Howdy Mega Drivers to another episode of the Mega Archive. We're continuing to update the wiki and spackling over gaps in our coverage of Sega's most successful console in the period between its Japanese launch and the release of Sonic the Hedgehog, the killer app that brought the system to new heights. Speaking of its Japanese launch, we're creeping closer to the console's 30th anniversary in October, so I'm hoping to reach my intended milestone by then at the very least.

You might notice that the periods of release for each episode have been getting shorter. Part III is a mere four months between April and July, during which not a whole lot else was happening in the world of video gaming. The Mega Drive was handily trouncing the TurboGrafx-16, making huge inroads into the NES's long established fanbase, and still had a few more months left to go of being the big dog before Nintendo could unveil their own 16-bit successor to level the playing field. Personally, I was still knee-deep in computer gaming at this time - my beloved Atari ST would serve me well into the 90s.

With today's batch of fifteen, I think we're definitely seeing a favored genre emerge. The Mega Drive would eventually be known for its versatility in that field, offering something for everyone, but right now there's definitely a lot of shoot 'em ups jostling for attention.

• Part I: 001-020 can be found here.
• Part II: 021-035 can be found here.

Part III: 036-050 (April '90 - July '90)

036: Darwin 4081

• Developer: Sega
• Publisher: Sega
• JP Release: 04/07/1990
• NA Release: N/A
• EU Release: N/A
• Franchise: Darwin
• Genre: Shoot 'em up
• Theme: Sci-fi
• Premise: After capturing the enigmatic biological force of "Evol", one planet starts manufacturing special evolving shapeships to conquer another, who in turn is forced to retaliate with their own design.
• Availability: The original arcade version was part of the Data East Arcades Classic compilation for Wii.
• Preservation: Known in the arcades as Super Real Darwin (which is also what I call any fatal accident caused by someone's own stupidity), Darwin 4081 is Sega's own take on Data East's arcade shoot 'em up franchise. Apparently they didn't feel their system had enough shoot 'em ups yet. Besides a power-up mechanic based on collecting DNA and "evolving", it isn't all that different from all the other vertical shoot 'em ups for the system. The original game would've been three years old at that point, making it an odd choice for a conversion.

037: Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom / Toki no Keishousha: Phantasy Star III

• Developer: Sega
• Publisher: Sega
• JP Release: 04/21/1990 (as Toki no Keishousha: Phantasy Star III)
• NA Release: 04/20/1990
• EU Release: 1991
• Franchise: Phantasy Star
• Genre: RPG
• Theme: Sci-fi
• Premise: Prince Rhys must chase after his kidnapped fiancee Maia in what ends up being the first act in a multi-generational story about the survivors of Planet Palm, destroyed in Phantasy Star II.
• Availability: Like Phantasy Star II, III is available in most of the big Sega compilations - Sega Genesis Collection, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, and Sega Genesis Classics - as well as Wii Shop releases and trilogy bundles for Game Boy Advance and Sega Saturn.
• Preservation: I have very little experience with Phantasy Star prior to PSO, but even I know that people didn't seem to like this one much. The short development turnover between this and its predecessor might explain why the game feels so rudimentary and underdeveloped - a certain lack of finesse that people were expecting from Sega's flagship RPG franchise by this moment in history. Still, the "generations" idea would find strong footing in the genre from then on - Dragon Quest V and Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, for instance.

038: Psy-O-Blade

• Developer: Graphic Research
• Publisher: Sigma Entertainment
• JP Release: 04/27/1990
• NA Release: N/A
• EU Release: N/A
• Franchise: N/A
• Genre: Adventure / Visual Novel
• Theme: Sci-fi / Anime
• Premise: The crew of the Septemius 2 is investigating the mysterious disappearance of the Septemius 1, which ceased communications about six light years out of the Solar System. As crewmember Keith McDonnell, it's up to the player to solve this mystery.
• Availability: Never released overseas. Only options are the JP Mega Drive version or its previous incarnations as a computer game.
• Preservation: This would be the Sega Mega Drive's first (proto) visual novel, the sort of adventure games that Japanese companies were developing that had a heavy emphasis on plotting and moving forward by completing dialogue and action scenes. Because it's heavily text-based, I would say it's impossible to enjoy if you aren't fluent in the language, except it saw a fan translation relatively recently. If classic VNs are your thing, or violent sci-fi/horror anime OVAs from the 80s for that matter, it might be up your alley.

