Twenty years of the Mega Drive

By Spanner Spencer Published 29 October, 2008

To be this good took ages.

The Mega Drive is 20 years old today! SEGA's 16-bit behemoth launched in Japan on 29th October, 1988, and we'll be toasting its anniversary on Eurogamer over the next week, kicking off with this look back at the console itself. It's only right that we celebrate this milestone, since no-one was blowing up balloons or sticking up banners when the poor thing first arrived. There was no gap in the games market in 1988, and no room for new hardware.

SEGA's Master System had performed pretty well in a few territories, but not the ones a gaming power needed to dominate. Japan and the US were far too enamoured with the NES to pay much attention to any other hardware, and SEGA had allowed a lacklustre, disinterested alliance with Tonka to push the 8-bit console into obscurity and minority cult-worship, piling up hardware and game cartridges in warehouses with no real thoughts on what to do with them.

It's something of a consumer tradition that technically superior hardware doesn't necessarily win out, and the Master System found itself grazing in pastures alongside Betamax and 8-track tapes. The extra memory, dual-format games, the 3D glasses - none of these features could break through the Nintendo culture that had formed tightly around the games industry. But it wasn't all bad luck and marketing; the truth was that by the time SEGA bothered to launch the Master System in the UK, it was already into development of a console it had far more interest in - the MK1601. You'll remember it better as the Mega Drive.

'Twenty years of the Mega Drive' Screenshot megadrive

The original Mega Drive model, with its sleek black styling, embodied pure 16-bit power.

It's well known as a 16-bit system, but that's like saying 'a four wheel drive car'; it tells you nothing about the other features that really made the hardware stand out. The Mega Drive was indeed 16-bit - making incredible use of the Motorola 68000 CPU - but its powerhouse brain was shored up by an equally muscular body. Sound processing was handled separately, reducing load on the processor so it could dedicate itself to powering arcade-quality games. The 512-strong colour palette ensured those games leapt off the screen, while a dedicated video processor threw huge sprites about in a way only previously managed in the arcades.

Impressive as this sexy black number was on schematic paper, SEGA had learned from experience that technical specifications didn't fit on a price-tag or advert. So it readied itself in the background with a hidden army of arcade ports ready to march under the Mega Drive banner. The arcades were enjoying a revival, and although SEGA struggled to penetrate the home market, it had conquered the commercial sector with some outstanding coin-op titles. The majority of these were built on the popular System 16 architecture, a platform almost identical to the new Mega Drive, and not by coincidence.

'Twenty years of the Mega Drive' Screenshot beast

Not a great game by any means, but Altered Beast did a perfect job of showcasing the arcade capabilities of the Mega Drive.

So SEGA was somewhat surprised when it released this incredible revolution in home gaming to the Japanese market and was met with a resounding silence. SEGA's native gamers had NES cartridges piled to the ceiling, and were more infatuated by NEC's PC Engine released one year previous almost to the day.

Moving fewer than half a million units in its first year of life, it was reasonable to believe - as the competition did - that SEGA had simply built a more powerful Master System, that would soon be unceremoniously forsaken in exactly the same manner. But SEGA still had the US market to test and - after the disastrous results of recruiting a toy manufacturer rather than a videogame developer to sell the Master System - initially set about forging a relationship with Atari to deliver the console across America. If the licensing deal hadn't broken down after SEGA of America and Jack Tramiel failed to see eye to eye, Atari would have controlled not only SEGA's presence in the US market, but also been able to actively position its own 7800 console ahead of the competition.

When the deal fell apart, SEGA decided to put its native distribution experience to use in America and marketed the Mega Drive itself. Rebranded Genesis, to avoid a naming conflict in the US, it beat the PC Engine (rebranded as the TurboGrafx-16) to the shelves by a matter of days in August of 1989. But Nintendo had a tight rein on its third parties, who buckled quickly under suggestions that developing for SEGA could cost them valuable NES licences. So SEGA only had its own coin-ops to fall back on when it wanted to show off the arcade quality of Mega Drive games.

Coin-op conversion Altered Beast was bundled with the console and it proved the point SEGA needed to make. It had to demonstrate the power of the Mega Drive without turning off young consumers with sterile talk about 16-bit processors and dedicated video drivers. The huge, detailed characters of Altered Beast provided this demonstration, and angled the Mega Drive for a unique market attack.

SEGA was pulling in its coin-op licences, which ran like a dream on the Drive, but there weren't enough to conquer the mountain of power Nintendo sat upon. So instead of turning to big name games, SEGA turned simply to big names. With EA's help the Mega Drive launched a series of big-money, big-name licensed sports titles across America. The Japanese parent company balked at the decision to pay millions in royalties to sports personalities such as Joe Montana, Arnold Palmer and Buster Douglas. But it paid off in droves, and not only for SEGA.

'Twenty years of the Mega Drive' Screenshot goldenaxe

Coin-op classics like Golden Axe were ported to the Mega Drive with barely a dropped frame or missing feature.

Third-party developers were shackled by an oppressive licensing system required to make games for the NES. Nintendo held all the keys and there was no real alternative for reaching gamers. It was a case of pay, or they can't play. At least until the Mega Drive came along. Considering the early experience it gained working on the sports games, Electronic Arts decided it was going to create its own, unlicensed Mega Drive games before SEGA had time to put any security restrictions into the US console, but out of courtesy it first approached the new hardware distributor and laid its plans out in the open.

SEGA astonished EA with a far more reasonable and open licensing agreement that allowed third parties to develop as many games as they wanted and to operate their own quality control procedures. Players had seen the arcade quality games the Mega Drive was capable of, but it was a particularly fulfilling dream for third-party developers. In retrospect, getting the game designers who'd been systematically abused by Nintendo for several years onside was the crowbar SEGA needed to prise open the games market.

'Twenty years of the Mega Drive' Screenshot sonic

SEGA shifted a fair few consoles on the spiky blue back of Sonic the Hedgehog.

The install base was small, but the freedom to create was huge, and that's all the game developers needed. The Mega Drive was a massively superior machine to the NES in technical terms, but now it was also superior financially. And this coup against the industry regime spread beyond the Mega Drive; thanks to SEGA's new presence in one small corner of the market, Nintendo's totalitarian policies would no longer sustain themselves as the new generation of games systems cautiously moved in.

There's a strong temptation at this point to pour praise and salutation upon Sonic the Hedgehog. Indeed he was a powerful force behind the Mega Drive as well as starring in one of the finest games ever made, but in truth his arrival in 1991 was the culmination of well-played marketing strategies on behalf of SEGA of America. Sonic was a twist in the tale, brought in at the end of a struggle that saw SEGA wrestle dominance from Nintendo and share it out across the games industry. To gamers the Mega Drive was a great new machine that brought as much credibility into their living rooms as it did arcade quality games, but to the games industry it was a freedom fighter, and an engine of revolution.

