How would you arrange the Sonic Collection(s)?

[Soniman]

So with the rumors of a Sonic Collection in the card I started thinking about how this would be done, what games should be included or left out , how many "volumes" and so on, I kinda wanted to think about it as realistically as possible and go by what would make the mist sense from my point of view.

Classic Collection 

So basically we have the usual Sonic 1, 2, CD, Sonic 3 and Knuckles is omitted as usual as heartbreaking as it is. Ideally I'd love for 1-CD be the Taxman ports but I know Sega has avoided porting them for...whatever reason so the Sega Ages ports of 1 and 2 would work fine (not sure about CD as it doesn't have one).

Have every single Game Gear shoved on here because they take up no space and would be relatively easy. Would be nice to give them proper Wide-screen and improved resolution but I highly doubt they'd put the effort of doing so (I I shine the demand for a properly upscaled Sonic Blast is very low)

3D Blast I say font bother having two versions and just use the Saturn version with a soundtrack switch option and you're good.

And now for the lost Sonic Gems. R and Fighters are a must (with possible online functionality) and ALSO SegaSonic and Knuckles Chaotix since they're the rarest of the rare and (despite Chaotix sucking a fat one) deserve to be preserved 

Oh right and lastly have Sonic Spinball and Mean Bean Machine of course.

This collection is pretty clear cut honestly and I don't think you'd have to much trouble fitting these games onto a disk...the next one though.

Adventure Collection 

 

Here's where things get more difficult. I want to say SA1, 2, Heroes and Shadow should be on here but I don't know if it'd be feasible. I'm willing to cut Shadow but I feel like it needs to be there since it's more or less a attempted "epilpgue" to this era so it'd make the whole thing feel more "complete".

In addition to that we have the  Advance series, plus Battle, Pocket Adventure and maybe Pinball Party? I don't really care either way for that one.

Don't use the crappy DX version for SA1, just use the dreamcast version and properly remaster it, having the extra features DX brought brought over to it, SA2 can use either version it doesn't really matter, Heroes and Shadow use the GameCube version.

This might be ambitious but possibly having a Chao Garden side mode where you're given this "hub" for your Chao and you send them across the games that have Gardens and Tiny Gardens, throw in online functionality so you can interact with your friends Chao, would be cool.

Boost Collection 

This is the collection of games that were responsible for bringing Sonic "back" with this new gameplay style that went on to define him for over a decade, I thought it'd be most appropriate to include those games in one collection

Unleashed, Colors and Generations are the big three here, Forces not included obviously because it can already be played on modern consoles. Unleashed and Colors I'd say both need straight up remaster. Give us Unleashed that runs at a stable 30fps and Colors at 60, I think Gens is probably good as is though.

Rush and Rush Adventure are also required. They'd have to maybe rehaul those games due to the nature of the dual screens but if they can get Rush running on Wii U it shouldn't be to hard. Colors DS and Gens 3DS are big maybes though whether or not they should be included 

So those are my ideas for a series Collections but that still leaves out 06, SLW the Storybook games, Riders, Rivals and Chronicles, if anyone can think of a way to include those in one of the aforementioned collections or one of their very own be my guest. I imagine if Sega actually did this a lot of games would still be left out so I choose the most likely candidates 

[LegoFedora]

If I had the choice to arrange collections in any way I wish, I would have three or four main collections.

Sonic Mega Gems Collection

Simple enough, just toss in sonic 1/2/cd (m2 versions of 1/2 and the remake of cd) as well as the game gear (or their master system equivalents) that were spread across the original mega/gems collections. Goal of this is to knock out most of classic sonic's games, as well as make the game gear titles easier to play. Maybe even toss in pocket adventure and chaotix as two new titles to help sell the collections.

Sonic Adventure Collection

Adventure 1 and 2, Shadow The Hedgehog, and Heroes all in one package. Simple as that.

Sonic Advanced Collection

Sonic advance 1-3, rush and rush adventure. Mainly to get the gba/ds collection done and done.

Sonic Boost Collection

Colors, Generations, and Unleashed. The main three big boost era games.

