Sega Has Plenty Of Genesis Games Ready For XBLA

The Gunstar Heroes discovery was right on target and it won’t be the only Genesis classic coming to Xbox Live Arcade this summer. Cult classic Comix Zone, sci-fi RPG Phantasy Star II, and Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are all slated for the Xbox 360. Unfortunately, PlayStation 3 owners only get Gunstar Heroes.

The seven games on the list are: Gunstar Heroes, Altered Beast, Shinobi (the arcade version), Comix Zone, Phantasy Star II, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles. If you have Sonic 3 or Sonic 2 and Sonic & Knuckles stored on your Xbox 360 hard drive you can unlock Knuckles as a playable character. Sonic fans might remember clicking two cartridges together. Now, the unique feature has been simplified to computer code. Interestingly, Sonic’s Genesis Collection, a compilation of Genesis games, does not have the lock on games even though Sonic & Knuckles and other Sonic games are part of the collection.

Each downloadable game has been “reworked for high definition” (read: filter), has online leaderboards, and Network Play – if a two player mode is available. Hmm… I wonder how those Phantasy Star II leaderboards work. Most experience? Longest play time?

Altered Beast

Comix Zone (note: this game does not have online play)

Gunstar Heroes

Phantasy Star II (note: this game does not have online play)

Shinobi (note: this game does not have online play)

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Sonic & Knuckles