Genesis Doesn't

[ManekiNeko]

Since all is fair in love and the 16-bit system wars, I thought there should be a list of worst Genesis games to go along with the worst Super NES games list someone started earlier. So, what Genesis games do you feel aren't welcome at the first level, let alone the next one?

My choice has to be Dark Castle by Electronic Arts. I was actually looking forward to playing this, as Mac owners had nothing but good things to say about their version of the game, and from the box it looked like an appealing blend of old and new ideas. Unfortunately, the game wasn't anywhere near as entertaining as I thought it would be... in fact, it turned out to be one of the worst Genesis games ever released, no small feat when you consider unlicensed bombs like Far Sight Technologies' Action 52.

Dark Castle is like what would happen if you dipped Prince of Persia in toxic waste. It's got weak graphics, tiny characters, and gameplay that's alternately frustrating and idiotic. In one stage, you're surrounded by a swarm of bats flying overhead, and you're supposed to dispatch them all with rocks to proceed. Unfortunately for you (and luckily for them), aiming and throwing the stones is so bloody hard that you might as well roll up your sleeve and let the bats feast on your arm... it would be less painful. Other stages involve similarly frustrating challenges, and remind you of why Electronic Arts has all but abandoned action games to make endless sequels to John Madden Football.

JR

[charitycasegreg]

well whatever....everybody knows that "Genesis does what Nintendon't"

[ManekiNeko]

Hold on there... I'm not bashing the Genesis. I just thought a list of its worst games would go nicely with the worst Super NES games list someone had started earlier.

JR

[Dave Reinquest]

Pit Fighter
The Ooze

...

There's a looong list, for all systems.

[Richter]

Toys

*shudders*

[Crush Crawfish]

Shadow of the Beast 2 was the single worst game I'd ever played. I also hate Blaster Master 2 for being a terrible sequel to a great game.

[Ed Oscuro]

It's interesting that Dark Castle showed up; I recently read a glowing review of a color update for the Macintosh. It's...well...I remember playing a game that seemed to be a 2D sidescroller in black and white on a school Mac; had you trying to dodge swinging blades and such. A forumer mentioned the possibility this was Dark Castle; now I'm quite certain this wasn't Dark Castle at all since the character was actually a large size - I remember him as being somewhat lanky and actually tall, probably nearing twice the height of the PoPersia kid and the same width (in pixels). The game also - as I recall - was as graphic as the grayscale would allow.

Dark Castle, on the other hand, seems to have a tiny character that doesn't look terribly well animated; some people enjoy the "gore free" atmosphere but I feel it's quite simply ugly, especially given the surroundings - for goodness sake, aren't dungeons supposed to be gory? A great example of taking an engine that would've made the original Dracula developers at Konami die from shame, and completely failing to understand what sort of features are appealing to action gamers. While the system includes a Cybernator-style ability (so I gather) to aim up and down and throws in (pardon the pun - it was uninDENTional) physics for projectiles for good measure, the idea you're playing as a character who must throw rocks like some clueless schoolboy is not winning me over to this title. Now perhaps (most certainly) there are some enchanting bits I've missed, and perhaps the game has some well designed levels. Perhaps this brewer who throws barrels is actually my mother's uncle, too. Not bloody likely, seeing that he went down over enemy territory in World War II. Erm. I think I'm safe in giving a caustic (and admittedly underinformed) opinion, because even from a distance and from the glowing review this game is remarkably shoddy and uninspired.

What's more, Cat Maneki's description of fighting a screen full of bats seems to confirm my suspicion (and let me vent a gripe that many folks seem to share with me) that the developers REALLY WANTED TO MAKE A GAME, but just didn't have the understanding that makes an engaging tech demo into a similarly engaging game. So throw in one part action, one part puzzling, and inscrutable - erm, make that "play time extending" game control, and you've got a disk that should prove great for saving Claris Works documents (in the case of the Genesis cartridge, perhaps you can use it as a paperweight, though why anybody would want to look at this cart while trying to draw inspiration is beyond me). This sort of approach led to Tetsuo Gaiden (or is that Tetsuo Geiden?) on the CD-i, or Daikatana on the PC; that "lots of folks do it, so we can too!" mentality doesn't seem to pay off very often.

What this all means to me is that the Mac, like the PC, really did the same sorts of games as the PC, but in smaller quantities and thus less successfully taken overall. Duke Nukem's original PC outings were nice, but I have no wish to visit the Dark Castle or any of its ports.

[Ed Oscuro]

some people enjoy the "Pacino free" atmosphere
Erm. Why did I write Pacino? I seriously don't know.

