Sega Mega Drive Collections - 16 bit arcade graphics plus digital stereo sound

Don't ask me to draw Desert Chrome again, I hate it.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
First up, nomenclature! The last resort of the pedantic and the nerdy, oh joy. So, this site comes to you from the UK where it was always called the Mega Drive, and so for the sake of not having to type out the word Genesis a million times, that's what we'll call it for the majority of this article. We will throw our US readers a bone though, and when we introduce each set we'll rattle off the US name of the collection so we all know what we're talking about. Also, seeing as none of these collections were released in Japan, we'll refrain from using the Japanese names, just the Western names will do.
Moving on, our testing method for these collections, in particular the sound emulation, was not exactly what you'd call Digital Foundry-worthy but we made do with the limited resources Gaming Hell has. Please, please do not expect detailed resolution and video mode breakdowns, you're in the wrong place for that, pal. So, we emulated Sega Smash Pack because it's mostly a footnote here, used the PSP version of Sega Mega Drive Collection, the Xbox 360 version of Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection and the Switch, PS4 and Steam versions of Sega Mega Drive Classics, with our go-to comparison games for sound being Sonic the Hedgehog because of its weird sound issues in several of these collections, Alien Storm because of the weird noises it makes and the convenience of its sound test and Comix Zone for the voices, plus we have real hardware versions of those on-hand. If you come at us complaining that we didn't say the Columns sounds are actually perfect in every way on all these sets, we will not care, you cannot make us.

Sega, bless their hearts, know that the Mega Drive was a Big Deal in the US and Europe compared to Japan.

That's why there's so many Mega Drive compilations that only came out in the West! Let's take a look at four (roughly) of them, for funsies.

This isn't so much a review as it is a lot of information for you to process because I love the Mega Drive- it's my favourite 16-bit console, maybe my favourite console in general with other hot contenders for that throne are the Saturn and Playstation 2- and so I have a few of these collections lying around. Almost certainly because of its success in the West, it's a game console with a lot of rerelease collections dedicated solely to it, with probably only the Atari 2600 exceeding that number. They are of... Highly varying quality, as we are going to see, but there's more to it than just emulation quality, the features offered are a big consideration too, and some of these older sets actually have features you won't find in the more modern ones! So, we'll go through them one by one, looking at the game lists (including specific revisions of games used if relevant), feature sets and emulation quality and seeing what we make of 'em. Get used to me talking about the sound emulation- the Mega Drive is very tricky to get right in this department so I'll cut a bit of slack but not too much! To make this as consistent as possible, one big stipulation here is that I'm focusing specifically on Western home console collections of Mega Drive games that don't focus on one series such as Phantasy Star or a certain Sonic T. Hedgehog (no, Comix Zone and The Ooze being in Sonic Mega Collection don't count). There's some stragglers that aren't present here such as the Windows '95 collections (the first of which accidentally included a prototype of The Revenge of Shinobi, and which were localised for Japan under the very funny name Sega Archives from U.S.A.- thanks, MercuryCDX!) mostly for my convenience (oh ye Gods, I don't want to think about emulating an emulator in an PC emulator) and the Game Boy Advance Sega Smash Pack (a collection of three games, with Golden Axe reprogrammed and Ecco and Sonic Spinball ported from the original C code- ta Kak2X!) so it's not completely definitive, but close enough for Gaming Hell! Let's get started then, with, uh...

Yep, here's the odd one out, the ugliest of ugly ducklings: Sega Smash Pack Volume 1 for the Dreamcast from 2001 which, according to my own rules, counts.

Oh, blimey. Released exclusively in the US when the Dreamcast was on its absolute last legs in that territory- the literal day Sega said they were pulling out the console market, in fact- Sega Smash Pack Volume 1 (the only volume, it must be noted) was a collection that even the people working on it knew was doomed, and so one of the staff members, Gary Lake, provided instructions on the disc, possibly aimed at the piracy group Echelon, explaining how the internal emulator works (said emulator was actually programmed by Yuki Enterprise surprisingly, with the manual specifically crediting the programming to Kazuro Morita) and what to rename ROM files to get it to recognise them. That's ballsy. What's interesting is that in 2000, Kazuro Morita was credited with a similar project, an internal Sega of Europe Mega Drive emulator for the system with similar lousy emulation but a huge library of baked-in ROMs for testing purposes, discovered by fans in 2017 (more info on the Dreamcast Junkyard), so perhaps Sega of America got wind of it and decided to throw something together at the tail-end of the system's life. It's also possible this emulator originates from the Dream Passport 3's Dream Library but there's so little footage and no credits that it's basically impossible to tell. Back to Smash Pack, it's not strictly a Mega Drive collection as it also contains the Dreamcast port of Virtua Cop 2 which was released as a stand-alone game in Japan in the previous year and Sega Swirl, a game originally developed for Windows (with cross-platform multiplayer... Via email!) but the focus is definitely on the Mega Drive here, and it also fits the conceit of this article focusing on Western-only console collections, much to my horror and dismay.

So, the full list of games is...

ALTERED BEAST - WISE FROM YOUR GWAVE etc. etc.

Altered Beast
(1988 / 1989)

PHANTASY STAR II - nei is cool that is all

Phantasy Star II
(1989 / 1990)

GOLDEN AXE - It's them, the Bad Brothers!

Golden Axe
(1989)

THE REVENGE OF SHINOBI - We won't be seeing this one again for a while!

The Revenge of Shinobi
(1989)

Columns
(1990)

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG - this guy's never gonna take off

Sonic the Hedgehog
(1991)

WRESTLE WAR - ONE AND DONE, THAT'S THE WRESTLE WAR WAY

Wrestle War
(1991)

SHINING FORCE: THE LEGACY OF GREAT INTENTION - tao is good, i needed to say this

Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention
(1992 / 1993)

Streets of Rage II
(1992 / 1993)

VECTORMAN - I have a lot of captions to go here but you know what, I'm not scared of that. I'm scared of the fact I have to caption the same screenshot of Vectorman three more times.

Vectorman
(1995)

Virtua Cop 2
(1995)

SEGA SWIRL - This is the only time we'll get to show a screenshot of Sega Swirl.

It's just SameGame. That's all it is.

Sega Swirl
(1999)

Phantasy Star II uses the January 1990 ROM (confirmed here).
Golden Axe uses the REV 01 ROM.
The Revenge of Shinobi uses the post-cart release REV 03 ROM.
Columns uses the June 1990ROM.
Sonic the Hedgehog uses the US REV 00 ROM.

Now, there's a couple of notable things here with the games included. For one, the Mega Drive version of Wrestle War was actually a Japan and Europe exclusive back in the day, and this is the first (and only) time this specific version was released in America. As far as I'm aware. Probably. This collection also has six titles- Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Phantasy Star II, Columns, Sonic the Hedgehog and Vectorman- that would go on to appear in every single console Mega Drive collection that would follow. No, really, Vectorman is on all of them. I mean, that's something, right? Besides, this is a surprisingly good spread of titles with a nice bit of variety, and there's also a few games here that wouldn't show up in the next collection, or even the collection after that. It is pretty much just the games though, nothing else beyond a little savestate support so don't get any ideas of fancy filters or boxart or anything like that!

Unfortunately, this has some of the worst Mega Drive emulation you're likely to see on a commercially-released product. I have no ill-will towards the people working on it either at Yuki Enterprise or Sega of America- it was a small team working on probably a shoestring budget- but it's rough. Visually it's mostly alright although it does make the classic emulator error of having Sonic appear in front of the logo instead of behind it as he should (the menu icon for Sonic even has this issue!) but it's the sound emulation that absolutely ruins this one. Any erudite and verbose description wouldn't do it justice, you just have to hear it, nothing sounds even close to right and if you want to listen to your favourite Mega Drive titles have their soundtracks mangled, this is the game for you. On the plus side, the instructions that allow you to load any game into the emulator let you find out what other games sound like here, leading to unique horrors such as Clive Barker's Busytown which has to be heard to be believed. Needless to say, unless you really want to hear the Mega Drive's FM Synth scream, you can safely skip this one.

someone's spilled white paint everywhere

The next collection is a two-fer- Sega Mega Drive Collection / Sega Genesis Collection for the Playstation 2 and Playstation Portable released in 2006 in the US, 2007 in Europe.

