Getting back into the Genesis...

[FatCobra]

That's when you go back to good old carts.

For some reason, I find carts way more collectable and valuable than CDs. I guess it's the durability. One big scuff on the CD and you're fucked.

I would not be suprised if a cart based console would last longer than an optic-based one. Less moving parts.

A little off-topic, but my SNES collections gaining steam.

[Cthulhu]

That's when you go back to good old carts.

For some reason, I find carts way more collectable and valuable than CDs. I guess it's the durability. One big scuff on the CD and you're fucked.

I would not be suprised if a cart based console would last longer than an optic-based one. Less moving parts.

A little off-topic, but my SNES collections gaining steam.

Both carts and CDs will last a long, long time (no gum jokes please) if you take care of them. System life depends on the quality and make of the system itself more than whether it's CD based or not - how many broken NES units have you come across?

Congrats on your SNES games coming back though.

[TVG]

i only played eliminate down on emu, ignoring it was so expensive.
it's awesome, that's all, id probably spend 100$ on it...

...if i had a job.

but not on gleylancer or gaiares, not nearly as good imo.

off topic: i really need a fuckin job.

[alpha5099]

I can't read through all this flaming, so I've probably missed some important discussion.

All I want to say is: Damn you, jp. Damn your Rhinos and your plentiful supply of used Genesis games. Why must I be surrounded by crappy game stores that consider the N64 and PSX to be as old school as anyone is going to need to be.

[bluberry]

Yeah same deal, the only game store within walking distance of me is this EB that has like fifteen bad N64 games and a bunch of Parasite Eves for their "retro" games allotment. It makes me sadder than Elim... sorry, just fanning the flames.

[neorichieb1971]

I have enjoyed reading this thread.

In the last 5 years since having the internet at home, I have bought maybe 50 titles that were regarded as rare. After much thought about it, only about 10% of them were worth a shit. But it didn't matter because the titles in question were still worth what I paid. Who cares what something is worth or what you paid if you can retrieve the purchase cost?

I bought a sealed DDP on the Saturn and before it even arrived someone offered me $80, Gun Frontier and another title for it. . I just spent $45 on a opened copy a week later

Some titles like Adventures of little ralph gather alot of attention because its a saturn killer . Yeah, i'm gonna spend $100+ for a title because it has better 2D graphics than the saturn? I don't care if it has better graphics than the Saturn. What I care about is if the game is worth experiencing or not. Especially for $100+.

Pacrappa made a good point in another thread that Neo Geo fans dismiss Spinmaster, Zupapa and such in favour of stuff like Magician lord. Which I agree is crazy.

Obviously some people are buying to have what most people would like to have, others are just buying to own and play a great game.


One thing I have learned is that having a rare game is a risky business. If that title ever gets reported to another system you will lose alot of what you got invested in it.

[Cthulhu]

One thing I have learned is that having a rare game is a risky business. If that title ever gets reported to another system you will lose alot of what you got invested in it.

Actually, rare games usually lose very little value when a port or re-release is made years later. This goes for both import and non-import games. I don't know how much it affects PCB prices (I don't follow those), but I've gotten the impression that home ports don't adversely affect prices much there either.

What -does- kill value is when more copies of a game that was thought of as rare appear, either by new warehouse stock being discovered or a lot of people deciding to sell off a game around the same time. The most dramatic example I can think of for this is Circus Lido for the PCE - it once went for $300 or so, only to have now dropped to $40 sealed (!) because a large amount of new stock was discovered somewhere in Japan.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

"I love Alien Soldier too! It was my first "Genesis" game technically (my Grandad bought me a JP Mega Drive and Alien Soldier for Christmas when I asked for a Genesis. Too bad I couldn't get any other games to work on it!"

-------
RAGE
-------

I thought my Grandmother was kickass for getting me Landstalker many Christmas's(eh?) ago. Anyway.....

I always preferred the Genesis for it's other genres aside from shooters.