The long-awaited Super NES struggled to displace the Mega Drive due to release delays and, to be frank, sour grapes on the part of suspicious developers. And, at every turn, SEGA's shrewd marketing strategies kept it one step ahead. When Nintendo released its annual Mario game, SEGA slashed the price of the console to practically sell it at cost (with Sonic thrown in for good measure), and the Mega Drive spread like a wonderful, silicon virus across Europe and South America. Even the Master System received some overdue attention as conversions of Mega Drive games were made to support the faithful gamers who still cradled a hand-polished square joypad.

But the corporate mind is singular in purpose, and the perceptive tactics SEGA had employed to establish the Mega Drive duped the company into focusing, once again, on hardware saturation. The Mega Drive was dissected and tested like a laboratory rat, with accessory after peripheral after redesign butchering the system's purity into some kind of repulsive amalgam. The Mega-CD and 32X add-ons were both reasonable concepts, intended to prolong the life of the Mega Drive now the SNES had technical superiority, but concentrating on so much hardware (with concept projects Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all bouncing around SEGA R&D) the games giant casually overlooked the software needed to support these peripherals. With a lack of quality games to shore them up, the two accessories quickly fell among thieves.

SEGA immediately embraced the bad habit that would eventually cause it to pull out of the hardware market all together. Instead of returning its attention to the still successful Mega Drive, and continuing to promote the incredible games that had shunted the system into first place, it assumed that more add-ons and technical improvements were the answer. As rumours of the Saturn project increased in the background a slew of Mega Drive alternatives and redesigns attempted to wring the last few drops of blood from the once great stone. Gradually, the thrice-bastardised Mega Drive became something of a joke without a punch line - unceremoniously forsaken once the Saturn came along. Or so it seemed.

'Twenty years of the Mega Drive' Screenshot megadrive2

Despite a new shape and some minor spec changes, the core technology in the Mega Drive II was the same.

Way back in 1987, when SEGA was first designing the Mega Drive, the Brazilian company TecToy was founded to build electronic toys for the South American markets. It landed the contract to become SEGA's local representative, and over time SEGA gradually allowed it to manufacture gaming hardware that had fizzled out in other regions. Since this was a part of the globe that had been almost completely ignored by the games industry, officially produced Master Systems and Mega Drives became immensely popular, to the point that TecToy still builds (and sells) variations on the hardware today.

And it's not alone. The retro revival culture that hit with the millennium saw the Mega Drive's glory restored. Plug-and-play TV games brought Sonic and friends racing back to our screens, teams of dedicated home-brew programmers have spent years celebrating SEGA franchises like Streets Of Rage, and once-bitter rival Nintendo relies on it to populate its online games catalogue for the Wii. Even handheld versions of the classic system are finally reaching their potential more than a decade after the Nomad failed to make a dent on the collapsing Mega Drive market.

As its 20th anniversary rolls around we find ourselves in a very different videogame world, but the Mega Drive is undeniably one of the most solid parts of the modern industry's foundations. This is a machine that's earned its place in history and weathered as many bad times as good. Its hardware legacy might be somewhat shrouded in absurdity, but the games it made possible will be remembered as the pinnacle of 16-bit arcade gaming.

Picture of Spanner.

About Spanner Spencer

Read more articles from Spanner by visiting the Spanner Spencer archive page.

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Comments (125) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Tonka #1 3 years ago

    SEGA SUCKS!

  • Yeevle #2 3 years ago

    It had a headphone socket, why can't a modern day console do that? I loved the control pad, better than the Super Nintendo one!

  • krudster #3 3 years ago

    It's a landmark anniversary. We commissioned it months ago, probably as any canny publication would.

  • Xerx3s #4 3 years ago

    I was amazed to find that some current day kids consoles are powered by SMD hardware.

  • Gaol #5 3 years ago

    Let's be frank, SNES>>>MD.

  • andromeda #6 3 years ago

    give it some gunstar heroes and thunderforce.
    Die Russell Brand, die!!

    oop sorry wrong train of thought

  • BadBoyBonner #7 3 years ago

    "The 512-strong colour palette ensured those games leapt off the screen, while a dedicated video processor threw huge sprites about in a way only previously managed in the arcades."

    Yeah, assuming that you were not one of those in the know - who (like me) were already playing games of this quality over a year before on an imported Pc-Engine.

  • mingster #8 3 years ago

    Saaayyygaaaa

  • rudedudejude #9 3 years ago

    Bests system ever made. The ps2 was just an up to date megadrive.

    Cartridge saves! plugging a cartridge into another one!! The little EA yellow tab on the 16-meg carts of whatever they were. The awesome gay sega voice. The wicked spinning EA logo. The entering of annoying passwords through a mega drive pad. The sore thumbs from 6 hours of playing.

  • Darren #10 3 years ago

    I never actually owned a Megadrive as such, I bought a Japanese Genesis before SEGA released the Megadrive in this country. I bought it specifically for Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Golden Axe and Super Hang-on, the only three games I ever bought for the system actually before I returned to my beloved Amiga for games.

  • Max_Powers #11 3 years ago

    Segalol

  • BadBoyBonner #12 3 years ago

    Had to pay twice to own my first Megadrive after being ripped off by one of the traders in the back of C&VG - still makes me wince thinking about it.
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/08 @ 12:35

  • crwoody #13 3 years ago

    Up into the loft for me tonight!

    Gonna fire the old girl up for some gunstar and hellfire action!

  • The_Inquisitor #14 3 years ago

    The MD doesn't need rose tinted nostalgia to stand the test of time, it still rocks.

  • electrolite #15 3 years ago

    (puts 'sad old geek' hat on)

    A Japanese....Genesis you say? I think you'll find, it was the MD in Japan, and the Genesis in the US

    (takes hat off)

    (paws ground sheepishly)

    ;-)

  • robson_wii #16 3 years ago

    @andromeda: Russel Brand is definitely a MISS in our list of funny "comedians". 100% agree he's a waste of space...Idea for a new game...

  • electrolite #17 3 years ago

    But anyway, I agree with The_Inquisitor. Been playing lots of old MD stuff through my XBox and so much of it still stands up well-Thunderforce III, Revenge Of Shinobi, Sonic 2, Streets Of Rage 2, MUSHA, Comix Zone, Vectorman, the Ghouls N Ghosts port etc etc

  • wombat987 #18 3 years ago

    I Loved mine, for many years... many hours of my l;ife consumed by this small black box.

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #19 3 years ago

    My mate paid something like £300 for a Japanese import and I was completely blown away with it.

    Remember playing Mickey Mouse and thinking WOW!! look at those visuals, it was like playing a cartoon.

  • Lebowski #20 3 years ago

    Great article, Eurogamer.

    Ah, Altered Beast - you played it, hated it; thought you'd wasted £180 (£180 in old money) but then came across such gems as Streets of Rage, Toejam and Earl, Desert Strike, Monaco, PGA Golf, and something called John Madden Football.

