Genre: 2d platformer
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega

The titles in this collection were actually ported to the Saturn, not emulated. The ports are very good, and while they suffer from occasional framerate issues, it's a good way to experience the surrealism of the original title, the hip-hop tendencies of Sonic 2, and the ambience and variety of Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, all in perfect s-video crispness. As for the "Sonic World" 3d level, it is shockingly cool, with flawless framerates and the same charming character of the original titles.

Rather than emulate the Genesis sound subsystem, the music was recorded and stored as files on the cd. They sound great, although a side-effect of the approach is that songs that dynamically faded or flowed into each other in the originals "start over" in these renditions. The sound effects generally sound much better than those coming from the Genesis hardware, although not all of the choices are faithful to the original games.

Porting the titles gave the developers the flexibility to add things like multiple difficulty levels and time attack modes. The Saturn's fantastic d-pad is perfectly suited for games like these, and even works extraordinarily well while, perhaps aimlessly, running around the test "Sonic World" 3d stage.

Outside of the four superbly ported titles, and being able to use the Sonic & Knuckles lock-on feature with any of the other three titles, the "Sonic World" 3d map is more depressing than exciting; NiGHTS was a good game, but perhaps Sonic Team should have made a full Sonic game from the engine instead? Some awkward Japanese commercials, a full sound test, and character art are also included in this collection, but are more icing than cake.