#60 Mega Turrican
Chosen by: ommadawnyawn, Pauncho Smith
ommadawnyawn - Best Turrican game by far and one of the best 16-bit action platformers. What it lacks in originality it makes up for in playability and overall polish.
Pauncho Smith - I've only come across this one very recently (i.e. mere weeks ago in a mad dash to reach my 25-game quota for this list) and already I'm pretty damn impressed with what Factor 5 was able to pull off. Vibrant visuals, inventive set pieces, tight controls and some of the sweetest melodies you're bound to hear in any Genesis title. The game's relative brevity could be off-putting to some, and in all honestly, there are better run -'n-guns for the Genesis (at least as far as my personal tastes are concerned) but it would be criminal to overlook this very solid, very polished piece of German engineering.
|
#59 Mortal Kombat 3
Chosen by: Polly, The Hutch
Polly - For its time, I feel Mortal Kombat 3 was the best version of the game to hit home consoles. It didn't play like a hopped up meth addict with shitty sound and hit detection like the SNES version and it didn't have extraneous load times of the CD-based versions.
I don't know how they crammed all they did into this version of the game while making it look and sound as close to the arcade version as it did, or how the pace of the fighting felt so close to its arcade bigger brother, but god damn was I happy when I got this version home and was able to taunt the poor souls in the neighborhood stuck with the SNES crapfest.
How the SNES version ended up so bad and the Genesis version so good is mind boggling, considering that MKII on the Genesis was terrible and the SNES version was damn-near arcade perfect.
The Hutch - Much the same as Mortal Kombat, but even better. P.S. Stryker's fat
|
#58 The Lion King
Chosen by: The Hutch, Ehow22
The Hutch - Who said licensed movie games suck? In fact, most of the licensed Disney games as a kid were fuckin' awesome! I only owned The Lion King, though, so that's what I've got on my list.
Solid platforming, levels inspired by the movie, great 16-bit renditions of the songs from the movie (especially for the Genesis sound chip), and all around great game.
Fun fact: The Lion King was the very first game I ever looked up cheats for on the internet when it was the newest thing.
Ehow22 - Like Aladdin, this is based on the Disney film, this is a pretty difficult game. It holds the player's attention easily and even has some voices from the movie.
|
#57 The Lost Vikings
Chosen by: KMD, Rainiac
KMD - Many people claim this version of the game is the best, as it has extra levels that no other version of the game has. More levels or not, the Lost Vikings is a fantastic game. It's a shame that Blizzard are raking in so much money from simply making World of Warcraft expansions and we'll never see a next-gen Lost Vikings installment. The Genesis version uses a lot of awkward button combinations to make the controls work on the default 3-button joypads, so it's probably best to play this one with a 6-button joypad to alleviate some of the aggravation.
Rainiac - This is a great game whichever version you play, but the extra levels available in this one make it the best of the choices. Lost Vikings is a really enjoyable experience. It's hard, really hard, but that doesn't stop it from being enjoyable, in fact in some ways the sense of accomplishment you get from finishing the game makes the whole experience that much better. That being said, I prefer Lost Vikings 2, but that's not on the Genesis, so my hands are tied.
|
#56 Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Chosen by: Polly, FreezingInferno
Polly - I imagine more than a few folks were a bit bummed when the Shinobi series landed on consoles, because what they got wasn't even close to resembling the arcade games. Thankfully, Shadow Dancer is the cure for folks looking for a tough-as-balls twitch-based game where you throw shurikens and sic your cute little puppy on enemies to distract them.
FreezingInferno - Ohhh yes. If I have a favorite series on the Genny, it's Shinobi. This one went back to its arcade roots, but is actually way more fun than the arcade Shinobi. You have a GOD DAMN NINJA PUPPY. Any game with a dog is great. This one is great arcade-style action. Short but oh so sweet.
|
#55 Streets of Rage
Chosen by: Pauncho Smith, Pitchfork
Pauncho Smith - Man, you suburban and small town kids were really missing out. I would waste 5 thugs a day in my decrepit urban neighborhood just walking to the bus stop before school and...um, moving on.
