Sega Genesis Favorites

Stumbling upon videogame critic.com, I was compelled to make a list of my own. What follows is brief comment on games I played on Sega Genesis and why they were great.

Enjoy, but be warned- it's rather lengthy.













Aladdin: Wow. One of the best Disney platformers I've played. Great character animations, music, and gameplay. I never got tired of playing this. Keep me laughing the whole way through. A true 'diamond in the rough'.













Altered Beast: A classic. The first Sega game I ever played over at a friends house. I was blown away by the arcade level graphics. Sure, it's tough. But nothing beats kicking a blue pig in the face and then turning into a werewolf. You know what I'm talking about. And the horrible audio: 'RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!' Hilarious.













Beyond Oasis: Sega's answer to Zelda. At least it was for me. Played more like a side-scroller than rpg. A great beat 'em up with bright vibrant graphics. Often overlooked. I blame the box art. Ughh...













Castle of Illusion: Umm....okay. Let me explain. You can't not love this game. It's adorable. Whether it's Mickey bobbing his head to the music or the storybook graphics, you'll make it your mission to save Minnie from that evil witch. Mickey's main weapon- apples. Witches hate apples. Or so I've heard. Thats' why they eat children instead.













Dick Tracy: I don't recall every beating this game. It's tough and unforgiving, but poppin' caps in gangsters always held a special place in my heart. I don't know. Would you take a guy in a yellow trenchcoat seriously? Hell no. Give him a machine gun....run for it!!













Earthworm Jim 2: Easier and more fun than the first EWJ, this game had me in stitches. Whipping his head out to swing from hooks, carrying cows across the level and catching Peter Puppy (Jim' sidekick puppy who'd turn into the Hulk) was brilliant. The music was a blast as well. Weird games like this paved the way for even stranger games in my future.













ESWAT: I have no idea what those initials stand for...Enhanced Super Waffle Attack Team? Maybe. Anyhoo, this game is an obvious knock off of Robocop. You become more man than machine after a prision break and gain new weapons after each battle. Fun stuff- except for the rocket pack.













Golden Axe 2: The game that started my love of side-scrolling multiplayer games. Choose between an elf, an amazon, and a barbarian- then beat the crap out of anything that moves. Repeat. Also thrown in was the use of spells- giant fireballs, dragons, and the like. It also helped that the AI was stupid- you'd run off a cliff and jump backwards, they fall to their death.













Jurassic Park: The best movie tie-in to a videogame ever! Play as Grant in various locales in the park using tasers, gas bombs, and tranquilizer darts to survive. Or, play as a raptor trying to escape to the main land. Much like Aladdin- I never got tired of this game- especially playing chicken with the T-rex head only to get eaten. "Must. Go. Faster..."













Lethal Enforcers: The only game to come package with a plastic gun. You and friend try to stop (in this case kill) bad guys at various 'shooting gallery' type levels. There's the bank, the alley, the tarmack...etc. Horrible graphics compared to today's standards this game was just plain fun with two players- "Don't shoot the cop!" BANG! "Damn it- he jumped right out in front of me." "Hit reset......AGAIN."












NHL '94: A sports game on the list. I liked this game because I could actuallly tell what I was doing. Most sports games of the day were littered with extra crap. This was hockey plain and simple. Shoot the puck. Skate, skate, skate. Shoot the puck. Punch that guy. Go to the penalty box. Watch the zamboni. Get an assist. Watch in instant replay to mock your opponent. Fun times.













Quackshot: Indiana Jones meet Donald Duck. With plungers. Equally cute as Castle of Illusion, Quackshot had better graphics and level design. I never owned this game but would alway give it a play at my friend's house.












Road Rash: What I thought to be a lame motorcyle game turned out to be one of the most fun racing games I ever played. Riding along side other bikers, you kick and punch them off their bikes or into oncoming traffic. The best part was doing the same to the police before getting arrested when running back to your bike after a nasty spill. You could smack cows too...Heh.













Shining Force 2: My first actual rpg. Switching between characters on the fly, assigning power-ups and potions, mingling with the townfolk to find clues- plus the cinematic battle sequences (at left) were fantastic. But what's the deal with the whole spooky eyes in the clouds? This isn't Scooby-Doo.













