Overall: Anyone who grew up in the 90s can remember the glory days of Sega. Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection brings nostalgia to those gamers, with a collection of 40+ Sega games (mostly from Sega Genesis, with a few from the Arcades and from the Sega Master System.) Not to mention Sega offers the very reasonable MSRP of $29.99.
Games included:
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Beyond Oasis
Bonanza Bros.
Columns
Comix Zone
Decap Attack starring Chuck D. Head
Dr. Robotnik's MBM
Dynamite Headdy
Ecco the Dolphin
Ecco II: The Tides of Time
E-SWAT
Fatal Labyrinth
Flicky
Gain Ground
Golden Axe I
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Kid Chameleon
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
Ristar
Shining in the Darkness
Shining Force
Shining Force 2
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic and Knuckles
Sonic Spinball
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage 3
Super Thunder Blade
Vectorman
Vectorman 2
In addition, the following games are available as unlockables:
Shinobi
Space Harrier
Zaxxon
Golden Axe Warrior
Phantasy Star
Congo Bongo
Fantasy Zone
Altered Beast Arcade
Alien Syndrome
Gameplay: The gameplay does not get much better than this package. With cl@!%#*!ic series like Sonic, Shining Force, Streets of Rage, Phantasy Star, and Golden Axe, the package is like a Sega All-stars collection. Great games that may have went unnoticed before like Comix Zone and Alien Syndrome are also here. Sega did include some questionable choices though, finding games like Flicky and Fatal Labyrinth included in this great package is like finding coal in a diamond mine. Multiplayer games are available to play with friends locally, but sadly they did not implement online play. The controls work well, and at the beginning of each game, it tells you what buttons on the 360 controller does what. Graphics: Visually, the games are emulated perfectly. I did not notice any major graphical glitches. Since the games do not take up the entire screen, the game screen is surrounded by game related artwork that I believe is a nice touch. The menus work well, allowing you to sort games alphabetically, by year, by your rating, etc. Sound: The audio is what would be expected. You won't be hearing orchestral scores in these games, but the emulated bleeps and bloops are just as good for any nostalgic fan of Sega. I only encountered one glitch in the sound while playing, but that may have just been due to my 360 acting up, otherwise the sound is emulated perfectly. Suggestions: The only suggestions I would have is to implement some sort of online capabilities; online multiplayer or even online leaderboards would be amazing if they somehow implemented them with DLC. But for 30 dollars, you cannot complain much, this collection has more hours of enjoyment in it than any other game on the 360. This collection is definitely the best bang for the buck on the 360 so far.
Made in Canada