Reviewers largely praised the inclusion of the four "Sonic the Hedgehog" Genesis/Mega Drive games. Nutter acknowledged that the compilation "may not be everyone's cup of tea" and recommended that "Sonic Jam" was not worth purchasing if the player already owned the included games, although he praised its value for money. Rubenstein criticized the fact that the game did not include "Sonic CD" or "Sonic Spinball", stating that "Sega could have made a far more complete Sonic collection" by including more derivative games that were released. He summarized that "Sonic Jam" was not a definitive "Sonic" experience, asserting that it had only been six years since the original "Sonic the Hedgehog" was released and "perhaps most of us aren't quite nostalgic about it yet". Game Revolution's reviewer echoed that the compilation was merely a "solid set of games that we've seen before", saying that the game was not recommended if the consumer was "tired of rehashes", but "well worth thirty or forty bucks." The "Electronic Gaming Monthly" team described the games as old and outdated, but still fun. Although Williamson noted that there was a lot of exploring for the player to do in "Sonic Jam", he expressed scepticism that the majority of the game was from "yesterday" and there were not enough new innovations. O'Learly praised the faithful and accurate replication of the original games, though he felt they were "dated". By contrast, Ed Lomas of "Computer and Video Games" considered it "amazing how well the games have aged". In a 2014 retrospective, the staff of "GamesRadar" praised "Sonic Jam"'s "loving" presentation, noting "this was back before classic "Sonic" games appeared on every device known to man".