The 16-bit era was considered by many to be the golden age of gaming. During this time, many great games were released that many still play today. In 2006, Sega released the Sega Genesis Collection on PS2 and PSP. With 28 games to choose from, is this collection worth it?
Yes.
Firstly, a game collection is only as good as the games it has. So let’s look at the good. Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2 still stand as very fun games. Speed, combined with great controls and platforming are the main reasons these two games are held in high regard.
Speaking of solid platforming, Comix Zone is another excellent addition to this collection. Despite the high difficulty, “Comix Zone” has friendly gameplay with a great story about a comic artist who gets thrown into his own comic by his very own creation. The RPG gamer will be glad to hear that Phantasy Star 2 and 4 and Sword of Vermilion are part of this collection. The graphics may seem a bit dated, but the gameplay and story in all three games make them still worth a playthrough. Even today, it is still funny to hear Hahn say “dern,†one of the greatest pieces of bad translating along with “you spoony bard†and “all your base are belong to us.”
The inclusion of both the Genesis and arcade versions of “Altered Beast” is a nice touch. And who can resist playing the three Golden Axe games?
Not all is grand in Genesis-land though. The three Ecco the Dolphin games are boring beyond anything. Not to mention the droning music in these games, which will make you fall asleep before you can figure out what you need to do. On the other hand, platformers like Ristar, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle and Flicky are mediocre at best with Ristar feeling like your generic Sonic clone. For some reason, Sega decided it was a good idea to include Columns. A Tetris-clone that today can be found in some form on a cell phone or Facebook. Once you play one Tetris-clone, you’ve played them all.
Phantasy Star 3 may have been on the Genesis, but it is considered to be the worst of the Genesis Phantasy Star games. Taking place in a different world with different spell names, world history and uninteresting story, it’s only worth playing for the sake of saying “I’ve played Phantasy Star 3.†The only reason it’s included is because Sega wanted all three Phantasy Star games on the disc.
There are plenty of unlockables on this collection. These are interviews with programmers, extra games like the arcade version of Altered Beast and trailers for Virtua Fighter 5 and Phantasy Star Universe. These unlockables are very interesting to watch especially if you ever wanted to know what went into the making of your favorite Genesis game.
Sega Genesis Collection is a good collection of Genesis that is sure to please anyone. If you’ve never had the chance to own a Genesis, then pick this collection up. On Gamestop.com the PS2 version is $9.99 and the PSP version is $16.99 used. Amazon.com has the PS2 version starting $2.75 (disc only) and the PSP version starts at $10.89 used. Pick it up and relive the glory days of the 16-bit era.
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