Just think, without OutRun there'd never have been a Sega Rally. But maybe this retro-gaming thing is going a bit far. After the Darius debacle last month, you may have had just about enough of those old fangled crap graphics and sound.

"Ah yes," retro-fans will cry. "But it's that good old-fashioned gameplay that really counts." Maybe, but given the choice between limp titles like Darius and the graphical splendour of Panzer Dragoon 2, we know which one we'd rather choose. However, cast your mind back ten years and what do you see? Super fast 3D graphics, gut-churning hydraulic cabinets and top quality gameplay. Okay, so maybe at the time you weren't tall enough to reach the buttons, but you can't deny that OutRun, After Burner and Space Harrier are the grandparents of Sega's current arcade hits. And now, for the very first time, perfect home conversions of all three games are available on one Saturn disc!

This collection of games first appeared in the arcades over a decade ago but what were the fantastic Mean Machines team up to in 1986? Style-guru Gus was listening to A-Ha and training his Morton Harkett haircut, randy Dep Ed Matt confessed under interrogation that '86 was the year he lost his cherry, Nick was celebrating the start of his teenage years, and Steve? Well, he was nine and had to be home by seven o'clock. Still, his mum does let him "play out" until nine these days.

Top Gun in all but name, the 1986 arcade hit put you in a lone fighter plane and pitted you against wave upon wave of enemy dog fighters and helicopters. You had machine guns and missiles to dispatch the enemy hordes, and the game also featured mid-air re-arming sequences.

Later levels involved canyon runs and ground-based targets. Another game with a hydraulic cabinet, nausea could be induced quite easily by repeatedly performing barrel rolls. This is the first time that an arcade-perfect conversion has been feasible on a home system.

The 32K game was close, but was missing a lot of the ground detail present and correct in the Saturn version.

Current equivalent: Top Gun. Or Sky Target in the arcades.

Dating from 1984, Space Harrier was the first coin-op to use Sega's revolutionary sprite scaling technology. At the time it has the same impact as Model 2 games have today and also boasted a hydraulic cabinet. The game is a direct ancestor of the Panzer Dragoon series, as you were limited to a fairly small path and had to destroy all and sundry in a fast 3D environment.

However, AM2 must have been taking some interesting substances at the time, as flying stone heads and mushrooms lead the assault on your player!

The Saturn conversion is, like the rest of the pack arcade perfect. This was one of the first games Steve ever played. Shame, he's just a nipper you know.

Current equivalent: Panzer Dragoon Zwei

Released in 1987, OutRun is part of a long line of Sega driving games including Rad Mobile, Virtua Racing, Sega Rally and now Touring Car Championship. Again using a hydraulic cabinet, this time in the shape of a comedy Ferrari, OutRun has fifteen stages combined into one big race across America.

There's a choice of routes and it's non-stop action all the way. You can also play the Japanese mode, which has totally different stages!

Current equivalent: Need For Speed (for the progressive structure), Sega Rally (for general coolness)

Arcade perface retro game conversions seem to be all the rage this month, what with the amazing Williams Arcade's Classic and even Sega getting in on the act.

However, all this nostalgia has to be put into some sort of perspective. As someone who actually remembers playing these titles the first time around, I have to say that, although the classic coin-op gameplay has been retained, there's really very little here to appeal to today's game players.

Given the chance, would you really rather spend an evening playing a dated shoot-'em-up, or tackling the graphical delights of Panzer Dragoon Zwei?

Exactly.

Purely for novelty value only.

Well, retro gaming has finally caught up with me. As a relative youngster compared to the rest of the Mean Machines crew, this trio are about the earliest games I can recall playing. And I'm happy to say that my memory has not failed me as all three are arcade-perfect.

This isn't such a good thing in the case of Space Harrier because it always was a bit naff... but supreme overlord of sprite-based driving games OutRun is one of my favourite racing experiences of all time.

After Burner is a fairly shallow experience, but that makes it perfect for those ten minute slots when you've got nothing better to do. Although it's strange how you can string those ten minute slots together into three hour sessions sometimes.

Graphics 75%
They're arcade perfect, but they're not exactly hi-res polygon masterpieces. The speed of the 3D just goes to show how well the Saturn handles sprite-scaling.

Sound 81%
Original and arranged versions of all the tunes are included. The general consensus in the office is that the OutRun ditties are amongst the best bits of computer game music ever committed to silicon.

Playability 90%
That classic Sega playability is in effect here as OutRun simply oozes gameplay. Space Harrier and After Burner are more limited, but are still a remarkable experience after all this time.

Lastability 85%
OutRun and After Burner are the kind of games that you can load up for ten minutes now and again and as such will last for years. Space Harrier is the runt of the litter; it was never that good in the arcades.

Overall 84%
These games have stood the test of time well. Space Harrier lets the side down, but OutRun is almost worth the price of admission alone.