Sonic Jam is a 1997 video game compilation developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. It contains the four main Sonic the Hedgehog games released on the Sega Genesis: Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) and Sonic & Knuckles (1994). It also features "Sonic World", a 3D environment which doubles as an interactive museum of Sonic the Hedgehog content.

Development began after the Japanese release of Nights into Dreams in July 1996. Sonic Jam was announced at the Spring 1997 Tokyo Game Show as part of a project to increase market awareness of Sega and the Sonic brand. It received mostly positive reviews, and was praised for its value, though some criticized the exclusion of Sonic CD and Sonic Spinball. "Sonic World" was praised for its range of content, though its graphics gathered mixed responses. A version for the handheld Game.com console was released in 1998.

Gameplay

Sonic Jam is a compilation which contains the four main Sonic the Hedgehog games released on the Sega Genesis: Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994), and Sonic & Knuckles (1994). Unlike later Sonic collections, Sonic Jam does not use a Genesis emulator; the games are true ports, and all are nearly identical to the original Genesis releases, with the exception of minor bug fixes.

Development

At the Tokyo Game Show in early 1997, Sega announced Project Sonic, a promotional campaign aimed at increasing market awareness of the Sonic the Hedgehog brand. Yuji Naka, the co-creator of Sonic, said that "phase one" would introduce Sonic Jam as a compilation of games with several improvements rather than being direct ports. At the time of the show, the game was "88% complete". According to Naka, the purpose of Project Sonic was not only to increase consumer awareness but also renew excitement for Sega, as Sonic the Hedgehog was only initially successful outside of Japan.

Development began after the Japanese release of Nights into Dreams in July 1996, after Sonic Team received letters from fans asking who Sonic was. The Sonic creators, Naka and Naoto Ohshima, thought it was important to introduce people to Sonic. Sonic Team had not worked on a Sonic game since Sonic & Knuckles in 1994; other Sonic games had been developed by teams including Sega Technical Institute (STI) Naka thought Sonic Team needed a period to "recharge our batteries" and had new ideas.

"Sonic World" was part of an experiment to see how a Sonic the Hedgehog game would work in full 3D. It served as a prototype for the first fully 3D Sonic game, Sonic Adventure, which began development for the Saturn but was released on its successor, the Dreamcast, in 1998. "Sonic World" uses the same engine as Nights. Naka's refusal to share the Nights engine with the STI team developing Sonic X-treme—a factor in that game's cancellation—may have been motivated by his preference for Sonic Team to create an original 3D Sonic game. Naka later expressed relief that X-treme was cancelled.

Reception

Sonic Jam received mostly positive reviews. It holds an average score of 77% at GameRankings, based on an aggregate of four reviews.

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • Official website