Get if you haven't already:
Fatal Rewind(Fairly solid port of the Amiga game Killing Game Show)
Puggsy(A very cool little platformer/puzzle game with an excellent soundtrack)
Mystic Defender(Great action game with NUDITY...yes nudity)
Shining Force 1 & 2(Solid SRPGs that are good for killing an afternoon or three..rather pricey though)
Beyond Oasis(One of the best Action RPGs ever, short game but it's designed around a really neat ranking system..do your best and all that)
Quackshot and Castle of Illusion(Two of the best platformers for the Genesis)
Sword of Vermillion(An acquirred taste but IMO it has a cool style, great music, and uh other stuff that's good)
Super Hydlide(Really good music but again acquirred taste)
El Viento(Fantastic Wolf Team action game)
Crusader of Centy(Really good Zelda style game)
Light Crusader(Hated by most it's actually a pretty decent game with some very challenging puzzles)
Dynamite Headdy(One of Treasure's top 5 imo)
Target Earth(Fantastic game all around but it will beat your ass. Easy to do invincibility code if you just want to see the end)
Streets of Rage 3(The best Genesis beatemup ever)
Rocket Knight Adventures(Another great platformer..avoid the sequel)
Tiny Toons: Buster's Hidden Treasure(Decent little hop on stuff kinda game)
James Pond 3(Ditto though you may be better off playing on an emulator..Worst password system ever)
Flashback(Great game. Plays sort of like Out of this World)
Phantasy Star 2-4(Provided you have the time. Part 4 is probably the easiest but it's the most expensive. Part 2 is still the best imo and 3 is fun to goof around with and fairly short)
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine(It's Puyo Puyo with the cast of that one Sonic cartoon. Honestly I prefer this to the original games)
Columns(So simple yet so wonderfully addictive)

---------
Yeah Magician Lord is pretty bunk. It's way too full of cheap hits and lousy pacing. Whatever the case people buy into it like it's something special.

[Shatterhand]

In a quick post, I just would like to second Fatal Rewind. The Killing Game Show on Amiga was one of the most awesome, underrated gems in the system, and Fatal Rewind is a perfect port

http://hol.abime.net/2575


And I would like to also recommend James Pond 2: Codename Robocod over James Pond 3. I personally find Robocod to be a much better game.


Has anyone ever played Rolo to the Resuce ? What the hell Vectordean was thinking? The game is pretty good (It's probably the MOST CUTE PLATFORM GAME EVER ), but it takes about 4-6 hours to finish it, and it has NO SAVE or NO PASSWORD system.. DAMN!

[Marc]

Quote:

Shinobi III isn't fit to lick the boots of Revenge. Revenge is an utter masterpiece. III... meh. There are a million reasons why, but I'm hung over and way too tired to list them. But seriously... anyone else have an opinion? Please tell me I'm not the only one utterly shocked by this view? Fuck, people will be trying to tell me that CV: Bloodlines in better than CV IV next.



You're absolutely right. I played some more Revenge last night and once I got past the lesser graphics, lack of a jump kick, and lack of dashing I started having a blast! I think it was just my initial view since I had 1CC'd Shinobi III the day before, and thus I was still stuck in a Shinobi III mindset. But yes, I'm starting to see Revenge as a much better game now that I've played it for more than 10 minutes!

Cool, glad to hear you're getting into it. S'not that Shinobi III as a bad game, just that IMO, Revenge is probably the pinnacle of Sega's 2D level design - along with the original. III for me is in the same league as arcade Shadown Dancer - certainly a good game, just missing that special 'something'.

Another head's up for Fatal Rewind. A great game, sadly forgotten - by myself as well until this thread.

Rolling Thunder 2 anyone? Not quite up to the original coin-op, still a superb game.

And it's probably been mentioned in passing, but for me, Sega's own E-Swat is one of the MD's under-rated games. Takes a thorooughly average arcade game, improves upon it in every way imaginable, and turns out as one of the finest platform-shooters I have ever played. Not nearly appreciated enough.

[jp]

I took back:
X-Men
Ranger X
and my dead cart of Grind Stormer (I tried cleaning it... no go. )
Vector Man 2

And with that money I got Devilish and Valis.


Haven't played Valis yet, but Devilish is fun enough, albeit a bit heavy on the slowdown/sound glitches.


At any rate, replacement Saturn and replacement PC-Engine Duo R are near...

[Rob]

Should've kept Ranger X. Quality game, took awhile for me to get into it, but it was great when I finally did.

