I’m a child of the original Console Wars, when Sega and Nintendo went head to head with the Mega Drive and the SNES. I backed Sega – yes I was a bit of a fan girl – and while the console might be gone, the games live on having been made available through digital downloading via the Wii and Xbox 360 online stores and on the PSP. Now the games are finally seeing a compilation release – the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection - on 360 and PS3 and it’s just like stepping back to the nineties – but in high definition.

Now many of these games are already available – often with their own Achievements if you’re a 360 owner – but this is the first time they’ve been collected together. I love the fact that when I was in secondary school, each one of these titles cost around £40, and you can get the forty titles for £29.99.

When you load the disc, the main menu displays the games (a few become unlockable later on) with the option to scrutinise the original cartridge and box arts in the Museum and enjoy some trivia about the specific title.  The menu itself is unashamedly modern with a funky soundtrack which manages to be catchy and evoke the spirit of the Sega Mega Drive.

The games themselves are just as you remember and this collection really is, as the title suggests, ultimate but it does lack a couple of notable exceptions. Where are the Mega CD titles? Where is Virtua Racing (one of my favourite racing games)? Where is Sonic CD? What about Aladdin, Lemmings or Castle of Illusion? Their lack of presence is more than likely down to emulation or licensing issues.

So, pick a game …. for me it’s Ecco the Dolphin: The Tides of Time. As you scroll through the list, a small display shows the opening section of each game and the start screen, instantly evoking a wave of nostalgia. While the games are HD, it’s not full HD. Instead the game space is enclosed by a border which, depending on your TV setup, is around a third of the screen. Granted this border changes for each game but it’s still not the full on experience. Of course the reasons for this are obvious: when Ecco, Sonic and all the other protagonists were doing their thing back in the early nineties, HD didn’t exist. All these games were designed to run on a 16-bit system which had limited graphical capabilities (which is part of the charm) so it’s an accepted part of the retro vibe, even if the marketing is a little off.

The games themselves – and I tried all of them – run beautifully. It’s literally like being transported back fifteen years but without the must-do-your-homework guilt. Most are Mega Drive titles but a couple were originally on the Master System (which was, to my eternal shame, my first console) and there’s even the arcade incarnation of Shinobi. Emulation is never a perfect science but this anthology comes pretty close, the music is there, the graphics are just as appealing and it’s a perfect trip back into the past.

Most of the appeal for this title will come from folks in my own age group (mid twenties to early thirties) and as most of the folks I know have kids, it’s an excellent opportunity to share the games you grew up with the next generation. After all, old school might sometimes lack the strategy or graphical prowess of all the titles out now but the simplicity and challenging nature of these classic titles really stands the test of time and so Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection deserves a place in all serious gamers’ collections.