Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection [PS3/360]

[JP]

This arrived from th US today and I've been really looking forward to reminding myself that Sega used to actually be a good developer sometime in the distant past which is probably a shock for a lot of kids today.

Only tried a few games so far so not a great deal to write up at the moment but I'm just so pleased to get this that I don't care.

To start off I'm just going to mention the terrible filter that was shown in the screen shots before. There is an on/off switch for this but after checking a few games it would be more accurate to call it an on/almost off switch as there seems to be a slight blur when you choose off.

It's really not bad though and far better than I'm used to when playing the PS2 version of the games on my PS3. I've not seen the Live versions of some of these games so don't know how compares to those but I'm somebody will be able to give more details on here.

I really can't wait for my Street Fighter IV PS3 pad to turn up now as that will probably feel better suited than the DS3 I'm using.

So far so good with this but I'd rather be playing it now instead of typing so...I'm off!!!

[JamesS]

On Retronauts, the producer said that the default 4:3 mode didn't use any filtering (they're supposed to be just doing a direct tripling of the screen), but it certainly looks filtered to me on the PS3 version. Oddly, though, it's running in 1080p which doesn't seem like it'd work for a 3:1 unfiltered mode. I hope you don't have to disable 1080p in the XMB to get rid of the filtering.

Edit: No, just tried, and there's still filtering in 720p. It's fairly light, though.

Also, in 4:3 mode there's a border image that I can't find an option to disable. Apart from being a bit rubbish - some of them are really overly bright - this is more than a little crap for plasma screens.

Some of the unlockable conditions are a bit odd, too. The strangest is needing to play 2 player Sonic 2 to unlock Phantasy Star. So, potentially, you'd actually have to go out and buy a controller to open up that game.

Still, the emulation seems solid, and there's a good range of games.

[Ouenben]

I heard you can use classic cheats in the games which I was glad to hear as I wasn't impressed that I couldn't use the level select cheat in sonic 2 XBLA.

I'm dissapointed you gave it the thread the lousy American title over the superior European one

[ezee ryder]

I heard you can use classic cheats in the games which I was glad to hear as I wasn't impressed that I couldn't use the level select cheat in sonic 2 XBLA.

I'm dissapointed you gave it the thread the lousy American title over the superior European one

Ah yes, you can actually use one of the cheats to easily unlock an achievement (or trophy) that might seem a bit "long" at first glance.

I agree, Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection sounds alot better

[JamesS]

Oh, what have they done to Space Harrier? The sound emulation is terrible. The pitch of the samples is completely off, and the music sounds dreadful.

There's something not right about the graphics emulation too. Objects judder left and right slightly as they scale up.

[mr_sockochris]

I heard that you can't play Sonic 3 & Knuckles together, is this true?

[Ouenben]

Mr sockochris: Nope you can't Nor can you play sonic 2 + knuckles, or blue sphere! It's a tragedy Put me right off buying it. Then I remembered I have Sonic mega collection still

[JP]

There's already been talk about DLC so you may well get those as well as some full games.

[Duckula]

Oh, what have they done to Space Harrier? The sound emulation is terrible. The pitch of the samples is completely off, and the music sounds dreadful.

There's something not right about the graphics emulation too. Objects judder left and right slightly as they scale up.

Can't Sega get anything right?

[sj33]

Mr sockochris: Nope you can't Nor can you play sonic 2 + knuckles, or blue sphere! It's a tragedy Put me right off buying it. Then I remembered I have Sonic mega collection still

That's insane, it's the whole point of Sonic & Knuckles.

[Ouenben]

Yeah plus S3+knuckles is the best sonic game ever made! It destroys sonic 2! I don't care what anyone says :P

[yesteryeargames]

does the collection have any online modes? 2 people on sor for example

[SH4R4KU]

Well, Sonic 3 & Knuckles will make it into downloadable content... therefore earning Sega more money. They know it's their best ever game.

[SuperBeatBoy]

does the collection have any online modes? 2 people on sor for example

I was wondering this as well. I do hope so!

[Baseley09]

Sonic Jam will never be beaten, will they ever stop rehashing this turd?