GENESIS / SEGA CD |
Ah, the Genesis - the black beast of gaming! I have so many fond Genesis & Sega CD memories. I despise hearing people go around saying Sega CD was a failure of a system. On the contrary! Now that Sega CD (and 32X) are common forms of video game emulation, people are getting a chance to play all the games they missed. As the result, people are seeing how awesome of a system it really is. Sega CD has some of the greatest games ever made!
• You need a Genesis emulator in order to play these games. You can download it from my site right here!
• I have printable case covers for the Sega CD games covered here. Click here to view them.
GENESIS
Adventure of Batman & Robin, The
Like the SNES version of "The Adventures of Batman & Robin", the Genesis version also pushes the system to its limit. It's incredible, somehow they pulled off mode 7-like special effects! In the first stage, the buildings stretch across in 3D perspective as you're running. In the Two Face stage, the tower and buildings lean left and right. When you're battling against the Cheshire Cat, its giant head rotates left and right. I get wet just thinking about it. As for the battle system, they went down a Gunstar Heroes direction. In every stage you're tossing (exaggerated) batarangs against a constant barrage of enemies. The only exception is the flying stage, where they have a side-scrolling spaceship shooter thing going on. This game is one of those must-plays for the Genesis.
Castlevania Bloodlines
This game is a -must- if you're a fan of Castlevania. Like Super Castlevania IV, Konami pushed the Genesis to the limit with Castlevania Bloodlines; several stages make use of awesome effects. For example, the reflecting water in Atlantis shrine, the swaying Tower of Piza (looks like SNES mode 7 graphics!), the rotating Tower of Piza as you jump on the hovering platforms, the boss of the German factory (looks 3D!). This is the only Castlevania title where you can choose from two characters in the beginning. The game is much easier if you choose the other guy with the spear. You have the usual bundle of special weapons, but to make things different, they added a special little secret with the special weapons. If you collect all of them one after another, you gain the super holy water! Be careful though - you lose it if you get hit. The soundtrack is magnificent; I still listen to several of its songs casually. I highly recommend this game!
Columns
Ah, good 'ol classic Columns! Along with Tetris, Dr. Mario and Puzzle Bobble, Columns is one of the most popular and longest-lasting puzzle games in the video gaming world. The premise is simple: combine jewels with similar colors to make them disappear.
Columns III: Revenge of the Columns
Totally skipping a part 2, Columns jumps to part 3 - revenge of the columns!!! Columns 3 makes its macthes a "battle" with various creatures. They even threw in a little story; you're traveling through an ancient pyramid, battling against the creatures you encounter. It's neat.
Gunstar Heroes
Without a doubt, Gunstar Heroes is one of the best games for the Genesis! It's just incredibly, insanely fun. It's one of those games that push the Genesis to its limits. The stages are very original, with lush, beautiful, crisp graphics. The weapon system offers a great deal of variety by giving you the ability to "fuze" weapons to create new ones. Sega has made sure to include this game with collection re-releases for newer systems. I highly recommend it.
The Haunting Starring Polterguy
This game is totally one of the most original and unique I've ever played! You control a ghost who seeks revenge against an evil family. Your job is to drive them out of their house(s) by scaring them. You do so by possessing various items within household to create a scare (because they can't see you). Like possessing a piece of furniture would cause something to fly out from it and possessing an object would make it come alive in some way or another. But you need to be quick with the scaring because you're running on ecto (think of it as fuel). It slowly decreases as time passes. You're awarded more ecto after you scare one of the people out of a room. The more scares you did, the more ecto you get. If you run out of ecto then you're instantly transported to the netherworld (or Hell, whatever it is) where you have to survive its depths to regain enough ecto to go back to the surface. The graphics of The Haunting are nicely crisp and detailed. The characters are heavily animated! The music consists of the Genesis' famous recognizable tones (like the sound that plays when X-Men 1's logo appears, that's what I'm talking about). The only drawback is that Haunting gets repetitive pretty fast. At times it could also get frustrating because sometimes you find yourself visiting the underworld too often (when you lose all your ecto) and when family members keep on going back n' forth from the same two rooms.
