Sega Genesis Collection

"Surprisingly, this game has most of what I'd want"

Being a compilation game, this review will not really focus on the standard fare of review points (graphics, music, sound, etc.).

The idea of a game that has old Genesis games on it scared me at first, as there was a possibility that there would be no great games on the collection whatsoever. Thankfully, Sega Genesis Collection delivers more goods than most compilation games at a very fair introductory price. With series like Phantasy Star, Golden Axe, Sonic the Hedgehog, Shinobi, Echo the Dolphin, and Vector Man, as well as other notable popular games like Altered Beast, this collection does more than just deliver decent games-- it delivers several of them, and a few that are sure to be on everyone's top 10 Genesis games of all time list.

Menus/Extra Features: 8/10
The menu scheme is a bit annoying at first, but becomes easy to use with a little bit of patience. The game always starts on Sonic the Hedgehog, but the list is in alphabetical order. This odd decision to start on Sonic the Hedgehog may make sense on some level (starting with the game that launched the system's real success), but really, fans and newcomers alike don't want to start in the "S" section of the list if it's going to be alphabetized. Other than this minor complaint, the navigation of the menus is self-explanatory, and there is a legend along the top of the menu to indicate which button does what on the menu.

As for the extras, gamers who actually know who the game developers of these games are will be in for a treat. There are several unlockable interviews that are easy to access, which makes for a good set of achievements to try to unlock for gamers. There are also unlockable arcade games, almost all of which are terrible. Sure, you get to unlock the original Altered Beast arcade game, but the rest of the arcade games aren't the best and there's a reason most people haven't played them.

Emulation Quality: 10/10
These games look and sound great. There is no doubt that Digital Eclipse wanted to make sure that people were getting a genuine feeling of nostalgia when playing these games. All look and play as well as any games that are downloaded on the Wii, so gamers wanting to save money getting some games available on the system can do so by picking this compilation up.

Rent or Buy?
Unless you really don't have much attachment to Genesis in any way, don't even play this game. It's really geared towards old fans who played at least a few good Genesis games.

Overall: 9/10
This compilation is easily worth it for Phantasy Star II-IV alone for most people. The selection of games available is mostly hit, though a few are obvious misses (Alex Kidd is awful, and Flicky has ALWAYS been a tacked-on extra in Sega compilations). An oddity in my opinion is the addition of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sure, the game has Sonic 1 and 2, but the others are missing simply because they're so easy to get already on the Sonic Mega Collection. In the end, it would've been better to just leave Sonic out of it and put other classics in there (more RPGs or cool side-scrollers would've made this collection more solid).

Note to Wii Owners:
This compilation makes about half of the games available for download on the Virtual Console Genesis obsolete. The cost for 2 Genesis games is $16, while this collection is about that price used. It would be a much better investment to buy this game rather than download most games available for the Wii's VC (except for a couple noticeable games like Streets of Rage 1/2 and Toe Jam and Earl 1/2).

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/07