Sonic Jam (Game.com)
From Sonic Retro
| Sonic Jam | ||||||||||
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| System(s): Game.com | ||||||||||
| Publisher: Tiger Electronics | ||||||||||
| Developer: Tiger Electronics | ||||||||||
| Licensor: Sega | ||||||||||
| Genre: Action | ||||||||||
| Number of players: 1 | ||||||||||
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Sonic Jam is a game released on the short-lived Tiger Game.com exclusively in North America. It is a pseudo-compilation of three Sonic the Hedgehog games originally released for the Sega Mega Drive; Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles. Though it shares the same name as Sonic Jam for the Sega Saturn, the contents are entirely different. The game has gained mostly negative reception from critics and fans alike; due to its poor controls, music, visuals, and various bugs/glitches. It has been cited as one of the worst Sonic games ever made.
In 2011, an official Game.com emulator was released, meaning the game is now playable on computers.[2]
Contents
Story
| “ | Oh no, the evil Dr. Robotnik is back and meaner than ever! Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles need to use all their speed and skill to keep the world a safe place and defend the Floating Island. | „ |
| — Sonic Jam Game.com US manual[3] | ||
Gameplay
Sonic Jam for the Game.com does not contain entire games; each game contains only the first respective Zone consisting of four Acts each. The first Act ends with a Signpost, while most other Acts end with a boss fight. When all four Acts are completed, the game ends and the player's high score will be recorded to the Game.com's internal memory, with each game having its own high score.
There are three selectable characters; Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, all of whom retain the Spin Attack and Spin Dash using only the 
button. Sonic cannot perform the Insta-Shield, and Knuckles cannot glide or use his wall climbing ability, however Tails is still able to fly. The Spin Dash functions differently from the original games in that when charging the move, the player must hold instead of 
to hold the charge, and the move cannot be charged more than once. The only power-ups available from Item Boxes are Super Rings, Power Sneakers, Invincibility and 1-UPs (which always show Sonic's icon regardless of the player's character).
The game has a very low framerate, and as such the footage used in the Game.com commercial had been sped up.[4][5]
Selectable games
Games are selectable on the main menu. After selecting a game, a character select screen appears next.
| Sonic 2 | |
|---|---|
| All the levels use the graphics of Emerald Hill Zone. There are three regular enemies and three bosses. The bosses used are Egg Poison from Chemical Plant Zone in Act 2, Egg Hammer from Aquatic Ruin Zone in Act 3, and Egg Drillster from Emerald Hill Zone in Act 4. Surprisingly, the last boss in this game is the first boss of the 16-bit version. | |
| Sonic 3 | |
| All the levels use the graphics of Angel Island Zone. There are three regular enemies, one reused from Sonic 2, and two bosses. The bosses used are the Fire Breath in Act 2 and Egg Scorcher Mk. III in Act 4. | |
| Sonic & Knuckles | |
| All the levels use the graphics of Mushroom Hill Zone. There are three regular enemies and three bosses. The bosses used are the Egg Scrambler and Hey Ho from Mushroom Hill Zone in Acts 2 and 3 respectively, and also the Gapsule from Flying Battery Zone in Act 4. |
Bonus Stage
The Bonus Stage[6] in Sonic Jam is based on the Special Stage from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, and the method of accessing it is similar in that the player must find and enter Giant Rings hidden throughout the levels. The objective is to collect all of the black spheres while avoiding the white spheres. Like in the original Special Stages, encircling a large square of black spheres will turn the spheres into Rings, which are worth 100 points each. It is impossible to jump in these Bonus Stages, making it more difficult to avoid white spheres.
As there are no Chaos Emeralds to collect, collecting every black sphere will instead award the player with 10,000 points.
History
Development
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Main article: Sonic Jam (Game.com)/Development |
Hidden content
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Main article: Sonic Jam (Game.com)/Hidden content |
Manuals
US manual
Digital manual from Hasbro website
Screenshots
Character selection screen.
Sonic Ending
Tails Ending
Knuckles Ending
Physical scans
| Game.com, US |
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   Cover
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 Cart |
Technical information
ROM dump status
| System | Hash | Size | Build Date | Source | Comments | |||||||||
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2MB | Cartridge |
References
| Sonic Jam (Game.com) | |
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Main page | Comparisons | Maps | Hidden content | Bugs | Development | Magazine articles | Reception
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