After packaging and re-marketing to us our childhood over Nintendo's Wii
Virtual Console and in a multitude of other forms, Sega is putting another platform to good use in its eternal quest to make us poor: the iPhone. Due for the App Store next month, the upcoming Sega Ultimate Genesis Collection will bring together some of Sega's existing, disparate releases for the iPhone under one roof and add a bunch more, allowing users to buy Sega Genesis games directly from the app. The first one's free, of course (Space Harrier II), but after that you'll be paying a decent amount for your emulation fix: Sonic is $6, Golden Axe is $5, and Ecco the Dolphin and Shining Force go for $3. The variety will undoubtedly grow over time, but we would hope that at some point Sega will offer some sort of discounted megabundle, since you can currently get 49 notable Sega titles for around $20 in the form of Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Basically: we're not sure if this is all supposed to make us worse or better about jailbreaking.
posted January 20th 2010 3:04PM
fine, now let's talk about how useless and annoying is to play some games using the touch interface.
@magallanes Dungeon Hunter changed my mind. The controls are superb.
@magallanes
agreed. I'll still choose the PSP for handheld games, and a phone with physical buttons. Touch controls just don't make me feel like anything is happening or working.
@Floppy
yes, i checked that some games are customized and optimized for work with the iphone interface. But emulated games are as-is, for example, it is a lot hard to play Super Mario World using the iphone interface.
@magallanes Only turn based RPG's are enjoyable on a touch screen.
@Google
I was going to say, I agree about RPG's on touch-phones. I've been playing classic games (via emulation) for a number of years now on various phones, and while some genres work better than others, classic games like Final Fantasy IV and VI seem like they were almost destined to exist on a portable device with a touch-screen. I can't figure out why Square-Enix hasn't figured this out (at least in America).
@magallanes It seems nowadays every company out there tries to make an iPhone app, regardless of usability/playability. With all of the iPhone and iTouch users out there, it's given that quite a few people will be suckered in.
@magallanes People need to give it more of a chance. Sure, there's a learning curve, but I've joined team "iPhone is the BEST handheld FPS experience possible" after playing games like NOVA and Modern Combat. Great graphics, great gameplay, and dual analog controls wherever you touch the screen.
Platformers work great too. It's really up to the developer, Gameloft nails it every time.
@magallanes
Now this is just a thought...but what if they put on-screen keys for the control? Meaning the Snes emulator would put an on-screen D-pad on the left side of the screen, and A,B,X, Y buttons on the right side. That would make it feel more like you were holding an Snes controller, though there would still be the problem of not being able to feel the buttons.
Or maybe it's time someone make a phone case that has standard controller buttons :)
@dez +1
@JONNNathannn
Got an ipod touch 3g, but i somewhat frustrated with fps controls. They are playable, but there's some things that suck.
Look around and most of the right side of the screen is your thumb.
And say theres 2 enemies few meters apart. Try keeping a steady stream on both while not wasting bullets.
Jailbreak FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Bowsa
SEGA! BRINGING THE PAIN... to your wallet.
OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder if they are going to make any money what so ever, piracy is huge on the iphone.
@bxgt Obviously not big enough, apple is netting big bucks from people.. Didn't you read that article... They have 97.5~ of the apps market share...
@bxgt You are wrong its actually a very very small percentage that jailbreak let along pirate games. I can supply facts if needed.....
@bxgt
Huge on the iphone, compared to what? WinMo / Sybian?
@dgood48080 http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/03/31/wireds-guide-to-iphone-piracy/
Also my younger brother bought his iphone jailbroke it and downloaded pirated apps in a matter of 10 minutes. If you ask the kid what a registry is tho he is completely lost.
@bxgt
They will.
If you pirate the app, you only get one built in game.
The rest have to be bought using the in app purchase system, which oddly enough won't work if you are jailbroken due to a certain file being patched that makes the iphone think its in "sandbox" mode.
Regardless, the pirates will figure out a way to add your own ROMS like they did with the Commodore 64 emulator app.
Droid emulator rocks your socks off.. full qwerty keyboard makes playing games fun.
I'm am however stoked they are offering legit solutions.. well for some games lol.. but when you can play whatever you want then I'll be happy.. Bigger catalog people!
@pachi72 I just use the keys wasd.. and qexz...
Maybe I should mod something that will clip on.. that would be neat..
@BladeSling
have fun with your 128/256mb for gaming....
i wouldnt get any of this games even for free, playing on a touch screen is as annoying as those jersey shore guidos
The pricing for 20+ year old games they have long since recouped against is ridiculous. I got the Xbox Sonic disc and Xbox 360 Megadrive/Genesis disc. Between that and owning the original carts, I'm all in.
Gensoid from the Android market says ROFL.
Luckily for sega enough of iPhone users are oblivious to the emulating community... So... They'll still make a killing.
gee, this is embarassing.... most ol my deaths have been caused by touch screen gaming... this sure wont help. hopefully the seasoned fans using hacked psps will keep my continue count up to accommodate :\
Hell no. It absolutely sucks playing emulator games with non-tactile buttons (screen taps). It may be a good 'novelty' but for playability, it's an utter failure. I gave up on this a LONG time ago. Again, absolutely sucks.
Now add Bluetooth mini-controller/keyboard support and I may bite!
It's a sad state of affairs, when the jailbroken Genesis emulator runs Sega's own ROMS a lot better than the official app!
Let's see if Sega have fixed this.
Also, where are the 80's and 90's arcade games?
That seems like a great deal to spend 3–6$ per game instead of buying the complete collection for 15€ on the PSP.
What's up with Zaxxon & Zaxxon II's absence in Sega's Arcade collections?
@EdgeOne
they only have what...6 games available at launch? start complaining when they say its not coming out
Hurray! Pay to play crappy old games on a device with no buttons, brill!
there are still many awesome iphone games that work with the touchscreen and those that hate completely and cant admit this just dont have one. with that said, if apple were to add actual buttons for these type of games the psp and ds would be in serious trouble. i seriously hope they do something with the next iphone since games are selling so good why not?
primal rage!!!
Like many, i hestitate to play action games and the like on the iphone. Control feedback just doesn't feel the same to me as with buttons/keys.
I don't know why you'd bother with Genesis games when there are games like Zen Bound, Spider, Rolando, Flight Control, Geo Defense, and others that are awesome, original experiences.
If you want to try an older "game" that translates perfectly into a touchscreen format, try Myst.
With a jailbroken iPhone you can swap the roms in the sonic emulator with whatever rom you want. Some roms play nice, other don't. I'd imagine this emulator being the same, just with more compatibility.
The emulators in Cydia are way better though.
Toe Jam and Earl?
Not interested in these type of ports until the iPhone gets an official joystick accessory. I have no clue what they're waiting for, a decent joystick gives the iPhone a lot of great potential.
Sega mega collection (25+ games, 3 of those sonics) psp go = £11, paying £6 a game on a device that costs +/- double in the case of iphone? Pass thanks!
Do they have Genesis shadowrun for iPhone?
best game ever
As long as they release Sonic 3 and Knuckles I will be happy. The prices are a bit steep though to be honest!
What?? No Road Rash 3?? Lamesauce.
Sweet but quite costly.