Sega Genesis Classics

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 61 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 61
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 61
  3. Negative: 7 out of 61
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  1. abicos
    Jul 19, 2018
    10
    50 classic games in one CD with full HD... lot's of time to play time... now playing with my sons in ps4 instead of playing in malls (old arcade game)...
  2. GamergodsFail
    May 30, 2018
    7
    Sega Genesis Classics manages to have the largest selection of Genesis games yet, yet fails to feel as complete as last generation's "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" due to the fact that both Sonic 3 and Knuckles are missing without good reason, as well as the Ecco games. There are also audio bugs heard in most games. It's still worth the $30, but I recommend the previous compilation,Sega Genesis Classics manages to have the largest selection of Genesis games yet, yet fails to feel as complete as last generation's "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" due to the fact that both Sonic 3 and Knuckles are missing without good reason, as well as the Ecco games. There are also audio bugs heard in most games. It's still worth the $30, but I recommend the previous compilation, as that also came with unlockable Master System games on top of having every Sonic game that was released on the Genesis.… Expand
  3. HappySpaceInvad
    May 29, 2018
    5
    Well, this is slightly disappointing. It's a very similar set of games to "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" for PS3 and Xbox 360, but with a redesigned front-end and a few more emulator choices.

    This would all be ok and worthy of something well above 5/10, except that the emulation is actually shade worse than the PS3 release in two key areas: 1. Sound: Ok, you may not have an    Well, this is slightly disappointing. It's a very similar set of games to "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" for PS3 and Xbox 360, but with a redesigned front-end and a few more emulator choices.

    This would all be ok and worthy of something well above 5/10, except that the emulation is actually shade worse than the PS3 release in two key areas:

    1. Sound: Ok, you may not have an "echoic memory" like I do, but if you played the original games back in the day, there are bound to be some moments where you realise the sound is off. The most noticeable are the noise Sonic makes as he spins through the end sign in the first Sonic the Hedgehog, and the noise made in Toejam and Earl when you cause parts of the land to appear.

    2. Performance: This emulator frequently stutters badly in certain parts of certain games. Often when transitioning to a new background screen, but I haven't yet narrowed it down. You will lose frames of animation and the music will noticeably stutter.

    Neither of the above are game-breaking, but shows a general lack of care and finesse, not to mention the fact that these issues don't occur when running the same games in emulation on a Raspberry Pi 3, which has a fraction of the processing power of the PS4 and Xbox 360.

    In terms of the games you get, it's easiest to compared with the PS3/X360 release. The following games have been dropped: Ecco The Dolphin, Ecco: The Tides of Time, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles.

    ... and, in their place, we have: Alien Soldier, Bio-Hazard Battle, Columns III, Galaxy Force II, Gunstar Heroes, Landstalker, Light Crusader, Shadow Dancer, Space Harrier II, Sword of Vermillion, The Revenge of Shinobi, Toejam & Earl, ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkatron.

    These 14 new games are extremely welcome, but why did we have to lose 4 absolute classics to make way for them? A Sonic 3 + Sonic & Kuckles combination is surely long overdue Sega? I'm pretty sure the hidden games from the previous collection (such as the arcade version of Shinobi) have also been dropped, so the total number of games is roughly the same. Perhaps more games will be added via DLC? Time will tell.

    You can play the games in fullscreen with borders, or stretched (which is yuk!), or in a TV Mode where you're looking at a 14" Trinitron-like TV set with a slightly curved screen. That last one is actually quite cool, but my preference is fullscreen with black borders.

    The new emulator "pixel-hiding" settings may please some, but I personally find they ruin the look. There's a scanlines option, but it causes banding on large areas of the same colour (such as the blue sky background on Sonic) and causes a weird moiré effect in TV Set Mode. This is a shame, as other games such as Sonic Mania and the entirety of the SNES Mini collection managed a more convincing scanlines option.

