I never had any Sega systems growing up, what did I miss?
I've been filling out my emulator collection and thought I'd poke my head into the world of Sega consoles, which I have no experience with.
What classic Master System/Genesis/32x/Game Gear/Sega CD games should I try? I'm more of an RPG guy, but I'll play a good retro platformer or whatever.
What I've found so far from my own research (mostly Genesis):
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Altered Beast
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Beyond Oasis
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Castlevania Bloodlines
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Comix Zone
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Crusader of Centy
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Death and Return of Superman (I just really liked this comics arc)
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Earthworm Jim 1+2
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Gauntlet 4
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Golden Axe 1+2
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Landstalker
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Might and Magic - Gates to Another World (I think this is MM2?)
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OutRun and OutRun 2019
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Phantasy Star 1-4
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Shadowrun
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Shining Force 1+2
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ToeJam and Earl
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Ys - The Vanished Omens
What I have no interest in:
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Sonic
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Fighting games
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Sports games
EDIT: I'll definitely take note of any Saturn/Dreamcast recommendations too, but my plan is to start with the older consoles and work my way up.
66 replies
I can't believe no one has seconded Landstalker.
Seriously, give Landstalker a shot.
I enjoyed Space Harrier on the Master System. I'll see if I can find my cartridges to see if there are others that I'd recommend.
Master System:
Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon’s Trap Rastan Kenseiden Alex Kidd in Shinobi World Psycho Fox Fantasy Zone R-Type Mickey Mouse castle of illusion Donald Duck Asterix
Starflight was excellent on Genesis.
Sword of Vermillion was my first ever RPG, took me literal years to beat as a dumbass kid. I enjoyed it tho.
Ecco the Dolphin 1 and 2 are works of art, but rather challenging. Still recommended tho.
ESWAT was a fun platformer shooter jetpack enjoyment thingy
For SMS, I loved playing Outrun, The Ninja, Shinobi, Kung-Fu Kid, and Time Soldiers. I had a Master System while all my friends had NES. Still love my SMS to this day!
For Genesis, Shadow Dancer, Revenge of Shinobi, and Warsong was some of my faves. For Sega CD, definitely the Lunar games (The Silver Star and Eternal Blue)
I've mainly played Fighting Games on the Saturn, but Magic Knight Rayearth was a good RPG, IIRC.
For Dreamcast, Tokyo Xtreme Racer blends racing games and RPG games beautifully. Definitely worth playing.
This is the first "What should I play on early Sega?" thread that already has almost all my favourites. In fact, many of them are in OP's list. But to reiterate some added by other commenters:
I don't think anyone's yet mentioned:
And a few more that I'm fond of, but I either can't remember them clearly (other than that I enjoyed them at the time), or I'm aware that I can't separate fact from nostalgia, so YMMV:
An honourable mention to Cadash (MD), which is a solid attempt at a port but sadly can't really hold a candle to the arcade original.
I recommend the Youtube channel Game Sack. They have entire episodes on not only all the Sega consoles, but also ones that compare the ports between different systems.
Also, Shadowrun is a great RPG for Genesis. The one for SNES is a completely different game as well, but that one is more xp grindy.
If you'd like to try general action games as well:
Also try Snatcher on Sega CD.
Other thoughts:
oh my goodness how could I forget about Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier!
Second PS3, playing as your descendants was a really cool touch. I think I saw a more recent game utilizing similar mechanic, released around 2010~, but I'm blanking on the title.
Ooh, are the descendants predetermined, or do you get to hook your party up in different configurations for different ones, like Dragon Quest 5's kids?
Record of Agarest War is the game you're thinking of.
Wonder Boy in Monster World! Fuck! I loved that game so much!
It’s like a Zeldavania RPG, is the best I could describe it. Can’t remember the story for shit, but I played the balls off of that game. A bit grindy, but that is part of the appeal.
adding some i always found unique or interesting
I like Sunset Riders on SNES more and would recommend it over the Mega Drive / Genesis version. World of Illusion is my favorite Micky game! Highly recommended to play with second player. The stages change a bit, depending who you play or if you are together.
If you leave Saturn and Dreamcast off your list then you're really missing out.
