bit-tech Shopping: Sega Genesis Collection (PS2)

• Action/Adventure
• Fighting
• Puzzle
• Role Playing Games (RPG)

Rating: 10

Time with product:

Strengths: Solid collection of games, nice price

Weaknesses: graphics

Summary: Ever buy one of those over-priced compilation games only to get it home and realize you paid too much for 30 mins. of nostalgia? Yeah... you won't feel that way with this game. The games on this compilation are actually worth playing again and again (Golden Axe, Phantasy Star, Shinobi) and the price just doesn't get much better. If you remember playing any of the games that are on this compilation, you're already tempted to get it, so why not try the other games on it that are be described as solid games by every one?

Rating: 10

Time with product: 5

Strengths: Great selection of games, including excellent arcade games; faithful emulation; cheaper than buying them through "next-gen" stores

Weaknesses: No real enhancements to games

Summary: This is an excellent collection of some of the best games from the Sega Genesis system. While it won't please everyone, the collection spans some of the most memorable games from the system. Games like Sonic 1 and 2, the Ecco games, Phantasy Star, etc, defined much of the 16 bit era. The game is an incredible value at around $20 when you figure many of them are available online through the next generation consoles for around $5 EACH. This one game includes 32 games, including the arcade versions of Altered Beast, Future Spy, Tac/Scan, Zaxxon, and Zektor-- I don't think any of those have been on compilations before. (having arcade Zaxxon at home is worth $20!) The arcade games must be unlocked but usually are fairly easy to figure out how to do it. (plus you may discover a game you didn't play much in the process!) It has some decent videos/extras as well, to round out the collection. If you've never played the games it's a great way to check them out the first time, and if you remember them from the first time around, they look and play great in this collection. The graphics won't wow you compared to modern games but they are all quite good for the time (and still hold their own). Definitely a must purchase if you at all are into retrogaming.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 3 Months

Strengths: Timeless games at an amazing price

Weaknesses: none

Summary: This collection came out at $30 and now is $20. Compare that with how much you might pay downloading these from the current gen systems- not to mention many of these games are not yet available, nor may ever be. Sure, there might be some games you try for 5 minutes and never bother again. But there are at least 6 games that are rock solid. The Phantasy Star games alone justify this price, but the two vectorman games, or the comix zone are still a blast to play. I do like how the backlist titles get new life through the virtual console or live marketplace. But this package smokes them all in value. Highly recommended.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 7 Months

Strengths: Many Games, Touched Up Graphics

Weaknesses: Bland Menu Presentation, No Streets of Rage?

Summary: Sega Genesis Collection is a compilation including 27 Genesis games published by Sega and oddly enough also includes 5 unlockable arcade games made by Sega. One thing that really stands out on this retro compilation is the amount of great games on it, just the Phantasy Star games alone your looking at a solid 75+ plus hours of gameplay and games such as the Golden Axes, both Shinobis & the Sonic games are still a lot of fun today and hold up really well (not forgetting Comix Zone). The developer (Backbone Entertainment) also did a tremendous job of touching up some of the graphics & fixing it up so that these classic would look nice on newer TVs and not pixilated as is typically the case when playing old systems on newer TVs. The only downfall is that the menus are very boring but this isn't a really serious problem to me (or I'd think to most gamers) as it's all about the games & not really much the menus navigated to get to the games that matters. While the collection does include a lot of greats it is missing some notable games from the Sega Genesis including Sonic 3, Knuckles, the Streets of Rage Trilogy, Revenge of Shinobi, Gunstar Heroes along with a lot of other worthy B-Side games I remember from when I was a kid that I would have surely preferred over a few of the games in this compilation Last Battle, E-Swat, Mystic Defender etc. Hopefully these are absent because Sega plans on doing another Genesis compilation in the future. I would highly recommend this compilation of games to any gamer as while it is a bunch of old games a lot of them hold up well and at 19.99 you really can't go wrong especially considering that this compilation has more games still worth playing compared to most (if not all) of the other compilations on the Playstation 2.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 4 Months

Strengths: Tons of great games

Weaknesses: Dated graphics

Summary: Sega Genesis Collection is a great collection of Sega 16-bit video games from the 1980-1990s era. It includes Ecco, Phantasy Star, Golden Axe, Sword of Vermillion, Sonic and much more. This collection has unlockable items and added extras in addition to the dated but excellent games. With such a great collection of about 30 games at $20 retail price, it's an easy decision to pick it up.