Initial thought that comes to mind is the penultimate letter of the alphabet. Why? Hackers have already found their way around the PSP’s hardware to install all kinds of – whisper it – emulators: programs that anyone who knows what Google is and how to work a keyboard would be able to find easily. Yet the issue here is one of convenience. Not everyone wants to downgrade their PSP’s firmware to 2.0156647 these days and simply put, it’s more convenient this way.

Not that this stops Sega from the expected effort of trying to justify Sega Mega Drive Collection in other ways, of course. Interviews where you can hear the Columns’ producer telling you how good Columns is, longforgotten Sega arcade games that remind you why they were forgotten and Wi-fi multiplayer are the token items you’ll look at, then promptly ignore.

Which leaves us with the games. There’s a fairly meaty selection too, with the highlights being Sonic The Hedgehog, Golden Axe, Comix Zone, Ecco The Dolphin and three Phantasy Star games. The ports are as perfect as they can possibly be. Sonic The Hedgehog has a tiny whiff of slowdown that will no doubt send forums breaking into hives with anger, while the inconsistent control scheme might prove irksome – but they’re more than competent ports of pretty damn good games. When Sega Mega Drive Collection is good, it’s damn good.

When it’s bad? Then it’s just confusing. The rest of the games are an eclectic mix that answer whatever questions you may have of them – Ristar (what would Rayman be like if he had an actual personality), Super Thunder Blade (what would you get if you crossed After Burner with Space Harrier?) and Altered Beast (what is the worst retro game of all time?) being a few. There’s also a bizarre port of Virtua Fighter 2 on Mega Drive, a game that was only released in the US and has all the allure and charm of mashed potatoes (not much). Needless to say, if you haven’t already played the titles here, they’re probably not worth playing.

None of this changes the fact that Sega Mega Drive Collection is pointless for those who really wanted these games to begin with, as they would have already run to Google’s loving arms for the emulator they crave. Likewise, the elitists will bemoan the absence of Streets Of Rage. For the rest of us, this is a damn good compilation that justifies its existence on the strength of its games.

Simon Griffin