 

Only problem with these, is that the latter two collections contain much bigger games than simple 2d games, so Sega may end up splitting them up to have individual releases for $15 or so a pop.

 

  

38 minutes ago, Soniman said:

if anyone can think of a way to include those in one of the aforementioned collections or one of their very own be my guest.

Maybe rivals could fit into the adventure era, since it does include modern games. It could also work to fluff out the collection a bit more (since the classic collection is the biggest one by this point)

As for Storybook and rivals, maybe storybook could be stuck in boost as well since they use concepts from boost even if not directly (soul gauge in secret rings, for example). Rivals would be in there through association of being from that modern-er era of Sonic.

[jungle_penguins]

I'd include Pocket Adventure as a bookend for the Genesis/Game Gear collection. It be good to have more rereleases of the obscure games.

Surprisingly, Unleashed is at a stable 30 FPS.......on the Xbox Series X. Only took more than 10 years lol. https://youtu.be/IfLz97AbBg0

 

[Wildcat]

I really want Sonic 4. I’ve never played it because I was hoping for exactly this. A physical collection. It’s the perfect opportunity. There were just 2 parts as digital-only so it should definitely fit into some category of older games.

[Piko]

Classic: A classic collection is unlikely since the mainline classic games get ported all the time. However if there was one, I'd like to see some of the more obscure games: the Game Gear games, the mainline games' 8-bit counterparts, maybe even R and Fighters.

Adventure: SA1 (preferably the Dreamcast version), SA2 and Heroes. I doubt SEGA would be willing to port Shadow due to how infamous it is, but I wouldn't mind its inclusion.

Advance: These could be lumped in with the Adventure collection but they're also worth having their own collection. Just port Sonic's whole GBA library (minus Genesis) and call it a day. The Rush games would be a welcome addition but I imagine they would be a nightmare to optimise, what with the dual screens and all.

Boost: I think the Boost games are too recent to warrant a re-release right now (especially with Unleashed and Generations being playable on Series X) but I wouldn't mind a collection a few years down the line. 06 is out of the question - SEGA wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole - so I'd include Unleashed, Colours and Generations. I know the Storybook games don't use the boost formula, but they deserve to be preserved and this collection would be the most fitting for them; I'd also like to see how they play without motion controls.

[GentlemanX]

Sure, I was thinking about it recently so I'll bite. I'm going to be in full dream mode here though, so bear in mind I don't actually expect Sega would do anything like this.

Sonic Mania Classic Collection: Utilizing the Sonic Mania brand name rather than just "Classic Sonic", this would encompass pretty much everything prior to Sonic Adventure. Sonic 1 would include at least the original Genesis/Mega Drive version as well as the Taxman version, with maybe the Sega Ages version thrown in as well. Same with Sonic 2 and Sonic CD, with Sonic 3&K being included similar to Mega Collection which allowed you to play through all three versions. The 8-Bit games would all be included (Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic Chaos, Mean Bean Machine, Spinball, Drift, Triple Trouble, Drift 2, Skypatrol, Tails Adventure, Labyrinth, Blast) with any title originally released on the Master System using that version for screen display reasons. Include all the previously unported games (Eraser, Waku Waku, SegaSonic, Cosmo Fighter, Chaotix, even Schoolhouse). I don't know if you could get the Pico games running on something like this, but if you could then include those as well (Music Maker, Gameworld) And round things out with the 16-bit versions of Mean Bean Machine and Spinball, Fighters, R, and both the Mega Drive and Saturn versions of 3D Blast. All titles should have widescreen support if possible. Bonus feature wise, include the manuals (preferably as many versions as possible), an art gallery for all the Classic Sonic titles, the opening and ending animations for Sonic CD (maybe even include the opening to Sonic Mania), commercials from across the globe, and some remixes to accompany stuff like the gallery like was in Gems Collection. Big one I'd like to see is a playable version of Sonic World from Sonic Jam. While the Gamecube era collections also included other Sega titles, the only one I'd really want to see was Flicky. Maybe Ristar if there was enough room.

