The Top 153 Genesis Games Ever According to SnS - Part 2
by Sliders n' Socks

#100 Thunder Force II Chosen by: Layrinn Layrinn - The first Genesis game I had! Hey look, it's a top-down shooter where you can fly anywhere you want! No wait ... it's a side-scrolling shooter! OMG IT'S BOTH!

#99 Rolling Thunder 2 Chosen by: Pauncho Smith Pauncho Smith - Before stealth became a convention, being a spy in a videogame meant that you had carte blanche to look DAMNED SEXY while mowing down enough endless rows of motherfuckers to make Rizer and Bean look like bleeding-heart pacifists. At its core, Rolling Thunder 2 is a very basic side-scrolling shooter, and as is the case with many arcade-style shooters, this one is brutally difficult. You'll want to tough this one out however, since the game controls like a dream, the eclectic soundtrack has its fair share of earworms, and the plot can be endearingly goofy (seriously, an army of masked henchmen bio-engineered from fish, pure brilliance). This is a title that truly is more than the sum it its parts.

#98 General Chaos Chosen by: AdmiralMaxtreme AdmiralMaxtreme - A fantastic and fun strategy game that's perfect for multiplayer. There's nothing quite like the satisfaction of having your launcher instantly vaporize an opponent, leaving nothing but their skeleton. The game also serves as a rudimentary fighter with the "close combat" scenes, and the whole cartoony aesthetic adds a kind of manic feeling to the whole experience.

#97 Captain Tsubasa Chosen by: Cooltrainer Bret Cooltrainer Bret - If this game were English and if Soccer was a sport loved by Americans, this would be considered the best sports game in the history of any game console released before 1994, no question about it. It was made by TECMO, for christs sake. TECMO! While there are some creepy aspects, like the fact you are controlling a group of middle-school boys for the first half of the game, the plot, while not as bad as it could be for a sports RPG (Yes, you heard that right, the best type of sports game ever), is good enough to hold its own. The main character is a Japanese Middle-School soccer god who is so talented he can make a soccer ball defy physics and KNOCK GOALKEEPERS THE FUCK OUT! He also has an epilepsy-inducing dodge move, and can do the BICYCLE KICK~! His soccer team is basically trying to become the best in Japan, but a bunch of other soccer gods as good as he is stand in his way, so you have to BEAT THEM DOWN. While this game does suffer from the fact rosters are static and your goalkeeper is usually a clueless putz who has become infamous in the CT community for his near-mental [REDACTED]ation unless you level him up like hell, this game is TEN KINDS OF AWESOME and you should download it as soon as possible. If you've ever seen Shaolin Soccer, this is the game that inspired it.

#96 McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure Chosen by: Spyda K Spyda K - When I got a Genesis, my parents also tried to include my 6-year-old sister by buying some kid-friendly games for it. Barney's Hide and Seek Game was one, which is exactly what it sounds like, and the other was this. But behind the deceptive screen of the beloved fast food mascot was a platformer developed by Treasure. It wasn't the best platformer ever, but I was caught by surprise at how good this game was, considering that it involved rescuing Birdie and Grimace from monsters.

#95 Langrisser (JP) / Warsong (US) Chosen by: Ehow22 Ehow22 - It's an extremely enjoyable strategy game. I don't have as much experience with this as I do Shining Force but I still love it.

#94 Skitchin' Chosen by: AdmiralMaxtreme AdmiralMaxtreme - Grunge soundtrack, inline skates, flannel shirts, backwards baseball caps, outlaw "Skitcher" names overflowing with 'tude - This game is so from the '90s, it's not even funny. Overall, it's a pretty simple game, yet it manages to be consistently engaging from start to finish. And how can a game with all those warning screens at the beginning not be fun?

#93 Sparkster Chosen by: Rhete Rhete - While not as insane as its predecessor, Rocket Knight Adventures, Sparkster opts to focus more on large levels and a more refined jet-pack mechanic. It's got a few rough spots, but is still one of the finest action games on the system.

#92 The Adventures of Batman & Robin Chosen by: Spyda K Spyda K - While most superhero games of the 90's tended to revolve around side-scrolling melee combat, the Genesis version of Adventures of Batman and Robin feels more evocative of a Metal Slug game, though more forgiving in terms of difficulty. Don't get me wrong, the game is still plenty difficult, it just lacks Metal Slug's one-hit kills. Playing as Batman, Robin, or both characters co-op, players spend most of their time throwing various weapons at enemies to attack, though the same button is also used for melee attacks when an baddie is within range. The weapon you use depends on which power-up you collect from the environment, which gets more powerful for each additional one you collect, in a system that's strikingly reminiscent of shoot-em-ups like R-Type or Raiden. The game does a decent job of invoking the feeling of the animated series, using its character designs and familiar villains such as Harley Quinn, Joker and I'm sure plenty of others that I'll never see due to how brutal the game gets past the first few levels.

