The Sonic Mania Collector's Edition Statue Cuts Corners, But Can be Made Cooler

Looks like SEGA finally screwed up. XD Due to Mania doing well it seemed like there was something missing. A missing error. And looks like this has filled up the hole.

Someone should convert it to be a functioning Mega Drive

It really is useless functionally. It's almost like a white elephant, it's certainly big enough. Sega went about this very strangely, no physical game but here have this cavity block sized statue instead.

At least now we've finally seen the light.

@AlexOlney The Pokken controller is exactly what I thought of too.

I honestly don't care about that LED. It'd be cool but, how often am I gonna turn that thing on, maybe once to show my bro and that's it.

I do love the CE though. Just $54.99 with GCU. I'll take a physical copy though to round it all out. I bet they will too.

Better find my soldering iron when mine arrives, looks like the led is white, not red as it should be, hmm will have to get a red felt tip too

@LegacySmikey same here. Very disappointing...

@LegacySmikey Probably to cheapen production, since it has 4 different platforms to make collectors editions for, it would make sense to just print different codes and console logos.

Honestly tempted to make it fully functional by putting a raspberry pi in it.

I have no experience soldering, but I would really like to do this. I have been a huge Sonic fan all my life and am satisfied with the collectors edition, but I can't deny that for the extra $50 ($70 - ($20) Game) It would've been nice to get a soundtrack or at least something else. The best parts of the set are the Nice box/box art and the Gold replica Sonic ring, which is kind of sad considering the statue should be the main selling point.

that statue must be one of the cheapest made collector's items i've seen in a long time. (and they needed revision 3.1 for that tiny PCB?! WTH?)

I'd forgotten the Mega Drive 1 had a mechanical volume slider. I don't think I ever saw anyone move it...

They got the idea from this guy I bet https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/6ttuey/

@dystome

Wasn't the volume slider just for the headphone port?

Anything going to the TV should be line-level and the volume slider would not change it.

Meh, I don't really care about the sound and light. (I've got the "SEGA" on my phone). If i put batteries in it I'll likely forget about it and they'll corrode.

It looks like a very cheap lump of moulded plastic in the shape of something bad.

Glad I didn't decide to get this. The size put me off for a start, then there was the price. And it's not even fully wired up? Rip off, tbh

@holygeez03 Ah, was it? Dunno, I was a SNES kid myself. I expect you're right.

I don't have one, but I've paid more for less. I still think it's a pretty badass CE.

Though I like the cartridge style ring box and the Genesis shell for the statue, wasting money to buy fake junks just isn't my thing. Until Sonic Mania had a physical release, I probably won't throw money for the game atm. Right now I'm just playing the game on my brother's Switch instead and already beat and unlock everything after a day of playing with it.

@Archius9 give any of your favorite mega drive game Sonic shoes

Oh, Sega. Never change.

32x is the future! Wait, no, screw it, Sega CD is the future, wait, that's not right, Saturn is the future! No, Saturn isn't part of our future, Dreamcast is. For 10 months. 20 years of Pachinko later: Let's sell and empty Genesis, and not actually wire the parts!

I think we just found out what's wrong with Sonic.

@manu0 They needed 3 unused consoles to get to the Dreamcast. Forth time is always the charm for them

@dystome indeed, the volume slider was for the headphone jack. At some point, I got a set of speakers to hook up to it, so I used the slider to control the volume. The speakers also had volume control, but were not as easy to get to. It was a nice setup that enhanced the experience. Back then, all my game systems were hooked up via RF and my TVs were all mono anyway.

So it took a fan to get the collector's edition fully functional, just like it took fans to actually make a decent sonic game? The irony is palpable.

@dystome yep it only controlled the headphone jack which I have never seen anyone use.

@NEStalgia lol i remember being so confused as a kid because at one point sega had an advertising pamphlet here that had 32X, CD and Saturn all in it and I had NO IDEA what to choose. So in the end we just went with a PlayStation (coming from MegaDrive)! LOL!

I'm not really interested in the LED as long as the "SEGA" sounds works. XD I'm glad I got the CE; I especially love the cartridge and ring.

Playing this game, I've finally figured out what the "it" is that makes classic sonic feel right that modern Team Sonic still gets wrong every single time! We've talked about it on the forum often and we've never been able to place what makes "sonic" and why modern sonic isn't "it." And the formula isn't difficult at all, yet it stays just below consciousness. Sega history even gave us the answer and we, and they, still miss it with every new Sonic game!

Sonic is about "speed" as they said, but not the way they think of it now. When they implement modern Sonic, they impliment him being based on a roller coaster. A high speed run from a starting point to an ending point with various gimmicks and obstacles in between.

But that's not what Sonic was about. Sonic isn't based on a roller coaster. Sonic is based on a PINBALL MACHINE! The hint was right in Sonic Spinball! But playing this game I finally "got it" and I haven't before noticed it in 25-30 years!

It's not about paths and obstacles to the finish, which is generally a short left to right trip. The level is TALLER than it is wide, with vast amounts of level space that will never be seen or used in a single play through, and many parts won't be seen by many players ever. It ricochets you constantly in various directions, impacting you of bumpers that send you hurtling at high speed in another direction, often through a series of bumpers that lead you to that split second flipper you operate by moving the ball (sonic) instead of a flipper. It involves left to right, right to left, up to down and down to up movements, none of which necessarily get you closer to the "goal" often moving you further, and many bumpers troll you as backtrack gates, much like a pinball machine. Sonic Spinball was just a simplification of the platform-pinball game to a pure pinball game with platform elements.

