SEGA Mega Drive classics hit XBLA

By Ellie Gibson Published 11 June, 2009

Gunstar Heroes! Sonic 3! Altered Beast.

A big fat bundle of good old SEGA Mega Drive titles have appeared on XBLA.

As reported on by "e" on Major Nelson's blog, they cost 400 Microsoft Points each. That's GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80 in the old money.

Topping the bill is Gunstar Heroes, followed by Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Phantasy Star II. Or how about the graphic novel-inspired Comix Zone, ninjafest Shinobi or not very good Altered Beast?

E recalls how he spent a lot of time in "college" playing on his "Genesis", because of course the Mega Drive was never released in America and they don't have universities. What was your favourite waste of time in the early nineties, readers?

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    Finally, we have all 3 Sonic games, complete with achievements :) Gunstar Heroes is a good one too.

  • oupe #2 3 years ago

    X-Wing, Tie fighter and Theme Park :)

  • LazyDan #3 3 years ago

    I was a SNES kid. The kids with Megadrives were the gypos in my neck of the woods.

    All Mario games + Mario Kart, Super Bomberman 2, Super Ghouls N Ghosts, Buster Busts Loose, Mario Paint, Street Fighter 2 Turbo... Good times.

  • jaluuk #4 3 years ago

    Altered Beast was great.

  • spenner #5 3 years ago

    cannon fodder!

  • wellzy4eva #6 3 years ago

    early 90's? Super Mario Brothers 3, lol

    Good line up, but I want Phantasy Star original games, or Shining Force, or at least Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

  • convercide #7 3 years ago

    @DFawkes

    We're still missing the crowning glory of Sonic & Knuckles which is out later in the year. It'll have the 'lock on' feature too. :)

  • TOOTR #8 3 years ago

    early nineties?

    Amiga - batman, robocop, rainbow islands, fire and ice, new zealand story, midwinter, r-type, kick-off (I searched long and hard for a good rugby game and bubble bobble as I recall but never found them for the amiga - no online or ebay then chaps! )

    But then it was the beginning of pc gaming and the amiga gathered dust - still have it somewhere, boxed with my spectrum+

    Then it was all pc gaming.

    It was all 386 PC for me.

    Xwing, Gods(bitmap brothers), Lemmings, Monkey Island 1 & 2, Fate of Atlantis, Doom, Doom II, Dune2

    I think I upgraded to a DX2 66Mhz to play xwing (amongst others) on properly.....for a ridiculous amount of money..




  • DFawkes #9 3 years ago

    convercide, That is very good news indeed :D

    I wouldn't mind Cyborg Justice too. I love that game. I'd also say one of the Streets of Rage games, but I have a feeling they already have and I've bought it already. I buy too many damn games to remember things like that.
    Edited by 1 at 11/06/09 @ 09:14

  • muscleblade #10 3 years ago

    @DFawkes

    Streets of Rage 2 is on Xbla. If you buy the Megadrive collection you get them all + Sonic and Knucles.

  • nick_f Verified Senior Producer, Microsoft #11 3 years ago

    I had a Mega Drive, my most-played games being Sonic, Strider, Desert Strike.

    Then I traded it all in for a SNES and SFII. Then Zelda III came along and that was that... +1 Ninty fanboy

    I also had a Global Hypercolor t-shirt I thought was pretty cool.

    (the green/yellow one)
    Edited by 1 at 11/06/09 @ 09:26

  • zudo #12 3 years ago

    Shinobi was never released on the MD was it? Now Revenge of Shinobi, that's where it's at.

    Shinobi was pretty good on the Master System as I remember, looks like it's the arcade version on XBLA

  • Colin8703 #13 3 years ago

    @ Wellyz4eva

    Get the Megadrive Ultimate Collection. It's got all four Phantasy Star games, Shining Force 1 & 2 as well Sonic 1 - 3 and i picked up a copy for £15.

    Great value that far outweighs some of the crap on the disc.

  • gav_and_the_gavster #14 3 years ago

    I was "wasting my time" playing my SNES...Starwing, Zelda LTTP, All Mario's+ Kart, Super Tennis, F-Zero, Pop 'n' Twinbee, Flashback, Super Probotector, Super Punch-Out, Rock n Roll Racing, Cybernator, Batman Returns, Stunt Race FX, Illusion Of Time, Secret of Mana, Super Castlevania IV, Shadowrun, Street Racer, Super Star Wars, Legend Of the Mystical Ninja, Actraiser, Top Gear, Mega Man X, Another World, Tiny Toons - Buster Busts Loose, Uniracers, Equinox, Zombies Ate my Neighbours, Chaos Engine, Micro Machines, Donkey Kong Country, Pilot Wings, Super Metroid, Aliens 3, Terranigma, Sparkster, Vortex, Turtles Tournament Fighters, Killer Instinct and probably missed a few more too.

