By 1992, the Nintendo Entertainment System was practically dead in the water thanks to the company moving onto its next venture, the “Super Nintendo Entertainment System”. New games were released rarely; and most of those games were terrible at best. Thankfully for the uninformed gamer in me, a weekend at my aunt Cicero’s house would open my eyes to the “future”. I sat with Cicero’s future stepson, Reginald (Reggie or “Boo” as we all affectionately called him) and watched as a hedgehog wearing red shoes and rocking a Japanese anime style hairdo sped through this digital, colorful world before me.
Over a year would pass until Christmas 1993 and the day I became the owner of a Sega Genesis. But the Genesis package I received for Christmas didn’t come with “Sonic The Hedgehog”, but its sequel – “Sonic The Hedgehog 2”. I was in for a brand new experience that would eventually go beyond just “Sonic” games and reinforced my passion for this electronic wonder. Fast forward nearly twenty-five years later and my childhood has become the newest fad as Nintendo, Atari, and, of course, Sega have gotten into releasing not only software collections, but also collectible mini-consoles. Bringing the best of both worlds together – older games on eighth generation consoles – Sega published a collection of Mega Drive and Genesis classics (though some definitely can’t be considered great) for gamers both longing for the days when sixteen bits were revolutionary and new players looking to discover the wonders of a time long past.
Did I Complete “Sega Genesis Classics Collection”?
Like any video game software compilation in the past, this set features a copious amount of games both experienced by yours truly over two decades ago and others either I couldn’t get my hands on back in the day or just lived on the wrong side of the Pacific. This collection features both Challenges and Achievements with each being similar in nature when it comes to completion of games, specific stages or various actions such as finishing a round in “Virtua Fighter 2” with low health or playing through a stage of “Sonic” in “Mirror Mode”. Rediscovering certain games has proven to be rewarding and difficult, leading to a repeated usage of the game’s rewind feature or simply restarting from scratch. While the Challenge and Achievement lists are still ongoing, the act of playing each available game (some more than others) was a necessarily when it came to this overall experience.
Did “Sega Genesis Classics Collection” Live Up to the Hype?
As expected from any collection focusing on a single series or system, the “Sega Genesis Classics Collection” features a host of critically acclaimed hits such as the first two “Sonic the Hedgehog” games, all three “Streets of Rage” entries, cult classics like “Gunstar Heroes” and “Comix Zone”, a limited arcade port of “Virtua Fighter 2”, and even the beefy “Phantasy Star” and “Golden Axe” Genesis entries. One very interesting aspect with the game selection is several entries featuring both the western and Japanese releases including the “Bare Knuckle” versions of “Streets of Rage 2 & 3”. These region switches can add extra levels of difficulty and even changes to the overall gameplay. In hopes of making things a little easier for gamers who don’t want to spend hours replaying failed stages, this “Collection” has a rewind feature that, when used will literally rewind the game so the player can avoid a painful death or missed opportunity to pick up an extra life. The “Collection” also has quick save and hard save options that allows a player to pick up right where the person left off; making the frustrating experience of failure a lot easier to manage. Unfortunately there are several games missing from this collection that were a part of its predecessors including “Sonic 3”, “Eternal Champions”, & “Ecco the Dolphin” series. With these games running on an emulator instead of the original software there will be both sound & graphical differences including some shimmery & stuttering effects during platformers and sidescrollers.
Courtesy of the game’s hub featuring a 90s, Sega-themed bedroom with working clock, players have the opportunity to adjust several visual output settings, change the control scheme in the most minimal way possible, and even turn the screen backwards with “Mirror Mode” – which is just like it sounds. To add some grander moments to a player’s overall experience, there are “Challenges” for the player to optionally take part of that can be both incredibly interesting and frustrating (the latter being that the game keeps track of failed attempts); though only a few of the fifty-three game offerings are associated with in-game “Challenges”. Another addition to the game is multiplayer and it proves to be the most disappointing aspect with this “Collection”. Due to the niche nature of the game, finding players is a bit difficult and a majority of those online experiences will be filled with lag and people quitting mid-game because of connection issues. Multiplayer, one of the initial best reasons to own this “Collection”, is actually one of the reasons to completely ignore the option.
Like any video game compilation put on disc or offered in a virtual store, Sega’s latest “Collection” offering has a great amount of truly fantastic games, some questionable classics, and features to keep a player happy if the focus is on single player and not playing with nostalgic gamers from around the world.
Should You Play “Sega Genesis Classics Collection”?
Like so many video game collections of the past, Sega’s latest offering is a mixed bag of genuine classics, questionable additions, and rather disappointing omissions that will leave some upset their favorite iteration in a series is missing. Old school gamers who were either around for the 16-bit era or never owned a Genesis/Mega Drive will get a genuine kick out of this one while inexperienced gamers may miss out on what truly made these experiences revolutionary even if they enjoy the gameplay. At half the price of a regular release in this day & age (or even during the time when these games initially hit store shelves) it proves to be a worthy purchase for those who either want a true nostalgia trip without shelling out thousands of dollars or newer gamers who can put aside preconceived notions while appreciating greatness and, at times, utter garbage; but multiplayer gamers will be disappointed with the online optimization when it comes to this “Collection”.
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