Sega has made it a point to release a collection of its Genesis hits with each of the last few generations of console hardware, and the publisher just announced that the current crop of machines will receive a new set on May 29. Called the Sega Genesis Classics, the compilation will include over 50 different titles from Sega’s 16-bit heyday, including some that weren’t available on previous releases.
Some new improvements to this collection include offline and online multiplayer abilities (Streets of Rage online? Oh my!). The benefit of online play will make already great games like ToeJam & Earl and Golden Axe a lot better, and we’re glad Sega has included it. It’s still up in the air how smooth online play will be and how easy it will be to connect with others, but we’ll have those details in our full review once the release day hits.
Another new feature is the “horizontal flip mode.” According to Sega Europe, “you’ll be able to play all the titles with the screen flipped horizontally for an additional challenge.” Sounds interesting! The games all have save states, which means no more going back to town after dying in the dams in Phantasy Star II! Along with these new features, Sega has also added trophies/achievements, gameplay rewind (similar to that of the Sega Forever releases) and graphical enhancement filters so that modern TVs don’t kill that awesome CRT look, and everything will be navigated through a spiffy retro-’90s menu.
The full game list is as follows:
- Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
- Alien Soldier
- Alien Storm
- Altered Beast
- Beyond Oasis
- Bio-Hazard Battle
- Bonanza Bros.
- Columns
- Columns III: Revenge of Columns
- Comix Zone
- Crack Down
- Decap Attack
- Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
- Dynamite Headdy
- ESWAT: City Under Siege
- Fatal Labyrinth
- Flicky
- Gain Ground
- Galaxy Force II
- Golden Axe
- Golden Axe II
- Golden Axe III
- Gunstar Heroes
- Kid Chameleon
- Landstalker
- Light Crusader
- Phantasy Star II
- Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
- Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium
- Ristar
- Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
- Shining Force
- Shining Force II
- Shining in the Darkness
- Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
- Sonic 3D Blast
- Sonic Spinball
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Space Harrier II
- Streets of Rage
- Streets of Rage 2
- Streets of Rage 3
- Super Thunder Blade
- Sword of Vermilion
- The Revenge of Shinobi
- ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
- ToeJam& Earl
- Vectorman
- VectorMan 2
- Virtua Fighter 2
- Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
- Wonder Boy in Monster World
That’s a nice list, but we’re wondering where Sonic & Knuckles and Monster World IV are. The former has been on every collection since the Renaissance, and the latter has already been officially localized and released. Also, Sega now owns Technosoft’s library, so why no Herzog Zweii or Thunder Force? Perhaps they’re unlockable?
There’s no word on whether we’ll get some other cool extras, like the developer interviews in previous compilations, but we’re sure Sega has something neat in store. We do know that the physical releases will come packaged with a two-sided Golden Axe/Streets of Rage poster just like the ones on the wall in the menu.
What would make this news better would be the inclusion of a Nintendo Switch version. Portable play would be awesome, but it’s not clear why the console didn’t make the cut.
I’ll pass on this one too. Always the same games on these collections.
Sadly, Sega lost the source code to Revenge Of Death Adder (along with countless other games it seems), so it’s highly doubtful you’ll ever see them re-released in any form. Only way to play them at home is by getting either the Jamma boardsets, or just do Mame.
The data for “Revenge of Death Adder” can be dumped from an arcade board and emulators can be made and/or adapted to use it. The source code would great and allow for extra features, but is not required. The real issue is whether or not Sega is willing to release a comparatively “bare-bones” product into the wild and if they feel that it is worth the time to adapt an emulator for it.
I hope this can truly be done for gamers sakes, since that was by far the best Golden Axe game (along with my all time favorite video-game in general), and is a tragedy it never got a console release of anykind. This is also why the original House Of The Dead has never gotten an arcade perfect re-release for modern consoles either, as I was told as well. If (and that’s a big if) Sega can indeed re-release the game in some form, than there’s no reason they shouldn’t have by now, as even a mere bare bones arcade port would still be wonderful all the way. But in the meantime, if you don’t have access to Mame, or the Jamma board to it, one other good alternative is to buy, or simply download the B.O.R. fanmade homebrew title that is Golden Axe: The Curse Of Death Adder for the Sega Dreamcast. While it may not quite be the amazing masterpiece that The Revenge Of Death Adder was, it’s a very good game in it’s own right, which captures a bit of the spirit Revenge had, and is the next best G.A. game in the series (albeit an unofficial one) I.M.O. too.
I think I’ll pass on this release, because Sega has released most if not all of these Genesis / Mega Drive games in past compilations. They don’t seem to care about many of their arcade titles like the original System 18 arcade version of Shadow Dancer, Alien Storm and Clutch Hitter or System 32 games like Out Runners, Clutch Hitter, Arabian Fight and Golden Axe The Revenge of Death Adder. The list goes on and on. Sega is beyond lazy.