Sega Appreciation Thread

Seeing as Sega have decided to pretty much give up (ish), I figured I'd start a thread to recall all the good times Sega have brought us. That way, the other thread can be for discussing Sega's future etc and this one can be a Sega circle-jerk.

Some Sega highlights for me:

Sega Rally

I still consider this one of the best racing games around. Played it yesterday since I have my Saturn out and it's still great fun. The handling hasn't aged at all and is still a really tight racing game.

Skies of Arcadia

My favourite RPG of all time. Everything is just perfect; the style, ,the plot, the characters, the setting, the sense of adventure. I've been meaning to play the Gamecube version, but haven't got around to it yet.

Panzer Dragoon Saga

I can't give this the fair review it deserves because I haven't actually completed it. I had the demo released with the official Sega Saturn magazine, which was actually the first disc of the game. I played it like crazy, but only managed to get a copy of the full game recently due to it's rarity/price. So far it's shaping up to be great though. I already find myself getting attached to the dragon. Well worth the 17 year wait.

Shenmue

I think this was the first game to ever make me cry. I think I completed it (and also the sequel) over a single weekend. The world felt like a proper community, with everyone feeling connected. Still holding out for a sequel, but I doubt it will ever come. Unfortunately, with the wait we've had, I can't see it being anything other than a disappointment though.

Burning Rangers

I played it again recently and to be honest, it plays like pixellated shit. At the time though, it was one of my favourite games. I blame it for my secret desire to be a firefighter. Don't think current situations call for jetpacks though...

Sonic 2

Pretty much my go-to game during my pre-teen years.

Sonic Adventure

The first game I played on the Dreamcast and still one of my favourites today. In fact it's become an Extra Life tradition for me to play it as the first game of the marathon. If Mike's present, we also race. He'll beat me one day, but not anytime soon.

Christmas Nights

Played it every Christmas for as long as the Saturn was my main console. Probably one of my most nostalgic aspects of Christmas. For a disc given away with a magazine, this one had some serious playtime. The intro above, however, is utter toss. I don't recall watching it that much thankfully.

Jet Set Radio Future

I never really cared for the original much, but I played Future way too much. I think I even got 100% on it. I was always into inline skating as a kid, so this one was a no-brainer. The cel shading and music was just the Japanese icing on the cake. I still have the soundtrack on in my car occasionally.

And finally...

DAYYYTTTOOOONNNAAAAA!

SEGA certainly played a memorable role during my childhood but their influence on me largely dwindled over the years since playing my friend's Mega Drive.

Sonic, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage II, Golden Axe, Shinobi III, Super Hang On and World Cup Italia '90 were all superb fun to play with my friends and certainly provided something a little different to the awesome Super Nintendo that me and my brother owned

I never played a Sega Saturn until very briefly a few years ago so basically missed out on SEGA that generation though I have owned a Dreamcast for a good few years now and managed to play some great games on it, including Sega Rally 2, Virtua Tennis, Shenmue I & II, Rez, Jet Set Radio, Daytona USA 2001 and Skies of Arcadia, amongst a few slightly lesser titles. It's a great console

Unfortunately, for me, SEGA basically died when the Dreamcast did I can barely remember anything particularly good from them in the time since, perhaps with the exception of the original Super Monkey Ball and, of course, the work they done on F-Zero GX on Gamecube. Sonic 4: Episode I managed to tap into a little of that classic Mega Drive magic on Wii but it's the only good Sonic game I've played in nearly 20 years, apart from the original 16-Bit titles. Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle are certainly OK, particularly the latter which I definitely had fun with at times, but Sonic's other 3D adventures are pretty awful. Even the games in the series that are supposed to be good, such as Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations don't really do anything for me

To be honest, I don't really miss SEGA any more. They gave me considerable joy growing up and the odd injection of fun here and there since, but I don't really value their output these days and am content to relive those classic moments now and again rather than hope for something new from them.

Nintendo may get criticised, perhaps rightly in some cases, for being archaic in the way they do things but it's difficult to question the quality of their games over the years and how well they have continued to reinvigorate franchises that have been around for decades. SEGA, unfortunately, didn't maintain that level of quality.. nowhere near it, in fact. Just look at Sonic now, for instance

I kinda wish Nintendo had bought them in order to get them working on some much-needed sports titles for Wii U

Funny how one 6 second video can take you back to your childhood.