039: DJ Boy

• Developer: Inter State
• Publisher: Sega / Kaneko
• JP Release: 05/19/1990
• NA Release: 1990
• EU Release: 1991
• Franchise: N/A
• Genre: Brawler
• Theme: Crime
• Premise: DJ Boy has a fight-race to get to across the city, but rival gang members aren't making it easy for him. Like a Japanese take on The Warriors with more rollerskating, except nowhere near as fun as any of that sounds.
• Availability: Besides the Genesis ports and the arcade original, nothing. Who'd even want to rerelease it?
• Preservation: Our first Kaneko game. Not exactly a powerhouse, Kaneko's probably best known for its terrible licensed games, terrible games that don't use licenses, and endless softcore "Gals Panic" QIX clones which are also terrible. They also made that Power Moves fighter game, the one with site favorite Warren. DJ Boy was a fairly weak (and kinda racist) brawler that tried to immerse itself in urban Americana as its gimmick. I would say of all the games we've seen so far on the Mega Drive, this one's aged the least well.

040: Whip Rush

• Developer: Vic Tokai
• Publisher: Sega / Renovation
• JP Release: 05/26/1990
• NA Release: 1990
• EU Release: N/A
• Franchise: N/A
• Genre: Shoot 'em up (Horizontal)
• Theme: Sci-fi
• Premise: The mystery behind three missing human colony ships is solved by the sudden presence of alien motherships hailing from the system they were lost in. The motherships are pissed and have Earth in their crosshairs, but the tiny but powerful Whip Rush ship is here to stop them.
• Availability: Mega Drive/Genesis only.
• Preservation: The mid-tier devs continue to flock to Sega's popular new system, and Whip Rush heralds the debut of Vic Tokai, the game development wing of a large natural gas company. Vic Tokai is another developer that produced a few middling, semi-obscure games - they're mostly known for Decap Attack for Mega Drive, or Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode and Clash at Demonhead for NES - but it indicates that the Genesis was picking up steam. Whip Rush is another power-up based horizontal shoot 'em up for a system not lacking for them, but at least it was built specifically for the system: that meant graphics and mechanics that took advantage of the system's strengths, rather than being a compromised arcade port.

041: Tel Tel Mahjong

• Developer: Chat Noir
• Publisher: Sunsoft
• JP Release: 06/08/1990
• NA Release: N/A
• EU Release: N/A
• Franchise: N/A
• Genre: Mahjong
• Theme: Chinese myth dragons n' shit
• Premise: Play mahjong against CPU opponents or online tile jockeys in this basic four-player version of the gambling-friendly board game.
• Availability: JP Mega Drive only.
• Preservation: Mahjong games rely on realism and the intelligence of the computer opponents, so pretty much any 16-bit mahjong game will seem hopelessly basic to an audience who cares about playing at a semi serious level. As of writing this, I'm several hours into Yakuza 5, a modern game where I can walk down a street and play a much better version of competitive mahjong than this game can muster. I will give it kudos for being the first four-player mahjong game for the system, as well as the first Mega Drive game capable of online play via a special modem peripheral that was only available in Japan (North America would eventually get the similar Sega Channel eventually, however).

042: Thunder Force III

• Developer: Technosoft
• Publisher: Technosoft
• JP Release: 06/08/1990
• NA Release: 06/07/1990
• EU Release: N/A
• Franchise: Thunder Force
• Genre: Shoot 'em up (Horizontal)
• Theme: Sci-fi
• Premise: The ORN Empire is still ORNery at the Federation, leading to the continuation of the hostilities of Thunder Force II.
• Availability: It got ported a few times shortly after release, most notably for the SNES as Thunder Spirits and in a Saturn compilation, but nothing more recent than that.
• Preservation: Like Whip Rush, Thunder Force III benefits from being made especially for the Mega Drive and taking full advantage of everything it could do. It also has the advantage of following the flawed Thunder Force II, which gave Technosoft a lot of feedback to work with to improve this sequel, not least of which was taking out those horrible top-down stages with the difficult-to-avoid barriers. What we ended up with was one of the best shoot 'em ups for the system, which is extra remarkable given how every other Mega Drive game seems to be one right now. You don't have to take my word for it though: Jeff's played this three times on various Old Game shows if you ever wanted to see it in action.

