Sonic Jam

Sonic Jam

Quick Info

Title: Sonic Jam

System: Sega Saturn

Developer: Sonic Team

US Release Date: August 1997

European Release Date: August 1997

Japanese Release Date: June 20, 1997

Genre: Collection

Characters: Sonic the Hedghog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik/Eggman

First Appearances: The 3D Sonic World

Features

Created by The Sonic team, Sonic Jam are the four ABSOLUTE, UNDENIABLY BEST SONIC GAMES of all history "jammed" onto one CD with some extra stuff thrown in just for good measure. Sonic The Hedgehog 1, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic The hedgehog 3, and Sonic And Knuckles!!! And aside from the camera needing just a tad of tweaking, it looks absolutely incredible. Also included was the incredible 3D Sonic World - making this a total of 8 Games In One!!!


Description

There are eight missions to complete around the Sonic World...complete them all within the time limit, and...well, I won't spoil anything. The missions are a nice way to pass time, but like many of those in Mario 64, they're just plain pointless. The GOOD STUFF however comes in the various museums. There's a nice art museum, a character profiles building, and a sound test shrine!!! But the two shining graces are the Movie Theater and the Hall of Fame! The Hall of Fame gives a COMPLETE and THOROUGH timeline of events since Sonic's conception in 1990! The movie theater has some really cool (and sometimes just plain bizarre) clips. There's the opening and ending animation to Sonic CD (with the original Japanese songs, "You Can Do Anything" and "Cosmic Eternity"), as well as a short preview of the head-over-heels Japanese Sonic Anime, a clip of high-quality American animation which NO ONE has yet to identify (It's not the SatAM or AoStH toons we've all seen...), an unpublished computer-animated "Sonic Ride", and a junk load 'o Japanese Sonic commercials.
But at the core of this cosmetical fluff is a 100% tear-jerking, those were the good ol' days, 16-bit heyday journey through Sonic's history. At first, you're a little disappointed that the original 16-bit graphics and sound were there, but you get over that in a Sonic second, and the more you played the more you appreciated the fact that they kept everything in its ORIGINAL form. The ONLY REASON Sonic Jam doesn't score a PERFECT 10, was because it introduced nothing completely new. That's absolutely the ONLY bad thing I can mention about this game. Everything else is sheer gaming bliss in its finest form. The features of having each Zone become a playable Time Attack level, three different difficulty settings (With some change in object-placement within the levels!!!), and a new save feature in Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 make it worth the price of admission even if you already own all four Genesis versions. The complete English and Japanese manuals are also available (The Japanese manuals are full-color throughout!), and the option to play the Special Stages without actually having to do the whole 50-Rings bit in the games!!! Experience classic Sonic gameplay in its absolute finest form. You will see the sub-conscious messages. You will offer sacrifices to the Great Blue One. You will steal all the rings and emeralds in a jewelry store thinking you are in a Special Stage. You will...ummm....*ahem*

Codes

The Digital Manuals
To view the digital manuals for the Sonic games on your computer screen, put the CD in your computer and look in the Man_Eng and Man_Jpn folders. The manuals are stored as .TIF files, which can be read by most professional paint packages (e.g. Paint Shop Pro) This can be useful if you want to print out sections of the manual (e.g. High score tables)
View the Sonic Museum Pics on your PC
[Use a paint package that can support raw data files e.g. PSP4]. Open the MDG2 folder on the CD, and load one of the files, telling the program it is a raw data file. For the width, enter 640. For the height, enter 448. If there is a colors dialog box, set it to single channel (grayscale). After the picture has loaded, use the Negative Image tool. You should now have a b/w image from the Sonic Museum on your PC screen! (Note: For some reason, the picture is offset to the left - nothing is wrong with your computer!)
Title and Info Pics on your PC
If you have Paint Shop Pro, you can view some of the title screens and other backgrounds etc. Put the CD in your PC again, and select the Browser function. Enter in D: (or whatever your CD is), and it should come up with some pictures from the game.
Bonus Images !!!
For some nice screen shots and wallpaper, place the Sonic Jam CD in your computer. Go to your Windows Explorer and look in the "Extras" folder!
All the Movies at Once
To watch all the movies in the theater in sequence, press X, Y, and Z, and while holding these, press A. It'll take longer to load up then usual, then you'll watch all the movies in order. If you watch carefully you'll notice a few that aren't available in the theater selection screen.
Sonic and the Quest for 100 Rings !!!
At the title screen, highlight "Sonic World" then hold A and press START. This will send you into Sonic World to get 100 rings in under 60 seconds. Good luck!
The Great Golden Ring
To view the credits for Sonic Jam, go to Sonic World, and complete all of the world missions. Once you have, go to the waterfall. You should see a gigantic gold ring. Now, go on the platform near you that goes up and down. When it's at its highest point, jump in the huge gold ring and you will be able to view the credits for the game.
The Panoramic View
Once you fulfill all the mission objectives, not only will the golden ring appear, but you will be able to use a panoramic view as well as the close and far views you use to control Sonic in Sonic World.
14 Continues in Sonic 2 !!!
At the options screen, play sounds 01, 01, 02, 04.
Clean Pause
For cleaner screenshots, press X + Y + Z simultaneously while the game is paused to remove the menu screen.
Hidden on the Monitors ...
In the Sonic World segment of the game there are polygonal versions of the power up boxes in the Sonic games. Walk up to them and press either A, B, or C to read them. Each one gives a different code that can be used on the different Sonic games.
Easy Level Select for Sonic 3
Start "Sonic 2" and play sounds 19, 65, 09 and 17. Now hold A and press RESET, but don't release A. When the game restarts, choose Sonic 3. When the title screen appeasr, release A and press UP to reveal the SOUND TEST option. Select this to enable Level Select
Sonic 2 Music on your PC !!
Place Sonic Jam into your CPU. Open Windows Explorer and look in the Sonic Jam (Sega) section. If you look in the Sonic12 folder, you should find some music from Sonic 2 in AIFF format!!
Tails in Sonic and Knuckles !!
Play Sonic & Knuckles and lock it on to Sonic 3. Play as Tails alone and beat Sonic 3. (It's not so hard). Then you can play Sonic & Knuckles as Tails.
Unlocking ALL the Levels in Time Attack !!!
To unlock all the levels in Time Attack mode for Sonic, Sonic 2, or Sonic 3 enter the level select code for that game and play the final level. This will automatically unlock all the levels until you clear your Saturn's memory.