Sega Genesis must haves

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

Davey wrote: I think Light Crusader gets exactly as much credit as it deserves. Landstalker (which is good, but not great) is roughly one zillion times better.
Light Crusader gets talked about by most people as if it's worthless, because it isn't a cutting edge Treasure game. It's not 100% polished either, but I was surprised by it. As dungeon crawlers go on the Genesis, it's one of the best and still much better than games like Fatal Labyrinth. Landstalker is more like a half zillion times better. The puzzles seem far less maddening, at least.

(got stuck in Landstalker in still haven't come close to finishing it)
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Neon
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Post by Neon »

maximum carnage is a fun scrolling beater...can't think of anything else that hasn't been listed. Genesis is great, though.
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Post by chtimi-CLA »

Blue Lander wrote: Decap Attack (Pseudo-sequel to Psycho Fox on the SMS)
did you know that decap attack is magical hat adventure with the sprites and background changed?
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Post by LoneSage »

Turrican: I’m pretty sure instead of Another World the sequel to Flashback is Out of this World. Just to clarify.

SMC: Here’s some impressions from that second list you posted:
Alien Storm – incredibly plain beat em up with repeating enemies, un-inspired environments. Pick it up for cheap and blow through it on a Sunday afternoon.

Atomic Runner – incredibly odd run ‘n gunner…where you can never stop running. Nonetheless the music is interesting and the game is enjoyable. Pick it up, pretty hard to find in most area.

Castlevania Bloodlines – Well shit, I probably like it even more than SOTN. And that’s saying something. A 16-bit masterpiece in every respect.

Comix Zone – Quite possibly the most original beat em up I’ve ever played. The game has that American comic book 90s feel with all the illustrations, and it gets pretty hard near the end, but it’s great.

Crackdown – Chances are, like me, you’ll think the game sucks ass once you see how much of a playing area you have. Stick with it, though, and you’ll be rewarded with an addicting game where you run around shooting guys and strapping bombs on easily (all you do is walk over a red X and the bomb’s strapped) :)

Cyborg Justice – Remember how much hype this game got back in the day? Well I finally got this game a few months back and am quite saddened to see how incredibly horrible the game is. Pass on it, definitely. Unless you see it for $1 shipped. Because anything’s worth a buck.

Forgotten Worlds – Pretty good conversion of the arcade Capcom game..if you’re familiar with Burai Fighter or SCAT on NES then you’ll know how the game plays. Something you’ll beat on a Sunday afternoon and prolly won’t pick up ever again.

Granada – Overhead tank shooter published by Renovation. Just about anything published by Renovation on the Genney is quality stuff, so expect no less. First level or so is pretty boring, but it gets better.

Mickey Mania – Interesting platformer that shows the evolution of Mickey basically..get it for cheap, prolly won’t hold your attention for long. The first level kicks ass, tho.

Ninja Gaiden – this is a PAL and Japanese only MD game, FYI. Never released in USA.

Outrun 2019 – It’s basically Outrun…at nighttime with a bunch of neon lights and whatnot. Instead of the “hot” colors used in the original, this one features “cool” colors, like purple, blue, black, etc. It’s not very good, imo. I heavily doubt the developers of the original had anything to do with this Genesis only game.

Phelios – Nice lil shmup featuring a lot of mythology. Best thing about this game was the more you progressed in the game, the more Athena’s clothes came off. For awhile that was the only thing motivating me to play through it.

Sparkster – Play the original RKA and this game. You’ll definitely see a decrease in the quality with Sparkster (I personally believe the members that would make up Treasure worked on RKA and not Sparkster, hence the lack of goodness). It’s an OK game, but nothing tops the original.

Trouble Shooter – Incredibly funny cute em up featuring two young ladies as the main characters (Dirty Pair influence, anyone?). I love this game, and the translation job for the American version (besides the box art) is terrific.