    And Megadrives were the original black boxes. Those buggers could be dropped, go tumbling down stairwells, or have beer spilt all over them and they'd still work. Man's console, not like these namby-pamby RROD's we get nowadays.



  • SEVQA #21 3 years ago

    I remember the ads for the megadrive and gamegear in 'VIZ' some are classics!

    http://www.k otaku.com/gaming/segaad3.jpg

    [link url=http://www.k otaku.com/gaming/segaad1.jpg
    ]http://www.k otaku.com/gaming/segaad1.jpg
    [/link]

    [link url=http://www.k otaku.com/gaming/segaad4.jpg
    ]http://www.k otaku.com/gaming/segaad4.jpg
    [/link]
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/08 @ 12:53

  • DrunkenKillfish #22 3 years ago

    What an awesome game Gouls n Ghosts was, not too confident I've got the skillz for the PSP Gouls now tho, damn my oldness :)
    I still hear that Saaaaygaaaa voice when I see the logo on games today \Is not mental

    And it still worked when I fired it up not so long ago. What a bit of kit!

  • SwashbucklingStuff #23 3 years ago

    Best innovation ever with the megadrive was when Codemasters games came with 2 controller ports built into the cartridge. Absolute genius.

  • dr_faulk #24 3 years ago

    Gunstar Heroes was the only thing that got me playing a Megadrive. And that was around 5 years ago. Such a fun game.

    ... Now I'm all Sega-nostalgic. I miss Guardian Heroes on the Saturn.... =(

  • CannonAnBall #25 3 years ago

    I still own the MegaDrive. Spent hours on it and still have the huge arcade stick that you could buy extra.

    Aliens and Streets of Rage 1 and 2 were my faves

  • TurboBailey #26 3 years ago

    God this makes me feel old.

  • covfan #27 3 years ago

    I remember earning £4 a week pocket money and working out it would take me 8 weeks to save up to buy Micro Machines for the Megadrive.

    I got it for my birthday!

  • septimus #28 3 years ago

    SNES > MD for sure. But I still love my launch day console. Boxed with about 20 games still and perfect working order.

  • stevethemeat #29 3 years ago

    Fantastic console, people get all misty eyed over the snes, but the megadrive had some great games.

    Gunstar Heroes.
    EA Hockey/american football double pack.
    Shenobi.
    Streetfighter 2 (complete with grainy voices).
    Castle of illusion.
    Eternal champions.

    the memories.

  • IneptPercy #30 3 years ago

    Still remember mine with the Mega CD underneth and the 32x on Top... It was in monster in reflection...

    Still love streets on rage, can't beat the feeling from throwing a bad guy at the other bad guys.

    Me and my brother still have games on Sonic 2 now, the multiplayer on that is amazing.

    Good that Sega opened back in the day, would what would it be like if it never happened?

  • Master_Miller #31 3 years ago

    Why no love for Echo the Dolphin?

  • Lawlost #32 3 years ago

    Toe Jam and Earl.......boogie boogie boogie

  • thedaveeyres #33 3 years ago

    If my university degree had been on Sega Megadrive Tiger Woods, I would've got a first.

  • sifujames #34 3 years ago

    Favourite console of all time - I had a Japanese MD, looked much better then the UK and US models. I've still got it, all boxed and complete. Loved the 6 button pads too, best controller ever, much better then the SNES pads for playing SF2. Awesome games as well:

    EA Hockey (I was unbeatable)
    Madden 92
    Streets of Rage 1 & 2 (fantastic soundtracks)
    SF2 Special Champion Edition (paid £60 for a Jap import copy as I couldn't wait for the UK release)
    Sonic 1, 2 & 3
    Hellfire
    Revenge of Shinobi

    The awesome Say Gaa voice that first came in with Sonic 1 - I'm another person who can't see the Sega logo without hearing that in my head. Really wish Sega were still in the hardware business instead of MS...

  • johnboy_johsnon #35 3 years ago

    Great article, didn't realise that it was that long ago.

    I remember wnating one for a good year before it was released in Europe. C&VG use to have a console section where they would review all the imports etc. Couldn't believe how good the graphics were. Christmas of 1990 was the last Christmas I ever really had (it's just not the same when you're not excited about getting up in the morning anymore).

  • caligari #36 3 years ago

    Thanks EG.

    Still my favourite-ist console of all time.

    Official six-button pads FTMFW1!1!! \o/

    Now I just have to find an uber-kind EG-er who´d be willing to sell Alien Soldier to me for less than 30 pound coins.

  • AbyssUK #37 3 years ago

    20 years... damn am old....

    Sega please make a good new sonic game... and the Dreamcast II
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/08 @ 13:51

  • Ryze #38 3 years ago

    Hey, look! It's RETRO!!!!! How've you been?!?!?

    /hugs retro section

  • Ryze #39 3 years ago

    Th PC engine's visuals were nice, but they didn't quite match the MegaDrive's.

    The audio was also inferior if I recall correctly.

  • cawley1 #40 3 years ago

    Holy Shit! 20 years, nothing like a retroview like this to make you feel old...

    I remember buying an import machine from a place called CES near Barnes Bridge back in 1989, I got mine mail order, but my mate actually trecked it up there and it was a newsagents with a small import games section at the back! (those were the days!).

    I ordered mine with Ghouls N Ghosts, but they were out of stock, so I got DJ Boy and a tenner back insead (lucky me!).
    From then on pretty much everything seemed amazing to my 12-year-old brain... Ghouls when I did get it, Golden Axe, Ghost Busters, Strider, Micky Mouse, Sonic - truly classic days.

    Never touched the MegaCD, although I do have one now, along with a 32X and a Nomad, it was only a couple of nights ago I had a blast on Shadow Dancer and Sonic 2 on the PSP (much better than the aforementioned Nomad!), so the bug has refused to go, even after all those years...

  • Waffleaber #41 3 years ago

    When I was a kid my parents refused to buy me a console fearing it would interfere with my school work but every school holiday we would drive to this video store which rented Mega Drives and games.

    For one glorious week I would have a Mega Drive and two games, one my choice the other my brothers, and it was brilliant. Then it was back to the BBC Micro which my parents bought as it was more "educational"

  • Trigga_Tybalt #42 3 years ago

    this makes me feel so old. i lost my gaming virginity to the mega drive and i never regretted it. classic console.

  • Eraysor #43 3 years ago

    Happy days :)

    Truly the greatest console I have ever used in my life.

  • sifujames #44 3 years ago

    @ Mercatoria - Sega always made awesome consoles (well the Saturn was a bit weak), but they just made the worst business decisions ever

  • Luckyjim #45 3 years ago

    I was always a SNES man (probably the most fun console I've ever owned) but I concede that the Megadrive had some great games. Such a shame Sega fucked it up after that. *strokes Dreamcast*

  • Ryze #46 3 years ago

    The Saturn was fantastic a 2D games, but Sega were blazing a trial with 3D in the arcades, so I don't quite know what they were playing at.