"Joo wanna waste my time? Okay."

[Captain Wrong]

Earth Defends/Defence

(to be fair, it's unlicensed, but geez, I can't think of a bigger stinker in the Genny's library.)

[Push Upstairs]

Sword of Sodan

[gleavepaul]

M1 someting Tank - Crap

[DigitalSpace]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Back in the day, my brother was a big Power Ranger fan and wanted this game for Christmas. It was just another crappy Street Fighter II ripoff. Slow and boring.

I also didn't care for Sonic 3D Blast. It may not be the worst Genesis game, but in my opinion, it's the worst Sonic game on the console.

[SoulBlazer]

I always thought Koei games handled MUCH worse on the Genesis as opposed to the SNES.

[nildem]

Bubsy II
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Heavy Nova
Ka-Ge-Ki: Fists of Steel
Last Action Hero
Last Battle
Pit Fighter
RBI Baseball series (Genesis versions only)
Revolution X
Rise of the Robots
Sword of Sodan
T2: Judgement Day
Time Killers
Unnecessary Roughness '95
Virtua Fighter 2 (Genesis version only)

:frustrated: :drinking: :beaten:

Very bad games. Dear god they're bad. Somehow a friend of mine managed to rent almost every single one of these 'back in the day'. We wasted HOURS playing these damn games, actually beating a couple of them. :embarrassed:

[NeoVenom]

well whatever....everybody knows that "Genesis does what Nintendon't"I'm sorry, but I gotta respond along with this. LOL Many games that were release on both SNES and Genesis were usually better for SNES. SNES has better graphics and better sound effects. Everytime I play a Genesis game, I'm pretty sure I hear the same sound effects on another game.

One example of a game that suckz for Genesis and is extremely good for SNES is Rock N Roll Racing. When the announcer talks during the race, for Genesis, you hear a pause in the music. SNES doesn't do that, and the music sounds 100X better on SNES than on Genesis. And the sound effect, oh man, the sound effects. LOL

In my opinion, Mortal Kombat II is wayyyyyy better on the SNES and not on Genesis. If you compare on graphics on the first Mortal Kombat, the graphics were better on SNES than on the Genesis version.

Don't get me wrong, Genesis is good in certain ways, but SNES dominated.

[thegreatescape]

RE: Neovenom- how much is gamefaqs paying you? x_x :P

RE: Nildem- Im not sure about Bubsy II, T2 and Dragon. Bubsy II wasnt great, but it was better than the first :P

T2 is passable only because without it theres even less menacer games to play, and Dragon because it was 3-player (if im not mistaken).

Ill toss in World Cup Italia '90 on Mega Drive (aka Sega Championship soccer?).
Top down soccer has never been so awful.

Im also surprised nobody's mentioned Shaq Fu. That game evil in its purest form :evil:

[NeoVenom]

Shaq Fu suckz for both SNES and Genesis. LOL

[boatofcar]

well whatever....everybody knows that "Genesis does what Nintendon't"I'm sorry, but I gotta respond along with this. LOL Many games that were release on both SNES and Genesis were usually better for SNES.


In my opinion, Mortal Kombat II is wayyyyyy better on the SNES and not on Genesis. If you compare on graphics on the first Mortal Kombat, the graphics were better on SNES than on the Genesis version.

Don't get me wrong, Genesis is good in certain ways, but SNES dominated.

...which is why I always pass up the 6 or 8 Genesis consoles at every thrift I go to...if it was so much better than the SNES, why does no one want them anymore, as opposed to NES (which I see at thrifts but are always priced twice as high as Genny's) or SNES, which I hardly ever see in the wild? IMO, the SNES has aged MUCH better than the Genesis.

[Nez]

Prince of persia is much better on the genesis. The Snes version sucks.

[kainemaxwell]

Pit Fighterr for any system was sucktastic, especially Game Boy.

[Cmosfm]

Izzy's Quest For The Olympic Rings...

...maybe this is why I got an entire case for 5.00. :o

[Push Upstairs]

IMO, the SNES has aged MUCH better than the Genesis.

I think both systems have aged about the same.

I will agree that the graphics are better but i cannot consider the SNES to be anywhere near the "Ultimate" for the simple fact that it chugs when too many sprites are on the screen.

but maybe its just the games i like to play on it.


Back to topic:

Any game that had Bart in it.

Simpsons games are bad on any system back then though.

