Sega Mega Drive Classics Review

Sega Mega Drive Classics Review (PS4 and Xbox One) - Should you buy it?

14/6/2018

Blog post by: Gemma @ Juicy Game Reviews / TheGebs24

Sega Mega Drive / Sega Genesis Classics - A worthy upgrade from the Sega Mega Drive Collection?

It’s is fair to say that I love retro games. In fact when you’re done go and take a look in my games room to marvel at some of the many thousands of video games lurking in The Lady Lounge. Now recently The Sega Mega Drive Classics (Sega Genesis Classics) was released on the PS4 and Xbox One which bundles in 50 classic Sega Mega Drive titles such as the Streets of Rage trilogy, Sonic 2, The Golden Axe trilogy, Altered Beast and more. Sounds great right? Well a lot of gamers have echoed disappointment at Sega’s latest revamping of the 16bit classics! This is mainly down to the lack of Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles (which are both playable on the Sega Mega Drive Collection on PS3 and Xbox 360). I totally get why gamers are frustrated at this but let’s try to focus on what the Sega Mega Drive Classics is rather than what it is not. Albeit I predict more games will be added in dlc bundles in due time.

Upon firing up The Sega Mega Drive Classics for the first time you are greeted with a really cool pixelated intro showcasing many characters from the Sega Mega Drive classics. From there we are launched in to an old 90’s looking themed bedroom which acts as the game’s portal in to the Sega Mega Drive games themselves, challenge logs and more. This is super cool and really pulls on the nostalgia element of my heart. What really matters though are those 50 amazing Sega Mega Drive games. How well do they actually play?

Sound
There’s no denying the awesomeness of the Streets of Rage trilogy soundtrack. I played all three games on my PS4 Pro and was astonished that there were a lot of audio glitches. At times the sound stuttered a lot and this increased when there was a lot of on-screen action. There’s nothing much more to say here really. Perhaps it will be fixed in a future patch?

Sega Mega Drive Classics PS4

Gameplay
Okay so the gameplay is not as stable as you might expect. With graphical stutters happening rather frequently it can be easy to conclude that The Sega Mega Drive Classics was rushed to market. Additional features such as the rewind and fast forward features have been added but personally I don’t use these. Why would you want to fast forward in, say, Sonic 2? Additionally, the rewind feature may be a little less used by us seasoned gamers and more used by kids. The immediate save state feature can come in handy but again I choose to play these games as I would on original hardware: without immediate save states.

You can choose different borders to wrap each side of the actual gameplay/aspect ratio. I asked myself: what value does this actually add to the game? My simple answer is: none.

With the obvious flaws you may think that I am not enjoying The Sega Mega Drive Classics but you are wrong. The 50 games keep me occupied and I love being able to enjoy them with my nephews.

Multiplayer is very unstable at present. Surely an easy fix

Value
At £24.99 (RRP) I think The Sega Mega Drive Classics is a bargain. It works out at 50p per game which is great value, despite its flaws. Had the Sega Mega Drive Classics have been £40+ I would be telling you that it was a little disappointing.

What Classic Sega Mega Drive Games are included?
Golden Axe™
Altered Beast™
Comix Zone™
Ecco the Dolphin™
Gain Ground™
Shinobi™ III: Return of the Ninja Master
Vectorman™
Crack Down™
Shadow Dancer™
Space Harrier™ II
Ecco™ Jr.
Alex Kidd™ in the Enchanted Castle
Bonanza Bros.™
Super Thunder Blade™
Kid Chameleon™
Ristar™
Galaxy Force II™
Columns™
Eternal Champions™
Fatal Labyrinth™
Bio-Hazard Battle™
Columns™ III
Sword of Vermilion™
Virtua Fighter™ 2
Ecco™: The Tides of Time
Alien Storm
Decap Attack™
Flicky™
ESWAT™: City Under Siege
Golden Axe™ II
Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole
Shining Force
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
Streets of Rage 2
Alien Soldier
Light Crusader
Gunstar Heroes
Streets of Rage
Shining Force II
Shining in the Darkness
Beyond Oasis
Dynamite Headdy
Golden Axe III
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic 3 and Knuckles
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic Spinball
Toejam and Earl
Toejam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron
Streets of Rage 3
Revenge of the Shinobi
Vectorman 2
Wonder Boy in Monster World

So this is quite the list right? Now I know you are dying to tell me what you wished had been included so drop me a comment below.

Blog post by: Gemma @ Juicy Game Reviews / TheGebs24