What Did I Miss on the Genesis?

[poofyhairguy]

The one thing that really stood out to me on my "list your favorite consoles" thread is how many have the Sega Genesis in their top 5. Growing up I was Team Nintendo but I had plenty of opportunities to play on a Genesis and other than Sonic games and Golden Axe I was never impressed. Sure the Mortal Kombat 2 had blood and sports games where better but all that did was re-enforce the idea in my head that the Genesis was for jocks and "non serious gamers" so I never got one.

Recently when I got married I acquired my wife's old Genesis that I promptly stuck in a box, but that thread has me wanting to pull it out and flesh out the library on Ebay (all she had was Lion King).

So then I go looking online for "the best Genesis games" and the lists include games I had on my SNES (Earthworm Jim) or movie games like Aladdin or the Lion King (which I can play and it sucks). I remember a few cool commercials for Genesis games like Comix Zone and Altered Beast, but when you consider how many Genesis games were made and how highly so many listed the Genesis in that thread I assume there are more interesting exclusive games I missed than this.

So outside of the Sonic games, Golden Axe, Comix Zone, and Altered Beast, what non-cross platform and non-sports (as those always age poorly) games do I need to collect?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I remember Strider being pretty excellent; I think that was exclusive to the Genesis. Apart from that, I'm in the same boat as you (team Nintendo), so I never got to experience the Genesis exclusives.

 

[Arkaign]

Ah man, so many good things.

First, if you don't have a Genesis, make sure you get either :

(1)- Genesis 1st gen with 'High Definition' on the top. They have the best A/V output of any standard Genesis console. Later Mark 1s, and especially Mark 2s have very muddy, washed-out AV output, and Mark 3s are mono only. You can mod them, but that's a crapton of hassle that's not worth it.

Alternatively, you can buy an X'Eye. Pricey, but they also have pristine AV output.

(2)- The stock Genesis controllers are terrible. As someone who enjoyed Nintendo classics, you'll be very put off by the sloppy, mushy, awkward controllers. However, for about the price of a game, you can find the Hori Mega Commander online. Hori makes the best classic controllers of all time, and it's ergonomically like the SNES pad. It makes a WORLD of difference in enjoying the many awesome overlooked games on Genesis.

Okay, on to games :

Castlevania Bloodlines
Contra Hard Corps (this is freaking hard, lol)
TMNT (similar but different to the SNES version)
Herzog Zwei (AMAZING early RTS-style game with great gameplay, music, and split-screen multiplayer)
Phantasy Star II, III, and IV for JRPG buffs (also : Shining in the Darkness, and Shining Force I/II)
Ghoul's n Ghosts (much smoother than the SNES version, no massive slowdown)
Thunder Force II, III, and IV (sold as Lighting Force)
Gaiares
Target : Earth, a hard but deep action game, VERY underrated
General Chaos
King's Bounty (from the guys who made the HOMM series!)

TONS more.

I thought Sonic was about the most over-rated thing ever. and the sports titles, meh/10. The Genesis has a ton of awesome stuff though.

I can't stress enough how crucial it is to have decent AV output (to a CRT if at all possible) and a great controller in line first. Obviously if you're playing on an emulator, you've got things the way you want, though Genesis emulation isn't 100% perfect.

 

[Arkaign]

Easier to post these than try to list them all. Most of what you see here is good stuff (aside from some junk that I accumulated along the way). This is my non-sealed Genesis stuff.

 

[Arkaign]

Particularly worthy :

Toe Jam & Earl
MUSHA (godlike, but $$$)
Streets of Rage Series
Shinobi Series
Strider (only the original, the sequel is a fake and unworthy)
Shadowrun (different from the SNES, and awesome)
Mercs (fun shooter, think NES Commando with better graphics)
Splatterhouse 2 and 3
Zombies ate my Neighbors (also on SNES, but if you've never played it, why not, it's cheaper on Genesis for the same game, and moves a little faster in sections)
Etc

 

[KeithTalent]

^^ Wow, totally forgot about Herzog Zwei and Shining in the Darkness. Both of those were great!

Strider was awesome. Phantasy Star 2 & 3 were amazing, particularly 2; one of my all time favourite games.

X-Men 2 is awesome as well. I don't think that came out for SNES.

KT

 

[Arkaign]

Definitely. Oh crap, forgot : Gunstar Heroes. For that game alone it's worth having a Genesis, lol. It's a little higher in price, but an outstanding super creative game, and hilarious fun to co-op 2p on. It's full of surprises and unique things. It feels a lot like the Metal Slug games on Neo Geo, but has more variety. If you liked Contra games, it's in the same vein but Chibi-style.

 

[Sonikku]

Get Revenge of Shinobi. You get to fight Spiderman, Batman and **REMOVED** GOZILLA.

As a Ninja.



No Cursing in CG.

Anandtech Administrator
KeithTalent

 

[purbeast0]

of ones not listed so far in this thread...

ecco the dolphin
vectorman
roadrash
desert strike (and the sequels to it)
x-men
eternal champions

of the ones already mentioned, strider, streets of rage, splatterhouse, and toe jam and earl were awesome. i thought alladin on genesis was also freaking awesome. better than the snes one by far (and a totally different game).

and yeah, all of the ea sports games were better on genesis than snes

 

[Aikouka]

I mostly stuck to the Sonic games on the Genesis, but man... I flippin' loved me some Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine! It's pretty much SEGA's answer for Dr. Mario, but with a fairly weak Sonic universe flavor. The best part is playing against someone and giving the a Yippie! or a Yeehaw! That may sound a bit odd, but they're the sound effects used when sending a penalty over to the opposing player. Normally, the beans are colored (like Dr. Mario), and that's how you clear them. However, the gray beans can only be removed by removing an adjacent colored bean.