[Blackjax]

I have to throw a game in here simply due to the stupidest trick of all time pulled on us by the programmers

X-MEN - the original one. When they make you RESET THE SYSTEM after you beat Mojo. Lamest thing ever. I wouldn't have ever figured that out if I hadn't thrown my controller at the system after getting to that point three times and not figuring out what to do. Got a bulls-eye on the reset button and finally got to finish the game.

[ApolloBoy]

I also hate Blaster Master 2 for being a terrible sequel to a great game.

Blaster Master 2? I actually like that game, not exactly the best sequel, but at least it was good enough for me.

[nildem]

T2 is passable only because without it theres even less menacer games to play....


T2: The Arcade Game was a passable lightgun shooter. The game I'm talking about is a side-scroller developed by BITS Studios (Developer of such classics like Last Action Hero, Space Footall and Dream T.V. :P) and published by Flying Edge. Pure unadulterated garbage. :)

[NintendoMan]

well whatever....everybody knows that "Genesis does what Nintendon't"

Well if you consider not even being in the console market a good thing. You can't ever run my video game company.

(I am not bashing sega, I love the sega next to nintendo, it's just I am telling like it is in the name of nintendo.)

[Duncan]

One big fact: Genesis (or Mega Drive) came out first and, thus, was prone to be surpassed by the next competitor. Yes, the SNES does do music and sound a lot better, and can display many more colors.

However...I would argue that the Genesis has the more lasting legacy, since many of today's modern gaming trends (save for the RPG boom, which was rightfully created by Nintendo) were either largely begun on or inspired by the Genesis hardware base and its peripherals. Thus, I'd call it the leader of the 16-bit era.

(Oh, here's a disclaimer! I know the TurboGrafx/PC-Engine people will say they did it first - and that's technically true, but how many of your friends owned a TG back in the day? I can't think of more than one or two even now. Marketing, you know?)

Oh - and the first Bubsy wasn't all that bad a game... :)

Hard Drivin' (which was only moderately fun in the arcades anyway) was an absolute pain in the ass on Genesis. ("No, I'm turning - turning LEFT - TURN LEFT, YOU BASTARD! STOP!!! ARRRGGGH...")

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures also sucked. Quite a bit, as I recall. Point-and-click never works well with a D-pad, and especially not in a game with so much on the screen that's waiting to kill you. X_x

I've got another topic that I've been meaning to post for some time along these lines... :D It's coming up!

[Classicgamesdepot]

If you have the mind set that SNES is a lot better than the Genesis than you really haven't dove into the genny library, genny has superior versions of Scooby doo (<-- You all need to play this game for Genesis) and Beavis and butthead to name a few:

anyhow, some shady games:

Deadly Moves (all I can say is, Damn, worst fighter ever)

Air Diver (Who actually plays these old terrible flight sims anyways?)

Most of the really bad ones have been mentioned.. I second sword of Sodan, that game is just unbearable

[thegreatescape]

well whatever....everybody knows that "Genesis does what Nintendon't"

Well if you consider not even being in the console market a good thing. You can't ever run my video game company.

Wheres the love? (and yes i did read the disclaimer) :P

Heres another one: Spiderman vs X-men. First time i played it i couldnt believe acclaim was stupid enough to put it on Mega Drive :eek 2:

[larsoncc]

To give you a clue as to how much of a slope-headed ape I am, I have to tell you - I liked Air Diver, back in the day. Played it for hours. As one of the first games for the system, my buddies were also impressed with the graphics, despite the cockpit taking 3/4 of the screen.

My lameness aside, I think that we can all agree on this stinker:

Budokan.

Not only was this the most piss-poor fighter I've ever had the misfortune of playing... Most Sega Genesis systems wouldn't even play the game (because of the lockout chip)!

In fact, I think that this whole compatibility issue bears mention -

Budokan, Ishido, Zany Golf --- DIE. DIE. DIE.

Lockout chips --- DIE. DIE. DIE.

[Push Upstairs]

I got Budokan to work on a Model 2 Genesis system.

Plug it into a Game Genie and dont put any codes in.

Fired right up.

It wasnt worth getting to work but then again i only got it to test this "lock out " function people talk about.

[Cantaloup]

It's interesting that Dark Castle showed up; I recently read a glowing review of a color update for the Macintosh. It's...well...I remember playing a game that seemed to be a 2D sidescroller in black and white on a school Mac; had you trying to dodge swinging blades and such. A forumer mentioned the possibility this was Dark Castle; now I'm quite certain this wasn't Dark Castle at all since the character was actually a large size - I remember him as being somewhat lanky and actually tall, probably nearing twice the height of the PoPersia kid and the same width (in pixels). The game also - as I recall - was as graphic as the grayscale would allow.

