Retro Strikes Again

Ahhh...memories. So far in my life, I've seen quite a few console wars, but none in my mind have compared to the Genesis vs. Super Nintendo war. This was a console war that changed the face of gaming for me. No more limitations of the original Nintendo, now I had two more systems to see the limitations of. Christmas came, and a Sega Genesis is what I got. So for that period when Genesis and Super Nintendo were on top, I was a Genesis man, which I was naturally drawn to this collection.

I have no doubt that the retro fad is still in full swing, as people swarm onto Ebay to get an overpriced Atari and realize that what was fun back in the day is simply no longer fun, also from the fact that old Nintendo games are a hot commodity at the used game stores around here. People want to relive their old gaming days, and this is collection is one way to do it.

If you're part of this retro fad, you're going to go one of two ways with this collection, and either way is equally likely. You'll either jump back into the fray, playing a lot of the old games that you used to play, and enjoy yourself into the wee hours of the night, or you'll play these games, realize they're dated, and remember why you ditched your old Genesis for that Playstation or Nintendo 64. Let's get into the games.

First of all, this is hands down the best collection of classic games put on a new system, ever. With twenty-eight games, you're likely to find at least something you like, and for once, it doesn't feel like they scraped the bottom of the barrel in deciding what game to include, for the most part. Most importantly, unlike other game collections, these games are restored to their full glory, unlike some games that remix the sound, or try to touch up the graphics. There are virtually no changes, which is a good thing.

The real gems, the games that show their age but still remain playable, fun, and challenging, are Sonic the Hedgehog, Ecco the Dolphin, Comix Zone, Vectorman, and Virtua Fighter 2. Those are my top five anyway. These are the games that will bring back those fond memories. Ecco the Dolphin, a game I never had the chance to play and finally get to play now, is a blast, and like subsequent Ecco games, very hard, so it'll keep you busy for a while.

Some games are showing their age. Altered Beast, considered a classic by some, really isn't that good. The movement is slow, the levels are dull, and the gameplay repetitive. the same applies to Golden Axe. There is also some filler, like Bonanza Bros., a caper game that was better left at the arcades, as was Flicky, though I'm not entirely sure that either of these deserved quarters being pumped into them.

For you RPG fans, Phantasy Star II, III, and IV are all included in here. I'm not personally a fan of RPG's, and Phantasy Star has not changed me a bit, but I will say that these are considered great classics, so if you like RPG's, these still stand up well, and will keep you busy in their epic quests. Less successful is Sword of Vermilion, which lacks one important ingredient of a solid game...fun. This game simply isn't fun, on any level. You could literally spend hours in it and not do a single thing that even makes you lift an eyebrow.

And the Tetris fans aren't left out either. This package contains Columns, which is Tetris for the Genesis. It's the same principle. I'm ashamed to admit that I've actually spent a great deal of time on this game.

The package boasts having 28 games, which is fair in a way, but somewhat misleading. There is some filler here, and a lot of sequels. You get Ecco the Dolphin, but you also get Ecco 2, and Ecco Jr., and game obviously meant for kids that can literally be beaten in minutes. You have Golden Axe, but you also have a couple of sequels tossed in there as well. The unfortunate thing is that the sequels play almost the same as the original, so you're not really getting much diversity. Same with Vectorman. The original was a great little platform shooter, boasting great (for its time) graphics, fast paced gameplay, and tons of fun. Vectorman 2 is like Vectorman lite. It's got all the things that made the original great, but lacks a certain something. It seems like a perfunctory, tacked on sequel that was made strictly for the purpose of squeezing a few extra bucks out of the franchise.

There are some unlockables. They're not too much, but they give you a little something to strive for. There are also a couple of unlockable games, but nothing too terribly special. What you do have is the ability to save your game in the middle of a game, which is probably the best feature this package has. I can't tell you how many times I've had to either rush through a game or give it up entirely because I couldn't save, so kudos to the developers for putting that much needed feature in.

Here's the Deal: You may notice I'm not going into too much detail on but a fraction of the games. There's a reason for that. Going through all 28 games would bore you. What I'm going to do instead is sum it up for you like this: if you recognize any of the games in this collection, and had a love of them, odds are you can't go wrong with this collection. I bought it for twenty bucks, which is about right, actually really good, for it. If you've never heard of any of these games, and you've grown up on Playstation 2, Gamecube, X Box, and up, odds are this collection offers nothing for you, and you'd be better off getting something for one of the new systems. This collection is not perfect by any means, and there will undoubtedly be games that you loved and wish were on here, but this is the best collection of Sega Genesis games on one disc out there right now.

Parent's Note: Some of these games do contain some animated violence, but nothing compared to what you see now. I don't know of a kid who plays games now that couldn't handle anything on this.