Sonic Mega Collection (Gamecube) Question

I hear you can't save state in SMC for GC as you can in the later SMC+ collections. Is this true or no? Gamespot in their review of the GC version says otherwise, which would be odd if it was wrong since that review was done before the Plus version was released...

I don't recall Sonic Mega Collection on GC having save states, but yes you could save in Sonic 3 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.