Some new games are added, and others are left off. There are a massive 54 games in the collection, including a lot of gems: Sonic (1 and 2, but not 3 or Sonic and Knuckles) Phantasy Star 2, 3 and 4 Revenge of Shinobi Streets of Rage 1 and 2 and even Toejam and Earl (both versions), which have been retro rarities and weren't on the 2009 compilation. (Get excited about Gunstar Heroes, though!) (In the UK and Australia, where it's called Sega Mega Drive Classics, it costs ВЈ25 or AU$50 respectively.) And, so far, the games I've played have been as smooth as I remembered. I snuggled back on my sofa and fired up this new collection on an Xbox OneВ - the collection, which is already on Steam for PC, has a release date of May 29 and will also be available on the PS4, but not the Nintendo Switch. That console did play actual Sega cartridges and use original Genesis controllers, but games played at a lower frame rate and felt 'off.' It's also a far better Sega Genesis experience than the AtGames Sega Genesis Flashback miniconsole released last year. It took nine years, but this new collection feels every bit as good. Sega has teased old-school players over the years with compilations that come and go: Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection back in 2009 was brilliant, with 48 games and few compromises. I take my retro Sega games seriously, and so I'm really very pleasantly surprised with the new Sega Genesis Classics compilation for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Sonic, Phantasy Star, Toejam and Earl - these were my worlds. That's the system I grew up with in high school. If my life were Ready Player One, I'd be living back in the Sega Genesis days.

Sonic's back, Shinobi's here, the Golden Axe dwarf, but you can forget about that time-traveling dolphin.

Sonic classics 3 in 1