I think I was the one who suggested the game you were looking for was Dark Castle.

:oops:

Could it perhaps be Creepy Castle (http://mac.the-underdogs.org/index.php?show=game&id=32) instead? There were, I think, a few games in the Dark Castle series, but if the main character was much larger then it's probably something else. If it's not Creepy Castle, are there any other details you can give to narrow it down?

[esquire]

(Oh, here's a disclaimer! I know the TurboGrafx/PC-Engine people will say they did it first - and that's technically true, but how many of your friends owned a TG back in the day? I can't think of more than one or two even now. Marketing, you know?)

What most people don't realize is that the TurboGrafx 16 is not a true 16 bit system. It actually has two 8 bit processors.

As for the worst of the Genny...

Shaq-Fu
Gain Ground (Renovation is my favorite label on the Genny, but this game is ssssslow!)
Ex-Mutants
Death Duel
Double Dragon V

[ManekiNeko]

Good call on Ex-Mutants. I could never understand why there were so many of those second rate comic book characters on the Genesis. That system was home to such forgettable characters as Chakan: The Forever Man and Dinosaurs For Hire as well.

While I'm here, I might as well add GameTek's Gadget Twins to the growing list of Genesis turkeys. Judging from the box, you'd think it would be a cute, Fantasy Zone-inspired shooter, but in actuality, it's the world's first shooter where you can't actually SHOOT enemies. Instead, you're given a bunch of worthless close-range weapons that leave you extremely vulnerable... and frustrated... and angry... and violent. Then you rip the cartridge out of your Genesis and smash it to bits, putting the game out of its (and YOUR) misery.

Seriously, who in their right minds would make a shooter where you can't shoot? It'd be like making a puzzle game where you never get the same colored piece twice.

JR

[Mark III]

Toughman Contest (piece of crap Punch-out Wannabe)
Technocop
Ex Mutants
The Punisher (I know some people will disagree with me on this one. It was a great arcade game, but the genesis one was such a wattered down port I it was nearly unplayable.)

[Mark III]

I thought Gain Ground was a good game once you realized it's a strategy game, not a shooter.

[esquire]

While I'm here, I might as well add GameTek's Gadget Twins to the growing list of Genesis turkeys. Judging from the box, you'd think it would be a cute, Fantasy Zone-inspired shooter, but in actuality, it's the world's first shooter where you can't actually SHOOT enemies. Instead, you're given a bunch of worthless close-range weapons that leave you extremely vulnerable... and frustrated... and angry... and violent. Then you rip the cartridge out of your Genesis and smash it to bits, putting the game out of its (and YOUR) misery.

Seriously, who in their right minds would make a shooter where you can't shoot? It'd be like making a puzzle game where you never get the same colored piece twice.

JR

Speaking of bad shooters, add Subterranea to the list. I found that game extremely difficult, especially with the control setup. If I recall, you basically had to hold one button down to thrust and the directional pad to steer your ship to keep it from falling/crashing, while at the same time use another fire button to shoot enemies. If I am using the control pad to steer away from cavern walls etc, how the hell am I suppose to aim at the enemy chasing me down and firing at me!!! Argh!!!!! :angry:

[suppafly]

Am i the only person who loved pit fighter for genesis? I think its the best conversion of the arcade game, and i enjoyed it thoroughly.....it even got almost all Red-happy-faces on gamepro....I LIKE that game :)

[NeoVenom]

I haven't dug in deep in Genesis cause I was more of a SNES fan. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Sega or anything. But to say it was the leading 16 bit console? @_@

Anyways, back to topic...

I didn't like Mortal Kombat on Genesis. Is it me or have they shrunk the characters? LOL

Others games I didn't like:
Rock N' Roll Racing (Genesis Version)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Genesis Version)

[boatofcar]

I will second the Beavis and Butthead comment, B&B for the Genesis was more of an adventure, find-the-items game, while the SNES version if I recall correctly was side scrolling monatony.

[VinnyT]

I hate Arch Rivals simply because EVERY basket you make is followed by a cutscene of the crowd cheering. It just ruins the games flow.

Some clunker from my collection:

The Simpsons: Barts Nghtmare
Cyberball
ESPN Baseball Tonight
Joshua
The Simpsons: Virtual Bart
Barneys Hide and Seek game
Hardball '94
NFL Quaterback club '96(box)
Global Gladiators
NHL All Star Hockey*
La Russa Baseball
Mighty Morphing Power Rangers: The Movie

And I have to defend the R.B.I. series(except '94). That's a great series, even though theres not MLB liscense.

