The genesis of your Genesis experience

[Flack]

In 1991 a guy I worked with at a local fast food restaurant decided he was selling his NES to buy a Genesis. That's when I got my NES. From 1985 I had been a C64 user, and enough of my friends had NES units that I never really felt the need for one. However in 1991 I was a senior in high school and figured when I moved out I would want a system of my own.

When I went over to the guy's house he had already bought his Genesis. He and another guy were playing Sonic. Although it looked beautiful, it moved way too fast for me. My favorite NES game was SMB3, and I liked the idea of having to search for items in bricks and solving puzzles and jumping more than just running through a level at light speed. It's sad that one game turned me off of a whole system, but I was happy with my C64 (and thousands of free games) and my NES with SMB1 and 3, so I passed on the Genesis.

Last year when I started putting together my home arcade, I put out the word that I'd like to have a Genesis. A friend of mine informed me that the one from his youth was still in his parent's garage, and donated it to the cause. Shortly afterward, I won an auction on eBay of about 30 Genesis games.

Since then I've played the system off and on. Honestly, I probably have less than 20 hours invested total into playing, but I'm getting there. I can see what all the excitement was about, as all the games I've tried (except Where's Waldo) have been fun, with great graphics and sound.

[portnoyd]

My first Genesis memory harkens (Yes, I said harkens) back to grammar school. Not sure of the year or grade, as it doesn't help I was in a catholic K-8 school. But anyway, my one friend at the time, Kyle, was a constant source of distraction afterschool, as he lived a stone's throw away from the school, and had a Commodore 64. The first time I saw Maniac Mansion was on his C64. (Or whatever it was... fuzzy memories) We'd play games, me, myself, and my friend Sean. So one day, Kyle got a Genesis. Hot damn. Some great games. My first exposure to Golden Axe, Last Battle, Might & Magic, Faery Tale Adventure, Altered Beast, and Starflight. All great stuff.

I wasn't in love with it per se, as I was still a slobbering NES head, and with SNES rearing its head, I was fine with what I had. Fast forward, until I broke down, and begged my dad to put down the $50 deposit to rent a Genny from Blockbuster. Sean had gotten one, and damn, now I was curious. I got two games - Tazmania and Toe Jam & Earl. Both games sealed it, and I got a Genesis and TJ&E for Christmas. TJ&E is still one of my favorite games to this day. From that point, myself and Sean rented a morbid amount of games, and I got to know the Genesis library pretty well.

Time passed, and I got a Sega CD for Christmas, playing way too much Sherlock Holmes for my own good. It was also the first time I sat down with Monkey Island. Even better.

Lacking an adverb to describe it, I let my friend Sean borrow my Genesis/Sega CD combo, and I never got it back. We grew apart, as it happens, and I never asked for it back. I sold TJ&E to Funco (Yeeargh), along with any of the few games I had. We went to high school, graduated, and time went on. Sean got leukemia, and fought a long battle, and died last year. A non-sequitor in a Genesis thread, granted, but I have to say, even all the fun times we had when we were younger, Kyle did not come to Sean's wake. I still don't know why.

So even though I need not too many Genesis games to have the whole set, none of them are originals, system or games. I did enjoy the system greatly during its run.

TG16, I got for Christmas. I couldn't tell you if it was before or after the Genesis... wasn't the same year, that's for sure! I got a couple games, most notably the Bonks. I remember playing Vigilante too much and getting annoyed with it. I also experienced some nice bonding with my father... to this day, his favorite game still is Legendary Axe II.

If you can read this, you don't need glasses, or caffeine.

dave

[Dire 51]

I recall playing the Genesis shortly after its release in the fall of '89 - a friend of mine brought it to my place along with the three games he had: Altered Beast (of course), Last Battle and Space Harrier II. I thought AB and LB were great, but SHII absolutely floored me. I knew then that I had to get a Genesis, and when I did (about six months later) I ended up buying my friend's copy of SHII, as he was tired of it. I still have it, too.

This same friend showed up at my place with the Turbo sometime later that year, along with five games. One of them was a game I'd never heard of before, called Splatterhouse. But that's a whole 'nother story...

By mid '93 I was the proud owner of the Genesis, SNES and TG16 w/ CD, and a decent library of games for each.

[Push Upstairs]

I got an NES for X-mas 1990 and i played SMB3 and the various NES games i had for the next two years. I was aware of the SNES at the time (i subscribed to Nintendo Power) but the machine was always too expensive so i never did get one.

Flash forward to Summer 1992. I'm in a local grocery store and i pick up a magazine and flip to a page with the most asounding in game graphics i had ever seen (the corkscrew in Level 1 of Sonic 2). I knew at that point i had to own the system and the game.

November rolls around and i talk my mom into returning the re-released Nintendo games i was going to get for X-mas (Zeldas and Metroid) and instead getting me a Genesis and Sonic 2

Thats the humble begining of what has led to my largest game collection.