Nothing is more fun than hearing "Yippie! Yippie! YEEEHAW!" and lapping up those delicious tears from your opponent as five rows of dead beans fall! :twisted:

EDIT:

A lot of these games mentioned are available on Steam through SEGA's classic packs. I think it's really just paying for emulators, but eh... it works.

 

[BoberFett]

Lots of good suggestions already. Some other fun or unique games:

Ecco the Dolphin
Forgotten Worlds
Kid Chameleon
Moonwalker
Sword of Vermillion

One of my favorite games of all time on any system: Warsong, the first game in the Langrisser series renamed for the US

 

[poofyhairguy]

Thank you all for the good advice! I now have enough titles to keep me busy on Ebay and at local garage sales/Goodwills for months.

And @Arkaign thank you for the pictures and detailed description of consoles. Based on this link:

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showth...-good-Genesis-1s-and-Genesis-2s-from-bad-ones

My wife's is a Gen 2, but honestly I am only going to use the unit to confirm if the carts are working. For actual playing I will dump the carts and use an emulator on my 60 inch plasma, as I learned my lesson last year that old consoles- even modded versions of top models- don't work very well for what I want. On that note, you mention that Genesis emulation isn't perfect but research tells me Kega Fusion is a better emulator than some consoles get (looking at you N64).

Also thank you for your advice on the controller. You are correct a Genesis D-pad feels squishy to me as a SNES kid. For my other consoles I get USB adaptors to use the real gamepads, but given your advice maybe for the Genesis I will just stick to my "generic" emulation controller (a six axis).

Thank you again everyone for all the suggestions!!!

 

[nageov3t]

I loved Shining Force 1 + 2

probably my most-played games as a kid... I must have beaten them both with every possible party combination.

 

[exdeath]

Do yourself a favor and get a Sega CD and the complete Working Designs library.

They are:

Lunar The Silver Star
Lunar 2 Eternal Blue
Vay
Popful Mail

And a RGB input equipped CRT of course.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Particularly worthy :

Toe Jam & Earl
MUSHA (godlike, but $$$)
Streets of Rage Series
Shinobi Series
Strider (only the original, the sequel is a fake and unworthy)
Shadowrun (different from the SNES, and awesome)
Mercs (fun shooter, think NES Commando with better graphics)
Splatterhouse 2 and 3
Zombies ate my Neighbors (also on SNES, but if you've never played it, why not, it's cheaper on Genesis for the same game, and moves a little faster in sections)
Etc

..

 

[exdeath]

OMG is Popful Mail really $150 or is it just stupid resellers automatically jacking his price 3x because they have the only listing right now?

 

[Arkaign]

Do yourself a favor and get a Sega CD and the complete Working Designs library.

They are:

Lunar The Silver Star
Lunar 2 Eternal Blue
Vay
Popful Mail

And a RGB input equipped CRT of course.

Good stuff! If the OP wants to go with a meat and potatoes real console instead of emulation, I think he should just get an X'eye though. The Sega CD drives are pretty wonky in terms of reliability, and the AV quality can be horrible. The X'eye is fantastic by comparison, I wish I still had mine. Easy as pie to get RGB out of compared to the closest other option : the CDX (and still better AV output, along with better compatibility, as the CDX has some games that don't work correctly).

 

[Arkaign]

OMG is Popful Mail really $150 or is it just stupid resellers automatically jacking his price 3x because they have the only listing right now?

Yes, it's $120-$150 now. :\

 

[nageov3t]

OMG is Popful Mail really $150 or is it just stupid resellers automatically jacking his price 3x because they have the only listing right now?

emulator + xbox 360 USB controller, imho

I have an old laptop hooked up to my tv and it's actually pretty fun to play older console games on.

 

[exdeath]

Yes, it's $120-$150 now. :\

I'm going to go home today and fondle mine then.

So retarded. What did a million new youtubers become aspiring retro collectors over night and all decide to start with Sega CD because of it's relatively low release count?

Noticing lately all the low total game number systems like N64, Sega CD, Master System, etc stuff with < 300 titles is going full out stupid lately.

 

[SaurusX]

Noticing lately all the low total game number systems like N64, Sega CD, Master System, etc stuff with < 300 titles is going full out stupid lately.

I guess people think that having that complete library of games is more attainable for systems with less games.

 

[tygeezy]

I got an snes for xmas one year and unfortunately never did get a genesis. I wanted one, but I couldn't afford it because I was just a kid. Looks like we missed out on the blast processing revolution.

 

[Oyeve]

If you can get the sega cd add-on I highly recommend Echo the Dolphin, Chopper Command and Earthworm Jim. I particularly love chopper command, I used to play it in the arcade as a young adult.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

The first Lunar on Sega CD was epic!

 

[Oyeve]

Oh crap, that fighting game I Sega cd, the one with the super violent finishes, I have it but the name escapes me.

Ah, remembered, eternal champions.