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Speaking openly, I have to admit that Sonic Gems Collection confuses me greatly. Since the previously-released Sonic Mega Collection contained all the Genesis games the Hedgehog was famous for, it makes sense that the next collection would likely be aimed at the more hardcore fans, consisting of the more obscure titles from the mascot's past. That's fine, not to mention that there's a lot of potential there. It's just too bad that most of that potential has been squandered with Sonic Gems Collection, leaving the collection in an odd grey area where the flaws make it difficult to recommend to either casual or hardcore Sonic fans. But first, the good stuff. Sonic CD, the main reason to play this collection, is just as enjoyable as it was back on the Sega CD. Classic, old school Sonic gameplay reigns supreme here, with the time travel and bonus stage bits mixing things up enough to keep it from getting that stale "already played this" feeling. It's also neat to finally see the fabled Sonic the Fighters on a home console, and all of the games run pretty well, despite their varied origins.
For most, those first few minutes spent twiddling around with Sonic the Fighters will also be their last, as it turns out that Fighters isn't all that fun. The novelty of a Sonic-themed fighter wears off quickly, the gameplay much too slow and simple to keep one entertained for long. Meanwhile, Sonic R's wide turning will likewise turn most gamers off before they learn the intricacies of correctly control. As for the Game Gear games, some of them are enjoyable (namely Sonic 2, Sonic Triple Trouble), some of them are merely okay, and some of them aren't (specifically Sonic Drift 2, Sonic Spinball), but they all share some common problems. These games, which were originally displayed on the Game Gear's 160 x 144 resolution screen, have now been blown up to something about four times that. This, combined with the 8-bit CPU of the Game Gear hardware, means that they aren't all that nice to look at. And since the Game Gear was a battery-eating portable behemoth, most of these games can be beaten in an hour or so. Absolutely none of this will matter to the hardcore Sonic fan though, and that's good because this collection seems aimed mostly at them. But on this side of the fence, there are still issues. If we’re talking obscure Sonic games, where’s the 32X-only Knuckles Chaotix? What happened to the alternate Sonic CD soundtrack that Europe and Japan both received? And why was the cult classic Streets of Rage trilogy replaced by the decent-but-nowhere-near-as-loved Vectorman series in the American version of Sonic Gems? Whereas the bulk of this review won’t matter to the hardcore, most of the above paragraph won't matter to the casual Sonic fan. And that's what really confuses me, as from both the hardcore and casual perspectives, there are odd issues with this collection. Short of Sonic CD, there’s really not much here for the casual Sonic fan, as they’ll either grow bored or quickly blaze through everything else. Meanwhile, hardcore Sonic fans are still missing a few obscure Sonic varieties, and even worse, some of this is addressed with the import version (the Japan-only PS2 version contains both Sonic CD soundtracks.) It’s like Sega couldn’t decide which market it wanted to target, resulting in a collection that barely meets the expectations of either group, and as such, Sonic Gems Collection isn’t recommended as anything more than a weekend rental or a clearance sale pickup.
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