Sonic Jam is a video game from the Sonic the Hedgehog series released for the Game.com in 1998 exclusively in North America. It is a loose adaptation of Sonic Jam for the Sega Saturn. Though advertised as a compilation like its Saturn counterpart, it only features three Zones, each representing stages from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, with layouts that vastly differ from the original levels.
The Game.com version of Sonic Jam is often considered one of the worst Sonic games ever made; it has been criticized for its monochromatic visuals, poor gameplay and repetitive music, as well as its lack of content compared to its Saturn counterpart. It is also notable for being one of the only two Sonic games that were released on a non-Sega console prior to the company going third-party, alongside Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure (1999) for the Neo Geo Pocket Color.[1][2]
Premise and gameplay[]
The title screen of Sonic Jam.
Sonic Jam is a 2D side-scrolling platforming video game, loosely based on the Sega Mega Drive Sonic platformers. It features three playable characters: Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. Tails retains his Propeller Flying move from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but Knuckles loses his signature glide and climb abilities. The Game.com version is infamous for its poor optimization compared to its Saturn counterpart: objects suffer from poor collision detection, and the playable characters move at a notoriously sluggish pace.[1][2]
Though marketed as a compilation like the Saturn version, the Game.com version bears little relation to the Mega Drive games. The manual has a vague premise where Sonic, Tails and Knuckles must "defend the Floating Island" from Doctor Eggman, who has made his return.[3] Rather than porting the 16-bit Sonic games like its Saturn counterpart, this version only features three Zones, each representing the first stages of the Mega Drive games, with the original Sonic the Hedgehog noticeably omitted. The Zones are:
- Emerald Hill Zone (Sonic the Hedgehog 2)
- Angel Island Zone (Sonic the Hedgehog 3)
- Mushroom Hill Zone (Sonic & Knuckles)
Each Zone consists of five Acts and two or three boss fights. Although these Zones share aesthetics and enemies with their original counterparts, their level designs are entirely different. Players can collect Rings, which work as their main method of protection. If a playable character is hit while carrying at least one Ring, they will not die and instead just lose all their Rings. However, getting hit without Rings will cost the player a life, with a Game Over if no lives remain.
Controls[]
| Button formation | Movement[4] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 Sonic
|
 Tails
|
 Knuckles
| |
 left/right
|
Run | ||
| up
|
Look up | ||
| down
|
Crouch | ||
|
Spin Jump | ||
| left/right + down
|
Spin Attack | ||
| down +
|
Spin Dash | ||
| Tapping
|
N/A | Propeller Flying | N/A |
Objects[]
Items[]
Gimmicks and obstacles[]
Characters[]
Playable characters[]
Non-playable characters[]
Enemies[]
Bosses[]
- Egg Poison (Sonic 2)
- Egg Hammer (Sonic 2)
- Egg Drillster (Sonic 2)
- Fire Breath (Sonic 3)
- Egg Scorcher Mk. III (Sonic 3)
- Hey Ho (Sonic & Knuckles)
- Egg Scrambler (Sonic & Knuckles)
- Gapsule (Sonic & Knuckles)
Special Stages[]
Sonic Jam features a set of Special Stages, which are reworks of the Special Stages from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. In a Special Stage, the playable character will find themself running endlessly on a large planetoid. The player's objective is to collect all black spheres and avoid the white ones.
Reception[]
Unlike its Sega Saturn counterpart, Sonic Jam for the Game.com received poor reception by critics and fans alike, with many citing it as one of the worst Sonic games ever made.[1]
Trivia[]
- Sonic Jam is the only Sonic game to be presented in monochrome, as the Game.com does not have a color screen.
- Most of the sprites used for this game are reused from Sonic the Hedgehog 3, though some of them were originally unused in that game, such as Sonic falling asleep and whistling.
- Originally, a version of Sonic 3D Blast was supposed to be in Sonic Jam and was even promoted through a screenshot of Sonic going through a Game.com version of Green Grove Zone in early promotional booklets of the game.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jackson, Doug (March 17, 2010). Hands-On: Sonic Jam (Game.Com). Sega-16. Retrieved on April 25, 2018.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 McFerran, Damien (June 11, 2009). Portable Pedigree: The handheld history of Sonic The Hedgehog - part two. Pocket Gamer. Retrieved on January 24, 2024. "Although Sonic Jam purports to contain Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles (thereby aping the contents of the full-scale Sega Saturn compilation of the same name), what you’re getting here is so far removed from the original releases that the game practically qualifies as an all-new Sonic adventure – albeit one with crippling motion blur, terrible looping music and dodgy collision detection."
- ↑ Sonic Jam (Game.com) United States instruction booklet, pg. 3.
- ↑ Sonic Jam (Game.com) United States instruction booklet, pg. 6.
| Playable characters | Sonic · Tails · Knuckles | |
| Non-playable characters | Eggman · Fire Breath | |
| Zones | Emerald Hill Zone · Angel Island Zone · Mushroom Hill Zone · Special Stages | |
| Enemies | Bloominator · Butterdroid · Buzzer · Catakiller, Jr. · Coconuts · Dragonfly · Madmole · Masher · Mushmeanie · Monkey Dude · RhinoBot | |
| Bosses | Egg Poison · Egg Hammer · Egg Drillster · Egg Scorcher Mk. III · Hey Ho · Egg Scrambler · Gapsule | |
| Moves/techniques | Crouch · Propeller Flying · Spin Attack · Spin Jump · Spin Dash | |
| Gimmicks and obstacles | Bottomless pit · Goal Plate · Mushroom · Star Post · Spikes · Spring · Vine | |
| Items | Giant Ring · Item Box (Power Sneakers, Super Ring) · Ring · Sphere | |
| Other | Angel Island · Corkscrew · Shuttle loop · Tunnel | |