I imagine I would've liked this one more if I hadn't gotten my hands the second and third games prior to this one. I can't say this one has aged terribly well, as the action becomes redundant fairly quickly, the presentation lacks polish, and the variety in playable characters and enemies found in SoR 2 & 3 is sorely missed. But even when that's been stripped out, it's still a competent beat 'em up with an incredible soundtrack. It's a promising start to a legendary trilogy.
Pitchfork - Would I be burned at the stake for suggesting the first game's soundtrack might be better than the sequel's? Yes? I'll keep my mouth shut then.
|
#54 Vectorman
Chosen by: Beepner, Aberrat
Beepner - Sure, it has fluid animations and neat touches like dynamic lighting effects on sprites, but aesthetically it doesn't quite hold up so well these days, and the minigames can eat a dick. Plus there's just no getting over the fact that Vectorman himself is balls. But it's still fun to explore all the hidden areas and alternate paths, which just flow so naturally through the stages.
Aberrat - Awesome action!
|
#53 Mega Bomberman
Chosen by: ommadawnyawn, KMD
ommadawnyawn - Known as Bomberman '94 for the TG16, this is one of the best Bomberman games. The levels are fun, the music is strange, and you get to ride these cute kangaroo-like creatures with abilities that kinda throw off the game balance, but in a good way.
KMD - It's Bomberman. Do I need to say more Place bombs, blow stuff up. Decent single-player, lots of fun in multiplayer. You get the drill. It's not the best version by any stretch of the imagination, but Bomberman is Bomberman.
|
#52 Dune II: Battle for Arrakis
Chosen by: Aberrat, Bonnet
Aberrat - Classic RTS from Westwood. I mean CLASSIC. Beware of the worms!
Bonnet - The godfather of RTS, no less !! (And in the universe of Dune !) So yeah, playing a new whole kind of games made quite the impression on me, even if eventually I've never been fond of RTS. And it was a game that had no equivalent on the Snes, so that's why for me Dune 2 was by far the best that a Genesis could provide.
|
#51 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
The Hyperstone Heist
Chosen by: Miller, Aberrat
Miller - Not as good as Turtles in Time, but good nonetheless.
Aberrat - Another great possibility to kick ass Shredder. Thank you, Konami.
|
#50 NBA Jam: Tournament Edition
Chosen by: Remnant, AdmiralMaxtreme
Remnant - Remember when the best sports-based video games revolved around "fast-paced accessible fun" rather than "serious _____ball simulation for serious _____ball fans"? I miss those days.
AdmiralMaxtreme - Instead of being a realistic basketball simulator, it's a fun basketball simulator. It's not fun to play real basketball on a Sega, but it's really really fun to play NBA Jam on a Sega. This game is so good that my friends and I have an NBA Jam tournament every January. Why yes, we are in our twenties; why do you ask?
|
#49 QuackShot starring Donald Duck
Chosen by: KMD, Pitchfork
KMD - Donald Duck goes treasure hunting, calling back to his old comic book adventures where he (usually along with his three nephews and Uncle Scrooge) would go on globetrotting adventures on a regular basis. While traveling to Egypt, Transylvania and the North Pole amongst other locations, you'll arm yourself with a gun that fires corn, bubblegum and a variety of plungers, not to mention chili peppers that harness Donald's most iconic attribute his explosive, unstoppable rage.
Here's an odd fact in Japan, Castle of Illusion, Quackshot and World of Illusion all share similar titles, as they are called I Love Mickey Mouse, I Love Donald Duck and I Love Mickey & Donald respectively. No surprise why they didn't go with those titles in the west.
