catching up again with the SEGA Genesis library

[+Cafeman]

About Ranger-X - nope, I don't have an instruction manual and didn't read a FAQ (yet!). Trying to figure it out on my own. I do recall people defending the game so its got to be good in some way. I just haven't 'got it' yet.

[schuwalker]

Great Thhread! I've been on a Genesis kick myself as of late!

 

I remember when Batman was first announced that it was coming to the Genesis.... Since I LOVED the Burton flick and saw it countless times in the summer of 1989; I couldn't wait! I was actually contemplating on buying a preorder for $90.00 - yes, that was not a type-o! I held off. While the gameplay is a little too easy, the games was one of the best audio tracks ever in a home gaming system!

 

Some other notables I've been playing

 

Musha

Golden Axe 2

Mystic Defender

Ghostbusters

Granada

[Gabriel]

Ranger-X - this game (along with Subterrania) wins an award for worst control decisions, to me. You have a flying mech and a land rover down below. I find it needlessly complex figuring out when to join the 2 craft or use one vs the other. I just want to fly through the levels and shoot stuff. I seem to remember Gamefan raving about this game for some reason. Why?

 

Ranger X is one that you might need to give some time. The fact that the first two levels are absolute ass doesn't help it. I'd recommend giving it another chance.

[The_Laird]

I have pretty much picked up all the Megadrive/Genesis games I want now, just waiting for a few to arrive from the US.

 

Lately I have really been concentrating on shoot 'em ups, there really is so many good ones for this machine. I also bought a few of the scrolling beat 'em ups that I didn't already have as well as the wonderful Mean Bean Machine.

[Eltigro]

I'm on Spring Break (I'm a teacher), and I'm sick. I've been staring at my Model 2 Genesis sitting next to the TV and considering firing it up to play some Truxton or Thunder Force III, this thread might just make me go ahead and do it.

[+Cafeman]

Ranger-X - this game (along with Subterrania) wins an award for worst control decisions, to me. You have a flying mech and a land rover down below. I find it needlessly complex figuring out when to join the 2 craft or use one vs the other. I just want to fly through the levels and shoot stuff. I seem to remember Gamefan raving about this game for some reason. Why?

 

Ranger X is one that you might need to give some time. The fact that the first two levels are absolute ass doesn't help it. I'd recommend giving it another chance.

 

I played Ranger-X a couple more times tonight and I have indeed been enjoying it more. I discovered how to enter the Ex car and switch between different special weapons, and it gets more fun after you've picked up different ones. I also thought it was pretty cool how your suit is solor-powered, and you can find beams of light in the cavern and stand in them to power-up faster. The forest level was cool, and the next level had some cool parallax/warping floors 3d-ish FX. I hate those nests of tiny explosive sperm in the cave. After playing through these levels, you can tell the dev team loved to try cool graphical FX and tons of explosions on the Genesis.

 

I've been replaying Earthworm Jim (also one of my top 5 favorite Genesis games), but tonight I was having a lot of trouble on the third Snot a Problem round. Lost 5 lives in a row, then just turned it off for the night. Better that than throw my controller.

[+Cafeman]

Another pure gold find today ... for $10 I can now save kidnapped children from the hands of the evil Mr. Big whilst spinning and yelling "who's bad"! Yep, finally found an affordable Michael Jackson's Moonwalker!

 

Seriously ... this is pure entertainment GOLD. The music is great stuff and the Michael-ness borders on self-parody. Many a LOL ROTFL moment! I'm sure many of you have played this game, but this is my first time actually playing it. Frankly, I never heard of it back in the day, and nowadays it seems quite hard to locate a cheap copy.

 

You can easily tell the developers were the same guys who developed Shinobi and Streets of Rage games - there are obvious graphical and style similarities - this game is VERY MUCH a "Sega Genesis circa 1990" style of game. I got to about the 3rd world, where dancing dogs defeated me.

[mbd30]

Peter Griffin, er, SoA Vice President Al Nilsen hyping "Castle of Illusion" and "Michael Jackson's Moonwalker" on the Computer Chronicles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UExsRds7RlE

[+Cafeman]

That was awesome! Al was pretty young there.

[littleman jack]

Aladdin, Pitfall, and Toejam and Earl 1 are three of my favorites. I spent a lot of time on those, and NHL 95, back in the day, and then again back in 2004. Last go round on those for me was summer of 2010. I never did beat Aladdin. I agree with Cafeman that it is one tough game. But a great looking and smooth playing game. I also have tried to beat the Taz, Escape from Mars with no luck. I always get stuck. Anyone here ever beat that one?

[+Cafeman]

My opinion of not only Aladdin, but also Jungle Book, has grown higher as I've played them more. Still haven't beaten either game to be honest. But lately I've been playing games late at night for an hour before bed, so I'm especially lousy at everything then. I have never played Toejam and Earl even once! It's a rarity so I won't spend $30+ on one genny game; maybe I'll download it for Wii or something eventually.

