The genesis of your Genesis experience

[YoshiM]

Remember back when the NES was pretty much "it"? Magazines were jammed full of NES previews, reviews, pictures, ads, and other what not. Video stores began carrying NES games for rent. Seemed everywhere you looked it was NES, NES, NES. Sure there was the Master System and the Atari 7800 and your computer but it seemed everyone was just captivated by the power of Nintendo.

Then we hear about a new system Sega is coming out with: the Sega Genesis. It was coined a "16 bit" system, something gamers probably never really thought about. It had more powerful graphics, true stereo sound and had the backing of Sega's flagship arcade titles which all looked and played pretty dang close to the originals.

So to you Genesis owners out there, what were your first Genesis experiences? What made you buy the system? Was it your only system? Did you like it? If you jumped on the Sega train later on, aside from collecting what made you buy?

[Kroogah]

Played it at friend's houses and store displays....Sonic, Toejam & Earl, Quackshot, Ren & Stimpy...of course I loved it. Got the Genesis 2 + Sonic 2 for Christmas '93. Ah...Aladdin, Cool Spot, Fun & Games, Shadow Dancer, Mortal Kombat, Altered Beast, Sonic 3 + Knuckles....

When I fell in love with video games all over again in '99 one of the first things I bought was a Genesis at a garage sale. Then I discovered so many games I passed up the first time around, like Gunstar Heroes, Streets of Rage 2, Contra Hard Corps, MERCS, Gaiares, and other greats.

[Aswald]

I saw plenty of it back around 1990, but I was into the Atari 7800 (those weren't exactly my best days).

A couple of years ago, at one of those second-hand stores that come and go around here, they had one. There were a few games there. It didn't work, but the problem was such that I felt I could repair it- and sure enough, I did. Played a few games, including that dark, souped-up Ms. Pac-Man, and Strider. It confirmed once and for all that the 16-Bit era was, for me, not at all interesting.

So I just gave it back. Otherwise, it would just be taking up space, gathering dust.

[Cmosfm]

Sonic The Hedgehog!

I jumped on the Sega Bandwagon a little late, I was just a kid then so sue me, but I remember playing the original Sonic The Hedgehog in a store kiosk and some people came up behind me and started watching me and started saying "wow, your good, you must play this a lot"...it was my first time LOL

Anyways, a few months later I got my first Genesis at Toy Liquidators and it came with Sonic The Hedgehog! Then me and my dad went to the video rental store and rented Sonic The Hedgehog 2. We had fun that entire weekend! I loved it.

Too bad my dad was an alcoholic and my mom kicked him out shortly after that. I miss my dad.

sometimes nostalgia sucks. :(

[christianscott27]

in the mid 90s i was just a mere gamer and not a collector. i had a SNES and pretty much didnt see the need for a genesis. then one day in EB i saw a sega nomad and i had to have it! i was very unimpressed with the gameboy but this nomad seemed like the ultimate toy. so i saved up and went back only to find it was gone, they had stopped selling them! i looked for nearly a year until one day i was in the mini mall of the orlando airport, there it was, last one for $100, got it right there with pitfall and biohazard battle. i got up to about 20 games for it before i turned into a collecting idiot, now i'm at 300 or so, all of the hardware except a CDX.

[AB Positive]

I got one for my birthday when I was 12. My birthday always came around tax-return time so it worked out great for me :D

Genesis, Sonic 1, and I was a happy camper for quite some time. Followed it up with Shining in the Darkness, Sword of Vermillion, and a host of other games kept me quite happy. I played a lot of Joe Montana Sports Talk Football for someone that hates sports games :)

the SNES may have my dear Final Fantasy series, but you can't deny the Shining series or Phantasy Star. I remember saving up to pay that hefty $99.99 price tag back in the day. OOF!

-AG

[Bratwurst]

i looked for nearly a year until one day i was in the mini mall of the orlando airport, there it was, last one for $100, got it right there with pitfall and biohazard battle.

Shame you couldn't find one for 30$ right when they were phasing them out of retail, but it must have been real nice to have that when the Nomads were relatively new all the same. Great game to start out with, that Biohazard Battle.

I first experienced the Genny in the form of Altered Beast at my grandmothers. She had an NES, SMS and Genesis which she played nearly every available RPG on at the time, which was early 1990. Unfortunately she never let me play any games on her machines for very long and that only made me want to try them out some more. Oh well, she's six feet under now and I have three of the darn things. I should dance on her grave while juggling them.

