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Wednesday Jun 10, 2009
Vintage Collection Now Available for DownloadGood news in retro gaming! Available now through XBox Live Arcade, the “SEGA Vintage Collection”: This includes GunStar Heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Comix Zone, Phantasy Star II, and the Arcade versions of Shinobi and Altered Beast–available individually, the games are all part of the “Vintage Collection” interface that gives many of the games online play and leaderboard options, as well as easy customizable controls and options.
First things first: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will be supporting not just Hi-Def, but lock-on technology, meaning that once Sonic & Knuckles is available for download, if you also have Sonic 3, the games will “recognize” each other and you will be able to play the “combined” games and their special options. Seeing this emulated for the console was definitely a long-awaited feature — in addition, the game has local multiplayer and online multiplayer, meaning you can now challenge anyone over XBox Live Arcade. GunStar Heroes is the other news here, and was also the only game of the bunch that’s totally new to me. It’s a quirky, action-packed side-scrolling action game: You have a life meter (instead of the quarter-eating, maddening, “one hit and you die” style of many old school shooters), you pick your primary weapon, and you bounce around the screen like some kind of crazy ninja, flinging enemies around and filling the screen with bullets (or fire, or whatever your weapon of choice is). It’s good old-school fun.
Also: Gunstar Heroes will be released on Playstation Network, as well as XBox Live Arcade–SEGA’s first game to come out for Playstation Network. Comix Zone is an equally bizarre, fun, side-scrolling beat-em-up, where you play a comic book artist (who, unless I am much mistaken, is the twin brother of Rob Van Dam) who gets sucked into his own creation to do battle with an array of comic-book-style baddies inside the frames of the comic itself. It’s a fun conceit and the game has some nicely rockin’ tunes to go with your character’s rockin’ 1990s ponytail (and those truly excellent shades!). All kidding aside, this and Gunstar Heroes are both unique and fun takes on side-scrolling action, and are both definitely worth a look.
The rest of the games–Phantasy Star II (the first of the venerable series for the Genesis), Altered Beast (the arcade version–unlimited quarters is the only way to play!), and Shinobi (arcade version) also get the Hi-Def treatment. Sonic, Altered Beast and GunStar all have online leaderboards and multiplayer, as well. A quick plug for Shinobi: While I logged massive childhood hours on the Master System version, I’d somehow never played the arcade version. I’m surprised at both how good a translation the Master System version was, and how good the arcade version is. It’s also an incredibly tough (read: quarter hungry) game, and once again, unlimited virtual quarters are a boon.
Look for more on the Vintage Collection when the other half of the Sonic 3 lock-on combo (Sonic & Knuckles!) is released (for the rest of the tower in that link, you’re on your own, I’m afraid). | ||
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Comment # 1
Pretty surprised to see all of them released at once. Not too shabby. Oh, and lowercase “B” on the “Xbox”.
Posted by Angelo on June 10th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Comment # 2
How come we haven’t seen any of these on the PSN yet?
Posted by Mike Hartnett on June 10th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Comment # 3
This almost makes me want an Xbox 360. I loved Comix Zone back in the day, and am enamored with the idea of playing Sonic 3 in high-def.
Posted by Curtiss on June 10th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Comment # 4
please sega stop with these useless collection this is like the 3rd in this year, why dont you try to convert arcade games? why dont you try to create new decent ip’s (not like billy the hatcher) , why dont you try to rejoin all your past programmers , i mean people like team andromeda , smilebit , overwoks , and start making new games with G , not kidding all your old school fans publishing crap … sega its time to come back from the oblivion WAKE UP WAKE UP !!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by klaw12321 on June 11th, 2009 at 2:50 am
Comment # 5
Vintage is cool, but now we want also new games, not only old games. This Sega Collection are everywhere, why don’t convert new arcade games or old arcade games that haven’t a console version?
System-16, Model 1…the world is full of Sega Games. But we play always the same ones.
Posted by Sharkone on June 11th, 2009 at 3:24 am
Comment # 6
I just posted something to an earlier blog (and also the Sonic’s Ultimate Collection forum) about adding actual achievement goals to the RPGs in that collection.
I was dismayed to see that yesterday’s releases all had achievements while the ones in the Sonic collection don’t. There shouldn’t be any reason why the achievements for these individual releases don’t make their way in some form to the Genesis Collection. Make them worth 5pts a piece or something if you want to keep the individual titles unique, but do make them available for Genesis Collection users.
I would like some feedback on this, so I hope someone at Sega will respond.
Posted by Paul on June 11th, 2009 at 5:43 am
Comment # 7
I really love re-playing this vintage classics on my 360, but there are still tons of SEGA gems that that never appeared in any collection (model 1-2-3, system 16-32 games).
So I really hope to see also this titles in the future!
Oh and also don’t forget the new arcades! I’m still waiting my After Burner Climax!
Posted by PhoenixReloaded on June 11th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Comment # 8
Great games but all i had bought with the “Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection”, only Gunstar left ( so i bought it today.
I will like to see also games as :
Wonder Boy
Wonder Boy in Monster Land
etc
Hang On
Super Hang On
Enduro Racer
And why sega dont make a similar MD controller for use with the xbox360. Will be great.
Posted by Houhai Avenue on June 11th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Comment # 9
I just bought Gunstar Heroes on PSN and I was so happy to see trophy support and a really slick interface. I fired it up and sent my brother an invite, since he bought the game on my recommendation.