I have so many Sega memories that I could easily write an massive essay on the subject. Here's a couple of early ones to get things rolling.

My first memories of a Mega Drive is of my oldest brother buying one and playing Shining in the Darkness. I used to sit for ages just watching him play it and mapping all of the dungeons down on grid paper.

He also had a game called E-Swat.

Brilliant game that I actually finished when I was off sick from school one day.

It would still be a while before I got a Mega Drive myself ( me and my other brother went the SNES route ) but one of my best mates as a kid got a Mega Drive for his birthday. We used to play games like Sonic, Altered Beast, ToeJam and Earl and Rambo III on a regular basis. We never did finish ToeJam and Earl and it wasn't until it came to the Wii on the VC that I would finally see the ending screen.

I remember going to stay with his dad at Newcastle one weekend. His dad decided to buy him a game while we were there. We went into the gaming shop and my mate picked up Chuck Rock. I told him it looked rubbish and he should get this.

He decided to listen to me and we ended up playing that for the rest of the day. Brilliant co-op game.

Man, I wanna play me some Mega Drive games now.

*heads to ebay and has a look at some consoles*

I've no regrets of choosing a Mega Drive over a SNES back around 95/96. It was the go-to console of that era, and i loved each minute of playing it. Had many late night sessions, and my friends loved playing on it when they came over. Some highlights of my time of the Mega Drive include.

Sonic the Hedgehog Quadrilogy (1, 2, 3 and Knuckles)

This series of games were awesome. I found the 1st Sonic in a car-boot sale at a market (which came complete with that legendary cheat code allowing level selection). Spent so, so many hours playing it and getting all the Chaos Emeralds. Ended up borrowing Sonic 2 and Sonic and Knuckles from my cousin (who ended up giving both to me as he was selling the console to get a PlayStation) and picked up Sonic 3 for my Birthday a few months after getting Knuckles. Learning the awesome power of the "lock-on" feature between 3 and Knuckles, that was great. Learning that both these games combined to make the full game that it was meant to be was something. And then learning that both Sonic 2 and the original Sonic had features doing the lock-on (Sonic 2 being played as Knuckles, Sonic having the special stages). So many memories.

Streets of Rage II

More on the 2nd than the 1st, it was the perfect 2 player co-op game whenever i had friends over. I loved it, and it was always a race whom played as Axel and Max.

Other games worthy of a mention are Ecco the Dolphin, Micro Machines (the one with the extra 2 control ports in the cartridge), Golden Axe, World Cup Italia 90 and Super Hang On. All fantasic games. I did have that 1 game my Mum loved playing, which was Columns.

Didn't have a Saturn or a Dreamcast as i went back to Nintendo's home consoles with the N64 and Gamecube, kind of regret not going down that route over Nintendo. May have to dig out the ol Mega Drive (it's in my attic somewhere), give it a clean and fire it up.

The other thread made so sad, I couldn't even post there :weep:I know I'm usually a Nintendo fan, but Sega got to me first (Much like with Grazza)

Sega is king among Portuguese gamers. It absolutely monopolized the console market back in the day, before Playstation arrived. Even after the Dreamcast's demise, older videogame fans were still fond of Sega, and paid respect to any release (for example, giving plenty of magazine space to Panzer Dragoon Orta, when US or UK magazines thought of it as a cult game at best).

Mega Drive was my first true contact with videogames. I played Sonic so much when I was little, and I didn't even own it yet. I played it at my cousins'.

