PS3 Review - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection

Retro gaming at it's finest — Retro gaming at its finest.

A description on the back of the case states that it is the largest Genesis collection ever released, and that’s very true. There have been a couple in the past that have also been released, but nothing near this size or quality. I own the past release on my PSP, and this one blows it out of the water.

The first console that I owned was a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I got it when I was 6 years old in 1991 for Christmas. When you are that age you typically only had one system unless your parents were rich, and believe me, mine weren’t. Many of my friends had the Sega Genesis console, and being a child I was a bit jealous because I loved Sonic. Don’t get me wrong though, I loved my SNES a lot. Zelda: Link to the Past is one of my favorite games of all time. But the Genesis had a great number of titles released on it that I never really got to experience. That is, until now.

What I Liked:

-The sheer amount of games—there are a lot of games on here, around 40 or so. A lot of them are great titles that are just a blast to play. Some of them I’ve never even heard of, and I am enjoying them a lot.
-Trophy support—for all the trophy whores out there you will be happy to know that this title supports trophies. Only gripe is a lot of them are ridiculously easy. Especially with the save system. There are a couple though that are a pain.
-Price—the game is only $29.99. For the amount of games that you are getting for that price it is a steal.
-Extra Content—there is a lot of extra content on the game. It includes both videos and artwork. Some of the videos have to be unlocked by reaching a certain criteria. I’ve actually watched a couple and enjoyed them so far.
-Analog or D-Pad support—depending on your personal preference you are able to play the game whichever way you are comfortable with via the analog stick or the d-pad.
-Save system—the save system in this game helps tremendously with some of the more difficult/frustrating games. You can save at any time via the select button, and load to that exact spot whenever needed.
-Custom Soundtracks—the game features custom soundtrack support. I actually just found this out after publication of the review, seeing as how I don’t typically use custom soundtrack features. Thanks for the tip EvoAnubis.

What I Disliked:

-Trophies entirely too easy—yes some may disagree, but some of these trophies are ridiculously easy for the game.

Undecided:

-Could’ve been more—the game overall is a blast. But Sega could’ve done more with this in my opinion to appeal more to some of the graphics whores out there. While I’m not one of them, considering I played titles like these growing up. I feel the outdated graphics may turn away some of the younger audiences. They could’ve spruced up the graphics a bit more than just giving a “Smoothing” option. While it personally doesn’t bother me, I could definitely see it bothering younger gamers.

Buy/Rent/Stay Away:

Overall the game is great in my opinion. I have throughly enjoyed it. It brings back a lot of memories hanging out with my friends when I was younger. This game is a Retro gamer’s paradise. Everything about it is just fun if you are from that era. It also shows how much harder some titles actually used to be. If you take out that easy save system implemented you will see how hard these games were. There were no real “checkpoints”. But the game may not be liked by the younger audiences as I stated before, based on graphics alone. It’s sad that a gem like this would be passed over for graphics. I would definitely recommend this title to anyone though.

While I know this review is a little short for my style. There is only so much you can say about retro titles. You either love them or hate them. Most people out there are old enough to experience these titles and will most likely end up picking this title up for the nostalgia factor, while there are the others that are young and think that older titles should stay in the past.

If you are actually curious as to what titles are included in the game they are as follows: