Keep Dreamin'

I've said it once and I'll say it again: Sega are really doing themselves by not making their back catalogue of non-Megadrive/Genesis games readily available. Sure there have been a few games on the Master System/Saturn/Dreamcast slipping through the cracks on PSN and XBLA but what about the rest? Whilst Sega may have had more than few failed consoles to their name, I can still think of some games in Sega's back catalogue that could benefit from a second look.

I could see some reluctance on Sega's part namely a) the difficulty of obtaining rights of certain games with certain gaming studios scattering elsewhere b) an unwillingness to release something that has no guarantee of decent sales and c) the idea that maybe Sega's failed consoles is something they would like to forget. Reasonable claims I will admit but I've heard of such games being spoken of in near mythical terms and needless to say my curiosity is piqued.
I can think of several games on the Mega CD that may be worth dusting off and preserving for gamers both now and in the future, namely Eternal Champions, Lunar, Popful Mail, Robo Aleste, Shining Force CD, Silpheed, Snatcher and Vay (and who says it was all Sonic CD?)
And on the Saturn front, I would certainly like to play the likes of DragonForce, Astal, Shining the Holy Ark and Panzer Dragoon Zwei. I know of games that may benefit from a proper translation like Assault Suit Leynos 2, Shining Force 3, Magical Knight Rayearth and Grandia. And need I mention how many people want to see a proper rerelease of the Holy Grail of gaming Panzer Dragoon Saga?

Of course I've gathered this laundry list of titles through research - I've heard all of these titles spoken highly of both Sega fans and (general) gamers alike so it makes me interested in checking them out. One problem though: How do I do it? This in turn goes back to Sega not taking action to preserve their gaming catalogue and make it readily available. Listen to me Sega: Would you rather people get to these games through using emulators and denying you of some actual money?

The recent arrival of Nights Into Dreams to the XBLA provides new, solid evidence to suggest otherwise that Saturn games may be difficult to emulate or even revamped to stunning effect. Sure Nights was also ported to the PS2 but the presence of other Saturn games on XBLA, Guardian Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, could be another reason for, right?
But alas if the spectacular revamp of Nights will prove anything, it will be proof fifth generation gaming can be rebuilt in such a manner. And thus yielding another excuse for those wanting a new Final Fantasy 7 to persue their tireless crusade (fingers in the ear and all). Okay but how about we ask for something we HAVEN'T played?