While some people are sick to death of Sonic the Hedgehog, there are those who at least still enjoy his original 2D adventures on the SEGA Genesis. And among those, a significant number felt the zenith of those titles was the result of combining Sonic the Hedgehog 3 with its successor, Sonic & Knuckles, to form Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
And it is for those people, myself among them, that there is sad news as it pertains to Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection; in fact, this news may even make the title a misnomer in the eyes of some.
A report from TSSZ News reveals that while both Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles are indeed included in the compilation, their combined form is nowhere to be found, only referred to in the past tense:
One YouTube video has surfaced showing a playthrough of the various titles in the game, and it’s here you’ll see the impossibility of the lock-on task.
Further details have also emerged that have the game referring to the lock-on method in the past tense. TSSZ News has obtained this image from the game. It’s from a history page of Sonic and Knuckles, and it clearly says that Sonic 3 and S&K were planned to be in one large game, and that the lock-on method opened up new material, be it the Blue Spheres stages or Knuckles in Sonic 2:
This leaves the question of why, with speculation running among fans that it’s to drive up sales of the Sonic Mega Collection, which was recently re-rated for Xbox LIVE. It is also being considered a slap in the face to true Sonic fans, given that the ability has been included in past compilations, dating back to the SEGA Saturn’s Sonic Jam.
In response to the outcry, Edward@SEGA from the American SEGA blog managed to track down the Producer for Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection and put the question forth as to why the combined version was omitted from the final product:
I spoke with the producer for Sonic’s UGC, Ethan Einhorn, who definitely understands the nature of hard-core Sonic fandom. We had a good conversation about the game, and I got Ethan’s official explanation for why Sonic 3 + Knuckles wasn’t included: “To shore up the development time necessary to get “Lock-On” to work in Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, we would have had to drop all of the bonus games from the disc. Faced with an either/or scenario, we chose to retain our title lineup in its entirety.”
In other words, that would have meant losing the Sega Master System ports (Phantasy Star and Golden Axe Warrior) and all of the arcade ports. Just throwing an old ROM into a game is one thing, but combining lots of different types of ROM technology (arcade, Genesis, Master System) and making them all work together is another, and to get the game out with this lineup, that’s what needed to happen. — Edward@SEGA
Ed continues to tout the merits of the games themsleves, and frankly, I think that’s all well and good; I’m glad the extra games are a good addition, particularly the rarely-seen arcade versions. But at the same time, would it have been that difficult to include one of the earlier emulations of the title as a whole?
Which would you rather have? The extra bonus titles, or a complete Sonic 3 & Knuckles experience?
One must also wonder what this may bode for the title when and if Sonic & Knuckles finally hits Virtual Console on the Wii.
