I remember when I was a child, my first console was the Sega Genesis. I played it every single day and even when I got the PS1 my attention to it never faulted. So here I am, 13 years later, playing those games again. I was a bit hesitant to pick this up at first, afraid to remove my rose-colored nostalgia glasses and ruin my favorite childhood memories, but how wrong I was to be afraid.
The first thing I noticed upon starting this game up was the epic size of the number of games within this compilation. Over 40 titles, with nine more to unlock, will make sure I'll have plenty of things to do. But I'm sure you know the old Nintendo line "quality over quantity," but there is some serious quality here.
Not only does just about every game handle beautifully, but there are so many of them, if you were to pick a game at random you would be able to put money on it being a good game. They didn't mess around in the selection process, from the Phantasy Star series to Streets of Rage, Comix Zone to Vectorman, they picked the classics.
Well, mostly. A few games range are mediocre (I'm looking at you Decap Attack), while others are just plain infuriating. Sonic 3D Blast still has controls so horrible that even the most dedicated hedgehog fan will want to strangle all of the rings out of the little blue bastard. But with so many great games (most of them supporting co-op) to enjoy you really won't have much to complain about.
Now the next thing I must praise the game for is its excellent presentation. A rating system that's easy to use (little adjustable red lights next to the title of game) allows you filter out whatever you hate and works just like it should. You are able to arrange the games in a variety of ways, such as alphabetically, by genre, and even by the ratings you assigned them. The process is streamlined, simple for anyone to pick up and play. The museum is a nice addition as well, it shows information on every game in the library and is sure to please the Sega nerd inside you. Unlockable interviews with game creators are also a nice touch for the more die-hard fans, but I doubt the casual player will enjoy sitting through all of them.
Oh, now for the rough that layers this diamond. Some games like Comix Zone, Ecco the Dolphin, and Dynamite Headdy will turn off the casual player because of their difficulty. Also, with such a huge library, there's a good chance someone with little to no knowledge of the games will skip everything and go straight for "That one Sonic game" and completely miss out on the real treasures. This isn't necessarily a hardcore gamer collection, but people who are not used to Genesis games may be turned off.
These games sound better, look better and (mostly) play better than when you remember them. Don't chalk this up as a simple nostalgic trip, because that would be selling this collection short. No, there are some excellent titles that if you missed the first time around, you have no reason to pass them up again.
