Senior Contributing Editors:
Jesus Diaz
| AIM | Twitter
Mark Wilson, Reviews
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editors:
Matt Buchanan | AIM | Twitter
Adam Frucci | Twitter
Sean Fallon | Twitter
Jack Loftus | Twitter
John Herrman | Twitter
Dan Nosowitz
Chris Mascari
Kat Hannaford | Twitter
Rosa Golijan | Twitter
Chris Jacob
In these days of cheap emulators all you need is any sort of modern electronic portable. A PSP is capable of doing all three easily. This sort of thing is just for people who can't give up their cartridges. #mods
I still miss my Genesis. My brothers and I fought over it so my Mom and Dad sold it... And yeah, I was a late adopter also. I think we got ours in '95.
When I joined Sega in 1990, the Genesis was just getting its legs. We were still making Master System titles, and Game Gear prototypes were just starting to enter testing. We had one Genesis that had been kitbashed to include a "CPU Pause", so we could take high-quality screenshots of games that otherwise altered the screen when paused.
When I joined, 400 hours of testing was about all a game could expect. By the end, the test process had ballooned to include pause testing, reset button testing, and myriad other random tests that resulted from obscure and unique bugs in single titles. A given build could get upwards of 120 test hours. Most titles had ten to fifty builds, putting total test time into the 2,000 to 6,000 hour range.
Testers were paid $10-15 per hour (I was on the low end of that range, because I was and remain a piss-poor negotiator), and worked 60-90 hours per week during crunch times. In 1993, a one megabyte title's testing cost was estimated near $75,000.
i hated the hollow, empty feeling of a genesis controller. i was a nintendo kid growing up and never found love for the genesis. but hey, happy birthday. i am glad you didn't die.
@deliciousburglar: "pause" was the closest we had to "save" back then. heck, i would even pause and switch the inputs so my dad could watch tv and then change it back when he was done. can't waste all that hard work just for the news.
@Hello Mister Walrus: The best games for the "Genesis" (Mega Drive) were/are
Sonic, Bomberman, (*mumble / cough* Disney's Aladdin), Micro Machines, Super Smash T.V, the Mickey Mouse games, Mortal Kombat 3 + all games mentioned on this website - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sega_Mega_Drive_games
I'm going to have to go home and hook mine up. Maybe play a little Sonic and a round or two of NBA Jam. Get Charles Barkley to shove some chumps down and get me a few powerups from midcourt.
@Scotland: too many frakking games to name, but I'm going through my cartridge collection now, and tell you what I have managed to hold onto over the decades. Quite a few of these are real gems, and more than a few of them, have stood up to the test of time rather well . . . some of them are better than a lot of the more contemporary releases on Xbxo 360 and PS3. I've highlighted in BOLD the games which I think not only stand out with the highest praise back in the day, but also those which do not seem dated compared to contemporary standards.
After Burner 2
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alien 3
Alien Soldier
Alisia Dragoon
Altered Beast
Arch Rivals
Arcus Odyssey
Arrow Flash
Atomic Robo-Kid
B.O.B.
Battletech
Beyond Oasis
Bio-Hazard Battle
Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday
Cannon Fodder
Castle of llusion (starring Mickey Mouse)
Castlevania: Bloodlines
Centurion: Defender of Rome
Chaken: The Forever Man
Championship Pro-Am
Chuck Rock
Chuck Rock 2: Son of Chuck
Columns
Columns 3
Comix Zone
Contra: Hard Corps
Cool Spot
Crack Down
Crüe Ball
Crusader of Centy
Curse
Decap Attack
Demolition Man
Desert Demolition (starring Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote)
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
Disney's Aladdin
Dragon's Fury
Dragon's Revenge
Dune: The Battle For Arrakis
Dungeons and Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun
Dynamite Headdy
Earnest Evans
Earthworm Jim
Earthworm Jim 2
Ecco the Dolphin
Ecco: The Tides of Time
El Viento
Elemental Master
ESWAT: City Under Siege
Eternal Champions
Evander Holyfield's "Real Deal" Boxing
Exile
Faery Tale Adventure
Fatal Labyrinth
Final Zone
Flashback: The Quest for Identity
Flink
Forgotten Worlds
Gaiares
Gain Ground
Galaxy Force 2
General Chaos
Ghostbusters
Ghouls 'N Ghosts
Gods
Golden Axe
Golden Axe 2
Golden Axe 3
Granada
Gunstar Heroes
Heavy Nova
Hellfire
Herzog Zwei (good luck trying to find this one on eBay)
The Immortal
Insector X
Jewel Master
Joe & Mac
Joe Montana Football
Joe Montana 2: Sports Talk Football
John Madden Football
John Madden Football '92
John Madden Football: Championship Edition
Jungle Strike
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition
Kid Chameleon
King's Bounty: The Conqueror's Quest
Landstalker
Lemmings
Lemmings 2: The Tribes
Light Crusader
Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar (Thunder Force 4)