[PDorr3]

I first started playing it at my grandpas house when i was about 5 or 6, i loved sonic1/2 and golden axe, and about a year later I got my own genesis system and played it like crazy, I had about 40 boxed games by the time I was 8 years old. I also had a colecovision at the time, which was my only other console before the genesis.

[YoshiM]

Well, since I started it I guess I'll add.

Since I first played the NES I was hooked. I was a Nintendo fanboy. Even though I had a Sega Master system it hardly got any playtime. I pretty much religiously read VG&CE, Game Players and had a subscription to Nintendo Power (to get the Legend of Zelda Tips and Tactics book).

The mags started showing images and having articles about this new game system Sega was working on. Called the "Mega Drive", the system was capable of bringing the "arcade action" home. Upon reading that I was skeptical and then I looked at the screen shots. My mouth literally dropped. From the time the system was announced I had followed its progression when I could. I wanted this system. Bad. I know my parents would buy it so I'd have to save up. Of course being a teenager with money it's hard to do the actual saving part.

It was the end of the summer of 1990. I had finished up my first "real" job of being a grounds keeper for a local resort. I had put in a LOT of time toward the end of the season getting the place ready for fall and winter and my check was pretty large, I wanna say about $350. I told my parents that I wanted to buy a Sega Genesis. I explained what it was, why I wanted it and why I *should* get it (basically working my ass off at this job). They agreed and allowed me to buy the system.

After I got my check cashed it was off to Prange Way in Plymouth. [Quick History to those not from Wisconsin: it was a chain of stores not unlike a K-mart owned by the H.C. Prange Company. The chain eventually closed sometime in the mid 90's.] I walked to the electronics department, waited for the clerk and had her ring up a Genesis and a Golden Axe cartridge. After some shopping my parents wanted to do we got home and I quick unboxed my prized and hooked it up to my 20" spasmatic TV (circuit board had a crack in it, I'd have to literally whack the side of the TV to get a picture back from time to time...I loved that TV with its classic woodgrain and digital tuning). I plugged in Golden Axe first, put on head phones and turned the power on. I was blown away. Awesome graphics mixed with great sound and a pretty comfy control pad made for great times.

I don't think my NES saw much action for some time EXCEPT when I got SMB 3. Even then I was on the Genny playing Joe Montana Football or Super Monaco GP (a rarity at the time, I didn't like sports), Forgotten Worlds, Phantasy Star II (still haven't beaten this game), Afterburner II, Shadow Dancer and many others.

[tynstar]

I bought mine the week it came out. I loved Altered Beast. I saved my money for some time to be able to get it the first week. I bought it across the street from where I lived at the time. I remember think the graphics where so good. I still have the system and most of the games I bouhgt back then.

[christianscott27]

did nomads ever get down to $30?!?!

heck i woulda gone for that, i got mine right as the saturn was coming out and i never saw one for less than $100 new.

[Bratwurst]

Yeah, it was 1999 and KB Toys had them on clearance if I recall right. 100 bucks back when the Saturn was launched was not bad at all though.

[Raccoon Lad]

nintendo was everywhere, and Sega's 8-bit masterpiece was being ignored by the masses. Undaunted, Sega went on to create the most powerfull home system of the day, eventually surpassing nintendo in popularity. I barely had enough money to buy games for my NES ($55 for Battletoads, yeesh!), but that one fatefull day Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog, with all it's glorious colors, awesome FM music, and futuristic console design, I became determined to own one.

Eventually I did, and I LOVED it. I loved it so much that I even bought the Sega CD at launch, and the 32X within a month of it's release. ...which of course, eventually left me a little sour on the video game industry, as at that point (late 1995) pretty much only side scrolling CRAP was being released, and thus my attentions turned to Sega's earlier, more humble days, where only the best arcadey 8-bit goodness was released.

Ah, the Master System, how I love thee.

[NE146]

The REAL question was:

GENESIS VS. TURBOGRAFX-16 - WHICH ONE DID YOU BUY? :D

I'm sure a bunch of us remember the launch periods in that eventful year (1989?) It seemed the Turbografx and the Genesis were launched almost at the same time!

It made for some agony at the store while sitting there checking out both tasty newfangled and powerful consoles. On one counter we had the Genesis.. with Altered Beast so arcade perfect it seemed. Then on the other we had the Turbografx, with Keith Courage on demo play but with such sweet titles like Blazing Lazers right there at launch.

