Getting back into the Genesis...

[jp]

So... the lack of a Saturn, Dreamcast, and PC-Engine Duo eventually lead me over the edge, so I marched to Rhino (used game store) and traded in:
Defective Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram (can't play as Speci, and I bought it from them like that)
Blue Stinger
Armada
Metal Slug Advance
NES Classics Castlevania
NES Classics Xevious
Sword of Mana

with the full intent of getting a temp Saturn while I wait on my new one. They had no Saturns... so I got a Genesis (model 2, sadly) instead (despite the fact that I already own a model 1, it just isn't at college with me, and I was FIENDIN'!).


With that, I got:
Truxton - Love it. Toaplan rocks my socks.

Gaires - Pretty damn cool.

Lightening(sic) Force - Mmm... I love Tecno Soft... but so much slow down...

Steel Empire (mint in box) - I don't understand... you guys said it was better than the GBA version...

BioHazard Battle - 'Tis alright...

Wonder Boy in Monster Land - F'ing awesome.

Vector Man - Already owned it... but it was a dollar... *shrugs* Still a f'ing awesome game to me.


Then, I went back and got:
Splatterhouse 2 - Already own it... but I'll be damned if this isn't one of the coolest games ever.

Dynamite Headdy - This and the McDonalds game are the only Genesis Treasure games I don't own... I like this one. The McDonalds one is there as well but... its McDonalds...

Sub-Terrain - I hate this game. Worst $1 ever spent.

Turrican - Not too fond of this one either.


So... my question is, what would be some other spiffy cheap-o titles I could snag in my downtime? I think I'm going to get my Dad to mail me my Splatterhouse 3, Gunstar Heroes, and Thunder Force III... but other than that, I'll probably just try out new stuff.


So, how is the McDonalds game, Vector Man 2, Valis 1 and III, Final Zone, Battle Squadron, Mega Turrican (it looked damn cool...), and... that was all that caught my eye. I'll probably go back tomorrow though, see what I can dig up. ^_^

No MUSHA sadly...

[Cthulhu]

So... my question is, what would be some other spiffy cheap-o titles I could snag in my downtime? I think I'm going to get my Dad to mail me my Splatterhouse 3, Gunstar Heroes, and Thunder Force IV... but other than that, I'll probably just try out new stuff.

So, how is the McDonalds game, Vector Man 2, Valis 1 and III, Final Zone, Battle Squadron, Mega Turrican (it looked damn cool...), and... that was all that caught my eye.

Wait, Lightening Force (love the spelling) and TF IV are the same game...?

The McDonalds game is pretty mediocre. Yeah, it's a Treasure game, but ... I still don't think too much of it. Better than some platformers, but still nothing particuarly worthwhile. If you want some genny platformers, take a look at Rocket Knight Adventures, Sparkster, Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion, and Quackshot.

The Valis games are super cheesy 16-bit fun. The TG16/Duo versions are better, but the Genesis ports are okay. They're cheaper than the Duo versions as well.

Final Zone didn't impress me much back "in the day," but I haven't played it in 15 years or so. I have no idea if it's good now or not. I don't remember what Battle Squadron is... and Mega Turrican is actually quite good if it's the game I'm thinking it is. (I played Turrican 1 and didn't like it, then I played some other 16 bit Turrican game and it was excellent. I don't remember the title.)

[CMoon]

Can you do a mini-review of Wonder Boy? I too am having a bit of a Genesis revival (too bad the Nomad isn't quite as awesome as it should be!), and would also love to hear about more games worth owning.

[jp]

Actually, apparently there's a lot of shmups at this place. They also have:
Insector X
Granada X
Aero Blasters



Also, did these games get US releases:
M.U.S.H.A. Aleste
Gynoug
Arrow Flash



May have to dig around the 4 used games stores in my town see what I can find.

[Rob]

Wait, Lightening Force (love the spelling) and TF IV are the same game...?

Me too, since it's a real word.

Also, did these games get US releases:
M.U.S.H.A. Aleste
Gynoug
Arrow Flash

Yes, second as Wings of Wor.

