SEGA AGES & SEGA Mega Drive Classics

This is a pleasant surprise and a no-brainer at the same time:



http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/09/sega_mega_drive_classics_is_coming_to_switch_this_winter_with_exclusive_features

The "exclusive features" is just the one exclusive feature by the looks of things, but it's the best one: having same-screen multiplayer with the split JoyCons makes this something I'll be wanting to download pronto. How about you? Might you buy the physical version that's also been announced?

FYI, I have it on PS4, and said this in the reviews thread:

I wrote:

As for the collection as a whole, I think Game Asylum's review sums it up quite well. There's eleven RPGs FFS, 7/10.

I'll buy it no doubt get it, I had the collection back on PS3 but the whole "everything is better on Switch" thing makes me want this for another round or two.

The timing is a bit odd as the first batch of Sega Ages is due out this week, I was interested in one or two of them but don't see much point now. Am I right in understanding this collection doesn't have Sonic 3 & Knuckles for Michael Jackson related copyright reasons? Bit of a shame if so.

Sent from Topic'it App

It doesn't have Sonic 3 or Sonic & Knuckles, sadly. Those together, that's the best thing on the Mega Drive too.

The games that have been announced for SEGA AGES don't do much to inspire me, and I don't think I'll get any of them at the full recommended price. This collection, likewise, isn't all that exciting when you look at the sum of it's parts, apart from the whole "everything is better on Switch" right enough. Still, I'd put Gunstar Heroes, Streets of Rage II, Dynamite Headdy and Sonic 2 up against any consoles' best games.

I'd be far more tempted to pick up a collection like this than plump for the individually priced SEGA Ages games. There's some quality titles in the collection, for sure. What was the price of this back at launch on the other consoles? Despite the quantity - and in some instances, quality - of titles in that collection, a full £50 priced Mega Drive collection would be a bit of a hard sell for me.

I'll probably end up getting this purely for Comix Zone & a few others as I really enjoyed playing that when we were at that bar at the Manchester meet up.

Shame this wasn't launched at the same time as I do feel this is something that would be better on Switch but I picked up on Xbox One for £20 and thought the emulation was off, that I traded in not long after.

If this was £20 like on Xbox One then I may have given another look but if it's £50 like Jay is saying, then no way and I might wait for SEGA Ages titles as I can buy what I want and have enhanced versions of them.

Happily, ShopTo and The Game Collection are selling this for around £29.

Double post, but a very worthwhile one - SEGA AGES debuted on the eShop this afternoon.



It's just Thunder Force IV and Sonic The Hedgehog for the now, and they're £5.99 each. As much as I hope that SEGA are a bit more creative with their choices for the AGES series in the future and don't just re-re-re-re-revamp the same old Mega Drive and arcade games, I can't pass up Thunder Force IV. How about youse?

I believe they asked at TGS for more suggestions including Saturn and Dreamcast but at the moment only Phantasy Star has my interest due to it's added features.

I've heard the SEGA AGES versions are supposedly superior to the versions in the compilation pack - a mate at work was talking how the emulation in the compilation is crap compared to the SEGA AGES versions, but I'm clueless as to if that's the case or not. Anybody in the know able to enlighten me on that?

Yeah I've been saying that for (sega) ages.

But in what way is the emulation not up to scratch though? That's the part I'm curious about.

I'm no expert but it feels really off and why I traded in the game rather quickly, I don't know who was behind it but look at SEGAs Micro Consoles they've been rubbish due to At Games emulation.

Where M2's 3D Classic's are excellent, who are doing the ages games for Switch.

That's why I'm more inclined to pay £6 for Phantasy Star through that knowing they've taken the best verison of it with some extras (similar to the STEAM version of FFVII compared to PS1 Classic version) and doing a decent emulation with it.

On PS4 at least, the SEGA Mega Drive Classics have quite a number of technical issues that you can't not notice. Occasionally, they affect the graphics, every-so-often they affect the sound, but regularly they impact on the pace and flow of games. The slowdown can get quite bad on Streets of Rage 2, Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier, which is mental, because these are games that never had lag before.

There's good stuff about it though, like the quick saves, the mirror mode, the rewind and fast-forward feature, online co-op and the sheer breadth of quality, quality games. That said, all of this good stuff doesn't surprise you - it's the bad stuff that does, and unpleasantly so.