Sonic Adventure Collection: As previously mentioned, this would be SA1, SA2, Heroes, and ShTH. Try to include as much additional content from DX and SA2B as possible (since I don't think you'd have room to include both versions). and then focus on bonus content like manuals, commercials, and a gallery with remixes. If it were possible to include more, the two I can really think of are trying to include Shuffle as well as cutscenes from the games you can watch on demand. Like with the Classic Collection, widescreen support would be ideal here.

Sonic Mobile Collection: This would be focused on most of the handheld titles released after Sonic Adventure (Pocket Adventure, Advance, Advance 2, Pinball Party, Battle, Advance 3, Rush, Rivals, Rush Adventure, Rivals 2, Chronicles, Colors DS, Generations 3DS, Sonic 4 I, Sonic 4 II, and Lost World 3DS). In addition to those titles, I'd also like to see them include as many of the mobile games like from Sonic Cafe or Hardlight as possible, even if stuff like Sonic Runners would need to be reworked for the format. Same kind of extra content from the previous two sets would be included here.

Sonic Riders Collection: This would contain Sonic Riders, Zero Gravity, and Free Riders with all the similar previous bonus content on the other sets. Free Riders would need to be reprogrammed to work with button controls. If there was any room still on the release, maybe include the other classic racing titles like Drift, Drift 2, and R as bonuses.

Sonic Storybook Collection: Obviously this would include Secret Rings and Black Knight. If Sonic Shuffle can't fit on the Adventure Collection release put it here to go alongside the Storybook games party modes. Try to give the games more traditional controls when possible so they're not reliant on the Wii's controls.

Sonic Boost Collection: This would be Unleashed, Unleashed Wii, Colors, and Generations.

Sonic Lost World could probably be given a Sonic Lost World Deluxe style release and be fine. Not counting a Mario & Sonic Collection or an Superstars/All-Stars Collection, that would leave 06 and the Boom titles really. 06 is too big to really fit with anything else I don't think, and it'd be a tall order to get the game in an acceptable state for re-release. If there were room I'd say put it on either the Adventure or Boost Collections. The Boom games could all be put together, though I don't really care about those.

[SBR2]

I arrange all my collections not just Sonic by chronological order.

So I'd go best chronology for me.

Classic (Should also point out I only own the Mega and Gems collection so this is speculative).

Tails Adventures>Sonic 1(Genesis and Game Gear)>CD>2 Game Gear>2 Genesis>Chaos>Spinball (Though I consider it a separate canon from the games)>Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine(See Spinball)>3&K>Triple Trouble>Tails Skypatrol>Knuckles Chaotix>3D Blast>Blast>Fighters>R>Mania

Adventure (Note this is counting the Advance games)

4>Pocket Adventure>Advance 1>Advanced 2>Adventure DX>Adventure 2 Battle>Heroes>Shadow The Hedgehog>Battle>Advance 3>Riders>06

Boost (Unpopular opinion I ascribe to the Blaze was rewritten into the alternate universe she was locked into theory. I also consider Rush the start of the Boost series)

Rush>Rivals>Secret Rings>Riders Zero Gravity>Rush Adventure>Rivals 2>Unleashed>Black Knight>Colors>Generations>Lost World>Forces

Archie Comics (Because why not?)

Super Special 9>Super Special 5>Super Special 3>Original Miniseries>1>FCBD 2008>2-18>In Your Face>19-23>Princess Sally Miniseries>24>Sonic & Knuckles>25-26>Triple Trouble>27-29>Tails Miniseries>Super Sonic vs Hyper Knuckles>30>Knuckles Chaotix>31-36>Knuckles Miniseries>37-39>Mecha Madness>40-41>Death Egg Saga>42-43>Live>113>44-46>Super Special 1>47>50>Super Special 6>51>Knuckles 1-3>52>Knuckles 4-6>Super Special 2>53-55>Knuckles 7-9>56>Super Special 4>Super Special 7>57>Knuckles 10-11>58>Knuckles 12>59-60>Knuckles 13-15>61>Knuckles 16>62-63>Knuckles 17-18> 64-66>Knuckles 19-21>67-68>Super Special 8>69-71>Knuckles 22-25>Sabrina The Teenage Witch 28>Super Special 10>Knuckles 26-28>Super Special 12>Super Special 15>72-77>Knuckles 29>Super Special 11>Knuckles 30-32>78-82>Super Special 13>83-87>Super Special 14>88-173>FCBD 2007>Secret Rings Digital comic>174-196>Sonic X 40>197>Universe 1>198>Universe 2-3>199-200>Universe 4-8>FCBD 2009>201-206>Universe 9-12>207-209>Universe 13-16>210-211>FCBD 2010>212>Universe 17-20>213-218>Universe 21-24>219-220>Universe 25-28>221-224>FCBD 2011>225-230>FCBD 2012>231-232>Universe 29-36>233-234>Universe 37-40>235-240>Universe 41-44>241>Universe 45>242>Universe 46-49>243-246>Universe 50>FCBD 2013>247>Worlds Unite (You crazy? I'm not typing all that!)