The Playstation 2 era was a pretty busy time for retro game collections and the original Digital Eclipse, later Backbone Entertainment (it seems they were Backbone at this point but for some reason these sets still use the Digital Eclipse branding) were probably the most prolific developer of them, working on Midway Arcade Treasures, Capcom Classics Collection and Namco Museum 50th Anniversary and probably more that I've forgotten. In terms of Sega stuff, they'd just started putting out rereleases of arcade and Mega Drive games on Xbox Live Arcade under the Sega Vintage Collection line (later taken over by M2 to much better results) and had also released Phantasy Star Collection on Game Boy Advance a few years prior, so I guess Sega considered them to have enough experience to put out a fairly cheap collection for both the aging PS2 and the fancy new-ish PSP. So here we are, this has to be better than the last one, right?

The games present on both the PS2 and PSP versions are...

SUPER THUNDER BLADE - Not as super as advertised.

Super Thunder Blade
(1988 / 1989)

ALTERED BEAST - ... Actually, looking closer at this screenshot, the bear was there the whole time! BEAR.

Altered Beast
(1988 / 1989)

ALEX KIDD IN THE ENCHANTED CASTLE - jan-ken-pon

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
(1989)

PHANTASY STAR II - I will say, the battle screens for Phantasy Star II are thoroughly excellent.

Phantasy Star II
(1989 / 1990)

SWORD OF VERMILION - why didn't we get rent-a-hero instead

Sword of Vermilion
(1989 / 1991)

GOLDEN AXE - Chicken Leg is here too, bless 'em.

Golden Axe
(1989)

PHANTASY STAR III: GENERATIONS OF DOOM - Only a gamer of the untamed fields will get the joke here.

Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
(1990 / 1991)

Columns
(1990)

SHADOW DANCER: THE SECRET OF SHINOBI - GOOD DOG

Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
(1990 / 1991)

Gain Ground
(1991)

FLICKY - proud member of the flicky defence force

Flicky
(1991)

BONANZA BROS. - THEY'RE MOBO AND ROBO, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?

Bonanza Bros.
(1991)

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG - One thing I wanted to do with these screenshots was, within reason, get shots outside of the first stage of these games. So, we don't get Green Hill, we get Spring Yard and the enigmatic COPE sign.

Sonic the Hedgehog
(1991)

DECAP ATTACK - don't lose your head over it

Decap Attack
(1991)

GOLDEN AXE II - BETTER THAN III FIGHT ME

Golden Axe II
(1991 / 1992)

KID CHAMELEON - the baddest dude to ever hit the mega drive, probably

Kid Chameleon
(1992)

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 - They made more than one of these? Amazing.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
(1992)

ECCO THE DOLPHIN - If you're a fan of Ecco, I see you, but I can't understand, just not for me.

Ecco the Dolphin
(1992 / 1993)

GOLDEN AXE III - more like... golden axe pee!!

Golden Axe III
(1993)

SHINOBI III: RETURN OF THE NINJA MASTER - NINJA on HORSE

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
(1993)

PHANTASY STAR IV: THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM - I wasn't going to have a shot from this game without Alys sassing someone, it's essential!

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
(1993 / 1995)

ECCO: THE TIDES OF TIME - Nope, still not my cup of tea.

Ecco: The Tides of Time
(1994)

Ristar
(1995)

COMIX ZONE - Oh, don't even get me started...

Comix Zone
(1995)

ECCO JR. - And they say video games aren't educational.

Ecco Jr.
(1995)

Vectorman
(1995)

VECTORMAN 2 - Please imagine a lot of cursing and cussing here.

Vectorman 2
(1996)

VIRTUA FIGHTER 2 - RUN THE SET, COWARD, FIRST TO 100 IN MEGA DRIVE VIRTUA FIGHTER 2

Virtua Fighter 2
(1997)

I don't know whether Phantasy Star II uses the June 1989 or January 1990 ROM here- can you help? It does not have the Wii Virtual Console patch yet.
Golden Axe uses the REV 01 ROM.
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom does not have the Wii Virtual Console patch yet.
Columns uses the June 1990ROM.
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi does not have the Wii Virtual Console patch yet (ta LanceBoyle94!).
Bonanza Bros. uses the JE ROM with the arcade version's intro.
Sonic the Hedgehog uses the US REV 00 ROM.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 uses the REV 01 ROM.
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium does not have the Wii Virtual Console patch yet (the hints reference the Level 99 bug).

From this collection onwards, Phantasy Star IV is referred to by Sega with both its number and subtitle- the cart release did not have IV on the title screen.
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi is missing from both European versions as it was still on the German Index list (ta LanceBoyle94!).

Each version has exclusive unlockable arcade games.
PS2 players get the following games, mouse-over for unlock requirements taken from Sega Retro.

ZAXXON - Does anyone remember the iPhone Zaxxon game, or is it just me?
~In Sonic the Hedgehog, collect the first Chaos Emerald~

Zaxxon
(1982)

TAC/SCAN - Do not ask me for vector arcade game screenshots. Just a really bad idea.
~In Ristar, reach the Round 1-1 Bonus Area~

Tac/Scan
(1982)

ZEKTOR - See what I mean?
~In Altered Beast, complete Round 2~

Zektor
(1982)

FUTURE SPY - FIGHTING SPIES IN A FUTURE TIME
~In Comix Zone, complete Episode 1 - Night of the Mutants Pages 1 & 2~

Future Spy
(1984)

ALTERED BEAST - behold, dargon
~Play every single game in the collection, including the other four bonus games~

Altered Beast
(1988)

And PSP players get the following, again mouse-over for unlock requirements via Sega Retro.

ASTRO BLASTER - I genuinely forgot this as a Sega game.
~In Comix Zone, clear Episode 1 - Night of the Mutants Pages 1 & 2~

Astro Blaster
(1981)

ELIMINATOR - Please no more vector graphics games.
~In Altered Beast, complete Round 2~

Eliminator
(1981)

SPACE FURY - Thankfully, this is the last of them.
~In Ristar, reach the Round 1-1 Bonus Area~

Space Fury
(1981)

SUPER ZAXXON - AW LOOK AT THE CUTE LIL' DRAGON
~Play every single game in the collection, including the other four bonus games~

Super Zaxxon
(1982)

TIP TOP - FROM THE CREATORS OF DONKEY KONG (no, really, look it up)
~In Sonic the Hedgehog, collect the first Chaos Emerald~

Tip Top
(1983)

the flicky fandom is dying, repost if you're a hardcore flicker

BUG FIXES? NAH LET THOSE PLAYERS FIGURE IT OUT

This collection came at a particularly interesting time for Mega Drive fans- just after its US release and coccurrent with its European release, Sega began rereleasing swathes of their old MD games on the Wii's Virtual Console services for 800 Nintendo Points a pop (i.e. just under a tenner each). While this collection was obviously better from a value perspective, the VC rereleases brought a few things into harsh perspective, that some games that should've absolutely been on here were not. OK, no point being coy, it's Streets of Rage, I'm talking about the Streets of Rage games. Their absence here is particularly stinging because a year or so prior, a rerelease of the trilogy had happened on PS2 at least but only in Japan- Sonic Gems Collection on the PS2 and Gamecube had included the three Streets of Rage games and the Mega Drive port of Bonanza Bros., but they were left out of the Western localisations for fear of the collection getting a higher rating from the ESRB. Ouch. You do get a few other notable games, mind- the complete Phantasy Star, Golden Axe, Ecco and Vectorman (I guess) series for the system, two-thirds of the Shinobi series, plus some later titles like Ristar and Comix Zone. I also like that this is one of the few collections to include some really early arcade titles, specifically the Sega / Gremlin vector games, we won't ever be seeing them again! 28 games plus 5 bonus titles per version isn't too bad for this era, but you still wonder if some of these games could've been swapped out for a stronger overall package. That's to come in later collections, I suppose.

Yeah, they got rid of the band names on the free CD so it's just there, bereft of text.

Yeah, they got rid of the band names on the free CD so it's just there, bereft of text.

What about the collection itself and, crucially, the emulation? Let's start with the positives first, each game is given a rather nice museum page with the game's general premise and some bits of trivia (although some of this is wrong, the Bonanza Bros. were not thieves in the original Japanese version, yes this is something I will not shut up about), hints and tips and original box scans (this will be important later). There's also several unlockable features including interviews with key Sega staff members like Makoto Uchida, Rieko Kodama and Yuji Uekawa, five different bonus arcade titles as detailed in the table above and a menu with cheats for many games in the collection (although not all of them, Sonic 2's missing the Debug Mode code). Now, though, we have to talk about how the games themselves run. For options, your screen choices limited with either pixel-perfect, 4:3 or stretched resolution, you've got basic savestate support and, where credit is due, a good button layout option where you can either set individual commands to multiple buttons or use ABC Mode and just set the buttons to each Mega Drive pad button (however, this means you can't disable 6-button support for Comix Zone). The sound emulation is definitely the weakest part here as a lot of it sounds overly-harsh or overemphasised and it just doesn't sound right- my favourite example is Altered Beasts's title screen / final round music where the melody adds this out-of-nowhere off-pitch sound at the end of every note. Oh, and for a game rereleased so often, Sonic the Hedgehog has the most problems by far- many of the sounds are very wrong (the Spin Dash is extremely harsh to the ears and the signpost spinning sound is wrong) and in both 1 and 2 the Power Sneakers don't speed up the game's music. Whoof. It's better than Smash Pack but that's a pretty low bar to clear.

