Nostalgic thoughts for popular culture of 1990 often lead to cringe worthy memories two decades on. The year of Macaulay Culkin’s rise to cinema fame fending off two hapless burglars, MC Hammer’s ‘U Can’t Touch This’ and the release of the live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie are probably among the most notable moments for those old enough to remember them. However, there was one major impact for a subject all close to our hearts for those of our shores. The release of the Sega Mega Drive was a pivotal event in the progression of home gaming systems, especially in the United Kingdom and Europe.
The Sega Mega Drive: Ultimate Collection, well, is what it is: a 40 strong compilation of Sega’s best home grown games for its 16bit console. With such a wide variety of titles, including the very best pick of the Sonic, Golden Axe, Phantasy Star and Streets of Rage series’ among its contents, there really is something for everyone in this bundle.
Now let’s gain some perspective on the whole affair. It’s probably of some importance to mention that during the Mega Drive era I was very much a ‘Nintendo Girl’. Gaming was a mean playground business even back then and your console of choice spoke volumes about the gamer you were. I was very much on the side of Mario and company and as such, aside from the more popular titles of the Mega Drive, my experience with much of Sega’s catalogue was not as varied as some. And yet, while playing through many of the titles in this collection, I was very much pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it was from both an old and new perspective.
I found several little gems in the back catalogue available to me, including Dynamite Headdy: a fun platformer featuring a nifty little fellow with detachable cranium, Flicky: a puzzling blue bird with a penchant for saving chicks from feline predators and Sonic Spinball: an addictive pinball game featuring Sega’s famous icon bounding around a variety of tables in good old hedgehog fashion, to name but a few. Unfortunately some choices for the collection left me rather perplexed, Fatal Labyrinth for example which should have been left gathering dust under a gamers bed compared to some of the potential titles that could have been included in its place.
Graphically speaking, this collection was always going to be a no brainer. Considering most of these titles have celebrated at least 15 birthdays since their release, a graphical master piece was never to be expected and may disappoint those hoping for high definition remakes. Although claiming to be HD friendly little difference can be seen in comparison to the originals, and optional display choices for the appearance act much like polyfiller to hide noticeable flaws rather than upgrade to a standard expected by game players of today.
Much like the recent Xbox Live Arcade versions of many of these titles, the ability to save at any point has been introduced, although passwords are still active and useable for those wishing to play by the old rules. However I found although helpful and less frustrating than the days of old, the challenge of game play was much less satisfying as a result of the save ability. Although making the games easier and quicker to complete, especially if aiming for achievement scoring, it does take away some of the original charm for titles that had many gamers playing for hours rather than 15 minutes.
On the subject of achievements, those looking for a challenge will not find it here. Although new to many of the titles on this disc, I found myself unlocking points left right and centre after as little as five minutes of game play. Those with experience of the Mega Drive catalogue will find unlocking all 1000 points as much of a challenge as the first level of Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine.
However, despite my enjoyment of the games at my disposal, this title is very much aimed at those already experienced in the ways of Sega Mega Drive games, or at least games from that era, and serves as no more than a trip down memory lane albeit a fun one. Despite reigniting my nostalgic memories of gaming times past, there is nothing new for long standing fans of the console or its games. The lack of any online features, especially co-op or verses modes, fails to inject any new life into now tired games that have been rereleased by Sega one to many times. Any long term life span has been neglected as a result, but one disc is far less consuming on time and space than scouring for emulators or digging out your old console.
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