Sega Genesis Collection
| Sega Genesis Collection | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Digital Eclipse Software Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 PlayStation Portable |
| Genre(s) | Compilation (various) |
| Mode(s) | Single-player multiplayer |
The Sega Genesis Collection , also known as the Sega Mega Drive Collection in PAL regions, is a video game compilation for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, compiled and emulated by Digital Eclipse and released in the U.S. in 2006 and Europe and Australia in 2007. The collection includes twenty-eight (twenty-seven in the PAL versions) Sega Genesis games from a variety of genres, as well as unlockable classic Sega arcade games, with different sets of arcade games for the PlayStation 2 and PSP versions.
List of Genesis Games
| # | Title | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| #01 | Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle | 1989 | |
| #02 | Altered Beast | 1989 | |
| #03 | Bonanza Bros. | 1990 | |
| #04 | Columns | 1990 | |
| #05 | Comix Zone | 1995 | |
| #06 | Decap Attack | 1991 | |
| #07 | Ecco the Dolphin | 1993 | |
| #08 | Ecco: The Tides of Time | 1994 | |
| #09 | Ecco Jr. | 1995 | |
| #10 | Flicky | 1991 | |
| #11 | Gain Ground | 1991 | |
| #12 | Golden Axe | 1989 | |
| #13 | Golden Axe II | 1991 | |
| #14 | Golden Axe III | 1993 | |
| #15 | Kid Chameleon | 1992 | |
| #16 | Phantasy Star II | 1989 | |
| #17 | Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom | 1991 | |
| #18 | Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium | 1994 | |
| #19 | Ristar | 1995 | |
| #20 | Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi | 1990 | unavailable in the PAL release |
| #21 | Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master | 1993 | |
| #22 | Sonic the Hedgehog | 1991 | |
| #23 | Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | 1992 | |
| #24 | Super Thunder Blade | 1988 | |
| #25 | Sword of Vermilion | 1990 | |
| #26 | Vectorman | 1995 | |
| #27 | Vectorman 2 | 1996 | |
| #28 | Virtua Fighter 2 | 1996 |
Extras
This collection also features more than thirty-five minutes of unlockable interviews from SEGA of Japan, a "museum" with facts about the games, strategy tips and box art[1] for each game, as well as a "Sega Cheat Sheet" that consists of cheat codes for most games, and a set of unlockable arcade games, (some of which are from the early Sega/Gremlin era).
The PS2's unlockable arcade titles are:
| # | Title | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altered Beast (Arcade version) | 1988 | ||
| Future Spy | 1984 | ||
| Tac/Scan | 1982 | ||
| Zaxxon | 1982 | ||
| Zektor | 1982 |
The PSP's unlockable arcade titles are:
| # | Title | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astro Blaster | 1981 | ||
| Congo Bongo (AKA Tip Top) | 1983 | ||
| Eliminator | 1981 | ||
| Space Fury | 1981 | ||
| Super Zaxxon | 1982 |
Reception
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | 81.12%[2] |
| Metacritic | 82 out of 100[3] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Eurogamer | 8/10[4] |
| Game Informer | 8.75/10 |
| GameSpot | 8.1/10 |
| GameSpy | 4/5 |
| GameZone | 9/10 |
| IGN | 8.6/10 |
| X-Play | 4/5 |
The game won the award and Reader's Choice for Best Compilation Game on GameSpot's "Best and Worst" 2006.
Omitted games
The European version does not include Shadow Dancer. However, it does fix previous speed problems concerning Sonic the Hedgehog which plagued the game's original PAL Mega Drive incarnation and most home console emulations of the game.
According to ToeJam & Earl Productions, they were going to include ToeJam & Earl and its sequel, ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron as well, but Sega wasn't very fond of the series, so they included Sonic the Hedgehog and its first sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as well as Flicky, Ristar, and Comix Zone instead.
Although mentioned in passing, the collection does not include the first Genesis Shinobi game, The Revenge of Shinobi, possibly due to copyright issues surrounding the inclusion of Spider-Man as a boss character at the end of Stage 6. There was also previous versions made with other copyrighted characters that were changed or removed during revisions of the game. The Revenge of Shinobi would be released on the Wii's Virtual Console with an altered version of the Spider-Man boss and has none of the other copyrighted characters or character likenesses that were not owned by Sega.