Retro gaming is still big, and now Sega is jumping into the TV games arena with plug 'n play joysticks featuring vintage Sega titles. Sounds good, right? There's even a Sonic the Hedgehog joystick that apparently includes five Sonic games. However, a word of warning to anyone expecting Sonic and Knuckles: the tiny little screenshots on the advertising images indicate that we're dealing with Sega Master System properties, not Sega Genesis games. That means you can expect to see the Master System (or Game Gear, possibly) versions of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Spinball, and so on. Furthermore, if this were a Genesis-based TV game, wouldn't you expect to find a C button on the joystick along with the A and B buttons? Recall that the Master System and the Game Gear only have two buttons, while the Genesis has three (and later six, but most folks are familiar with the three-button configuration).
As you'll recall, the Sonic Gems Collection compilation showed us that those games just aren't that great compared to their 16-bit brothers in this day and age. Also, the fifth screenshot on the Sonic ad appears to be a tennis game of some sort. From the looks of things, you'll be getting the 8-bit titles Sonic Chaos, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic Spinball, and a tennis game. I'm not aware that Sonic ever dipped into tennis. The point is, always read the box before buying a TV game. The money you save just may be your own.