Vector Man – Considered to be a Genesis classic by many, including me. I remember being absolutely blown away by the graphics and soundtrack..at times I’d just shoot stuff before the game started with the SEGA logo. Buy it.

Wings of Wor – Another shmup that’s reminiscient of Legendary Wings (except WOW is horizontal). It’s pretty fugly but still enjoyable. Pretty hard to find nowadays too. Check it out if you can.

And the SNES version of Zombies Ate My Neighbors wails on the Genney version ;)
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Post by Stormwatch »

Zero Tolerance by Technopop. Really good first-person shooter.

Sol Deace by Wolfteam. A terribly underrated shmupping gem.

Shinobi 3 by Sega. Best ninja game ever.

Strider by Sega. More intense than anything before.
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

LoneSage wrote:Sparkster – Play the original RKA and this game. You’ll definitely see a decrease in the quality with Sparkster (I personally believe the members that would make up Treasure worked on RKA and not Sparkster, hence the lack of goodness).
According to this site here, only one person of a team of 20-30 was from Treasure, and that was just music.

Treasure's importance is soo overstated, about everything.
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Andi
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Post by Andi »

Rob wrote:Treasure's importance is soo overstated, about everything.
Thank you. ^_^
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99pence
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Post by 99pence »

Treasure invented videogames, founded Konami and designed the Sega Saturn.



The amount of times I've read about people completing games just to look at the list of programmers to see if they were involved with Treasure. Most of the time don't they use nick names anyway.


What the hell people.
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Post by BrianC »

I tried out the SNES and Genesis Sparkster and the SNES Sparkster actually plays more like the original Rocket Knight Adventures. I liked what I played of all three games, though.

I recommend avoiding the early Konami Genesis ports like TMNT Hyperstone Heist and Sunset Riders. Many Genesis exclusive Konami games rock, but TMNT Hyperstone Heist is nothing more with TMNT 4 with some stages removed and a cool move taken out and Sunset Riders has half the levels and characters of the SNES and arcade versions.
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Post by LoneSage »

SR on the Genney is awful...the SNES dominates on multiplatform Konami games.

Thanks for pointing that out, Rob. I can't help but wonder why the magic faded away in the sequel, though.
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

LoneSage wrote:Thanks for pointing that out, Rob. I can't help but wonder why the magic faded away in the sequel, though.
Konami abandoned the RKA style to have it look and play more like Sonic, so it is a bit of a different thing, less linear. The newer graphics style isn't as appealing, but I think the level designs are generally solid, with a few really good levels here and there. I think the castle stage is the best in the series. The auto-recharging rocket boost was a good idea, so Sparkster could basically just keep flying around the screen instead of dropping down and recharging. Made for more interesting boss fights.
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Davey
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Post by Davey »

BrianC wrote:I tried out the SNES and Genesis Sparkster and the SNES Sparkster actually plays more like the original Rocket Knight Adventures. I liked what I played of all three games, though.
The SNES and Genesis versions are completely different, right? Not just two ports of the same game? I really enjoy the first one, so I was thinking about picking up at least one of the Sparksters.
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LoneSage
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Post by LoneSage »

Yes, they are two different games. I think I may like the SNES game more, can't remember.
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BrianC
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Post by BrianC »

Davey wrote:
BrianC wrote:I tried out the SNES and Genesis Sparkster and the SNES Sparkster actually plays more like the original Rocket Knight Adventures. I liked what I played of all three games, though.
The SNES and Genesis versions are completely different, right? Not just two ports of the same game? I really enjoy the first one, so I was thinking about picking up at least one of the Sparksters.
Yup. They are completely different games. I only played a bit of them, but so far, I seem to prefer the SNES Sparkster over the Genesis one. However, this one magazine I read liked the Genesis one better. I think they are both worth a try, though the SNES Sparkster and the first Rocket Knight Adventurers seem to be easier to find.
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Post by Super Mega C »