 

I've googled these types of games and confirmed connections between them. Mike Dietz was responsible for the great animation programming for Aladdin, Jungle Book, and Pitfall: the Mayan adventure. According to sega-16 interviews, Jungle Book was developed first but Aladdin was to be published first, so they cannibalized the engine to make the excellent Aladdin. then later they published JB I guess. These games are fantastically entertaining. I guess Dietz served as a consultant for the Pitfall game, but that was a different company wasn't it? (It wasn't Virgin).

[DickNixonArisen]

The genesis library is weird. It has the sports curse wicked bad and there are a lot of bad titles out there, but the good titles are really varied and awesome. Grabbing a handful of genny games isn't likely to get you anything good (a handful of NES titles will probably pull up a classic) but if you're a little more selective the gen is one of the better systems in all of gaming.

 

And it's not really lacking any game genre I can think of... even has an FPS or two.

[+Cafeman]

Snagged 4 more cheap Genesis games today by visiting a new store. Just got done playing them for about 2 hours total.

 

Mic & Mac Global Gladiators. I was very happy to find a copy of this, as I learned David Perry and his team worked on this, and sure enough its pretty obvious its a similar engine that Cool Spot, Jungle Book, and Aladdin all use. In fact, it is EXTREMELY well animated and fast-paced, and the music and sound FX are likewise EXTREMELY entertaining and high quality. I only played 3 levels , plus tried out the fun bonus rounds (available for practice in the options menu) then had to stop. The game scrolls left / right very quickly and it can get erratic when your character is quickly changing directions. Your "goo weapon" can be pointed upwards or downward as you shoot left/right at slime enemies and anti-environmental "bad machines", and the ammo is kinda lobbed upwards then falls back down. Plus your character is slightly pushed backwards with each shot. Combined, it gives this game a distinct feel. the frame rate on the animation is buttery smooth. You grab as many tiny McDonald's arches as you can and find Ronald himself with a end-of-race flag to beat each level.

 

Super Street Fighter 2. I was disappointed when I realized it wasn't a "turbo" version - no super moves! But its still well done and a good upgrade from the first Genny version of SF. I remember being impressed at this game's 40-megabit size. You can tell, its got the intro, some character bios, plus all the chars and levels.

 

Justice League: Task Force. Lordy! I thought there might be some glimmer of fun here, but nope. The flattest sound FX, almost subliminal and dull music, unresponsive controls, and a fighting engine that is basic at best. Eternal Champions (Genesis version) is better; don't even try to compare Capcom's Street Fighter games because this game is so much less fun. The thing is - it all seems like it could have been great, it should have been great, but there isn't one great thing about it except the characters. Oh, and Cheetah is naked except for her fur. I found this review and this guy just NAILS IT ON THE HEAD whats wrong with this game. http://segascrutiny.blogspot.com/2011/01/genesis-game-reviews-justice-league.html

 

Finally, I also got Cyborg Justice and played Caf Jr about 10 rounds in duel mode. With no manual, we were trying to figure out the vast array of moves! Cyborg Justice has got a complexity and a different take on the moves than other fighting games. I can see many people not liking it for this reason, but the unique cyborg battling moves are what I like about Cyborg Justice - its a mech/robot game all the way. You outfit your arms, torso and legs the way you like then rip the arms/weapons/torso's off other robots! Its a lot of fun to rip the arm of a robot and attach it to yourself, or to use some strategy to actually hit the enemy with your special arm weapon (easily avoided unless you manage to stun the enemy). I used to play this back in the day so this was no surprise, I bought it because I used to like it. Great animation for the day and cool tunes too.

 

Check this out:

at about 1:40 thru 2:00 will show some cool moves.

[Gabriel]

Another pure gold find today ... for $10 I can now save kidnapped children from the hands of the evil Mr. Big whilst spinning and yelling "who's bad"! Yep, finally found an affordable Michael Jackson's Moonwalker!

 

I finally hunted this down a few years ago and absolutely loved it. I normally loathe platformers, but this one was fun because of the tunes and the aforementioned "is it parody or not?" vibe the game has. Methinks the game designers had their tongue firmly in cheek, but even if they were dead serious it makes it even better.

 

It's a shame this one exists in a licensing limbo, because it really deserved to be on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection.

[Gabriel]

Try Air Buster if you get a chance.

[+Cafeman]

I started to play my Sega CD games for a while but recently visited a new Exchange store and found Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Zoop for the Genesis. A few things about what I've played in the first half of April:

 

Robo Aleste CD - this thread is about Genesis but I want to quickly post about this game - a sequel to MUSHA, programmed by Compile. Well, I played this game for a several evenings until finally I beat it for the first time ever! I had never even seen the final boss before or the final level with its roof-rafters parallax effects. It was a lot of fun learning the strategies of each level and seeing how the plot turned out. Still love the winter level's avalanches and long train to battle, also love the robot mech bosses and their operators' surprise when you defeat each in turn. Great music in this one, and many nice little details to be found in the background graphics and the enemies you fight in the air.