The emulator I grabbed to start with Genesis also has support for the other consoles I listed, so I figured I'd start there and then see if there were any series I wanted to follow into Saturn and Dreamcast. I'm not opposed to any recommendations for them too, I just wasn't going to start there.
Desert, jungle and urban strike
I loved those games omg
https://arcadespot.com/game/desert-strike/
Vectorman 1 & 2
To add to others’ suggestions:
Splatterhouse 1 & 2 (1986)
Alienstorm
Splatterhouse was an underrated gem
General Chaos!
I think Suidoken fits here? Heard a lot of good press about it and I’ve enjoyed the little I’ve played so far. Originally a PS1 game but the ROM I have is for a Sega system, Wikipedia says it was Sega Saturn.
how about Sega Saturn? Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of the best JRPGs ever. Don't mistake it for Panzer Dragoon 1 and 2, those are rail shooters and you don't need to play them. Also Dreamcast has some really good RPGs, I love Grandia 2
I'll probably move on to trying Saturn/Dreamcast later, when I know what I like from the earlier generations, but I'll add that to my list. Loved both Grandia 1 and 2, we got them on Playstation as well.
Heresy! Panzer Dragoon Zwei is the better of the two and it's a fantastic rail shooter. Play it! The first is still a great game too, even if the framerate suffers a little.
I agree that Panzer Dragoon Saga is a phenomenal RPG. The combat system is really interesting, and for the time it was extremely ambitious to have a fully voice-acted, fully 3D RPG.
Ha yea, but they aren't required to play before Saga
I strongly agree, the rail shooters are great. Saga is also one of the best games ever made imo. I think as a whole, it might actually Sega's best series. Sadly, it just never got much of a chance to grow.
Weren't the Earthworm Jim games also on SNES? Or are the Sega versions different? Like Shadowrun on Genesis is a TOTALLY different game than Shadowrun on the SNES.
Anyway, I don't see Ecco on your list. That's a good one.
They were, yeah. I remember vaguely hearing they were supposed to be better on Genesis though, so I figured I'd grab 'em and compare.
They are about the same game, not a huge difference like the other games. But the Genesis / Mega Drive is the actual home of the game and the "correct" one. The SNES has the graphics a bit stretched, and are "wrong". In my opinion the music is a mixed bag, in the sense that sometimes the one version wins over the other. Most people say the SNES version is inferior, which I grew up with BTW. Earthworm Jim 2 on the other hand feel like plays better on SNES, but its just my gut feeling.
A couple interesting ones that I remember:
Worth mentioning that Aladdin for Genesis was a much different game than it's SNES counterpart, and the Genesis version was also much more challenging.
Well, I have bad news for you about a significant fraction of the Genesis' library...
Some other decent Genesis/Megadrive titles I can think of off the top of my head: Gunstar Heroes, Vectorman, Megaman: The Wily Wars, Zero Wing (for the memes), Aladdin (which was a completely different and vastly superior game to its SNES coutnerpart), Blaster Master 2, Contra: Hard Corps, Ecco the Dolphin and its sequels, Jurassic Park, and probably loads of others I'm forgetting.
The Saturn is notable for having Radiant Silvergun locked to it, in Japan only no less, and I don't think that title was ported or rereleased at all until the XBox 360 version. It's the precursor to Ikaruga, which is itself on the Dreamcast.
If you're into shmups, the Dreamcast is kind of a holy grail. It also has the first two Shenmue games on it.
Alas basically everything on the Sega CD is crap with few exceptions. I will probably surprise my readership by mentioning that I think Sonic CD is not one of them, as its easily the weakest of the classic Sonic titles. It has some cult favorites that are so bad they're good, though, infamously including Night Trap, Time Gal, Corpse Killer, Sewer Shark, etc. For games on it that don't suck, don't forget that the first two Lunar games originated there, there's Popful Mail, Keio Flying Squadron, Snatcher, etc.
The 32X is an interesting novelty but I'm not certain there's a single compelling title in the entire library. Which, admittedly, is only something like 30 games.
Seconding these on Sega CD. Great times.
