What is it? - Two arcade games for the System-16 platform - the multiplayer action game Quartet and the bizarre shooter SDI (also known as Global Defense.) Also included are the Master System home variations. Read the full article about Quartet.

About the Sega Ages version - Much like the Tant-R and Bonanza Brothers pack, is there anyone seriously into either of these games? They're decent enough but hardly classics. Quartet is alright, but it's fairly slow paced, and comes off as a poor man's Contra, except with four player action instead of two. The home version has completely different levels, and actually plays a bit better, but is only two player. (The Japanese version is named Double Target to reflect this change - it was still called Quartet in America.) Strangely, the character Mary was given a makeover for the English release. She has black hair and a ponytail in the Japanese version, but is given brown hair and an 80s style do for the American version. The big black dude was changed into a big white dude in both home versions though. There's also a small Quartet comic in the gallery and replicated in the instruction manual.

SDI is a strange mixture of Missile Command and any other regular shooter, and again, it's alright, but hardly a classic. The PS2 version uses the dual analog controller quite nicely (as well as support for a USB mouse), with one controlling the satellite's movement and the other moves the cross hairs. The Master System version obnoxiously requires that you hold down a button to change you aim, which means you can't move at all. The intro depicts a nuclear holocaust in NYC, with the Twin Towers in center of it all - the State of Liberty shows up in the Japanese version, but was ironically removed in the American version, perhaps that it would strike too close to home? At least both games are fully featured, using the same excellent emulators as the other arcade compilations. SDI includes a bunch of preproduction documents that open if you beat the game without continuing (the game's pretty hard so don't count on it), as well as a bonus "Flicky" mode, which replaces the satellite with the bird from the old Sega game.

Worth it? - Two games for $20 is pretty pathetic compared to the multi-game releases from Capcom, Namco, or Taito (although I suppose they're better than those lousy Oretachi Game Center releases, which feature a single old arcade game for about $20 but includes a soundtrack CD.) Unless you're one of the three people worldwide that absolutely needs to play four player Quartet and refuses to use an emulator, AND has a PS2 four player adaptor, this is a pretty pointless collection.

Links:
The Games Database

What is it? - Daisenryaku (Grand Strategy) is one of Japan's oldest strategy game series, featuring hex tiled, turn based battles with a ton of real life military units. It's similar to Military Madness or Nectaris, but with a lot more depth. The series has been on tons of systems, including the Famicom, Super Famicom, PC Engine CD, PlayStation, Saturn, Dreamcast, PC, DS, and PSP, although this particular version is a remake of one of the Mega Drive games. In Advanced Daisenryaku: Deutsch Dengeki Sakusen (German Blitzkrieg Tactics), you play as the Nazis as they take over Europe, which probably isn't something you'd see in a mainstream title published in the USA. Although the games are actually developed by a company called System Soft, they are published by Sega on Sega platforms.

Advanced Daisenryaku: Deutsch Dengeki Sakusen

About the Sega Ages version - They really didn't stray too far from the Mega Drive version on this one. Most of the graphics has been slightly updated, but they're still astonishingly utilitarian and certainly don't look much better. The map screen is still 2D, but the battles use really, really, really bad 3D graphics - even the shameful PSOne version of Military Madness looked better than this. Remnants of the Mega Drive version are everywhere, including the title and map screen ripped straight from it. The music and most of the sound effects are exactly the same too.

Worth it? - I have practically no expertise in this series, because I find them slow and overwhelmingly boring. But if you dig them, why not pick up Daisenryaku VII for the Xbox or Daisenryaku Exceed for the PS2, which somehow made it to America. It'd actually be cheaper, far better looking, probably more advanced...and in English.

What is it? - A collection of five really old Sega arcade games, along with full remakes with high res 2D graphics. Included are Head On (also released on the Atari 2600 as Dodge 'Em and the Game Boy as Power Racer), Tranquilizer Gun, Borderline, Congo Bongo, and Doki Doki Penguin Land (which was originally an SG-1000 game and got a Sega Master System port under the plain old name Penguin Land. It's probably the most recognizable title on this disc.)