Shinobi 3: Ahh...ninjas. Whether they be human or turtle you can't get enough. The throwing stars, the lighting quick speed, and one kick ass sword. 'Nuff said.













Soldiers of Fortune: A rag-tag group of mercenaries trying to survive attacks from all sides in a birds-eye view multiplayer. Various weapons, power-ups and explosions- this game was great to play with a friend- provided he'd follow you and not wander off....(this dilema has always been a problem for me in these type of games: "Go left!" "No- this guy is shooting me!" "SO GO LEFT!" "But I need that gun!" Arghh....













Sonic the Hedgehog: The faster alternative to Super Mario Brothers. You didn't have to stop for boxes, warp pipes or forget something and not be able to go back. This game was about speed and still holds up today. Gold.













Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Introduced Tails the Fox as the dopey second player. At least he was able to get extra rings and take damage on boss battles. This game had a great versus mode that let you play levels from the game split-screen to race to the finish. A lot of fun. The speed was even faster in this game and I think it is when Sega coined the phrase: "Blast Processing". Whatever that means...













Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Made Tails cool by allowing him to fly and carry Sonic. A great way to tie-in the two player mode. I forgot to mention the unique bonus stages of the previous Sonic games. Sonic 1's were hypnotic and colorful, Sonic 2's involved a waterslide, but had its problems. (The AI Tails would run into bombs loosing your rings) and Sonic 3, well, it just made me want to vomit. Running around on a giant sphere rotating in space collecting blue orbs sounds fun- but add in the control being so tight that moving left or right completely repositions the camera before you realized what has happened. To this day- I still haven't collected all the chaos emeralds.













Sonic and Knuckles: The first and only game on Genesis to offer 'lock-on technology'. Play the game by itself and then snap on Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 to the cartridge to play through them with Knuckles to access new areas. Brilliant! Would have been neat to see this used with other games though...













Spider-man: For such an early game, this did Spidey justice. The web-slinging. The wall-crawling. You'd even take pictures of villians while you fight them to sell to the Daily Bugle, only to use that money to buy more web fluid. (Back when he had web cartridges. Grrr...) The weirdest part was quitting a level to recharge your health back at your apartment with Mary Jane (before she gets kinapped by Kingpin). HUH?! Sure, Spidey just strolls back and forth- but you know what everyone was thinking. Another highlight: crawling around in the heating ducks, kicking rats and watching their necks snap as they turn into a grey lump. Check it out!













Streets of Rage 2: Gold. The box art says otherwise- but man- this game ROCKED. Two players stroll the streets kicking ass and using any mean necessary to do it. Knives, baseball bats, chairs, crowbars, you name it. Reminded me of the games I loved to play in the arcade that I never saw the light on my Genesis. (X-Men, Simpsons, TMNT*)

*TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist was on released on Genesis, but, this was already after SNES had release a near-perfect translation of the arcade game. I didn't have a SNES at the time- so I had to make do....until college.













Sunset Riders: Gold. This game was in the arcade and on SNES. But, the Genesis version was just fine. Continuing my love of two-player side scrollers, Riders was set in a western theme. Gags galore, this game wasn't over the top and played great. Highly recommended.













World of Illusion: Yep, another Disney game. This time playing Mickey and Donald as magicians. As you can see from the screenshot, you'd have to help each other get in and out of tight spaces or ledges. A neat concept that goes overlooked in games.













X-Men: Not quite the arcade hit I was hoping for, but still pretty fun. Select your characters in the Danger Room then choose one of the various 'programs' to fight in. Savage Land. Mojo World. Asteroid M. You'd also get to call on your teammates for help. Those characters should have been playable...Iceman, Jean Grey, Storm? sigh.... Wolverine was always a good laugh though- push him to his limits and he goes into a beserker rage- putting the AI in control- until he finally just slumps over dead.












X-Men 2: The sequel! Bigger characters, better levels and the option to play as Magneto. (Eh.) Fun two player until one of you stopped moving. This was before games like Marvel Alliance where if someone was lagging- it'd just teleport them to the rest of the group. Would have been handy back then. You did still have Nightcrawler though, who's powers were a lot easier to use then in the previous game.













World Series Baseball: The All- American (Video) Game! Having no athletic skill whatsoever, I could play my cousin and actually win a game or to. Realistic (for the time) graphics and great gameplay kept me coming back to the old ball game.