[Doonzmore]

Super Hydlide
Judge Dredd


Music was decent in Super Hydlide but the gameplay and graphics are pretty damn hideous and pathetic.

[ManekiNeko]

It's just carrying on the Hydlide tradition of extreme mediocrity. There was another game in the series, released on the Sega Saturn early in its life. Virtual Hydlide was a Hydlide game, except in 3D and with an overly burly knight as the star. I heard it was better than the first two games, but only marginally.

As for Subterrania, I thought you could reconfigure the buttons on that game, but perhaps I'm mistaken about that. It's a tough, frustrating game, certainly, but not a complete failure. Anyone who enjoyed Gravitron or its spiritual successor Solar Jetman would get a kick out of it. Furthermore, developers Zyrinx really blew away Genesis owners with its next game, Red Zone. It's a really stylish Desert Strike clone with advanced graphics you wouldn't expect on the system (full motion video, on a barebones Genesis? So much for the Sega CD!). For that reason alone, I think Subterrania had its place in the Genesis library.

Finally, I'd say that just about every game released by Ballistic (Accolade's brand name for the Genesis) was rotten, ESPECIALLY Turrican and its thinly disguised sequel Universal Soldier. It took a lot of hard work from Factor 5 to get that series back on the right track after those two disasters.

JR

[Vroomfunkel]

Back in the day, I had a fat ol' booklet of reviews of Megadrive games from some magazine or other. I must have read it through a few times and was always intrigued by Dark Castle, as it got the lowest score in there - 13%. Mainly for extremely poor collision detection and the already mentioned impossiblity of actually aiming your rocks correctly ...

Other bad uns ..

Hard Drivin' Judge Dredd and Spiderman vs. X-Men all seconded.

Jurassic Park was an almighty stinker. As far as I can tell, Beast Wrestler is possibly one of the worst fighting games I have ever played in my life. And I have played Dragon Ball Z Legends on the Saturn, so that is saying something.

I cannot agree with the Punisher being one of the worst games ... I really quite liked it. I do quite like that style of game, and I never played the arcade so I can't compare .. but surely it can't plumb the same depths as crap like Shaq Fu?

If you want a bad scrolling beat 'em up, then try Street Smart. Now that is really shite. Possibly I am biased against it because the first time I encountered it I was very excited because I had just got hold of Shining Force 2 for about £10 ($20). Really nice condition. Only when I put the cart in the Megadrive, I just got Street Smart .. talk about disappointment!

Vroomfunkel

[Ed Oscuro]

I think I was the one who suggested the game you were looking for was Dark Castle.

:oops:

Could it perhaps be Creepy Castle (http://mac.the-underdogs.org/index.php?show=game&id=32) instead? There were, I think, a few games in the Dark Castle series, but if the main character was much larger then it's probably something else. If it's not Creepy Castle, are there any other details you can give to narrow it down?
Looks interesting, but that's not it either. The main character, as I remember, was much plainer and less well defined (not to say the graphics sucked, that's just the style used).

Man, Mac folks put up with an ungodly amount of junk. :/

[ManekiNeko]

If you want a bad scrolling beat 'em up, then try Street Smart. Now that is really shite. Possibly I am biased against it because the first time I encountered it I was very excited because I had just got hold of Shining Force 2 for about £10 ($20). Really nice condition. Only when I put the cart in the Megadrive, I just got Street Smart .. talk about disappointment!

Vroomfunkel

Agreed. Street Smart is anything but. I don't know what's worse about that game... its being a watered down conversion of an already unsatisfying arcade game, the fantastically stupid game description (http://www.kidfenris.com/streetsmartcover.html) on the back of the box, or the enemies who all look like they've stuffed their underwear with rolled-up socks. Maybe if these guys spent more time practicing their martial arts and less time taking overdoses of Enzyte the game would have been marginally entertaining.

Speaking of oversized genetalia, Divine Sealing on the Japanese Mega Drive has got to be THE worst shooter on the system. It's five minutes of excruciating boredom, followed by five pictures of anime girls in various states of undress. Divine Sealing is yet another example of why pornographic video games simply DON'T WORK.

JR

[dendawg]

How about the all time Tengen classic:

Awesome Possum Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt! LOL

As far as I'm concerned, the absolute worst side scroller EVER!