 

Still one of the best final bosses of all time

Even though most of the Sega games I played back then were the Sonic (quasi-)trilogy, Sega pretty much found a place in my heart. One of my cousins eventually got a Sega Saturn, and I learned what Virtua Fighter and Virtua Cop were. I remember loving Virtua Fighter at the time, but Virtua Cop brings fonder memories, now. You could shoot from your house, that was pretty awesome. I also played NiGHTS, which I thought was wonderful, despite not actually figuring out how to play

 

Those cops were so Virtua

When the Dreamcast was released, I remember being excited for it. No one I knew had it, but I played plenty of demos in shops and the like. I remember there being a boxing game, and Sonic Adventure, and Chu Chu Rocket, and... so much stuff! The Dreamcast was a fine console, and only later did I learn what had happened

I eventually got back into current consoles, getting a Gamecube (now that I think of it, it had a lot in common with the Dreamcast). I got to play Skies of Arcadia, one of the best RPGs ever A Portuguese forum I used to go to was made up mostly of Sega fans, who regularly spoke well of Shenmue and Panzer Dragoon (shame that I never got to play those games). I even remember there being a character popularity contest, with Gilder from Skies of Arcadia cruising to victory, crushing Sephiroth in the finals

 

I know, right? Good times.

I also learned of Monkey Ball and Billy Hatcher (even if I never owned those games). I did play House of the Dead: Overkill for the Wii, which was a nice throwback to the Saturn days, and a hint of hope that the Sega of old still existed, sense of humour and fun .

What I also went for was F-Zero GX. God, what a game. Nintendo still feels like it can't surpass it, and they don't even need to! Just port it with online functionalities, HD if you must, but c'mon Nintendo!

 

Sega would've done it...

Looking back, Sega was so ambitious, so ahead of its time. Trying to compete with Nintendo in the home console department, releasing a handheld with colour and backlight, introducing CD gaming, memory cards, trying to get online functionalities in 2001 (!)...

Sega is king among Portuguese gamers. It absolutely monopolized the console market back in the day, before Playstation arrived. Even after the Dreamcast's demise, older videogame fans were still fond of Sega, and paid respect to any release (for example, giving plenty of magazine space to Panzer Dragoon Orta, when US or UK magazines thought of it as a cult game at best).

It was the same over here in the UK. Most Brits chose the Mega Drive over the SNES.

Even though most of the Sega games I played back then were the Sonic (quasi-)trilogy, Sega pretty much found a place in my heart. One of my cousins eventually got a Sega Saturn, and I learned what Virtua Fighter and Virtua Cop were. I remember loving Virtua Fighter at the time, but Virtua Cop brings fonder memories, now. You could shoot from your house, that was pretty awesome.

 

Those cops were so Virtua

Yup, loved me some Virtua Cop. Playing with the bundled lightgun felt like I was playing in the arcades. Playing it in 2 player mode was amazing and had some great times with my mates playing this, huddled around a small TV. I like them both but I always preferred the original over the sequel.

When the Dreamcast was released, I remember being excited for it. No one I knew had it, but I played plenty of demos in shops and the like. I remember there being a boxing game, and Sonic Adventure, and Chu Chu Rocket, and... so much stuff! The Dreamcast was a fine console, and only later did I learn what had happened

I imagine the boxing game was Ready 2 Rumble, which was absolutely amazing.

I remember getting my Dreamcast from my local Currys on launch day. I also snapped up issue 0 of the official magazine a month or two before the consoles release. I would spend ages just looking at the screenshots and re-reading the articles.

I first read about the tragic news of the death of the Dreamcast while reading Digitiser on channel 4 teletext one morning. I remember going to work absolutely gutted that Sega were leaving the hardware business.

I got to play Skies of Arcadia, one of the best RPGs ever I even remember there being a character popularity contest, with Gilder from Skies of Arcadia cruising to victory, crushing Sephiroth in the finals

 

 

I know, right? Good times.

Easily one of the greatest JRPGs ever to have been released. Great plot, amazing setting, fantastic characters and sublime soundtrack made for one hell of a game. I never finished the Dreamcast version ( I owned and I played it though ) but I did manage to finish it on the GameCube. Yes, Glider is THE man.

I imagine the boxing game was Ready 2 Rumble, which was absolutely amazing.

Yeah, that's the one I knew there was a number in there that had nothing to do with it being a sequel or not

Man, I feel like revisiting something Sega when I get back home.

I spent the 1980s playing on home computers like the Sinclair Spectrum and Amstrad CPC 464. I'd invite my friends round, plug in two joysticks and slot the cassette in. Oh, how eagerly we waited as the tape screeched and groaned, until eventually the game had loaded. Double Dragon! Gauntlet! Bad Dudes vs Dragonninja! The title screen appeared, we'd press start and... and... desperately try to convince ourselves that the collection of lines and pixels bore a resemblance to the coin-ops!

