PS2 Sega Ages 2500 series | The good, the bad? You got any?

[hudson]

Sega Ages 2500 series was, by the end of it, 33 titles, some remakes, some collections and some ports of classic Sega games for PS2. The '2500' referred to the cost of each title, a budget price of ¥2500. Quite a few were developed by M2 as well.

Do you have any of the series? I would love a complete collection. Some of the remakes look poop, some interesting. Especially the collections (Monster World and Phantasy Star).

Our very own [MENTION=1524]Yakumo[/MENTION]

Did an awesome video on the series - check it out!





















The full list...

• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 1: Phantasy Star Generation: 1 (2003)v
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 2: Monaco GP (2003)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 3: Fantasy Zone (2003)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 4: Space Harrier (2003)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 5: Golden Axe (2003)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 6: Ichini no Tant-R to Bonanza Bros. (2003)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 7: Columns (2003)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 8: Virtua Racing FlatOut (2004)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 9: Gain Ground (2004)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 10: After Burner II (2004)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 11: Hokuto no Ken (2004)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 12: Puyo Puyo Tsuu Perfect Set (2004)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 13: OutRun (2004)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 14: Alien Syndrome (2004)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 15: Decathlete Collection (2004)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 16: Virtua Fighter 2 (2004)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 17: Phantasy Star generation:2 (2005)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 18: Dragon Force (2005)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 19: Fighting Vipers (2005)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 20: Space Harrier Complete Collection (2005)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 21: SDI & Quartet: Sega System 16 Collection (2005)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 22: Advanced Daisenryaku: Deutsch Dengeki Sakusen (2005)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 23: Sega Memorial Selection (2005)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 24: Last Bronx: Tokyo Bangaichi (2006)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 25: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box (2006)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 26: Dynamite Deka (2006)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 27: Panzer Dragoon (2006)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 28: Tetris Collection (2006)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 29: Monster World Complete Collection (2007)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 30: Galaxy Force II: Special Extended Edition (2007)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 31: Cyber Troopers Virtual-On (2007)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 32: Phantasy Star Complete Collection (2008)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 33: Fantasy Zone Complete Collection (2008)

[vanpeebles]

I have the Bonanza Bros one

[QualityChimp]

Always wanted the Hokuto no Ken one.

[S3M]

So all the early ones done by 3D Ages are a bit suspect, like the [COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]Decathlete Collection it's OK but doesn't look as good as the original Saturn games and a bit buggy as well.[/COLOR]

All the later M2 Collections are great:

Monster World Collection (Wonder Boy)

Gunstar Treasure Box

Also the best port of Virtual On Cyber Trooper to date, packed with extra content and a all new playable character and one of the bosses made available for the first time.

[Super Monkey Balls]

These are the M2 ones according to Wikipedia. Gunstar Heroes was particularly great. The non-M2 ones are a bit dodg.
M2's port of Sega Rally that came with Sega Rally 2006 is not to be missed either.

• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 20: Space Harrier II: Space Harrier Complete Collection (Sega)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 21: SDI & Quartet: Sega System 16 Collection (Sega)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 24: Last Bronx: Toukyou Bangaichi (Sega)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 25: Gunstar Heroes: Treasure Box (Sega)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 28: Tetris Collection (Sega)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 29: Monster World Complete Collection (Sega)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 30: Galaxy Force II: Special Extended Edition (Sega)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 31: Dennou Senki Virtual On (Sega)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 32: Phantasy Star Complete Collection (Sega)
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 33: Fantasy Zone Complete Collection (Sega)

[fuse]

I think I've been fairly selective about which ones I've grabbed, and some of them are indeed great.

Others are total stinkers - I remember that Golden Axe one being particularly dire.

[hudson]

Yeah they did a bad job on some of the big name titles. Golden Axe and Space Harrier especially. It's like whoever made them had just learned about non-2D asset creation. Ended up with bland remakes.

The Phantasy Star remakes seem decent though. The Monster World collection is probably the best thing there, for me.

[Yakumo]

I've got quite a few more in the series since making that video. I should really make an updated one at some point.

[Team Andromeda]

I used to get the early 3D ones for the T-Shirts and jackets, even toothbrushes that used to come with the early ones, even though the games were crap. Thinks got much better latter on and I heard that was actually all thanks to Yuji Naka who made the call the 3D Ages line wasn't good enough.

Today I just have the Wonderboy, GF II, Panzer Dragoon and Last Bronx (It's amazing how close the Saturn port was actually to the Arcade version) ones and the Pal version of SEGA collection.

[JazzFunk]

I've only got that PAL SEGA Classics Collection.

My verdict on the games included?

Golden Axe - absolutely dire. Doesn't play like the original at all. ABSOLUTELY the worst game on here. This isn't like Golden Axe at all, it's like a bad, floaty Midas games PS2 release with 12% on Metacritic. Don't even be curious. It's NOT Golden Axe.

Bonanza Bros. - great, faithful BB convo. Plus includes its weird minigametastic spin-off Tant-R.

Columns - it's Columns again. Maybe higher-resser but same old Columns. If you like Columns...

OutRun - different graphics but plays great and very fast n' smooth. Once you get used to the polys, bordered screen and the massively fat Ferrari, it plays great.

Space Harrier - the polygonal graphical look changes the feel making it look drab and it feels weird with the lack of vivid vim but play it for a bit and it's not bad, quite playable and smooth.

Virtual Racing - very good indeed. Probably the star of the compilation.

Fantasy Zone - as with BB, VR and Columns, a straight-up, meat n' potatoes faithful convo that's basically a sharp and accurate representation of the original. It's Fantasy Zone. 100%.

Monaco GP - very old top-down racer 'enhanced' with simple polys and textures. It's a very old game and it plays like one. It's actually very fun and smooth but very, very limited and it won't be played much.

Alien Syndrome - they omitted it from the PAL version so as not to upset the Germans. It's on the US version, iirc. I don't know what the conversion is like but I recall it wasn't dissed.

Really believe me when I say Golden Axe is horrid. It is NOTHING like the original. It is not even fun at all. It plays different, feels different, looks different. It's a complete imposter of a game and is just SHODDY.

[hudson]

Did not know they were packaged up for PAL.

[JazzFunk]

Have a look in Cash Converters, it's actually not that rare, I've seen it in the wild loads for £1-£2, in fact the last time I saw it in CEX, it wasn't much more than that.

Beware, it doesn't have a 60hz option. And it's a bit of a crazy mix of optimised and bordered PAL. But it's still worth getting, it's a funky little compilation.

[hudson]

Looking at it, it's missing the stuff I want. The Phantasy Star content and Monster World collections

[Baseley09]

Galaxy Force II is absolute mint, no better way to play it other than OG cab.

[dataDave]

Thanks to a lot of these I have no need for a Saturn. Sega Rally is sublime, despite the missing content that was added to the Saturn version.

I was a bit miffed at the borders to begin with, but there is a hidden menu where you can get rid of them entirely.