Reviews

In around 20 years time, when we're playing PS8 or Xbox 36,000, I find it very hard to believe that we'll be playing compilations of the best games from the current generation. In fact, it seems far more likely that we'll instead be playing a larger collection of titles from Sega's 16-bit era. Perhaps we'll still even be claiming that they're still as good today as they were when they first came out. That's assuming any future economic troubles don't cause the production of rose tinted spectacles to cease.

The game was released in the States under the title Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, reflecting the US name for the console, and the regular presence of the blue hedgehog amongst the titles on offer. There are six Sonic-based titles amongst the 40+ on offer here (Sonic 1, 2 and 3, Sonic 3D, Sonic and Knuckles, and Sonic Spinball), along with two other spin-off titles featuring characters from his universe (Flicky and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine), but there are plenty of other franchises on show here, which will both conjure and kill memories of gaming days gone by.

Rise from your grave! The Altered Beast and his eco-friendly ally get their claws out.

The action genre is ably covered with many different various from beat-em-up to hack and slash. The three versions of Street of Rage can be interspersed with a trio of Golden Axe games. That's if you're not too busy ploughing through Altered Beast or E-Swat. Or, if you're more interested in a spot of adventure, there's four Phantasy Star games to play, The Story of Thor, Fatal Labyrinth and even a few Shining Force games that can keep you occupied.

Of course, all this is before you've settled down for platform fun with Vectorman 1 and 2 or Ristar, and lost countless hours on puzzlers like the aforementioned Mean Bean Machine or Columns. Admittedly though, there's a fair number of these games that simply don't stand the test of time, which you'll find yourself playing solely for the achievements/trophies and then never going back to again.

Columns. Is it Tetris without the fun, or a sublime piece of puzzle action?

One thing you'll most likely do with the games, however, is get further with them than you ever did when you actually had a Megadrive (without resorting to cheat codes, anyway). While many of you will claim it's simply because you're an older, better gamer than you were back then, a good deal of assistance can be attributed to a more modern feature implemented into every game here - the save state.