Sega Genesis Collection

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Sega Genesis Collection

Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega
Release date(s)	November 7, 2006 February 2, 2007 2008
Genre(s)	Compilation (various)
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T) PEGI: 12+ CERO: A
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable

Sega Genesis Collection (known in Europe, Australia and Japan as Sega Mega Drive Collection) is a video game compilation for the PlayStation 2 and PSP. It includes "28 classic Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis games" from a variety of genres.

1 List of games
2 Extras
3 Reaction
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] List of games

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Altered Beast
Bonanza Bros.
Columns
Comix Zone
Decap Attack
Ecco the Dolphin
Ecco: The Tides of Time
Ecco Jr.
Flicky
Gain Ground
Golden Axe
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Kid Chameleon
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
Ristar
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi (Cut from the European version)
Shinobi III
Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Super Thunder Blade
Sword of Vermilion
Vectorman
Vectorman 2
Virtua Fighter 2 (MD/Genesis version)

[edit] Extras

This collection also features more than 35 minutes of unlockable interviews from SEGA of Japan, a "museum" with facts about the games, strategy tips for each game and a set of unlockable arcade games. The PS2's unlockables are: Altered Beast (arcade version), Future Spy, Tac-Scan, Zaxxon, Zektor. The PSP's unlockables are: Astro Blaster, Congo Bongo, Eliminator, Space Fury, Super Zaxxon

[edit] Reaction

GameSpot - 8.2/10
GameSpy - 4/5
GameZone - 9/10
IGN - 8.6/10
Deeko - 8/10
AceGameZ - 9/10
GameShark - A/A+
GameTrailers - 8.8/10
Amped IGO - 9/10
Cheat CC - 4.5/10
X-Play - 4/5
Gamereactor - 8/10 (Sweden)
Level - 9/10 (Sweden)
Mansized - 4/5

The game won the award and Reader's Choice for Best Compilation Game on Gamespot's "Best and Worst" 2006.

[edit] Notes

The European version does not include Shadow Dancer. However, it does fix previous speed problems concerning Sonic the Hedgehog which plagued the game's original PAL Mega Drive incarnation and most home console emulations of the game.

This is the first time Golden Axe III is released in North America, Europe and Australia.

This collection marks the first appearance of the two Vectorman games on the PS2 in North America, since Sonic Gems Collection has remained unreleased Stateside on the console.

It is of note that the Streets of Rage trilogy is also absent from this collection in the wake of its removal from Western versions of Sonic Gems Collection.

Although mentioned in passing, the collection does not include the first Mega DriveShinobi game, The Revenge of Shinobi, possibly due to copyright issues surrounding the inclusion of Spider-Man as a boss character at the end of Stage 6.

Similarly, this collection is the first release of Phantasy Star IV on a non-Sega console, as it has only been seen twice before -- on its native Mega Drive, and in the Phantasy Star Collection on the Sega Saturn (available only in Japan).

Whilst for the most part emulation of the games themselves have no defects, some people have noticed that sound emulation in some games is not exactly the same as their Mega Drive incarnations. Regularly noted examples is the "Spindash" sound in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 fading out in a peculiar way, sound effects in "Sonic the Hedgehog" sounding slightly off, wrong/missing death screams in Golden Axe and the sequel, and the "Victory Theme" in Phantasy Star IV not stopping the battle music. It should also be noted that Golden Axe 3 suffers badly from poor sound emulation compared to all the other games.

The graphics in the PS2 version are upscaled from their native resolution with extremely heavy anti-aliasing, giving all games an extremely messy and blurry look with no option to turn this filtering off. Digital Eclipse, the developer of this compilation, is notorious for forcing filtering on all of their classic game ports and compilations. The Sega Ages compilations from Japan, many of which have Sega Mega Drive games, offer not only the option to turn filtering on or off, but also include the option to run the games in their native resolution; both options giving way to much cleaner and crisper graphics than this American compilation.