The Sonic Jam Intro Suddenly Makes Sense!

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

I just suddenly realised this looking at the title screen comparison shots.

For those of you not aware, Sonic Jam was a compliation of the original Mega Drive classics released for the Saturn with a ton of extras.

I was looking at the Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 titles when it hit me: why was he running in a desert in the intro for no reason? Because it's a cheap old-school FMV and those never make sense?

Or was it a reference to this?

The original Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 title screens have Sonic's name made of metal, and that metal is reflecting this desert.

This may also explain why Sonic 2 doesn't use the official product logo on the title screen either.

[DaBatGuy]

I think you might be reading more into this than intended. The reflection in the logo looks more like waves on a beach to me than a desert. Fits the seaside theme of the first levels in the games.

[Diogenes]

Pretty sure it's just a chrome gradient slightly distorted by the shape of the letters, like this.

[Iceman Etika]

Quite fascinating to imagine the possibilities. Although it's probably nothing, realize that it takes quite an eye to spot a similarity such as this. O_O

[Gavvie]

Wow, it's been years since I've seen the Sonic Jam intro video. Good spot on the similarity, though I don't think that's the reason why he's in the desert.