Some of us remember the heady days of Sonic’s arrival on the gaming scene. Many of us probably forgot how frustrating those games could be. Well now you can relive those controller-throwing days on your Nintendo DS. The Sonic Classic Collection brings together Sonic, Knuckles and Tails once again. Play through Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3 as Sonic or Knuckles or play the original Sonic & Knuckles game.

I truly had forgotten how frustrating those games could be until I picked up my DS and started playing again. But that doesn’t mean they’re not classics. Unfortunately, SEGA didn’t really add anything extra to this collection. It is pretty much just the games in their original forms without any cool new DS features etc. They don’t really even make use of the touch screen except for a sort of static game interface menu. Also, all four games are also available as Virtual Console downloads on the Wii for slightly more.

So what’s the draw of the Sonic Classic Collection for the DS? Well, you can play them on the go I guess. Aside from that, there’s not a lot new here. If you’ve played the Sonic games in the past and enjoyed them, then you know what’s in store. They did add the ability to save anywhere on Sonic and Sonic 2 so you can play when and where you have time without having to finish an entire level before stopping.

If you’ve never played a Sonic game, they are fast-paced platform games featuring now classic characters, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox and Knuckles the Echidna. The goal is to collect rings and finish the levels defeating enemies that get in your way, finding hidden areas and bonus levels. Scores for levels are determined by the number of rings you have and how much time you took to finish. The games follow a sort of story arc that goes through the three Sonic titles and right into Sonic & Knuckles as the two fight to gain the Chaos Emeralds, while the evil Dr. Robotnik (Eggman) skulks about having been mostly defeated in the earlier games.

The graphics are the standard 16-bit era affair and the sounds are the same and don’t seem to have been updated at all for this version even. Given the limited power of the DS platform that’s no surprise. Why update when you can simply port the games over.

Along with the four standard games you can also play Sonic 2 and 3 as Knuckles to find new levels, new enemies and extend the enjoyment of the titles.

Overall, the Sonic Classic Collection is just a repackaging of four Sonic titles on a DS cartridge. Nothing special was added to the games themselves. To get them on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console would cost you 3200 Wii Points (about $32 USD) or you could buy this version and play on your DS for a little less ($29.99).

Wouldn’t it be great if Nintendo followed Sony and started to allow one download for both platforms?