Now Phantasy Star isn't in the collection as it's a Master System game but Phantasy Star IV is on it which looks like this


you would think a Master System game would work look worse, now I might be wrong but the SEGA Ages version of Phantasy Star will look like this


That's the big difference if the AGEs games are what I think they're from the info what we have it's not just a port of a game from the OG console, it might be a something more like a remaster in some cases.

---

Update SEGA posted at TGS what people have been asking for to be part of AGES



Be great to see some of those especially seeing we don't see Saturn or Dreamcast games as often

I'm sort-of up for this - I do like me a retro collection. Having said that, it wasn't that long ago that I bought a similar collection for the PS3, with some grumpy results. Also, what's going on with the clash with Sega Ages? Nintendo have got this problem now with the arcade archives/NES thing. I might hold off to see what else Sega bring out as an enhanced version.

masofdas wrote:

Update SEGA posted at TGS what people have been asking for to be part of AGES



Be great to see some of those especially seeing we don't see Saturn or Dreamcast games as often

SEGA followed that up with this news:

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/10/sega_wants_to_meet_fan_expectations_but_unsure_about_inclusion_of_jet_set_radio_in_ages_line

I'd be very disappointed with they followed up this fan survey with AGES updates of Altered Beast and Galaxy Force. There's existing updates of Jet Set Radio, NiGHTS and Daytona USA on PSN and XBLA. It's mad that they weren't on Wii U in 2012, let alone if they're not going to be on the Switch as part of SEGA AGES, and in response to positive feedback that's come straight from the folk that would buy them.

On another note, I've had Thunder Force IV for a few weeks now. Excellent game!

It's SEGA being SEGA (Nintendo do it often as well) they take 2 steps forward but 3 back all the time.

As they put out so many good games now, they let fans ake some of them, yet something that must rather simple for someone like SEGA to port Jet Set Radio which works on VITA might not happen.

And it's not a case like Goku being top a SMASH poll either.

Sorry about the double post as I've got to say BOO! SEGA! BOO! as I thought and others like Jay's mate that we were getting like the best version of classic SEGA games as part of the AGES series but we've just got a date for Phantasy Star in Japan and it's the Master System OG with some QoL improvements which is great but it's not the PS2 remaster which others and myself thought we were going to get.

I wasn't expecting any PS2 remasters myself, as I don't think they've ever indicated that they would be on Switch. I can't speak for Phantasy Star, but the updates of OutRun, Golden Axe, Space Harrier and others that I played on SEGA Classics Collection on PS2 weren't as good as the originals - and some of them were flat-out bad. Still, they might have made for a decent bonus game-within-a-game.

On another note, SEGA announced that the Mega Drive Classics game is out on Switch on December 6th. Hmm. BioHazard Battle Vs. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - there's only one winner there!

Maybe it was a poor translation but was what I thought we were getting, now I'm really not bothered unless it's something not on collection and decent but not getting my hopes up.

We're getting Panzer Dragoon and Zwei remakes, no word on what systems yet or if they'll be downloads or retail etc but if these come to Switch well then you'll all see how much they're compared to Star Fox.

That's right, I'd seen that too. They're being remade by the folk who made Violett, Sparkle 2: EVO and all those other eShop games that are permanently 90% off in the sales. I have no clue if they're all right or not, but hopefully they'll do Panzer Dragoon justice, as it's really good.

~

I got the Switch version of SEGA Mega Drive Classics last week. I've not played it too much, but my immediate thoughts are that the emulation is the same as it was on PS4 (problems and all), the menus are blurrier than I remember, and the two Wonder Boy games that were on the PS4/XBOne version are nowhere to be found! It's around £15 on other consoles; I guess you're paying a Switch Tax for the portability and Joy Con multiplayer.

Puyo Puyo and Gain Ground are the next SEGA Ages games on their way, releasing on the eShop at some point in February:

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/01/gain_ground_and_puyo_puyo_join_the_sega_ages_line-up_on_switch_next_month

SEGA Ages: OutRun came out yesterday. It's magic, though apart from widescreen and playing at 60fps, it doesn't seem to be all that different from the 3DS version that came out a few years back. That had *amazing* 3D.

I picked that 3DS version up on your recommendation a while back Cappa and had a blast with it - those 3D Classics are top notch stuff.