First: Sega's "we can't emulate it" is obviously very deceptive, as SSF is a great emulator with fantastic compatibility and speed and that proves it's quite possible. It does require a pretty powerful PC, but consoles now are pretty powerful too... it definitely should be possible, for a good developer. Sega's old "we can't do it" excuse has run its course.
Second: Panzer Dragoon in Panzer Dragoon Orta is a port of the PC version, not Saturn. Sonic R in Sonic Gems Collection is also a port of the PC version (with 4-player splitscreen added), not Saturn. Sonic CD in that collection is also a port of that game's PC version, not the Sega CD. Sega just didn't mention these facts in the games and pretended that they were ports of the console originals, in the packaging at least... they did admit in interviews and such that they were PC ports.
Rlan said:
Panzer Dragon, Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop 1 and VC2 all had PC ports of some kind. Fighting Vipers and Nights have recently had PS2 ports.
Clearly they have the code to some degree, with NiGHTS and other PS2 Compilation games. It's that Sega of America has absolutely no ability to touch them, it seems, which is why I believe Backbone did the Ultimate Genesis collection while M2 do all the Virtual Console emulation.
Going back to the Genesis, Sega had always ported a fair number of titles to the PC -- Golden Axe, Ecco the Dolphin, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3 & Knuckles (with the Infinite Bonus Game) and Comix Zone got PC releases, along with the Sega CD games Sonic CD and Tomcat Alley. Some of these came out not long after the original releases, others years after the original games, but they were all released... in addition, two emulated collections of Genesis games were also released later on, the Sega Smash Packs 1 and 2. Each contained about seven games.
They continued this on a larger scale with the Saturn. Of the Sega-published Saturn games, in addition to the four titles you mentioned, Daytona USA, Daytona USA Deluxe (CCE), Baku Baku, Sega Rally Championship, Sonic R, Manx TT SuperBike, Formula Karts, Virtual-On: Cyber Troopers, Sega Touring Car Championship, Enemy Zero, Bug!, Virtua Fighter 1, Worldwide Soccer, NBA Action 98, Last Bronx, and The House of the Dead were all also released on the PC. (Oh, and the Virtua Cop games were called "Virtua Squad" on PC.)
Sonic 3D Blast was on PC too, though its bonus games are slightly different from either the Genesis or Saturn versions of the game -- the design of the stages is more like the Saturn ones, but they use sprites, not polygons, for many things, unlike Saturn. The rest of the game is largely the same as either other release.
Yeah, they had a LOT of PC ports that gen... on DC they had fewer, actually, though with the DC it's the PS2, Xbox, and GC that later on got ports of many titles. Still, Sega Rally 2 was on PC, at least, along with The Typing of the Dead, Guru Guru Onsen 2 (Japan only on both platforms), The House of the Dead 2, Sega Bass Fishing, Sega GT, Phantasy Star Online (v.1 in Asia only and PSO Blue Burst worldwide, later on), as well as Sonic Adventure DX, around the time of the GC release, Sakura Taisen 3 (some years after the DC release), and Puyo Puyo Fever (Japan only on PC).
The one thing that frustrated me about Sega's older PC ports was that via the Sega Smash Packs and standalone releases you could play Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic CD, Sonic R, Sonic 3D Blast, and even the Sonic 1 & Knuckles infinite bonus game, you could not play Sonic 2 & Knuckles. Sonics 1 and 2 were in the Smash Packs only, which didn't have Knuckles...