Thanks for the feedback everybody. The "list" definitely needs revising. It's a shame Ninja Gaiden wasn't released in the states. And the screenshot I saw of sorcerian showed english language text in the game so It might have been released over here or as PAL. I really liked RKA so I might try Sparkster on an emulator just to see what it's like. I'll definitely have to check out Decap Attack. It's interesting to know it used to be a magical hat game. A lot of people get upset at anime and game translations because of this kind of "butchering", but as long as the quality of the product and level of production are the same if not better, I actually like it when they do stuff like this. It makes me feel like we're getting something special, just for us. Of course there's a dark side to everything. That Ranma 1\2 game for the SNES is a good example. I can't remember what they changed the name to, but I remember the lead characters had mullets :x . Also all the micky mouse games (fantasia, castle of illusion, etc.) look good does anybody know if any of them are crap? And Pulseman was released in the U.S. wasn't it?
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BrianC
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Post by BrianC »

Don't worry about Ninja Gaiden. I heard it's a toned down port of the arcade game and not really worth seeking out. From what I heard, it's nowhere near as good as the NES or Master System Ninja Gaiden games.
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Post by TVG »

jewel master, too fuckin good.
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Post by Shatterhand »

About the Another World - Flashback - Out Of This World confusion.

None of them is sequel of none... they were just all developed by Delphine (And if I am not mistaken, the people behind those games aren't even the same in some cases)

Another World was the first game, it was released in Europe on Amiga, then ported to other systems.

Many people complained that the game was too easy (And indeed it is), so when they brought the game to the US, they added one more level, and made some areas a bit thouger. The US version is called Out of This World.

Flashback is another completely different game. Flasback and Another World/Out of this World shares some style, but the are different games and play different (Another World focus more in the atmosphere, while Flashback focus is more on action.)

The only sequel to Another World is called "Heart of Alien" and is available only for the Sega CD (WHY? OH WHY?"

The sequel to Flasback is called "Fade to Black" and is available on PSX and PC. (I think it was going to get a 3DO release too, but I don't know if it was indeed released for it or not)

I also prefer Rocket Knight Adventures to Sparkster. Both games are good though, but RKA is a lot more cool and fun to play (If a little bit too easy).

About the Mickey games... Fantasia is crap. Castle of Illusion is average (The SMS game is a hell lot better IMO), Mickey Mania is above average. I would get both CoI and MM if they were cheap.

Decap Attack indeed is awesome. You can't get wrong with it.

Here are some of my recommendations on Mega-Drive games (Dunno if they are rare or not)

Alien Soldier
Kid Chameleon
Moonwalker
Gunstar Heroes
Dynamite Headdy
Granada
Battle Squadron
Gynoug (AKA Wings of Wor)
Gaiares
James Pond 2: Codename Robocod
F1
Streets Of Rage 2
The Chaos Engine (AKA Soldiers of Fortune)
Puyo Puyo 2
Sonic The Hedghog
Sonic The Hedghog 2
Shining Force
Desert Strike
Battletoads
Mega Turrican
Castlevania: Bloodlines
Contra: Hard Corps
Vectorman

I think that's a pretty good list :D

I also enjoy Crackdown, but I don't think everyone would. The graphics may put off many people, they are really VERY simple, but behind that there are some great gameplay.
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Post by system11 »

Toned down port? That's no good. Elaborate?

Why does everyone think the NES versions are better than the arcade though? All they did was make a generic ninja platform game, and donate the name of a rather excellent scrolling beater. In fact it turns out the Xbox Ninja Gaiden was only called that because the marketroids at Tecmo demanded it, it's nothing to do with either series - just has a ninja in it.