288-290>Mega Drive>Mega Drive Overdrive>252-255>Universe 55-58>256-259>Universe 59-62>FCBD 2014>Super Digest 8-9 and 11>260-263>Universe 63-66>264-265>Universe 67-70>266-271>Universe 71-74>Universe 79-82>FCBD 2015>272>Universe 75>Worlds Unite>276-279>Super Digest 12>Super Digest 15>Universe 83-86>280-283>Universe 87-90>284-287>Universe 91-94

IDW

1-12>Annual 2019>13-16>Tangle & Whisper>17-24>Annual 2020>25-32>Bad Guys>33-

Cartoons/Movies

Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog>SatAM>OVA>Christmas Blast>Underground>X>Rise of Lyric>Shattered Crystal>Boom Season 1>Boom Season 2>Fire & Ice>2020 Movie

[Diogenes]

Considering what all is available on Steam I'd say the only "must haves" that aren't relatively easily available are Unleashed and Colors. Throw Generations in with them to round it out.

If they can be bothered to make a decent port of SA for once they might as well do some kind of Adventure collection. I'm 50/50 on whether they should include Heroes and ShtH; one one hand they sort of continue Shadow's story off of SA2, but on the other SA2's story stands fine on its own (aside from leaving newbies hanging regarding why Shadow isn't dead, but it's not like Heroes/ShtH did a good job of explaining that either). Also they're not the easiest games to access at this point, but they're also not...good. Alternatively if the Adventure remakes people keep begging for end up happening just do the two of them.

The classic games don't terribly need a collection but they're already port-happy with them so just mash the Mega and Gems collections together, ideally using existing updated ports when available. Or maybe just have the main classic games and put the Advance games here and say it's a sidescroller collection.

I feel like that's about it. Some other notable games like the Rushes and the Storybook games are kind of married to their hardware; it's not trivial to translate all those dual-screen, touchscreen, and motion control elements to more standardized hardware, and even if you can it may not always be in the game's best interest. There's a bunch of racing games but that feels like it'd be odd as the focus of a collection; online feels kind of necessary these days but they'd need servers to handle it, a lot of the earlier ones didn't have it, and they'd be splitting their base between games. And past all that you start scraping the bottom of the barrel; there might be a few more games worth squeezing in somewhere above but nothing's jumping out at me and I can't think of any that warrant their own collection.

[Piko]

4 hours ago, Diogenes said:

I'm 50/50 on whether they should include Heroes and ShtH; one one hand they sort of continue Shadow's story off of SA2, but on the other SA2's story stands fine on its own (aside from leaving newbies hanging regarding why Shadow isn't dead, but it's not like Heroes/ShtH did a good job of explaining that either). Also they're not the easiest games to access at this point, but they're also not...good.

Heroes is okay, but if it was to be included in a collection it would need a few tweaks and quality of life improvements. Shadow...idk if anything can save that one.

[Multikaris]

A Classic Collection should be massive enough to justify a full price tag, via packing it with additional content; I agree with GentlemanX on the Sonic Mania name, perhaps including Mania itself. Sonic 1-CD are Taxman versions, with some tweaks from the M2 versions added, as well as Knuckles in CD. The others get at the very least the Backbone treatment for them, though some more major games, such as 3 and Chaotix, get M2-style treatments. MBM, Spinball, 3D Blast (based on the Saturn release), Fighters and R round out the collection’s starting lineup. Art galleries and original manuals from multiple regions are available as well, but there’s still much more to unlock as you progress, much like Mega Collection. 
 