[jp]

Can't find M.U.S.H.A. on Ebay... I guess this is one of those "super pricey" endeavors, which I'm trying to avoid.


I think I remember seeing Wings of Wor and Arrow Flash though...


I guess I should have added (sic) to that Lightening Force, as I believe thats how its spelled on the cart. And you're right, they are the same game. I meant to type in Thunder Force III as for what I was going to get mailed to me.


Edit:
As for Wonder Boy in Monster Land:

Its the best one I've played. I'm not that far I don't believe (Pyramid level), but its definitely a great experience thus far.

[TVG]

if you can get jewel master, get it, period.

battle squadron i sold the second day i bought it, it plays like shit.

im too think steeel empire is a bit on the crappy side, not to mention the game loops into itself, so stage 5-6-7 are just color palettes of stages 2-3-4, whatever.

give biohazard battle a chance, it's quite great.

[jp]

I like BHB alright, I just need to play it more. I think I got to level 4?


And Gaiares is just cheap. Ugh.


Truxton rocks my socks though. How is the PC-Engine port?


Also, how is Insector X, Granada X, and Aero Blasters? Worth grabbing for $3 a pop?


Edit:
Jewel Master is at the store for $5... what kind of game is it?

[Turrican]

Jewel Master is at the store for $5... what kind of game is it?

You could think to it as a spiritual sequel of Holy Diver... Or, if you're unfamiliar, think to Kujaku-Oh / Mystic Defender type of game with a Belmont lookalike character.

Pretty challenging game.

[jp]

I've never played Holy Diver or Mystic Defender...


The name lead me to believe it was a puzzle game. If not, I'll check it out.


Oh yeah, Mega Turrican, yay or nay? *directed at Turrican, heh*


Ah, and did Grind Stormer get released in the US? That game looks ace (and its by Toaplan, rock!)

[bluberry]

Lightening Force; clearly a ploy to subliminally influence reviewers.

[Neon]

Devil's Crush for technosoft goodness

PCE Truxton is much better, imo.

[Cthulhu]

It's a very low-weight battle force. Either that or it's a battle fleet that's entered the later stages of pregnancy. Either way, it's probably not the word they were looking for.

[Rob]

Lightening Force; clearly a ploy to subliminally influence reviewers.

Well done.

Devil's Crush for technosoft goodness

Pretty sure these are made by Naxat, although Technosoft may have ported this (and it looks a bit different from the original).

Ah, and did Grind Stormer get released in the US? That game looks ace (and its by Toaplan, rock!)

Yes (I think it sucks).

Also, how is Insector X, Granada X, and Aero Blasters? Worth grabbing for $3 a pop?

Crap, average, above average. Insector X isn't worth the $3, but sure why not on the others.

It's a very low-weight battle force.

Lightening actually means practically the same thing as lightning. And you can select your own meaning! To give off flashes off lightning? Awesome. To become cheerful? Imagine. They just want to make the world a better place.

[PaCrappa]

I like the McDonald's game. It ain't Treasure's best but it's a decent platformer.

I'm literally surrounded by stacks of Genesis games at the moment. I'd be willing to bet Musha is in one of them. Lemme know if you want me to check for it.

Pa

[TVG]

jewel master: think castlevania, but with a shitload of weapons to choose from, and IMO, more fun overall. you collect rings, and each ring has a special abbility, like fire attack, earthquake (paralizes some ennemies) and special abbilities like double jump, speeed up etc...
wheen you combine the rings the effect changes, for example add "fire" to "speed up" you get a fireball, you need to test all the combinations to see which is better suited for each area, this is an interesting thing in itself.

add plenty of in-stage secrets, great overall design and a kickass soundtrack, and you get jewel master, one of my favorite games.

for 5$ you can't go wrong on that one.

[Dartagnan1083]

Can't find M.U.S.H.A. on Ebay... I guess this is one of those "super pricey" endeavors, which I'm trying to avoid.

I got my copy of M.U.S.H.A. on Ebay Complete for only $30 after shipping.
It's not too bad if you luck out.

