So how big a deal is this for someone who never played any of these games or owned a saga system until the Dreamcast?
I was an SNES kid growing up and didn’t play saga except for sonic. Is it a must get to play these games for the first time? Or is this a meh, maybe wait for a sale?
There are a few standouts which are top tier, a few which are good, but there is also a lot of filler that isn't good. To get a good frame of reference, here's what i believe are the best games on the Mega Drive, ranked top 20:
1. Phantasy Star IV
2. Thunderforce IV (localized in NA with the incredibly shitty name 'Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar')
3. Shining Force II
4. Alien Soldier
5. Battle Mania Daiginjō
6. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
7. Gunstar Heroes
8. Rocket Knight Adventures (JP version)
9. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles
10. Streets of Rage 2
11. Gaiares
12. Pulseman
13. Castlevania Bloodlines
14. Eliminate Down
15. Sonic The Hedgehog 2
16. Mega Turrican
17. MUSHA: Metallic Uniframe Hybrid Armor
18. Contra: Hard Cops
19. Ranger-X
20. Panorama Cotton
Rest are unranked, but decent to great games worth playing:
Slap Fight MD
Granada
Ecco the Dolphin & Ecco: The Tides of Time
Langrisser II
Herzog Zwei
Phantasy Star II
Truxton
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
Fire Shark
Air Buster
Super Fantasy Zone
Disney's Aladdin
Battle Mania (prequel to Daiginjō, known as Trouble Shooter in US)
Elemental Master
Burning Force
Thunder Force III
Sonic The Hedgehog
Beyond Oasis
Dynamite Headdy (JP version with the translation patch, the localization cut content out)
Gley Lancer
Ristar
Shining Force
Splatterhouse 2 & 3
Twinkle Tale
Streets of Rage
Golden Axe (solid port with a couple of extra levels added; decent, not close to the best, but definitely iconic)
Bare Knuckle III (Import of Streets of Rage 3 with a fan translation patch available, the US release changed a lot of things for the worse)
Comix Zone
I avoided all the stuff that i believe aren't worth playing today - like sports games, stuff i thing genuinely haven't aged well (like Road Rash, wtf is that 2 FPS?, Altered Beast - shitty arcade port of a mediocre beat 'em up, shitty arcade ports in general, like Street Fighter on 4th gen machines lol, or Mortal Kombat, etc.)