New version is positively super Sonic

Poor little Sonic the Hedgehog.

When he was created 12 years ago, SEGA was making game systems with which he was the anchor character. His star was on the rise and he harbored dreams of being bigger than Nintendo’s Mario. Then things changed. SEGA’s Dreamcast system never came close to the success of Sony’s PlayStation and the line was discontinued. Sonic was left homeless.

Because his master had died, Sonic -- like the 12 ronin in the Japanese fable -- was left to wander the Earth, in search of a console of his own. He landed exclusively at Nintendo for a while, but he had to play second fiddle to the little plumber for many years.

Finally, Sonic is ready to break out.

Sonic Heroes is the first game in the series playable on PlayStation 2 and Xbox -- in addition to the GameCube platform -- and the first new Sonic game to come out in three years. Like fine wine, Sonic has aged well. And also like fine wine, the speed of the game will give you a buzz.

The beautiful visuals of Heroes make it the best looking of the hedgehog’s adventures and, luckily, the basic gameplay is still the same -- the little blue guy races through each area, collecting rings and rolling into a tight ball to crush enemies. The levels have the same dreamy nonsensical qualities as the Super Mario games and include the loop-the-loops that are a Sonic trademark. And when he runs, Sonic is still one of the fastest characters out there, but more on that later.

Heroes makes gamers choose from four teams of characters from the Sonic universe. While all of the teams play through the same level layouts, differences abound. Objectives are different for each team, and the areas themselves are tweaked slightly to offer new challenges. For instance, Team Sonic has three days for Sonic, Knuckles and Tails to defeat the evil Dr. Eggman. They run, fly and smash through enemies and follow one route through to the end.

When gamers play as Team Chaotix -- Espoi, Vector and Charmy Bee seeking out 10 hermit crabs to prove their abilities as detectives they take a slightly different route to the finish. Not enough to make you want to try it with all the teams, but different enough to keep things interesting.

Each team consists of a speed demon, a character that can fly and one that acts as the brute strength of the unit. As you progress through the land, various street signs instruct you which player to thrust into the lead. Switching players is easy, and soon it becomes intuitive which character to choose.

That said, controlling the little bugger when he gets a-runnin’ gets a little tough. Because the levels are so detailed, when Sonic hits a turbo boost, he gets rocketed ahead at dizzying speeds. If your aim isn’t true, you could run right past the checkpoint. Die after that and you’re forced to start over from the last marker you hit.

The wayback machine?

Two recent releases help remind us how far we’ve come as game players. While Midway Arcade Treasures and Intellivision Lives! are both good for the nostalgia factor, only the makers of Treasures gave us something easy to play.

Arcade Treaures features 24 of the games that stole all your allowance money, now in one affordable package. Remember Root Beer Tapper? Defender? How about Rampage? They’re all there, the exact versions that back in the ‘80s were cutting-edge. Nowadays, cellphones have better games. Still, gameplay is exactly as you remember. Although some of the coolest features of the arcade versions -- the handlebar controller on Paperboy, the skateboarder 720’s circular joystick, the wildly spinning steering wheels on Super Sprint -- aren’t here, being able to reminisce makes it worthwhile.

Sadly, the controls of Intellivision Lives! ruin any nostalgic feelings you might have about the popular home game system of the ‘80s. On the Intellivision, the controllers had 12-digit keypads over which you slid a different overlay for each game. While the makers of this collection gave us more than 60 titles, they couldn’t get the controls to translate to the PS2 very well.

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Games

Sonic Heroes

Good: Lotsa choices; multiplayer tilts.

Bad: Moves too fast at times.

Details: All platforms; $49.99.

Rating: Everyone (mild fantasy violence).

Midway Arcade Treasures

Good: Makes you feel old in a good way.

Bad: Was the sound really that bad back then?

Details: PlayStation 2 and Xbox; $19.99.

Rating: Teen (blood and gore, violence).

Intellivision Lives!

Good: All the classics are here.

Bad: Controllers lacking!

Details: PlayStation 2 and Xbox platforms; $19.99.

Rating: Everyone (gambling).