[dethink]

Speaking of bad shooters, add Subterranea to the list. I found that game extremely difficult, especially with the control setup. If I recall, you basically had to hold one button down to thrust and the directional pad to steer your ship to keep it from falling/crashing, while at the same time use another fire button to shoot enemies. If I am using the control pad to steer away from cavern walls etc, how the hell am I suppose to aim at the enemy chasing me down and firing at me!!! Argh!!!!! :angry:

no way, subterranea rules! then again, solar jetman was probably one of my top 10 favorite NES games...

sure it's like controlling a ball bearing on a steel plate, but that was the fun of the game, IMO. once you master the controls, it just flows so nicely...

[Moon Patrol]

The crappiest game that comes to mind has to be Sword of Sodan.

I mean, who couldn't hate a large, slow moving target? Something that moans like a retard, and swings their arms as if someone just jumped out of a bush and said "BOOOGA BOOGA BITCH!"

The enemies sucked, and the level with the zombies sucked even more! I mean, not only do you have to have 300 enemies in ONE level, you have to have like 20 of the slow moving bastards coming at you, from the OTHER side of the screen. On top of that, they SLOW YOU DOWN EVEN MORE! As if the gameplay wasn't bad enough.

Don't forget though, you can use those potions! WOO! But wait, out of the 30 bazillion kinds you can make, you made the POISONOUS ONE! Yeap! Now you're fucked! You're being fondled by zombies, running around like a retard, AND you're going to die a very slow (yes, it is possible) death! Congratulations, you just experienced the giant steaming pile of shit that is Sword of Sodan! Which, might I add, is an ELECTRONIC ARTS game! Woo! Go EA!

[suppafly]

It's just carrying on the Hydlide tradition of extreme mediocrity. There was another game in the series, released on the Sega Saturn early in its life. Virtual Hydlide was a Hydlide game, except in 3D and with an overly burly knight as the star. I heard it was better than the first two games, but only marginally.

As for Subterrania, I thought you could reconfigure the buttons on that game, but perhaps I'm mistaken about that. It's a tough, frustrating game, certainly, but not a complete failure. Anyone who enjoyed Gravitron or its spiritual successor Solar Jetman would get a kick out of it. Furthermore, developers Zyrinx really blew away Genesis owners with its next game, Red Zone. It's a really stylish Desert Strike clone with advanced graphics you wouldn't expect on the system (full motion video, on a barebones Genesis? So much for the Sega CD!). For that reason alone, I think Subterrania had its place in the Genesis library.

Finally, I'd say that just about every game released by Ballistic (Accolade's brand name for the Genesis) was rotten, ESPECIALLY Turrican and its thinly disguised sequel Universal Soldier. It took a lot of hard work from Factor 5 to get that series back on the right track after those two disasters.

JR

Ballistic released some good games:

1) Super Off Road: I L-O-V-E-D this genesis game. Great arcade conversion, nice control, nice graphics, good music...perfect

2) Double Dragon: Arguably the best port of the original arcade game

´Nuff said!

[chrisbid]

time to revive this puppy

Strider Returns - probably the biggest disappointment of all time. Strider was such a fast paced, kickass sci-fi futuristic game, and what does US Mold give us? "Grand Master kidnaps your girlfriend, go through the forest, cave, and a bunch of other generic stages to save her... but dont move as fast as you did the first time you beat me"

Beast Wrestler - slow, choppy one on one fighter

Technocop - already mentioned

Double Dragon - looked great, horrid controls... though i guess you could say the same thing about the arcade version

[davepesc]

Since we're reviving this, here are the worst games on my favorite console:


Heavy Nova: This is the worst game ever. Period. You "control" a robot as it slowly walks down a straight corodor dodging falling rocks that explode if you punch them.

At the end of the corrodor, you square off against another robot in a street fighter-type showdown. Unfortunately, while there are animations for punching and kicking, your limbs don't actually project forward, so you have to be roght on top of your opponent to hit, and it's a gamble at that point too.
Luckily, you can jump to avoid attacks. Did I mention that once you jump, you are invincible. That's right, the jumping animation can not be interrupred by anything.

Rubbish.


After that, I never liked any of the Genny football games, but a lot of people did, so whatever.

[crazyjackcsa]

BOOO! to the person who said subterrania was no good. that game was fantastic!

Worst on the System for me: Batman Forever, Eternal Champions (I know, I just don't dig it) and Toy Story was Pretty Looking, but it was also pretty bad.

[B - Mark]

My list of worst games for Mega Drive / Genesis.

Genesis doesn´t!

- Back to the Future III
- Barney Hide and Seek
- Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone
- Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls
- Shaq Fu
- Street Smart
- Sword of Sodan
- World Heroes

[7th lutz]

Am i the only person who loved pit fighter for genesis? I think its the best conversion of the arcade game, and i enjoyed it thoroughly.....it even got almost all Red-happy-faces on gamepro....I LIKE that game :)

I liked it myself.