I suppose this is the tricky part when talking about older collections of emulated video games, emulation is getting better and more accurate all the time, feature-sets become codified and commonplace and expectations change. It makes it difficult to go back to some of these older collections without being overly-critical, but I'll do my best. The game selection is a little here and there but covers some important Mega Drive releases and games people would recognise, and many of these games got their first rerelase outside the Wii Virtual Console here, plus you get at least a little history and context for these games, limited and inaccurate at times as it may be, and the extras are pretty nice for what they are. If you baulked at the idea of paying for these games individually at the time on the Wii then this was certainly an alternative but you'd make up for the lower cost with under-par emulation. Still, I suppose the PAL version would've been a decent pick-up on PS2 because, as far as I remember and can tell, the games run at 60hz and not 50hz which was still a rarity at the time! Small blessings and all that. This collection is definitely superseded on a technical level by the ones to come, but in the context of its release it's just about average.

Next is Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection / Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 released in 2009.

By this point, Digital Eclipse had fully become Backbone Entertainment and while they'd slowed down slightly in terms of full compilations, they were still doing a lot of work on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 with reissues of Sega, Konami, Atari and Midway games in particular (the Konami games on XBLA are worthy of a whole stream, and so I did) that were very much emulators with basic menus and little in the way of extras. Still, they had a couple of collections left in them, and so we have this Mega Drive collection. Unlike last time, there's no unique games in different versions so both the 360 and PS3 versions are basically the same, which makes things a little easier for me. That won't hold true for the next collection, mind...

The Mega Drive games included with this one are...

SUPER THUNDER BLADE - It just keeps showing up.

Super Thunder Blade
(1988 / 1989)

ALTERED BEAST - Did you know you can get a rubber figure of the boss here? You do now.

Altered Beast
(1988 / 1989)

ALEX KIDD IN THE ENCHANTED CASTLE - where's alex kidd: high-tech world

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
(1989)

PHANTASY STAR II - I should probably play through this one of these days, how hard could it be?

Phantasy Star II
(1989 / 1990)

GOLDEN AXE - I love that Turtle Village is just a giant turtle. Beautiful.

Golden Axe
(1989)

PHANTASY STAR III: GENERATIONS OF DOOM - So, did you know there's another place in the game you can use an Escapipe, but this time Sega didn't account for it? Try and find it yourself!

Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
(1990 / 1991)

Columns
(1990)

ESWAT: CITY UNDER SIEGE - DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME

ESWAT: City Under Siege
(1990)

SHINING IN THE DARKNESS - I like that the Japanese version is called 'Shining AND the Darkness'. It's a good name.

Shining in the Darkness
(1991)

Gain Ground
(1991)

Flicky
(1991)

Bonanza Bros.
(1991)

FATAL LABYRINTH - fatal labyrinth owns you should play it

Fatal Labyrinth
(1991)

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG - Sonic thinks about the sign whenever he has to reckon with the existence of Sonic '06.

Sonic the Hedgehog
(1991)

Alien Storm
(1991)

STREETS OF RAGE - screenshots you can hear

Streets of Rage
(1991)

DECAP ATTACK - I actually quite like Decap Attack, you know. Some very gnarly enemy designs, and I'm into that.

Decap Attack
(1991)

Golden Axe II
(1991 / 1992)

SHINING FORCE: THE LEGACY OF GREAT INTENTION - I did start a game of Shining Force but I still need to finish it.

Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention
(1992 / 1993)

KID CHAMELEON - 100+ LEVELS, 1850+ SCREENS!!

Kid Chameleon
(1992)

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 - I picked Hill Top for this screenshot because it's my favourite Sonic 2 Zone.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
(1992)

ECCO THE DOLPHIN - do not google the stomach level

Ecco the Dolphin
(1992 / 1993)

STREETS OF RAGE II - rare footage of me playing as max

Streets of Rage II
(1992 / 1993)

GOLDEN AXE III - I think Sega includes this in all these collections as over-compensation for not releasing it in the West the first time around.

Golden Axe III
(1993)

SHINOBI III: RETURN OF THE NINJA MASTER - HE RUNS

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
(1993)

SHINING FORCE II - You know what, I like how small the numbers are in these Mega Drive Shining games. Single-digit attack levels!

Shining Force II
(1993 / 1994)

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG SPINBALL - CLUCK ALERT

Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
(1993)

DR. ROBOTNIK'S MEAN BEAN MACHINE - arle is crying

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
(1993)

PHANTASY STAR IV: THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM - So I tried to order this list in the Japanese release order but the wildest change is this game, there's a two-year gap, whoa!!

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
(1993 / 1995)

Streets of Rage 3
(1994)

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 - hard times in the ice cap zone

Sonic the Hedgehog 3
(1994)

ECCO: THE TIDES OF TIME - One of the achievements is for eating a lot of fish in this game. Twisted.

Ecco: The Tides of Time
(1994)

Dynamite Headdy
(1994)

SONIC & KNUCKLES - unlike sonic, he doesn't chuckle

Sonic & Knuckles
(1994)

THE STORY OF THOR / BEYOND OASIS - presented by ancient

The Story of Thor / Beyond Oasis
(1994 / 1995)

Ristar
(1995)

COMIX ZONE - I'm not playing this again.

Comix Zone
(1995)

Vectorman
(1995)

VECTORMAN 2 - don't make me look at this

Vectorman 2
(1996)

SONIC 3D: FLICKIES' ISLAND / SONIC 3D BLAST - why does this game have two names

Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island / Sonic 3D Blast
(1996)

I don't know whether Phantasy Star II uses the June 1989 or January 1990 ROM here- can you help? It does not have the Wii Virtual Console patch yet.
Golden Axe uses the REV 01 ROM.
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom does not have the Wii Virtual Console patch yet.
Columns uses the June 1990ROM.
Alien Storm does not have the Wii Virtual Console patch yet.
Bonanza Bros. uses the JE ROM with the arcade version's intro.
Sonic the Hedgehog uses the Japanese REV 01 ROM.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 uses the REV 01 ROM.
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball uses the retail release ROM.
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium probably does not have the Wii Virtual Console patch yet.

There are also seven unlockable arcade games and two unlockable Master System games, with unlock requirements via GameFAQs on mouse-over.

ZAXXON - Did you know there was a board game based on Zaxxon? Now you do.
~In Decap Attack, collect five bonus coins~

Zaxxon
(1992)

TIP TOP - again, from the developers of donkey kong
~In Streets of Rage, complete Round 1 as each of the three playable characters~

Tip Top
(1983)

SPACE HARRIER - YOU'RE DOING GREAT!
~In Super Thunder Blade, score over 1,500,000 points before the end of Round 1~

Space Harrier
(1985)

FANTASY ZONE - the tears of opa-opa (after seeing how fantasy zone's emulated in this collection)
~In Flicky, score over 80,000 points~

Fantasy Zone
(1986)

ALIEN SYNDROME - THE TIME BOMB IS SET
~In Alien Storm, complete Mission 2 without using a continue~

Alien Syndrome
(1987)

SHINOBI - MISSION... ONE
~In Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, complete Round 1 without using a continue

Shinobi
(1987)

ALTERED BEAST - Last time we get to see the arcade version!
~In Altered Beast, score 100,000 points before the end of Round 1

Altered Beast
(1988)

PHANTASY STAR - Just play the Switch version, you're welcome.
~In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, beat the boss of Emerald Hill Zone Act 2 with two players active, this requires two controllers~

Phantasy Star
(1987 / 1988)

GOLDEN AXE WARRIOR - ZELDA WHO?
~In Golden Axe III, use magic ten times in total

Golden Axe Warrior
(1991)

Fantasy Zone uses the 'New' revision.
Alien Syndrome uses the easier International version where you do not need to save every hostage to complete a round.

