Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection

It’s a good collection and the practicalities of it can’t be ignored, even the most retro of retro gamers get annoyed about having to unpack a lot of stuff, untangle wires and then try to work out a way of getting their old aerial leads into the back of their new televisions, just to have a go on Alex Kidd. Then they have to pack it all up again when they realise that Alex Kidd is a bit rubbish.

In total you get 48 games that, if you’re old enough, you’ll remember from your youth. And it’ll make you happy when you begin reminiscing abut when you played them, where you played them and how they seemed like the greatest games in the world ever and that nothing could possibly surpass them. How naive were you?!

There are some high spots in the collection such as having nearly all the good Sonic games and Sonic Spinball available from a menu rather than having to get on your knees and blow into a cartridge to make sure that it’s going to work. Other highlights include Dynamite Heady, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Gain Ground which are still pretty playable today, though there have been various versions of Puyo Pop (the proper name for Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine) released on many different formats since then. Another interesting point of note is that The Story Of Thor is on here, it was kind of like the Mega Drive’s Legend Of Zelda and even though it’s been given its NTSC name (Beyond Oasis) it is actually the only game we’d be willing to plough all the way through again.

Which is because other than the five minute nostalgia burst you get from loading these up there is no way you’re ever going to put the time and skills needed into completing most of the other games. Would you really play through a nasty version of the nasty Golden Axe 3? Or go right back to the start of the Phantasy Star series and play through I to IV? Also weird is the way you have to play through the Mega Drive version of Altered Beast to unlock the arcade version, it looks a lot better but you’ve just completed the game so the impetus has gone. Although we’re getting a hankering to put Ecco: The Dolphin on just to have another dolphin to tell us to “Swim slowly passed eight arms”.