Pitchfork - In the days before Sonic, Sega had to settle for making excellent games using Disney properties. My favorite character is the smiling moon over Duckburg.
|
#48 Silpheed
Chosen by: Rhete, Layrinn
Rhete - Billed as Sega's answer to Star Fox, Silpheed cleverly used to the power of the Sega CD to great effect. Using pre-rendered video of 3D backgrounds, Silpheed looked far more impressive at a glance, even if it isn't actually pushing nearly as many polygons. Combined with the voice acting though, Silpheed becomes an immerse experience that was, and still is, pretty much unprecedented for a shooter. Beneath all of it though, it's just a really fun shooter, and my favorite on the system.
Layrinn - A shooter on top of a FMV background, wow! What I remember most about this game is laughing hysterically with my friends when one of the other pilots come over the radio and says "Hey men, take 'em from the rear!" in a ridiculous redneck voice.
|
#47 Puyo Puyo Tsuu
Chosen by: Zeloz, ommadawnyawn
Zeloz - I like the SNES version better (the most non-SoM/Bomberman fun you'll have on a multitap), but I can't think of any other puzzle games on the Genny that really compare.
ommadawnyawn - Love me some Puyo Puyo. This, to me is where the series became a worthy alternative to Tetris. IIRC the MD version is hard as hell though, so I mainly play it in vs. mode. Great music.
|
#46 Battle Mania Daiginjou
Chosen by: Zeloz, ommadawnyawn
Zeloz - Trouble Shooter's Japan-only sequel is leagues better than it's predecessor in every way. It's also ridiculously expensive on the aftermarket.
ommadawnyawn - When I'm not in a TF3 mood, this is usually my next go to game in the genre. I could go on about game mechanics and such, it's one of the better 16-bit shooters I've played, but to be honest the silly anime aesthetic is the real reason why it's this high on the list.
|
#45 Golden Axe
Chosen by: Remnant, AdmiralMaxtreme, Rainiac
Remnant - Simplistic compared to its peers and easy to cheese your way through with constant jump attacks, but a medieval cobble-stomping classic nonetheless. I love the Conan the Barbarian aesthetic of it all.
AdmiralMaxtreme - This is about as simple as a Beat 'em Up can get, but damn if it wasn't effective. It is my opinion that Dwarves as a race peaked with Gilius Thunderhead. Hell, names in general might have peaked with him.
Rainiac - Golden Axe hasn't aged very well, most likely due to it being a late 80s port of an arcade game, but it's the arcadey-ness which makes this as good as it is. Plus, Golden Axe, while by no means the first game of its kind, helped to pave the way for the side scrolling beat 'em ups we all got to enjoy in the 1990s (including 2 games that will show up later on this list).
|
#44 Mortal Kombat
Chosen by: The Hutch, Ehow22, Spyda K
The Hutch - When I would go visit my dad as a child, I had one friend that lived just a couple houses down. He was a rich asian kid, so he had a shitload of game systems. We spent a lot of our time playing the Genesis, and the definitive homeport of Mortal Kombat took up much of our time. Not much else to say about it. TOASTY!
Ehow22 - Oh gosh, I'm sure we've all heard about the connection between Mortal Kombat and the ESRB. Such beautiful violence in the fatalities. Need I say more?
Spyda K - I like to imagine that when the time came to port Mortal Kombat to the home consoles, Sega told Acclaim that they wouldn't allow the same level of blood and gore as the arcade game, then made a secret deal under the table where they would let them put in a secret code that added the blood to the game. Sega would then deny that they knew the code existed if things got really hot, all while enjoying the exclusivity of having the "real" version of Mortal Kombat, since they knew that Nintendo wouldn't allow the graphic violence no matter what.