At this point in time, Sega had been steadily rereleasing their old content on the Wii Virtual Console for a few years, and this covers most- although not all- of the games that had shown up there too. Even with some omissions, this is a bit more like it. There's a few games dropped from the last set- Ecco Jr., Sword of Vermilion and Virtua Fighter 2- but this is made up for with two significant trilogies added- Streets of Rage and the Shining games- plus several other titles like Alien Storm, Dynamite Headdy and Beyond Oasis / The Story of Thor. However, there's still some puzzling choices, notably that Dynamite Headdy is the only Treasure game present. Gunstar Heroes had at this point been reissued on Wii Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network, so why they didn't throw that on here is a little odd seeing as several other games like Phantasy Star II and Comix Zone had been given the same treatment and were still here. The more pressing issue, as you probably noticed, is that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is here, Sonic & Knuckles is here... But not Sonic 3 & Knuckles together. This was explained by the collection's producer, Ethan Einhorn, in a Sega Blog interview as a necessary sacrifice- "To shore up the development time necessary to get “Lock-On” to work in [this collection], we would have had to drop all of the bonus [arcade and Master System] games from the disc. Faced with an either / or scenario, we chose to retain our title lineup in its entirety" which is... I mean, that'd be fine if the emulation on those was up to scratch, but we'll get to that. Sadly, this was a common trend with later Digital Eclipse / Backbone compilations- it feels like they were made under strict deadlines within budget, often to the final product's detriment (showcased in the final collection under their Backbone name, Midway Arcade Origins, wherein Xybots is literally missing a configurable button making the game not play properly as you can't use the Zapper).

They weren't at that low point yet though, and this is a step up from the previous Mega Drive collections we've seen today and the sound emulation in particular, while still not quite there, is significantly better. There's definitely still rough parts- Sonic curling into a ball sounds especially harsh, the signpost sound is still wrong and some of the sound effects and percussion in games like Alien Storm sound off as the pitch is wrong or certain parts are over-emphasised- but it's generally a lot more serviceable than previous collections. Visually though, the games have this blurriness to them with no option for sharp pixels which is a real shame as that's the way I like 'em, pixels sharp enough to cut your eyes on. Many of the options from the PS2 and PSP set return, including ABC Mode for controls, save states and a museum section with game information and scans (the hints and tips have been dropped though, and only the US boxart is usually shown... Or, rather, someone involved had templates for early and late Genesis boxarts and reconstructed them leading to weird things like art being zoomed-in or the logo appearing twice or even Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine using completely different art only seen in mainland Europe). New options are thin on the ground though, a rating system as part of the UI so you can score each game out of five points for easy reference, an atrocious 'smoothing' filter that you should never switch on, even by accident, and some hastily-made custom borders for each game when played in 4:3, some more fitting than others. Unfortunately if you don't like them, the only way to get rid of them is to play in 16:9, i.e. stretched out and wrong, so you'd better get used to the Comix Zone one made of panels from the game that look worse than the in-game versions, ouch.

The unlockables return, including some new interviews and a bunch of achievements and trophies for you to get if you're into that, but the extra games are worth discussing here. The two Master System games, Phantasy Star and Golden Axe Warrior, are welcome additions that mostly seem to work fine (plus this means you have the four main Phantasy Star games on one disc, the only time this has ever happened in a Western release) but the arcade games, in particular Space Harrier and Fantasy Zone, are kinda junk here. The sound is completely wrong with the pitch of the music being off and the voice samples in Space Harrier are especially rough, plus there's no control options so you're stuck with a weird flight stick configuration with no analogue settings or alternate control schemes. Shionbi and Altered Beast are a little better but I imagine that's because Backbone would release digital download versions of those games later in the same year so perhaps they were already in development. You get some basic dipswitches and the same presentation options as the Mega Drive games but that's it. I'd probably be less critical of the emulation of these bonus games if they didn't specifically say that these games were the reason Sonic 3 & Knuckles was not included. You get the feeling that maybe they shouldn't have stretched themselves so far that they had to make this call, but then again it probably wasn't their call to make if Sega gave them a rough deadline.

So this set is... Mostly fine. Definitely a little better than the last one and not as bad as it could've been. On the plus side, the selection is missing a few key titles but is generally a big improvement, with the Streets of Rage and Shining Force trilogies being especially good picks, the sound emulation is better than the previous collections (but still not as good as it could be) and while the extra content is a little weird (I still can't get over those recreated boxarts) it's nice that there's anything included at all (this is foreshadowing). On the downside, the lack of filters or removable borders make this visually fairly weak and the extra arcade games are deeply unoptimal ways to play those games. If you'd like a fairly decent sampler of the Mega Drive's library for a decent price, this has its issues but it's a step above the last collection, so let's see if Sega and Backbone can keep that trend going. What's that, we have a totally new developer for the next collection? I'm sure that bodes well!

And finally, the most recent collection, Sega Mega Drive Classics... Which is where it gets a bit weird.

So. This started life as a series of physical Windows and digital Steam releases split into five volumes (but also available individually on Steam) released between 2010 and 2012. These original releases used a fairly simple emulator created by Stephan Dittrich, who Sega had worked with on Sonic Classics Collection on DS as he'd developed an emulator for the system. The emulator comes with a couple of options and save state support, but that's about it. The way the games were split up in this volume format was extremely weird and confusing, including some being physical-exclusive and others being digital-exclusive, but fortunately Wikipedia has a listing of what games were in which volume. The low price of the games individually when they were on Steam meant that if you have at least one person in your friends list, you know another human being who has one of these rereleases.

In 2016, Sega launched the Sega Mega Drive Classics Hub, essentially a wrapper to go over the old launcher with a '90s-bedroom-themed 3D 'hub' showing all your amassed games on a shelving unit (with inaccurate box spines, of course) and several new options courtesy of a new developer, d3t Ltd. There's a new way to play- an off-screen look at a faux-CRT telly with different filters- and Steam Workshop support which allowed users to upload ROM hacks, a clever feature that was almost instantly abused to put whatever Mega Drive games people wanted up on there. This came at the cost of the virtual bedroom running, I have to be honest, like absolute dogshit on older PCs even if you could emulate stuff fine before, and this seeped into the emulation itself, slowing things to a crawl for the sake of a (not even that nice looking) 3D bedroom. However, the guts of the thing, the emulator, still seemed to be based on Dittrich's work and the 'simple' emulator frontend from before remained an option on launch.

Anyway, the bedroom-ified version of the collection was released in 2018 on the Playstation 4, Xbox One and Switch (the Switch version was later in the year), with most of the original 57 games included but not all (and some were even ditched between the PS4 and Xbone versions for maximum confusion) as well as new features such as extra image filters, a mirror mode option, challenges and achievements, rewinding and fast-forwarding and even online multiplayer. These extra features would later be patched into the Steam version alongside VR support if you really want to pretend to be in your '90s bedroom.

All of this is rendered moot now, though.

Every individual game on Steam and digital versions of the console collections were delisted in late 2024.

Bloody good thing I kept notes, eh?

Anyway, here's the full game list, with notes on which versions have which games:

SPACE HARRIER II - In Japan in 1988, you had two launch titles for your Mega Drive. This...

Space Harrier II
(1988 / 1989)
All Versions

SUPER THUNDER BLADE - ... or this. You know what, I'd take my chances with Super Thunder Blade, honestly.

Super Thunder Blade
(1988 / 1989)
All Versions

ALTERED BEAST - So did you know that the arcade attract mode sequence with the eyes is in the Mega Drive port? You have to wait a few demo loops to see it, so I didn't realise it was there until I made this article!

Altered Beast
(1988 / 1989)
All Versions

ALEX KIDD IN THE ENCHANTED CASTLE - raise your hand if you've heard him referred to as ALEX THE KID

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
(1989)
All Versions

PHANTASY STAR II - I'm sure the dungeons in this are nice and easy and nothing to worry about.

Phantasy Star II
(1989 / 1990)
All Versions

SWORD OF VERMILION - OK, have you ever beaten this one? I'm curious to know what you think about it.

Sword of Vermilion
(1989 / 1991)
All Versions

GOLDEN AXE - shout-outs to the mega-cd version that has the arcade version's soundtrack but no two-player mode

Golden Axe
(1989)
All Versions

THE REVENGE OF SHINOBI - Oh hey, look what game's back! Just without the Spider-Man fellow.

The Revenge of Shinobi
(1989)
All Versions

PHANTASY STAR III: GENERATIONS OF DOOM - I'm not gonna lie, these early Mega Drive RPGs have a pretty interesting look and aesthetic to them. I'm usually not an RPG person but I really need to play through at least one of them sometime...

Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
(1990 / 1991)
All Versions

COLUMNS - ... mnnggh... huh? What? I fell asleep captioning Columns, sorry.

Columns
(1990)
All Versions

E-SWAT: CITY UNDER SIEGE - WALK LIKE A SUPER COP

ESWAT: City Under Siege
(1990)
All Versions

CRACK DOWN - at last, gain ground and crack down are reunited

Crack Down
(1990 / 1991)
All Versions

SHADOW DANCER: THE SECRET OF SHINOBI - Man, Shinobi's making a real return in this collection, huh.

Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
(1990 / 1991)
All Versions

WONDER BOY III: MONSTER LAIR - Not quite this port's US debut- that happened in 2009 on the Virtual Console- but still nice to have.

Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
(1990)
Steam / PS4 / Xbox One Only

SHINING IN THE DARKNESS - crawling in a dungeon

Shining in the Darkness
(1991)
All Versions

Gain Ground
(1991)
All Versions

FLICKY - I'm gonna retell my story about Flicky because it's a favourite of mine.

The first retro video game event I went to in person was Replay Expo, either in 2009 or 2010. On the way home, I saw someone else who had been at the event and they struck up a conversation. At the event that year, there had been a live world record attempt on the Mega Drive version of Flicky and this person was a little unimpressed- 'It's bloody Flicky, who the fuck cares?'

I did not have the heart to tell this person that I did kinda care, in contrast to the Super Mario Kart world records this very person held, based on their business card and their shirt.

Someone out there cares about a video game, always remember this.

Flicky
(1991)
All Versions

BONANZA BROS. - the bonanza bros. are innocent

Bonanza Bros.
(1991)
All Versions

FATAL LABYRINTH - no really play fatal labyrinth

Fatal Labyrinth
(1991)
All Versions

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG - you will believe a hedgehog can run... all the way to get delisted off steam HIYO

Sonic the Hedgehog
(1991)
Removed from Steam 2022

ALIEN STORM - in a different timeline, maybe my site mascot's shirt reads CYBERNATE <3 Q instead

Alien Storm
(1991)
All Versions

STREETS OF RAGE - can you imagine, fighting in the street?

Streets of Rage
(1991)
All Versions

DECAP ATTACK - You should read the Sonic the Comic adaptation of Decap Attack, it went on for SO long.

Decap Attack
(1991)
All Versions

TOEJAM & EARL - toejam is a doofus, earl is on vacation

ToeJam & Earl
(1991 / 1992)
All Versions

GALAXY FORCE II - the last flight of the try-z

Galaxy Force II
(1991 / 1992)
All Versions

WONDER BOY IN MONSTER WORLD - shion will continue fighting

Wonder Boy in Monster World
(1991 / 1992)
Steam / PS4 / Xbox One Only

GOLDEN AXE II - ONCE AGAIN, THE THREE WARRIORS HAVE THROWN THEMSELVES INTO A MIGHTY BATTLE

Golden Axe II
(1991 / 1992)
All Versions

SHINING FORCE: THE LEGACY OF GREAT INTENTION - Oh wait, this is the one with the hamster, right?

Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention
(1992 / 1993)
All Versions

KID CHAMELEON - Did you know the Japanese version is called Chameleon Kid instead? You know now.

Kid Chameleon
(1992)
All Versions

LANDSTALKER: THE TREASURES OF KING NOLE - Sometimes I have fun getting these screenshots.

Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole
(1992 / 1993)
All Versions

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 -no hedgehogs for you on steam

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
(1992)
Removed from Steam 2022

BIO-HAZARD BATTLE - also known as C R Y I N G

Bio-Hazard Battle
(1992)
All Versions

ECCO THE DOLPHIN - the dolphin with the seven scars on his head

Ecco the Dolphin
(1992 / 1993)
Steam only

STREETS OF RAGE II - little money avenue

Streets of Rage II
(1992 / 1993)
All Versions

GOLDEN AXE III - Oh thank goodness, that's the last time I have to caption this one.

Golden Axe III
(1993)
All Versions

SHINOBI III: RETURN OF THE NINJA MASTER - kinda weird that this is the shinobi game they've rereleased the most in these sets, huh

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
(1993)
All Versions

GUNSTAR HEROES - SMASH DAISAKU NEVER DIES!

Gunstar Heroes
(1993)
All Versions

COLUMNS III: REVENGE OF COLUMNS - Wondering where Columns II is? Don't.

Columns III: Revenge of Columns
(1993 / 1994)
All Versions

SHINING FORCE II - The main thing I know about this one is there's a really cool rat in the intro.

Shining Force II
(1993 / 1994)
All Versions

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG SPINBALL - the pinball defence system

Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball
(1993)
All Versions

PHANTASY STAR IV: THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM - It's actually these rereleases, as far as I can tell, that canonized this game's name as being both the number and the subtitle in English. Box only has the number, game only has the subtitle. Now you know!

Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
(1993 / 1995)
All Versions

TOEJAM & EARL IN PANIC ON FUNKOTRON - Best experienced in co-op if you want to end a friendship quickly.

ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
(1993)
All Versions

DR. ROBOTNIK'S MEAN BEAN MACHINE - justice for coconuts

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
(1993)
All Versions

ECCO: THE TIDES OF TIME - what even are dolphins

Ecco: The Tides of Time
(1994)
Steam only

ETERNAL CHAMPIONS - do you think if they'd resisted the urge to put in fatalities this'd show up in more collections

Eternal Champions
(1993 / 1994)
Steam only

STREETS OF RAGE 3 - After several streams of trying to beat this game, I am finally of the opinion that I'd rather play the Japanese version on a higher difficulty. They gave Jet four healthbars, that's depraved.

Streets of Rage 3
(1994)
All Versions

DYNAMITE HEADDY - YOU'VE GOT A SECRET BONUS POINT~!

Dynamite Headdy
(1994)
All Versions

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 & KNUCKLES - see you in court, fox boy

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles
(1994)
Steam only

THE STORY OF THOR / BEYOND OASIS - One of the few examples of a game in these collections having a different name between the US and Europe.

The Story of Thor / Beyond Oasis
(1994 / 1995)
All Versions

ALIEN SOLDIER - VISUALSHOCK!
SPEEDSHOCK!
SOUNDSHOCK!
NOW IS TIME TO THE 68000 HEART ON FIRE!

FOR MEGADRIVERS CUSTOM

Alien Soldier
(1995)
All Versions

Ristar
(1995)
All Versions

LIGHT CRUSADER - Did you know this has a different script in the European English version? You do now.

Light Crusader
(1995)
All Versions

Comix Zone
(1995)
All Versions

ECCO JR. - ECCO JR. AS A CONCEPT HAS SUCH LITTLE PRESENCE IN A ROOM THAT I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO INCLUDE IT IN THIS PART OF THE PAGE I AM VERY SMART

Ecco Jr.
(1995)
Steam only

VECTORMAN - Thank God, this is the last one, I never have to think about Vectorman ever again.

Vectorman
(1995)
All Versions

VECTORMAN 2 - Well, until it ends up on the next Mega Drive collection anyway.

Vectorman 2
(1996)
All Versions

SONIC 3D: FLICKIES' ISLAND / SONIC 3D BLAST - life's a blast

Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island / Sonic 3D Blast
(1996)
All Versions

VIRTUA FIGHTER 2 - It doesn't even have the new characters from Virtua Fighter 2, what a rip-off!

Virtua Fighter 2
(1997)
All Versions

Just to make things clear, here's a little chart of the version-exclusive games:

	Steam	Playstation 4	Xbox One	Switch	Delisted from Steam in...
Ecco the Dolphin	yy	nn	nn	nn	2024
Ecco: The Tides of Time	yy	nn	nn	nn	2024
Ecco Jr.	yy	nn	nn	nn	2024
Eternal Champions	yy	nn	nn	nn	2024
Sonic the Hedgehog	yy	yy	yy	yy	2022
Sonic the Hedgehog 2	yy	yy	yy	yy	2022
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles	yy	nn	nn	nn	2022
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair	yy	yy	yy	nn	2024
Wonder Boy in Monster World	yy	yy	yy	nn	2024

Phantasy Star II uses the patched Wii Virtual Console version, removing the Red Cross from hospitals.
Golden Axe uses the REV 01 ROM.
The Revenge of Shinobi uses the Wii Virtual Console version.
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom still does not have the Wii Virtual Console patch yet, nurses keep their Red Cross!
Columns uses the June 1990ROM.
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi uses the patched Wii Virtual Console version, removing the Twin Towers from the title screen (ta LanceBoyle94!).
Sonic the Hedgehog uses the Japanese REV 01 ROM.
Alien Storm uses the patched Wii Virtual Console version, removing the Red Cross from First Aid Kits.
Bonanza Bros. uses the JE ROM with the arcade version's intro.
Galaxy Force II uses the Rev B ROM.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 uses the REV 01 ROM.
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball uses the retail release ROM.
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium still does not have the Wii Virtual Console patch yet (ta, Broken Scholar!
Alien Soldier uses the PAL-optimised ROM, so gameplay is slower but music / sound is at the right speed.
Light Crusader uses the US language ROM.

