DS Review: Sonic Classic Collection

When writing a review of a game like Sonic Classic Collection, one is presented with a problem or sorts. As it is simply a collection for a new platform of a handful of unchanged retro games, does one decide to review the games themselves or simply the presentation of the collection?

Well, in this case, this reviewer has decided against reviewing the games themselves. If you like Sonic, you’ll love the games on offer here. If you don’t like Sonic, you won’t, and if you don’t know, this is hardly the first chance you’ve had to try it. It’s as simple as that in terms of the games on offer, but I’d like to go over the package as a whole to let you know if it’s worth another purchase.

The four games on offer here are Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3, Sonic and Knuckles, and Knuckles in Sonic 2 and 3. All of these games were critically and commercially acclaimed upon their original release, and many argue that these are the pinnacle of the Sonic series to date. They all play perfectly well on the DS, and look lovely and sharp on the DS screen.

All action happens on the top screen only, with the bottom screen being reserved for a few menu buttons and in some cases ‘Save’ and ‘Load’ icons, although they aren’t save states, they just save the level you’re on. There’s also a little summary of the story(!) of the game for your eyes to behold. Why you need this is beyond me, but for new players it might be useful (if they need some semblance of story, no matter how convoluted, to get any enjoyment).

The games run smoothly, and the controls don’t use any kind of touch-screen input (thank goodness), just the buttons. There were some cases where I felt the game didn’t quite fit on the screen, but that might just be poor judgment on my part or a fault in the original game. I can’t pretend to know which it is.

Really the only other feature in this collection is some artwork, which is perfectly nice, although I don’t really understand what anyone get from looking at art other than a slight feeling along the lines of “Oh.”

So, that’s all there is to say about Sonic Classic Collection, really. If you’re a fan of Sonic and want to play them on the move, this is definitely worthwhile, and I certainly recommend it to you. If you hate Sonic games, this isn’t going to change your mind, and if you don’t know, this is a perfectly good place to start, but why you’ve waited until now I have no idea. I don’t really feel a score is needed on this review as all of these games are different (ish) and I can’t hope to condense that into a score. Just think along these lines: 1 if you hate Sonic with a the fiery fury of a thousand suns, and 10 if you love Sonic like Priests love young boys.