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" Also available on: PS3 Genre: Retro Compilation Developer: Backbone Entertainment Publisher: Sega Release date: February 20, 2009 In the last few years retro gaming has soared in popularity. Increased disc space, accurate and easy-to-use emulating software, plus the ability to download classic games from virtual stores, has helped anybody with a yearning for yester-year enjoy nostalgia-driven gaming sessions with relative ease. The PS2 and Xbox saw the release of multiple compilations, with the likes of Taito, Midway, Capcom and Namco all unleashing their old-school gems onto grateful gamers the world over. Even Sega got in on the act with the 2007 release of its Sega Mega Drive Collection for the PS2 and PSP. With almost 30 games, the collection was decent, but lacked a few of the heavyweight titles that would have made it essential (Streets Of Rage for example). Now Sega has the chance to make amends and with the power of the next generation of consoles behind it, it has decided to release the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection for the 360 and PS3.  On paper the Ultimate Collection is just that. With 40 selectable games from the off and a further nine available to unlock, there is a wealth of 16-bit beauties on offer (and a few 8-bit ones too). Sega has included near complete collections of many of its quality franchises, such as the four main entries in the Sonic series, three Shining Force titles, four Phantasy Stars and the complete Mega Drive Streets Of Rage and Golden Axe collections. There are also lots of classic standalone titles such as Zelda clone The Story Of Thor, Ristar, Comix Zone and the crazy and colourful Dynamite Headdy.  However, when you use an adjective such as &amp;#039;ultimate&amp;#039; to describe your collection, it makes any absences all the more conspicuous. It&amp;#039;s great that Treasure&amp;#039;s excellent Dynamite Headdy is included, but why hasn&amp;#039;t Gunstar Heroes made the cut? Also, where are the likes of Landstalker, Light Crusader, Space Harrier 2, Toejam And Earl and OutRun? And why oh why has the Sonic 3 And Knuckles lock-on title been omitted once again? Maybe it&amp;#039;s greedy to want more than 50 games, but when you call your title the Ultimate Collection it seems reasonable enough to expect all of the greats. Regardless of what&amp;#039;s been left out, what&amp;#039;s been included is excellent and the Ultimate Collection is without doubt the finest retro compilation on the market. Games such as scrolling beat-em-up Streets Of Rage, in particular the second and third in the series, are still just as fun now as they were when they were released - especially in two-player. 2D platformers such as Ristar, Dynamite Headdy and the Sonic games serve as constant reminders that 2D gaming, which was closing in on perfection back then, could be mind-blowingly brilliant if given the appropriate backing today. There are also some first-class RPGs, with the Phantasy Star and Shining Force games proving that you don&amp;#039;t necessarily need 3D-rendered graphics and flash cut-scenes to create an atmospheric RPG with plenty of depth. It&amp;#039;s a good thing for Sega that the games featured on the disc are so strong because presentation-wise it&amp;#039;s all a little disappointing. Detailed instructions for many of the titles have to be viewed online, while cover art and in-game title screens are from the North American versions of the games. The museum feature is a little bit boring (visually) and only offers only a few nuggets of information per game. There&amp;#039;s also a lack of online co-op and leaderboards, which is a real shame because it would have gone some way towards settling outrageous high-score claims from the playgrounds of the past. The unlockable content and achievements are very easy to obtain too, but that may be Sega&amp;#039;s strategy to encourage people to try every game. On the plus side, the emulation side of things has been handled well and Backbone has done a good job in making the games run at the correct speed and with little in the way of glitches. Games can be stretched out for widescreen TVs or played as God intended with a 4:3 screen ratio. The 4:3 screen size will appear too small for many modern TVs, but fortunately players can push and pull the edges to make it fit as they please. The smoothing option, which removes any pixel-based imperfections, has the plastic surgery effect, with some titles looking ten years younger, while others look like facelifts gone wrong. It becomes a trial and error affair and a matter of taste, but it certainly doesn&amp;#039;t add a consistent HD effect as intended. Games can also be saved at any point, which may not suit the hardcore Mega Drive fan, but does allow for flexibility in play and means that you won&amp;#039;t need to pause the power consuming 360 when having to pop out during the Wing Fortress Zone on Sonic 2. Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection easily surpasses any of the retro compilations that have preceded it, but that should come as no surprise given that it is the first of its kind on the next-gen. There are some unfortunate omissions, both in terms of games and gameplay features, but based on the sheer quality and quantity of titles, the good far outweighs the bad. Anybody who has been busy downloading many of the games from the various next-gen download services won&amp;#039;t be happy, because at \u00A325-\u00A330 the Ultimate Collection offers enormous value for money and works out at roughly 50p a game from the cheaper retail outlets. Perhaps Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection&amp;#039;s biggest accomplishment is that with its price and number of quality titles it can appeal to far more than just Sega fans with a craving for the past.  &amp;gt; What do you think of the game? Share your views The complete list of games: Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Alien Storm, Altered Beast, Bonanza Bros, Columns, Comix Zone, Decap Attack, Dr. Robotnik&amp;#039;s Mean Bean Machine, Dynamite Headdy, ESWAT: City Under Siege, Ecco the Dolphin, Ecco: The Tides of Time, Fatal Labyrinth, Flicky, Gain Ground, Golden Axe, 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 II: Ancient Sealing, Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic &amp;amp; Knuckles, Sonic Spinball, Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, The Story Of Thor, Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 2, Streets of Rage 3, Super Thunder Blade, Vectorman 1 and Vectorman 2. Unlockable Master System and Arcade games: Alien Syndrome, Altered Beast, Fantasy Zone, Golden Axe Warrior, Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Space Harrier, Tip Top and Zaxxon. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/review/a148233/sega-mega-drive-ultimate-collection-360/>