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Sonic Gems Collection |
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| Overview |
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Sonic Gems Collection is compilation of the games Sonic Mega Collection missed. The game is a Nintendo Gamecube exclusive in North America, but it was also released on the Sony Playstation 2 in Japan and Europe. In addition to collection of Sonic games, there is a "Sonic Museum," where you can see official art, screenshots, movies, comic book covers, and more. The game list is as follows: |
-Sonic CD (PC Version, Ported)
-Sonic R (PC Version, ported)
-Sonic the Fighters (Arcades, ported)
-Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GameGear, emulated)
-Sonic Spinball (GameGear, emulated)
-Sonic & Tails (GameGear, emulated)
-Sonic Drift 2 (GameGear, emulated)
-Tails Sky Patrol (GameGear, emulated)
-Tails Adventures (GameGear, emulated)
-Vectorman (Genesis, emulated)
-Vectorman 2 (Genesis, emulated) |
All three versions have the American music for Sonic CD. (Bummer!) In hopes to appease our ears, Sega made remixes of various songs from the games and included them in the "Sonic Museum."
In addition to those games, all of the Sonic games for Genesis and the other six GameGear games are also included - making Sonic Mega Collection obselete...right? The catch is that they're all playable "demos" that last for five minutes and start at the last level of each game. It gives you a chance to see the endings, I guess.
The game retailed for around 5000 yen in Japan, which is close to $50 USD. The US version retailed for $29.99 USD at launch with an "E" rating from the ESRB. |
| Screenshots |
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| Main Menu | Games Menu |
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| Games View | Manuals |
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| Manual View | Sonic Museum |
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| Unlocking Hints | Audio Player |
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| Extras Menu | Hints: Sonic CD |
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| Demo Mode | Demo Mode |
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| Magazine Scans |
Nintendo Power - August 2005
Nintendo's official US magazine had a one page special on Sonic's E3 appearences with Sonic Rush and Sonic Gems Collection.
Click Here to Read the Article
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| Review by Gamerguy |
A review stereotypically starts with an introduction. Instead, I'm going to start this one with a picture of Hillary Clinton:
Now that you've seen something really bad, hopefully you won't be too disappointed when you play Sonic Gems Collection. Gems had a very tough job to do - make a good collection of Sonic games that featured things that weren't included in Sonic Mega Collection. Sadly, it did not pick very many games, and most of them aren't very good. Sonic CD is the "big thing" fans have been asking Sega for ever since Sonic Jam on the Saturn, so I have to give Sega credit for listening to us. But there's a hint in that fact: on the cover of the game, it says "3 Must Have Hits Including Sonic CD." That should tell you what the focus of the game is on.
Sonic the Fighters is playable on consoles for the first time, so dedicated fans of the series simply can't pass it up. Everyone else, however, can. Fighters is nothing more than a watered-down version of one of Sega's countless arcade brawlers released in the mid-90's. The characters all control the same with the exception of a few special attacks and they are generally unbalanced in terms of power. The VS mode might seem like a great multiplayer offering, but it's actually quite bland. I didn't see any reason to play it more than once with a friend before we moved on to Sonic R.
Speaking of it, Sonic R hasn't changed much from the PC version, save the graphics - it's still an incredibly easy, short, and unimaginative racer. If you played it on the PC or the Saturn, you don't need to play it again on the Gamecube. Sonic CD is the real "gem" of the collection, and it's the only game of the main three that didn't receive any special treatment. The cinematics have been "restored" to full screen, but for those of you who don't know, they were already restored for Mega Collection. The ending cinematic is horribly laggy and Tidal Tempest has the water glitch. It seems like the only game worth playing in this whole package is the one that was neglected the most.
The six GameGear games play identically to how they did in Sonic Adventure DX, which is exactly how they played on the GameGear. Nothing new, they're straight emulations. But in an effort to compete with five year old applications such as Gens and KEGA, Sega has decided to add a save state feature to all the GameGear and Genesis games (Vectorman 1 & 2). This is a great idea, but evidently they didn't work too hard on the compression - each save state takes up 27 blocks of your memory card. I have four memory cards, so it's not a huge problem, but if you don't have 27 blocks free at all times, the game will give you an error message every time you start it up - and yes, it gets annoying. The other games are saved separately in one-block files, and there's also a block dedicated to settings and timers for the collection itself. So, basically, we have a collection of 8 year old games that take up more memory than games released last month. Is something wrong?
