The Genesis Collection is a great deal when you consider the sheer number of excellent games in the package. For every mediocre title there's a Phantasy Star II, Golden Axe or Alex Kid in Enchanted Castle to more than pick up the slack. Throw in some pretty cool interviews with the original Genesis era game developers and you have a game collection worth the price of admission.

Genesis Collection features a pretty grand collection of games but for me the real selling points are Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star IV. Hardcore fans of this epic and wonderful sci-fi fantasy themed role-playing game series will agree that these three titles more than warrant the cost of this collection. Sure Phantasy Star III is a pretty lousy part of the trio of Phantasy Star titles, but Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star IV more than make up for that games myriad of shortcomings.

But once you get by those two wonderful role-playing titles, you'll find some awesome classics like Golden Axe. Again, Golden Axe 2 & 3, aren't very good compared to the original, but it's nice to have all three games on one disc. The action in Golden Axe is still just as wonderful as it was in the arcades and on the Genesis and it's been translated to work pretty flawlessly on the PlayStation 2. Another welcomed classic is Altered Beast. Altered Beast was a pretty short and fun launch title that came with the Sega Genesis and that's why it was such a popular game. It is such a memorable game that I can tell you exactly where I was the first day I cracked open my Sega Genesis and heard that wonderful catchphrase "Rise from your Grave." I'll spare you my romp down memory lane, but needless to say it was one of those gaming moments that i'll remember until the day I die.

There are a lot of variety in the Sega Genesis Collection and many of the games really show the uniqueness of concepts that developers employed in those days. Comix Zone is a grand example of that - a side scrolling action game where your character travels right, left up or down into comic book style panels fighting bad guys and rescuing.. rats - of all things. But even in this day and age Comix Zone looks great and is a lot of fun to play. Alex Kid in Enchanted Castle is another great example. This former Sega front-liner (he was the name brand dude before a certain character named Sonic came along) really shines on the Genesis with his unique roc/paper/scissors battles and high flying platforming.

There are plenty of other great games in the package as well like the platforming power of Ristar and Sega's Marquee Sonic games, Sword of Vermillion (a cool little action RPG), Gain Ground (which at first glance looks like a Commando knock off but is far more complex and satisfying), Kid Chameleon (an interesting Mario-esque platformer), The air to ground combat of Super Thunder Blade and action games like the wonderful Shadow Dancer, Shinobi 3 and the less popular Virtua Fighter 2 (mainly because of the full 3D arcade game).

All of these games are emulated flawlessly and offer support for different things depending on what platform version you own. On the PS2 there is support progressive-scan displays, the ability to save "anywhere (handy for games like Alex Kid) and the ability to play the game in its original resolution or stretch it. On the PSP you can change the resolution as well to fit the screen better, save anywhere and the usual Wi-Fi for games that support two players (like Golden Ace). The unlockable content is what really separates the PSP and PS2 version of the game: On the PlayStation 2 version you get the classic arcade hit Zaxxon, the arcade version of Altered Beast and some other early Sega arcade titles. The PSP version includes extras like Congo Bongo and Super Zaxxon.