Unlock the Master System/Game Gear games first, via simply playing the other games included for some time (much like how you got Flicky in the first Mega Collection). Sonic 1, 2, CD, and 3 unlock 1, 2, Chaos, and Triple Trouble after playing for 10 minutes on each. The same also lets you unlock Genesis 3D Blast. Play 5 minutes of R to unlock Drift. Play 25 minutes of 2 to get Tails Adventure. Spinball and MBM, however, must be beaten to unlock their 8-bit counterparts.  Play Drift 2 for 10 minutes to get Drift 1. Get Sky Patrol by playing Adventure for 10 minutes and Chaotix for 25. Unlock SegaSonic Arcade by beating Mania. 
 

Now beat both Fighters and SSA to unlock Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car! Play all the 8-bit games at least twice to get Gameworld! Beat Adventure and Sky Patrol to unlock Tails and the Music Maker. Galaxy Fighter is obtained by beating Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car twice. Unlock Schoolhouse by playing 3D Blast Genesis and Saturn versions for at least 1 hour each. Keep the compilation on for 3 hours straight to unlock Jam. As you unlock games, art is also added to the gallery, as are video clips including commercials, clips of the various TV shows, behind-the-scenes videos, and interviews. Beat Sonic 1 to unlock Flicky, and then beat Sonic CD to unlock Ristar. Play both for 10 minutes to unlock NiGHTS into Dreams..., then beat that game to unlock Burning Rangers! Beat Mean Bean Machine to get an enhanced Puyo Puyo Tsu (based on M2’s version with the addition of beginner mode from Saturn)
 

Some of the more interesting goodies to find include a guide to Sonic’s official cameos over the years, playable prototypes, 3D model turnarounds, animation viewers, comic book and chapter book scans, rare music,  and much, much more. 

[Wraith]

Ideally it would just be all the main series titles from 1 to Unleashed on one disc, but I guess we're seeing how nickle-and-dimey the other collections lately and assuming the worst, sooo:

Classic-

Sonic 1
Sonic 2
Sonic 3K
Sonic CD
Sonic Mania

With spinoffs like sonic R and 3D Blast as a bonus maybe.

Modern-
Sonic Adventure DX
Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Colors
Sonic Generations

With maybe the advance games as the bonus. i would say the rush games but I can't see them putting the effort in to get rid of the dual screen stuff. 

This is the most realistic way I could see them doing it. Basically sticking with the "safe" games aside from throwing the Unleashed people a bone. Maybe 5 games on each is stretching it a bit in which case section SA1 and 2 off into it's own release. I would like them to include Heroes, Shadow and 06 but I can't see Sega ever getting out of their "denying history" phase for good. This doesn't really serve as a good way to "catch up" either because there's no context given on Silver and Blaze and Shadow's plotline doesn't get wrapped up either but I think they're fine with that. Not everyone can be Capcom and actively tidy up and rerelease the worst games in the series just so fans can have the full context. 

I left out Forces because it's still on the market. Lost World also has a PC release but I'd push for it to get a separate console one personally. 

[pppp]

23 hours ago, Soniman said:

Rush and Rush Adventure are also required. They'd have to maybe rehaul those games due to the nature of the dual screens but if they can get Rush running on Wii U it shouldn't be to hard.

Wait, Rush is on the Wii U? I thought only Advance 1 was(Only in Japan, cause SEGA are idiots).

[iambitter21]

okay I see where you're going with everything else but here's a question:

23 hours ago, Soniman said:

3D Blast I say font bother having two versions and just use the Saturn version with a soundtrack switch option and you're good.

why 3D Blast of all games in a collection? I get it may have it's fan I suppose but that game is literally one of the worst "3d" sonic games out there, it's legit not even funny. I'd keep that game out of collection if I were you, don't think anyone would be happy if it was in there with more significant games.