While the SNES had the superior version of Mortal Kombat, in graphics, sound, and controls (since you weren't forced to use the Start button to BLOCK), Sega enjoyed 13-year-old kids arguing that the Genesis version was the best one because it had blood and Sub-Zero could rip a guy's head off and you could see his spine. And in all fairness, that's mostly what put Mortal Kombat on the map.
|
#43 Kid Chameleon
Chosen by: jetstorm4, Carmichael Micaalus, Spyda K
jetstorm4 - Really funny, I actually catch my little cousins playing this game. My grandparents have
one of those plug in and play Genesis games that has this on it. Little do they know they are playing one of
the LONGEST platformers I've ever played. It's great, but again, it's a little TOO long.
Carmichael Micaalus - Now that I'm thinking about it, the few Genesis games I played were pretty balls hard. I never did beat this one; I'm honestly not sure how far I got into it, maybe past the first boss ('though if I did get that far, I sure as hell wasn't aware that thing was a boss), but yeah. I remember finding the way you could transform and stuff pretty cool, and some of the transformations were pretty awesome, but it was a really difficult game.
Spyda K - I miss the days of power-ups. I miss the days when you would find an item and it would change what your character would look like to reflect the abilities they get from that item. Mario did it best, with its plethora of fire flowers and frog suits. You weren't just gaining an ability, you were TRANSFORMED into an avatar of this power. Kid Chameleon earns a spot on my list for all the awesome helmets and the powers they give you.
|
#42 Earthworm Jim 2
Chosen by: MooMan1, Beepner, The Hutch
MooMan1 - Super fucking fun, varied and wa-wa-wacky. always cracks me up that the homing gun fires houses.
Beepner - The first game was too hard for me to get into (fuck that submarine stage), but this one was memorable just for how bizarre it was. It's a little mini-game-collectiony in retrospect, with all the bouncing puppies who splat like eggs when they hit the ground off a giant marshmallow, or trying to get that stupid hot air balloon to the end of that shoot 'em up stage intact, but in that sense it seems like a precursor to all those odd setpieces in Metal Gear Solid. Except Metal Gear Solid never turned you into a newt and made you navigate through a digestive tract.
The Hutch - All right, we're gettin' down to it. As much as I love Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2 steals the lead for me. The first 4 levels of the game totally shake it up, but still maintain that Earthworm Jim feel. More than just an upgrade sequel, Earthworm Jim 2 is a totally new game, and is even MORE Earthworm Jim than the first. I rented this game more than any other when I was a child.
|
#41 Valis III
Chosen by: Polly, Rhete, Zeloz
Polly - Though I feel that the Valis series is all-in-all fairly mediocre, Valis III is actually engaging and fun enough on its own to recommend to folks who need a little jumpy hacky slashy fun in their life.
And Cham. Cham is awesome. She was probably my first videogame mistress (because Samus was always mai waifu.)
Rhete - Valis is a series that always seemed to dream bigger than it really was, but that kind of over ambition appealed to me. The first game was kind of awful, and the Genesis didn't get a proper version of the second, so having two games worth of back story that I hadn't seen made this game seem so much cooler than it really was. At the very least, having three different playable characters was a nice change of pace, even if I only ever used Cham.
Zeloz - The best game about magic sword-wielding, blue-haired Japanese schoolgirls you'll ever play on a non-TurboDuo system.
|
#40 World of Illusion starring
Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck
Chosen by: Pauncho Smith, KMD, Voltech44
Pauncho Smith - The House of Mouse was certainly no stranger to the Genesis (in fact, watching my teenage babysitter tear through Castle of Illusion was one of my earliest memories of Sega's 16-bit console). From the movie-based games, to originals like Quackshot, there was plenty of Disney to go around. World of Illusion is not only the closest thing to Castle of Illusion sequel, it also features co-op play with the titular characters (at least I remember being impressed with it back in the day). The variety of locales and whimsical music serve to reinforce the game's "magical" motif. If only we could've known back then that Mickey would become Warren Spector's plaything, and that Donald would be the star of the most riveting web comic series since the Adventures of Pat & Polly.