Some regional variations are included as extras:
Japanese versions of Alien Soldier, Dynamite Headdy, Ristar, Streets of Rage II and Streets of Rage 3
Japanese, French, German and Spanish versions of Beyond Oasis
French and German versions of Landstalker.

This time, almost everyone is here- looking at just the Steam version for now, every Mega Drive game in the previous collections except for Wrestle War is present and correct! As well as bringing back the games ditched between the PS2 / PSP and PS3 / 360 sets, Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi, Sword of Vermilion and, yes, even Virtua Fighter 2, this adds many new games, the most significant of which are probably the two ToeJam & Earl games and the remaining Treasure games not tied down to licenses, but there's also a handful of games that just hadn't made it to other sets like Landstalker, Crack Down and Eternal Champions. It's still not every game Sega could potentially include (that's something we'll look at later) but it's a pretty robust set... Or at least it was on Steam. The elephant in the room is that with the release of Sonic Origins in 2022, all previous rereleases of the Mega Drive Sonic platformers were removed from sale, and this hit this collection too- Sonic 1, 2 and 3 & Knuckles were removed, two years before everything would disappear. Two of the big features exclusive to the Steam version- adding 'mods' to game that let you play ROM hacks and the fact the uncompressed ROMs were stored on your hard drive to use in an emulator of your choice- were especially relevant here, as many of the uploaded mods were for these games, and this was the only way to get official ROMs of the original versions of these Sonic games. Oh, and getting all the achivements was impossible for new players as a few required those delisted games. A deeply shortsighted move from Sega, especially considering the 'Classic' mode in Sonic Origins was just slapping the mobile ports into 4:3 and adding lives back with no way to play the original ROMs... Perhaps not as shortsighted as delisting every single Mega Drive game on Steam and every version of this collection but still.

Regarding the games removed from the PS4 / Xbox One / Switch versions... There's a couple of things going on here, so let's start with the easiest and work our way up. I imagine Eternal Champions was cut to keep the age rating down because of its Overkills (although they aren't as nasty as the Mega-CD follow-up, Challenge from the Dark Side) and that seems to hold true in Europe at least- this collection got a PEGI 12 while the Mega Drive Mini with Eternal Champions got a PEGI 16, but both got a Teen ESRB rating from America so what do I know. Next, the Ecco games being ditched was probably because of a lawsuit happening at the time between Sega and Ed Annunziata (thanks for the info, electricboogaloofunk!) that was eventually sorted out. Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a bit more complicated but Sonic Retro's extensive page dedicated solely to the game's soundtrack and its legal issues should show that while Sega were OK rereleasing it in the 2000s, after the Steam release they were a lot more hesitant to release the game with the Micheal Jackson & Co. music, hence we had to wait until 2022's Sonic Origins to see it again, sans that music. The one I can't figure out is the two Wonder Boy games being cut from the Switch version- at a total guess, it's because the Wonder Boy series is such a legal minefield that something happened and they had to go. I'm no Lionel Hutz, with no right pretty legal speak to draw from, so I won't press my luck and we'll leave it at that.

OK, that's the game selection out the way, told you this one got messy! Let's take a look at what options you have then, and best to start with the emulation as while it still has a few wrinkles, it's generally better but there's also some problems including, a big headache for me, specific problems in specific versions. Let's start in general, then- the sound emulation is better (Sonic's spindash now no longer sets off car alarms) but still not perfect (the signpost sound is still wrong) with some new problems introduced (voices, especially in Streets of Rage 3 and Comix Zone, sound warbly and off). Display options are where this version improves a lot though- you have plenty of filters (including terrible smoothing filters as usual and a blurry bilinear look, as well as scanlines and an off-the-TV view with curvature options) but, more importantly, you can switch them off just to have sharp pixels. Lovely. One issue is that having sharp pixels introduces a light bit of 'shimmering' when scrolling, although some people might notice them more than others (I didn't find it too distracting). Other extra options include a mirror mode where everything's flipped left-to-right for, uh, added challenge I guess, multiple save states, a quick-save, rewind and fast-forward, regional variations for certain games and, for the first time, online multiplayer for games that support it. Even better? Online multiplayer allows you to rewind so you don't have to take that Ring Out in Virtua Fighter 2, just run it back! However, every single version has two specific issues: it always assumes two controllers are plugged in, so you can't play Alien Storm's The Duel mode, and Alien Soldier uses the PAL-optimised ROM so the music is the right speed but gameplay is slower (rectified by using the Japanese ROM included).

Getting into version-specific quirks, the Steam version has the most games and extra features with the aforementioned mod support, ROMs waiting for you in the install folder and completely customisable controls, but can run afoul of technical issues, the most common one being a huge sound delay between something happening in-game and the sound actually playing which apparently has no fix, delightful. The PS4 version has these bizarre 'micro-stutters' that happen with the music- it was worse pre-patch but if you know it's there, it'll drive you nuts, mostly heard in songs with sustained notes like Old Map in Golden Axe. The Xbox One version has the same micro-stutter issue but also can't play the intro properly for some reason. Finally, the Switch version has the least games and the most noticeable input lag. Now, I'm one of those people who can't really detect input lag (I've been playing on CRTs my whole life but input lag has to be really bad for me to notice) so I only spotted this by accident- I was using Alien Storm's sound test, pressing the button to play a sound at the same time as the Xbox 360 collection to check the sound emulation and the Switch version would come out later. Not a sound delay like the Steam version, it's an input delay and it's not ruinous but it is there and, crucially, isn't present in the M2-developed Mega Drive app for Switch Online. Additionally, all the console versions have absolutely no controller customisation beyond two presets that mean in Comix Zone, the order of the item buttons is mixed-up. That's an issue with the Switch Online app too, but that's something me and Nintendo are just going to eternally argue about I suppose.

What's definitely not an improvement over previous collections regardless of the version you play is the extra content, in that there isn't any. No, I'm not counting the virtual bedroom as an 'extra', it's more of a detriment! The Challenges are cute- silly things like beating Stage 2 of Streets of Rage II without picking up items or beating a later stage of The Duel in Golden Axe with minimal health- but there's not many of them and some are more annoying than anything (who put in the Vectorman 2 challenge, who is responsible for this, I just want to talk) and there's also separate achievements for some games, but there's no unlockable interviews, no secret games, not even boxarts or instruction manuals to look at (and of course the spines for the games on the shelf are all wrong). Considering the lousy emulation of the arcade games in the last one, maybe not including extra games like that is a blessing, but the lack of any history, a basic blurb on each game or even listing the year they were released makes this feel very empty (and the lack of main menu music doesn't help, this is the saddest bedroom in the whole of the '90s). The new emulation options are definitely welcome and it's generally mostly fine, but the lack of any extras and the version-specific issues prevent this from being the ultimate collection, sadly.

And to repeat, this collection was delisted in 2024, it's not available digitally anymore, get a physical copy if you want it!

So, what are we to conclude here? Is there anything to conclude at all?! Let's have a go at it anyway.

As you might've seen, these collections certainly have their ups and downs, things they do well and things they absolutely do not do well. I hope you don't see me as a bleating old curmudgeon going over these things like this, it's just a little frustrating to get kinda close to having the best collection of Mega Drive games just for things to get in the way. To end on a more upbeat note then, I suppose one way to wrap things up would be to ask, what would I want from a Mega Drive collection if another was made? Sega likes to do one of these every now and then (and the last one got delisted) so sure, let's have a think about that. Now, I've seen people roll their eyes about games being rereleased over and over again like this, and not to say Sega's doing it out of the goodness of their heart- they want to make money, after all- but releasing collections like this does keep these games officially 'in print' which, as we get further and further away from the original release of these games and digital delistings increase in frequency (I wrote this line in 2023, oh how prescient it turned out to be) is something that becomes increasingly valuable. Still, if you want to convince people to pay for your old games, offering something that normal emulators cannot is increasingly a factor, so what do you do to ensure that?

Outside of game choice, something we'll get to in the next section, I think the two main areas to look at here are emulation quality and putting these games into their historical context with as much bonus material as possible. Emulation has constantly been improving since it began and while expecting dozens upon dozens of features for a commercially-released product isn't what I'm aiming for- there are deadlines and budgets to consider- I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to expect an official collection to be as close to the original hardware as it can be. Give the project to a company who knows what they're doing (M2 would be a solid choice of course, although even they sometimes struggle with the sound- Alisia Dragoon's thunder sound is just a tiny-bit off, and anything using GEMS tends to be a little weird too) and make these games run as they should- no egregious input lag, no sound delay, no micro-stuttering, none of that. I fully understand emulation isn't necessarily easy but I think expecting a level of quality from an official release isn't asking too much.

