Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection - Gaming Through History
Bring Back The Good Ol’ Days
The year was 1989, and Sega defined an era by introducing the Sega Genesis gaming console. The fourth generation of Sega consoles, the Genesis was the flagship for a host of great games. Any gamer old enough to remember that period of time will wax on for hours, listing more memorable gaming moments than you can count - or at least more than you’d want to hear about probably.
The Sega Genesis still has a almost cult-ish following, determined gamers who dust off the old cartridges to play their favorites from time to time. Well you diehards, its time to rejoice once more. Backbone Entertainment has compiled a rather long list of games from the Genesis days and put them onto today’s consoles.
Sonic, Phantasy Star, and Altered Beast….Oh My (5 out of 5)
The first question is what are the games included here that make this worthwhile. There have been other compilations released in the past few years, but none were this complete. This collection thankfully has grouped together everything that was available in previous collections, and it will be here next month for your gaming pleasure.
The list of games include six Sonic games, the first four Phantasy Star games, the Golden Axe series, Altered Beast, and even Zaxxon. This is just touching on the surface. The total count of games in this collection is well over 48 titles, and thats not counting the rumored unlockable games that can be found via Achievements.
The graphics of these games have all been updated to use 720p. Those of you with a 50 inch flatscreen get the joy of seeing Shinobi strut his stuff like never before. He may be older, but he can still perform some cool moves. Congo Bongo on the Xbox 360 will be awesome - even if he was Sega’s answer to Donkey Kong. Then there’s the extreme difficulty of swimming along with Eco, that tough dolphin introduced so long ago. The list goes on and on, and it will be some time before you are able to make it through all of these historical gems.
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately since the game is not out yet, we can only wait in anticipation for the drop date. North America gets the chance at this collection first, on February 10, 2009. Europe and Australia will have it not too long after, but for some reason Japan doesn’t have a scheduled date of sale. If you’re lucky enough to be in any of these countries, grab a copy while you can. Given the nature of these cult classic games, this title should be a hit among gamers young and old alike. Finally we can relive the arcade days of youth, something that has been missing for far too long.
