threevue

While giving in to internal/external pressure and buying Street Fighter IV yesterday, I also shelled out $30 for Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, a collection of 40 full Sega Genesis games (although admittedly, a couple are Sega Master System and Arcade ports). Considering the fact that I am a tried-and-true Genesis kid (out of necessity really, I envied my Super-NES-owning friends), this game seems right up my alley. That price tag is hard to pass by, anyway; 40 games at their original $50 retail price would cost $2000, while now we’re getting each game for $1.34! Plus there are some hefty games in here – including all four Phantasy Star games – you could spend weeks on this collection (as long as you can still dig the 16-bit graphics, which I can).

The single most rewarding aspect of popping in each of these 40 games is how quick and easy the cheevers are. They’re so fast that there’s really no reason not to play each game. Most achievements are based within the first 5-10 minutes of play for each game. Start up Ecco the Dolphin and simply talk to a dolphin – bam – 10 cheever gold. And while I’m here, I might as well play the game for a few minutes, right? You can also rate each game, which allows you to sort the list by your favorites (and help you avoid the soooo dated Columns).

Favorite game that’s new to me so far? Comix Zone, which is a side-scrolling beat ‘em up with some comic book flair added to it.

My only complaint so far is that there is a significant load/pause while switching from each game to the overall menu. I may install the game on my HDD to see if that speeds things up.