In the season of nostalgic throwbacks, Sega delivers with a collection of their 8-bit classics from Sonic the Hedgehog to the Phantasy Star series.
Reviewed: PS4
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Developer: SEGA
Publisher: SEGA
Release Date: June 12, 2018
MSRP: $39.99
Review code provided by Konami.
A time-waster for the casual, a gold mine for the master
In the span of a couple of weeks, I engorged myself in the collection available, starting in alphabetical order with Alex Kidd and making my way down to Wonder Boy. Just as one would remember it — the beautiful pixel art and the simple controls — Sega presents the games as if you are that seven-year-old kid in your bedroom and loading the cartridges one-by-one.
It’s a pixelated recreation of your childhood, as well as the huge box television you use to play the games that create the screen we grew up with. However, they added emulator-like controls such as rewinding and fast forwarding (which is pretty cheat but hey, that’s what we are).
However, it’s a collection that one wouldn’t spend hours on, but perhaps a few minutes or so until you start to think of something else to do. The games, as nostalgic as it is, does not do well with our strong rehashed cravings for games that need ample dedication of time, and games that captivate us.
Not only that, but the collection requires a serious and loyal Sega fan who straight-up grew up with the genres that they have developed during its hayday.
Despite knowing a few titles in the collection, I spent a lot of time just exiting games and reloading others, jumping back and forth just to allow myself to keep things interesting and new. From that, you can already see that this game collection may be for a few hardcore Sega heads, but may not be for those who had only enjoyed the games when they were first released.
One for the couple couch potatoes
One of the features I did enjoy was that two-player co-op/versus are available. I played one vs. one with my brother, but only after figuring out how to get the two players to join in.
Many titles in the collection have two-player options — a feature a lot of us do miss in an age of single-player storylines surrounding our present titles — and it’s that throwback inducing team play that makes the Sega collections worth a purchase.
It may not be for solo-hour play, but it is great for games that you can easily come back to with a friend or a significant other.
That’s what makes old genres worth reliving because those are genres that focused strongly on how much fun kids and adults will have. They’re not called the good-old-days for anything.
To put things short, the Sega Genesis Classics are great for hanging out, switching back and forth to beloved games, and time wasters for the bored. However, it’s the hardcore fans of the developers that would benefit more from the collection than casual gamers who have only enjoyed it way back and would only want to experience it again for a short period of time.
It’s also a nice call for other developers to try their hand in releasing multiple title collections. It gives old games a chance in the new consoles, and for younger players to experience the classic genres that made gaming what it is today.
A throwback is good every now and then, but it’s the younger generations that need a recall of what it was like during the great-ol-days.
