Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)

SONIC'S ULTIMATE GENESIS COLLECTION takes a slice of gaming history and presents it for new gamers and people who enjoyed this titles fifteen years ago. Sega has gathered over forty classic titles from the Sega Genesis system and a small selection of their arcade and Sega Master System titles, added a new coat of polish and made them ready for today's high definition television sets. With such a massive collection of excellent titles to choose from, Sega covered a variety of genres to appease all gamers. Role playing games are covered with not one, but four complete Phantasy Star titles, in addition to the Shining Force series and Beyond Oasis. Platform gamers will enjoy gems like Flicky and the Sonic series, and action fans are sure to be thrilled with three Streets of Rage titles plus two versions of Altered Beast.

Unlike some other older game collections that tend to get pushed out the door with minimal updates, the games in this collection run as smooth on the PS3 and the X360 systems as they did 15 years ago, even down to the choppy graphics when too much happens onscreen. In order to update things to today's graphical standard, each title comes with an option to turn on a smoothing filter that actually works very well and makes looking at these normally choppy graphics quite easy on the eyes without drastically changing the retro appeal.

Without a doubt this collection is one of the best values for the dollar when it comes to retro gaming. Plus, you get developer interviews and the ability to save a game so you can come back to it later. The sheer number and variety of games will not disappoint anyone who has an interest in this era of video games, either for nostalgia purposes or to help introduce the younger generation to games that Mom and Dad might have played.