Flashback 07.15.07: Sega Genesis Collection (PS2)

Posted by Steve McHugh on 07.15.2007

So where is Shadow Dancer?

Well we're back to normal this week, and I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who sent me feedback. It was all pretty positive and whilst not everyone agreed with me at least they put their point forward in an adult way. It makes a change from the ‘I disagree with you therefore you suck' e-mails.

This time round I'm going to take a look at the Sega Genesis (or Megadrive) Collection for the PS2. Whilst it's a game on a still developed-for system, if I reviewed all of these individually I'd be here all year. The Genesis was my first games console and is still one of the best consoles ever released, in fact I even prefer it to the SNES.

Now for this review I'm going to be using the same format I used for my review of Sega Smash Pack for the DS. So I'll look at each game and give them a mark out of 10.

Alex Kid in the Enchanted Castle

Whilst I understand why they put this game in the collection as it was very important, I can't see how anyone would pick this to play over any of the other Platformers on this disk. The one-hit kills and dreadful ‘rock-paper-scissors' mini game you have to play to get many of the items not available in shops didn't even work when this was released. You'll play it for ten minutes just to unlock some stuff and then never touch it again. 3/10

Altered Beast

Yay it's Altered Beast. I hate this game, it's awful and Sega have been shoving it down our throats for years now by putting it on every compilation they could get away with. It still isn't any good. It looks okay, I guess, but that's not exactly a reason why anyone would want to play it for more then a few minutes. Everything it does is below-par and whilst the Arcade version is also included, which is actually a better game all round, it's still not exactly worthy of extensive play. 2/10

Bonanza Bros.

This is the non-Japanese version of the game, where you play two brothers who are helping to test security facilities. In the Japanese version you were actually thieves but that wasn't seen as being very nice back in the early 90s. How times have changed. It's a perfectly okay puzzle game where you have to get to the end of each level whilst ‘stealing' various items without getting caught or dying. It has its good parts but mostly it's overly fiddly and hasn't aged well at all as it all looks very old now. Still it passes a few minutes time. 5/10

Columns

One of the best puzzle games of all time is still a blast to play and will suck away hours of your time. It's very simple… falling blocks contain 3 coloured stones and you have to match up 3 or more of each stone then they vanish. The trick is getting chains when you've got a huge number of stones already down and more keep falling. It's incredibly nerve wracking and the two player mode just adds to the excitement. The graphics may not be up to much but the music is superb. A classic. 9/10

Comix Zone

This is a game that deeply divides Genesis fans. You either love or hate it and fortunately I love it. Or did back then. Coming back to it I find that the idea of playing as a comic book artist that gets sucked into one of his comics is still fairly impressive. It looks great too, with a lot of little touches that show that the Genesis had some graphical power to use when it was pushed. The gameplay is also pretty good with a nice variety of fighting moves and even a few puzzles thrown in. Unfortunately the game lets itself down on the difficulty which goes past difficult and into unfairly punishing. Death comes often and quickly and generally it's due to unfair opposition. However this is still a lot of fun to play but beware that difficulty as it's a real bitch. 7/10

Decap Attack

I've read a lot of reviews where they complain about this game being included and I personally don't see the problem. Although not as good as its Japanese version it's still a great game and a lot of fun to play. It still looks okay too with some very charming graphics and nicely designed levels. A bit of a hidden gem I say. 8/10

Ecco

Ecco the Dolphin is amazing. To this day it is still amazing. When this came out there was nothing else like it on any other console. And there still isn't much like it. The point is that you've lost your pod and have to go find them. You do this by completing puzzles and searching for hints from other under water creatures. It looks wonderful and plays just as well. But the sound is where this game excels. The sound is stunning and really makes the games atmosphere. One of the best games available on this disk. 9/10

Ecco 2

See Ecco, as its basically just more of the same but not quite as good. The latter levels are also utterly bizarre and too difficult compared to the rest of the game. 7/10

Ecco Jr.