 

Okay back to Genesis:

 

Jurassic Park: The Lost World - programmed by Appaloosa (of Ecco the Dolphin fame I assume). First time I even saw this in the wild, picked it up for $2.50. Well, the graphics of the intro are absolutely STUNNING for a Genesis title, I didn't expect that. I like how the gameplay and perspective (mostly top down like Ikari Warriors) are totally different from the earlier JP Genesis games programmed by BLue Sky (which were side scrollers). You run or drive around sizable maps of the jungle and caves, using different weapons, shooting dinosaurs and trying to accomplish side-missions. I didn't get all that far yet, will report more once I have.

 

Zoop - picked up for $1.00, a puzzle game with colored pieces approaching center-screen from North South East and West directions. Change your center-screen triangle's color by shooting a colored piece, then shoot similar colored approaching shapes to clear them. Don't allow any to reach center-screen , I assume. Will also play more over the next weeks.

 

Also picked up World Series Baseball and WSB '95. Haven't tried yet. Each of these was $1.00.

[Gabriel]

Robo Aleste CD - this thread is about Genesis but I want to quickly post about this game - a sequel to MUSHA, programmed by Compile. Well, I played this game for a several evenings until finally I beat it for the first time ever! I had never even seen the final boss before or the final level with its roof-rafters parallax effects. It was a lot of fun learning the strategies of each level and seeing how the plot turned out. Still love the winter level's avalanches and long train to battle, also love the robot mech bosses and their operators' surprise when you defeat each in turn. Great music in this one, and many nice little details to be found in the background graphics and the enemies you fight in the air.

 

I remember playing and playing and playing this game. I think the furthest I ever got was the 5th level or something. I know I finally saw one of the game's cutscenes. I regret that I gave my legitimate copy away.

[+Cafeman]

[i remember playing and playing and playing this game. I think the furthest I ever got was the 5th level or something. I know I finally saw one of the game's cutscenes. I regret that I gave my legitimate copy away.

 

Robo Aleste allows you to continue from your last level infinitely, and unlike some shooters, you can actually continue and still beat each level. Many levels start off slowly and give you the opportunity to power-up a bit as you go. You've absolutely got to shoot the non-lethal chip-producing ships and powerup your main guns, while trying to grab the appropriate colored special weapon. Also, the 2 special-weapons orbs that hover around your Aleste mech will destroy enemies quickly if you carefully get close enough for the orbs to touch them - so you can use this to your advantage if you don't have a special yet. Yep, I am very impressed by the depth of strategies.

 

I can't remember which level might be the 5th, but I know at one point a young girl attacks you in her mech since she mistakenly thinks it was Aleste that destroyed her village, then you must enter a fortress with spotlights and narrow paths and shoot the force-field-generating gun turrets (only damaged by a special weapon, not shots), then you go into a different dimension/reality and battle your brother in his big blue mech, then finally the female leader's mech which isn't really that difficult if you are patient and powered up. Overall the yellow circling special, or the blue laser special were the most helpful to me.

[Atariboy]

I hated how Amazing Tennis would put you in the back in single player. Alternating makes sense in 2 player mode to keep things even, but I never understood the decision to also do it in single player.

 

That said, I played the SuperNes game quite a bit. One of the better tennis games out there.

 

You should pick up Batman Forever. Should be interesting to see what you think of that awful game after just playing some of the betters ones out there.

Edited April 17, 2011 by Atariboy

[the.golden.ax]

I picked up a crap ton of cool genesis games in a big buy last week, and another eBay lot that showed up yesterday.

 

Trouble Shooter, and Target Earth are very decent titles.

 

AX

[nonner242]

Target Earthaka Leynos is my all time favorite game for Genny followed by the great Cybernator..

The stoy is great...to bad the US stuff got censored to hell. But I was blown away with the story back in the day!

It sequels are pretty decent too.

SNES Cybernator aka Assault Suit Valken

Sega Saturn Assault Suit Leynos 2

I know there are 2 more but its for the Jap PS1/PS2

 

Also I freaking love the music in the first 2 16 bit titles..I can still hum them today. Gives ya found memories when playing them again.

Edited April 17, 2011 by nonner242

[the.golden.ax]

I also picked up a Traysia CIB from Play N trade (and they gave me a 1 cent Pure for 360 for the purchase!).

 

AX

[Lord Thag]

Another Target Earth / Assault suit Leynos fan eh? I completely agree. I picked that up with $20 after christmas at Toys R Us back in the day, and man, did I play the HELL out of that game. I could beat it on one guy regularly (no small feat that). One of the best early action games that told a story. Excellent stuff indeed! Highly recomended.

 

I also just picked up Ranger X. I'm really digging that one too. Great graphics and very unique gameplay.

[+Cafeman]

What a coincidence (thread bump) , I just hooked up my Genny again this weekend - been playing Twin Cobra, Maximum Carnage, and 32X Golf Magazine 36 great holes (all of which I bought last week on a trip to Exchange).

[Chris Leach]

Genesis is what Nintendo isn't!