What is it? - Race across the world, ranging from the beaches of California to the ruins of Greece, while driving a bright red Ferrari. Includes several paths through the game and the ability to choose your music. Read the full article.

OutRun

About the Sega Ages version - Although the artists replicated the carefree look and feel of OutRun pretty well, the graphics are still pretty grainy. The car placement is also different, hovering several dozen pixels over the bottom of the screen, which might throw off vets used to the original. There's a new Arrange mode which is almost a whole new game, adding in a whole ton of new courses that take advantage of the shift to true 3D. Whereas the levels in the original OutRun were mostly flat with some hills and curves, this adds more mountainous terrain, on par with some of the stages in Outrunners. The circuit layout is also completely different, and there are now rival cars for you to beat. Unfortunately, the graphic coders were obviously pretty inexperienced, as there's a bit of draw-in in some of the tracks. The Arcade mode is just like the original, including the option to choose between the Japanese and Overseas circuits (there are some minor differences.) For the soundtrack, you can choose from both the original and arranged versions of all three songs from the arcade game.

Is it any good? - Same deal with Space Harrier - it looks worse but real 3D feels nice, even if the physics are slightly off, and all of the extra tracks are a welcome addition. However, this version is made somewhat obsolete by the release of Outrun 2, which updated the concept with deeper driving mechanics (yay drifting!), and much better graphics (none of this low rent budget crap), while still maintaining the spirit of the original. It's in the Sega Classics Collection though, so it's worth mucking with.

Links:
World of Stuart

What is it? - A "tribute" to the movie Aliens, you play as one of two heroes in this overhead action game, finding hostages before time runs out and killing all kinds of ugly creatures along the way. Read the full article.

Alien Syndrome

About the Sega Ages versions - Much like Hokuto no Ken, this one just takes the basic concept and completely reinvents the game, but somehow manages to not suck this time around. The bright graphic style from the arcade was ditched in favor of a much darker color scheme, emulating the look the Aliens movies it so loving ripped out. It can be hard to see much of anything, which may be for the best, because the graphics are pretty ugly. But damned if they didn't nail the atmosphere, especially with the brooding music. It's a much slower game, since your characters sorta slog around, but you can shoot in any direction with the right analog stick a la Robotron and Smash TV. You can also take several hits before dying.

Is it any good? - Yes, especially with two players. It's a very visceral and satisfying game, even though it's a bit sluggish. It's on the American Sega Classics Collection but missing from the European one. The common reason cited is that it's too bloody and they didn't want to get the "Mature" classification, but the American compilation was rated T anyway.

Links:
The Games Database

What is it? - Remember Activision's Decathalon or Konami's Track and Field from the 80s? Where you competed in different athletic competitions by mashing buttons? Decathlete was a 3D update from the mid 90s that was released in the arcade and for the Sega Saturn. Included in this pack is three titles - the original Decathlete, its winter themed sequel Winter Heat, and the Dreamcast sequel Virtua Athlete 2K, for a total of 28 olympic events, including the 100 Meter Dash, High Jump, Shot Put, Bobsledding, Cross Country Skiing, and others.

Decathlete Collection

About the Sega Ages version - Although this technically includes three games, that's kind of a misnomer - Virtua Athlete 2K is simply an update of Decathlete, although it drops a few events and slightly modifies the existing ones. And despite having completely different scenarios (skiing, etc), at least a few of the games in Winter Heat are exactly the same, just in different settings. All "three" games used enhanced visuals on par with the Dreamcast release, although the use of camera angles are a bit different than the Saturn version. Some events have also changed a bit - for example, there are now six racers on the track instead of just two during any of the race events. It's missing the network ranking mode from the Dreamcast game, as well as any of the "create your character" options.

Worth it? - Back in 2002, Electronic Gaming Monthly named Decathlete for the Saturn on its 100 Best Games of All Time list, giving me the impression that it was this strange, forgotten masterpiece. I generally thought that list was on the mark, but having finally played Decathlete, I'm entirely confused how it made it on there. When I say it's like Track and Field, I'm not saying it's like an updated version or anything. Literally, it's almost the exact same game, so you might as well just play that. And while 3D graphics are slightly improved over the original ST-V/Saturn versions, they still aren't that spectacular - and really, for a game like this, does it even matter? So, no, ignore this one completely.

What is it? - The seminal 3D fighter, which stormed arcades in the mid 90s and kept the Saturn afloat for quite some time. Read the full article.

Virtua Fighter 2

About the Sega Ages version - The Saturn conversion was damn good, but couldn't quite replicate the graphics - some of the models needed to be downgraded, and the 3D backdrops were replaced with flat 2D bitmaps. You'd expect the PS2 version to be arcade perfect, given how much more horsepower it has over the arcade Model 2 board, but it still doesn't look right. Yes, the characters look better, and the polygonal backgrounds have returned (it's great to see the bridge in Shun's stage), but the textures look really blurry and washed out. Even though they're not as pixellated as the Saturn version, the backgrounds seem to look worse. Plus the visuals are really dark compared to the Saturn - better up the brightness setting on your TV. There have also been minor reports of slowdown, though I never noticed anything outside of some minor stuttering in the intro. There's not much in the way of options, although you can choose to play in the original resolution or resize it to full screen, or even choose to run the game at 57.5 (arcade) or 60 frames per second. It's missing the team battle and practice modes though.

Worth it? - Not really. The graphics issues almost makes it look worse than the Saturn version in some ways. Plus you can get either the American or Japanese Saturn version for like a few bucks. And really, while it's a good nostalgia trip (and the music still rocks), it's exceeded in every way by the later games.

Links:
Kikizo Games