    If you already have a working PS3 or X360 and a copy of the previous collection, it's difficult to recommend this unless you consider the 14 new games essential. If you've gone down any of the alternative routes towards Genesis/Megadrive emulation, then I think you're definitely wasting your money unless the convenience of being able to play specifically on a PS4/Xbox One is critical to you.

    It's possible the sound/performance issues could be addressed with patches, in which case add another couple of points to my score. For now though, this gets a "meh" 5/10.

    (Tested on: PS4 Pro)    … Expand
  4. Spoonman
    May 30, 2018
    7
    I wish Sega would put a bit more effort into their latest Genesis collection. Unlike their last one (Sonic's Ultimate) it doesn't have the cool extras such as the high resolution box art, developer interviews, or interesting unlockable arcade games such as Shinobi, Space Harrier, Zaxxon, Fantasy Zone, etc..

    In fact they also left off Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. Not cool Sega! I    I wish Sega would put a bit more effort into their latest Genesis collection. Unlike their last one (Sonic's Ultimate) it doesn't have the cool extras such as the high resolution box art, developer interviews, or interesting unlockable arcade games such as Shinobi, Space Harrier, Zaxxon, Fantasy Zone, etc..

    In fact they also left off Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. Not cool Sega!

    I just heard they released a patch for VR support on the Steam version. Now where is the PSVR version of this update?! If they added this it wohkd defintely be something worthwhile, and would show that they do in fact care about their fans on all platforms.    … Expand
  5. SplitMind
    Aug 12, 2018
    2
    Another clumsy compilation cashing in on nostalgia. A missed opportunity with the games they could have included and it launched with weird jittery framerates. Avoid.
  6. steelgrey75
    Jan 4, 2020
    3
    Poor selection of games. Why so many RPG titles? Honestly of all the memories I have of great mega drive games this collection has only a couple I used to like. Perhaps it’s a licensing issue that means these same games appear in a collection on every generation of console oth little changed. Just not good enough in my opinion I regret the purchase I should have just stuck to emulation onPoor selection of games. Why so many RPG titles? Honestly of all the memories I have of great mega drive games this collection has only a couple I used to like. Perhaps it’s a licensing issue that means these same games appear in a collection on every generation of console oth little changed. Just not good enough in my opinion I regret the purchase I should have just stuck to emulation on my pc and played the games I liked on that.… Expand
  7. Stoneman420
    Jun 29, 2018
    5
    Let me first say that as a gamer I was pretty much raised on the Sega Mega Drive and have nothing but love for it and my childhood memories playing it. But despite the quality of the games on offer here, there are far too many issues for this to be considered a successful release.

    I've KINDLY given this a 6/10 rating, if I was being very critical it would be much lower and I don't blame    Let me first say that as a gamer I was pretty much raised on the Sega Mega Drive and have nothing but love for it and my childhood memories playing it. But despite the quality of the games on offer here, there are far too many issues for this to be considered a successful release.

    I've KINDLY given this a 6/10 rating, if I was being very critical it would be much lower and I don't blame others for doing so. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles are the obvious glaring omissions from this disc - I mean seriously, WITAF? Sonic 3 was one of the best titles on the Mega Drive yet it is completely missing from this collection.

    Secondly, the online feature is totally unacceptable. I own alot of my favourite childhood Mega Drive games on cartridge so have little need for a PS4 emulator, so the main selling point for this PS4 release for me was the ability to play with others online and it is truly an absolute shambles! You cannot select which game you would like to play online, you are drawn into a random game with a random online player and can then you can both select whether or not you wish to play the random game you are both assigned. If you both decide that you would in fact like to play the assigned game together, at least NINE TIMES OUT OF TEN the game will lag to a completely unplayable level. It will freeze, the sound will stutter. It is totally unacceptable for an online game in 2018. I've heard talk of Sega re-entering the console market, but on the basis of this release I would say that would be a very bad idea (And to reiterate; I am a big Sega fan and was raised on their consoles in the 90's).

