If you’re a publisher with a great back-catalogue of games and are looking for ways to come up with another retro gaming collection for modern consoles, well, look no further than the SEGA Mega Drive Collection (that’s Genesis in the US) for the PS2. It does everything right, is properly priced and offers so many options and extras it can easily compete with them not particularly legal but very free ROM playing emulators. Yes, this should indeed be your blueprint, but let me elaborate.

First of all, the quality of the emulation is just perfect. Everything runs in its original 16-bit speed without hick-ups or frame losses, you can select between the original 4:3 aspect ratio or go for the trendier widescreen look and you can also play at both 50Hz and 60Hz. Heck, you can even eliminate them pesky black borders! That truly is how good things work and thus, despite how suspicious of shoddy retro ports I am, all I can say is there is absolutely nothing to complain about.

Then of course we have the sheer quality of the presentation. Info ranging from the idea behind each and every game to its original box is easily available, menus are sleek and easy to navigate, whereas the extras section of the collection offers a wealth of interesting interviews, unlockable games and odd bits of trivia and photos. We nostalgic gamers, you know, love this stuff.

As for the games themselves, they impressively manage to showcase the range of what was available on the Mega Drive. It actually feels as if they were picked by a historian, covering everything from the action excellence of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, to Sega’s top Phantasy Star RPGs, to cult favorite Comix Zone, to classic Tetris rip-off Collumns. Besides, these gems haven’t aged a day.

See, publishing dears? That’s what you got to give us. As for you gamers, if you ever cared for 16-bit gaming, if you’re in the slightest bit interested in retro gaming or just like to enjoy some lovely 2D offerings, go on, do yourselves a favour and grab the Sega Mega Drive Collection. You’ll be getting all these games (excluding a couple or so unlockable ones like Super Zaxxon, Future Spy or Astro Blaster) for a few quid:

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Altered Beast
Bonanza Bros.
Columns
Comix Zone
Decap Attack starring Chuck D. Head
Ecco the Dolphin
Ecco II: The Tides of Time
Ecco Jr.
Kid Chameleon
Flicky
Gain Ground
Golden Axe I
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium
Ristar
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Super Thunder Blade
Sword of Vermilion
Vectorman
Vectorman 2
Virtua Fighter 2

Posted on March 13th, 2008 by konstantinos