Never released outside of Japan this is perfectly okay but as the title suggests is aimed at children. Still it's a decent game but not one anyone is going to play when you've got Ecco 1 and 2. 6/10

Flicky

Flicky is crap. It was crap then and is still crap now. It looks dreadful, sounds dreadful and plays like a shopping trolley with a bad wheel. Avoid. 1/10



Death to flicky!

Golden Axe

Another ‘classic' Sega keep putting on everything they can. It's just not very good though, especially when placed up against other 16bit scrolling fighters like Streets of Rage or Maximum Carnage. It hasn't aged well either and looks pretty shoddy with very stunted animation. 3/10



This is the most exciting move in the game.

Golden Axe II

It's the exact same as the first game (seriously it's almost the exact same game). 3/10

Golden Axe III

Never released outside of Japan before and it's fairly easy to see why. You get a few new characters to pick from but as per usual whoever you pick it doesn't really matter as they all play almost the same. They all look nice though as the animation is much better. But even so why anyone would play this for long is a mystery. 3/10

Kid Chameleon

This is one of my favourite 16 bit platformers just because it did something a little different at the time. You can pick up helmets which change the character you become. It's quite a novel idea and works pretty well. The game doesn't look as good as it did back when it was released and the character sprites seem to be a lot smaller then I remember them but it still plays pretty well so that's the main thing. However this is another 16 bit game that can be an absolute bastard, difficulty wise, and will take some people a few joypad throws before they finish it. 7/10

Phantasy Star II

It's one of the best 16 bit RPG's and another reason to own this game. It doesn't look great and the encounter rate can be a bit mad but the story is still interesting and it still plays like a dream. RPG gold right here. 8/10

Phantasy Star III

The black sheep of the family (before the awful Online) is actually a fairly interesting game that spans through generations as you play the game. It was a good idea that didn't quite work and so got a lot of stick. Still it's great that it's on here and everyone should at least check it out. 7/10

Phantasy Star IV

And here it is. The reason to own this game. PS4 is not just one of the best RPG's of this era it's one of the best RPG's of all time. It's up there with the likes of Shining Force 2 and Final Fantasy 6, its sublime. It looks great and plays even better, with a stunning story that really helps to drag you into the characters and what happens to them. It'll last you about 30 hours but it could last longer if you want it to. The only problem with it is that the first few hours can get a little tough as you start to level up but it shouldn't ever be a huge problem for anyone who has ever played an RPG before. 10/10



One of the best games ever and one of the most boring screenshots.

Ristar

Made by Team Sonic, this is a very colourful platformer where the main character has extra long arms that he can use to grab things. You even defeat enemies by head butting them making the main character very popular in Scotland. Probably. It's not just the graphics that are great either, as the level design and general gameplay are excellent. Another of those hidden gem games that very few people played the first time round. Certainly a game that deserves to be put on VC or XBLA. 8/10

Shinobi III

The best Shinobi game is on here and as I love both Revenge and Shadow Dancer that's high praise indeed. This looks and plays great and is easily one of the best games on the disk. It's also pretty hard going and will offer up more then a challenge to anyone looking for one. This is one of the half a dozen games on this compilation that I play the most. 9/10



Until Sega make a decent Shinobi sequel this will more then suffice.

Sonic

It's Sonic. Seriously, if you've never played this then shame on you. It hasn't aged well but it's still a huge amount of fun and deserves a play through. 7/10

Sonic 2

The best Sonic game and one of the best platformers of all time. It took the original template and made it even better adding multiple routes and a fantastic ‘get the chaos emerald' mini game. Oh and it looks great, even today. Utterly essential playing. 10/10



It's still awesome...even if Tails is in it.

