Sonic Mega Collection (ソニック メガコレクション) is a compilation of all Sonic the Hedgehog games for the Sega Mega Drive, released for the Nintendo GameCube. The games are reproduced by a Mega Drive emulator developed under the supervision of Sonic Team themselves. The collection also features high resolution instruction manual and comic book scans. An updated version, Sonic Mega Collection Plus, was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2004, and Windows PCs in 2007.
The two games released for hardware add-ons to the Mega Drive—Sonic the Hedgehog CD for the Mega-CD, and Chaotix for the 32X—were not included in either the original or Plus version, due to emulation issues (and not size constraints as some believe). The former would later be successfully implemented in Sonic Gems Collection, though the latter remains officially available on its original hardware only.
The compliation also contains the first official name to the secret unlockable game accessed by combining Sonic & Knuckles with Sonic the Hedgehog using lock-on: It was listed as Blue Sphere. This game marks the first appearance of Cream the Rabbit, artwork of whom can be found in the extras section.
All of the games in this collection have a pause menu that is accessed by pressing at any time during gameplay, allowing the user to reset the game or to exit and return to the game selection. In the case of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, exiting via the pause menu will write all saved games to the collection's system file on the memory card, so is recommended to do so when finishing so progress is not lost.
All of the games (with the exception of Sonic & Knuckles Lock-On games) also include their original manuals in digital form. The manuals available are region-specific, with NTSC-J versions using the Japanese manuals and NTSC-U/PAL versions using the North American manuals. These can be viewed by pressing when viewing game information in the Games menu, or by accessing the Manuals menu.
Starting a game will also write to a log in the system file, recording how many times games have been started up. Once a game has been started 50 times, the collection will stop writing to the log for that particular game, resulting in faster startup times. There is no known purpose for this feature other than to track progress towards unlocking hidden games.
Flicky — Play Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine 30 times, or have a Sonic Adventure 2: Battle save file on the memory card in Slot A.
Ristar — Play Blue Sphere, Knuckles in Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Flicky 30 times each.
The Ooze (Japanese version only) — Press in the Options menu.
Comix Zone (Japanese version only) — Press and in the Manuals menu.
Extras
The Extras menu contains a variety of bonus content that the user can view. The comics section is a gallery of covers from Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic series from issues #1 to #110 as well as its spin-offs, including all 32 issues of Knuckles the Echidna, all 15 issues of Sonic Super Special, and various other mini-series and one-shots. The entirety of the trade paperback Sonic the Hedgehog Firsts is also included and fully readable.
The illustrations section includes a variety of artwork from the series history up until 2002. Each of the illustrations are divided into multiple sections around specific characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Eggman, and other characters), as well as miscellaneous sections that contain promotional illustrations for Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Advance. Each illustration is also accompanied by a descriptive blurb that scrolls along the bottom of the screen.
The movies section includes five videos for the user to watch:
Sonic CD Intro Movie - The opening animation from Sonic the Hedgehog CD. The opening version of "Sonic Boom" is used for this video.
Sonic CD Ending Movie - The ending animation from Sonic the Hedgehog CD, which mixes footage from both the good and bad endings of the game. The ending version of "Sonic Boom" is used for this video.
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle - A promotional trailer for Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. "Won't Stop, Just Go!", the theme for Green Forest, is used for this video.
Sonic Advance 2 - A promotional trailer for Sonic Advance 2, notable for featuring a prototype of the game and a song not present in the final game.