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SEGA Vintage Collection Review
Xbox 360 Review by Dan Whitehead
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Following a drip-drip accumulation of classic SEGA titles on Xbox Live Arcade, the venerable publisher finally splurged itself big-style last Wednesday, with a whopping six titles in one beefy update. Priced at just 400 Microsoft Points (GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80 in actual pennies) they're already roughly half the price of the same games on Nintendo's Virtual Console, and come with online doohickies to boot. It's a great price point for this sort of game - it makes the true classics an absolute steal, yet also makes the pretty good titles much more appealing.
All but one of these games are, of course, already available on the SEGA Megadrive Ultimate Collection, in almost the exact same emulated form. This generous package of over 40 old games can be picked up for silly cheap prices, but for those who just want to cherry-pick the cream of the crop, this is an excellent update, with a solid line-up of good-to-great SEGA titles spread across various genres. And Altered Beast.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
While his games may not showcase the sort of startling evolution that arch rival Super Mario Bros. enjoyed, the original Sonic titles are too often undervalued when great 2D game design is discussed.
Case in point, this third outing for the blue wonder is superficially similar to the first two games, but contains enough gentle evolutions of the core design to make it pretty irresistible. Size is one of the major changes, with stages that now sprawl in many directions. The space is wisely used as well. Those who prefer the speed-run approach can still hammer through the scenery and make straight for the exit, but there are so many secrets and obscure areas hidden behind rocks, at the top of trees or accessible only by top-notch platforming that more, thorough players can spend blissful hours mining the game for every last ring.
Sonic himself is much as he was in the second game, although he's now able to pick up elemental power-ups that not only act as a shield, good for one hit, but also provide new attacks such as water bubble bounces and fire blasts. There's also a shift to co-op play (offline only, sadly) as Tails can help Sonic by airlifting him to remote areas. The versus mode returns, and is playable online as well.
It's not Sonic & Knuckles, but that's about the only serious criticism that can be levelled at such a confident and polished sequel. Not quite a stone-cold classic, but close enough to make the low asking price a no-brainer.
8/10
Gunstar Heroes
One of the finest action games of the 16-bit era, Gunstar Heroes is the evolutionary link between the ruthless design of Mega Man and the goofy carnage of Metal Slug. A relentless side-scrolling shooter, it also represents all that is great about offbeat developer Treasure's output.
Like Mega Man, you can mix and match from a variety of elemental-themed weapon sets. You can also choose which order to tackle the game's stages. While Capcom's armoured hero was always more about precision platforming than frantic blasting, however, Gunstar Heroes is deliriously paced, its outrageous crescendos beautifully conducted for maximum "daft grin" effect.
Bullets fly, everything explodes and you keep on moving. Enemies that get too close are judo-flipped into their comrades, and the layered platforms ultimately feel like an adventure playground of trigger-mashing destruction rather than any nuanced obstacle course to be navigated.
True to the Treasure house style, the humour is broad, the ideas wacky and the gameplay subtly tweaked every few minutes to keep you engaged. One minute you're sliding down an incline, blasting enemies as they skid past, the next you might be battling a runaway train. Treasure's love of the boss battle is also front and centre, with a rapid procession of fantastically designed and animated foes to wear down through pattern recall and fire-button abuse.
A glaring omission from the disc-based Megadrive Collection, Gunstar Heroes is a great choice for the SEGA Vintage series. The hardcore will lap it up, but anyone who still remembers what it's like to grin like an idiot while blasting hundreds of enemies will more than get their money's worth as well.
8/10
Comix Zone
One of the unsung gems of the Megadrive, Comix Zone mashes up the pugilism of Streets of Rage with some rudimentary inventory-based adventure game mechanics and comes up with a distinct flavour all of its own.