[azoo]

Speak for yourself. 3D Blast isn’t great, but I have warm feelings for it in a way I think many others do.

It going missing from a Sonic collection would feel pointless, especially since it’s kinda the step between the classics and Adventure (3D movement, one button Spin Dash, introduction of the Homing Attack, the music that got reused in SA1, the Saturn release’s JP artwork). 

[Soniman]

6 hours ago, iambitter21 said:

okay I see where you're going with everything else but here's a question:

why 3D Blast of all games in a collection? I get it may have it's fan I suppose but that game is literally one of the worst "3d" sonic games out there, it's legit not even funny. I'd keep that game out of collection if I were you, don't think anyone would be happy if it was in there with more significant games.

Quality isn't a factor when making these collections for me I'm more concerned with preservation. Worrying about quality is what got us in this situation where Sega refuses to port a lot of these games.

Plus you could do a lot worse than 3D Blast anyway 

[iambitter21]

11 hours ago, Soniman said:

Quality isn't a factor when making these collections for me I'm more concerned with preservation. Worrying about quality is what got us in this situation where Sega refuses to port a lot of these games.

Plus you could do a lot worse than 3D Blast anyway 

not sure I really agree but if 3D blast getting some justice makes you happy, then go off I guess. it's not like I have a reason to do much anyways

[Dr. Detective]

Speaking as someone who skipped by all the handheld Sonic games, I'd like to see a collection that housed all of those. Advance 1-3, Rush, Rush Adventure, Rivals 1-2, and Battle along with the handheld versions of some of the console games would be neat. 

Adventure through Heroes, were I to be given the choice, I'd prefer the N-Sane Trilogy treatment where they were just competently remade.

 

[Silvereyes]

I do find some of the replies in this thread interesting. Just find it fascinating that regardless of quality, people seem fine not porting games to more modern systems so that people can actually play them. Yeah, alot of old games are available cheaply if you have the respective hardware thanks to sites like eBay, but over time getting old hardware and sortware is just going to become slowly more difficult and expensive over time. Currently Knuckles Chaotix is a game that has never been ported off the 32X and that game and the 32X itself will set you back several hundred dollars. That game is basically only available via PC emulation nowadays unless you really are that inclined or happen to be rich enough to afford the original version. Granted, the 32X never sold much, but still, the point stands.

I sortof agree with users, really the 2 best ways to do collections for Sonic would either by chronology or by genre. I think I would lean heavier on genre though, I think that makes a bit more sense, especially when it comes to marketing. Think it would be easier to sell a bunch of 3D games together or a bunch of 2D games together, or a retro collection, or indeed, even a racing collection would make sense to me. (R + Riders trilogy + Rivals duology + Sumo racing trilogy.)

Really though, I'd love to see collections on the same level as Capcom's recent Mega Man collections, specifically the high quality of care and love put into their X collection and most recently their Zero and ZX collection. (Which includes 2 DS games which while a little awkward do work.) And the great thing about these collections is that in the future, any time a new console comes out, all Capcom has to do is port the collections, all the hard work getting the original games in HD is done, just update the collections for future systems and hardware. To me, I think it would be great for Sonic to have this, and really, I don't see why not. Especially with the success of Sonic Mania, which proves people have an appetite for 2D Sonic, it just seems like it would make sense to market a 2D collection to lovers of Mania.

I kindof hope Sega does this kindof thing. I mean they seem to understand the value of the Mega Drive classics, surely they'll realise the worth of the number of Sonic games just gathering dust on their original releases.

[LegoFedora]

47 minutes ago, Silvereyes said:

Really though, I'd love to see collections on the same level as Capcom's recent Mega Man collections, specifically the high quality of care and love put into their X collection and most recently their Zero and ZX collection. (Which includes 2 DS games which while a little awkward do work.)

The great thing about those collections is that the ps1, gba, and ds games all run off the original source code instead of simple emulation. Imagine if sega were willing to go that extra mile for older sonic games (since even the genesis games have their fair share of slowdown). May even make something like the ps2 version of heroes ideal, since framerate won't be much of a problem anymore as well as getting Unleashed to run as beautifully on the ps4/One as it does on the Series X.