#91 Road Rash II Chosen by: Carmichael Micaalus Carmichael Micaalus - I think this was the first Genesis game I picked up when I got the system, and my brother and I played the hell out of it. Getting bikes with nitro, beating the hell out of people and police with chains while riding, the game was pretty awesome.

#90 Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team Chosen by: AdmiralMaxtreme AdmiralMaxtreme - Mix the awesome moves of Double Dragon with the villains and levels of Battletoads (and add in a streak of Battletoads difficulty) and you get a truly fantastic Beat 'em Up. It certainly isn't as hard as the original Battletoads, but it's by no means an easy game. This is one that I made periodic runs at for a long time. The only person who was more excited when my 24-year-old self finally beat the Dark Queen was my 11-year-old self.

#89 Lemmings Chosen by: KMD KMD - Like Cannon Fodder, the original Amiga version and all versions with mouse support are superior. Also like Cannon Fodder, who cares it still more or less works. Lemmings was all about doing a lot with very little, and the tiny three-colour guys are still as full of life as ever. The backgrounds are a little more garish, some voice clips are missing and the music is a tad shrill at times, but it's still more or less everything you'd expect out of one of the best puzzle games ever made. The sequel Lemmings 2 The Tribes was also ported over, but that game made things far too complex to be played well without a mouse, as well as changed the control scheme so it was less intuitive.

#88 Vay Chosen by: jetstorm4 jetstorm4 - Sega CD RPGs must rock, as this is the only one I've really played, and I love it. I really need to play more of them.

#87 Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter Chosen by: Zeloz Zeloz - Relatively unknown beat-em-up from Vic Tokai, I didn't even know this game existed until a few months ago. I was even more shocked to find that this game was actually localized for US markets, making this perhaps the only official Mazinger Z-anything I've seen in English, unaltered. The game itself is quite good, and quite hard.

#86 Whip Rush Chosen by: Rhete Rhete - Despite seeming like a pretty generic shooter at first, Whip Rush always manages to impress me with it's unique, almost platformer-inspired level design, that helps it stand out in a very crowded genre.

#85 El Viento Chosen by: Zeloz Zeloz - Fight depression-era mobsters as a scantily-clad, green-haired chick! Also known as Valis's more capable South American (I think?) cousin.

#84 Pulseman Chosen by: Zeloz Zeloz - The bouncing Volteccer takes some getting used to, but it's perhaps the best Pokemon game you'll ever play on a Genesis. Or something like that. Yeah.

#83 Shining Force CD Chosen by: Ehow22 Ehow22 - The first two Shining Force Gaiden game from the Game Gear with 2 additional books including an all boss battle similar to that of Shining Force 2. Since the original games only had battles and towns, this has no out-of-battle exploration.

#82 Ecco: The Tides of Time Chosen by: Pitchfork Pitchfork - Almost nothing but improvements. More variety. Less frustrations. No eardrum-rending dolphin shrieks. No Lagoon. No Dark Water. Still, I prefer the blank-slate simplicity of the original.

#81 The Lost World: Jurassic Park Chosen by: Aberrat Aberrat - Jawdropping graphic and sound, interesting mission system and... dinosaurs, of course!

#80 WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game Chosen by: Aberrat Aberrat - Perfect arcade port. Lot of fun, all 8 wrestlers (SNES got only 6) and no loadings. Never has the wrestling was not as fun (and maybe never will).

#79 Atomic Runner Chosen by: Polly Polly - I am the only person alive who really gives any kind of poop about this really inventive auto-scrolling run and gunner.

#78 Sonic CD Chosen by: jetstorm4 jetstorm4 - My favorite Sonic game. I love the exploration and time travel aspect this game has. It's quite easy, even to Sonic game standards. But getting that good ending takes skill. Both American and Japan/Europe soundtracks rock as well.

#77 Golden Axe III Chosen by: Aberrat Aberrat - Really love this beat'em up. Playing it like a... you know... reading books about swords and demons, dangerous amazons and brutal swordsmans. All that "deadly swamp" and "cave of thousand bones" make me happy that days.

#76 Brave Battle Saga: Legend of the Magic Warrior Chosen by: Zeloz Zeloz - Unlicensed Chinese RPGs kinda tend to suck a lot. This one's decidedly un-sucky, with pretty good music and a fast ATB battle system that keeps players on their toes.

