Before we get into this, tell me the "Genesis Does" voice-over guy doesn't sound kind of like Wesley Willis (RIP)?!
I've recently picked up Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the XBox360. It is full of wonder and joy and a vast amount of nostalgia. One of the first things I made sure to do was unlock Phantasy Star 1, which is, as you should know, a Sega Master System title. However, I believe Sega has taken pity on us early Phantasy Star fans and wanted to give us a place to play the entire series out in one disc.
Now I know, a lot of you are thinking, "Oh c'mon dude, you could've just downloaded the emulators and saved $30". This is true, I could have, but there's just something about the feeling you get playing these games on your TV, sitting in the living room, that just makes it feel better. If you can't understand that, then I feel sad for you.
My only real complaint is that they didn't include multiplayer via XBLive, but, aside from that, this is a GREAT collection of some of the best games ever made, for those of you who didn't have the opportunity to have a Sega Genesis when you were younger, or who's parents figured that Nintendo was better and got you an SNES instead, now's your chance to play a bunch of the best games ever made from the 16bit console era and let's be honest, beyond. Not to mention the fact that you can have a buddy over to play the two player games right along with you, just like the old days.
Now enough waxing on how good the game is, I think you've got that by now, let's get into some of the games that are actually ON this thing:
- Altered Beast: Now this is a great one, and they have not only the Genesis version, but the original arcade game as well! "Wize fwom yoah Gwave!!!"
- Alien Storm: Here's a really fun one that I'd honestly completely forgotten about. My buddy's and I killed hours playing this great Final Fight-esque brawler co-op. You can choose 3 different characters (I always chose the robot) and go fight the alien beasties which were, in typical early nineties style, funny, imaginative, and gross.
Not the best scene from the game, granted, but look at the freaky slug-things!
- Comix Zone: Not the best game in the world, a rather typical brawler actually. What set this game apart and made it interesting was the way each board played out like you were actually in a comic book, well, after all, the game's premis was this: "Tron" replacing computers with comics. Easy enough right? Just don't laugh at the main character's hairstyle.....I had that....
- The entire PHANTASY STAR rpg collection: discussed above...
- SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: All of them....nuff said.
- Golden Axe: 1, 2 and 3!! AND the arcade version!! w00t!
- Gain Ground: Now HERE is an undersung classic. Seriously, I truly LOVE this game and if you come hang out, you can near guarantee you'll be playing this with me. It's kind of a puzzle game/top-down shooter hybrid. You have a vast array of different character types (admittedly, some of them can even be seen as a bit racially stereotyped, I mean, c'mon guys, a black guy throwing spears....really? You went there huh?), each character has his/her own specialty shot type, high ground, low ground, seeking, spiral, spread, grenade, ect ect ect. And you go through each level trying to use the best character to complete it. Each level can be completed in two ways, either get all your mans through to the exit, or destroy each enemy on the screen. You also have your requisite boss fights, which to be honest, seem to be easier than the levels themselves. I could write a whole post on this game alone, but I'll move on for now...
- Space Harrier: You need to play Space Harrier....just look:
Dude? Is that a freakin' Space Wooly Mammoth Cyclops amidst the asteroids on blue plaid planet? Yes? Okay, thanks....I thought I was having a flashback....
- Congo Bongo: What? You've never played Congo Bongo you say? It's best described as Donkey Kong, but awesome!! And that music, you will never NEVER get that music out of your head...for the rest of your life....
- Kid Chameleon: Kid Chameleon's story was simple, you are the shit when it comes to playing video games, other kids were t3h suxor, Heady Metal (yeah, I'm not kidding) who is the boss of this "Virtual Reality" game is kidnapping all of t3h suk kids who couldn't beat his game. so it's up to you to save them!!! You do this by donning different masks that you find throughout each level which change you into different characters and give you special powers like: Maniaxe! who is supposed to be a Jason Vorhees type of character who throws axes in an arc. Juggernaut (Bitch!!), who turns you into a tank. Iron Knight! who can scale walls and break through some floors.....the list goes on, there's about 8 or 9 different characters including "Kid" himself.
- Shining Force 1 and 2: I will admit to possibly being wrong about this, but I do believe that this was the first turn based tactical rpg released for a console in the states. And it is good, oh boy, believe me, I threw many an evening into these games, my friends must have thought I'd caught mono....
- Shinobi: Don't EVEN tell me you've never played Shinobi...and no, I'm not talking about that crap on PS2 tha just wanted to be Ninja Gaiden really badly, I'm talking old-skool awesome Shinobi.....yeah, the arcade version...it's on here, you have to unlock it.
I'm gonna end it there for now, there's something like 40 games on this disc, all of them awesome!! My only wish is that they procured the licenses for more of the 3rd party games that were on the system some of my favorites being: Herzog Zwei, Chakkan the Forever Man, Storm Lord, Zero Wing (yes, we need all your base), Fatal Rewind (this game damned near gave me a stress-induced heart attack), Earthworm Jim, Todd's Adventure In Slime World (best two player game on the Atari Lynx, next to Xenophobe), Zombies Ate My Neighbors....oh this list could go on and on and on and on and on.....oh boy...
What were some of your favorites?
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