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SEGA are having a big celebration this weekend, as it's their 60th anniversary so you can grab Sonic The Hedgehog 2 free to keep forever. Plus plenty more on sale.

They have some pretty great Linux games on sale including:

For the free copy of Sonic The Hedgehog 2, simple head to the Steam page and claim it. You know what's great about it? It's part of the SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics which has Linux support and it has the ROM file too. Actually, all games in that full collection should have the legal ROM files for you to enjoy and the whole collection is on a big sale!


That level used to really get me good.

SEGA actually has something of a special place in my heart. When I was young and in hospital, back when the SEGA Mega Drive console was still quite new, I remember a bunch of the nurses looking after me wheeling in a TV with one hooked up to it and a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog - good times. Sonic sure did help me get through a tough time. I ended up actually getting the console eventually too, along with titles like Sonic The Hedgehog 1 / 2 and more. Was such a great device.

You can view the full SEGA event page here on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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14 comments

whizse Oct 9, 2020
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The legal ROM file, the rarest of Pokémon!
slembcke Oct 9, 2020
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The legal ROM file, the rarest of Pokémon!

Oooh! I just bought the whole collection for like 8 bucks because, "why not?" I just downloaded it to check and it downloads with regular old, unencrypted ROM files you can run with whatever emulator you want. Going to load these up on my Everdrive and play some on the actual hardware then. :D Gaming on Linux -> Pshhh! Gaming on retro hardware -> :D

Do yourself a favor and grab the whole collection play them on desktop Linux, your RetroPi setup, or whatever else you have that runs Genesis games. :D
M@GOid Oct 9, 2020
For one Mega Drive game and a emulator, I have to download 583 MB????
elmapul Oct 9, 2020
free is still expensive considering the crap emulator its bundled with.
hell i saw windows users complaining about the performance of that thing with an geforce 1070 , and i dont know if they fixed it already if they provide an crap support like that for windows users, imagine on linux.
get the rom and play elsewhere, free is still expensive considering you will need an expensive machine to use their emulator.
ageres Oct 10, 2020
The best thing in the SMD Classics collection on Steam is that it has Workshop support with translated Japanese versions, hacks, etc.
free is still expensive considering you will need an expensive machine to use their emulator.
OS: Ubuntu 16.10 or higher
Processor: Intel i3-2100 or AMD Phenom II X4 940 or equivalent dual core CPU
Graphics: NVidia GeForce GTX 280 or ATI Radeon HD 6630 or equivalent DirectX® 9c or higher 1GB VRam
You still can use any SMD emulator for these ROMs.
Dunc Oct 10, 2020
free is still expensive considering the crap emulator its bundled with.
hell i saw windows users complaining about the performance of that thing with an geforce 1070 , and i dont know if they fixed it already if they provide an crap support like that for windows users, imagine on linux.
get the rom and play elsewhere, free is still expensive considering you will need an expensive machine to use their emulator.
I don't know... I kind of like it. I mean, it's not the most featureful emulator in the world, and it's ridiculously bloated, but the whole “virtual bedroom” thing is a bit of fun, and it's not going to be too intimidating for casual users. Performance seems fine here on my 960.

All that said, I still think a non-proprietary emulator is a better bet for features and performance. But for non-technically-minded fans of the Megadrive who just want a quick nostalgia hit through Steam (or a console), it could have been worse.
toojays Oct 10, 2020
Is Sonic 2 worth playing if I already have Sonic Mania?
furaxhornyx Oct 10, 2020
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Is Sonic 2 worth playing if I already have Sonic Mania?

If you have never played the old Sonic games before, it could be worth it. You might discover a lot of references that were hidden in Sonic Mania
Gooda Oct 10, 2020
I remember a bunch of the nurses looking after me wheeling in a TV with one hooked up to it and a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog - good times. Sonic sure did help me get through a tough time.

I just have to say - I love this story. I had a similar experience when I was in a hospital, and some of my happiest memories are of my best friend and me playing games on Mega Drive.

Good times.


Last edited by Gooda on 10 October 2020 at 3:03 pm UTC
jarhead_h Oct 10, 2020
For one Mega Drive game and a emulator, I have to download 583 MB????

Funny story, the 3D menu has higher system requirements than the games. Of course I took the opportunity of the sale to buy all of them. I genuinely don't understand why Nintendo and Sony haven't followed Sega's lead and bundled together old games for sale with a working freeware emulator. It's like leaving money on the table.
Arten Oct 10, 2020
The legal ROM file, the rarest of Pokémon!

Oooh! I just bought the whole collection for like 8 bucks because, "why not?" I just downloaded it to check and it downloads with regular old, unencrypted ROM files you can run with whatever emulator you want. Going to load these up on my Everdrive and play some on the actual hardware then. :D Gaming on Linux -> Pshhh! Gaming on retro hardware -> :D

Do yourself a favor and grab the whole collection play them on desktop Linux, your RetroPi setup, or whatever else you have that runs Genesis games. :D

Don't forget run it with original emulator from steam for few minutes, so it count as linux into sels statistics. :)
ageres Oct 11, 2020
I genuinely don't understand why Nintendo and Sony haven't followed Sega's lead and bundled together old games for sale with a working freeware emulator.
But they do sell their old games run by emulators. Only on their own platforms though. Afaik, many Xbox and X360 games are available on XOne as well. Sega don't have their own consoles anymore, so Steam to the rescue.
Don't forget run it with original emulator from steam for few minutes, so it count as linux into sels statistics. :)
Doesn't it count as Linux even if you don't play it?
einherjar Oct 11, 2020
There is also:

* Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III

on a big discount.

Does someone know, if it is playable as coop with a friend? There is not much info about Multiplayer on Steampage. I am not interested in PvP, more in coop.
einherjar Oct 11, 2020
There is also:

* Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III

on a big discount.

Does someone know, if it is playable as coop with a friend? There is not much info about Multiplayer on Steampage. I am not interested in PvP, more in coop.

As far as I'm aware, the only coop with Dawn of War III is same team against an AI in generic multiplayer. No campaign coop, and nothing like Dawn of War II's The Last Stand (which is awesome, by the way).
Furthermore, the GNU/Linux port is not multiplayer compatible with the Windows version, mostly likely for technical reasons that Feral cannot overcome.
While I didn't really enjoy DoW3 as a game (just a personal thing), the port itself is otherwise first rate.

OK, thanks. perhaps its better to go with DoW II. It is on sale too and has much better ratings.
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