4 Oct, 2010
The Mega Drive was my first ever games console and I absolutely adore it, I still have the beautiful little contraption in the Loft (my room is a loft conversion so it’s right through a little door next to my bed, don’t worry). I have about 30 games for it and I love all of them no matter how lame some of them might be because they remind me of my introduction to my gaming addiction. The problem is the Mega Drive’s RF input makes it a terribly annoying to have to fish out of the loft, set up, find the channel its programmed to and then try to play on a 37” tv while watching interference and rainbow lines eff up what was a once easy to play console. Damn you technology!
The introduction of the Sega Mega Drive Compilations on the PS3 and Xbox 360 were the first games to take me back to my youthful days of falling down holes and getting hit by spikes or… falling down more holes. So I thanked Sega for the opportunity to play my beloved game titles in HD by simply popping a CD into my PS3. Now they have broadened their releases even more and brought the collections to PC in bite size chunks! Imagine my delight at being in a Hotel room in London with room service on my lap and mega drive games awaiting me on my laptop in front of me, it’s an amazing feeling.
The compilation is pretty much exactly the same as the ones on the consoles, only this one comes with ten titles rather than the 30 or so on the other. I imagine the RRP would be a third less than the full game because it’s only volume 1, so in that case you get amazing titles like Altered Beast, Comix Zone, Crack Down, Ecco the Dolphin, Gain Ground, Golden Axe, Shinobi III, Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Harrier II and Vectorman all for a reduced price.
Mega Drive games can be tricky to play on a keyboard, but you get used to it, and if you can’t get used to it then get a gamepad for your PC or laptop, it’s easy. The sound can lag slightly at times when there is a lot going on on screen but that just might be because of my laptop’s fail at running games of any type, so if your computer doesn’t have 2 Gig or more RAM then you might want to turn off the speakers if you are annoyed easily.
Apart from these tiny, minor, little annoyances, this game is a great little collection. Bringing these games to PC in this little bundle is a great idea, for me it’s a chance to flip on an old Mega Drive game when I’m bored, without having to turn on my PS3 or even be at home! If you’re one of those business type chaps who spend all day on a train on your laptop, instead of typing up reports you could be tapping away trying to get Sonic through Green Hill Zone act 1! You’ll probably be fired but who cares, because then you can play it while on your way home too! Seriously, Mega Drive collections are a wonderful idea, they get my backing 100%
Great article Steve, and makes me heart swell with joy. The Megadrive was my first console as well, and I still have mine tucked under the bed with all of my original games like Sonic and Streets of Rage. It was a simpler time, a magic time.
I WANT REVENGE OF SHINOBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!