[Turrican]

I took back:
X-Men
Ranger X
and my dead cart of Grind Stormer (I tried cleaning it... no go. )
Vector Man 2

And with that money I got Devilish and Valis.


Haven't played Valis yet, but Devilish is fun enough, albeit a bit heavy on the slowdown/sound glitches.


At any rate, replacement Saturn and replacement PC-Engine Duo R are near...

Valis 1? Not 3? The first is utter crap.

"You shall regret those words..." err, I mean, you'll regret not keeping Ranger X, I'm sure.

[jp]

Man, I actually took the display for III up to the check-out! And they only had 1, and it was more expensive. All their other 3.99 games sucked, so I was like "Yeah, fuck it, whatever."

[Turrican]

What can I say, I hope you enjoy the cutscenes at least. Try not to pass up the first on PCE Duo also, as it's one of the best versions:

http://www.classicgaming.com/reviews/valis/valis.htm

[captain ahar]

What can I say, I hope you enjoy the cutscenes at least. Try not to pass up the first on PCE Duo also, as it's one of the best versions:
http://www.classicgaming.com/reviews/valis/valis.htm

the gratuitous underwear shots of Valis1 PCE made me laugh.

[jp]

Yeah well, this time next week I think I'll be done with ye old Genny for awhile. Just interested in a lot more stuff on the Satty/PC-Engine.


Might check out Gleylancer and Eliminate Down... I'm just a sucker for that kind of stuff. See if I can snag my old JP Mega Drive and Alien Soldier while I'm at it.

[alpha5099]

I was perusing EB's website, found they had some new used Genesis games, including Streets of Rage 2 and Dragon's Fury. Unfortunately, I slept on it, and found in the morning that SoR2 had already been snatched up. Checking out the website some more, I discovered that a few EBs in the areas had Genesis games in stock.

I was in the area of one of them. I went in to ask if they had Genesis games, they said they had just sent them off to another EB, but one guy went to the back room to see if there were any still sitting around. As luck would have it, it seems like they hadn't sent them off yet, so I was able to get some stuff:

* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Cool Spot
* Quackshot
* Vectorman 2
* Ms. Pac-Man
* Strider

I already own the 6-Pak, so I really just bought Sonic to play Blue Sphere. None of the games were at the top of my list of games to get, but they were all games I wanted and had played. There are at least two more EBs with Genesis games in the area, I definitely have to check both of them out. I'll call ahead next time.

PS - this EB also had Final Fight One, but I didn't get it. Maybe next time.

[Cthulhu]

I'm afraid I'm on the not-a-Ranger-X-fan bandwagon as well. It's not bad, but it just didn't click with me too well. It looks great (they seem to have utilized the limited color palette really well), and plays fairly well, but I felt I died unfairly quite a few times. The mediocre framerate bothered me too. It's dirt cheap now (the Japanese release is fairly pricey iirc) so it's not a bad buy overall.

One other game nobody has mentioned yet (unless I missed it) - Chelnov, the Atomic Runner. The MD port is -really- good (the arcade game got a US relase, but the home version didn't), and while it's a rather unusual and very quirky game, I find it to be -incredibly- addictive. It's definitely not for everyone (and it's a little pricey, around 4000 to 5000 yen back when I got it) but it's like crack. Well, for me at least.

[Turrican]

I'm afraid I'm on the not-a-Ranger-X-fan bandwagon as well. It's not bad, but it just didn't click with me too well. It looks great (they seem to have utilized the limited color palette really well), and plays fairly well, but I felt I died unfairly quite a few times. The mediocre framerate bothered me too. It's dirt cheap now (the Japanese release is fairly pricey iirc) so it's not a bad buy overall.

One other game nobody has mentioned yet (unless I missed it) - Chelnov, the Atomic Runner. The MD port is -really- good (the arcade game got a US relase, but the home version didn't), and while it's a rather unusual and very quirky game, I find it to be -incredibly- addictive. It's definitely not for everyone (and it's a little pricey, around 4000 to 5000 yen back when I got it) but it's like crack. Well, for me at least.

Funny, I mentioned Atomic Runner earlier in fact, labeling it as crap ^_^;
But it's all okay, as I'm in love with Ex-Ranza, so out opinions are switched!