[BrianC]

BTW, the "Wonder Boy in Monster Land" game you're referring to is actually called "Wonder Boy in Monster World" (US title) or "Wonder Boy V: Monster World III" (Japanese title). Wonder Boy in Monster Land is the US/EU name of the first Monster World game for SMS (don't ask me why there were so many confusing title changes with this series, but the TG-16 name changes are even more confusing, especially since most of them have different names in Japan).

PCE Truxton is much better, imo.

It's closer to the arcade in some ways, but it has less room to manuver than the Genesis or arcade versions. It seemed to be much harder to manuver past some bullets than either the arcade or Genesis versions. Places I passed easily in the others were harder to pass in the TG-16 one. I personally prefer the Genesis version. It's easier than the arcade, but still very difficult. Also, I find it very hard to recommend the PCE Truxton when it costs over 90 dollars more than the Genesis version.

Interesting how the Genesis "Wonder Boy in Monster Land" and "Granada X" are in the same topic. What's next? Monster World III: The Dragon's Lair?

[Specineff]

Get Mega Turrican at least to see the crap Factor 5 could pull out of the 68000. They are the European Treasure.

[black mariah]

If you like Headdy, you'll like Treasure Land Adventure. The play mechanics are very similar.

Castle of Illusion blows compared to Mickey Mania.

[Rob]

Castle of Illusion blows compared to Mickey Mania.

Worst opinion.

[raiden]

If you like Toaplan, you should get Hellfire and Fire Shark, too, as both run for cheap. Slapfight and Grindstormer cost several times as much.

And yes, Mega Turrican is an incredible game. I prefer it over Metal Slug and Gunstar Heroes.

What´s up with your other consoles? Did you move to another city and left them behind or something?

[Vexorg]

It's a very low-weight battle force. Either that or it's a battle fleet that's entered the later stages of pregnancy. Either way, it's probably not the word they were looking for.

Either that, or they're the diet coaches from Hell.

[Bar81]

Castle of Illusion blows compared to Mickey Mania.

Worst opinion.

Word life. Looks like black Mariah is as crazy as latino Mariah.

[Herr Schatten]

Mega Turrican is very fine indeed. Technically impressive and stuffed with great gameplay. Even if Turrican II (Amiga) is better, this is a game to get. And keep.

Battle Squadron is an excellent game ...on the Amiga.

The Mega Drive port is quite a bit messed-up. They changed the level design slightly (for the worse), rebalanced the weapons in a bad way, crippled the incredible music of the original. The worst thing they did was introducing a new parallax layer that's ABOVE everything else, thus obscuring your own ship, the enemies and all the bullets. Intant deaths are the inevitable consequence.

One thing that's interesting about Battle Squadron, however, is the options menu, though. Instead of chosing different difficulty levels you can select different settings for number of bullets on screen and bullet speed, thus altering the challenge the game presents completely. You can turn it into a Toaplan-esque fast bullets fest, for example. Sometimes I like to set the number of bullets to maximum and the speed to minimum. The game almost plays like a modern manic then, with all the bullets lingering on screen. Great idea, I wish some other shmup would pick it up and execute it well.

[Bar81]

This topic makes me very happy and sad all at the same time. Happy because a member is back playing perhaps the greatest console ever created in terms of games and sad because someone had to get back into the Genesis/MD (one should never get out of the MD)

As to games, there are TONS that are just as fun/brilliant today as they were when they were released. Some selections:

Castle of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse (one of the best platformers ever created. Still mind boggling in its brilliance and the graphics, awe inspiring at the time, still looks damn good)

Disney's Aladdin (one of the best movie to game conversions ever created. Music is so good, graphics to marvel at, and fun platforming action. )

Forgotten Worlds (miles better than the brutal PCE port and a Capcom semi-shmup clasic)

King's Bounty (when you get a game that everyone, including my non-gaming sisters, can't get enough of you know you have something. More addicting than any other game I've ever played)

Landstalker (seminal)