Unfortunately there’s a problem with the matchmaking on the PSN version of Gunstar, so instead of launching to a game we simply got a “Receiving/Sending Game Info” screen interminably.
I know that this game is going to be amazing fun once the multiplayer gets going, so please hook it up!
Thanks for the game and listening to the problem we’re having.
Posted by James on June 11th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Comment # 10
Also, can we hope to see more PSN titles?? Please! I love what Capcom is doing on PSN and XBLA. I would be so thrilled if Sega started doing similar things. You’ve got an equally, if not way better, backlog of classics that could be resurrected for the new generation of gamers.
Personally, I’m thinking Daytona, Jet Set, Afterburner, etc.
PSN is a perfect place for Sega’s arcade mastery to really show itself.
Posted by James on June 11th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Comment # 11
I downloaded all of them except Shinobi and Altered Beast
Need… more… MS points…
Posted by Yamishi on June 12th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Comment # 12
@Paul Thanks for the comments — If I understand what you’re saying, you’re looking for individual achievements for all the RPGs from Genesis Collection, yes? It’s really hard from a development standpoint to take a collection of 30 or 40 games and give them ALL achievements. These games that came out here were all individual offerings, so it’s easy (and I think, pretty cool) to give each of them an achievement list. Does this make sense?
This is good feedback though, and I’ve noticed this too — as more classics (RPG or otherwise) come out, coming up with challenging and interesting achievements should be a priority.
Posted by Edward@Sega on June 12th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Comment # 13
Good collections, but I would like to see some new arcade games.
We have a lot of collection retail and on XBLA and PSN.
Making a collection with old arcade games that they have never arrived on console is a good idea too. But, in my opinion, the best thing is to make a home version of After Burner Climax, R-Tuned, Border Break etc.
It would be great!
Posted by Hittakara on June 12th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Comment # 14
I’ve bought every Sega Collection for PS2, Game Cube and Xbox and I bought many games from Sega Vintage. But I think it’s the time to make a console version of modern arcade games.
We can’t play only old game on collection and Xbox Live Arcade. We need, especially, new arcade games that you have made.
Posted by RyuHori on June 12th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Comment # 15
Why put sonic 3 in the collection? I know it’s good, but why not put in Sonic 3 and Knuckles so people may play the game all the way through with the old save feature. Why not at least sell it on the online market places like on xbox for the sonic collection or for sonic 3 as an add-on.
Posted by Shadow on June 14th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Comment # 16
Thanks, Edward…I hear what you are saying. I am certainly glad to hear that future collections will keep this feedback in mind. I don’t know what you guys have planned in terms of DLC for the Genesis Collection (I’ve heard the game “Shadowrun” bandied about and would love to see that, too). Perhaps we could meet halfway?
None of the RPGs in the collection have any achievements associated with them. It shouldn’t be too hard to have any DLC included a truncated/smaller point version of the achievements for those games. That way, people with the collection have the added incentive to play through those games (a lengthy time commitment) along with the challenge of trying to match whatever the achievements are. The more you can put in for all the games, the better the collection will be. There have been collections before (inc. from Sega) and they all reach a level where nostalgia only takes you so far. What achievements do is make old material fresh: give you something new to try for, even if what you are trying for is something you did seventeen years ago. It’s why the achievement system is one of the biggest leaps in gaming evolution this decade. If you make an investment in achievements in these collections, you are giving new life to these classic titles.
For future collections, I suggest taking a page from Valve’s “The Orange Box”. They have a host of achievements, 90% of them worth small amounts of points. In order to make the large list negotiable, they break it down so that when you choose a particular game, you can call up a shorter list made up of only the achievements from that game. This way, it is always easy to keep track of what you have done and what you might want to do.
Edward, thanks for the note. I do hope you guys aren’t done with the Genesis Collection yet, and will keep my fingers crossed. As for anything Saturn-related, let me pass along the one major wish of my old-school Sega friends: finally release all three parts of Shining Force III!
Posted by Paul on June 16th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Comment # 17
Yes I Love this new collection of genesis games, I also own the dreamcast genesis collection and PS2 Greatest Sega Arcade collection too! I Like the XBOX 360 one the best for it’s save feature and being able to play my music stored on my hard drive at the same time! I’m agree with the other comments about more arcade title’s that never got put on the consoles, I want more of these quality of games to come out onto my 360 Please!How about a Saga Saturn Collection or Dreamcast Collection Or Master System Collection? 32X Sega CD Collection On XBOX 360 that would be great!
Posted by Eric's Ideas on September 29th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Comment # 18
Sega should remake shinobi3 for psn in total hd with game difficulty a little bit higher.
with 3d 2d gameplay.thanks.
regards
from a very hardcore shinobi fan.
Posted by hutlore on June 19th, 2010 at 2:33 am
Comment # 19
I bought Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection and played the hell out of it. One game stood out above others, though, as pure platforming perfection. Tight jumping and combat mechanics, wonderful music, incomparable enemy designs – the game just kept piling great moments on great moments: Super Shinobi III. True 2D sequel or remake, please! HD, PSN/Xbox Live – woyeah.
Posted by andhu on June 22nd, 2010 at 1:47 am
Comment # 20
Come on Sega.This is a request from all shinobi fans out there.Shinobi3 remade on psn with hd 3d graphix with 2d gameplay with same sound but difficulty a little bit higher.
Thanks
From a very hardcore shinobi fan.
Posted by hutlore on June 22nd, 2010 at 1:48 am