ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER SEGA GENESIS COLLECTION.

I’m cutting to the chase here. I love SEGA but this is yet another collection of the same Genesis games (Mega Drive for the worldwide folk) and it’s getting hard to justify giving these collections scores because while the selection in these collections have ranged from decent to great, they are just the same games repackaged. If there is someone out there unfamiliar with the sometimes unforgiving games in the Genesis library this is likely the collection I would recommend due to the unique rewind feature found only in this collection. The rewind feature allows complete reversal of the game to undo any mistakes made, which will trivialize most of these games for any hardcore SEGA fan familiar with them, and allow new players to slowly work their way through. In a vacuum, I recommend this collection and that’s what the score at the bottom of this review will reflect. The rest of this review however will be me removing this game from that vacuum and explaining why I’m torn on giving it the score I do.

This is the fourth extensive Genesis collection released. Up until the Genesis Collection on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, most Genesis compilations contained no more than maybe six games. It’s absurd that despite there being four compilations none of them are feature complete. Not one of these collections is a definitive Genesis collection. SEGA has such a rich catalog of games there’s little excuse as to why a downloadable/physical game on a blu-ray disc doesn’t have more. Space limitations are no longer an issue, yet for some reason on this compilation all three Genesis Ecco the Dolphin games are absent, as is any form of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. All three Ecco titles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles were on the Steam collection released back in 2010 (which was later updated to have a 3D room interface and is the basis of this new collection), meaning that if someone wants to play those titles they will have to purchase the previous release that is still on sale and includes a copy of Sonic CD in the package (launched in a separate game launcher).

PLATFORMS: PC, PS4, XB1
MSRP: $29.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $19.99 on PS4 & XB1/$29.99 on PC

Feature wise, this collection’s adds the previously mentioned rewind feature as well as a fast forward option, and the choice to select which version of certain games to play. Alien Soldier, Beyond Oasis, Dynamite Headdy, Landstalker, Ristar, Streets of Rage 2, and Streets of Rage 3 all have options on which region release to play. In some of these titles the choice to switch localization drastically changes the game, such as Dynamite Headdy being far more difficult in the North American version. Even the previous 2010 Steam release didn’t have this option (downloading a fan-made patch from Steam Workshop circumvented this), but it was added to the collection via a free update as well as adding VR support and the rewind feature on the 29th of May, 2018. Unfortunately, SEGA Genesis Classics doesn’t have any unlockable Master System titles like Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection (360/PS3) which starts the Phantasy Star series at Phantasy Star 2 in this collection, which feels like a missed opportunity. Instead there is online multiplayer, leader boards, and challenges that are basically just achievements that lock out the ability to rewind or fast forward.

Emulation options are fairly basic as well, and when in comparison to M2’s releases from the SEGA Ages collection on PlayStation 2 to the 3D Classics on Nintendo 3DS they are a disappointment. M2 rebuilds each game from the ground up, meaning they can add in features like Sonic being able to spin dash in Sonic the Hedgehog (something not in the original release and later added to the game poorly in Sonic Genesis on Game Boy Advance and implemented extremely well by Christian Whitehead in the iOS release). Any Nintendo Switch owner upset that SEGA Genesis Classics is not coming to the Switch should be happy to know that M2 has announced they will be porting games to the Switch, and judging by their past work it will be far better than the standard emulation of this set of games. In fact, M2 was so specific on their 3D Classics releases that Sonic the Hedgehog allowed audio emulation to be based on the Genesis Model 1 or Model 2 hardware; there is a slight difference which means some people will find certain emulation of Genesis hardware to sound wrong even if that’s not the case. It’s choices like this that make the SEGA 3D Classics collection feel like a more premium product while the SEGA Genesis Classics feels like a thrown together collection of ROMs. (For anyone interested in reading about M2’s previous works outside of 3D Classics, I suggest reading Kurt Kalata’s extensive piece on the SEGA Ages collection on Hardcore Gaming 101.)

Finally, there’s the choice of games. I’m glad there’s still love for Kid Chameleon and Alex Kidd, but I’m tired of them being relegated to simply another game on these compilations. SEGA will milk every last dime out of these long dormant franchises, and it’s annoying for any hardcore SEGA fans like me. Virtua Fighter 2 is still the most questionable addition to most SEGA Genesis compilations because it’s not the version of Virtua Fighter 2 that anyone loves or cares for because it’s not the polygonal game that people remember. It’s ultimately an ugly, mediocre Street Fighter clone. Also Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine is great but ugly as sin; it would be nice to receive the option to play Puyo Puyo instead for once. Any Wonder Boy fans may also notice that Monster World IV still makes no appearance which means it’s still only available on PSN and Xbox Live as part of the Monster World Collection (which lacks Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap making that collection incomplete too). I’m tired of Genesis reissues, especially incomplete ones. It would be nice to have SEGA explore the rest of their catalog outside of their wonder years as a main competitor in the console market. SEGA has more than these games and it would be nice to see it, even if it was just a straight reissue of their SEGA Ages collections for modern consoles.

All in all, this collection is fine. I can’t criticize the game selection based on what it’s not. It’s just tiring having yet another incomplete look at SEGA’s games for their most popular system ever. The games are still great, and for any newcomers to SEGA or just games in general I say buy this to experience these titles because it’s the most forgiving any of these games have been. As an archival look at SEGA’s glory days though this is yet another fumble and I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it, especially when a more complete collection has been available on Steam for years and was updated to share the same features as the console release (and it has more games in it). The Steam release can also have a bunch of games and game hacks loaded into its collection via Steam Workshop which is not only a selling point, but a feature that is understandably lacking from the console release. This is the reason why I say the Steam release is worth the asking price, while the console version is not. SEGA needs to figure out how they want to present themselves at this point, because as a fan this is not worth my money to purchase this collection again, and their unwillingness to really go out there and make this worthwhile for hardcore fans makes me question what happens the next time they release yet another Genesis collection. So back to what I said at the beginning – in a vacuum this collection is great, but taking in all of SEGA’s past releases of these same games, sometimes in better forms, it’s just disappointing. Just don’t buy the AtGames Flashback consoles. They’re complete crap.

Want a giant comparison chart? Of course you do!

Review copy of game provided by publisher.