Maybe I'm an ungrateful sod, but home computer games not matching their arcade equivalents was one of the most frustrating things to me as a kid! Then, one day I went into Comet and saw the Sega Mega Drive running Altered Beast. It was a revelation. From that moment on, to me the Mega Drive was the most desirable piece of consumer electronics imaginable. 16 bits! In my mind, it was better because it had 16 "bits" making it up!

Christmas 1991 arrived and I was lucky enough to get one, as did another of my school friends. Ironically, I had become a little bit out of touch with arcade games at that particular time, but my friends assured me Golden Axe was a safe buy. They were right! I received that game along with the Mega Drive on Christmas Day and took it round my friend's (long story). When the title screen loaded up, I knew I had made the right choice.

Apart from Altered Beast and Golden Axe, another game that made the early days for me was Ghouls & Ghosts - one of the few "hard" games I actually have patience for. I also had Revenge of Shinobi, although my Nintendo-loving neighbour liked it more than I did.

One other of my neighbour's had also received the Mega Drive that Christmas. Whereas I was a violent little git and liked fighting games, she preferred platformers. From her, I borrowed Castle of Illusion, Quackshot, Fantasia and, of course, Sonic the Hedgehog. I think the one I borrowed the most from her, though, might have been Robocod - a curious "little" game that you could get lost in for hours.

I used to visit a shopping mall in Ilford a lot, which had a Virgin Games shop. Imagine my excitement when one day I went in and saw they had a brand new game - Golden Axe 2! It was a bit strange I had not seen a review (or even a preview) in a magazine, but the fact they got it into the shops so quickly meant it must have been good, right...?

In all honesty it was not a bad game at all, just rushed and uninspired. It didn't really matter though as it was perfectly playable and, like its predecessor, offered plenty of 2-player fun. When I was back home, my friend called round for a bike ride. I showed him the game case, however, and we played that for an hour or instead. See, even then, Sega was saving us from getting fresh air!

It wasn't just consoles though. In 1991, Sega brought Spider-Man to arcades (courtesy of its System 32 board) - quite possibly the greatest beat-'em-up ever made. Presumably licensing issues are a reason this hasn't been seen since, but if Sega and Marvel could work out some sort of deal to bring this to various eShops, I'd be their greatest fan.

In 1993, I went with two friends to the local seaside arcades. Our jaws dropped as, in front of us, was Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder. Like Spider-Man, this was a 4-player game on the System 32 board. 4-player! Unlike the Mega Drive's Golden Axe 2, this was completely brilliant. We blasted away at it, then argued for ages whether to call it Golden Axe 2 or 3, before deciding on "Golden Axe 2/3".

1st Friend: "Maybe it's Golden Axe 2/3?"

Me: "Yeah, right..."

2nd Friend: (laughs so hard he spits out his lemonade)

I can't finish talking about the Mega Drive without mentioning Landstalker (also released at the end of 1993). Like a Sega version of Zelda, this took you to a mysterious island and offered countless dungeons and villages. I was in love.

The thing about Sega was that it wasn't just about consoles - it was about consoles, peripherals and arcade hardware. Although games magazines became rather sterile later on, back then you could flick through one and have no idea what you'd see - VR, the Mega CD, Wonder Mega, Multi-Mega, the 32X, new arcade boards... It's no exaggeration to say Sega was like a less weird version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. It genuinely gave me things to hope for as a teenage lad.

The Polygon Era raised its head, and Sega was at the forefront once again. It's hard to understand how amazing Virtua Racing was at the time, even featuring on the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year. Imagine a game interesting enough to feature on it now. Personally, I was a fan of Sega's Model 1 games more than Model 2 (or indeed, Model 3), but I enjoyed them all to some extent. Like the Mega Drive before it, the main thing that excited me about the Saturn was its ability to run very close copies of arcade games - in this case, Virtua Fighter.

I was now a late teenager, and I spent these years playing the Saturn and following Sega's coin-ops. However, times were changing. Whereas I always stuck up for Sega and the Saturn, most other people were convinced that Namco and the PlayStation were superior. I could see which way the wind was blowing.