The arcade one beats it hands down - only one good port of it though - on the Amiga.
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Post by Blue Lander »

I've got the arcade board for Ninja Gaiden, and I agree that it's a great beatemup. But I think Ninja Gaiden 2 and 3 on the NES are better games, although it's hard to compare the two. Ninja Gaiden arcade has a lot of creativity that you don't find often in mass-produced beatemups of that era. It's certainly underrated.
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Post by jp »

99pence wrote:Treasure invented videogames, founded Konami and designed the Sega Saturn.


True story.
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BrianC
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Post by BrianC »

bloodflowers wrote:Toned down port? That's no good. Elaborate?

Why does everyone think the NES versions are better than the arcade though? All they did was make a generic ninja platform game, and donate the name of a rather excellent scrolling beater. In fact it turns out the Xbox Ninja Gaiden was only called that because the marketroids at Tecmo demanded it, it's nothing to do with either series - just has a ninja in it.

The arcade one beats it hands down - only one good port of it though - on the Amiga.
I'll try the rom and try to elaborate on it a bit more. However, since I haven't played the Genesis one ATM, I can't right now. Maybe I have to play the arcade one a bit more. I used to like it, but after trying it out again, it didn't seem to be as good as I remembered it. There is no jump kicking, the AI seemed to be a bit on the cheap side, and the moveset seems to be very basic. However, I did like what I played of the Lynx port and think that I'll probably like the game more after playing it more. That still won't make me like it better than the NES versions, though. There is just some hook that using cool techniques, fast paced gameplay, and cool cutscenes have.

Bloodflowers, people like the Ninja Gaiden series on NES becuase they are fast paced and fun platformers with some cool techniques and challenging gameplay. I found the way you referred to the game as a "generic ninja platform game" to be very disrespectful, especially since someone could make a similar generalization about the arcade game (which I avoided). Why does it have to bother you that people like a game, especially those as well designed as the Ninja Gaiden series? This is why I hate "does anyone else dislike this game" topics. The answer will always be yes and you don't have to alienate those who do like the game to get that answer.
Last edited by BrianC on Tue Feb 15, 2005 4:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by system11 »

BrianC wrote:
Bloodflowers, people like the Ninja Gaiden series on NES becuase they are fast paced and fun platformers with some cool techniques. I found the way you referred to the game as a "generic ninja platform game" to be very disrespectful, especially since someone could make a similar generalization about the arcade game (which I avoided). Why does it have to bother you that people like a game, especially those as well designed as the Ninja Gaiden series? This is why I hate "does anyone else dislike this game" ports. The answer will always be yes and you don't have to alienate those who do like the game to get that answer.
The thing that bugs me is people always saying how wonderful the NES one is, compared to the rubbish arcade original. It isn't. I called the NES Gaiden generic because well, it is. Do you recall just how many games of that type there were back then? The arcade one is could be written off as generic too, but while it had similarities with other games, the level of scenery interaction was compared to its peers was off the scale - almost bordering on platformer in some places. Almost. It also had above average graphics to say the least, and music that still hasn't dated. The enemies were quite vicious though and you do have to learn to work with the AI and use it against itself.
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Post by Rob »

Super Mega C wrote:It's interesting to know it used to be a magical hat game. A lot of people get upset at anime and game translations because of this kind of "butchering", but as long as the quality of the product and level of production are the same if not better, I actually like it when they do stuff like this. It makes me feel like we're getting something special, just for us.
That's how I think of it. Anyways, try out both Magical Hat Adventure and Decapattack. I think DA has more a memorable style and if I recall correctly, it controls more smoothly.
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Post by BrianC »

