Aww retro gaming. The key to my heart. While my gaming life is all about keeping up with what is the new, hip, ‘it’ title, I will always go back to a good ‘ole’ classic game when I have the time. After all they did build the foundation of my passion into the gaming industry and I owe them at least that.

While SEGA was never my ‘go to’ system, I was more a Nintendo girl, I did however spend a lot of time watching my best friend’s brother grind for hours on his back in the early 90’s. I quickly became infatuated with many of the games. So with the SEGA MEGA DRIVE Classics coming to the Nintendo Switch I was ecstatic to finally have them on such a portable device.

I suppose you could call this a port of yet another port, which is the Switch’s niche when delivering extra content for their console, as of late. Despite this, this collection includes over 50 of the classics titles we’ve all grown to love in one tight little bundle and I couldn’t wait to see the roster. It includes all the big hits and underground classics, with my personal faves; Alex Kidd, Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, Kid Chameleon and Virtua Fighter 2, all included in the line-up.

The menu is a very the first classic touch you notice. I love the fact you browse through your catalogue of games, put it in the console and it zooms into one of those big analogue TV’s that are now dinosaurs lost in time. While it is only a menu style, it really brings those memories flooding back and is a very nice touch to get you in that retro mood. Functionality wise the menu is bursting with extra features and ways to adjust settings, while this is good, why would you want to change a classic honestly?

Each game with its eclectic soundtrack looks hardly touched and is a perfect time capsule of the past, true to its original. The emulations are a perfect picture of the golden years, but while very reminiscent, unfortunately means not much has changed or improved on from back them. While if you follow the saying “if it isn’t broke, don’t touch it” in an age where tech advances faster than you blink little niggling problems can appear. I would have liked to have seen perhaps some abilities to button map, while some were clunky to control, most games however were integrated well with the Nintendo Switch’s pretty close formation buttons.

Each game, in it’s 16-bit glory, ran a silky as butter, both in handheld mode and in the dock. As usual the colours were bright and oozing with energy, with very little noticeable change from a small screen on the Switch to the television. Gamers should be aware though that each game plays with borders as it has not been adapted to widescreen.

One feature that is very ‘2018’ is the inclusion of online Multiplayer for a small selection of games. It was surprisingly easy to find matches in most games. I found most games were smooth to play but at times would drop a few frames when docked in the television.

Overall, I felt this was a great collection for the simple fact I actually spent hours curled up in bed playing my faves but even learning a few hidden jems from my past. With a wide selection of titles, you are definitely not short of content to keep you merrily gaming for a long time. This collection is definitely a must for any retro gamer this holiday season, or just educating the kids.

Written by: Stacey