Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection

7.3

Format Xbox 360

Developer Backbone

Publisher Sega

Genre Compilation

21 Comments

If you've ever handed over 400 Microsoft points for an Xbox Live Arcade Mega Drive game, it's time to cry. Because for £25 Sega's new packed and polished-as-a-marble-floor Mega Drive Ultimate Collection brings back 40 old school classics. And you're never getting those MS Points back.

First up, because we know the most important selling point of this package is its list of games, here's an, erm, list of games:

• Alex Kidd
  
• Alien Storm
  
• Alien Syndrome
  
• Altered Beast
  
• Altered Beast Arcade
  
• Bonanza Bros.
  
• Columns
  
• Comix Zone
  
• Decap Attack
  
• Dr. Robotnik's M.B.M.
  
• Dynamite Heady
  
• E-Swat
  
• Ecco 1 and 2
  
• Fantasy Zone
  
• Fatal Labyrinth
  
• Flicky
  
• Gain Ground
  
• Golden Axe I, III and III
  
• Golden Axe Warrior
  
• Kid Chameleon
  
• Phantasy Star I, II, III and IV
  
• Ristar
  
• Space Harrier
  
• Shining Force I and II
  
• Shining in the Darkness
  
• Shinobi Arcade and III
  
• Sonic I, II and III
  
• Sonic and Knuckles
  
• Sonic 3D
  
• Sonic Spinball
  
• Streets of Rage I, II and III
  
• Super Thunder Blade
  
• Story of Thor
  
• Tip Top
  
• Vectorman I and II
  
• Zaxxon
  

Not a bad selection, eh? A lot of the titles have stood the test of time rather well and spending an hour or so wrapped up in the nostalgia of Sonic and Knuckles, Streets of Rage or Ristar is all good fun.

While most will turn up for Golden Axe and Sonic, there are plenty of lesser-known retro gems hidden inside. Look out for Treasure's bonkers but brilliant Dynamite Heady, Decap Attack and the criminally underrated Vectorman games.

	Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection 4:37  Random footage from a few titles DEBUG - skip to curtain Play Again? Missed something? Just watch it again.. Watch More Videos Browse related videos and see what's new & popular Share This Video Email this video, or embed it into your own web page Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection 4:37  Random footage from a few titles Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection 4:37  Random footage from a few titles                                                                                                             DEBUG - State:  Status: skip to curtain Now playing More videos Share this   Now playing More videos Share this   Email this video to your friends Enter your friends' email addresses below, one per line. This functionality is currently disabled. Embed this video into your own page Copy & paste the HTML code below into your own web page or blog. <iframe src="http://web.archive.org/web/20090219145608if_/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/video_embed.php?id=2371" width="418" height="378" border="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection 4:37  Random footage from a few titles Now playing More videos Share this

It's not a bad list at all; there's the odd dated "favourite" we suspect was only included for nostalgia purposes (we're looking at you, Flicky), but most Sega stalwarts would be hard pushed to claim that Sega haven't managed to include a lot of the Mega Drive's best (even if it has snubbed a lot of classics - more on that later).

Emulation on each title, unless we're going to get really picky, is about as spot-on as most will care. Sega kindly provides options for state saves, remapping controls, switching the screen ratio between traditional 4:3 and 16:9 widescreen (although this is visibly stretched) and the weird smoothing option from XBLA ports that makes the game look like its gone skinny dipping in Vaseline.

Hardcore Mega Drive nuts will notice the odd sound anomaly when compared to the original console games (Sonic 3 is most guilty of this), but again it's a very anal point and will go unnoticed by most.

Developer Backbone has done a really great job of creating a well presented and nostalgia-filled package. Menus look sleek and true to the Mega Drive design, while changing your game options on the fly with the back or select buttons is fast and effortless.

There's even an entire museum of trivia, (boring) developer interviews, and box artwork - though the latter's unfortunately only from the North American versions.

Local multiplayer support is also in and a major selling point. Upon unveiling Streets of Rage and Sonic 2 in front of the missus last weekend we discovered the collections' stealth feature; as a retro party game. Playing through Golden Axe III or Streets of Rage with a partner is still fantastic fun and for us provides the real meat of the collection's appeal.

Unfortunately Sega hasn't strengthened this point with online play or leaderboards which are sorely missed, though we appreciate the time and effort that would've been required to get Xbox Live and PSN play up and running.

Achievements (and Trophies), though easy as sin to collect, are nicely spread across titles to encourage you to give each game a go (if you're the type of player tempted by 20G you can earn in five minutes, anyway).

There aren't enough points to stick an Achievement on all 40-odd games, but most have an easy unlockable in the first level (e.g. Sonic's "collect a Chaos Emerald") to tempt you into the game, which potentially could be enough to leave you hooked.

Special mention goes to the three token 'hard' Achievements, such as that awarded for reaching level 11 in Vectorman 2. With the aid of level skip (who knew old issues of CVG would come in handy) it's the easiest 50G we've ever earned.

The problem with Ultimate Collection is, well... it's not quite the "Ultimate" Collection. We could sit here all day and list Mega Drive classics that have no doubt been 'strategically' left out for the inevitable sequel; Outrun, Earthworm Jim, Afterburner, Gunstar Heroes, Toejam and Earl, Space Harrier 2 to name a few.

While we're it at, we're particularly miffed on why Sonic 3 and Knuckles, arguably the best 2D Sonics ever made, which is the result of plugging Sonic 3 into Sonic and Knuckles' special cart, isn't included. The original games are already on the disc!

Insultingly, the 'did you know?' trivia section makes mention of Sonic & Knuckles' old lock-on capability, but the functionality is left out of the collection entirely. Which to us at least, is unforgivable.

Mega Drive Ultimate Collection is a nicely polished bundle with a ton of 16-bit memories. It's by no means the "Ultimate" collection and we hope Sega decides to follow it up with DLC rather than an inevitable full-price sequel.

Andy Robinson