The story finds a comic artist - a very 1990s comic artist, complete with ponytail, Bermuda shorts and sleeveless leather jacket - sucked into the panels of his own creation. You're able to punch enemies from one panel to the next, or rip through the page border and drop down into scenes below. Combat is satisfying, if unoriginal, but this conceptual twist makes the framework seem fresh.
Given its comic book back-story, it's also a game that could only work in a world made from 2D sprites, and the graphics do a fine job of capturing the little details that mark the difference between an OK game and one with that extra polish.
The game is arguably a little too tough, with plenty of ways to lose health but few to top it back up again, and there are a couple of precision do-or-die leaps that act as stark reminders of the game's unforgiving vintage. Those caveats aside, Comix Zone still impresses with its ideas and execution and is a definite highlight of SEGA's retro line-up.
8/10
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muscleblade
17/06/09 @ 07:05
+1
Loved Gunstar Heroes! The other games can be found in the Ultimate Megadrive Collection for a pretty decent price so.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 17/06/09 @ 08:07
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On the PC emulators for really old consoles and computers such as the Commodore 64 they include a "scanline" filter which simulates a CRT TV effect even on LCD screens and made games look less blocky. It mystifies me why retro developers don't include it and all the other filters in these ports, it looks a million times better than the "smoothing" filter.
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Pinewood_Groves
17/06/09 @ 07:28
+2
I think the following Altered Beast has is bizarre. I remember playing it on my new Mega Drive in 1991 at the age of 8 and thinking it was a useless piece of junk, before putting Sonic back on.
Gunstar Heroes is forever awesome though. Only 8/10? :) |
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Doctor_What
17/06/09 @ 07:31
0
Altered Beast only lingers because it came in the box with the UK Mega Drive. Those of us who bought a Japanese imported Mega Drive don't hold the same fascination with the game. It's a load of piffle, with a side salad of tosh, and only memorable for the 'Wise Fwom Your Gwave!' audio sample.
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andywilkie35
17/06/09 @ 07:43
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@Pinewood_Groves
I agree Sir, I thought it was terrible when I was young and whilst games like Sonic and Mario etc bring back great memories, I physically shudder when I think of that abomination. |
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Wastelander
17/06/09 @ 07:45
0
Comix Zone really wasn't that good, it was full of retarded insta-deaths (Skreeches knocking you off wires) and leap of faith jumps that made it a chore to play.
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sweetcheeks
17/06/09 @ 07:58
0
ive never played altered beast but from what i understand,
its creation was a graphical showcase to show people that the megadrive was capable of arcade quality visuals well beyond that of current NES competitor. please mr sega man sir, put zero wing game with the full audio intro as an unlockable in one of your collections. surely the greatest jap->eng translation of any media ever. |
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muscleblade
17/06/09 @ 07:59
+1
@Mr_Smith
You must be pretty young i guess. Gunstar Heroes plays better than Killzone 2 in many ways. |
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+1
It'd be far better value to just buy the Mega Drive Ultimate Collection, which has all of these games (bar Gunstar Heroes) plus 35 more and can be had for about £15 online.
Anyway, Comix Zone is a nice game. One of the best-looking of the 16-bit era IMO. It's hard as nails though (you lose health for attacking enemies FFS), and lasts about half an hour at best.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 17/06/09 @ 09:05
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toythatkills
17/06/09 @ 08:15
+1
"... thorough players can spend blissful hours mining the game for every last ring."
No they can't! You die after ten minutes, there's no way to collect every ring in that time. |
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Wastelander
17/06/09 @ 08:17
-1
I'm hearing you Aretak, outstanding presentation but just stupid frustrating in places.
Is there any plans to get Ristar up I wonder? Surely up there with Sonic, if not even better. |
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muscleblade
17/06/09 @ 08:27
0
Ristar is on the Megadrive collection. I thouth it was crap. Better than Sonic you say. You make me laugh.
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creepylizard
17/06/09 @ 08:32
0
God, I loved Phantasy Star 2 when I was younger...I think I paid about 70 quid for an american import at the time too..