M.U.S.H.A. Metallic Uniframe Super Hybrid Armor
Marble Madness
McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure
Mega Bomberman
Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Mega Turrican
Mercs
Mick & Mack as the Global Gladiators
Midnight Resistance
Might & Magic 2: Gates to Another World
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat 2
Mutant League Football
Mystic Defender
Mystical Fighter
NBA Jam Tournament Edition
Onslaught
The Ooze
Outlander
Out of this World (Another World)
Pat Riley Basketball
PGA Tour Golf
PGA Tour Golf 2
Phantasy Star 2
Phantasty Star 3: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star 4: The End of the Millennium
Phelios
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure
Populous
Power Monger
Quackshot (starring Donald Duck)
Radical Rex
Rambo 3
Ranger X
Rastan Saga 2
The Ren & Stimpy Show Presents: Stimpy's Invention
Revenge of Shinobi
Rings of Power
Ristar
Road Rash
Road Rash 2
Road Rash 3
RoboCop vs. The Terminator
Rock N' Roll Racing
Rocket Knight Adventures
Rolling Thunder 2
Sagaia
Saint Sword
Samurai Shodown
Saturday Night Slam Masters
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shadow of the Beast
Shadow of the Beast 2
Shadowrun (good luck finding this one on eBay, too)
Shining Force
Shining in the Darkness
Shinobi 3: Return of the Ninja Master
Sol-Deace
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Space Harrier 2
Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2
Splatterhouse 2
Splatterhouse 3
Starflight (in many ways, the spiritual predecessor to BioWare's Mass Effect)
Street Fighter 2: Special Championship Edition
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage 3
Strider
Sub-Terrania
Sunset Riders
Super Fantasy Zone
Super Hang-On
Super Hydlide
Super Monoco GP
Sword of Vermillion
Syd of Valis
Syndicate
Target Earth (Assault Suit Leynos)
Taz-Mania
Tecmo Super Bowl
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist
The Terminator
Thunder Force 2
Thunder Force 3
Tinhead
Todd's Adventures in Slime World
Toe Jam & Earl
Toe Jam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
Toki: Going Ape Spit (the original title for this game was simply, Ape Shit)
@roflwaffles is terribly unfunny: Yeah. I just wish (for nostalgia's sake) that I could re-organize them all into chronological order. Some of these I imported later, but most of these were purchased between the Genesis NA launch in fall 1989, and sometime in 1995/1996, when Saturn and PSX releases began to outweigh the 16-bit consoles. It would certainly be nice to re-organize the collection in the order that I bought them.
I know Altered Beast came with the system, so that is my first game, and I purchased Ghouls 'N Ghost a week later (took me three months of off and on play to beat that monster), so that was my second game. And I think the next one after that was Mystic Defender. Other games I remember picking up during the first year (when the Genny's release schedule was still pretty slow) were Truxton, Super Hydlide, Kid Chameleon, Alex Kidd, Ghostbusters, Forgotten Worlds, Target Earth, Herzog Zwei, Strider and Thunder Force 3. But after that, it all gets hazy. I may have picked up Rolling Thunder 2, Super Monaco GP, ESWAT, Rambo 3 and a few of the shooters like Hellfire and Whip Rush during that first year, but I am not so sure if those were year one or year two releases. Like I say, the purchase order gets kinda hazy after a certain point.
Genesis was the first console I owned where I had the money to buy my own games, so it was the first console where my "gaming addiction" was allowed to set in proper - I lapped up games on it like a starving man at a 5-star restaurant with a free buffet. The following year, I bartered a friend out of his TurboGrafx-16 (and games), picked up the SNES at launch in 1991, and the rest was a hazy, gluttonous, 16-bit video gaming orgy that lasted until sometime in 1995/1996.
Those really were the golden years of this industry. These days, I often feel really sorry for all the younger gamers who missed out. Most of today's gamers did not show up until well into the Playstation-era, and consequently, the mass corporatization of the hobby, that has made the 'bottomline' unevenly more important than innovation, inspiration and in a lot of cases, overall craftsmanship. Many gamers still have no clue on Earth, just how good gaming can be when creators are allowed to dream a little and push the boundaries more, seemingly at every other release. We're seeing a resurgence of some of that now with the indie game movement, but it still has not gotten to the level it was, back when a devteam did not have to worry about where the next paycheck was coming from, while they were off being creative. Back in the day, when SEGA and Nintendo and Hudson and EA and Capcom, etc. had your back, in most cases you were being paid to go out and do something no one had ever seen before. If indie developers had stable financial partners behind them today, like they used to back in the day, then who knows . . .