043: Twin Hawk / Daisenpuu

• Developer: Sega
• Publisher: Sega
• JP Release: 06/23/1990 (as Daisenpuu)
• NA Release: N/A
• EU Release: 07/25/1990
• Franchise: N/A
• Genre: Shoot 'em up (Vertical)
• Theme: Modern Military
• Premise: Shortly after the end of WW2, a military dictator plots to take over the small European nation of Gorongo from his island base. His one weakness is his lack of air superiority, so the Prime Minister of Gorongo sets up a special aerial task force to take him down: Twin Hawk.
• Availability: Besides an enhanced port for PC Engine CD-ROM in 1991 (which is Japan only, but can be played on American Turbo-CD/TurboDuos), there's nothing but the Mega Drive versions and the original arcade game.
• Preservation: I thought this looked familiar. Twin Hawk (or Daisenpuu) is best known for its Mega Drive incarnation, but was also released on PC Engine which is where I first encountered it. It's an arcade game too, of course - one quirk of its cabinet was its vertically-aligned monitor - but the console ports do what they can without forcing players to turn their CRTs over. It's a fine example of the genre, another Toaplan classic like Truxton from our last episode, but both the PC Engine and Mega Drive have so many shoot 'em ups to choose from already. (One unusual feature? This was one of the few games to make it to the European Mega Drive but not the American Genesis.)

044: Columns

• Developer: Sega
• Publisher: Sega
• JP Release: 06/29/1990
• NA Release: 06/30/1990
• EU Release: 1990
• Franchise: Columns
• Genre: Puzzle
• Theme: Ancient Greece/Rome
• Premise: Sega's decision to break into the falling blocks puzzle genre brought us this highly influential match-3 game with an Antiquity theme. Originally a computer game, the original developer Jay Geertsen sold the rights to Sega where it found a much larger audience.
• Availability: As one of Sega's most accessible games, Columns has been featured on every major Sega Mega Drive compilation - Sega Genesis Collection, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, and Sega Genesis Classics. If compilations aren't your thing, you can buy it on its own (and its sequel Columns III) from Steam.
• Preservation: With such a simple look and premise, Columns joins the likes of Tetris and Puyo Puyo in being effectively ageless. The appeal of these games, as well as your own preference, really comes down to how quickly your brain processes information and which information it processes first. For instance, Tetris is more about spatial recognition - knowing from a glance at the current wall where an oncoming block should fit - while Columns relies more on perceiving colors and setting up diagonals ahead of time in a Connect Four style.

045: Ghostbusters

• Developer: Compile
• Publisher: Sega
• JP Release: 06/30/1990
• NA Release: 06/29/1990
• EU Release: 1990
• Franchise: Ghostbusters
• Genre: Action/Platformer
• Theme: Horror/Comedy
• Premise: Sometimes shit happens, someone has to deal with it, and who you gonna call?
• Availability: Original Mega Drive/Genesis cart only.
• Preservation: Also known as The One Actually OK Ghostbusters Game (until the 2009 Ghostbusters game, which was also actually OK), Compile's take on New York City's finest exorcists-for-hire had them traverse platforming levels as these super deformed bobblehead versions of Peter, Ray and Egon (no Winston to be found; maybe the developers only got half an hour into the movie?). It's nothing too special, but in terms of movie license games it's practically a masterpiece. (Oddly enough, I only just recently played another Japanese chibi-fied take on a 1980s movie: Super Back to the Future Part II. Sadly not as good.)

046: Budokan: The Martial Spirit

• Developer: Electronic Arts
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• JP Release: N/A
• NA Release: July 1990
• EU Release: 1990
• Franchise: N/A
• Genre: Martial Arts
• Theme: Pro Sports
• Premise: It's martial arts season! Train your karate and kendo skills for the ultimate competition at the Budokan arena in this very Japanese game from... Electronic Arts?
• Availability: Original cart only.
• Preservation: Well, look who's decided to show up. The EA of the 16-bit era is not too dissimilar to the EA of today, in that they have a lot of big name properties that appeal almost exclusively to a western market, mostly by way of annual sports franchises like Madden NFL and FIFA. This, a martial arts game with a Japanese name that did not come from Japan nor was ever released there, is their first Sega Mega Drive game. It won't be their last. (Boy, that sounded vaguely threatening.)

