I never owned a Sega Genesis. I was a Nintendo person and never really got into the Sega system. Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast was the first Sonic the Hedgehog game I ever played. I know, I lived a deprived life. I wish I got a chance to play Genesis games.

     Well, guess what? The Dreamcast system is now the home of the Sega Smash Pack, a GD-Rom containing some of the best damn Genesis games with a few great surprises. Boy was I happy to sink my teeth into this baby. After hours upon hours of playing, I was upset; upset that I had to go to sleep and not play anymore. Damn job! There is always another day, and you bet I will be playing video games on that day, specifically the Smash Pack.

     Now, the first game I played from yesteryear was Sonic the Hedgehog, the game that started it all. This game was mad fun. I never realized what all the hype was about until now. It reminded me of Super Mario Brothers, only faster, and more innovative. There are so many intricate levels and ways of getting through it all. You have to be careful not to move too fast, or risk losing all the rings you collected, as well as one of your lives.

     Sonic's graphics still stand up today. I mean, they are drawn on, but they are still nice to look at and bring back a feeling of a time when games were a whole lot more fun to play and geared towards kids. This game came out before Super Mario Bros. 3, but for some reason, the game reminds me a lot of it. This just goes to tell you how inspiring it was. Besides the graphics and easy playability, Sonic was just a whole lot of fun, occupying much of my time with the Smash Pack. If this one was so good, I could only imagine how great the other games were.

     Revenge of Shinobi was a game I have always wanted to play. I remember playing Ninja Gaiden and that game was great. I was really looking forward to seeing what Shinobi was all about. While Gaiden was a whole lot better, but Shinobi was not too shabby either. Pretty cool opening sequence followed by a side scrolling fighting game reminiscent of Bad Dudes and especially Bayou Billy (I don't know why, but it just does). It is hard for your character to do much and after playing games like Tenchu, you really realize how limited games were way back when. What was cool was the ability to chuck knives at your opponents and kick some ass. Still, the graphics were okay, but the sound was not so good, and the game was too stiff. There was definitely something missing, and I was hoping to find out what it was from playing the rest of the games on the GD-Rom.

     A lot of these games didn't do anything for me though. Golden Axe was way too difficult and equaled Shinobi in stiffness and awkward game play. Another game, Altered Beast, was just a disappointment. I heard so much about this game, but got nothing but a limited fighting game where you can barely do anything, but gather power-ups and turn into a super powered werewolf that can still barely do anything. I will stick with Bloody Roar when I want half-human/half-beast gaming.

     Role-Playing Games (RPGs) have never been my thing, so Phantasy Star 2 and Shining Force were not my cup of tea either. Wrestle War was just a horrible wrestling game not worthy of even being on this compilation. No, I couldn't find what I was looking for and I started to really wonder if I was going to feel bad about my purchase. Then I played Streets Of Rage 2. Oh yeah! This was more like it.

     For about two hours, I played this game and I could have played more if I didn't remember that I had a job to do and that was to review the rest of this compilation. Streets of Rage 2 is definitely the best game on Smash Pack. It had a great introduction and what superb graphics. This game was ahead of its time and it shows. There is a scene where rain permeates the screen as you fight. In the next battle, a fog ensues as you crack skulls and break bones. I love to see weather in a game. It totally adds to the realism. Guys don't just walk on the screen to attack you, sometimes, they lay on the bench, pretending to be homeless and just attack your sorry ass. The bad guys attack in large numbers, not just two at a time. You can even pick up weapons and use them on your enemies. This game is like Double Dragon, a game I loved, and I was mad happy to play something similar.

     Vectorman was a whole lot of fun to play, reminding me of an Oddworld/Mega Man hybrid. A lot of people have put this game down, but I had a whole lot of fun playing it, despite the fact that it was rather easy to die. It was very addictive and I continued to play it over and over again, just hoping to make it a bit further than last time. I totally enjoy kicking ass with photon blasts. I will definitely keep this game on my radar for future fun. What I was really looking forward to was the special surprise entry of Virtua Cop II, a game that was obviously not a part of the Genesis. It's hard to play the game without a light gun, but the extra difficulty actually added a level of excitement and an adrenaline rush that is unbelievable. Virtua Cop II has some great graphics and a wonderfully interactive environment to play through. Be careful not to get too trigger-happy or you could kill several innocent people. I did that on purpose. Oops! There are bad guys at every corner and be careful, because without a gun, your finger better be fast enough to put the target on the man with the gun pointed at you, or there is no way you are making it through stage one, let alone the whole game. Yes, it is hard, but fair. Have fun.

     Last but not least, two games totally worth playing are not action packed adventures at all, these games involve strategy and skill. Columns is an old game that may be more addictive than Tetris. The object is to line up several blocks of the same color and not complete full lines. This becomes extremely hard without careful strategy. This has got to be the best puzzle game I have played since those days on my Game Boy. Of course, I got to play an even more interesting game called Sega Swirl, which is actually a new title thrown onto the compilation for fun. Sega Swirl is so cool. You must try to line up the most combinations of a certain color and then blow them up for big points. Blowing up two orange swirls is not as cool as blowing up seven red swirls. When you do blow up a group of swirls, all the other swirls squeeze together, taking up the empty spaces left behind by the unfortunate demise of red swirls and his poor family. This opens up new possibilities, as a group of three blue swirls becomes a group of six, and more points. Meet your goals and move onto the next level. Don't and well, you die. This is really a thinking man's game and worth a try. You'll love it.

     Badseed's Bottomline: 5 out of 5. There are some stinkers, but forget about those games. When you have Sonic, Streets of Rage 2, Columns, Sega Swirl and Virtua Cop 2, you have a compilation worth more than the $39.95. Smash Pack Vol. 1 contains the fun missing in newer, sleeker titles. You can keep track of scores, take part in side scrolling 2-D adventure, puzzle games and other kinds of fun that is far more addictive than completing missions only to have to start over cause you forgot something. Remember when games told you where everything was and you didn't need to think too hard. Well, that's what you get with the Smash Pack. Give me Streets of Rage 2 over Fighting Force 2, any day. Sometimes bigger and better are not all they claim to be. Take a journey back to the days when gaming was simple fun and 16-bit games were all the rage. I can't wait for Volume 2!

     Send your comments and or questions about this article to Badseed@ybfree.com.