    They made several poor decisions.

    Remember the Saturn's marketing? Terrible.

  • Carbon_Altered #47 3 years ago

    Great artcile Eurogamer!

    Brings back a lot of memories. Me and my mum sold our Commodore 128 for £300 (!) and split the proceeds - with my £150 I got a megadrive, altered beast and sonic. Awesome times.

  • sifujames #48 3 years ago

    @ Ryze - Not only the Saturn's, but the Dreamcast's too. Sponsoring Arsenal does not equal a proper marketing campaign. The poor machine was pretty much invisible for all of it's life, despite how awesome it was.

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #49 3 years ago

    Hey guys,
    Not sure if you're interested, but Argos have the portable Mega Drive with 20 games for £20. I've just reserved one - off to pick it up in a bit. Not a bad deal for the 20th birthday.

    According to play Asia, the games are:
    Alex Kidd Enchanted Castle
    Alien Storm
    Altered Beast
    Arrow Flash
    Columns III
    Crack Down
    Decap Attack
    Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
    E-Swat
    Ecco the Dolphin
    Ecco Jr.
    Flicky
    Gain Ground
    Golden Axe
    Jewel Master
    Kid Chameleon
    Ristar
    Shadow Dancer
    Sonic & Knuckles
    The Revenge of Shinobi II

    linky linky Argos not stinky

  • Ryze #50 3 years ago

    Nice article, fellas.

    Everyone - just LOOK at that Sonic screenshot. Think about how smoothly it runs.

    Now just IMAGINE how fantastic that would have been when seen for the 1st time in 1991 when previously you've been playing on your cousin's Spectrum at weekends if you're lucky, or maybe the odd game on a mate's (fantastic) Amiga.

    I guess people felt like this when the first colour TV broadcasts came along. I was also 11 years old.

  • peterfll #51 3 years ago

    I loved my Mega Drive.

    I remember waiting for the UK launch date, in 1989. I was 17. We had to go by magazines and the like back in those days for that sort of information, and they'd been hyping up the Mega Drive all year as Mega Machines had taken to reviewing the Japanese imports. As I remember, it was only available from Toys R Us initially, and there were like five of them in the whole country - so you could hardly say it was easy to buy. So on the evening of the launch I got myself on to the Northern Line. My granddad came along with me for company. We travelled from Borough to Brent Cross - it seemed to take forever. I'd never been to Brent Cross before, and we found ourselves having to dodge the traffic on the dual cartridge way just to get to the Toys R Us. I laid down my £189.99 (I think?) and bought myself Super Hang On, Ghoul' N'Ghosts, and Revenge of Shinobi. I can remember the excitement of getting it home, unpacking it and playing it for the first time.

    Properly good good times and good good memories.

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #52 3 years ago

    @dream:

    Couldn't agree more with those comparisons. Well done that man.

  • sifujames #53 3 years ago

    @ Ryze - You just reminded me of when Sonic had just come out, and everyone was standing at the demo machine in my local computer games store with their jaws on the floor watching it. Don't think I've ever seen a game have that kind of effect

  • mcmonkeyplc #54 3 years ago

    ALL HAIL SEGA!

  • Ryze #55 3 years ago

    @Darren

    The Japanes MegaDrive was a MegaDrive.

  • krudster #56 3 years ago

    Or, more precisely, Mega Drive.

  • Bleh #57 3 years ago

    Memories, still have that console. But wow 20 years already, times flying.

  • caligari #58 3 years ago

    Cut and paste from an old Mega Drive thread:

    A little reminder as to why the Mega Drive is Godly:

    Afterburner
    Aladdin
    Alien 3
    Alien Soldier
    Another World
    Battle Squadron
    Bloodshot
    Bubba N Stix
    Buck Rogers
    Cannon Fodder
    Castle of Illusion
    Castlevania Bloodlines
    Chakan
    Comix Zone
    Contra Hard Corps
    Crue Ball
    Decap Attack (or 'Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure' if you want to be a purist!)
    Desert / Jungle / Urban Strike
    Donald Duck's Quackshot
    Dragon's Fury Pinball
    Dynamite Headdy
    Earthworm Jim 1 and 2
    Ecco 1 and 2
    Eternal Champions
    Fantastic Dizzy
    Fifa Soccer Series
    Flashback
    Gaiares
    Gain Ground
    General Chaos
    Ghouls N Ghosts
    Golden Axe 1 and 2
    Gunstar Heroes
    Hellfire
    James Pond 2
    Kid Chameleon
    Landstalker
    Legend of Galahad
    Light Crusader
    Madden 93
    Mega Bomberman
    Mega Turrican
    Mega-Lo-Mania
    Mercs
    Mickey Mania
    Micromachines 1 and 2
    Midnight Resistance
    Monaco GP 1 and 2
    Moonwalker (I had an odd dream about it last night)
    Mortal Kombat 1 and 2
    Ms. Pacman
    Mutant League Football
    Mutant League Hockey
    NBA Jam TE
    New Zealand Story
    NHL 94
    NHLPA 93 (BLOOD!)
    PGA Tour 96
    Phantasy Star 3 and 4
    Prince of Persia
    Rainbow Islands
    Rambo 3
    Ranger X
    Red Zone ;)
    Revenge of Shinobi
    Risky Woods
    Ristar
    Road Rash 1, 2 and 3
    Rocket Knight Adventures
    Rock & Roll Racing
    Rolling Thunder
    Shadow Dancer
    Shadowrun
    Shining Force 1 and 2
    Shinobi 3
    Slapfight
    Soleil
    Sonic 1, 2 and 3 (with Sonic and Knuckles cart)
    Sonic 3D: Flicky's Island
    Space Harrier 2
    Sparkster (Rocket Knight 2!)
    Speedball 2
    Spiderman
    Splatter House 2 and 3
    Story of Thor
    Street Fighter 2 (CE and Super)
    Streets of Rage (Bare Knuckle) 1, 2 and 3
    Strider
    Sub-Terrania
    Sunset Riders
    Talmit's Adventure
    Tazmania
    The Lion King
    Thunderforce 4 (AND 2 AND 3!)
    Toejam and Earl
    Vapour Trail
    Vectorman 1 and 2
    Wonder Boy in Monster World
    World of Illusion
    Xenon 2
    X-Men 1 and 2
    Zero Wing
    Zombies Ate My Neighbours
    Zool

  • Pulsar_t #59 3 years ago

    Sure the SNES had the better library, but the CPU was atrociously slow and there was nothing like Sonic on it. Sega took on the control freaks at Nintendo and they should be applauded for it, rather those ridiculous SNES>MD statements I find here. Oh and the Saturn wasn't weaker than the PS, if anything it was more powerful.. For a truckload of nostalgic revisionism read this article

    http://ww w.eidolons-inn.net/tiki-index.p...