I digress. Back on the subject of my list above, I wonder if there is a complete list somewhere of the proper order in which these puppies (the actual games in my collection) were released, that could help jog my memory on when I bought each one?
11/09/09
11/08/09
10/26/09
10/26/09
10/26/09
08/15/09
08/14/09
08/14/09
08/14/09
When I joined, 400 hours of testing was about all a game could expect. By the end, the test process had ballooned to include pause testing, reset button testing, and myriad other random tests that resulted from obscure and unique bugs in single titles. A given build could get upwards of 120 test hours. Most titles had ten to fifty builds, putting total test time into the 2,000 to 6,000 hour range.
Testers were paid $10-15 per hour (I was on the low end of that range, because I was and remain a piss-poor negotiator), and worked 60-90 hours per week during crunch times. In 1993, a one megabyte title's testing cost was estimated near $75,000.
08/14/09
08/14/09
08/14/09
08/14/09
Now we can be friends!
08/14/09
08/14/09
i was no longer expert in the games i played but while playing them, i remembered why i was once expert.
because if you died, you had to do everything over again, and over and over...
08/14/09
08/14/09
Sonic, Bomberman, (*mumble / cough* Disney's Aladdin), Micro Machines, Super Smash T.V, the Mickey Mouse games + any suggestions.
08/14/09
08/14/09
Sonic, Bomberman, (*mumble / cough* Disney's Aladdin), Micro Machines, Super Smash T.V, the Mickey Mouse games, Mortal Kombat 3 + all games mentioned on this website - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sega_Mega_Drive_games
08/14/09
08/14/09
08/14/09
That's pretty fly.
08/14/09
08/14/09
08/14/09
08/14/09
He's heating up!
.
.
.
He's on fire!
08/14/09
08/14/09
06/28/09
I mean, why limit yourself when 30 extra bucks gets you SO much more.
-including an active community looking to do "stuff" with it!
[dingoo-scene.blogspot.com]
06/27/09
Sonic, Bomberman, (*mumble / cough* Disney's Aladdin), Micro Machines, Super Smash T.V, the Mickey Mouse games + any suggestions.
06/28/09
After Burner 2
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alien 3
Alien Soldier
Alisia Dragoon
Altered Beast
Arch Rivals
Arcus Odyssey
Arrow Flash
Atomic Robo-Kid
B.O.B.
Battletech
Beyond Oasis
Bio-Hazard Battle
Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday
Cannon Fodder
Castle of llusion (starring Mickey Mouse)
Castlevania: Bloodlines
Centurion: Defender of Rome
Chaken: The Forever Man
Championship Pro-Am
Chuck Rock
Chuck Rock 2: Son of Chuck
Columns
Columns 3
Comix Zone
Contra: Hard Corps
Cool Spot
Crack Down
Crüe Ball
Crusader of Centy
Curse
Decap Attack
Demolition Man
Desert Demolition (starring Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote)
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
Disney's Aladdin
Dragon's Fury
Dragon's Revenge
Dune: The Battle For Arrakis
Dungeons and Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun
Dynamite Headdy
Earnest Evans
Earthworm Jim
Earthworm Jim 2
Ecco the Dolphin
Ecco: The Tides of Time
El Viento
Elemental Master
ESWAT: City Under Siege
Eternal Champions
Evander Holyfield's "Real Deal" Boxing
Exile
Faery Tale Adventure
Fatal Labyrinth
Final Zone
Flashback: The Quest for Identity
Flink
Forgotten Worlds
Gaiares
Gain Ground
Galaxy Force 2
General Chaos
Ghostbusters
Ghouls 'N Ghosts
Gods
Golden Axe
Golden Axe 2
Golden Axe 3
Granada
Gunstar Heroes
Heavy Nova
Hellfire
Herzog Zwei (good luck trying to find this one on eBay)
The Immortal
Insector X
Jewel Master
Joe & Mac
Joe Montana Football
Joe Montana 2: Sports Talk Football
John Madden Football
John Madden Football '92
John Madden Football: Championship Edition
Jungle Strike
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition
Kid Chameleon
King's Bounty: The Conqueror's Quest
Landstalker
Lemmings
Lemmings 2: The Tribes
Light Crusader
Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar (Thunder Force 4)
M.U.S.H.A. Metallic Uniframe Super Hybrid Armor
Marble Madness
McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure
Mega Bomberman
Mega Man: The Wily Wars
Mega Turrican
Mercs
Mick & Mack as the Global Gladiators
Midnight Resistance
Might & Magic 2: Gates to Another World
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat 2
Mutant League Football
Mystic Defender
Mystical Fighter
NBA Jam Tournament Edition
Onslaught
The Ooze
Outlander
Out of this World (Another World)
Pat Riley Basketball
PGA Tour Golf
PGA Tour Golf 2
Phantasy Star 2
Phantasty Star 3: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star 4: The End of the Millennium
Phelios
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure
Populous
Power Monger
Quackshot (starring Donald Duck)
Radical Rex
Rambo 3
Ranger X