Sega at least realized their mistakes with Sonic Mega Collection and made a nicer interface for Gems. It functions in the same way, but the theme and music fit much better than in the previous collections. The loading screen is no longer stolen from Windows 95. There are loads of unlockables, too - 320 images (with three movies included) and 12 remixed songs, along with five to ten minute demos of all the Genesis and GameGear games from Sonic Mega Collection +. The problem is unlocking them. No one really understands how to unlock the demos, and the images seem to be unlocked at random. There are some things that require you to play each game for over two hours. I don't know about you, but I don't want to sit and play a watered down port of Sonic Spinball when I can play it on Mega Collection. I ended up leaving the game on overnight and periodically switching titles to get the required timers. This method of unlocking games is a result of laziness - they could have designed something much better, such as in Capcom's MegaMan Anniversary Collection. The remixes are pieces of crap. Go to OCRemix if you want music - it sounds better and you don't have to play Tails Sky Patrol for 37 hours to listen to it.
Having said all of this, I think that Sega's effort in making this collection was a lot better than with Mega Collection. If they had taken the time to include SegaSonic and Chaotix, or even one of them, I would easily be able to recommend this game to anyone. In its realistic state, however, I can't. If you haven't played Sonic CD and you're willing to pay for it alone, then go for it. Otherwise...ehh...
Value
Good production value, just not enough content for $30. |
8 / 20 |
Sound
Everything from the old games sounds great here, that is if you liked it in the old games. Horrible remixes in the "museum." |
15 / 20 |
Graphics
Fighters and R look better than ever on the Gamecube, but Sonic CD and the others were neglected. |
15 / 20 |
Controls
Controls are faithful to the originals and extremely fluid overall. |
15 / 15 |
Replay Value
Everything except Sonic CD loses its luster rather quickly. Museum more of a gimmick than anything. |
2 / 15 |
Expectations
If you want a good Sonic collection, get one of the other ones. |
3 / 10 |
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FINAL SCORE |
58 / 100 |
* "Gameplay" section replaced with "Value" for compilation reviews. |
| Notes |
Regional Differences
The Japanese version of Sonic Gems Collection features the Bare Knuckle (Streets of Rage) trilogy and Bonanza Bros. in addition to everything the American version has, but because the game could not pass for an E rating with the ESRB, they were removed from the US version. The European version was copied from the American version, so it does not feature the extra games either. |
Sonic CD Music
The PS2's Japanese version of Sonic CD has both soundtracks available - one plays when you put the game in an NTSC-region machine, and the other is in NTSC-J. The Japanese Gamecube version has the Japanese soundtrack only. The American version, Gamecube exclusive, and the European versions have the American soundtrack. |
Tidal Tempest Glitch
Because Sonic CD was ported instead of emulated, it allows room for glitches. One of the glitches that anyone who has played Sonic CD before will notice is the water color in Tidal Tempest. The water is clear instead of the usual greenish tint. Comparison screenshots from the PC version (left) and a capture from Gems Collection (right) are shown below: |
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The ending movie after Metallic Madness is also extremely slow in comparison to what it should be. Poor conversion, perhaps? |
You Are the Eggman
Sonic Gems Collection is the first game in which we can tear apart Sonic the Fighters. It's already possible to play as Eggman with an Action Replay. The game freezes after you defeat Metal Sonic. |
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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| Cheats / Secrets | |
Check out each game's individual section for cheats and secrets for the games. |
Museum Unlockables
There are 320 unlockables in the "Sonic Museum." How do you get them? The easiest way it to leave your system on overnight, but here are the exact requirements. |
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Page 1 - Sonic the Fighters
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Sonic the Fighters: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic the Fighters one time. |
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Sonic the Fighters: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic the Fighters for 60 minutes. |
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Sonic the Fighters: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic the Fighters for 120 minutes. |
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Sonic the Fighters: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic the Fighters five times. |
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Sonic the Fighters: Gallery 5 | Play Sonic the Fighters ten times. |
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Sonic the Fighters: Super Sonic Art | Complete Sonic the Fighters. |
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Page 2 - Sonic CD
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Sonic CD: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic CD one time. |
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Sonic CD: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic CD for 60 minutes. |
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Sonic CD: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic CD for 120 minutes. |
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Sonic CD: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic CD five times. |
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Sonic CD: Gallery 5 | Play Sonic CD ten times. |
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Sonic CD: Sonic vs. Metal Sonic Image | Complete Sonic CD. |
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Page 3 - Sonic R and Sonic Jam
