Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (Greatest Hits) - PlayStation 3

Every now and then a game comes along that inspires me to open a review with a cliche phrase such as "Every now and then a game comes along that...". This game, is that game people!I'll just assume that if you are considering buying this, then you either had a Sega Genesis in the days of yore, or are at the very least way in to retro style games. With that caveat, I say to you that this game delivers, and keeps on delivering! Not only that but it delivers in a pretty attractive little package, and at a price point to the tune of 15 dollars, I suggest you pull on those red slippers and loop-de-loop your way on into town to snag a copy. Or... you could just pick it up right here, and have the hardworking delivery men bring it right to your doorstep!The GamesWell enough of my general yammering. What you are interested in is the games, am I right? Well how about like 40+? Sure that's a few games alright, but what are we talking here? I don't know about you, but I'm not really into the prospect of a 40 game pack if like 5 of the games are like Bubsy1,2,3, Bubsy 4 "This Time its Personal", Bubsy 5 "the Bubsying"... You get the picture. We want quality... and quantity! This disc has it! All the genres are well represented, with several platforming, action, RPG, puzzle, arcade, and beat em up games on offer. Chances are you will even find at least a handful of games on here that you used to own yourself.The HighlightsChronic Sonic: You've got more Sonic than you can shake a stick at here.Or if not a stick, then some stick like object in the idiom of the Sonic Games, but I'm at a loss so proxy in your own wit here for me readers! Even the gut wrenching Sonic Spinball makes and appearance if you are a masochist.The Golden Age: Does the name Ax Battler mean anything to you? If it does then chances are you, like me, have been jonesing for the days where you could just walk around with a friend cutting down goons and punting potions out of gnomes! Well you get all three Golden Axe Games. Golden Axe 1, Golden Axe 2 This time its personal, and Golden Axe 3, the Axening. What a bargain!Phinal Phantasy??: For a few out there, the name brand for the early RPG Didn't use Fs for the FUh sound. Those boys and girls might just have been playing some Phantasy Star! ... Or maybe they just weren't hooked on phonics! Either way, you've got 4 full length retro RPGs here to discover, or rediscover, or even dediscover somehow. I don't know. Do as you will! Only thing is, these are quality games. Check the dates these things came out if you want to know just how ahead of their time they were.All the Rage: Now listen gamers if you are like me, then you dream of the days when you can show up at your friends door, do some buddy arm grab, and then set out across town beating the unholy hell out of everyone that looks different from you! Punk rockers, wrestlers, karate guys,ax juggling carnies, dominatricies(sp?), tubby fire breathing baseball players? No one will be safe from your punchy wrath! All three Streets of Rage games are back! Team up with a friend, and god help the criminally aligned counter cultures of your city!Shining recommendation: Sega's popular Shining Force games go up to numero dos on this disc, and you also get shining in the darkness, or Hard as **** the game, as I like to call it. These things still hold up really well, and the character portraits are pretty good for the time. Lots of fun, well worth a revisit.And All THAT!: There's more, much more, and readers please; just because my brain is like a sieve and I can't think of more specific games, don't take that to mean the rest are all third rate garbage! There are some seriously surprising little gems in there! Don't count out the always fun Altered Beast, or Fantasy Zone, or Gain Ground, Kid Chameleon, and many many more.The short story, is that if you had a Sega Genesis, you might want to just go ahead and pick this game up. For the price of a movie ticket you get a whole heck of a lot of games, and it takes up a lot less space than all those big clunky genesis boxes too yep!

I love that my children get to play games that I enjoyed when I was growing up. The graphics are good and the games are plenty.

Sonic Ultimate Genesis Collection - Playstation 3I just got this yesterday, a day earlier than expected. And I gotta say, just about everything with this collection is wonderfully presented. The titles themselves are what I've come to expect, and I really like the library overall. It would've been nice to have Alien Soldier or something niche to spice it up, but considering we even got the arcade ports of Fantasy Zone and Altered Beast, I'm not gonna let that bother me.The games have been up-scaled to 720p, and they all look amazing on an HDTV. The games start up in a 4:3 aspect ratio box, which looks fine, but there's also a 16:9 option with no box that looks absolutely spectacular if you're playing on a big TV. There's also a smoothing option, but although it hides the pixels much better, it just looks bad overall. Wouldn't recommend using that feature, though I'm not sure I'd say it's useless.Packed in the collection are various interviews and extra games to keep your mind busy. You even have this little red box on the right of every game that lets you rank it from 0 to 5, which is a cute idea. (Can't do that with the bonus games though.)Overall, the definitive Genesis collection, bar none. You get save states, the games look and sound amazing, and the titles themselves are the classics. It's hard not to enjoy games like Golden Axe, Altered Beast, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Gain Ground, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, etc. You get a variety of genres that blend well together, and overall, that's all that needs to be said. I've come a long way from those Jakks Pacific plug n' plays, and if you're a decent Sega fan and want to see what the system had to offer in a new upgraded light, then this is what you're looking for.