  • cam_guin #60 3 years ago

    console that allowed programmers to take risks, surely has to be instrumental in the evolution of gaming. Plus games like Streets of Rage 2 just can 't be replicated with the same feel and flow, with everyone clambering over HD & 3D. All hail the megadrive.

  • drunkymonkey #61 3 years ago

    Streets of Rage, man!

  • Cosmopolitan #62 3 years ago

    Yeevle said: "It had a headphone socket, why can't a modern day console do that?

    Cough.Playstation Portable.Cough.

  • IneptPercy #63 3 years ago

    "Cough.Playstation Portable.Cough. "

    Cough.Get Out.Cough

    Long live Sega, still hoping fot a dreamcast 2.

  • BadBoyBonner #64 3 years ago

    sifujames "You just reminded me of when Sonic had just come out, and everyone was standing at the demo machine in my local computer games store with their jaws on the floor watching it. Don't think I've ever seen a game have that kind of effect..."

    Clearly your local shop never had an imported Snes in it then (which came out best part of a year before Sonic) and no I don't just mean in general (as there was not much difference between the two).

    For me it was seeing MODE 7 for the first time on the Snes - F-Zero seemed like science fiction made reality at the time add in Pilot Wings etc. Now that had jaws on the floor at our local shop - not to be repeated until years later with a first day imported PS1 and Ridge Racer being flown back to Leeds to play.

  • w00t #65 3 years ago

    I still have my launch Mega Drive!

    Only really used for 4-player Micro Machines now, though.

    /wallows in nostalgia

  • Feanor #66 3 years ago

    Retronauts are coverng 20 years of Genesis all this month.

  • Codger81 #67 3 years ago

    Such is my love for the Megadrive, that when I finally put mine out to pasture in 1997 I didn't even consider buying another console, and concentrated purely on PC gaming. It stayed that way until 6 months ago, when I finally decided to pick up a 360 elite.

  • sifujames #68 3 years ago

    @ BadBoyBonner: No, my main local games store was rubbish - Only sold official peripherals etc, and sold EVERYTHING (yes EVERYTHING) at full price, even really old games. If you even mentioned the word import they gave you dirty looks, as they made their money ripping off unsuspecting mums and dads.

    Luckily there was another further up the high st that sold all the import stuff, and that's where I got my Jap MD and Hellfire for £140 :)

  • Gaol #69 3 years ago

    @badboybonner

    Spot on. I has a megadrive for about a year; and I spent most of that time looking at shady ads in the back of gaming mags offering imported Super Famicoms for £400. I had seen F-Zero running in a local indy too. When it came out I HAD to have one, and my parents sensibly insisted I sell the MD and put the money towards it. The MD was fun while I had it though :)

  • BadBoyBonner #70 3 years ago

    sifujames - sounds like you got a bargin - paid £180 for the first one - that never came - then paid £250 to Microbyte in Bradford and think it was £50 for some crappy Basketball Game - can anyone remember the name - used to cut to cheesy animations when scoring a basket?

    After having waited for weeks for the first one to be delivered - so first one cost me £480 - worked in a builders yard all during the school summer holidays to pay for it.

    Ghost & Goblins rocked but for me I knew the MD had arrived with Revenge of Shinobhi - music was amazing (and later topped on MD by Yuzo Koshiro in the Streets of Rage Games) and the game was sublime, if a little unforgiving (even in those days).

  • PlugMonkey #71 3 years ago

    " Let's be frank, SNES>>>MD. "

    "Clearly your local shop never had an imported Snes in it then (which came out best part of a year before Sonic) and no I don't just mean in general (as there was not much difference between the two).

    Heh heh. Twenty years on and the fanboy war continues unabated.

    No SNES game ever really appealed to me. They always left me feeling slightly...disconnected. (Probably just because I was an 11 year old Sega fanboy) (I would love to go back and play Zelda now though).

    And Mode 7 looked like a shit version of Elite Plus. ;)

  • Dr.Mott #72 3 years ago

    I never actually bought a Megadrive, but I won one in this promotion Weetabix were running to celebrate the release of Ristar in '93 or 4. First game I ever played, that was, and it continues to amaze me how hard all these old games that I could complete really easily in my youth are now.

  • sifujames #73 3 years ago

    @ PlugMonkey - Agreed. None of the SNES games did much for me either (though that didn't stop me from picking up a Super Famicom off eBay a few years ago to add to the collection), they just didn't have that same visual "pop" that the MD games seem to have.

  • KrispyBacon #74 3 years ago

    I enjoyed the article,thanks. It was a real shame that EA didn't remember the early days when they decided not to make any games for the Dreamcast.

    I still have my Megadrive and all the games. My all time favorite console and for me the golden age of gaming.

  • PlugMonkey #75 3 years ago

    sifujames - I think a lot of them were just a bit too weird and foreign and japanese for for me, aged 11. I was fundamentally more interested in pretending to be a ninja than pretending to be a fat italian plumber or a fox from space.

  • PlugMonkey #76 3 years ago

    Actually there was one SNES game - Shadowrun. I really wanted to play that. I've got the Genesis version now, but I've heard the SNES version was quite different. That'll be first on the list when I've got room for a SNES.

  • bad09 #77 3 years ago

    Nice! Thanks for opening old wounds with your insensitive article Spanner!

    I lost my poor Megadrive (my first console as I was a computer man - Amiga FTW!) to an bitter ex-girlfriend. It was a gift to me but when I broke up with her she asked for it back :(

    With heavy heart I packed it up and took it to work to drop it off after (I know I should have said "get stuffed!" but couldn't be bothered with more arguing!). Luck would have it that very day at work I had the fortune of a colleague selling his SNES cheap (with a SF2 which didn't sound like it was underwater!). So I snapped it up and with a lighter, happier heart I went to the Ex that night and told her to "poke her present, I got a SNES anyway!" \o/

  • renzo #78 3 years ago

    "some crappy Basketball Game - can anyone remember the name - used to cut to cheesy animations when scoring a basket?"

    Arch Rivals?

  • Bander #79 3 years ago

    lavalant: "I could happily sit down and play the SNES today, games still look good and play good, but the megadrive? I dunno some games would just look and sound to bad and that controller after playing a snes was like a sharp object."

    You may be thinking about the Master System and not the Mega Drive. MD controllers had no corners, and were more rounded than SNES ones.

    With its processor the MD did boast games that the SNES didn't have an answer for, like Road Rash which had a ton of real sprite scaling and shooters such as Gunstar Heroes and Thunderforce IV which had lots of stuff going on at once at a fast pace. Also, most Mega Drive games ran at a higher resolution than SNES ones (320 pixels across instead of 256).