To each his own I guess. But come on, how can't you find lovely a huge mecha that comes with an airship, a powerbike, and he even charges with solar energy... Brilliant.

[captain ahar]

One other game nobody has mentioned yet (unless I missed it) - Chelnov, the Atomic Runner. The MD port is -really- good (the arcade game got a US relase, but the home version didn't)...

*clears throat*

[Cthulhu]

Wow, I stand corrected. I've -never- seen that! Maybe they just never shipped em to where I live or something.

At any rate, yeah, even more reason to go get the game!

[alpha5099]

Holy fucking shit! I just beat Aladdin. I've had Aladdin for probably close to ten years, and I've never beaten it. I've never gotten past The Escape. I started out by putting all my rubies into buying plenty of continues, but I ended up not needing them. I was able to fairly consistently reach the first 1Up in The Escape, which kept me going for a long time. My main problem was the jump right after the tube with three boulders, which I figured out quickly, and how to make the jumps where spurts of lava pop up, which took longer. Once I got past the carpet ride level, I had about 80 rubies.

Beating Jafar was a bit of an anticlimax. It took a while, learning the patterns, but I got the hang of it quickly. I had played the latter levels before, back in the day when I used to just skip The Escape. At first when the screen went black, I figured I'd been hit by a flame and died again. A shot of Jafar being vanquished would've been nice. But it was just the same old Level Completed screen.

Anyway, I'm very pleased with myself. I think I've only actually beaten 4 Genesis games: Stimpy's Invention, MUSHA, ThunderForce 3, and Aladdin. With a little practice, I could probably knock off a few more games. Quackshot's supposed to be easy, and I've gotten pretty close in Fire Shark.

EDIT:

I just beat Sonic & Knuckles, with Knuckles. I can't let this beating-Genesis-games-I've-own-for-years hot streak. Tomorrow: Castle of Illusion.

[Thunder Force]

for me, Sega's own E-Swat is one of the MD's under-rated games. Takes a thorooughly average arcade game, improves upon it in every way imaginable, and turns out as one of the finest platform-shooters I have ever played. Not nearly appreciated enough.

Yeah I've got to agree there, the number of playthroughs that received from me when I had it was astounding. Much like Revenge of Shinobi, the game is a "grower", the first level or two can be deceptive to a new player trying it out for the first time. Get past those initial scenes and these games get incredibly exciting for the 16-bit games they are. The game Flashback on the MD also had that kind of effect, starting off slowly but then building up constantly until you just think to yourself "OMG I'm having so much fun here". Unlike say, Strider, which will never be underrated because it just grabs every player from the first thrilling frame and never lets go...

[Melf]

My heart overflows with joy at all the Genesis love in this thread. I'm so proud!

[jp]

Hmm... what have I been playing on the Genesis lately...


I got Elemental Master and Wings of Wor recently. Already 1CC'd Elemental Master, and it only drove home the fact that I am in love with Tecno Soft. Wings of Wor is OK, I got to the final boss on my first try, but its way too long for me to sit down and snag that 1CC any time soon. *yawn* Great bosses though, albeit a bit easy.

But yeah, I love it in Elemental Master once you get "the ring". Killing bosses in two shots is so bad ass. And the fight against Roki was truly classic.

[fpbrush]

hey melf, why dont you chime in with some recommendations for jp (if you haven't already). after all, you are practically his counterpart collecting genesis instead of saturn.

[R79]

Hi guys, just wondering if the following Genesis (American) carts will load on a standard UK machine OK, like, with the lid off?

Castlevania: Bloodlines
Shinobi III
Ristar
Sonic 3
Phantasy Star III & IV

Cheers

The MUSHA price: you should be able to find cart only for $10-$15.

[BrianC]

Hi guys, just wondering if the following Genesis (American) carts will load on a standard UK machine OK, like, with the lid off?

Castlevania: Bloodlines
Shinobi III
Ristar
Sonic 3
Phantasy Star III & IV

All of those are region locked except for Phantasy Star III (which should work fine, as far as I know). However, Sonic 3 will play on other region consoles when used with Sonic and Knuckles since Sonic and Knuckles is region free. There is a newer Genesis thread here.

[R79]

Bugger... I mean, brilliant, thanks!