#75 Langrisser II Chosen by: ommadawnyawn ommadawnyawn - When it comes to SRPGs I think this is as good as it gets for the MD, and it outshines the original (Warsong) in every way. Very challenging (dead characters stay dead), huge battles, character customization with cool classes like Summoner and Dragon Knight, a decent story with a lot of humour and twists, and excellent music. Only playable in English on an emulator afaik, but that's good because you'll want to be able to fastforward after a few battles anyway. Also: Chou Aniki cameo.

#74 Micro Machines: Turbo Tournament '96 Chosen by: ommadawnyawn ommadawnyawn - Not much to say about Micro Machines except that it's an excellent multiplayer game - easy to get into and works equally well as a ten minute distraction or for a few hours of serious competition. This iteration let you build your own courses and had more modes than the previous games. You could even play up to 7 other people at once by sharing 4 controllers, which I haven't tried but I'm sure it's awesome.

#73 Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage Chosen by: Beepner, Remnant Beepner - Given the option these days, I'd go with the Super NES version, but I played this one quite a bit on the Genny. A little too repetitive, but it had some good ideas with the Spidey moves used to beat up generic bad guys, and the hero assists were cool as hell. Nice use of comic-style cutscenes to tell its awful Xtreme 90s story, too. Remnant - A lot of people blasted this game, and I don't know why. The gameplay was nearly as solid as Streets of Rage II, but you could play as Spider-Man and Venom. It featured a ridiculously large supporting cast of Marvel heroes and villains spread across a decently adapted story from the Maximum Carnage comic storyline, told in brief, unobtrusive, comic-style cutscenes. I loved this game. The only thing it lacked was co-op, which was remedied in the sequel.

#72 Zero Tolerance Chosen by: Aberrat, Carmichael Micaalus Aberrat - Imho: this is much better then Doom. Carmichael Micaalus - Funny thing is, I've never actually played this game, but I remember watching my friends play it once. The thing that mostly struck me weird about it was in order to play multiplayer, you had to have two copies of the game and two Genesis - essentially making it a LAN game of sorts. I don't really remember anything about the game itself, but I just remember thinking how outlandish it was that you had to have a second system and everything in order to play multiplayer.

#71 Wonder Boy V: Monster World III (JP) Wonder Boy in Monster World (US) Chosen by: Bonnet, KMD Bonnet - Honestly, i don't remember anything in particular about this game, just that it was a really good Zelda-like. KMD - A fun adventure platform game with RPG elements (read quite a lot of grinding for coins to buy shit). The long stretches of land with nothing but rows of the same enemy standing in your way get a little dull, but it's still a fun game. When I was young I rented a lot of games, and this was one of the first Mega Drive ones that I remember getting. I immediately got stuck on the first dungeon, unable to figure out how to get the ocarina to work and open the doors. Years later when I was less stupid I managed to get over that small hurdle and play the rest of the game, but I'll always remember that small segment at the start that caused me no end of confusion as a kid. Also, a kid with a sword and shield who is followed around by a fairy (for the first bit of the game at least) who solves puzzles by playing tunes on an ocarina... COINCIDENCE, NINTENDO HMM

#70 Road Rash 3 Chosen by: Polly, Aberrat Polly - Alright, it's a game where you race motorcycles and beat the holy shit out of each other with chains, clubs, or just fucking kick other riders off their bikes. This shit was and still is super fun and we're left only imagining what a new spin on this series could be in the right hands. Aberrat - Humor, speed and violence altogether in one little black plastic box.

#69 Vectorman 2 Chosen by: Zeloz, Voltech44 Zeloz - I like the premise behind the first game, but it was the second game's dark and murky atmosphere that really made it feel like you're fighting through an overly-polluted Earth. Voltech44 - He's pretty much Mega Man, isn't he? Well, whatever; I still hold the game in high esteem. Watching videos of it now makes me realize just how hardcore the game was -- that 90's grittiness and 'tude contained on a simple cartridge. (One of the levels is called "Recycle or Die"!) And there are lots of neat little things in the game; Vectorman can transform after beating some enemies, taking on the form of a rhinoceros or scorpion. Most of the levels are more naturalistic than the original game, and cooler-looking as a result. I always thought it was cool that using the double-jump to kill enemies wasn't just a viable strategy, but also preferable in some cases. Also, you could dye Vectorman with one of the enemy attacks, and if you were good enough stay like that for the whole game.

#68 Rings of Power Chosen by: Ehow22, Carmichael Micaalus Ehow22 - I know you're probably thinking "Are you crazy?" ...Well, yes, indeed I am but that's beside the point. This is not a game you can just wing it and hope you get lucky. It takes time, patience, and plenty of other things. Love or hate it. I love it. Carmichael Micaalus - I played a little bit of this one, but this is another one I mostly remember watching my friends play instead of playing myself. It was kind of like a hard version of Solstice (which is saying something). I don't think it helped that I was a little too young at the time to understand what the fuck I was even supposed to do whenever I played. Granted, there weren't too many open-ended games around at the time, so this was probably one of my first exposures to it. *Sigh* Speaking of exposures... this is the game with the (possibly) infamous nude code... and I remember my friends activating it... right as their mother walked in the room. Yeah.