[BHvrd]

Ghouls N' Ghosts. Ghouls N' Ghosts baby!

It was ALL about that game for me. It made me so excited I couldn't stand it!

When I finally played it, it was worth it. Probably the most defining gaming moment in my life, topped only by Dragon's Lair in the arcade.

[Red Warrior]

When the Genesis was released in late 1989, I pretty much ignored it completely. Sure, I saw the commercials, I watched Altered Beast play over and over on a Genesis kiosk in Toys R Us, I watched a pixelated Michael Jackson do a little dance on top of a piano and fling his hat around at bad guys.... but I didn't care. Yes, I understood that the graphics were supposedly the best ever for a home console, but the NES had a hold on me that just wouldn't let go. I'd go to stores, watch the different kiosks advertising the Genesis games, ooo and ahh at the graphics, and then turn my back on it to spend my saved-up lunch money on an NES game. I guess since I had Mario, Zelda, Ninja Gaiden, and Final Fantasy... I felt as though I didn't need anything else. Then, when I heard about the SNES, I lost all sense of Genesis awareness.

September, 1991: The SNES is released and I'm freakin over it. I want Super Mario World and F-Zero so bad I can taste em... but then I start to see this other guy show himself on video game commercials. A blue hedgehog that zips around at freakish speeds in a colorful 2D world. Sonic was a reminder for me that there were other systems out there besides SNES and NES. Before the hedgehog, I had forgotten that Genesis even existed since I watched Altered Beast and Moonwalker being played in video game stores. However, even tho I wanted a Genesis just to get Sonic, I didn't worry about it too much cuz I knew I was getting a SNES for Christmas. And that's what happened, I got a SNES and 6 games for it... and pretty much ignored Sega again... at least for the next 6 months.

Summer of 1992: I visit my cousin who had just gotten a Genesis along with Sonic, Toejam & Earl, Golden Axe, Altered Beast, and Technocop. Having never played a Genesis in my life (only watched them being played), I was excited to visit him that summer. The whole week, I got my first taste of Sega goodness. You couldn't pull me and my brother away from that TV for anything. We played Golden Axe till we could beat it with our eyes closed, Altered Beast until we could play the game through 3 times in a row without losing all our lives, Sonic until we couldn't see straight anymore, and Technocop until... well... we weren't that good at that game. We never could catch anymore than 3 criminals.
Fun times that week was... fun times indeed. We would play Genesis everytime we visited from there on out.

After this, I began to become aware of a few friends of mine who had Genesisesises (I can't say it! ), and they would bring them to my house so we could play Sports Talk Baseball, Joe Montana Football, TJ&E, Sonic, and Super Monaco. Plus, we'd rent games quite a bit.

Still, even after all this Genesis fun, I never did feel the need to buy one. I was always satisfied with spending all my money on SNES games and mooching off my friends and family to play Genesis... since I never wanted to admit that Sega was good (serious Nintendo fanboyitis). It wasn't until just a few months ago that I finally got me a Genesis... 3 of them in fact... one of each model. So far, I've collected a library of 134 Genesis games through eBay and Gamestop, and I'm still very much impressed by the system. Not every game I have is worth playing, but the majority are quality titles that I enjoy... and of course, there's still many I plan to purchase. Overall, I'd have to say the Genesis is my third favorite system... behind the SNES and NES.

I'll admit it now: Sega... you were good. Thanks for many 16 bit memories.

[BigBoogie]

My mommy got me my first genny for christmas. All I had was sonic. 48 hours of pure sonic. I must have finished it like 30 times.

[VinnyT]

Christmas 1993, I walk down the steps at the age of 5 1/2, and stare at shiny presents under the tree. I try to open one, then remember the rule about how everybody has to be awake before presents can be opened. So, naturally, I pull out the pots and pans and wake the entire house, explaining I wanted waffles for breakfast(what good liar I was).

I started opening the presents, trying to get to the big one in the corner, but I was told to open the others first. Evenutally, I was handed a small package, and was told to open it next. It was a brand new 6-pad controller for the Genesis! I started jumpung around, realizing that the big gift was a Genesis. So I ripped open the box and saw the two games I got( Sonic 2 and Bart Vs. the Space Mutants). The Simpsons game was boring, even though I was a Simpsons fanatic back then. The mainly played game was ofcourse, Sonic 2.

All four of us attempted to play, but it was mainly me and my 3 year old brother playing the 2-player race games. After a few days, I finally beat Chemical Plant zone, and I celebrated by taking a 7 hour nap. Dad eventually traded in the Simpsons game for RBI Baseball and BattleToads(Which I still own to this day). I now wish I didn't get rid of so many comlete games, casue now those are the hard ones to find complete(World of Illusion, Kid Chamleon).

It seems to be an acheivement when your two top played games are all smooth with a faded sticker, and they only work half the time.