It isn’t often that I review a compilation disc. It gets especially tricky when said compilation disc is full of old Genesis games. But Sonic Ultimate Genesis collection is, as the title suggests, a compilation of about 40 games from Sega’s heyday. And we are talking some of the best of the best. All the Sonic titles of course, all of the Golden Axes, the Streets of Rage games a pair of Eccoes, there are plenty of fantastic games in this bunch to keep your nostalgia flowing. But to review the game as a purchase product, well that is an interesting proposition.
Starting with the positive, this collection is pretty much a who’s who of Genesis cornerstones. The one thing that ruins a compilation faster than anything else, and most of them do this, they put a couple games you want with a whole bunch you don’t. Now not every game here is a smash hit. Flicky, for instance, is a game I had never heard of and it is mad Japanese. But after playing every game in this collection I honestly found that the games I found to be just god awful were few and far between. I mean Streets of Rage 3 isn’t going to win any popularity contests but I can appreciate the fact that it’s there. So if you want an instant Sega collection right at your fingertips, this is for you.
However, there is one thing that is hard perfect when throwing products like this together. That being the exact recreation of these games in perfect emulation. People have been striving to perfect emulation for as long as it has been a thing, but it has never been, to my knowledge, achieved. I have played Super Mario World on my computer, Donkey Kong Country on my Wii, and now Streets of Rage on my PS3 and the one thing you see time and time again is that these are not absolute copies of the original. There were some sound effects that were just flat out wrong, there were some strange lag issues, some games just seemed to move slower than they should. In short, this is a fine trip back to memory lane but it is not like busting out a real genesis and loading the carts in. The experience is just a little off.
With that said, I still endorse this game. I encourage anyone who can look at this extensive list of genesis titles and have little flash back episodes of playing the hell out of Columns or Ecco when they should have been sleeping, well they should own this. It has just about every game you would want for the time and it even has trophies. All of which are pretty easy to get except for that damned Dr. Robotnik Mean Bean Machine one. To hell with that! But seriously, if you are an old fart like me and remember when the genesis was a thing, or perhaps a youth who can actually appreciate the games that came before Halo (not many of those around though) then you can’t go wrong with Sonic Ultimate Genesis Collection.