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Sonic R: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic R one time. |
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Sonic R: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic R for 60 minutes. |
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Sonic R: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic R for 120 minutes. |
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Sonic R: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic R five times. |
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Sonic R: Gallery 5 | Play Sonic R ten times. |
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Sonic Jam: Image 1 | Play Sonic R one time. |
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Sonic Jam: Image 2 | Play Sonic R for 60 minutes. |
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Sonic Jam: Image 3 | Play Sonic R five times. |
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Sonic Jam: Image 4 | Play Sonic R for 120 minutes. |
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Sonic R: Additional Art | Complete Sonic R. |
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Page 4 - Sonic the Screensaver
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Screensaver: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 30 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 60 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 90 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 120 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 5 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 150 minutes. |
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Page 5 - Sonic the Screensaver (2)
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Screensaver: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 30 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 60 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 90 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 120 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 5 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 150 minutes. |
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Page 6 - Sonic the Screensaver (3)
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Screensaver: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 120 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 150 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 180 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 210 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 5 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 240 minutes. |
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Page 7 - Sonic the Screensaver (4)
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Screensaver: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 150 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 180 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 210 minutes. |
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Screensaver: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R, and Sonic CD a total of 240 minutes. |
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Page 8 - Knuckles Chaotix
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Knuckles Chaotix: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GameGear) six times. |
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Knuckles Chaotix: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GameGear) for 70 minutes. |
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Knuckles Chaotix: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GameGear) twelve times. |
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Knuckles Chaotix: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GameGear) 140 minutes. |
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Knuckles Chaotix: Gallery 5 | Play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GameGear) twenty times. |
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Page 9 - Sonic Adventure
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Sonic Adventure: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic Spinball (GameGear) five times. |
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Sonic Adventure: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic Spinball (GameGear) for 60 minutes. |
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Sonic Adventure: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic Spinball (GameGear) ten times. |
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Sonic Adventure: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic Spinball (GameGear) 120 minutes. |
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Sonic Adventure: Gallery 5 | Play Sonic Spinball (GameGear) fifteen times. |
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Page 10 - Sonic Adventure 2 2
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Sonic Adventure 2: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble (GameGear) six times. |
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Sonic Adventure 2: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble (GameGear) for 70 minutes. |
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Sonic Adventure 2: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble (GameGear) twelve times. |
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Sonic Adventure 2: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble (GameGear) 140 minutes. |
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Sonic Adventure 2: Gallery 5 | Play Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble (GameGear) twenty times. |
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Page 11 - Sonic Heroes
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 1 | Play Sonic Drift 2 (GameGear) five times. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 2 | Play Sonic Drift 2 (GameGear) for 60 minutes. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 3 | Play Sonic Drift 2 (GameGear) ten times. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 4 | Play Sonic Drift 2 (GameGear) 120 minutes. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 5 | Play Sonic Drift 2 (GameGear) fifteen times. |
