The Sega Mega Drive is my favourite console of all time and, having owned a ridiculous number of consoles over the years, such a statement really means something. On the face of things, with over forty games available to play, this seems like a fantastic collection but with so many quality titles on the console I could name one hundred which deserve to be included in the “Ultimate Collection”.

The main problem with this type of collection is obtaining permission to include certain games from whichever company owns the rights to them and because of this Sega have taken the easy option and stuck with their own titles. It appears that obtaining permission from EA would have been difficult hence the exclusion of popular titles such as FIFA International Soccer, Madden, NHL, PGA Tour Golf, Desert/Jungle/Urban Strike, the Road Rash titles, and personal favourites of mine Power Monger, General Chaos, and the Mutant League games.

Even if you take EA out of the equation you’re still left with many great titles which don’t appear in this collection such as Mega Lo Mania, Flashback, Sunset Riders, Speed Ball 2, Zero Tolerance, Castle/World of Illusion, Strider, Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, Micro Machines, Robocop versus the Terminator, and the obscure but fantastic Herzog Zwei.

The real mystery for me is the omission of a few favourites which Sega themselves published such as Chakan, Cyborg Justice, Super Hang-On, Space Harrier II, Wrestle War, and most startling of all, considering this collection features both Shinobi Arcade and Shinobi III, the wonderful Revenge of Shinobi.

While these omissions are a shame it would be unfair to judge this compilation on what is missing over the games which are included.

The following is a list of Mega Drive games which are available from the start.

Alex Kidd, Alien Storm, Altered Beast, Bonanza Bros., Columns, Comix Zone, Decap Attack, Dr. Robotnik’s M.B.M., Dynamite Headdy, E-SWAT, Ecco the Dolphin, Ecco II: The Tides of Time, Fatal Labyrinth, Flicky, Gain Ground, Golden Axe I, Golden Axe II, Golden Axe III, Kid Chameleon, Phantasy Star II, Phantasy Star III, Phantasy Star IV, Ristar, Shining Force, Shining Force II, Shining in the Darkness, Shinobi III, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D: Flickie’s Island,

Sonic Spinball, Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic The Hedgehog 3, Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 2, Streets of Rage 3, Super Thunder Blade, The Story of Thor, VectorMan, VectorMan 2.

The following is a list of titles which can be unlocked.

Alien Syndrome, Altered Beast Arcade, Tip Top, Fantasy Zone, Golden Axe Warrior, Phantasy Star, Shinobi Arcade, Space Harrier, Zaxxon.

The ability to save these games at any point is a great feature compared with the incredibly frustrating process of starting again when you run out of lives or, in the case of some titles such as Comix Zone, having to survive on just the one life for the duration of the game. You have the choice of playing the games in their original 4:3 complete with borders or, in the case of many, a more familiar widescreen. I play the games in 4:3 as I don’t like distorting the image by stretching it out but this really is a personal preference and I’m sure some of you will prefer using widescreen. There is the option to play the games with their original visuals or enable a ‘smoother’ which softens edges, shades in blank pixels, and gives everything a sort of comic-book appearance which I feel works better with some titles than others.

All that remains is the quality of the games themselves and if you’re familiar with the Megadrive console then you’ll probably be aware that there are some fantastic titles in this collection. The games cover a nice mixture of genres and I’ll briefly mention some of my favourites in each. If puzzle games are your thing then both M.B.M. And Columns will be right up your street and I suppose Ecco The Dolphin could be described as a puzzle adventure game. Side scrolling hack/slash/shoot/beat ‘em ups are well represented by the great Golden Axe and Streets of Rage games as well as Shinobi and the cheesy sci-fi goodness of Alien Storm. If there is one genre the Megadrive was famous for it’s platform games and I must say that I’m having almost as much fun playing the 2D Sonic titles and Ristar as I did the first time round. It is disappointing that you can’t combine Sonic 3 with Sonic & Knuckles as both these games are in the collection but this omission should never be considered a deal breaker. Comix Zone gets a special mention as, although it’s another beat ‘em up title, it felt so different in its genre and it’s easily one of the most playable titles in this collection. Last but not least, as far as I am concerned, the fantastic Phantasy Star and Shining Force titles alone covers the price of this disc as it’s difficult to find original Megadrive copies for a reasonable price not to mention the many hours of RPG goodness they provide.

If there is one downside to this collection it is the lack of online multiplayer and I really hope that this can somehow be added. I also hope that there will be DLC of additional Megadrive titles but only if each game is in line with the great value found here. With the few negatives aside this is a fantastic selection of titles and they take me back to an era which holds some of my fondest gaming memories. The most positive factor for me is that most of these games have aged surprisingly well and still provide a ridiculous amount of entertainment. It’s difficult to describe this collection as anything other than incredible value given the quality of the games on offer added to the fact that it’ll set you back less than the price of a recent release. I highly recommend this collection to anyone with fond memories of this great console and because of the variety of games on offer I am pretty sure everyone will find something here that they’ll love.

9/10

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