Happy American Birthday Sega CD!

[LiquidPolicenaut]

Today marks the Sega CD's release date back in 1992..17 years ago! I remember the actual release date caught me by surprise (From reading all the mags, they never said a specific day it would be out) and called a local Kay Bee toys store and, lo and behold, they had one system left in stock. I raced on over and got the last one. When I came home, I enjoyed it through the night. I did like the novelty of seeing FMV in a game and enjoyed it for awhile afterwards...

I always feel the Sega CD is underrated. It actual has a good amount of good games and certain ones truly showed what the system was capable of. Sure, the FMV may have been grainy but it was also that it only took up a 1/4 of the screen in the beginning. Later on, games like Adventures of Batman & Robin and Dracula Unleashed showed how nice FMV could look on the system despite its color limitations. I actually tried to see if I could come up with a "Top 20" list for myself with the Sega CD...and I did! lol

Some of my favs in different categories:

*RPG*: Lunar:TSS, Lunar:EB, Shining Force CD, 3x3 Eyes, Illusion City

*ADV./POINT-N-CLICK*: Snatcher, Rise of the Dragon, Urusei Yatsura, Yumimi Mix, Detonator Orgun, Willy Beamish...

*ACTION*: Keio Flying Squadron, Popful Mail, Earthworm Jim, Final Fight CD, Sonic CD, the Terminator..

*FMV*: Night Trap, Dracula Unleashed, Road Avenger,

*SHOOTERS*: Silpheed, Lords of Thunder, AH-3 Thunderstrike

*JUST FOR THE FMV*: Adventures of Batman & Robin, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs

Of course, there are still a few I may have forgotten to list but are still great games...

I just had to wish my Sega CD a happy birthday and give it a big hug

[Sonicwolf]

Poor Sega CD. So much FMV.

Although I thoroughly enjoy SonicCD and Night Trap. Yes. I said Night Trap.

Its entertaining.

Happy Birthday SegaCD. I dont even remember you ever coming out. I didnt even know what a video game was yet.

[Baloo]

Don't forget Eternal Champions Challenge from the Dark Side.

[old_skoolin_jim]

I'll do it... I'm adding two "Make your own Music Video" games into the FMV category, because they're deliciously cheesy:
Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch (want a good look at "attitude" in the early 90's? here it is!)
C&C Music Factory (it's just cheesy... so cheesy)
...and Kids On Site, because yes, it actually makes me laugh when you mis-use the equipment and when the dim-witted guy stands there slapping a fish.
Aside from those, I do actually enjoy all the SCD's awesome games like Lunar 1&2, Popful Mail, Snatcher and Sonic CD. So many good times... *sniffle*

[T2KFreeker]

Sega CD is awesome, plain and simple.

[tomaitheous]

Hey! You can't list MegaCD only games for a top 20 list, for celebrating the *US* SegaCD's birthday. That's totally cheating

[Baloo]

Hey! You can't list MegaCD only games for a top 20 list, for celebrating the *US* SegaCD's birthday. That's totally cheating

Yeah, just noticed like half of those titles weren't released here in America, lol.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

Ok, technically i shouldnt have added the Mega CD games but, everytime I talk about what good games the Sega CD has, I always also add the good imports. Force of habit I guess

And, btw, it's only 5 Mega CD games in there...nowhere near half :P

[Steve W]

It just seemed like there was a lot of FMV (there was, just not the volume that the gaming public back then thought there was) and a bunch of games that were shovelware, basically cartridge titles dumped onto disc with redbook audio thrown in. Sega didn't try to promote all the games that used the really good scaling/rotation hardware inside, or the RPGs. There's a whole lot more of those than people think. But ask anyone about the Sega CD, they'll come up with full motion video and Kriss Kross videos. Ugh.

You know, looking over the Video Game Trader iPhone/iPod Touch app, I have quite a few Sega CD games. I'd say a good half of its library, at a guess. Some of the game prices are weird, though. Vay is worth $10 complete, but Novastorm is worth $24? Is that accurate?