[B - Mark]

Am i the only person who loved pit fighter for genesis? I think its the best conversion of the arcade game, and i enjoyed it thoroughly.....it even got almost all Red-happy-faces on gamepro....I LIKE that game :)

I liked it myself.

Me too.

I like Pit Fighter for Genesis / Mega Drive.
In my opinion, this is the best version of this game after the original Arcade version.

In my opinion Pit Fighter for Super NES is the worst version of the Arcade game.

[GiantPooka]

It's one of my favourite consoles, but there are some real stinkers...

* Awesome Possum (Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt)- Looks like someone finally got round to making a mascot character even more annoying than Bubsy. He talks too much, he cannot be controlled like a normal person, and only Sparkster can get away with being a possum and having his own game.

* Strider II- Yay, let's get rid of any of the redeeming factors from the original Strider and make it slower, choppier, and make it not fun to play at all! Rock on!

*Back to the Future Part III- I suspect the first level was made impossibly hard to cover up for the fact that there's only 3 levels afterwards. In the end, I had to cheat to see how long the game went on for. Absolutely terrible.

* Insector X- Personal vendetta here- it's nothing like the arcade game it's based on, replacing the vibrant colourful graphics with dingy, ugly ones. And messing up the gameplay in the process.

[DigitalSpace]

A couple more I don't care for:

Cosmic Spacehead - Decent concept ruined by bad controls.
Air Diver - Mentioned earlier, and indeed bad. And boring.

And I actually like Joshua & The Battle of Jericho a little. It gets tough a bit too early but I wound up spending more time with it than I thought I would - and I didn't regret a single minute of that time.

Sub-Terrania had its flaws but I thought it was decent... worth at least the buck I paid for it, anyways.

[theshizzle3000]

The genesis port of Pirates of the Dark Water it was completely a let down compared to what was on the SNES.

[Three-P]

Shaq Fu suckz for both SNES and Genesis. LOL

I make it a point to never argue with someone who's right. *pimp-slaps a copy of Shaq-Fu.*

Another real disgrace for the Genesis was Sword of Vermilion. That game should've come with a pre-written suicide note, reading, "To whom it may concern, I can't take the pain, anymore! Good-bye, cruel world! Sincerely, 'sign here.' P.S.-Don't play Sword of Vermilion. That's what drove me to this!" *pimp-slaps a copy of Sword of Vermilion.*

[Superman]

The first game that came into my mind when I thought of bad Genesis games was Dark Castle. I remember looking at the box and thinking to myself, this looks like it could be a fun adventure game.

Well, I was wrong!:oops:

[goemon]

It's just carrying on the Hydlide tradition of extreme mediocrity. There was another game in the series, released on the Sega Saturn early in its life. Virtual Hydlide was a Hydlide game, except in 3D and with an overly burly knight as the star. I heard it was better than the first two games, but only marginally.

Quoted for truth. There was also a Famicom game, Hydlide 3, which was better than the first, but also very flawed.

"Hydlide: You don't expect too much, and we don't want to try to hard. It's win/win!"

[bangtango]

Having played under 100 games on the system, most of them the "classics", I can only name a few bad games on the Genesis.

-Cybercop
-the first Hardball game (hitting is way too hard but the sequels were a little easier)
-NFL 95 (very weak compared to the other Sega football games and they even cut things that appeared in earlier versions)

[Three-P]

Music was decent in Super Hydlide but the gameplay and graphics are pretty damn hideous and pathetic.

With a name like Hydlide, you can't expect much. No offense, but from what I saw on YouTube, I'm glad I missed this one.

[RadiantSvgun]

Rock n' roll Racing
Whip Rush
Sword of Sodan
All of the Valis ports outside the Turbo are bad to me, or it could be that Valis isn't that good in the first place.
Beavis and Butt-head

For some reason I think that genesis has the better version of Battletoads and Double Dragon.

[Gabriel]

I didn't see X-Perts mentioned. No list of the crappiest Genesis games is complete without X-Perts.

The game came out at the abrupt end of the Genesis's lifespan when Sega of Japan in their infinite wisdom killed the console. It was based on Eternal Champions, which was cool, but was a franchise Sega of Japan was dead set on killing because they were obsessed with Virtua Fighter (which wasn't as popular in the US). The idea was that you played Shadow and infiltrated an enemy secret base. It also was to use pre-rendered sprites, ala Donkey Kong Country, for an improved graphical look.

