The MegaDrive

The Geek Will See You Now...

I own a Playstation 3. There, I said it. I bought it at launch day with three games consisting of a shooter, a racer and a platformer. More detail in a later article.

I'm telling you this so you understand that I'm not against modern games as it might come across in the article. I want technology to develop. I want to be able to play the best games ever made, purely because I love games. And if you love games, then you don't just play two games a year consisting of FIFA and Call of Duty.

Value for money is the focus of this article, giving a huge first recommendation to you guys in the form of a hedgehog.

Sega's blue speedster, Sonic, first came to life on the Sega MegaDrive. (I'm British, the Americans called it the Genesis) At the time, the game was a smash hit and everybody who owned the console knew who Sonic was. For less than the price of the newest Sonic game, Sonic Generations on Playstation 3 (£14.99 at Play.com) you could buy a MegaDrive Console and the original retro Sonic game. (And even get some pennies back to grab yourself a McDonalds.)

The MegaDrive is hours, no, scratch that Weeks of fun, with games such as Streets of Rage II, Mickey Mouse's Castle of Illusion, Alex Kidd and NHL 95 being cheap as chips on eBay. Though not the most cutting edge graphics or gameplay, they're addictive and much tougher than most current games.

So with that, I leave you to ponder a moment when you step out to buy the next re-iteration of Call of Duty and think "What could £40 get me?" 

You should give the MegaDrive some serious thought.