As for emulation-specific extras, I'm not too fussy beyond getting it right and letting me have a no-filter option, but there's one thing I can think of: offering different ROM revisions and regional variations across the board rather than for just a select few games. As I've shown across this article, while some of these games can't be rereleased exactly as they were, things like different revisions of games like Golden Axe and the Sonic games and regional versions like the original European Light Crusader with its different script and the Japanese version of Comix Zone do exist, and would be neat to have around. That's the main thing I'd want beyond online multiplayer, really! Rewind and save-states have become fairly standard for reissues these days but you can include whatever other bells and whistles time allows, I think nailing the emulation at the base level, with none of the weirdness I've highlighted in these previous collections, is the real important thing here, and I'm sure it can be done. It's tempting to ask for things like game-specific fixes but I feel they're more for a series-focused collection like the Phantasy Star set on Playstation 2, and I have to be reasonable here for upwards of 50 games, so we'll leave it there.

The other bit is providing as much extra material as reasonably possible, showing how these games were presented and marketed at the time of release. This is actually something these collections have gotten worse at with each release- the PS2 and PSP set had the original box art, little game blurbs and even hints and tips for playing them, and by the time the 2017 collection rolled around, all of that was gone. I can understand why, of course- the last collection clocked in at just over 50 games regardless of your version and that's a lot of games to dedicate time to. I certainly wouldn't expect the level of care that the Sega Ages manuals got on Switch for this amount of games. Even so, just having these games dumped on your lap with hardly any info about them does them a bit of a disservice, so that's why bonus material is vital for presenting these games as they were- at the very least, box art and instruction manual scans should be provided, but historical blurbs about these games and their impact or lack thereof would help show why the library has its place in history, you know? Although I'd prefer it if they were fact-checked so we don't get that thing about the Bonanza Bros. being thieves in the Japanese version spreading again, yes, I'm still mad about it, I'm never not gonna be mad about it. Ahem. In any case, extras like these and things like advertising from back when they were new where licensing permits, info on the developers of these games and other historical context, all that would go a long way to making a collection worth the effort. So, Sega, if you're taking notes, you can cut me a cheque, ta.

Also if the Sonic signpost sound is wrong in the next one I'm going to have serious words with someone, I don't know who, anyone.

Next, let's take a look at games not present in these collections that could've been there.

Don't worry, I'm not going to make s how of myself by doing the classic internet review of mistake by asking where the third-party games like Castlevania: Bloodlines and Rolo to the Rescue or the licensed games like Toy Story and, er, Dinosaurs for Hire are. Give me a little credit! Still, my process for this was pretty loose and wild, so don't view it as particularly scientific. I took a look at games rereleased by Sega elsewhere on things like online services or plug-and-play consoles with no additional gubbins tied to them- nothing requiring external devices like the Mega-CD or tricky emulation stuff the SVP chip, nothing from third-party developers or requiring licenses like movies, cartoons, car manufacturers, military industrial complex entities and so on. After that, I took a look at all of the games Sega developed or published for the system, struck off any of those tied to licenses and different developers and the like, and looked at what was left. Then threw in a couple of stragglers for fun. Please enjoy this aesthetically-pleasing look at games that missed the collection boat, as I've represented each game with their boxarts taken from either GameFAQs or the official sites for the different Mega Drive Minis. Fun!

I really don't have much to say about the Thunder Force games, I'm afraid.

Let's start with the big one. In 2016 Sega acquired the IP library of Technosoft, a company who released some pretty significant Mega Drive titles- 1989's Thunder Force II, 1989's Herzog Zwei, 1990's Thunder Force III, 1990's Elemental Master and 1992's Thunder Force IV. While these have shown up elsewhere on both Mega Drive Minis (Thunder Force III on the Mega Drive Mini, Thunder Force IV on ever model of the Mega Drive Mini 2 and Herzog Zwei and Elemental Master exclusively on Western models of the Mega Drive Mini 2), Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 3: Final Stage (Thunder Force III), Switch Online (Thunder Force II) and the Sega Ages line on Switch (Thunder Force IV and Herzog Zwei), they weren't included in the 2017 collection. My guess is that this set was based on the 2010-era Steam rereleases when Sega didn't have the Technosoft library and no-one involved wanted to add any new games to the set for the console release, so they were left alone. If there's any future Mega Drive collections though, you can comfortably bet that these games will be there, so that's something to look forward to. Maybe.

It will not surprise you to learn that Chakan did not, in fact, get a Japanese release.

Second, some games that frequently show up on those generally-terrible AtGames Mega Drive units, usually under the name of the Mega Drive Flashback and sometimes coming with Mortal Kombat games but usually half-full of actual Mega Drive games and half-full of 'original' games that you definitely didn't buy the unit for. Anyway, these units often have four games that Sega would seem to own themselves but rarely show up elsewhere if at all- 1990 / 1991's Arrow Flash, 1991's Jewel Master, 1992's Chakan: The Forever Man and 1995's The Ooze. Of these, only The Ooze has ever been rereleased in any other capacity, showing up in the Japanese version of Sonic Mega Collection and every version of Sonic Mega Collection Plus, the second Jakks Pacific Mega Drive Classics plug-and-play and the Western version of the Mega Drive Mini 2. Arrow Flash and Jewel Master seem like obvious choices to slot in wherever but Chakan: The Forever Man is truly baffling, as it's based on a comic book and so you'd think would hit problems similar to games like Ex-Mutants or Spider-Man. Maybe it only showed up because it's a plug-and-play unit, meaning there's a limited number of them out there as opposed to digital distribution, like how Disney and anime-licensed games showed up on the Mega Drive Minis? I'd be genuinely surprised if Sega owned the game outright! Arrow Flash and Jewel Master in particular are interesting little games, so I wouldn't say no to them coming back in a future collection. If anyone knows what the hell the deal with Chakan is though, feel free to email me but you're not allowed to talk about the live-action Chakan movie someone was trying to make, I am already burdened with that knowledge.

Third, we have two licensed games but wait, don't discount me yet! These come from the 'licensed games altered for international release' department which are really borderline for being rereleased but stranger things have happened, and those are 1989 / 1990's Last Battle and 1989 / 1990's Mystic Defender. The precedent here is that there's a game that's been in every Mega Drive collection since the Playstation 2 era, Decap Attack, the Japanese version of which was based on the anime series Magical Hat but was given a totally new aesthetic and set of characters for overseas. In a similar vein, Last Battle was based on the manga and anime Hokuto no Ken / Fist of the North Star and Mystic Defender was based on the manga and OVA series Kujaku Ō / Peacock King. While Decap Attack does set up the possibility of these games returning, it's important to bear in mind that Decap Attack was extensively reworked for the West whereas these games perhaps feel a little too close to their source material to get away with nowadays without having to pony up the license fees, and maybe Sega feels that's not worth it. Still, it's interesting to note that Sega have rereleased the Mark III Hokuto no Ken game a few times in the past, so never say never.

Every now and then I am taken over by the thought that I should play X-Perts, then spend an inordinate amount of time talking myself out of it.

Fourth, some games by outside developers that Sega either seem to own themselves and don't appear to have difficulties in rereleasing, or might not have trouble rereleasing but just haven't tried yet. To start with the former, 1993's Ranger-X and 1994 / 1995's Crusader of Centy / Soleil are credited to Gau Entertainment and Nextech respectively with Nextech acquiring Gau and later becoming Nex Entertainment but when they were included in the Mega Drive Mini 2, no additional copyrights appeared as would happen with third-party or licensed games, and the same is true for Centy's Switch Online appearance, suggesting Sega owns them but they're never been in any other compilations. As for the latter, 1993's Cyborg Justice was a Novotrade game (Ecco the Dolphin and all that) that was published by Sega that hasn't shown up anywhere else presumably because nobody's asked for it. There was also 1996's X-Perts, an extremely late and miserable release for the system developed by Abalone Entertainment whose rap sheet is pretty empty. It's actually an Eternal Champions spin-off starring Shadow Yamato and was published by Sega so that might be up for inclusion in the future, even if no-one wants it.

he is hanging

Finally, some outliers. 1989 / 1990's Super Hang-On, 1991's OutRun, 1992 / 1993's Super Fantasy Zone, 1993's OutRun 2019 and 1994's OutRunners have shown up again in various ways here and there- all four have been on either the Mega Drive Mini (Super Fantasy Zone and OutRun 2019, the latter exclusively in non-Japanese Asian models) or Mega Drive Mini 2 (OutRun, Super Hang-On and OutRunners, the latter two exclusively on Western models), OutRun was on Sega Smash Pack Vol. 1 on PCs (ta, MercuryCDX!), Super Fantasy Zone has appeared on the Wii Virtual Console and Switch Online and OutRun 2019 had its own dedicated plug-and-play console. However, none of these games have shown up in any home console collections beyond those. Super Hang-On might have some kind of problem with some of the names in Original Mode (the first rival has the second name Ferraru, I'm sure a certain automobile company would love that) but that's purely a guess on my part and OutRun obviously has the Ferrari Testarossa which was edited to be legally-distinct in the Mega Drive Mini 2 version. As for the others, Super Fantasy Zone has a Sunsoft copyright in rereleases and OutRun 2019 similarly has a SIMS copyright in rereleases but OutRunners just has a Sega one (although it was published by Data East in the US). These games seem to be less of a hassle to negotiate for rereleases though, so hopefully we'll see them in a proper collection in the future.