Kid Chameleon
A definite Genesis classic! This game is a great platformer turned puzzler, with action too. Upon picking up special items, you transform into various characters with special abilities. For example, there's the knight that allows you to scale walls, or the "Maniaxe" that transforms you into Michael Meyers and lets you throw axes. The puzzle element comes in with the many boxes scattered throughout stages. Some shoot out arrows when you touch them and activate other blocks, require thought, as they may activate arrows that fly back and hit you. Other difficulties are the crazy enemies, the weird level design, and random warp zones that can transport you to alternate stages, providing ton of ways to beat the same level. What I like best about Kid Chameleon is that it's very video game-ish. In other words, it's a shining example of a well-rounded good classic.
Mega Man: The Wily Wars
A compilation of NES Mega Man 1-3 with improved graphics and animation so well done that you'd swear these games were originally released for the Genesis! This game was released rather quietly and late in the Genesis' life, so it is not very well known. It's incredibly awesome!! Experiencing our favorite Mega Man classics in 16-bit is just... incredible. I'm at a loss for better words, haha. Go play it!
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sega deceives people with their 'Sonic collection' releases! Sonic the hedgehog for Genesis is -not- the first Sonic the Hedgehog - its Sonic the Hedgehog for Sega Master System that was first. For some reason they neglect to include it in those Sonic collection bundles they've been releasing for PC and recent consoles. Anyway, Sonic the Hedgehog is a wonderful game and a must if you're a fan of Sonic. Once it was released it was included as the bundled game with the Genesis system (if I remember correctly, "Altered Beast" was original bundled game when Genesis was first released). Sonic the hedgehog is a well made game. Its not too hard or too easy. The stages always hold interest and have interesting little surprises here and there. The boss battles with Robotnic are fun. The soundtrack is pretty good for early Genesis.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a major improvement! Even when compared to Sonic 3, its graphics and animation are still very impressive. From what I've experienced in Sega fan communities, I think its safe to say that Sonic 2 is the #1 game for the Genesis. Its just perfect; it excels in every area. The fun factor is very high. It's variety-filled stages give the game replay value. The soundtrack is awesome. The challenge is a bit higher than with Sonic 1, but its not ridiculously hard. You can play as Tales (Miles), and you can even play as Knuckles if you use the Sonic & Knuckles add-on (or download the hacked R0M with Sonic & Knuckles combined with Sonic 2). The 2-player vs stages are ridiculously fun, too!
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
I think Sonic 2 is more entertaining, but Sonic 3 is still awesome. The quality of the graphics is about the same as Sonic 2, just a slightly different style. Instead of the boring old shield there are three cool shields with special moves for you to stumble upon: the fire shield, the water shield, and the volt shield. With the fire shield, pressing the jump button in mid-air shoots you horizontally. With the water shield, pressing the jump button in mid-air makes you bounce a bit on the ground. The volt shield attracts rings to you like a magnet. Stages are continuous; when you beat one stage you're already at the entrance of the next one. Besides what I've just mentioned, Sonic 3 is your typical Sonic game. Lots of eye candy, high fun factor, great soundtrack, etc.
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic & Knuckles is like an extension of Sonic 3; like a "Sonic & Knuckles: Sonic 3 part 2". It has the same items, same graphics/animation style, same type of stage layouts, etc. The only exclusive difference is that you can play with either Sonic or Knuckles. With the Sonic & Knuckles cart Sega experimented with a new "lock-on technology", which is best explained with a scan of the box. Hackers have hacked into Sonic & Knuckles and merged it with Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, allowing us emulation enthusiasts to benefit from the lock-on technology. You can download them below.
Splatterhouse 2
Ah, Splatterhouse 2... the sequel to the gory mega-hit arcade platformer. It's a (very) basic beat 'em up platformer. Just as the title suggests, the game involves a great deal of splattering as you mash away at enemies. Along the way you pick up temporary special weapons, like a rod that splatters enemies against the wall and a rifle that splatters enemy guts everywhere. I like the dark graphics and eerie atmosphere. I wouldn't call this a great game, but it's a definite Genesis classic worth playing.
Splatterhouse 3
They took a different turn with Splatterhouse 3 and made it more like a street fighter. It's not so much a linear platformer either. This time around you travel around rooms in search of the stage's boss. Once defeated you can progress to the next stage. The story is illustrated through gorgeous graphics. Overall, despite the game's enhancements, I still kind of like Splatterhouse part 1 and 2 better.
