I recently purchased three collections of past classic game collections: Midway Treasures 2, Capcom Classics Vol. 1, and the Sega Genesis Collection.
I never bought Midway Treasures 1 after reading that some of the games didn’t even work right. Number 2, however, received much better reviews, mostly for the inclusions of Mortal Kombat 2 and 3. Anyone who wants to play the first installment of the series is going to have to track down a copy of MK: Deception Kollector’s Edition. While these two games are certainly entertaining to play, it doesn’t mean that the other games on the disc are sub-par. There are plenty of games to fool around with, and the fact that these are the arcade versions make the experience unique. Some games are intent on making life difficult, like NARC, and the inclusion of unlimited continues is the only reason you’ll get past the first few stages. With the sheer amount of games on the disc, you’d be hard pressed to not find a game you like, and some will definitely keep a short attention span entertained for a while.
The Capcom Collection is also a set of arcade games that surpass their console counterparts. Again, there’s plenty of enjoyment to be had with Street Fighter II and Final Fight. Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts is nearly impossible despite unlimited continues, like it should be. A number of entertaing shooting games are also included, fulfilling that fast twitch nerve. This disc has fewer “duds” than other collections, and shows of some of the best games from a great publisher. The recently released Vol. 2 fills in some of the curious omissions.
The best of the three, Sega Genesis Collection, contains a slew of fully engaging Genesis games. Almost all of the games are of the highest quality and provides a great sampling of what made the Genesis popular. Going through each game is a delight, and though my wife absolutely hates Gain Ground and most critics completely ignore it in their reviews, I honestly bought the collection so I could play it again. Just have low expectations and a lot of patience for the incredibly slow-moving characters. The death of one character can make the game nearly impossible, but it can be so fun to fight over the new recruits with two players. The whole collection is nicely presented, and hearing the Sega chime at the beginning of each game always brings a smile to my face. Here’s hoping for a second collection that’s as entertaing as the first.
-mlbradley
durden26@comcast.net