Top 10 favorite Sega Genesis games of all time
Remembering the Sega Genesis-
"Genesis does what Nintendon't !" The Sega Genesis- proprietor of unabashed console coolness and hard-charging advertisement bravado, blazed into the atmosphere of my understanding like a meteor and slammed into my soul with a 'tude-filled THUD, leaving behind a crater of influence that's as responsible for my inception as a lover of attitude in gaming as anything else! No doubt, my prepubescent eyes were not prepared for the awesomeness when my neighbor "snuck" open his Christmas present a week early to reveal a brand new Genesis. YOWZAA!!! Right away, games like Sonic the Hedgehog , Streets of Rage and Road Rash had our little 90's ducktail heads spinning with delight! Even though he (of course) got in trouble for it, he said "it was totally worth it cause I got to play Sonic early." ...Fair enough. That sort of rebelliousness seemed to pair with the system in the same way that a spiked leather jacket and sunglasses does on a biker as the Genesis strove to the top of the video game mountain with an edgier approach to both hardware and software design as well as aggressive ads unlike anything ever seen before. You can keep your puny "power" Nintendo, ours is MEGA-POWERED !!!
Even though I was extremely fond of my Nintendo and the vastness of its game library, the Sega Genesis was instantly impressive with titles that blew me away both aesthetically and structurally such as Golden Axe and Strider . Not only did these look and sound more like real arcade games but they played smoothly and displayed graphics far beyond the power of the NES. It was around this time that "bits" entered my lexicon as a tool for measuring a game console's capabilities as my next door neighbor (or Genesis Boy as I started calling him) was more than proud to point out that the reason his system looked and sounded better than mine was due to the fact that it was made with 16 of these mysteriously magical "bits" while the Nintendo was only using 8. Holy crap... that's like double the bits!!! Makes sense then why these games looked so much more amazing. With that, the first shots were fired for me in what would become the largest ever debate in video game history... Nintendo vs. Sega.
Sega didn't hold back as they relentlessly attacked Nintendo through advertising propaganda during this era which fit right in with the new 'tude-filled angst that permeated through our culture during the punk rock 80's leading into the hip hop 90's. Even Genesis owners like my neighbor fell into this cyclone of game bullying as he reveled in the magnificence of his new system while constantly putting down the NES (which was kind of funny to me since he owned one of them as well). "The Genesis is WAY better than the Nintendo" he would exclaim which always struck me as an unnecessary declaration. Do we really need to pick? I mean, I want to live in a world where I can enjoy all the fruits that fall from the gaming tree. NOPE... you've got to choose! *Sigh* At least, that's the way it seemed.
I had to side with the NES (and later the SNES) at the time since it was the console that I had but I was always fond of the bad boy Genesis and would read as many articles as possible to keep up with new information and play it at friends houses as often as I could. Meanwhile, games such as Toejam & Earl and Mutant League Football continued to tantalize, bursting out the seams with 'tude (at least through my eyes) while at the same time providing a perfect contrast to the more family oriented titles found in Nintendo's library. Sports games (one of my personal favorite genres) also looked and played amazing on Sega's 16-bit ruffian. Gotta say, I'm really diggin' the look and design of the black console and cartridges as well. Man, I don't even care about this dumb debate... I HAVE to get my hands on one of these things!
Luckily, a few years later I was able to get a Genesis of my own and could finally dive into the blast processing world that had intrigued me so much as a youth. YOWZAA x2!!! Having access to the huge library of awesome titles that I read so much about in magazines felt surreal. Suddenly, I could shop in the Genesis section at my local Blockbusters or toy store instead of avoiding it like a pack of Greasers trying to shake me down . Now it's time see what these games are really all about!
DUDE... I'm in love!!! There's awesome and worthwhile titles in every corner of this thing! Fun platformers, sick arcade ports, twitchy puzzlers and many more all polished with Sega's unique blend of 'tudey visuals and twangy sounds. The 'Tude Dude approves ! Even though I didn't understand the full scope of the console wars when I was a kid, I began to realize the reasoning behind choosing a side and the pride that came with it. Now that the dust has long settled from that far off battle I can say with the utmost certainty that I'm a Genesis guy through and through and feel a special kinship with Sega's 16-bit juggernaut!
Processing through the Genesis library over the years has been a blast (lame pun intended) and attempting to choose 10 favorites will certainly be difficult considering its sheer size of mega power-infused titles but it's a challenge that I proudly accept. I feel well-traveled enough in the Genesis universe at this point and am curious to see which games fall where in my rankings after all these years (*cracks knuckles*... time to start crunching some numbers!). So without further ado... The 'Tude Dude presents a comprehensive breakdown of his favorite games from his favorite overall retro console... the Sega Genesis. SEGA !!!
The following is a list of The 'Tude Dude's 10 favorite Sega Genesis games of all time.
Honorable Mentions
-Strider, Road Rash 1 & 3, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist, Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi & Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, NBA Hangtime, Contra: Hard Corps, Kid Chameleon, Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse & Mickey Mania, Columns 1 & 3, NFL Football series, Super Hang-On, Mega Man: The Wily Wars, Golden Axe 1 & 2, Mortal Kombat series, Mutant League Football, Phantasy Star series, Splatterhouse 3, Rocket Knight Adventures, Tommy Lasorda Baseball, Rolling Thunder 2 & 3, Madden NFL series, Street Fighter 2: Special Champion Edition, PGA Tour Golf series, Out of This World, Evander Holyfield's 'Real Deal' Boxing, Mega Bomberman, The Adventures of Batman & Robin, NHL Hockey & NHLPA '93, Pat Riley Basketball, Alien Soldier, Gauntlet IV, Earthworm Jim 1 & 2, Pirates! Gold, NBA Jam & NBA Jam T.E., Streets of Rage 1 & 3, Quackshot starring Donald Duck, Strike series (Desert, Jungle and Urban), Jerry Glanville's Pigskin Footbrawl, King Salmon: The Big Catch, Alisia Dragoon, The Punisher, Vectorman 1 & 2, FIFA Soccer series, Mercs, Truxton, Shining Force 1 & 2, Toejam & Earl, NBA Live series, General Chaos, Championship Pro-Am, Thunder Force series, Sunset Riders, Tony La Russa Baseball, Super Off Road, Mario Lemieux Hockey, X-Men 2: Clone Wars, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, Jurassic Park, Outrun, Haunting Starring Polterguy, Disney's Aladdin, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic & Knuckles and the stupidly appropriate for the Genesis, Comix Zone.
Thanks for reading! Question or comment? Feel free to leave below.