REAL Sonic is a platformer built as a pinball game! Modern sonic is just a platformer built as a roller coaster, or an on-rails coaster. And THAT is why modern Sonic doesn't feel like Sonic! It's not pinball based which is very clearly the core design of original sonic (back from the days where pinball was popular, of course.) People that complain about sonic never having been a good game compare it to mario as a platformer, not as a unique pinball-platformer.

I finally get it!

@manu0 Haha, yeah that sounds pretty much like late life Sega. I loved my Genesis and SNES equally, and didn't even know Saturn was a thing until late in its life. Had no idea what it was. I knew of Sega CD as the "new Sega" at the time.

I'd just like to know how they opened it up - mine doesn't play the SEGA startup sound. Tried 3 sets of AAs, and nothing.

@UnseatingKDawg I assume the screws are under the feet.

That sorta makes me want to cancel my order that hasn't shipped yet.

Edit: Just canceled.

That really makes me mad especially since they are charging so much for it. I hate it when company do stupid stuff like this.

@Yasaal Yeah, now it's literally unplayable for me with this huge issue

I was excited when I picked up my box at GameStop. I put the batteries in and I found out that my Sonic statue was broken I wasn't able to hear the "SEGAAA!" sound! I returned it to GS and got a new one that works. Anyway, I really wish that SEGA would have released SM for physical release.

I expect they probably did it to reduce battery wear when left on. I can't imagine it typically uses that much power without the led, right!?

@607jf: Thanks for the tip. Might have to look into that.

Now wire in a Genesis-on-a-chip and restore its full functionality!!

Engineers usually try to eliminate unnecessary components from something that's to be mass produced. Even though these LEDs are cheap, when millions of a piece of consumer electronics are to be produced, even a component costing only $0.05 can really add up.

Assuming that this was the cost of one of these LEDs, if only two million of these things are produced, that would easily pay an engineer's salary for about a year.

@RaizenPrime True, but it's monumentally daft to include the component but not wire it up for functionality. Especially at the price they are charging.

@holygeez03 Indeed it was for the headphone jack. But people often connected the headphone jack to their tv or audio equipment, because it output stereo sound. The main av port oddly only used mono.

@jbopatrick

That is interesting... but I have to wonder if the headphone out was true stereo or just duplicated mono?

Sega could sell STUFF to their fans for a fortune and their fans will tell you it is the BEST STUFF EVER Lol.

YouTube has proven to me that Sega fans have become AS insane as Sony fans. Nothing like Sega lol.

I find Microsoft and Nintendo fanboys easier on the mind - by a wide margin.

_{Please watch the language.-Meowpheel}

Bloody hell. Get a grip people. Sonic Mania is fantastic game as good as the classics IMO and you're going to moan about this? It's a lightbulb!

@Archius9 I said that aswell when it arrived

@holygeez03 It's true stereo. The best SCART cable manufacturers include a separate wire to pull audio from the headphone jack and carry it along with the RGB signal. The model 1 reputedly has better stereo sound than the model 2, though most of us back then didn't experience it since we were just using the RF or composite cables and not even thinking about mono vs. stereo.

What do u people really expect for $70? For Sega to grovel at your feet and give u a solid hand crafted sonic statue and fully functioning Mega Drive? Its just an LED. If you're a real Sonic fan, this package should've amazed u regardless. Take it from me, It's much more epic in person and is now one of my most prized possessions, next to my guitars. If my house is ever going up in flames I'm grabbing my Gibson Les Paul, Nintendo Switch, and my Sonic Mania Statue. Period.

I still need to purchase Sonic mania for my switch

Nostalgia Nerd purchased one and did a re-boxing video (boxed it up to send back). A corner of the base was missing and according to him wasn't present within the base or in the box potentially meaning it was packaged and shipped already damaged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tedyAMU6LO8

@Qun_Mang SEGA said in a live stream to let them know and they'll take care of u. Problem solved.

@audiobrainiac I'm not the Nostalgia Nerd- I'm not even British in fact. I was just sharing his video. As far as Sonic goes, I'm sure he has returned it by now.

So it had a LED inside, but it wasn't connected. Now that's lazy!

@Qun_Mang I hear ya. Sry, I was throwing that out there for everyone's info as well. Didn't mean it to sound like an unesessary retort.

@audiobrainiac No problem, didn't take it as one.

I may be an oddball but I was super happy to see a collectors edition that came with a digital copy instead of physical. I've fully switched to digital and hate that I always have to buy both and then sell my physical copy. They should have the option for both physical or digital collectors editions.

I might actually try this, thanks for sharing Nintendo Life 👍

Or you can get console that has the guts inside AND has a mascot on the top.

https://nobitleftbehind.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/wp_20150115_008.jpg

Engineer: "Sir, shouldn't we be soldering the LED to the PCB?"

SEGA: "Nope, GOTTA GO FAST!"

Uhh.... maybe the led was deemed a fire hazard??