KMD - While Capcom were cranking out plenty of Disney-themed gems on the NES and SNES such as DuckTales 1 & 2, Goof Troop and the Magical Quest series, Sega was doing an admirable job themselves over on the Genesis. World of Illusion may be short and pretty easy, but it's still one of the best co-op platformers around. The levels will change slightly depending on what character you're playing as Mickey, Donald, or the pair together in the 2-player mode. Each level kind of bleeds into the next one, making it feel like you were really on an adventure and not just moving from stage to stage.
Voltech44 - Oh hell yeah, it's time for a magical adventure! Admittedly, you can add this to the list of games I could never beat, but not for lack of trying; my brother and I rented this plenty of times, and the closest we got was the end of a water level. On the plus side, each time we played we had a blast; looking at videos now, it's such a laid-back experience that inspires wonder, and even if it's inherently simple you never know what you're in for next. You go from walking on spider silk in some mines to riding a magic carpet through the sky. Can't hate that.
Mickey's run animation is kind of odd, though. I know that's how cartoon characters run when they're trying to escape something, but did he have to run like that all the time?
|
#39 ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
Chosen by: The Hutch, Voltech44, Spyda K
The Hutch - Now, anyone who liked Earthworm Jim HAD to love Toejam and Earl. Two backup mascots for Sega, Toejam and Earl were rad, funky, and totally 90s. If I had to nominate a Genesis game for best music on the console, it'd be Toejam and Earl 2. Aside from that, the game is a completely unique action game in where you try to capture humans who've invaded your planet in jars to send them back to stinkin' Earth. There are tons of hidden surprises, easter eggs, and fun things to do along the way. Toejam and Earl 2 is certainly worthy of my third place, and deserves to be on more than a few lists.
Voltech44 - Let's go from a magical adventure to a funk-tastic jam session. This game overflows with style; you can bounce on spongy fields and do tricks to earn extra points and lives (before a panel of judges, no less). You can have a dance-off with your friends. The power of funk lets you move through walls and travel to alternate dimensions. And there's a substantial incentive to explore the game, so you could find all the special items and get the best ending. And the enemies were something else; tourists that could stun-lock you into oblivion with their cameras, shadowy boogiemen that try and tickle you (at least, I hope that's what they were doing), and ducks that piloted flying carpets.
Thinking back, I'm not wholly convinced that game was made by stable, non-intoxicated people.
Spyda K - Maybe it's because I was too young when I played it, but I never really understood the original ToeJam & Earl game. Overhead free-roaming, collecting things, opening presents to use items, and map screens. Something about it never clicked for me. Which is a shame, because I really wanted to like it. It had space aliens who were all about "funky" rap that kids like me were into at the time. What's not to love? But sadly, I just couldn't get into it.
Enter the sequel: ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. Some people give this game flack for abandoning what made the original unique in favor of some rather generic side-scrolling action. But 10-year-old me says bring it on. I understand how to move from left to right and throw things at people. Get funky.
|
#38 Shining in the Darkness
Chosen by: Zeloz, FreezingInferno, Carmichael Micaalus
Zeloz - For those that found Fire Emblem to be too tough, there was Shining Force. Likewise, for those who thought the Wizardry games impossible, there's this game. Blends the looming sense of peril of first-person dungeon crawlers with JRPG design sensibilities.
FreezingInferno - Shining Force is fine and dandy, but I prefer dungeon crawling to tactical warfare. Besides, this was the start of your Shining series so it deserves a little respect! For best results, go to the store and buy a book of graph paper and map your progress. It takes time, but the results are satisfying. Level up your dudes and explore that dank dungeon. MAKE IT YOUR DOMAIN!
