If there's one thing Sega loves to do, it's resell its back catalogue. Not that we really mind - there are some truly incredible games in there. But while we've had the likes of Golden Axe and Streets of Rage released on XBLA and the like before, there is something new to offer this time round.
Case in point: Monster World IV. If you've listened to the GamesRadar UK Podcast, you'll have heard all about this. It's the final game from the Wonder Boy series (which actually stars a girl named Asha) and has only now been given an English translation, having been in Japanese-only limbo since 1994. At least officially - there have been fan translations if you know where to look on the internet.
Above: What is it with Japanese role-playing games and cute blobs of slime? No, really!
It's good too. But on XBLA, the games are grouped into value packs so you're not just paying for the privilege of getting this little-known classic alone. For your 800 MS points, you'll also get Wonder Boy in Monster Land and Wonder Boy V Monster World III. As you can see, the naming convention for the series kinda went haywire after a while. That's due out on May 23 in Japan.
Also out in that day is an XBLA pack containing Alex Kidd in Miracle World, The Super Shinobi (that's Revenge of Shinobi to us westerners) and Super Hang-On. Following a week later is the Streets of Rage pack (known as Bare Knuckle in Japan) with all three 16-bit classics, and the Golden Axe Collection, featuring the original arcade game and its Mega Drive/Genesis sequels Golden Axe II and Golden Axe III. We're waiting to hear back on Western release dates so we'll update the story when we know. It's also worth noting that the games will sell separately on PSN, reportedly selling at 600 yen each.
Phew! Now, while we welcome the bundles and are very pleased that Monster World IV is hitting our screens in a non-interlaced fashion (it's already out on Wii which can look a bit crap on some new TVs), it's worth mentioning that Sega has a couple of games in its glorious past that simply never get re-released anywhere. Games like the arcade version of Virtua Fighter 2, original arcade Virtua Racing and Knuckles' Chaotix from the 32X. And seeing as Daytona USA worked so wonderfully in HD, a 'Sega Rally 95' HD release would be very welcome too, please.
Source: Siliconera