I won't say too much about the Dreamcast or the late Saturn games, apart from that Panzer Dragoon Saga and Skies or Arcadia are as good as people say (I love the dragon/ship battles - genuinely a new level of strategy).

Whereas my appreciation of Nintendo is based on the admiration of their craft (and how well they put Mario and Zelda into 3D), my appreciation of Sega is based on pure affection. Only now are we really getting copies of Sega arcade games that really run like they should (M2's 3D Classics range) and so, if Sega never hits the heights again, I say "Thanks for the memories" and hopefully we'll be able to fully experience and appreciate their back catalogue in this downloadable age.

Ah SEGA, I don't remember why I wanted a Game Gear to start with but I definitely remember going to buy it and spending a ridiculous amount of time playing with it. I had it from Toys R Us for my birthday when I was probably 7 or 8 years old, I remember getting the little tickets for the console, Sonic and a Spiderman game then having to wait at a special counter to pick them up after having paid. For the next couple of years all of my presents were either games or accessories to go with it.

The real start of my SEGA love was the Mega Drive though. A couple of years later I had a Mega Drive 2, Royal Rumble and Mega Games 1 for a birthday. I wasn't able to have too many games at this point, with Sonic and Knuckles being the only game I added to this collection, but I was allowed to have one game rental every week from Blockbusters, which lead to many many hours of various games being played, though nothing quite beat the 2 player fun I had with my best mate playing Royal Rumble and World Cup Italia 90. They may not have been the best of games but to us they provided the best times two friends could have. The end of my Primary School years is basically memories of those games, riding bikes and watching/re-enacting various WWF events.

I wouldn't say I really kept up to date on games during this period, but one summer, around the time of me starting secondary school my family went away to Spain, it was my first ever holiday abroad and to see me and my sister through the more boring parts we went to buy some magazines beforehand. I picked up a couple of games magazines. This is where I first heard of the SEGA Saturn, and for two weeks I didn't stop going on about how amazing it was, the great games and how much better it was than the current Mega Drive in the house. We got home and it was almost my birthday, so off we went and bought a console, Virtua Fighter 2, SEGA Rally and Athlete Kings.

Wow!

Of course VF2 and SEGA Rally were utterly amazing, but the multiplayer of Athlete Kings again provided hours and hours of gaming for me and my best friend.

It was around this time that I started to receive and allowance, I negotiated with my Dad for £45 per month, coincidentally the same amount of money as a nice new Saturn game cost. From here on in I was a gamer...

I would say at one point or another I owned pretty much every Saturn game worth having, though my absolute favourites would have to be:

NiGHTS / Christmas NiGHTS

This was just amazing, I play this game as often as I can, and Christmas isn't the same without a blast on the Christmas version. When I completed this with all perfect ranks I ran to get my sister and we sat through the ridiculous 20 minute special ending song going crazy - I loved it.

Virtual On

This was robot fighting at it's best, I always wished I had the twin sticks to go with it but it wasn't to be. The music was utterly amazing, listening to the track below makes me love video games again.

Fighters Megamix

Still my favourite fighter of all time, it may not have had the tightest of gameplay styles but the amount of content and special SEGA touches made all of that forgivable. Having so much great content saw me get lost in this game for hours and hours and hours.

SEGA Worldwide Soccer 97

At the time this was absolutely amazing, I was glad I had a Saturn to be able to play it. Another game my best friend and I spent hours and hours playing, even before the launch we played the one half demo for months waiting. In later years we would play co-op world cup on extra hard as the ultimate challenge. It was pure joy when we won that for the first time.

Sonic R

This game wasn't even very good, but we played it all the time purely for the music.

Street Racer

A (cheap looking back on it) imitation of Mario Kart. It rocked though, so many hours of fun with this unlocking everything and finding out absolutely every hidden thing.

Virtua Fighter 1, Remix, 2, Kids

Loved these, especially the ridiculousness of Virtua Fighter Kids. Just a generally awesome fighter game series.

Virtua Cop 2

Best gun game ever.

Winter Heat

Crazy characters from Athlete Kings come back for more action at the winter olympics.

There were many many more games I loved on the Saturn, but I can't really go into them all. For me it's the best console of all time - I love it.