Carmichael Micaalus - This one I didn't actually play on the Genesis, but on the Wii's virtual console. Bit of a combination of Wizardry and Shining Force. Seemed pretty neat, if not a bit brutal at times. I just got to the second floor, when Steam released the same game for about a quarter of the cost it was on the Wii... made me a little too bitter to continue.
|
#37 Thunder Force III
Chosen by: sunburstbasser, ommadawnyawn, Layrinn
sunburstbasser - An awesome console shmup, with a great style and soundtrack.
ommadawnyawn - TF2 and 3 were my main source of shoot 'em up goodness growing up, and having played plenty of contemporary stuff later in life I've come to appreciate Technosoft's design choices even more. The way it all comes together makes for a smooth experience, one that newcomers to the genre can easily enjoy, plus it makes it the perfect game to ease myself into the genre after a long hiatus. What puts it in my 11th spot though is the cool art style and perfect blend of rocking, atmospheric and melancholic synth tunes that make up the soundtrack.
Layrinn - All I remember is fighting a huge robot chicken, or something.
|
#36 Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole
Chosen by: Miller, ommadawnyawn, Pauncho Smith
Miller - A bit frustrating when you play it (DON'T HIT THE WALL DAMNIT) but still one of the best adventure games on the platform. A huge world to explore, challenging puzzles, bizarre story with many memorable characters and a great soundtrack. It would place higher if I was more comfortable with the isometric view.
ommadawnyawn - It's a lot like Zelda 3, but with an actually interesting story, a less formulaic structure, and a some genuinely challenging puzzles. The lack of a shadow when jumping was only a minor annoyance for me, but I hear it gets people in a bad mood so I thought I'd mention it (along with the word isometric).
Pauncho Smith - Before the irritating and vapid Navi blessed N64 owners with her presence, Genesis owners partook in the great pleasure that was the equally irritating and vapid Friday (to her credit, Friday generally knows when to keep her mouth shut). Sassy fairies will be the least of your problems however, as Landstalker is armed with long, byzantine dungeons, never-ending waves of re-spawning enemies, and some absolutely murderous isometric platform-jumping sections (that final dungeon is a doozy). It's pretty damn challenging, and there's quite a bit here that can turn off a slightly less masochistic gamer, but there's enough polish and charm in this title to make Landstalker's idiosyncrasies a little easier to swallow.
|
#35 Alien Soldier
Chosen by: sunburstbasser, Aberrat, Pauncho Smith
sunburstbasser - Balls hard, but what a fun game. Very steep learning curve.
Aberrat - Big sprites, great graphics, comfortable control and gigantic bosses - all you need for good action.
Pauncho Smith - Treasure's Alien Soldier is yet another game that took ages to wash up on American shores. All the qualities that made Gunstar Heroes so memorable are present here, but even more so. The sprites are bigger, the action more chaotic, the music more frantic and boss fights as far as the eye can see. Come to think of it, you don't really do a whole lot besides fight insane bosses, but that's why the game is abso-fucking-lutely amazing. Treasure pulled off the dual feat of trimming off whatever excess fat there was from their previous releases, and making what worked in those games much more muscular in this package. There are few greater feelings than mastering each little nuance of Alien Soldier and becoming a one-bird murder parade in the process.
To be certain, there are a few blemishes present. It's not the most user-friendly game ever created and takes some serious time and effort to get used to how Epsilon-Eagle controls (you know, the giant, raging, unstoppable COCK you play as). Crammed with 24 levels and almost 30 bosses, the game is quite long and you'll have your ass handed to you fairly often (and if you're a tough guy and want to give "SUPERHARD" a try... well, good luck with that). Lastly, the only semblance of story comes in the form of scrolling text when you turn the game on. Ignore, it's completely superfluous and patently absurd. For all its warts though, Alien Soldier is pure unabridged madness and worth every last second of struggle.
|
#34 Ranger X
Chosen by: Polly, Zeloz, Beepner
Polly - Ranger X is a game I feel NEVER got its due, probably in part to having such a forgettable name and requiring mastery of a fairly complicated control scheme that required Sega's then recently released six-button gamepads.
The game looks and sounds phenomenal, and I mean...come on...you're a robot and you got your own motorcycle like vehicle you can drive around and blow shit up with. While the game seems to lose its focus a bit in the middle, it brings it all around for the end and is just a blast to play through. Highly recommended playing here, folks.