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videogangs
17/06/09 @ 08:43
0
I remember playing Altered Beast on a crappy coin-op in a Spanish cafe all the time near my grandparent's apartment- I used to think it was the shit at the time but I must have been able 7 and being deprived of all videogames for a week or 2 at a time probably had that affect!
I came back in 1998 when I was about 12 they had Soul Caliber and one of the Metal Slugs, so they'd moved on a bit :-P |
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0
Comix Zone hard? You guys must try it now that you are all grown ups :) It's quite easy (except, maybe for Kung Fung, lvl 2 boss).
You want hard, try finishing Phantasy Star 2 (PS2) . Btw, I like the "smooth filter" in PS2. And yes, the PS2 was crazy expensive back in the days, and it amazes me how a 20mb game can be so complex.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 17/06/09 @ 09:51
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+1
Dan, Dan Dan. Altered Beast 3/10 you sir are a SNES fanboy or something, or is it ANOTHER huge mistake just like that Dead Space one?
I'd say 3/10 is generous for Altered Beast. It really has very little going for it, especially as a game appearing alongside a wide range of other - massively superior - Mega Drive games (both on Xbox Live Arcade and on the recent Mega Drive Collection. I think that a lot of the people who buy it because of their memories of the game are going to be surprised at how very badly it holds up in 2009. |
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I never beat Sonic 3 due to one thing, that goddamn plaform in the carnivale zone. You had to jump and land on it to move it out of the way to move on, there entire level bottle necked around it. Urghhrag! I hated that platform couldn't even use cheat debug to get past it.
maybe I'll finally beat it now |
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kinky_mong
17/06/09 @ 09:04
0
"Altered Beast only lingers because it came in the box with the UK Mega Drive. Those of us who bought a Japanese imported Mega Drive don't hold the same fascination with the game. It's a load of piffle, with a side salad of tosh, and only memorable for the 'Wise Fwom Your Gwave!' audio sample."
That and the "POWER UP!" and "WELCOME TO YOUR DOOM!" samples. But it really is one of the worst games ever created. |
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muscleblade
17/06/09 @ 09:14
0
@miiiguel
How come you bought Comix zone and Phantasy Star 2 when their already on the megadrive collection? Easy Achievements i guess? |
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@ muscleblade: Not easy Achievements, just Achievements (tbh I also thought Comix Zone was hard, but too many years passed, it's not all that really), regarding Phantasy Star 2, lol... easy???! Why don't you give it a try? But remeber you have to actually finish the game, and it features gameplay that does not feature headshots and muscled dudes saying one-liners.
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@Pinewood_Groves
Altered beast is a cheese cult classic!!! 'Wize fwom you gwave!!!!!!' 'Power UP!' 'Ha Ha Ha Haaaaaaa!' It's all about 1991 playing it as one of the only games your spoilt mate had on his new MD... then once he got Road Rash, Streets of Rage and EA Hockey - you never looked back! :D edit: @VicViper Can't remember ever getting stuck on that at age 15. There is a bug in the Carnival zone though - where you could actually get stuck in the scenery! That caused much annoyance back in the day, but Sonic 3 has a save game system, so I can't believe you never got off of Carnival zone onto the Ice zone with the snowboarding at teh start!!!! You missed out, man. Sonic 3 & Knuckles played through in a few sessions is the most complete, and fantastic Sonic experience I had as a yooot'. Give it a go once the lock-on feature is available (or on Sonic Jam on the Saturn), and you'll knwo what I mean...
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 17/06/09 @ 11:12
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@Ryze
I did use a debug mode cheat to pass through it but it was a rental when I got it, back during those dark times when I could not buy games on a whim. I did see the Ice Zone (awsome music) and the snow boarding but I'm convinced that using the debug glitched the game so I couldn't finish it (least thats what I tell myself) and then I had to return it to XtraVision. I read years later that you had to press up and down to get past it were as I was jumping and pressing down, if only the internet had existed in its form today back then. |
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I hated Altered Beast from day one, but it was a freebie with many MD systems for the longest while. I got the Super Monaco GP package instead, thank God for that.