MUSHA (some of Compile's best work and imo absolutely obliterates teh crap that is Robo Aleste)

Pirates! Gold (With map.) (Unparalleled in its pirate brilliance, this is what gaming is all about. Infinite replayability and never gets old)

The Revenge of Shinobi (Possibly the best ninja game ever created by man)

Shining Force (self-explanatory)
Shining Force II
Shining in the Darkness

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Still think Revenge is better but no slouch)

Sonic the Hedgehog (just took Mario out back to the tool shed and spanked him like the slut that he is)

Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (IMO the best Sports game ever created, the Bitmap Bros Amiga classic comes unscathed to the Genny outside of the downsampled Music, which is a shame as it's incredible)

Target Earth (aka Assualt Suit Leynos. The beginning of the legendary series. The conversion does take some liberties with the dialogue but thankfully it's still hard as nails with spot on control. A game that I HATED when I played it years ago but which I swoon over now. Perhaps even superior to Leynos 2 on the SS)

Aero Blasters (just does everything right in the fun department although I really could do without that crappy floating space control)

Alisia Dragoon (just a classic that is vastly underapppreciated)

Bare Knuckle III (imo the best in the series but arguably inferior to part 2)

Cannon Fodder (just devilishly twisted.)

Dahna: Megami Tanjou (If you can't get enough of Golden Axe then you need this. Tour de force opening and doesn't let up)

Devil Crash (converted from the brilliant PCE original and doesn't miss a beat. Simply the best pinball game on any console)

Dynamite Headdy (one of the few games the overrated Treasure gets right)

Eliminate Down (the best shmup on the system, bar none. Too bad it will cost you your first born to acquire)

Gaiares (opinions split on this one but the TOZ system is brilliant)

Gleylancer (the JP butchered the romanization of this title. A great shmup, well, until it devolves into an R-type inspired mess near the end)

Golden Axe (BRILLIANT. BRILLIANT. BRILLIANT. I splooge myself everytime I play this and it's amazingly almost a spot on conversion of the arcade game outside of less time to ride the dragons. Sadly, Part II and especially Part III are nowhere near as good)

Granada (It is NOT called Granada X, rather it's a misconception fostered by its weird cover art. A game that gets it right where it counts, it's just fun. Nothing amazing. Your main tank sprite is small, your enemies are uninspiring but the level design is excellent. One that I go back to again and again.)

Monster World IV (the best in the series. Unfortunately JP only, but there is a translated ROM)

Ristar (An overlooked gem due to release in the late stages of the system's life, it's amazingly cheap in the US and Euro and amazingly expensive and rare in JP)

Splatterhouse 2 (Gore and fun. The only thing missing is the cleaver from the original arcade game.)
Splatterhouse 3 (takes the series in a new direction. Gore and fun)

Strider (the game that made everyone take notice of the system, and for good reason. A sparkling conversion and a brilliant game.)

Tatsujin (While less graphically accurate than the PCE game, it's miles more fun and more accurate gameplay wise)

Vampire Killer (The second best game in the series, although well behind the sheer genius of the Duo incarnation)

Wani Wani World (I usually don't like single screen puzzle cum platform games but this one does it for me for some reason)

[Rob]

I think I agreed with just about everything in that post.

A few personal favorites you might want to look out for:

Burning Force - Port of Namco arcade game, which is pretty much a Space Harrier clone with a few twists (power-ups and bombs being two). For two levels you move along the surface (of water, desert, etc.), third you transform the craft into a ship and can fly all over the screen. Nice graphics, background dims as the "days" progress. Lovely soundtrack.

Fantastic Dizzy - Terribly overlooked, but really fun platform/adventure. If you're not familiar with the series, it's kind of Metroid-ish or like A Boy & His Blob in that the goal isn't to kill everything. You basically avoid danger, find items and figure out where to use them to open up more of the world, find more items, etc.

So many good Genesis games.