Zeloz - Street Fighter? Friends, this is the game the 6-button controller was made for.
Beepner - So much about Ranger-X is "done right", your character's animations are detailed, the weapons are fun, great music, huge bosses, pretty environments. I have to nitpick on how it takes a sharp turn for the linear early on, and they could have iron out some of the frustration in the later stages, but overall it's a solid game that deserved more attention.
|
#33 NHL 96
Chosen by: Polly, AdmiralMaxtreme, Cooltrainer Bret
Polly - I've always had a fascination with EA's hockey games. At the time, I didn't think they could get better than NHL '95, then NHL '96 rolled around and was the tightest playing and fastest adaptation of the sport seen in the 16-bit era. I've played full seasons of this game many times and still enjoy busting it out every now and then for a few games because it's just such a solid and fun experience. A great combination of arcade and simulation that probably lends itself better to this sport than many others.
AdmiralMaxtreme - NHL '96 had fighting, the "Get Ready For This" song (the name probably isn't familiar, but you've heard it before), instant replay (HOLY SHIT), and the Quebec Nordiques. As far as I'm concerned, that's a pretty impressive resume.
Cooltrainer Bret - YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN PLAYERS NOW. Nuff said. Also, the soundtrack features 16-bit remixes of those awesome generic arena pump-up themes, which makes the best use of that gritty, under appreciated Genesis sound hardware
|
#32 Streets of Rage 3 (US)
Bare Knuckle 3 (JP)
Chosen by: Aberrat, Pauncho Smith, Rainiac
Aberrat - This is best beat'em up ever made... end of message.
Ta-Daaaaam!!!
Pauncho Smith - Every family has its black sheep, and Streets of Rage 3 wears that dubious distinction in the SoR series for a myriad of reasons (censorship, butchered story, totally unreasonable difficulty setting). In spite of all of that, there's still a pretty damn good game in this package. The ability to roll and the power bar (good for penalty-free special attacks) are life-savers, and I actually found that the very abrasive techno soundtrack fit in quite nicely with the stiffer challenge and more chaotic tone of the game (as if all three were conspiring to beat you down). Sure, it would've been nice if the U.S. got something that was closer to Bare Knuckle 3 than what we ended up getting, but it's still worth it to try and meet SoR 3 halfway.
Rainiac - (Voted for Bare Knuckle 3) You may never have heard of Bare Knuckle 3, but you've probably played it: it's simply the Japanese version of Streets of Rage 3. Why have I specifically mentioned the Japanese version? It has an extra playable character who was censored from the other versions, Ash, a Village People cosplayer who must be seen to be believed. Even if you don't play the Japanese version (and you really should), it's still a very solid beat 'em up. Plus you can play as a boxing kangaroo, so what's not to love?
|
#31 Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Chosen by: Zeloz, FreezingInferno, KMD, Spyda K
Zeloz - It's like playing Mega Man 1-3, except without having to write down the passwords. And it's got that Wily Tower thing you can't access on emulators with an unpatched ROM.
FreezingInferno - I don't know if this one is legal or not but it IS a Genesis cart in Europe and Japan so THE HELL WITH IT. This game is the Super Mario All-Stars of Mega Man. The first three games, prettied up, with remixes of the original chiptunes! Plus a new extra mode once you beat all three! Doesn't that sound fantastic? Well, it is pretty fantastic.
KMD - The three original Mega Man games on one cartridge, with all-new levels if you manage to finish them Yes please.
Spyda K - Technically, this isn't even a Genesis game since it was only released in Japan and Europe, it's a Mega Drive game! But I was able to play it at the time via the Sega Channel, a device that let people stream Genesis games from their cable company. It was awesome. Wily Wars is a collection of the first 3 Mega Man games, redone Super Mario All-Stars style. All of those games were awesome. This is awesome. EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
|
|