Of course when the time came I got myself a Dreamcast, I was so excited! I think I was the first or second pre-order in my local Electronics Boutique at the time. My Mom picked it up for me on day 1 as I was at school, playing Sonic Adventure and SEGA Rally 2 for the first time was a real thing of beauty.

By this time I was busy with school, soon to be doing A-Levels, and the N64 had won out as the breaktime console. I still bought pretty much every game going, but the Dreamcast's limited time was all too short. As is probably the case for many my fondest memory was playing through Shenmue 1 and 2, being blown away by the level of detail that game contained.

After the Dreamcast I continued to look out for SEGA games wherever they popped up. Without SEGA the Gamecube would not have been as good as it ultimately was. Super Monkey Ball was, for me, the best launch game, and the other content SEGA put out on that console was really back to their glory days for me.

Even now there is great content coming out of SEGA, while it might not be as frequent as it was in the past there is still something distinctly 'SEGA' about many games they put out. I'll continue to be a fan!

£45 a month!!!! I was lucky to get a quid a week off my parents when I was younger. Luckily I had a paper round to front the cost of my gaming habits.

Glad to see some love for Athlete Kings. That game was legendary, not only was the gameplay fantastic but the characters were amazing as well. I'll never forget the " I'm number one! " guy.

I feel like this thread is incomplete without this:

Being a terminator fan I always loved this advert;

Also made all the games look amazing. As it would happen I'm reading this at the moment;

Making me all the more sad that Sega keep getting further and further way from being that company.

 

What I also went for was F-Zero GX. God, what a game. Nintendo still feels like it can't surpass it, and they don't even need to! Just port it with online functionalities, HD if you must, but c'mon Nintendo!

 

 

Sega would've done it...

 

It's utterly heart-breaking that the greatest racing game ever to appear on a Nintendo console was made by SEGA. Have to love the irony.

I got back into my Dreamcast when I was bored with the WiiU last year and have realised how it was such a good system. Jet Set Radio is awesome and I'm going to start Space Channel 5 at some point. After that...Shenmue, which I've never ever played.

I'm going to start Space Channel 5 at some point..

Let me know when you do as it may give me the incentive to play it : peace: It might be fun to share opinions on it

@Grazza, @Happenstance, @lostmario may be interested in this. Gaf have been voting for their top 10 Genesis/Mega Drive games and the results are in.

HERE

Pretty good list. I probably would have had some higher than others but overall I'd say its a good showing of the best Mega Drive games.

Pretty good list. I probably would have had some higher than others but overall I'd say its a good showing of the best Mega Drive games.

I would have had Shining in the Darkness, World of Illusion and Micro Machines at least in the top 20. But, yeah, good showing all round.

Earthworm Jim is a funny one. As much as I loved the original game I was thought the sequel was the better of the two. Possibly because there was no Water Pressure level in the sequel.

Earthworm Jim is a funny one. As much as I loved the original game I was thought the sequel was the better of the two. Possibly because there was no Water Pressure level in the sequel.

I dunno, EWJ2 had that horrible Pocket Rocket stage. And to some extent Jim's Now a Blind Cave Salamander, despite the amazing level name and "boss".

Then again it had stages like Udderly Abducted, and Level Ate.

I hated the water stage in the first one, I was stuck on that stage for ages.

I never played the Earthworm Jim games too much. I think it was one that I would watch friends on from time to time but that was about it.

I dunno, EWJ2 had that horrible Pocket Rocket stage. And to some extent Jim's Now a Blind Cave Salamander, despite the amazing level name and "boss".

 

Then again it had stages like Udderly Abducted, and Level Ate.

 

I hated the water stage in the first one, I was stuck on that stage for ages.

It was brutal. You would get so far and then end up in a panic, only for you to smash the sub at the final turn.

It was brutal. You would get so far and then end up in a panic, only for you to smash the sub at the final turn.

Exactly, it was always the same part I would die at. Either I ran out of air because I was being careful or I panicked and crashed. I only found the hidden air supply by accident, then it turned out I was right at the final part.

Ha! When I saw I had a mention, and saw this thread was active again, I knew it'd be in here!