047: ESWAT: City Under Siege / ESWAT: Cyber Police

• Developer: Sega
• Publisher: Sega
• JP Release: 07/14/1990 (as ESWAT: Cyber Police)
• NA Release: 07/13/1990
• EU Release: 1990
• Franchise: N/A
• Genre: Action
• Theme: Sci-fi / Crime
• Premise: Cyber Crime is getting out of control, and only the Cyber Police can help. Unfortunately, "Cyber Crime" mostly refers to online identity theft and the like, so there's only so much a hulking mechanical exosuit can do to stop it.
• Availability: Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and Sega Genesis Classics both have it. As with most games on the Sega Genesis Classics compilation, you can also buy it separately from Steam.
• Preservation: ESWAT's another Jeff favorite that's been on the site at least twice, telling a sort of Robocop story that doesn't have the vicious murder of the protagonist after the first stage - rather, the squishy cop with a pistol is given a promotion to the ESWAT division. It's a bit more of a slow burn as a result; the first few levels are rough, but gets better once you have the ESWAT suit and more weaponry and armor to work with.

048: Phelios

• Developer: Namco
• Publisher: Namco
• JP Release: 07/20/1990
• NA Release: 1990
• EU Release: 1991
• Franchise: N/A
• Genre: Shoot 'em up (Vertical)
• Theme: Ancient Greece
• Premise: Apollo must mount Pegasus and rescue Artemis from the terrible beast Typhon. Those sure are four Ancient Greek mythology names picked out of a hat and mad-libbed into a shoot 'em up story.
• Availability: It was available on Wii's Virtual Console, but only in Japan.
• Preservation: It's odd how the mythology/fantasy shoot 'em ups play an awful lot like all the other shoot 'em ups, with a familiar power-up system and some harsh bullet-hell difficulty (even with a health bar). Guys, this is the fifth shoot 'em up this entry, I'm running out of ways to say "it's pretty much like the other shoot 'em ups". But hey, this is the first Mega Drive game from Namco, who would continue to port over some strong games to the system's library.

049: Batman: The Video Game

• Developer: Sunsoft
• Publisher: Sunsoft
• JP Release: 07/27/1990
• NA Release: June 1991
• EU Release: July 1992
• Franchise: Batman
• Genre: Brawler
• Theme: Crime / Superhero
• Premise: Batman is called into action to bring down the Joker, his most dangerous foe yet. Prepare to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight!
• Availability: Mega Drive/Genesis cart only. Batman has a better track record for video game adaptations than most superheroes, but even so it's still a bit too spotty for a compilation.
• Preservation: Sunsoft created three different games based on the 1989 Batman movie for the three big consoles of the era. Most folk are familiar with the NES version, which is a platformer in the Ninja Gaiden mold, but the Mega Drive version is more like a standard brawler. Not terrible, but doesn't really take advantage of the character's acrobatics. (Sunsoft's PC Engine version, meanwhile, is just ridiculous.)

050: Cyberball

• Developer: Tengen
• Publisher: Sega
• JP Release: 07/28/1990
• NA Release: 1990
• EU Release: 1990
• Franchise: Cyberball
• Genre: Football
• Theme: Pro Sports / Sci-fi
• Premise: It's the future! We still have football, but now we get robots to play it after science conclusively proved that they can't get concussions and/or permanent spine injuries. Hooray for science!
• Availability: Mega Drive/Genesis cart only, unless you can find an arcade cabinet (or one of the weaker computer/NES ports).
• Preservation: It was hard to nail the American release date for this one. An issue for EGM put it at June 1990, but that wouldn't have made sense given it had to be adapted from the Japanese release - the game was supposed to work with the Sega Modem peripheral (like Tel Tel Mahjong, above), but that functionality had to be stripped out the NA and Europe versions after it was decided that the peripheral wouldn't be available there. It's just sci-fi football (the American kind) if you were wondering; apparently it was a big hit in the arcades, kinda like a proto-NFL Blitz with more robots.