    I wish I could "waste my time" a lot more often these days :(

  • j1m.ch053n #15 3 years ago

    unless your a total achievement whore these releases are obsolete due to the sega megadrive ultimate collection. I was hoping to see some stuff not on that release like road rage, sennas super monaco gp2, gynoug, desert strike, the original fifa - im sure the licensing issues on such old stuff could be negotiated

  • DFawkes #16 3 years ago

    Checked my games played, I do already have Streets of Rage II :)

    I don't want the compilation disc, since I've got no interest in most of the games. I've already got ones I love from before it's release, so I'm happy I only have to play another 800MP to get Sonic 3 & eventually Sonic & Knuckles, instead of on a disc of games I wouldn't bother with. It's nice to have both options though.

  • Dr_Wadd #17 3 years ago

    @ Zudo, pretty sure that it is the Master System version of Shinobi on Arcade, could be wrong though.

  • Agent_Llama #18 3 years ago

    I was a SNES boy, with countless hours lost to Sim City 2000, Theme Park and Super Mario Kart.
    Edited by 1 at 11/06/09 @ 10:34

  • Irien #19 3 years ago

    How do these versions compare to those on the Ultimate Collection disc? Same? Or better/re-done in HD?

    Or even compared with the PS2 collection that was around 2 years back...

  • muscleblade #20 3 years ago

    @Irien

    Same.

    Altered Beast and Shinobi is arcade versions btw. Their both on the Megadrive collection disc as unlockables.

  • Pinewood_Groves #21 3 years ago

    @j1m.ch053n

    Gunstar Heroes is not on the Ultimate Megadrive Collection, and is the best game out of the bunch.

    Therefore it is not 'obsolete', and neither are the other games as somebody may well want one or two of them without getting the others in the full retail collection.

  • mrmonkey1980 #22 3 years ago

    Gunstar heroes is probably my favourite game on the megadrive. I have to buy that. Its just so simple, fun and satisfying. Awesome news! My other megadrive faves were toejam and ear, mega bomberman and Road Rash 2

  • miiiguel #23 3 years ago

    Gunstar is not available on Sega: UC, nor Shinobi (it has Shinobi 3 instead)
    edit: well it is as an unlockable (Shinobi) but is almost unplayable. is more like a curiosity, as it is a straight conversion from the ancient arcade to your telly.

    I played all these trials last night and Comix Zone and Phantasy Star are the ones that look exactly the same, ecept for achievements, which in the case of PS2 is important to me. I might kill Mother Brain this time...
    Edited by 2 at 11/06/09 @ 13:14

  • Ryze #24 3 years ago

    I'll have a couple of these, ta.

    I loved the Sonics, the Road Rashes, Streets of Rage... and Mario Kart.

  • sweetcheeks #25 3 years ago

    as a personal preference i found sunset riders more enjoyable than the more popular gunstar heroes.

  • DFawkes #26 3 years ago

    Gunstar. Dice Palace. If I was doing a list of most memorable levels ever, that'd be right up there.

  • bionutz #27 3 years ago

    I had a PC back then: Little Big Adventure (best game eva) from Adeline Software, Syndicate wars, Supaplex (you can download this for free these days), Civ I. And at my brother's altered beast (that one was cool), sonic, alex the kid (Master System), street fighter (excellent).
    But Little Big Adventure is such a beautiful poetry of a game, I always warm up when I remember it. Unfortunately I can't buy it anywhere - it would be a perfect game for WiiWare maybe (I have LBA II though).

  • j1m.ch053n #28 3 years ago

    true - forgot gunstar isnt on the UC

    my point that the ultimate collection wasnt exactly ultimate still stands though and gunstar not being on it just reinforces that particular point

  • Climhazzard #29 3 years ago

    if im honest it was actually sonic 3 so ive downloaded it straight away, great memories!

  • Situacao #30 3 years ago

    You're all forgetting Comix Zone, what a great game it was: top graphics, original concept, great gameplay, addictive music.. One of the best games I've ever played.. The scene in the arena is spectacular to say the least! The only downside is that the game is a bit too hard..

    I'm just waiting for some MS Points to get the full game.

  • davey_wells #31 3 years ago

    Woohoo - jizz in my pants - Gunstar Heroes for £3.40.

    Sorted.

  • 8bitMofo #32 3 years ago

    Gunstar. Dice Palace. If I was doing a list of most memorable levels ever, that'd be right up there.

    I coudn't get over my superstition of throwing the dice three times, without it touching the floor before I was happy to let the computer deal me my fate.

    "NOOOO!! Not the bastard 'back to the start' square!!!!!"

  • SomaticSense #33 3 years ago

    The worst was getting the wrong result everytime.

    '1'

    '1'

    '1'

    "Oh great, well if I get a 1 this time, at least it's the Happy Item Room"

    ...

    ...

    '2'

    *sigh*

  • Shwing #34 3 years ago

    I think Sega have to be applauded for their recent pricing structure of XBLA games.

    400 points for these classics & 800 points for Outrun Online. To me, this is exactly what XBLA was designed for - new & classic games, all for an 'impulse buy' price point!

    \o/