For those who haven't seen neoGAF's list:

1. Streets of Rage 2 130

2. Gunstar Heroes 123

3. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 101

4. Sonic 3 & Knuckles 85

5. Phantasy Star 4 79

6. Shining Force 2 66

7. Contra: Hard Corps 63

8. The Revenge of Shinobi 62

9. Sonic The Hedgehog 59

10. Rocket Knight Adventures 56

11. Golden Axe 54

12. Castlevania Bloodlines 51

13. Streets of Rage/Shinobi 3 46

14. Aladdin 44

15. Ristar 43

16. Comix Zone/Phantasy Star 2 41

17. Toe Jam & Earl 36

18. Beyond Oasis(Story of Thor)/Land Stalker 35

19. Vectorman 33

20. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse 31

21. Lightning Force: Quest for the Darkstar (Thunderforce IV)30

22. Earthworm Jim 29

23. M.U.S.H.A./Shining Force 28

24. Wonderboy in Monsterworld/Ecco The Dolphin/Ghouls & Ghosts 27

25. Dynamite Headdy 24

26. Strider 22

27. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist/NHL 94 21

28 Crusader of Centy(Soleil)/Quackshot/Road Rash 2 20

29. Shadow Dancer 19

30. Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition 17

Nice to see they have some of the more obscure ones in there. I think their list sums up the Mega Drive at the time, which you can never quite match later on due to licensing issues.

I've emboldened my favourites, but my list would be something like this:

Landstalker - Utterly spellbinding adventure in which you travel to a strange island. The isometric graphics do present a few issues, but a handheld remake would be very welcome, especially a 3D Classics version.

Wonder Boy in Monster World - The 4th Monster World game. Sort of like Zelda II (but arguably better). Unlike in III, there are no animal transformations, but there is still a large, interconnected side-on overworld to explore. This series surely inspired Shantae and is one of the reasons I love those games so much (well, the 2nd and 3rd anyway).

Two Crude Dudes - Maybe not considered a "high quality" game, but this is Data East's spiritual successor to Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja. I loved throwing the cars around! "What a day..."

There are some I should have played, like Thunderforce IV, Beyond Oasis (Story of Thor), Light Crusader and TMNT: Hyperstone Heist.

Ah, the Mega Drive... a genuinely special console.

1. Streets of Rage 2 130

2. Gunstar Heroes 123

3. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 101

4. Sonic 3 & Knuckles 85

5. Phantasy Star 4 79

6. Shining Force 2 66

7. Contra: Hard Corps 63

8. The Revenge of Shinobi 62

9. Sonic The Hedgehog 59

10. Rocket Knight Adventures 56

11. Golden Axe 54

12. Castlevania Bloodlines 51

13. Streets of Rage/Shinobi 3 46

14. Aladdin 44

15. Ristar 43

16. Comix Zone/Phantasy Star 2 41

17. Toe Jam & Earl 36

18. Beyond Oasis(Story of Thor)/Land Stalker 35

19. Vectorman 33

20. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse 31

21. Lightning Force: Quest for the Darkstar (Thunderforce IV)30

22. Earthworm Jim 29

23. M.U.S.H.A./Shining Force 28

24. Wonderboy in Monsterworld/Ecco The Dolphin/Ghouls & Ghosts 27

25. Dynamite Headdy 24

26. Strider 22

27. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist/NHL 94 21

28 Crusader of Centy(Soleil)/Quackshot/Road Rash 2 20

29. Shadow Dancer 19

30. Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition 17

Bolding the ones I actually owned from that list

Two Crude Dudes - Maybe not considered a "high quality" game, but this is Data East's spiritual successor to Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja. I loved throwing the cars around! "What a day..."

Outstanding that you have played this. Although I never played the Mega Drive port, I did play the hell out of the arcade version. When I was a kid, myself and one of my older brothers would always play it when we were on holiday at Blackpool.

Outstanding that you have played this. Although I never played the Mega Drive port, I did play the hell out of the arcade version. When I was a kid, myself and one of my older brothers would always play it when we were on holiday at Blackpool.

We must have a similar psyche when it comes to beat-'em-ups. I remember seeing a preview of this in Sega Pro and became absolutely obsessed with getting it. I found it in a local arcade (Crude Buster), then bought the home version as soon as possible. I actually got the Genesis version, which was very unusual for me, but it was out in America first and I was so keen to have it.