About the Sega Ages versions

Head On: I would say this is a Pac-Man clone, except it predates Pac-Man by roughly a year, having been released in 1979. You drive around the board collecting little dots, switching lanes so you don't collide with the opposing driver. The remake gives it kind of a high-tech makeover, changing the cars to little beams of light, and adding in extra ways to switch lines in the earlier stages, then slowly takes them away as you progress. Fun for a few minutes, but hardly a classic.

Tranquilizer Gun: This politically incorrect game puts you in the shoes of a hunter, crawling through to the jungle to incapacitate animals and bring them back to your jeep. In each level, you need to collect a certain number of each animal before the time runs out. The remake zooms in the display and adds an automap, as well as a whole slew of redesigned stages. The graphics here are pretty good, with a cute little female character and all kinds of cutesy animals that contrast with the inherent evils involved in poaching. Kind of a fun game, but the controls are a bit annoying - hitting the Circle button draws your gun, and you need to hit the X button to put it away before you can move again.

Borderline: This one seems broken up into racing stages and action stages, where the general gist is to race to the end of the stage to collect little nuclear icons and blow stuff up in the process. The arranged version kinda realized the original version was janky and boring, so they threw most of it out the window and only took the basic concept. You control a tank (left analog moves, right analog shoots, much Robotron and so many Xbox Live Arcade titles), and generally just need to wreak things up, eventually tracking down the nuclear symbols. You also have three weapons - a standard machine gun, a short range laser sword, and a flamethrower. It's hardly in depth, but it's fun and definitely the best title on the disc.

Congo Bongo: This is a spectacularly awful Donkey Kong clone that uses an angled perspective for movement. Simple tasks such as "jumping" and "not getting hit by enemies" become impossibly difficult because it's way too hard to judge movement and distance. The remake looks better and adds a ton more levels, as well as requiring that you get a treasure to beat most stages, but it's still frustratingly unplayable.

Doki Doki Penguin Land: Here you controls a penguin digging through ice caverns, as he attempts to bring his egg to safety. It requires a bit of strategy and foresight, so you can dodge enemies and make sure your egg doesn't get stuck somewhere in the ice. The arrange version includes much nicer graphic, more levels (which are, thankfully, much less frustrating than the arcade version) and special power-ups. One of the better games on the disc. Read the full article.

Worth it? - Unlike Taito, Midway, Namco, or even Nintendo, Sega's early arcade games were hardly much to write home about, and this compilation just makes it all the more evident. Still, the remakes make this collection somewhat justified, even though there's nothing particularly spectacular on here.

In 2012, this volume was released on the PSN in Japan and was renamed Sega Memorial Selection.

Links:
The Games Database

What is it? - Yet another 3D fighter from Sega, this time focusing on weapon based combat. The characters are a group of cops in modern day Tokyo. Read the full article.

Last Bronx -Tokyo Bangaichi-

About the Sega Ages version - Much like the Fighting Vipers conversion, this looks definitely looks better than the Saturn version (improved character models, 3D backdrops, etc.), although not hugely so. (There was a PC conversion back in the day, but who'd want to play that?) It's also not quite as barebones - it includes a fairly expansive art gallery, although it appears to be missing the anime FMV intro from the Saturn version. Unlike the other 3D fighter ports, this has ingame movelists and progressive scan output. There's also an Extra Settings menu (enabled by highlighting "Credits" on the menu and holding Right for several seconds) which includes a Kaodeka Mode (big head), Bukideka (big weapon), Homerun (hit opponents really high) and Gourard (which allows you to play as metallic versions of the characters by highlighting them on the select screen and pressing towards the border multiple times.)

Worth it? - Could go either way. The extras aren't great on either version, but the Saturn version is a bit cheaper, so it depends on whether that extra graphical gloss is worth it.