  • onyxbox #80 3 years ago

    I had a SNES and a Megadrive and the SNES wiped the floor with it. However. I still felt the need to buy a Mega CD when it came out and I loved the Echo the dolphin game... the soundtrack on the CD version was ace!

    :-D

    Not sure it was woth the £400 or whatever it cost.

  • Pulsar_t #81 3 years ago

    Why can't most people spell "Ecco" correctly haha

  • captain-future #82 3 years ago

    SEGA Mega Drive... I've some really good memories playing NHL '93 and NHL '94...

    ...and Donald Duck Quack Attack *LOL*

  • BadBoyBonner #83 3 years ago

    Renzo - Arch Rivals - see below.

    Had a word with my mate who said I am talking out of my arse - he remembers first 2 Games I got were Ghouls & Ghosts and Shinobhi.

    Not sure if it was Arch Rivals - he said the name was Super Real Basketball (maybe JAP version?) - and I didn't get that for quite a while - and wished that I hadn't as soon as I had it - maybe thats why it stuck in memory - 20 year old buyer remorse lol.

  • smelly #84 3 years ago

    "Sega took on the control freaks at Nintendo and they should be applauded for it"

    Its funny. Part of the issue of nitendo being "control freaks" was that they insisted that games met a certain quality bar. Which pissed of devs - if you've spent thousands making a game to find nintendo say it's not of good enough quality - then you're gonna get annoyed.

    Nintendo dont do that any more (developers rejoice).. But yet the standard of a lot of 3rd party wii games leave a lot to be desired.

    They're damned if they do, damned if they dont

  • bionutz #85 3 years ago

    I started with a master system, playing Alex, that was pretty cool. Megadrive was also cool, my brother had got one from Japan, that had the advantage of having a faster processor so you would get even more fluid animation.
    aough, altered beasts was a cool game.

  • BadBoyBonner #86 3 years ago

    N@

    Agreed - PC Engine - was like a magic box - it was about the same size as my Amiga's external floppy drive yet spanked my Amiga setup all day long.

    I can remember opening it thinking I hadn't been sent everything and that the machine was simply an adapter for the pad lol

    I got that used to playing on pads I bought Master System pads and used them on my Amiga - was great for Turrican with the twin buttons - plus I became a legend at Sensible Soccer where all my mates were still using joysticks - obviously they didn;t twig the shorter travel was giving me an edge lol

    PLUS - both the Mega Drive and PC-Engine had dodgy PAL conversions resulting in some strange colours and slow down.
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/08 @ 22:12

  • Azazel #87 3 years ago

    *sniff*

    ee' by gum... brings a tear to me eye it does...

  • darrenb #88 3 years ago

    looking back, I think the 16 bit era has given me my fondest gaming memories.

    I loved the Mega Drive and i think sonic the hedgehog was the first game that looked amazing at the time which played well too. There were far too many games I enjoyed on the curvy little black machine to mention.

    I remember "aquiring" a copy of Street Fighter2 off a mate that would only let us see it for 5 minutes on his way home from college, fortunatly he didnt have a clue what a Magic Drive was.. He went home feeling smug that he had something we never had, not realising we just loaded the damn thing back up once he went out of the door.. I played it non stop for weeks!!

    maybe i felt a little guity, but SF2 was worth the guilt ;-)

  • Postumo #89 3 years ago

    BEST CONSOLE EVER

  • The-Bodybuilder #90 3 years ago

    @sifujames
    The dreamcast sponsorship deal had to be the worst decision gaming history. It was so obviously bad to anyone that could see, one wonders why they still persisted anyways.

  • The-Bodybuilder #91 3 years ago

    To unmentioned games;
    Moonwalker (whether crap or not, it was a freakin michael jackson game)
    NBA Jam

  • FortysixterUK #92 3 years ago

    Good article. The MD rocked, and I remember the fear and trepidation as I filed channels of solder off the mobo and soldered in switches so I could switch between 50/60hz and jap/english text, and remove the cartidge lock to play jap and usa carts...blimey...those were the days. Ghouls and ghosts became "daimakamura" when switched to 60 hz and jap txt !!!!

    Well done EG good memories there. And the all you posters who are taking the piss, FOAD U MOFOS.

  • aids #93 3 years ago

    I remember the MD at a friend's place. Played Road Rash for hours and laughed our asses off punching/kicking opponents off their bikes and running into cows.

  • backwardsmonkeywank #94 3 years ago

    guy in the next town punting jap import games off a stall..... strider way before release, gynoug (best shoot em up), many others, unfortunnately you had to buy blind as he didn't have power on the stall...So you had to go by screenshots on the back of the jap cart! This led to me buying the graphically beautiful pile of crap that is pit (shit) fighter...arrghh remember those crowd cheers on a 1 second loop...the audio guy on that game should be made to listen to it for eternity.

  • 3william56 #95 3 years ago

    Ah, the original Darth's Toaster. I agree wholeheartedly with the folks who say Sonic was a complete mind bomb when you saw it in a house for the first time. Nothing before had been a tenth as fast, colourful or smooth on a home machine. SNES/FZero's mode7 (which always means Teletext to an old Beeb hand like me) was cute, but an obvious 1 trick pony, and the smooth m7 zoom/scrolling didn't match the car sprites, which ruined the effect for me. Sonic, on the other hand, was a totally integrated package of win. IMHO Only GTA IV or Elite matches it as such a massive leap in game possibilities.

    Thunderforce IV... Vectorman, Gunstar Heroes, Desert Strike... oh, those were the days all right.

    Happy Birthday, old mate.

    /calls for Nurse to bring a cup of hot cocoa and slippers.

  • élbéróss #96 3 years ago

    Nice article EG!

    RIP old friend ..

    /pours whiskey down into soil and whines like an injured hyena.

  • MrE26 #97 3 years ago

    Shit, i am getting old! MD was my first ever console. I remember picking up the first issue of Mean Machines & being floored by the Golden Axe shots. I begged for one for Xmas & unwrapping & firing it up is probably my fondest memory of Xmas day ever.

    Wise fwom your gwaaaave!

    Back in those days, i'd save up to buy a game & play it to death over & over. Alas, it's not like that any more. Now i've always got a backlog of about 6 unfinished games. I kinda miss those days.

  • InfiniteFury #98 3 years ago

    20 years, my god.

    Was my first foray into the world of consoles after having a well used Acorn Electron for about 6 years.

    Happy days.

  • chiz #99 3 years ago

    I still have my launch day console from 20 years, in perfect working order. I've also went through 3 Xbox 360's this past year. Go figure.

    I always remember watching sonic the hedgehog in dixons window with my jaw hitting the tarmac.

  • BadBoyBonner #100 3 years ago

    @3William56 "IMHO Only GTA IV or Elite matches it as such a massive leap in game possibilities..."

