 times.

Sonic 3 And Knuckles: Unlocked sometime in the process of starting Sonic 1, Sonic 3, Sonic And Knuckles, and Sonic 3-D Blast 50 times.

Knuckles In Sonic 2: Unlocked in the process of starting Sonic Spinball and Sonic 2 fifty times.

Ristar: Start all games (Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Knuckles in Sonic 2, etc) 50 times.

tedious indeed...

[ShinobiMan]

Yeah, that's written better than the way I put it, and it even makes it seem more difficult. I didn't realize I had to do all of the game to get Ristar... sheesh. Oh well, I could use some practice on Sonic Spinball...