Rastan Saga 2
The Ren & Stimpy Show Presents: Stimpy's Invention
Revenge of Shinobi
Rings of Power
Ristar
Road Rash
Road Rash 2
Road Rash 3
RoboCop vs. The Terminator
Rock N' Roll Racing
Rocket Knight Adventures
Rolling Thunder 2
Sagaia
Saint Sword
Samurai Shodown
Saturday Night Slam Masters
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shadow of the Beast
Shadow of the Beast 2
Shadowrun (good luck finding this one on eBay, too)
Shining Force
Shining in the Darkness
Shinobi 3: Return of the Ninja Master
Sol-Deace
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Space Harrier 2
Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2
Splatterhouse 2
Splatterhouse 3
Starflight (in many ways, the spiritual predecessor to BioWare's Mass Effect)
Street Fighter 2: Special Championship Edition
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage 3
Strider
Sub-Terrania
Sunset Riders
Super Fantasy Zone
Super Hang-On
Super Hydlide
Super Monoco GP
Sword of Vermillion
Syd of Valis
Syndicate
Target Earth (Assault Suit Leynos)
Taz-Mania
Tecmo Super Bowl
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist
The Terminator
Thunder Force 2
Thunder Force 3
Tinhead
Todd's Adventures in Slime World
Toe Jam & Earl
Toe Jam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
Toki: Going Ape Spit (the original title for this game was simply, Ape Shit)
Trouble Shooter
Truxton
Turrican
Two Crude Dudes
Two Tribes: Populous 2
Ultimate Qix
Universal Soldier (more like Turrican, reskinned)
Urban Strike: The Sequel to Jungle Strike
Valis
Valis 3
Vapor Trail
Vectorman
Vectorman 2
Viewpoint
Virtua Fighter 2
Virtua Racing
Wardner
Warrior of Rome
Warrior of Rome 2
Warsong (Langrisser)
Weaponlord
Whip Rush
Wings of Wor
Wonder Boy 3: Monster Lair
Wonder Boy in Monster World
X-Men 2: Clone Wars
Ys 3: Wanderers From Ys
Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen
Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel
Zero Wing (All your base are belong to us.)
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
06/28/09
That's a great list you have there.
06/28/09
I know Altered Beast came with the system, so that is my first game, and I purchased Ghouls 'N Ghost a week later (took me three months of off and on play to beat that monster), so that was my second game. And I think the next one after that was Mystic Defender. Other games I remember picking up during the first year (when the Genny's release schedule was still pretty slow) were Truxton, Super Hydlide, Kid Chameleon, Alex Kidd, Ghostbusters, Forgotten Worlds, Target Earth, Herzog Zwei, Strider and Thunder Force 3. But after that, it all gets hazy. I may have picked up Rolling Thunder 2, Super Monaco GP, ESWAT, Rambo 3 and a few of the shooters like Hellfire and Whip Rush during that first year, but I am not so sure if those were year one or year two releases. Like I say, the purchase order gets kinda hazy after a certain point.
Genesis was the first console I owned where I had the money to buy my own games, so it was the first console where my "gaming addiction" was allowed to set in proper - I lapped up games on it like a starving man at a 5-star restaurant with a free buffet. The following year, I bartered a friend out of his TurboGrafx-16 (and games), picked up the SNES at launch in 1991, and the rest was a hazy, gluttonous, 16-bit video gaming orgy that lasted until sometime in 1995/1996.
Those really were the golden years of this industry. These days, I often feel really sorry for all the younger gamers who missed out. Most of today's gamers did not show up until well into the Playstation-era, and consequently, the mass corporatization of the hobby, that has made the 'bottomline' unevenly more important than innovation, inspiration and in a lot of cases, overall craftsmanship. Many gamers still have no clue on Earth, just how good gaming can be when creators are allowed to dream a little and push the boundaries more, seemingly at every other release. We're seeing a resurgence of some of that now with the indie game movement, but it still has not gotten to the level it was, back when a devteam did not have to worry about where the next paycheck was coming from, while they were off being creative. Back in the day, when SEGA and Nintendo and Hudson and EA and Capcom, etc. had your back, in most cases you were being paid to go out and do something no one had ever seen before. If indie developers had stable financial partners behind them today, like they used to back in the day, then who knows . . .
I digress. Back on the subject of my list above, I wonder if there is a complete list somewhere of the proper order in which these puppies (the actual games in my collection) were released, that could help jog my memory on when I bought each one?