Super Thunder Blade

It's an okay shooter that suffers from being one of the first games for the console. As such the graphics are not very good and the gameplay goes between playable and rock hard in an instant. Not something people will want to spend too much time on I would imagine but once you get used to it it'll offer a few minutes of fun. 6/10

Sword of Vermillion

This is an RPG where you switch views depending on if you're fighting, in town, exploring maps or even fighting any boss. It's a very strange mix and doesn't quite work when all pulled together. It's also aged badly and looks pretty awful, but it's a lengthy quest and if you can get over the oddness then there's quite a lot of game to play. I couldn't quite get past the oddness so it gets 5/10

Vectorman

It looks great and as far as platform shooters go, plays pretty well too. It can be a bit too taxing for its own good on occasion but there's still a lot of fun to be had playing through the game. 8/10

Vectorman 2

Same as the first game. 8/10

Virtua Fighter 2

The Saturn version of this is one of the greatest fighting games ever. This is a steaming pile of crap. It's a dreadful fighting game and a complete disservice to the whole franchise. It's not Rise of the Robots bad but it's getting there. One of the worst games to appear on the Genesis and why this was included is beyond any sense I can think of. 1/10



Doesn't it look exciting? No not really.

So that's all of the games but there are more good features. Firstly you can save any game at any point. I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful this feature is as some of these games will take you a long time in one sitting to play through.

There's also some nice unlockables, such as extra arcade games, interviews etc and all of them are easy to unlock and in fact tell you what to do to get them. A genius idea if ever there was one. Other companies take note, as no one wants to have to play 40 hours of some crap just to unlock 1 game.

There's even a nice ‘museum' piece with every game, telling you about the development or history and some even include cheats and hints which is a nice addition.

The main problem with the game is what's missing. Firstly the EU version didn't get Shadow Dancers, which is one of the worst things Sega have done to their fans in Europe in a long time. There was no reason at all why it wasn't included but that's Sega for you. Secondly of all the 20 odd games on this disk only 5 are utterly essential, with another half a dozen being very good. That still leaves a lot of filler with a few of the games being utterly pointless in their inclusion.

Even the unlockables are underwhelming. A few of them are nice diversions but none really go all out an impress.

So here's a list of games I want to see for the next edition:
Streets of Rage 1-3
Shining in the Darkness
Shining Force 1 and 2
Shadow Dancer
Donald Duck Quack Attack
Amazing Spider-man Vs Kingpin
Eternal Champions
Sonic 3
Gunstar Heroes
Dynamite Heady
Light Crusader
Landstalker
Wonderboy in Monster World
Alisia Dragoon
Beyond Oasis
Chakan
Alien Storm

That's just 20 off the top of my head and I'm sure I can think of more that should be included. But as extras how about the Mega CD versions of Eternal Champions, Sonic CD, Shining Force CD and even Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter from the 32X? All of those deserve to be extras and all of them would make for much more enjoyable extras too.

Should I buy it?

Oh yes by all means you should buy this game even if it's just for PS4 which goes for over twice as much as this whole collection. But Sega missed out on a lot of their great games and put out a lot more filler that has been put on plenty of games before. The 2nd version (if there is one) will hopefully be a lot more impressive with its content. As it stands thought it's still an excellent game but not as good as it could have been.

8.5/10


Other Stuff


At this precise moment in time I have the following review for the 360 yet to do. The Darkness, Overlord, Forza 2 and Boom Boom Rocket. The reason for the lateness is that I got the red ring of death a few weeks ago and have sent my 360 back to get fixed. Hopefully it should be back soon.

Unfortunately it happened a week before Microsoft announced that they would be doing this free of charge from now on so I had to pay £85 ($150) to get it done. It's great that I'm getting a refund but I am curious how this is going to take them 10-12 weeks. How long does it take to refund a credit card? A few minutes at most. These refunds should have a turnaround of about 4 weeks but I do commend Microsoft for finally getting round to sorting it out. Hopefully my next one won't break….touch wood.

Well join me next time when I'll be taking a look at a very popular Xbox game.