"What!? Over 30 SEGA classics emulated to a near perfection!? No Way!!! Yes way!!!"
The Bad: A somewhat weak and plain menu, interviews seemed to be an afterthought-not translated, moderate load times you would think should not be here.
I just couldn't believe it when Sega announced it would be making a SEGA Genesis collection for PSP with OVER 30 games! This was like a dream come true, and in the depths of my brain, I thought it was too good to be true. Alas, you got a great, near perfect emualtion of these classics, 5 unlockable games, and some interviews(seemed to be an afterthought, or just not much thought into it...not even translated. Although the menu design is somewhat plain, that's not the important thing, but about what games are in store isn't it? There are the occassional extras that pop up out of no where sometimes, along with interviews, screen caps, box art, hints+tips, cheats, unlockable games, and more. Here's the game list:
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Altered Beast
Bonanza Bros.
Columns
Comix Zone
Decap Attack starring Chuck D. Head
Ecco the Dolphin Ecco II: The Tides of Time
Ecco Jr.
Kid Chameleon
Flicky
Gain Ground
Golden Axe I
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium
Ristar
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Super Thunder Blade
Sword of Vermilion
Vectorman
Vectorman 2
Virtua Fighter 2
and along with those, 5 unlockables:
Eliminator, Super Zaxxon,
Astro Blaster, Tip Top,
Space Fury
Phantasy Star II-IV should last over 100 hours, so that's probably going to take up most of your time(if you're into RPGs that is). Phantasy IV alone can be worth up to about $100 or so, so that's cool to catch this offer for only $29.99, along with the other 32 games. Some other fan favs(including my own) that will also take up most of your time would be titles like Golden Axe or Sonic.
With all collections, there are always those, or sometimes many black seeds that never should've been there in the first place, and seem to have only been put there to fill in space(Probably to save up some of these goodies like Streets of Rage 1-3, Eternal Champions, Sonic 3/S&K and more for Vol. 2...we can only hope.). Games like Flicky, Virtual Fighter 2(no, not that 3D version, the Genesis 1996 version which is...well...not going to take up much of your time), Ecco Jr.(Although I can see why they put it in- trilogy), and a few others. Still, the more, the merrier. As long as they make a Vol. II with the other classics, I will accpet these "fillers". Probably something good to know, 2-player is quite excellent. If you have friends with PSPs, it's likey you'll be using it a lot. The gameplay is just like you'll want it, with a few games using the L and R buttons, and the controls work smoothly. You can also choose to change from the default controls to either an ABC mode-hence, the SEGA GENESIS style- or your own. The quality the game coming from the PSPs widescreen looks very nice, aside from a few blars when the screen is at fast motion like on Sonic, but that is to be expected, and it's not even that bad. There are three different screen types: Fit-Stretch-Original, and I can say Sonic 1 is a HECK of a lot better than that half-baked job SEGA tried with Sonic Genesis Advance for GBA, with the PSP version running very smoothly...and the GBA version...uhmm...lets just say it's slow...and slow is not Sonic...
One more slight problem I had while playing(and of course still, and always will, heh) was the load times. For something like this, you'd think it'd be a bit faster, but..oh well. The load times aren't long enough for someone to go and stab someone in the back, but a bit faster would've been nice.
One a side note, there are only a few downsides to the emultation on some of the games, or at least my game if someone finds differently. In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the ring sounds(maybe various other small things, unknown at this time) and some of the music beats just don't play period, UNLESS you wear headphones. Seems a bit odd, but it might be because of the mono sound the SEGA had back in the days. Another is Golden Axe 1, where it only has one scream rather than two. Also, another note on Sonic 2, and maybe some others, is that the music sometimes comes on a sec or so late. Now, these problems aren't big enough to warrent a no play by no means, but it lowers the experience of this down just a bit.
All in all, this is a must own for anyone who grew up with a SEGA GENESIS wanting some kick butt near perfect emulation, people who never had a chance to play these while growing up(poor kids...), and/or ANYONE who has a PSP. This package contains something for everyone, be it action, puzzle, fighting, RPG, ect. With the nice pricetag of $29.99 for PSP (PS2 being $19.99) I can understand the price difference. Having all these classic games PORTABLE for the first time (at least for many of these) is also one of the main reasons to purchase this, so, what are you waiting for, go do yourself a favor, and go buy/order it now!
Note: Also avaliable for PS2(along with 5 different unlockable games, although in my opinion, PSP has the better deal for this one).