    The sound blips are even apparent in offline mode, which affirms that the bugs and sheer laziness of the developers infest the single player portion of this release too - again, totally unacceptable for a 2018 release. How could it be that I was emulating these games over 10 years ago on unofficial ROM's and emulators more or less perfectly, yet somehow the actual developer of these games could not get right in a bona fide release that cost me £25 in actual money in 2018?

    As I said, the games that do appear on this release are good, but I really expected better from Sega on this one. This is pure laziness on their part and the online connectivity is absolutely appalling.

    EDIT: Screw it, let's make it 5/10.    … Expand
  8. CamyVero
    Feb 27, 2021
    8
    Excellent compilation of SEGA classics. It's true that it has important absences, like Sonic 3, Soleil, or some iconic sports games like 'Super Monaco GP', 'Wimbledon Championship Tennis' or 'Ultimate Soccer'. However, it offers complete MegaDrive/Genesis sagas like Shinobi, Streets of Rage or Golden Axe and important classics of the RPG genre like the 'Phantasy Star' saga, 'Shining Force'Excellent compilation of SEGA classics. It's true that it has important absences, like Sonic 3, Soleil, or some iconic sports games like 'Super Monaco GP', 'Wimbledon Championship Tennis' or 'Ultimate Soccer'. However, it offers complete MegaDrive/Genesis sagas like Shinobi, Streets of Rage or Golden Axe and important classics of the RPG genre like the 'Phantasy Star' saga, 'Shining Force' or 'Beyond Oasis/The Story of Thor' and Treasure classics like 'Dinamite Headdy', 'Alien Soldier', 'Gunstar Heroes' and 'Light Crusader'. If you were a fan of SEGA's black console, don't hesitate, you will enjoy this game a lot.… Expand
  9. zeffsrightleg
    Nov 17, 2018
    7
    It's not like the games are bad, but for something with that name it certainly missed many great beats sega provided in my childhood.
  10. hijklmnopqrs
    Aug 28, 2020
    6
    This game is okay, it's not bad, not good, not great, just okay.
    SPOILER Alert: Don't buy this game, just buy the SEGA Mega-drive or the SEGA Dreamcast they have much better games with much better controls and just... no.
  11. clanky9
    Mar 20, 2022
    7
    Im little disappointed that they didnt include a lot of classics that should have been there althought its pretty good. Games run perfectly without any issues.
  12. YokoHugo
    Jul 28, 2022
    7
    Kjjknkhhohohohohohkhohohohohoohohhohjohohohojojjojoojohohhoojohohohhohhoohohhohohhohohohohohohihiihihihi
  13. IamSquid
    Jan 2, 2022
    8
    I'm kinda cheating with this one. I have over 40 hours on the game, 37 hours of which are probably on Sonic 2, I'd estimate another 2 hours on Sonic 1, and then about on hour on everything else (much of which I haven't played). I'm a bit disappointed that the Nintendo Switch version of this collection doesn't include Ecco the Dolphin. But yeah, overall, I'm happy with it.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. M3
    Aug 2, 2018
    70
    With over 50 games on the roster Sega Mega Drive Classics has something for most retro fans. Granted most of the games have already been seen in older collections and the emulation is not always perfect, but the ability to quick save and especially rewind is a game changer. Even though some will call it cheating, the ability to undo mistakes makes the classic games much more accessible and enjoyable than ever before.
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  2. Cubed3
    Jul 9, 2018
    50
    A compilation does not need to do much to honour its legacy. It is expected that the games play exactly as they did when they released, at the very least. Having them play worse is unacceptable. The technical issues may not be as noticeable in some titles, but they utterly break the likes of Alien Soldier.
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  3. Jeuxvideo.com
    Jun 7, 2018
    75
    With more than 50 games and a ton of options to customize your experience, SEGA Mega Drive Classics is just pure fun and nostalgia. Too bad some iconic games missed the cut.
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