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iam8bit is celebrating Sonic's 35th birthday with two new physical re-releases of the original game and its 16-bit sequel.
Manufactured by Retrotainment Games, the 'Sonic Legacy Collection' comes complete with a printed manual and a special-edition transparent cartridge, with each one costing a whopping $99.99.
What do you get for your money? Well, the games run on original Mega Drive / Genesis hardware (NTSC ones, anyway), for starters. The clamshell packaging features "premium foil embellishments" and "1 in 8 cartridges infused with Chaos Emerald energy," which is described as follows:
"Our celebration of Sonic’s past collides head-first with the future, and in the wake of all that lightning-fast energy we’ve found fragments of the Emeralds themselves. These special cartridges will feature a unique translucent exterior, housing a Chaos Emerald inner glow."
Given that both Sonic and Sonic 2 sold millions of copies, it's pretty easy to obtain one on the secondary market for far less than the 100 bucks being demanded here – so it's hardly surprising that this announcement has gone down like a fart in the lift.
Still, it is Sonic's birthday week, so I'd imagine some of his hardcore fans will see these as essential collector's items.
Are you one of those people? Let us know with a comment, and don't forget to cast your vote in the poll below while you're at it.