Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (Platinum Hits) - Xbox 360

This was a great buy! It has a tremendous amount of games in the collection. I bought it for three different series: Phantasy star, Sonic and Streets of Rage. It has the first Four Phantasy Star games (the first must be unlocked by beating the first level in Sonic 2 with 2 players), which are great for anyone hoping for some old-school rpg's. The Sonics are all great, and i really enjoy the Sonic Spinball game. Streets of Rage 1-3 are some of the best classic beat-em-ups to ever exist, and they retain all the potential of fun that they had in the 90's. There is also a ton of other games for genesis and a few more unlockable games from the Sega Master System.A new benefit to the games with this collection is the ability to save whenever you want. A lot of these games had no save system at all, or they worked on the basis of codes to get back to a particular point. This, save feature, makes beating the games much easier. You can get through most of a Sonic, save, and beat it later instead of having to restart. Or, if there is a particularly difficult part of a level or boss, you can save right before it, or during it.The graphics look pretty sweet on a large HDTV, though the smoothing effect is very hit-or-miss. Some games the smoothing adds a nice, umm, smoothness to the look, but most of the games look better with it turned off (I believe that it is off by default). The Audio sounds awesome in HD.Also, you can assign the controls of any of the games to whatever button scheme fits your style best.All things considered, this was an excellent use of $15! Now you'll have to excuse me, I'm about 10 hours into Phantasy Star, and I have the next three games in the series to beat after that...

First let's talk about the value of this game. Essentially, it's 49 Sega games (including the unlockable titles) for about 20 dollars! If I was buying these games separately, it would be well over 100s of dollars because these titles tend to go for 5-6 dollars each. And some are not available on the wii, ps3, or xbox live outside of this disc. Good luck finding a genesis and cartridges too. I most likely would have never played most of these titles if it wasn't for this compilation. Example: Alex Kidd, Bonanza Bros. and Dynamite Headdy. I never even heard of these games but I love them so much after I played them.This game is great for its nostalgia factor too. I feel like a gaming archeologist playing Flicky and the arcade version of Altered Beast. It's like exploring your grandparents attic for the first time. There's so many interesting things inside this disc. Playing Alien Storm for the first time was crazy cause I didn't expect to play a robot that self-destructed. There were moments in Streets of Rage 3 where I couldn't stop laughing at the sheer silliness of the game.I also love the multiplayer games like Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, etc. There were times when my husband and i were just "accidentally" beating each other up in Streets of Rage and it was so hilariously fun. I loved every minute of it.Here's my only problem with the game. The manual isn't really complete. You need to go to [...] to download a complete game manual. I understand this because it is 49 games, and I think if they had to re-print all the manuals to each game, it probably cost a heck of a lot more than 20 dollars. The HD graphic improvements are hit or miss for some games, but it's OK cause you can turn that option off. It's kinda sad that you can't lock Sonic and Knuckles with Sonic 3, but I'm fine with that cause this has 49 games!Finally, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine just makes me angry.

Great value for all of these sega classics. Only other thing i can mention is I thought it was fun to go for the acheivements. Here's a list if you're wondering:* Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle* Alien Storm* Alien Syndrome (Arcade Version)* Altered Beast 1* Beyond Oasis* Bonanza Bros. 1* Columns* Comix Zone* Congo Bongo (Arcade Version)* Decap Attack* Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine* Dynamite Headdy* E-SWAT: City Under Siege* Ecco the Dolphin* Ecco: The Tides of Time* Fantasy Zone (Arcade Version)* Fatal Labyrinth* Flicky* Gain Ground* Golden Axe 1* Golden Axe II* Golden Axe III* Golden Axe Warrior (Sega Master System Version)* Kid Chameleon* Phantasy Star (Sega Master System version)* Phantasy Star II* Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom* Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium* Ristar 1* Shining in the Darkness* Shining Force* Shining Force II: Ancient Sealing* Shinobi (Arcade version)* Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master* Sonic 3D Blast* Sonic & Knuckles* Sonic Spinball* Sonic the Hedgehog 1* Sonic the Hedgehog 2* Sonic the Hedgehog 3* Space Harrier (Arcade Version)* Streets of Rage 1* Streets of Rage 2* Streets of Rage 3* Super Thunder Blade* Vectorman 1* Vectorman 2* Zaxxon (Arcade Version)Of the above, these are the games that must be unlockedGolden Axe Warrior (SEGA Master System)Phantasy Star (SEGA Master System)Alien Syndrome (Arcade)Altered Beast (Arcade)Congo Bongo (Arcade)Fantasy Zone (Arcade)Shinobi (Arcade)Space Harrier (Arcade)Zaxxon (Arcade)