Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure
In August 1999, SNK announced that they were collaborating with Sega to develop a "Sonic the Hedgehog" game for their Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld system. The game was developed by SNK, with supervision from Yuji Naka and Sonic Team at Sega. This marked the first time Sega was directly involved in the development of a "Sonic" game for a non-Sega platform. The team planned for "Sonic Pocket Adventure" to be a return to the classic 2D gameplay style found in the "Sonic" games on the Sega Genesis. In particular, many game design and visual elements are borrowed from "Sonic 2". The game's background music tracks are also 8-bit renditions of music from "Sonic 3". "Sonic Pocket Adventure" was released first in North America on December 4, 1999. SNK released a system bundle with the game included for the holiday season. The game was released in Japan two weeks later, and in Europe in February 2000.
ToeJam &amp; Earl
"ToeJam & Earl" received positive reviews, which Bill Paris of UGO described as "almost unanimous critical acclaim". However, Sega deemed it a commercial failure due to low initial sales. The game built a cult following through word of mouth, and it was further aided by the Sega Genesis's Christmas 1991 sales spike, caused by the release of "Sonic the Hedgehog". "ToeJam & Earl" was later considered a "cult" success. According to Ken Horowitz (2016, p. 74) author of Playing the Next Level: A History of American Sega Games, "In all, the game sold 350,000 copies for Sega, a remarkable feat for such an unconventional title on a fledgling console." "Entertainment Weekly" picked the game as the #9 greatest game available in 1991, saying: "Simply hilarious, from the Warner Bros. cartoon-inspired sound effects to the rap songs players can improvise while using the control pad. "