I suppose this look at Mega Drive collections wouldn't quite be complete without a look at the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack Mega Drive app.

After the December 2024 delistings, this is the only way to play Mega Drive games on the Switch outside of games that got individual ports or rereleases elsewhere, and it's also the only collection of Sega Mega Drive games released in Japan, which is still a surprise even though I've known about this for a longtime. Anyway, the emulation is by M2 this time, whose works we'll be seeing again in a minute, and is generally higher-quality than every single set we've seen on this page so far (with the only negatives being slightly incorrect sound emulation for Alisia Dragoon and Comix Zone and no remappable buttons). It's also the least-frequently updated of the NSO apps, holding the record for the longest gap between updates (over a year) but it does have a lot of the games seen in these collections and more besides. The fact that there's multiple third-party games here made me wonder whether to include it as it doesn't quite fit the remit, but I figured having it in a bonus section like this would be fine. To keep it simple, I'll just present a table of games on the service below, noting the publisher given by the app and whether they've been on previous collections shown on this page (for simplicity, we'll just list the console the sets were on rather than the full names). Hopefully you find this useful.

	Publisher	Smash Pack	PS2 / PSP	PS3 / 360	Modern
Thunder Force II	Sega	nn	nn	nn	nn
Altered Beast	Sega	yy	yy	yy	yy
Space Harrier II	Sega	nn	nn	nn	yy
Super Thunder Blade	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Ghouls 'n Ghosts	Capcom	nn	nn	nn	nn
Golden Axe	Sega	yy	yy	yy	yy
Target Earth	extreme	nn	nn	nn	nn
Columns	Sega	yy	yy	yy	yy
ESWAT: City Under Siege	Sega	nn	nn	yy	yy
The Revenge of Shinobi	Sega	yy	nn	nn	yy
Strider	Capcom	nn	nn	nn	nn
Sword of Vermillion	Sega	nn	yy	nn	yy
Flicky	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Alien Storm	Sega	nn	nn	yy	yy
Streets of Rage	Sega	nn	nn	yy	yy
ToeJam & Earl	Sega	nn	nn	nn	yy
MERCS	Capcom	nn	nn	nn	nn
M.U.S.H.A.	Sega	nn	nn	nn	nn
Golden Axe II	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Alisia Dragoon	Game Arts	nn	nn	nn	nn
Kid Chameleon	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Zero Wing	Tatsujin	nn	nn	nn	nn
Super Fantasy Zone	Sega	nn	nn	nn	nn
Sonic the Hedgehog 2	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Ecco the Dolphin	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Streets of Rage II	Sega	yy	nn	yy	yy
Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention	Sega	yy	nn	yy	yy
Gunstar Heroes	Sega	nn	nn	nn	yy
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition	Capcom	nn	nn	nn	nn
Landstalker	Sega	nn	nn	nn	yy
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball	Sega	nn	nn	yy	yy
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine	Sega	nn	nn	yy	yy
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron	Sega	nn	nn	nn	yy
Castlevania: Bloodlines	Konami	nn	nn	nn	nn
Contra: Hard Corps	Konami	nn	nn	nn	nn
Earthworm Jim	Interplay	nn	nn	nn	nn
Dynamite Headdy	Sega	nn	nn	yy	yy
Mega Man: The Wily Wars	Capcom	nn	nn	nn	nn
Shining Force II	Sega	nn	nn	yy	yy
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Ristar	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Beyond Oasis	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Crusader of Centy	Sega	nn	nn	nn	nn
Light Crusader	Sega	nn	nn	nn	yy
Alien Soldier	Sega	nn	nn	nn	yy
Comix Zone	Sega	nn	yy	yy	yy
Vectorman	Sega	yy	yy	yy	yy
Virtua Fighter 2	Sega	nn	yy	nn	yy
Pulseman	Sega	nn	nn	nn	nn

To close things out, here's a helpful listing of more definitive ways to play some of these games, again with boxart from GameFAQs.

By complete coincidence, all of these are developed by M2, so I won't keep repeating that for all these.

I'll try and include extra features relevant to the Mega Drive games included here, but this won't be exhaustive!

OK, nearly done, time for some excellent rereleases

OK, nearly done, time for some excellent rereleases

All of these are good picks although boy are they expensive these days.

They certainly cost more than 2500 Yen now let me tell you!!

Anyway, read Kimimi's articles on the whole Sega Ages 2500 series for a better overview.

Also, play the Dynamite Deka remake too. That is all.

On Playstation 2, the Sega Ages 2500 series has a lot of exemplary versions of these games (all Japan-only) including...
Space Harrier II
Vol. 29: Space Harrier II - Space Harrier Complete Collection (includes art gallery)

Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy and Alien Soldier
Vol. 25: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box (includes Gunstar Heroes prototype, art gallery and English versions)

Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair and Wonder Boy in Monster World
Vol. 29: Monster World Complete Collection (includes art gallery and English versions)

Galaxy Force II
Vol. 30: Galaxy Force Special Extended Edition (includes art gallery)

Phantasy Star II, Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom and Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
Vol. 32: Phantasy Star Complete Collection (includes art gallery, English versions, movement speed increase option, new difficulty settings and fixes for Megido and LV 99 bugs in IV)

You know, this is a killer selection of games.

You know, this is a killer selection of games.

Covers most of the action-game bases on the system.

Having infinite continues in online multiplayer is a big plus too.

Shame this one was missing The Dragon's Trap, but Monster World IV made up for it.

... I'm just thankful there wasn't a Vectorman set.

On ~~Xbox 360 and~~ Playstation 3, the later Sega Vintage Collection releases of games are ones to go for, including...
The Revenge of Shinobi
SVC: Alex Kidd & Co. (delisted on Xbox 360) and individually on PS3

Golden Axe II and Golden Axe III
SVC: Golden Axe (delisted on Xbox 360, included infinite continues in online multiplayer)

Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage II and Streets of Rage III
SVC: Streets of Rage (delisted on Xbox 360, included infinite continues in online multiplayer)

Wonder Boy in Monster World
SVC: Monster World (delisted on Xbox 360) and individually on PS3

ToeJam & Earl and ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron
SVC: ToeJam & Earl (delisted on Xbox 360) and individually on PS3

As the Xbox 360 Marketplace has shut down, the collections are no longer available.
However, if you got them before the delistings, all of these are backwards-compatible on Xbox One and Xbox Series (ta, Jamesbuc!)

YEAAAAAAAH KEN SUGIMORI SEGA ART

On Nintendo 3DS, the Sega Ages 3D line of games has...
Streets of Rage (includes round select, one-hit kill mode)
Ecco the Dolphin (includes infinite health / infinite air mode)
and Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Bundled together on Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives (Japan only)

Sonic the Hedgehog
and Altered Beast (includes random beast mode)
Bundled together on Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 2 (released overseas as Sega 3D Classics Collection)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (includes ring keep mode, Super Sonic mode)
Streets of Rage 2 (includes character-swapping mode, knockdown death mode and one-hit death mode)
Gunstar Heroes (includes extra health mode and all weapons mode)
and Columns (no separate download version)
Bundled together on Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 3: Final Stage (Japan only)

As the 3DS shop has shut down, these titles are no longer available individually

... I wish there were more Sega Ages releases on Switch :<

... I wish there were more Sega Ages releases on Switch :<

The ones we got were good, but... More...

On Switch, the Sega Ages line of games has...
Sonic the Hedgehog (includes time trial, ring keep mode and Mega Play version)
and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (includes time trial, ring keep mode and Super Sonic mode)

If you learn nothing from this article, it's that I think about Sega collections a lot. And that I need more of them.

WHERE'S MY SEGA PICO COLLECTION YOU COWARDS