X-Men
X-Men kicks MAJOR ASS!! This is the best X-Men game ever made!!! >_< Play as Cyclops, Gambit, Wolverine, or Nightcrawler. They all have their usual powers, especially Nightcrawler's ability to teleport. You have the ability to summon other X-Men to assist you (only a couple times each). X-Men like Rogue, Storm, Iceman, and Archangel. Ah, but for us emulation enthusiasts, X-Men has one drawback. At the end of the Mojo's World stage you need to 'reset the system' in order to continue, which calls for you to literally reset the Genesis. This may or may not be a problem for you, depending on the emulator you're using.
• Kega Fusion, the #1 Genesis emulator, has a soft reset feature. :) You'll have no problem continuing with this emulator. |
Anyway, X-Men is a really good game. The way it's put together makes me so nostalgic of the Genesis. Also, it's quite loyal to the famous 90's X-Men cartoon series. After all this game was released during the height of its popularity.
SEGA CD
Android Assault: The Revenge of Bari-Arm
A typical awesome shooter. Great graphics, great music, nifty weapons upgrade system, neat animated sequences, etc. The works.
Fahrenheit
If you ever wanted to know what it's like to be a firefighter, then now's your chance! =P I think this the most realistic Digital Pictures title yet! You actually move through a real burning house in real-time. The way it works is that a short movie plays, then during it you have the option to go 3 different directions. If you take too long deciding then the game will choose a direction for you. In certain situations you need to assist your fellow firefighter with breaking down a door or showing him which valve to turn. Unlike other Digital Pictures games, this one has its sequences at full screen! It's neat. Although it's not really a favorite game of mine. I only added it here just because I like to look at live action Sega CD screen shots.
Keio Flying Squadron
It's a "silly shooter" like Parodius, but with excellent CD quality music and animated sequences! =D You control a teenage girl dressed like a Playboy bunny who rides an asexual dragon that can reproduce with itself and give birth to several baby dragons per second. Sounds exciting, eh? ^_^;; The weapon system is somewhat limited, but I think it's good enough. Several of its songs are great!
Mansion of Hidden Souls
This game is pretty cool! It's completely pre-rendered in 3D. The point of it is to go around solving puzzles to save your sister from turning into a butterfly. There are only a couple instances where you can die, or get turned into a butterfly. You meet various wandering butterfly souls in the rooms you explore. Some try to make you stay there, some warn you about dangers to try to scare you and some try to help you. I think it's very much worth playing. Yeah the screen shots look really grainy, but there's a lot of animation to go along with them when you walk around. The only drawback is that you can beat this game in like 20 minutes.
Masked Rider
Masked Rider is one of those cheesy Power Rangers-like Japanese shows. This particular game is based off of the Masked Rider movie. Playing this game is like playing Dance Dance Revolution, you need to be pressing certain buttons when the screens tell you to. If you don't press it in time or press another one then you lose health. Lose too much health and you die. Anyway, I think it's pretty cool. I love watching movie clips on Sega CD. It's definitely incredibly cheesy. XD But not as cheesy as Night Trap!
Night Trap
Night Trap is THE GREATEST GAME IN EXISTENCE. Seriously. You'll hear a lot of other people say it's one of the worst games ever made. Well, I say they're missing the point of the game, or they haven't played it all the way through. Night Trap is like an interactive cheesy 80's horror flick. The cheesy dialogue and bad acting is HILARIOUS. As for its gameplay, there are 8 rooms (front lawn, two hallways, bedroom, family room, kitchen, bathroom, staircase). The point of the game is to capture as many Augs (the people dressed in black) as possible. Each room has different activities going on at different times. The challenge comes in with the fact that you can only watch one room at a time. During the moment when you see an Aug in a room, you have one chance and one second to execute the trap to capture it. Another aspect of its challenge is that the traps will not work if your color code does not match the current color code of the trap system (there are 4 in total). It starts out Blue, but the enemy will change it a couple times throughout the game. The characters are real actors! It really does make the game feel like an interactive movie. I laughed my ass off watching those girls "party". It's so weird to see stuff like this in a video game. Night Trap is truly quite the unique game. Although it does have its drawbacks. One is the lack of replay value; capturing Augs gets repetitive. The other drawback is not being able to catch every aspect of the storyline in just one playing session. You have to play the game several times and explore different rooms at different times to catch all the events between characters. So yah, that's an overview of Night Trap. I have movie clips below with the 32X version if you want to see how the sequences are like.
