Retro Gaming Australia

Get your ass to Algol.

Phantasy Star Online is remembered for being one of the best early online RPG experiences on consoles, and was one of the most popular games on the Dreamcast. So popular in fact, that it was ported to three other platforms and has formed the basis for every Phantasy Star release since, much to the chagrin of fans of the six games in the series that predate PSO.

A non-crappy licensed game from the 16-bit era.

Disney’s Aladdin was a combined effort between Sega, Virgin and Disney, originally released for the Mega Drive for the 1993 holiday season. The game boasts animation on an entirely different level to everything else on the system, thanks to a technique called Digicel, which could compress data from animators’ drawings into the limited storage capacity of the Mega Drive cartridges. It is the second highest selling game on the system.

Looks like a little bit more effort is going into Jet Set Radio HD than the other Dreamcast ports that have been released in recent times. I guess we will know for sure when it is released in the middle of the year.

Sega has teased via their community blog that Jet Set Radio will be the next Dreamcast game to see an Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network release.

Jet Set Radio is a fan favourite from the Dreamcast era. It was one of the first games to execute cel-shading particularly well – but you can’t overlook its stellar soundtrack and fantastic game world either.

Given the quality of recent Dreamcast XBLA/PSN releases, I wouldn’t be getting my hopes up too high, but you can always grab the original game for a pittance on eBay.

Team Chaotix fo’ life.

Sonic Heroes was the first Sonic the Hedgehog game to be released across multiple platforms on day one. The game is best known for its three character set up, which allows you to switch between characters on the fly, and the return of Team Chaotix, who had not been seen since Knuckles’ Chaotix on the 32X.

Another Sega Technical Institute effort.

Kid Chameleon is a platformer released for the Sega Mega Drive in 1992. It involved you playing as a kid called Casey who takes on a new virtual reality arcade machine that has been trapping local kids. Casey can take on 9 different forms throughout the game, from the axe-wielding psycho Maniaxe to the superhero Cyclone. The game has made frequent appearances in Mega Drive compilation titles, but remains a standalone effort.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble and Shinobi could well be the first Game Gear games headed to the 3DS Virtual Console, as both games have recently been rated by the ESRB for release in North America. Both games were exclusively designed for the Game Gear upon first release. Triple Trouble was later released in a variety of Sonic collections, but Shinobi stayed exclusive to the system.

Nintendo announced at last year’s Game Developer’s Conference that Game Gear and Turbografx/PC Engine titles would be headed to the 3DS Virtual Console, but little was said of these plans in the months since.

No release date or pricing information is available at this time, so watch this space.

You might remember the controversy, but do you remember the the cheesy credits theme?

Night Trap is one of a number of games directly responsible for video game classification, even though it’s quite tame. Night Trap was actually filmed several years several years before its Mega CD debut, as it was originally intended as a major release for Hasbro’s aborted VHS console, the Nemo.

An oft-overlooked Sonic adventure

Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble is the hedgehog’s fourth 8-bit platforming game and the first not to appear on the Master System in any region. It introduces Nack the Weasel, a talented thief who wishes to capture the Chaos Emeralds for mass profit. The game was developed by Aspect, who handled most of Sonic’s 8-bit appearances.

Or Jet Grind Radio, if you prefer.

Jet Set Radio was one of the most memorable games on the Dreamcast, thanks in large to its unique cel-shaded aesthetic, fantastic soundtrack and goddamn weird game world. You can get a new/sealed PAL copy on eBay for an absolute pittance.