Knuckles Chaotix has a unique play mechanic that's not in any other Sonic game and it's worth it for the novelty.
dreamcast had the best versions of: spider-man, and star wars episode 1 jedi power battles
Some additions to your list above. BTW I list Streets of Rage too, because you have Golden Axe and Comix Zone listed. Those aren't fighting games. Some games are better on SNES, like Zombies Ate My Neighbors, so I don't recommend it here.
Genesis / Mega Drive - Must Haves:
Genesis / Mega Drive RPG / Adventure:
Genesis / Mega Drive - More:
You have to do Phantasy Star Online! I mean, the Dreamcast version at this point has a lot less in it (and is fucken hardcore dont die with your favorite weapon in your hands!) but PSO is absolutely a legendary RPG title you should experience if you are a fan. Controls are clunky as fuck by today's standards.
THE AVENGERS
Streets of Rage and Revenge of Shinobi were sidescroller brawler games.
Last Battle was an adaptation of the manga Fist of the North Star.
The Kid Chameleon series and Alex Kidd series were kind of early metrovania types.
Columns was a Tetris-type game.
There was also a couple titles where you played as an Apache helicopter, from an overhead view. I think the first one was based off the first Desert Storm in the 90's. I forget the name, but you can probably find it.
There was also a game I think called Sewer Rats which was the flagship title when Sega CD came out.
There were also IP titles for Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, the Incredible Hulk, X-Men, and Spiderman.
The sonic games are some of the best things, along with fighting games from that era. Other than that Rolling Thunder 2 was a good port of an arcade side scroll shooter.
These are all Genesis suggestions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakan:_The_Forever_Man
Nice meme. :D ... wait a second. You serious, right? I always thought of Chakan as not a good game. It's the first I see someone recommending it. No offense!
Skill issue, no offense 😆
No need to attack personally, just because I don't like a game you like.
Nah it's not like that. Someone else recommended Ecco the Dolphin and I think it's trash the same way.
And that's fine. Imagine he defends the game for being good, because you don't understand it. There is just no need to "attack" personally if someone does not like your game. And it's not like I wouldn't play difficult games. Overall I didn't mean to trash talk the game you like, I was just honest talking about an observation I made, that many people didn't like the game. My hope was to talk about the game why its being good or what's being disliked.
In example I like the Super NES game Uniracers / Unirally, and if someone doesn't like or get it, I don't say its skill issue, game is good, you are just bad at the game. That's why you don't like it. This is not what I say.
Why are you getting so pressed over an obvious joke though, chill
That's always the easy way out. Make a statement, and if the person is upset about your personal attack, make it a joke. I just wanted to talk about the game.
Sega CD:
Snatcher, The Terminator, Flashback (best version), Rise of the Dragon (best version), The Adventures of Willy Beamish, Dracula Unleashed
Definitely Shining Force 2. 1 is more linear, and while It plays very similar it kind of stinks you lack freedom to roam around the world wherever you want.
Vectorman is a great platformer.
Definitely Toejam and Earl. After the Sonic games those were the ones that we played most often on Genesis. First one is frustrating but entertaining and you will learn to hate cupid and hula dancers. The second one has kids mode where you can't die so you can play with all the ways you can die before you challenge it in normal mode.
Loved altered beast in the arcade
If you're going to play Ys then I'd recommend the TurboGrafx CD version over the Master System version.
As for Sega games, Wonder Boy in Monster World is really good. Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap is also good, although the remake from a few years ago is pretty much a top-to-bottom improvement so I'd go for that version.
Starflight for the Genesis would be another recommendation.
If you like rpgs, Skies of Arcadia was pretty fun on Dreamcast.
I played the Gamecube version back when it was still pretty current. I think I liked it pretty well but it was a looong time ago.
I've gotta vouch for Sega Marine Fishing. Might be the best fishing game I've ever played.
shadow run is the rom I still download and play. it used the actual shadow run rules. if they had let you choose starting race, equipment, and skills instead of just 3 classes it would be massive.
You don't mention Saturn, but if you're an RPG guy I would add it just for Grandia.
Edit: And Dragon Force, and Panzer Dragoon Saga, and...
I played the hell out of Grandia 1 and 2 on PS1/2, but I might try the Saturn/Dreamcast versions of them later, once I've had my fill of the older consoles for a while.