Night Trap ~Sega CD 32X version
Night Trap was one of the very few games that had a Sega CD 32X release. Sega CD 32X games require you to own both the Sega CD and the 32X add-on. Fortunately, being able to experience these games are now much easier since Kega now has support for 'em. ^_^ The video quality with Night Trap 32X is definitely much better than the Sega CD version. Some instances have been changed around, so if you decide to use my Sega CD walkthrough for this version, expect it to be only around 80% accurate. But it's accurate enough for you to be able to beat the game with it.
*The "Full Movie!!" link leads to my complete Night Trap movie on YouTube! I captured all the sequences in Night Trap (excluding aug encounters and 'game over' sequences) and put them together as if it was a real movie. It's neat!
Sonic CD
Without a doubt, this is the most popular game for Sega CD - just because it's a Sonic title. =P The game is good, but not an extraordinary masterpiece as some people seem to project. Sonic 2 is much better, and has much better graphics. I've been told that Sonic CD and Sonic 2 were made at the same time by different teams. The Sonic CD team relied too much on making Sonic CD as successful as Sonic 1, because they made it a carbon copy of Sonic 1! Just look at the screen shots, that's SO Sonic 1. However, the exception to the carbon copy is the addition of a time travel system and an awesome CD quality soundtrack. The way the time travel system works is that if you hit a "Past" or "Future" post, then run really fast, you blast into the given time period and enter a different variation of the stage. The stage is themed to the time period. Like, if you enter the past version of the stage, everything is all clean and happy as if Robotnic has just barely touched the land with his evil. If you enter the future version of the stage, everything is all dark and post-apocalyptic as if Robotnic is on the brink of total domination. And this is the only CD game here that I have for download. The Download link below leads to my Classic CD RPGs subsite; I added Sonic CD as a bonus download.
Snatcher
Ever watched one of those 80's anime horror movies like Demon City, LILY Cat, or Wicked City? Snatcher is in the same style, except that it takes place in the future. There's even 80's anime-style bloody scenes! I'm not the type of person who's into games of this entirely-menu-based-solve-mysteries style of gameplay, like with NES Shadowgate and Sierra games and such, but Snatcher is... wow... it's GOOD, and it makes me feel so nostalgic of 80's anime horror. Figuring out what to do next is actually fairly easy (unlike evil Shadowgate). The majority of the game's dialogue is through real voices! That would explain why only a few of my Snatcher screen shots contain words. Beware, the game's storyline pulls you in! Its suspense grabs you by the balls, making you beg for more.
Supreme Warrior
This game is like an interactive Japanese martial arts movie. It begins with a bunch of warlords battling monks in a town. Then a powerful lightning guy comes in and demands the master monk to give him the other half of a mask of power. The master monk is too old to fight and all the other monks were injured from the battle, so now it's up to you! You need to defeat the bad guy's 3 warlords and all their minions first. The game plays movie sequences of people fighting you and you need to fight back with the right fighting moves at the right moments. I don't like this game much. >_< It involves too much quick thinking. And I want to point out that this game isn't really a favorite of mine. I only added it here just because I like to look at live action Sega CD screen shots.
32X
Doom
Gotta love Doom! The first person shooter that started it all. There's not much to Doom, you just run around collecting keys to progress through the stage and find the exit. Along the way you pick up an array of sexy weapons to blast away the monsters that block your path. Doom for 32X is one of many ports. If you're heavy into Sega nostalgia as I am, then I highly recommend playing 32X Doom. If not, then you're probably better off playing the better quality N64 or PSX ports. If you really want to get hardcore, then play the SNES version of Doom! ;D
SEGA CD (SPOOF)
Jim Henson's Labyrinth
Utilizing the power of Adobe Photoshop, I put together mock media as if there was a Sega CD game for Jim Henson's fantasy masterpiece, Labyrinth. Looks accurate, eh? :) The added grain to the movie screen captures really does make it look like Sega CD movie quality. It would be really awesome if this actually existed.
Lord of the Rings ~Movie Trilogy
Utilizing the power of video editors, I edited the first Lord of the Rings movie trailer to look as if it was rendered with the Sega CD video codec. It's all grainy and watered-down with Sega CD's color limitations. Cool huh?! :) I think I did a pretty cool job. It is the result of a noise filter and a really low Quicktime MOV setting. It definitely makes me feel nostalgic of Sega CD movie quality!
*The MOVIE link below leads to my movie in Flash video. It's 8.42 MB and it requires Flash Player 7 or higher. After it ends it will stop; click the screen if you wish to replay it.
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