I don't care for pvp versus total strangers. Local pvp or co-op is where it's at. Same with LAN parties. My brother used to bring his PS3 over to my apartment in college. He'd hook up to the TV, I'd grab a PC monitor and headphones, and my roommate would bring his own TV to the living room and we'd play Borderlands 2 together. We used to also play a lot of Melee in those days. I miss that a lot.
Its like sports - they just aren't right if you're not being loud, eating junk food, getting a bit drunk if that's your thing, laughing and screaming in equal measure.
Micro machines was beautiful. Never been able to find anything that quite matched it.
Mashed on original Xbox got close, but never quite scratched the itch. You're also the first person I know who had the megadrive rather than the Saturn.