    Erm can't say I agree there - for me - the JAP launch game Ridge Racer on the PlayStation and Wipeout on PAL release were much more of an earth moving moment for me in gaming - you could probably throw in Tekken as well.

    Right up there with 3D wireframe graphics (Starwars Arcade and 3D Starstrike on Speccy the most obvious influence on me), then hidden line removal and then shaded polygon's - then the PS1 showing that the 5-10 fps in most 3D Amiga games (Indy 500 and Vvroom aside) was a thing of the past.

    Not only that but Ridge Racer was a portent of the future that none of us realised at the time - Graphics in the home were going to equal and then surpass the Arcades in the not too distant future - something that none of us would have believed in the mid 90's.

  • ED209 #101 3 years ago

    Someone said "mumble mumble...Quack Attack...mumble"

    Was it not called "Quack Shot"?

    Quack ATTACK is a SWEET SMELLING, rising aroma that helps bring ducks and geese to your Hunting Area! The synthetic Scent found in Quack ATTACK is a pure, legal way to bring waterfowl to you without use of “bait.”

  • azazel_fallenangel #102 3 years ago

    How time flies. Still love my Megadrive, And ever since I got my GP2X, all I've done is play on Sonic 3 and Knuckles and Earthworm Jim. Still classics That I can always enjoy.
    Why just this weekend, I was playing Two player Mortal Kombat on my Megadrive Emulator, followed by some Streets of rage 2. Modern games take so much time and investment, retro classics seem like an easier choice for some quick fun.

  • spidermanalf #103 3 years ago

    @badboybonner was the basketball game Larry Bird something?

    Also pausing Sonic for hours at a time (usually while I was at school) so I didn't have to relay the beginning levels.

    And I spent far too much time on Road Rash, not a classic I know but a good game none the less.

  • Ryze #104 3 years ago

    Sega really ought to release a new console that plays all of their old games:

    Arcade, Saturn, MD, MCD, 32X, MS, via the Internet.

    Either that or really push the boat out on the Wii and work with Ninty to introduce a full blown Sega channel which does the same, and is purchasable at retail bundled with a Sega controller of your choice and a selection of games.

    I'd buy.

  • Ryze #105 3 years ago

    @3william56

    +∞

  • secombe #106 3 years ago

    My original original Mega Drive is still going strong, got to love old reliable cart based hardware. Gets used pretty frequently too, hard to beat Quackshot and NHLPA 93 every now and and again.

  • bad09 #107 3 years ago

    "Sega really ought to release a new console that plays all of their old games"

    Ryze you genius! Come on SEGA do it, sod giving games to the others. Come back to the console fold with Dreamcast 2 with a download service with all the arcade, MD, Saturn, DC greats.

    EDIT - can't believe I forgot the, Master System, 32X and Mega CD!




    Edited by 1 at 30/10/08 @ 20:23

  • sifujames #108 3 years ago

    @ Ryze - A proper Sega channel and a 6 button MD pad for the Wii would be awesome... how sweet would that be!!

  • airraidfighter #109 3 years ago

    The Mega Drive / Genesis most definitally did *NOT* get "almost perfect" ports of Sega's arcade games.

    Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Forgotten Worlds, Strider, After Burner II, Outrun Super Monaco GP, etc
    got huge downgrades when brought to the console. MD/Genesis was not nearly as powerful as Sega's System-16 arcade board, much less the even more powerful SuperScaler boards that powered Sega's scaler arcade games, or Capcom's CPS board.
    Also, the ROMs for the console versions were much smaller than the arcade ROMs.
    i.e.
    Altered Beast arcade: 16 megabits - MD/Genesis: 4 megabits
    Golden Axe arcade: 32 megabits - MD/Genesis: 4 megabits
    Strider arcade: 43 megabits - MD/Genesis: 8 megabits
    Street Fighter 2CE arcade: 70 megabits - MD/Genesis: 24 megabits

    Check out the arcade version of Altered Beast on PS2 Sega Genesis Collection.
    Try the Saturn version of After Burner II and Outrun
    Play Ghouls n Ghosts & Forgotten Worlds on Capcom Classics Collection for PS2, Xbox, PSP


    Genesis *was* great for its original games,
    i.e. Herzog Zwei, Phantasy Star II & IV, Gunstar Heroes, Thunder Force III & IV, etc

  • airraidfighter #110 3 years ago

    This article (like many others) is largely wrong saying the Mega Drive was almost identical to the System 16 board.

    Some of the differences.

    System 16 vs MD/Genesis

    CPU clock speed
    10 MHz vs 7.6 MHz

    max # of sprites on screen
    128 vs 80

    color pallet
    4096 vs 512

    max colors on screen
    1536 vs 64

    hardware sprite zooming/scaling
    YES vs NO

    main work RAM
    128K vs 64K

    video RAM
    512K vs 64K



  • Ebicurry #111 3 years ago

    those were the good ol days!

  • Charco #112 3 years ago

    I see nobody has mentioned the amazing Streets of Rage Remake by BoMbErGaMeS which is linked in the article. If you like Streets of Rage, I highly recommend you check it out at http://www.bombergames.ne t The final version is in development and will feature all the playable characters and enemies from the original trilogy, remade and improved stage graphics, remixed music and all new features. You can download the most recent beta from the site also.

  • RobTheBuilder #113 3 years ago

    Though as stated the Snes was overall more powerful (mode 7 chip etc), the MD's motorola processor was actually better. Hence the reason why its conversion of Street Fighter was so good.

    It may be a bit of a joke now. But at the time playing the newly released Sonic was incredible.

    The MD, first console I ever wanted.

  • BonzoBanana #114 3 years ago

    Well I'm definitely in the snes camp but still respect the megadrive as a superb console with some must have games. I never liked the sonic games though except for the pinball game. They were generally too fast for me I prefered Mario's more leisurely stroll through the game levels. I did play sonic on the super nintendo the other day that someone had done. Didn't play anything like the real sonic though but was very pretty but more hardcore and more easy to die.

    If your looking for a console that emulates the super nintendo and megadrive well you should check out the gizmondo. Its fairly cheap to buy and can emulate a lot of stuff as well as play gizmondo games like colors and sticky balls plus its a camera, gps device, movie player and mp3 player. The point is its key layout works well for snes and megadrive games. Its quite powerful at about 400mhz and has a full nividia gpu built in. I bought mine for about £25 inclusive from ebay and a 2meg sdcard is only £3.33 from amazon. You get a huge amount of nes, snes, megadrive, master system, atari 800, gameboy and other system games on that. Also unlike pdas your not hassled with having to reinstall stuff if you let the batteries go low as long as you install to the sdcard. Once recharged you can start playing straight away. It goes without saying you can save states etc so all megadrive games have save game options. The saves goto the sd card too. Its just a great way of playing retro games on the move. I'll admit the psp is better in many ways but the gizmondo is smaller, more robust and a lot cheaper.