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Page 12 - Sonic Heroes 2 (2)
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 1 | Play Tails Skypatrol (GameGear) six times. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 2 | Play Tails Skypatrol (GameGear) for 70 minutes. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 3 | Play Tails Skypatrol (GameGear) twelve times. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 4 | Play Tails Skypatrol (GameGear) 140 minutes. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 5 | Play Tails Skypatrol (GameGear) twenty times. |
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Page 13 - Sonic Heroes (3)
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 1 | Play Tails Adventures 2 (GameGear) five times. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 2 | Play Tails Adventures 2 (GameGear) for 60 minutes. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 3 | Play Tails Adventures 2 (GameGear) ten times. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 4 | Play Tails Adventures 2 (GameGear) 120 minutes. |
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Sonic Heroes: Gallery 5 | Play Tails Adventures 2 (GameGear) fifteen times. |
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Page 14 - Sega Showcase Illustrations
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Gallery 1 | Play games in the collection a total of 50 times. |
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Gallery 2 | Play games in the collection for 10 hours. |
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Gallery 3 | Play games in the collection a total of 100 times. |
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Gallery 4 | Play games in the collection for 15 hours. |
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Gallery 5 | Play games in the collection a total of 150 times. |
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Page 15 - Additional Illustrations
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Gallery 1 | Complete Page 14 and open the following illustrations in order: 110, 112, 122, 130, 132, and 137. |
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Gallery 2 | Watch the credits five times without skipping them. |
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Gallery 3 | Watch the credits ten times without skipping them. |
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Page 16 - Boss Demos / Videos
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Gallery 1 | Play the game three days in a row. |
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Gallery 2 | Play the game four days in a row. |
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Gallery 3 | Play the game six days in a row. |
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Gallery 4 | Play the game seven days in a row. |
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Gallery 5 | Play the game eight days in a row. |
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Gallery 6 | Play the game nine days in a row. |
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Gallery 7 | Unlock everything else. |
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Unlock Vectorman
You can unlock Vectorman (1) by playing Gems Collection for five hours or by using a memory card with a Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Sonic Mega Collection, Sonic Adventure DX, or Sonic Heroes save file on it. |
Cheats for Vectorman
Since they're not Sonic games, we don't have a section for the Vectorman games. Here are all the cheats we know about:
Full Health - Pause the game and press "A, B, A, RIGHT, A, C, A, DOWN, A, B, RIGHT, A" in sequence to regain full health.
Invisibility + Invincibility - Use a bomb morph to make Vectorman explode. As he's flying around the screen in chunky bits, pause and press "C, A, LEFT, LEFT, A, C, A, B" in sequence (Call-A-Cab). Resume the game, pause again and re-enter the code to make Vectorman both invisible and invincible. Pause and re-enter the code to turn off both features.
Call a Cab - Use the code above ("C, A, LEFT, LEFT, A, C, A, B") while paused and standing still to turn into a cursor. Your cursor can be moved around the level to transport you wherever you wish, killing enemies on contact. Pause and re-enter the code to return to normal.
Slow Motion - Pause and press "DOWN, RIGHT, A, C, UP, LEFT, A." Every time you get hit by an enemy, the game will go into slow motion. Pause and re-enter the code to disable it.
Level Select - At the Options screen, press "A, B, B, A, DOWN, A, B, B, A." The level select screen will automatically appear and allow you to choose you number of lives, amount of health, weapons, and of course, the level you start on.
Level Skip - At the SEGA intro screen, shoot the SEGA logo 24 times and hit it with Vectorman's head by jumping 12 times. The letters to spell "SEGA" will begin falling from the top of the screen. Catch 90-110 letters to start on Day 5 or over 110 letters to start on Day 10 before time runs out.
Kill Sega - At the SEGA intro screen, move Vectorman to the right of the logo and shoot up to destroy a hidden power up box. Grab the orb that appears and the Sega logo will lose power. |
Unlock Vectorman 2
You can unlock Vectorman 2 by playing the original Vectorman one time and playing the collection for seven hours. |
Cheats for Vectorman 2
Extra Life - Pause during gameplay and press "RIGHT, UP, B, A, DOWN, UP, B, DOWN, UP, B" to get an extra life.
Level Select - Pause during gameplay and press "UP, RIGHT, A, B, A, DOWN, LEFT, A, DOWN" to access the level select menu.
New Weapon - Pause during gameplay and press "C, A, LEFT, LEFT, DOWN, A, DOWN" to get a different weapon. Keep using the code to cycle through all the weapons in the game.
Replenish Energy - Pause during gameplay and press "B, A, B, A, LEFT, UP, UP" to Refill Vectorman's energy.
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08.16.05
09.30.05
08.11.05