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, the Sega CD definitely is awesome. About the only major negatives are that Sega was too split up between too many platforms so Sega CD didn't get enough games, that there are too many FMV games for post-1995 tastes, and the memory cards (CD Backup RAM Carts), which are essential for almost any Sega CD owner who wants more than a handful of games, are sadly expensive and rare.

Other than that though, it's awesome. Some of my favorite games...

RPG - Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
Action-RPG: Popful Mail
Strategy: Dark Wizard
Platformer/action-platform: Ecco CD, Ecco 2 CD, Mickey Mania, Sonic CD, The Terminator
shmup: Keio Flying Squadron, Silpheed, Robo Aleste (the others are good too though!)
other 2d action: Devastator (import only)
FPS-ish: Battlecorps
rail shooter/freeroam shooter: SoulStar, The Adventures of Batman & Robin, Star Wars: Rebel Assault, Night Striker (import only)
FMV: Loadstar, Time Gal (by far the worst games on this list, but I feel that I've got to list something because of how many there are on the system...)

And others I'm not thinking of at the moment. The Sega CD actually does have a decent lineup of quality titles, more so than just what I listed there. Really, it definitely is an under-appreciated system, I completely agree. I definitely like it.

[CelticJobber]

Snatcher is still pretty much my favorite game of all time. I also enjoyed Sonic CD, and even some of the FMV games like Double Switch and Time Gal.

[RCM]

I wasn't able to afford a Sega CD until late '94, and didn't really appreciate it until a couple years ago. It's a great little system which was too expensive and didn't provide a big enough leap over Genesis and SNES to justify a purchase for most. Plus, the library wasn't nearly as varied.

I don't remember where I read this, but whatever I read indicated Sega didn't intend on releasing Sega CD in the states at all. Mega CD was created in attempt to compete with NEC's offering in Japan. One thing is for sure, the console landscape would likely be a lot different had Sega not release Sega CD and 32X.

Happy bday SCD!

[swlovinist]

Huge Sega CD fan(have complete US set). I am going to play some Keio Flying Squadron today. I had one back in the day, and still have it. Great system that does have some amazing games.

[Wraith Storm]

Sega CD is awesome, plain and simple.

QFT!!!

The Sega CD rocks! It has a very competent game library with an excellent selection of games in every genera. Aren't those two of the most important factors for a system? Hell, it even has a few obscure titles that I still can't believe were released here.

I have so many good memories of the system and have fired it up on a monthly basis since 1994!

[Balloon Fight]

The Sega CD really is underrated. Really great system with a solid lineup of titles. Happy b-day!

[DDCecil]

I remember getting one used in about 1994 with Sewer Shark, then discovering Lunar and Time Gal. Good times.

I almost completed the whole U.S. collection twice (once in 2000 - only needed 5 semi-common games!), and after selling a bunch, I tried again in 2003, but that didn't turn out too well, either. Now I am back down to 60-something.

Edit: Found the pic which was taken early 2000:

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

I always thought the Sega cd was good, just not pushed right. Its hardware simply wasn't tapped into enough. Sega's USA side should have fought hard to secure rights to or get more of the Mega Cd stuff released. The non-fmv only stuff actually sold pretty well on Sega Cd. I have my two X-eye decks here and they wont be going anywhere anytime soon.

[Baloo]

Yeah, they should've released some more of those RPGs and SHMUPs whatnot on the Sega CD.

[Jorpho]

Where was that trippy, early Sega CD ad that started off with the crazy stop-motion animation?

[Steve W]

I always thought the Sega cd was good, just not pushed right. Its hardware simply wasn't tapped into enough. Sega's USA side should have fought hard to secure rights to or get more of the Mega Cd stuff released. The non-fmv only stuff actually sold pretty well on Sega Cd. I have my two X-eye decks here and they wont be going anywhere anytime soon.

It seems like if they push the hardware right away, it sets the bar for the developers. If Core Design had only released Soul Star as a launch title, who knows how amazing games using the hardware's scrolling and scaling capabilities would have gotten by the end. And it would have put the SNES's giant blocky scaling to shame.