However, the game that was released seems like it was completely unfinished. There's basically just one level, and the main game activity is standing at interface consoles and waiting for your character to finish what they're doing so you can move on to the next interface console. The animation is choppy and things just reek of incompleteness. It really seems like the game reached the point where the very basic structure of the game could be demoed and the higher ups suddenly said "Ship it!"

I saw this game in a store for $80. I almost grabbed it, but I decided I had better rent it first. I'm glad I did. I've seldom played such a turd.

[Cinder6]

No WarpSpeed? That one is pretty bad. Then there's Art Alive, which, while not a game, sucks at what it tries to be.

[knicksfan89]

dark castle was THE worst megadrive game I agree, Aquatic games, Namco baseball Crystal's pony tale, barney's hide and seek and fantasia are also among the few bad games for the system, but there are too many to mention as far as bad games are concerned

[PsychedelicShaman]

I have to throw a game in here simply due to the stupidest trick of all time pulled on us by the programmers

X-MEN - the original one. When they make you RESET THE SYSTEM after you beat Mojo. Lamest thing ever. I wouldn't have ever figured that out if I hadn't thrown my controller at the system after getting to that point three times and not figuring out what to do. Got a bulls-eye on the reset button and finally got to finish the game.

X-Men was a great game...one of my favorites on the genesis. Sure the reset thing is retarded, but it's like saying MGS is bad because you have to switch controller ports.

[KeyserSoze61]

...which is why I always pass up the 6 or 8 Genesis consoles at every thrift I go to...if it was so much better than the SNES, why does no one want them anymore, as opposed to NES (which I see at thrifts but are always priced twice as high as Genny's) or SNES, which I hardly ever see in the wild? IMO, the SNES has aged MUCH better than the Genesis.

For me, growing up as a (S)NES person, I recently purchased a Nomad/Genesis auction, and I'm loving it. The Genesis came out before the SNES, and clearly was weaker when it comes to graphics and sound. But does that matter? If we cared about the "best" graphics/gaming technology, wouldn't we all be playing the latest Halo clone or Call of WWII: Kill even more Nazis!

There are some fantastic games on the system, and they really don't get much press anymore. Not too many people collect for it, so the burden on your wallet is far less. Prices are higher for Nintendo stuff b/c there is greater demand for it; they won the console wars of yesteryear and are again regaining a stranglehold.

[KeyserSoze61]

no way, subterranea rules! then again, solar jetman was probably one of my top 10 favorite NES games...

sure it's like controlling a ball bearing on a steel plate, but that was the fun of the game, IMO. once you master the controls, it just flows so nicely...

Exactly. I love the game. It combines Lunar Lander with side-scrolling shooting action. That I found a stack factory sealed copies of it last week makes it even cooler. Nothing like tearing into a brand new, yet 13 year old, game.

[Barbarianoutkast85]

I own 661 Sega Genesis games so I'll give you my list of bad Genesis games.
Hard Drivin'
The Ooze
Risky Woods
Tom and Jerry: Frantic Antics
Action 52'S
Izzy's quest for the olympic rings
The Humans
Chiki chiki boys
Bass Masters Classics
Dark Castle
Stormlord
MathBlaster Episode 1
The Great Waldo Search
Shaq Fu

Thats what I can think of right off the top of my head

[zektor]

Revival of this thread once again...

Someone listed "Last Battle" as a horrible game.

Nonsense! This is one of my absolute favorite titles. One of the best titles for the system imho.

Now, Gadget Twins....this is a game that just makes me utterly sick.

[RASTAN]

Well I've got a few of my own I can't stand on the Mega Drive...

Shiten Myo (Shadow Blasters)
---GOD this game not only plays like crap, but
my actual turds look better than what it's trying
to pass off as graphics. It's basically a sub par
NES/Famicom game with watered down 8-Bit looking
graphics on a 16-Bit cart. Horrible, Horrible side
scrolling adventure game.

RED ZONE
---I thought what the developers tried to pull
off was admirable, but the game was just horrid
to play, especially those overhead 3-D parts flying
around in a AH-64 Apache gunship.

Techno Cop
---Piss poor side scrolling RGS meets Adventure
game [yes I know it was already mentioned, but
it's a crappy game!]. OUTLANDER ended up being
what Techno Cop wanted to be, and even that
title had it's issues.

[Xizer]

Do Sega CD 32X games count?

Today, I played Night Trap for the Sega CD 32X. It was... not fun. :(

The video quality wasn't pleasant. I would have expected better for a two-disc game with the power of the Genesis, Sega CD, and Sega 32X backing it.