Sega Devs Pick Their Favorites From the Genesis Classics Collection

Hi everyone, it’s Ibrahim Bhatti, Community Manager at SEGA here again to bring you a small update about the SEGA Genesis Classics collection announced last month and set to launch on May 29th. You’re now able to pre-order the game at PlayStation Store where come launch day, you’ll get access to over 50 classic titles from SEGA’s iconic Genesis console!

To celebrate this, we thought we’d ask some of our developers what they’re favorite games in the collection were! With so many to choose from, we weren’t sure what they’d come back with and it seems Puyo Puyo Tetris Producer, Hosoyamada-san couldn’t bring himself to pick just one! Here’s what they had to say:
 

Alien Storm

Hiroyuki Sakamoti – Director of Yakuza 6

I’ve intentionally dared to pick this title as it reflects one of SEGA’s most devilish works at the time! It’s definitely a game you’ll enjoy! My favorite character is the Robot on the Scooter and I pretty much picked him every time. The game has great character designs and the aliens and animations are really well made. It was a clear departure at the time from other side scrolling action games.
 

Shining in the Darkness

Makoto Suzuki – Producer of Shining Resonance Refrain

It may come as little wonder to many but this title, Shining in the Darkness, the beginning of the Shining series. I always felt a huge sense of excitement exploring the dungeons (shrines) and the game’s storyline is breathtaking. The elaborate animation when encountering an enemy was really impressive too and the game has a great balance and is smoothly paced making it great for RPG beginners. That’s something we’ve tried to continue through the entire series.
 

Gain Ground, Comix Zone

Mizuki Hosoyamada – Producer of Puyo Puyo Tetris

As I used to work for Sonic Team on the development of the older Sonic games, I’ve decided not to pick one even though they’re all classics! The Genesis featured many other classic and edgy titles but my favorite games were “Gain Ground” and “Comix Zone”, I played these the most for sure. If I played these games again now, I’m sure I’d enjoy them again straight away and many of the other games in collection. Speaking of which, have a look for “Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine” in the compilation!
 

Bio Hazard Battle

Takashi Iizuka – Head of Sonic Team

Looking at these Genesis Classics and seeing Bio-Hazard Battle has reminded me of the past. I first joined SEGA in the development team that created Bio-Hazard Battle, and I was really impressed by the beautiful graphics in game. They were creating art that looked like it was CG using dot-based pixel art. I was super impressed by the skill and talent of those development team members. I’m great at shooters, but reflecting on Bio-Hazard Battle has really made me want to pick it up and play it again!
 

Streets of Rage 2

Al Hope – Director of Alien Isolation

It’s 1993 and I didn’t know the Genesis could look or sound this good! An original pixel art masterpiece, Streets of Rage 2 is justifiably regarded as one of the greatest nineties arcade-style beat’em ups and it blew me away at launch. Slick controls, huge character sprites, brilliant and super vibrant colour palettes all combined to suck you into the dangerous underworld of street punks and secret society ninjas inhabiting some truly memorable locations – including an eerie ALIEN inspired homage! This was arcade quality – at home. But for all its qualities today it’s the soundtrack which still stands out the most. Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima pushed the Genesis hardware to the limit to create post 80s rave and early 90s house and techno influenced compositions which are the game’s thumping heartbeat and a vivid snapshot of the time. Drop the beat and take down Mr. X!

That’s it from us, but if that trip down memory lane did it for you and you fancy jumping back into these retro masterpieces, you know exactly what to do next!