Mega Drive / Genesis Mini

Can't get over the fact that you can buy a replica Sonic & Knuckles cartridge for this but they didn't think to include the actual game in the line-up.

Like come on Sega, no one was asking for fucking Spinball. There shouldn't be any issues re-releasing standalone S&K, either (not that it'd be ideal).

 

This is why copyrights should have the same duration as a patent (20 years instead of 100 years). Every mega drive game released before 1999 would then be public domain, regardless of licencing issues. Then we could have Sonic 3 and Madden NFL.

 

Sonic 3 still wouldn't be there. It sells the least of all the classic games, and the number of people who would buy it with Sonic 3 that wouldn't buy it otherwise (especially considering Sonic 1 and 2 are already there) is much less than other games would allow.

 

And yet they still put Sonic Spinball on there.

Nope, sorry. This is music and nothing more. If Jun Senoue or Howard Drossin did the entire soundtrack from day one it would be in every compilation and mini console.

 

What bothers me about the whole thing is how many releases it's had before, from S&K Collection, to Mega Collection, to VC, PSN, and XBLA, to the most recent Steam release in 2011. What's changed since 2011?

 

Frankly I'm surprised 3D Blast didn't make the cut. It's not as conceptually sound as Spinball, but it's so much better executed, and the coda to the MD era. I caught part of a Gamehut livestream wherein Burton stated with some chagrin that he wasn't compensated for its inclusion in Mega Collection, and it too hasn't seen a reissue for a good while. Maybe there's some legal snag with it too.

Spinball is the black sheep of its time, but it was always a wholly Sega-made product.

 

3D Blast was in the most recent Genesis collection that came out - I'm guessing Sega wholly owns it and that was just sour grapes on Burton's part (not that he doesn't deserve anything).

I read the other day that it, Spinball and Mean Bean Machine were meant to be included in Sonic Classics Collection on the DS, but were cut at the last second. Wonder if the scope of that was too big for a DS cartridge? From what I recall the emulated versions of 1-3K don't run super well as it is. Would have been neat to have basically Mega Collection on the go but oh well.

 

I wouldn't say Sonic 3D Blast was well executed because of how slippery the controls are when running, the flickies being a pain to collect when you lose them because of the different types of birds and their programming, and depth perception issues.

 

On that note, didn't the music for Road Rash 2 end up being replaced for the PSP EA Replay version?

 

"Better" being a comparative adjective.

Spinball fumbled its execution in many aspects, such as using DiC aesthetics and having questionable physics, all running at a low framerate. Whether its steep difficulty was par for the course for pinball or inappropriate for Sonic is another matter entirely, but accessibility wouldn't have hurt. Which is disappointing as it's easy to imagine Spinball handled well could've become the second pillar of the Sonic brand, with sequels appearing generationally like Mario Kart. But, alas.

3D Blast is accessible, and looks like a proper Sonic game, at the very least.

 

DiC aesthetics are nice and I don't see a problem with that. What's wrong with it to you?

 

So the Asian version keeps these from the western Mega Drive/Genesis Mini:

And replaces these:

With these:

Oh crap, can we have a version where you can choose your favorites? =P


EDIT:
Comparing the Asian version with the Japanese one, both share these games:

But it replaces these:

With these:

 

I figure that's what hacking it is for :v:

 

Or just hope for moddability.

 

OK, I see ICEKnight did the digging, but I had trouble parsing. So, for my own clarity:

There some bizarre barriers put around the games. The ones with Japanese titles, or lacked official translations, I expected. But keeping Revenge of Shinobi out of the West, and Shinobi III exclusive? I don't get it. But, like every shrunken console, it will be hacked. It'll be just a matter of how convenient.

 

Damn, no Golden Axe III...

 

There is glaring stylistic clash whenever a SatAM character appears (Remember that these characters were designed off trends from early 90's furry-based cartoons, not inspired by classic animation's circles-n-noodles like classic Sonic designs or the anime-esque progression of designs later on) and that is BEFORE you ask yourself what they're even doing there in the first place or how they fit in the plot or continuity, Eggman keeps flipping back and forth between "SegaSonic" Eggman and AoStH Robotnik seemingly at random, and Sonic seemingly has a different variety of spikes based on what sprite animation is showing in the moment. That most the robots are traditional Sonic-style robotic animals with real animals inside, rather than the goofy, lanky AoStH designs or the stormtrooper-knockoff Swatbots, only compounds this.

You don't exactly have to have a negative opinion of DiC aesthetics to see what is wrong with this.

 

I hope that's a joke.