bloodflowers wrote:
BrianC wrote:
Bloodflowers, people like the Ninja Gaiden series on NES becuase they are fast paced and fun platformers with some cool techniques. I found the way you referred to the game as a "generic ninja platform game" to be very disrespectful, especially since someone could make a similar generalization about the arcade game (which I avoided). Why does it have to bother you that people like a game, especially those as well designed as the Ninja Gaiden series? This is why I hate "does anyone else dislike this game" ports. The answer will always be yes and you don't have to alienate those who do like the game to get that answer.
The thing that bugs me is people always saying how wonderful the NES one is, compared to the rubbish arcade original. It isn't. I called the NES Gaiden generic because well, it is. Do you recall just how many games of that type there were back then? The arcade one is could be written off as generic too, but while it had similarities with other games, the level of scenery interaction was compared to its peers was off the scale - almost bordering on platformer in some places. Almost. It also had above average graphics to say the least, and music that still hasn't dated. The enemies were quite vicious though and you do have to learn to work with the AI and use it against itself.
Well, the important thing is that you like the game. It doesn't matter what other people say. As far as that Ninja Gaiden NES being Generic thing, it was one of the first games at the time with cinematic cut scenes, which was a first for that type of game. Also, not too many games at the time of Ninja Gaiden had a wall jump and some of the power ups are very inventive. Yes, it does have some elements of Castlevania, but the faster pace is what seperates Ninja Gaiden from Castlevania and gives it a different feel. I wish I could think of other ways to try and prove my point that it's not just another generic platformer.

Anyway, I heard that the Genesis Ninja Gaiden is a poor port of the arcade that is missing some basic things from the arcade like the sword. I'll tell more after I have played it.

Update: I played the Genesis Ninja Gaiden. The site I read a review said it's an arcade port. It's not. However, from what I played, the Genesis Ninja Gaiden is a generic beat-em-up and is missing practically all of the cool elements of the arcade game. It also relies way too much on auto scrolling.
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Post by Bydobasher »

The NES did specialize in platformers of one kind or another, and there certainly are a lot of them, but I really believe that it's inaccurate to call Ninja Gaiden a generic platformer. There's nothing else like NG; even the sequels don't play quite the same way.

NG is amazingly fast and intense; the stages, especially late in the game, are diabolical and ingenious. It seems frankly impossible at first, but the game can be completed without dying, and in fact almost all sections of the game can be completed without taking a hit.

I adore platformers, I've played many, and I really think that NG is unique just for its gameplay and level design, even ignoring its cinema scenes, which were indeed revolutionary.
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Post by Davey »

Blue Lander wrote:I've got the arcade board for Ninja Gaiden, and I agree that it's a great beatemup. But I think Ninja Gaiden 2 and 3 on the NES are better games, although it's hard to compare the two.
You actually like Ninja Gaiden 3? I'm not the only one? People always bash that one as being the worst in the series.
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Post by jp »

Davey wrote:
Blue Lander wrote:I've got the arcade board for Ninja Gaiden, and I agree that it's a great beatemup. But I think Ninja Gaiden 2 and 3 on the NES are better games, although it's hard to compare the two.
You actually like Ninja Gaiden 3? I'm not the only one? People always bash that one as being the worst in the series.

I love every Ninja Gaiden game ever. :D

'Cept the Genesis port of the arcade original... ;)
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Post by LoneSage »

I like NG3 more than the original, but not more than NG2. The only arguement I hear about it is that the story is screwed up..so what? So were a billion other NES games.
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Post by Bydobasher »

The story is screwed up, but that wouldn't bother me so much if the gameplay hadn't been altered. My big problem with NG3 is that Ryu spends so much time in the air when he jumps or walks off a ledge; in my opinion, this has the effect of rendering the gameplay in NG3 much slower and less intense than in NG2 and (especially) NG.

I would guess that the reason this was done was to facilitate some of the vertical sections -- sections where you need to fall for a bit before pressing right or left in order to access a ledge. This is something you really don't have to do very often in the first two games -- off the top of my head, the only time I can recall where this technique is necessary is in stage 5-2 of NG -- so the fact that Ryu falls so quickly in those games is not a problem. On the contrary, the stronger gravity in NG and NG2 contributes greatly to their faster play.

The other thing I don't like is that the Japanese version is too easy, while the American version is too hard for all the wrong reasons (double damage, limited continues).
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