Sonic Jam sucks

I thought it was interesting since they didn't emulate the games. I think there were even some parts in the games that would normally have lag on the Genesis, but wouldn't on the Saturn. When I first bought it, I loved how much crap they had. Japanese commercials, some artwork, good stuff.

Phantasy Star Collection is built like Sonic Jam, but it has much more artwork and less of anything else.

 

Something Sega needed to (But didn't) do for later ports: Time Attack Mode.

This is why Sonic Jam is my favourite compilation, still. Yeah, the sound is pretty shit. And, I swear the S1 physics are slightly off (Though I can't tell how, they just 'feel' different by a whisker). But time-attacking the classic levels can't be beaten.

 

I think those are relatively minor reasons not to like the game. I think it's universally regarded that the music is the worst part of Sonic Jam, what with sound calls and such not even working correctly and the inaccuracy of the sound recordings; still, that doesn't discredit all of the neat extras that the game has that weren't implemented in further Sonic game compilations.

For example, you have "easy mode" on each relevant game (or at least Sonic 1), which has edited layouts. While pussifying the game, this gives it a fresh new feel compared to stock Sonic 1. Then there was the ability to save your progress, the fact that you could use the Spin Dash in Sonic 1 if you wanted... the list goes on. It was a must-have, really. Plus it was the only definitive Sonic game for the Saturn—Sonic 3D was rather bland in comparison.

But yeah, Sonic Jam wasn't that bad at all. Sonic World and the museum really made it shine, too, as well as all of the developers commentaries. Really fascinating stuff.

 

Yes, absolutely. However, I rarely play these versions because Saturn emulation is only OK for my PC.

 

My only 2 points of criticism about Sonic Jam were the lack of Sonic CD and that time attack forces that bullshit Easy mode on you.

 

I think it might be due to the port using Sonic 2's engine, if what I think is correct. I believe it's using the same engine as Sonic 2 because the files for both games are in the same folder, and the fact that you can activate the spindash for Sonic 1. I'm not sure though, for all I know, they could have extra tiles in there (like s1 mobile) that were never used. Has anyone checked it out extensivly?

I wonder what lengths they had to go through in order to port all of these games. I know the Saturn uses a 68000 (or a branch of the main line) for a sound controller, but I doubt you could run code on it. Maybe they spent the time while working on Sonic Jam porting Sonic 1 to C? And since S3K already came out on the PC, the game was already converted to C. Still, I heard it's a lot more optimized to program in assembly than C. God, I don't know.

The sound is actually decent on a old SDTV. I can understand it sounding like crap while playing the game with SSF wearing headphones. SSF works really well with almost any game I throw at it. Still though, you pretty much need a PC with 2 or more cpu cores to enjoy the thing. :P

 

You remind me of those kids who go around bitching about the quality of the series' voice acting, touting it as being the most pivotal aspect of the games. Way past cool!

 

Funny, I always thought the sound was better in Sonic Jam than on the Genesis because the SFX do not mess up the music. The SFX themselves are pretty shitty in Sonic Jam, but the fact that the music doesn't get crapped out by them makes Sonic Jam win in the sound department, at least for me anyway.

 

Since I don't think docfuture posted it here, I just thought I'd point out that this is the best thing to come out of Sonic Jam.

 

I bought Sonic 3D but never got my hand on this. Saturn games were hard to find where I live.
Playstation was everywhere...

 

I disliked the audio of Sonic 1 in the PS2 Genesis Collection. Something about the ring and enemy destroyed noises were off to me... plus the non-sped up music with the Speed Shoes and no emerald jingle.

 

Oh man... that video... did such a great job at relaxing me.. ahh yeah...

69. Heh heh heh...

 

I never really noticed sound problems back in the day. Though I do remember Sonic Jam's games running at their correct speed rather than gimped 50Hz stuff, so the sound is an improvement in that aspect anyway.

There's certianly been worse "ports".

 

The audio is in Redbook, you can replace it easily enough. Or, you go go one step further.

 

...what version of Sonic Jam do you have? Mine certainly doesn't have redbook audio for anything but the Sonic Team logo.

 

Hmm, that guy who did the "Let's Play Sonic 1 on easy" said it was, and I was feeling kind of lazy and didn't look it up.