[Cthulhu]

Normally I find that my tastes differ from Rob and Bar81 a lot, but in this case I mostly agree too. (Minus Aladdin, which I find to be severely overrated... to each his own though. ) Glad to see there are some other King's Bounty fans here too! I love that game! I managed to beat it once by digging in a random spot when I only had one piece of the map uncovered...
"Hey, those trees in the upper left seem to be in the exact same position as these... HOLY SH*T!!!"

[WarpZone]

If you like the "normal" stages of Dynamite Headdy, you can expect most of McDonald's to pretty much be just like that, in terms of the general feel and mechanics.

Vectorman 2 is a lot like the first, except with an insect theme. A lot of the enemies and objects are actually about the same but just with an organic appearance. The gameplay, like the first, is very repetitive- probably more so due to a few stages, like one where everything is filled with blocks that you have to destroy to make a path. If you just want more of the same from Vectorman, but a game that feels a little darker and has the bugs, you'll probably like this.

[Turrican]

Sub-Terrain - I hate this game. Worst $1 ever spent.

Turrican - Not too fond of this one either.

Sub Terrania - if that's complete, I'll buy it from you for 2 dollars.

Turrican - the genesis port isn't outstanding, and the sound suffers a lot. However, sorry to disagree with you all, as a game the orginal is still better than Mega. Why you don't like?

Anyway, instead of doing some casual suggestion, I'll post my current collection for your pleasure:

Pal:
ANOTHER WORLD
ATOMIC RUNNER (crap, really)
BIO-HAZARD BATTLE (good!)
CASTLEVANIA THE NEW GENERATION
CLASSIC COLLECTION (it has Gunstar, and Flicky!)
COMIX ZONE (good, but usually overrated)
DISNEY'S ALADDIN (quality stuff)
DYNAMITE HEADDY
EMPIRE OF STEEL (mediocre at best)
FLASHBACK
GOLDEN AXE
GODS
GYNOUG (very nice)
HERZOG ZWEI (mindblowing)
MEGA GAMES 6 VOL. 2
MEGA TURRICAN (get this one too, of course)
MERCS (not so great port, the amiga one was much better)
MICROMACHINES TT 96
PHELIOS
PROBOTECTOR (like, Contra on disguise)
QUACKSHOT (great!)
ROCKET KNIGHT ADVENTURES (best Konami effort on MD this side of VK)
ROLLING THUNDER 2 (awesome, great music)
SHADOW DANCER - THE SECRET OF SHINOBI
SONIC & KNUCKLES (meh)
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 (best sonic evah)
SPEEDBALL 2 BRUTAL DELUXE
STREETS OF RAGE
SUPER FANTASY ZONE (friggin' good, and usually overlooked by shmuppers)
STORY OF THOR
THE CHAOS ENGINE (quite a good conversion unlike the snes one)
THE REVENGE OF SHINOBI (instant classic)
THE TERMINATOR
THUNDERFORCE II
TURRICAN
TWIN HAWK (kamikaze are so cute)
UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (get this one. No really. Get it, you'll have a glimpse of what you're missing not playing TII on amiga)
XENON 2 MEGABLAST (total crap conversion, they ruined the game)

Usa:
ALISIA DRAGOON
CASTLEVANIA BLOODLINES
GALAHAD (good conversion, but only recommended to amiga fans)
GAUNTLET IV (best version of the cult game available)
LIGHTENING FORCE
MEGA TURRICAN
ROCKET KNIGHT ADVENTURES (US covers suck, it's a tradition)
ROLLING THUNDER 3
SHINOBI III RETURN OF THE NINJA MASTER (quality stuff)
WOLFCHILD (good conversion, unlike the snes it retains the original music)

jpn:
MICKEY MOUSE! FUSHIGI NO OSHIRO DAIBOKEN (I prefer Quackshot, but this is great too)
BARE KNUCKLE III (call me stupid, but I don't like the music)
DEVIL CRASH MD (awesome)
GUNSTAR HEROES
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 Asia
STREETS OF RAGE II Asia (the best in the series)
THE SUPER SHINOBI II pirate copy
THUNDERFORCE III
THUNDERFORCE IV
VALIS III (I've seen better)
X-RANZA (you should really get your hands on this one)