#67 Sunset Riders Chosen by: Polly, AdmiralMaxtreme Polly - Sunset Riders on the Genesis will always be considered a bit of a lost Contra game to me. It's much faster-paced and has an entirely different feel from its arcade and SNES counterparts that requires a lot more of your twitch reflexes as well as memorization to actually finish. If you need a damn good run and gun, this is your version right here. AdmiralMaxtreme - Just good old-fashioned cowboy arcade action.

#66 Jurassic Park Chosen by: toydonut, The Hutch toydonut - You can be a goddamn raptor!! I went to a friend's house to play this every day. Her parents hated me. The Hutch - While the controls are a little floaty, the Genesis version of Jurassic Park is, in my opinion, the best Jurassic Park of the original Ocean games. Two playable characters with very different games, some of the best graphics, sound, and overall atmosphere in any Genesis game, and a really annoying-ass password system secured 6th place for Jurassic Park. Also, the more I type that word, the weirder it becomes. Jurassic Jurassic Jurassic.

#65 Lords of Thunder Chosen by: Rhete, ommadawnyawn Rhete - This is the most metal game ever made, as well as being a pretty awesome shooter. There's a TurboDuo version, who the heck had one of those, seriously. ommadawnyawn - Yeah I know, this is basically an uglier, easier port of the TCD game. Still one hell of a shooter, and I prefer this version's remastered soundtrack.

#64 X-Men 2: Clone Wars Chosen by: Voltech44, Spyda K Voltech44 - On the plus side? This game had some good-looking sprites, IMO. Maybe not in motion, but at least they were pretty to look at -- and I always thought it was cool how getting to max health (and keeping it) boosted the power of your mutant abilities. It had some nice tunes, some nice levels, and I always got a kick out of vaporizing people with Psylocke's energy... knife hand... thing. That, or stomping tanks with Beast. On the minus side, it was so friggin' hard that my brother and I never got past the fourth level, if that. So as far as I'm concerned, the game's incomplete. Spyda K - Hey, we made another X-Men game! And this time, Wolverine doesn't lose mana or whatever when he has his claws out. It makes sense to give a consumable "power" bar to mutants like Gambit or Cyclops who are shooting lasers out of various body parts, but putting that same design towards Wolverine never fit. His mutant power is his healing factor, not his claws. But whatever, now his claws are always out and his power button is some kind of super melee attack. And hey, Beast and Psylocke are around. I never really read any of the X-Men comics, so I never really knew who Psylocke was, as I never saw any episodes of the cartoon with her. But anytime she appeared in a video game, I thought she was really cool. She's a ninja who punches things with glowing pink "psychic knives" that appear from her hands. Badass.

#63 Crusader of Centy (US) / Soleil (EU) Chosen by: Miller, jetstorm4 Miller - A decent Zelda-clone. jetstorm4 - If there is one game on the Genesis that can almost destroy A Link to the Past, it's this game. Simple idea that goes a long way.

#62 Out of This World / Heart of the Alien Chosen by: FreezingInferno, Crono Maniac Crono Maniac - The crown jewel of the "cinematic platformer" genre. It was a masterpiece on DOS, a masterpiece on the SNES, and it's a masterpiece here. FreezingInferno - (Voted for Heart of the Alien on Sega CD) This game has Eric Chahi's masterpiece of cinematic platforming, Out Of This World, on it. Plus the sequel to that game. It earns a spot on this list because Out Of This World really is one of the best games ever. Out Of This World did get a Genesis cartridge, but that didn't have the sequel, so there you go.

#61 Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse Chosen by: Polly, Rainiac Polly - This game was proof that you didn't have to be Capcom to create high-quality and super-fun games based on Disney properties. On top of that, it really was one of the best looking games of its time, and the visual style has honestly held up. Simple a platformer as it may be, its focus on just hitting those mechanics just right make it a charming and challenging little game that's still worth your time. Rainiac - I'm well aware that World of Illusion is widely accepted to be better than this one, but I have yet to play World of Illusion, so in its place is a game that has a special connection to my childhood. I didn't own a Genesis growing up, but two of my best friends did, and I spent an entire afternoon with one them taking turns to try and beat this game. We eventually did it, but it took a lot longer than it should have. It's a short game that a competent player (i.e. not 8 year old me) can probably finish off in about an hour or so, but the gameplay is solid and the music is really catchy, especially the boss theme.