  • cafferkey #115 3 years ago

    True story..

    At 15 years old I bought a megadrive from argos one day after my birthday. Around this time the super famicom had been released in japan.. On the way home from argos I fortunately visited my local independant computer shop to purchase some blanck floppys for my amiga 500 and the owner had on dispay a super famicom running pilotwings.. Left computer shop, returned to argos for full refund as box was never opended than returned to computer shop.....

    Article says and I quote 'but the games it made possible will be remembered as the pinnacle of 16-bit arcade gaming'

    Can someone, anyone let me know what megadrive games fall into ths bracket ?

  • Ryze #116 3 years ago

    @cafferkey

    Strider
    Streets of Rage II
    Road Rash II
    FIFA '95
    Sonic 3 & Knuckles
    Dynamite Headdy
    Rocket Knight Adventures
    Gunstar Heroes
    Thunderforce IV
    Mortal Kombat 3
    Skitchin'
    Forgotten Worlds
    NBA Jam: Tournament Edition
    Street Fighter II
    Phantasy Star series
    Revenge of Shinobi

    and tons more

  • BonzoBanana #117 3 years ago

    I don't really see any of those games as pinnacles of 16bit gaming although I admit some of them are very good games. The snes just has a more impressive and above all playable line up. I've played both systems extensively and have to say in my opinion the super nintendo easily beats the megadrive even though I have a few megadrive favourites myself. At the end of the day though each console had its own strengths. I think the megadrive's strength was sporting games and maybe a few more arcade conversions. However the snes' gpu was much more powerful than the megadrive. Wasn't it something like 22mhz for the gpu? Very impressive for its day. The snes sold about 50 million units and the megadrive only about half that. I know success doesn't always indicate superiority but for me in this case it does. On the face of it the megadrive with a 7-8mhz 68000 and a second z80 processor should have beaten the snes but the reality is the snes gpu was amazing and very powerrful. I remember Wolfenstein 3D on the super nintendo without additional support chips something not possible on the megadrive I think. Some of the best super nintendo games made use of addtional processors in the cart like the dsp in mario kart and sfx in starfox. Gave the super nintendo a second lease of life. The svp chip in the virtual racing didn't really compare.

  • cafferkey #118 3 years ago

    @ Ryze...
    Your list of megadrive games...
    Defining the pinnacle of 16 bit gaming ?

    Strider - 8 bit coin op
    Streets of Rage II - scroll along beat em-up.............
    Road Rash II - Good game
    FIFA '95 - Nice graphics but game has sweet spots for scoring eveytime
    Sonic 3 & Knuckles - Good game
    Dynamite Headdy - Good game
    Rocket Knight Adventures - Good game
    Gunstar Heroes - Good game
    Thunderforce IV - Good game
    Mortal Kombat 3 - Good game
    Skitchin' - Ok
    Forgotten Worlds - 8 bit coin op
    NBA Jam: Tournament Edition - repetitive
    Street Fighter II - Snes version everytime but classic 16 bit console game
    Phantasy Star series - Good series but not the best jrpg
    Revenge of Shinobi - ok

    But the big question is this....... Would any of the above hold a candle to Legend of zelda a link to the past, super mario world, super mario kart, super metroid, yoshis island ?

    Answer is a easy no...

    Nintendo's in house games are the pinnacle of 16-bit gaming and deep down you prob know it
    If I were dead I would of turned in my grave reading your list...

  • m0thr4 #119 3 years ago

    Everyone - just LOOK at that Sonic screenshot. Think about how smoothly it runs.

    Now just IMAGINE how fantastic that would have been when seen for the 1st time in 1991 when previously you've been playing on your cousin's Spectrum at weekends if you're lucky, or maybe the odd game on a mate's (fantastic) Amiga.

    I remember it well. I was walking past a game shop that had Sonic's attract mode playing and there was a massive crowd of people staring at it. There was simply nothing like it at the time. Sega had apparently come up with a new technique for scrolling tiled backgrounds (the marketing people christened it "Blast Processing" at the time!) which allowed the scrolling to accelerate to an eye watering speed.

    Then there was the level select cheat I can still remember (up, down, left, right, A + Start) and the level hacking cheat that allowed you to draw your own sprites on the screen and access parts of the level that weren't even designed to be accessed (e.g. a whole section in the Labyrinth Zone that led to the end of the level, but didn't join up to anything at the start of it!).

    There were also the controversial but not often talked about different versions of the game. I had a Jap MD and got the superior, enhanced Japanese version of the game which had fully parallax layers in the backgrounds and a really cool 2-layered wobbly water effect in the Labyrinth Zone. It also fixed the bug where hitting the spikes and losing all your rings didn't give you temporary invulnerability.

    Sadly, the only other way to play this version of the game is to play the version of Sonic Mega Collection on the Gamecube (selecting 60Hz mode) or, ahem, find the particular ROM file with [R-Jap] in the title and an appropriate emulator. Every other re-release (including the XBL and Wii VC versions) is the inferior US/Euro version and, being a complete Sonic geek, I refuse to play them.

  • rommy667 #120 3 years ago

    For me what put me (at the time) in the snes camp was the dam MD tinny/muffled sound it sounded so bad compared to the snes it is a classic system for sure no one could say other wise and i miss the sega from those days....

  • Ryze #121 3 years ago

    @cafferkey

    Good, because you just sound like a fanboy tosser.

    /plays best video games

  • Seno #122 3 years ago

    Still play streets of rage 2, gunstar heroes and thunderforce IV now, sor2 is still the best side-scrolling beat'em up I've ever played.

    @m0thr4
    It was UP,C, DOWN,C, LEFT,C, RIGHT,C, A+START to go into debug mode in sonic, your one is the level select code - I can't believe I remember that after all this time, but can't remember my mobile number
    Edited by 1 at 24/11/08 @ 10:04

  • Picnic #123 3 years ago

    Despite being host to Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country, the SNES is beaten by the Megadrive to me. As a platform game fan, Sega's machine had had the edge with all those great Disney games. Loads of people harp on about the arcade conversions of games like Altered Beast but what about the best of the Disney games- Castle of Illusion, Quackshot, and the top 2 to me: Aladdin and World of Illuison. Aladdin is cartoon perfect whilst World Of Illusion is just a beautifully made, mysterious, charming game- everyone should play it. There have no better Disney games made since.

    Edited by 1 at 30/11/08 @ 21:55

  • m0thr4 #124 3 years ago

    Some of my Favourite MD games (excluding the very obvious ones):

    Road Rash
    The Immortal
    Ranger X
    Krusty's Super Fun House
    Landstalker
    Speedball 2 (I preferred this one to the Amiga version)
    Chaos Engine
    Story of Thor
    Gynoug
    Hellfire
    Edited by 1 at 03/12/08 @ 15:22

  • Ryze #125 3 years ago

    picnic

    World of Illusion is indeed fantastic.