Phantasy Star II, however... I was more into that game than I had ever been into anything else. I thought about it all the time when I wasn't playing. Nothing had come close to that experience before... I beat the game all the way up until the final boss, but never managed to take it down (there's a long, dangerous trek from the last save point to the boss). I still think I'll pull my Mega Drive out and finish it some day, but I've forgotten all the intricacies of combat, so I probably don't stand a chance anymore. And Gunstar... one of the most impressive technical achievements on the Mega Drive, and one hell of a co-op game. Still shines today. |
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I've already got the Mega Drive Collection so won't be buying any of these. However, I would have bought Sonic 3 for the three-thousandth time if it had Sonic & Knuckles attached to it so you could play Sonic 3 & Knuckles with its 14 emeralds and Hyper Sonic unlockable. It was on the Saturn's Sonic Jam collection so why not here?
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@ neon: are you referring to Dark Force or Mother Brain? Phantasy Star has too much grinding, been 20 hours into the game and I barely scratch the surface - the dungeons are crazy complex, it's virtually impossible to complete them withour maps (which came with the original game - Dan's right, this port, as it is, it's unplayable without other info). Kudos to EGer Mr.Lutz who's been quite helpfull (dude knows the game by heart, impressive!).
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most recently on 17/06/09 @ 11:55
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i'm so glad there are others who see can see just how bad Altered Beast really was, is anmd will be. My mates take the piss out of me for how passionate I get when I start screaming at people when they say they remember how much they thinik its great. Arghhhh! And those pink unicorns dont raise the score from a 2 to a 3.
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How does:
"Story-wise, it's embarrassingly generic, opening with a nightmare-stricken hero who is swiftly handed the task of investigating the sudden appearance of monsters. Everything unfolds much as you'd expect, with the only notable point of difference being the sci-fi setting and a combat style that apes Square's turn-based strategy but in a clunkier way." turn to "A rare JRPG that doesn't cling to the Final Fantasy template, it's an epic and fairly mature tale of sci-fi intrigue and environmental ruin, with a memorable stick-man graphical style and a vast open world to explore." ? |
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sickpuppysoftware
17/06/09 @ 11:52
0
Altered Beast is remembered to this day not because of it's graphics or gameplay but purely because of "wise fwom your gwave"
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Altered Beast isn't worthy of 3/10. Much too high.
Gunstar, seriously, it's a 9 or 10. Truely awesome. And EVERYONE dreads getting the sodding "Curry and Rice" fight in the Dice Palace! End boss is hard as nails if you don't have "homing" or co-op. Whoever said Phantasy Star II was "easy achivement points" is off their ROCKER. Seriously mental. 75gp of the 200gp available are unlocked by the final series of boss fights, and this game has, by some considerable distance IMO, the toughest final boss fights of any RPG. First you get an arduous slog through a tough dungeon, then back to back boss fights with Dark Force and Motherbrain, and the best spell in the game to help you actually blasts your party too. Rock hard. And that's if you can even GET to the end. The dungeons are insanly big and complex, and the amount of grinding needed in the game is unreal. Probably a 60 to 80 hour monster of a session this game. I'm a big Phantasy Star fan, but I'd be hard pushed to give it anything higher than a 6/10. Wait for Phantasy Star 4; now THAT'S a great RPG. |
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Slipstream
17/06/09 @ 11:55
0
Ryze hit the nail on the head. Altered Beast has a the classic retro cult following of the cheese and barrage of people who played it back in the day who would pay this price to play it again. By no means is a the game a shining example of quality gaming, and I KNOW Sega realise this.
Anyhow I'd already bought Sonic 3 and Gunstar Heroes, all I want is Streets of Rage 3 so I can play it co-op online. xD |
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