If I recall correctly they were both about 200 bucks. I chose Genesis and loved it. But I so wanted a TG-16 as well. And since I was a young, dumb and drunk college kid, I made up for it a week later by going back to the store and shoplifting a tg-16 system. :embarrassed:

So, which did YOU choose? 8-)

[8-Bit Master]

I got my Genesis from my uncle for $50 in about 1991. He didn't want the Genesis anymore because the SNES was almost out and he wanted one of those instead. It was a great price back then, because they were retailing for at least $100 if I recall correctly. Like many other people Sonic the Hedgehog was my first game for the Genesis. It was also one of the first video games that I ever beat, however I had beat Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, and about 5 other NES games before it.

Shortly after getting the system I got Altered Beast, Golden Axe 2, Outrun, and Streets of Rage 2. I also remember getting Quackshot and Last Battle fairly early on. The Genesis was my main console (although it switched back and forth between Genny and NES) until 1996 when I got an N64. I never actually owned an SNES until much later. Even today the Genesis is probably my second favorite system of all time (behind the NES).

[YoshiM]

The REAL question was:

GENESIS VS. TURBOGRAFX-16 - WHICH ONE DID YOU BUY? :D

I'm sure a bunch of us remember the launch periods in that eventful year (1989?) It seemed the Turbografx and the Genesis were launched almost at the same time!

It made for some agony at the store while sitting there checking out both tasty newfangled and powerful consoles. On one counter we had the Genesis.. with Altered Beast so arcade perfect it seemed. Then on the other we had the Turbografx, with Keith Courage on demo play but with such sweet titles like Blazing Lazers right there at launch.

If I recall correctly they were both about 200 bucks. I chose Genesis and loved it. But I so wanted a TG-16 as well. And since I was a young, dumb and drunk college kid, I made up for it a week later by going back to the store and shoplifting a tg-16 system. :embarrassed:

So, which did YOU choose? 8-)

I read about the TG-16 as well and saw the commercials but what I saw didn't really trip my trigger. The games weren't what I was looking for and even though it had pretty graphics it just looked like some average NES games playing expensive dress up. Also the TG-16 was NOT available in my county. None of the discounter stores had it and my family hardly ever went to the "big cities" like Milwaukee, Green Bay or Appleton. So Genesis, besides my built up hype, was really the only choice.

I DID buy a TG-16 in 1991 (pretty sure it was 1991). Park and Save, a fairly big grocery store chain, was one of the only stores that had a video department that took chances. Not only did they have NES and Genesis but they also had TG-16 games to rent. Eventually the store sold off its TG-16 stuff and a buddy of mine picked one up along with Military Madness and I think Blazing Lasers. My next door neighbor got to playing it and wanted one bad because he wanted to play Veigues (sp?) Tactical Gladiator after reading about it in a magazine. So he ordered his through Chips n' Bits when the "Buy a TG-16 get a game free" deal was going on. I think he was actually lucky and got V.T.G. I also jumped on the deal (I think the TG-16 was lowered to $150, I don't remember) and bought mine and got Ordyne as my free game. However after some play I wasn't very impressed and the system just sat and eventually I sold to an acquaintance of mine.

[kainemaxwell]

My stepfather had a Genesis and Altered Beast, Afterburner II and Herzog Zwei. I'd watch him play and occasionally play mself. Grew to like Herzog Zwei more then my stepfather too.

[Chunky]

Nobody i knew wanted to touch the Genesis after the SMS.
But my neighbors cousin came over and had AlteredBeast and Strider, Fricken wow! Instant hit. I bought mine in some odd trade with my old TRS80 soon after. Had it for about 6 months before i traded another kid at school for the tg-16.

I didn't get it back until a few years ago, not bad! I really did miss some great games.

[RetroYoungen]

I discovered the Genesis when I was about 8 or 9, when I went over to a friend's house who had one. It boggled my mine that there were three jump buttons in Sonic the Hedgehog.

I didn't really get my own until much later, probably 5 years or so. And when that one was fried, I bought another one and discovered the beauties of Wardner, and I haven't turned back since. G3|\|\|'/ 4 3\/3r!

[Jaker]

Well me..well my story is pathetic. I had just boughten a used NES and I STILL wanted more gaming goodness. So, I went to Funco, picked up a used Genesis 1, and I still had 2 dollars and no games. I picked up sonic the hedgehog. Wise choice. After stopping at the grocery store, I plugged it into my TV...and failed. The damn system didn't work?! Then when my next door neighbor came over, he showed me the problem....I DIDN'T HAVE THE CARTRIDGE IN ALL OF THE WAY!!!!! I was mad as hell, but when I played Sonic, it was beauty.

[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. :embarrassed:
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! O_O ), 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.