SEGA Mega Drive turns 25 years old this month

[MidnightRider]

No sci-fi? SNES had EarthBound (too bad it was a victim of its own ads, released during a time when NoA's marketing thought barf-inducing ads were cool). Chrono Trigger. Robotrek (you play as a nerd that creates robots to fight for him. Random turn-based battles but you do get some direct control of the robots).

I was referring to the overall setting/feel of the game. Earthbound has a Modern setting, which I'll admit is definitely original. Still never got the appeal to the that game though. Chrono Trigger had a fantasy setting, barring 1 era of time travel. Robotrek admittedly escaped my memory, but still doesn't quite feel like Phantasy Star. Some of the RPG's that never left Japan did though.

(SFC actually had at least four I can immediately think of: Fushigi no Dungeon 1: Torneko's Adventure, Milandra, and Dunquest (by Technos, after they mostly stuck to Kunio and Double Dragon).

Will make a note of that. Actually wanted to see a fan translation for Milandra, but I didn't know it was a rogue-like.

I did know of Feda, I just didn't think of it when I made that post. There was nothing like the adult content in that game in the Shining Force games, so I can see why NoA wouldn't have wanted to translate that, but at the same time you'd think NoA would have learned from Mortal Kombat. Which is an area where Nintendo fans owe a little respect to the Sega, because without that competition MK2-UMK3 would have been severely neutered.

Come to think of it, do you suppose Star Fox and DKC would have come into existence if not for the competition with Sega?

Anyway, my earlier post on the RPG's was just trying to highlight how different Sega's approach was, even with a genre they didn't have much of.

[Melf]

Between the Genesis and Sega CD, there are over 70 RPGs, almost as many as there are shmups. It's funny that people complain the Genny has no RPGs but too many shmups, when in reality it has almost an identical amount of each. Granted, that's including Japanese games, but many of those are playable despite the language barrier or have been fan translated.

The Genesis is no slouch in the RPG department.

[MidnightRider]

Most of that would be western style though, wouldn't it? I think that's why the genre is lesser known for the Genesis. It had a lot of PC style games in general(come to think of it, does the SNES have a sandbox game like Pirates! Gold?). No one really goes out of their way to compare some SNES Ultima to D&D: Warriors of the Eternal Sun. RPG "fans," within console gaming, are usually just JRPG fans.

Personally I like to look at the console on it's own, without the add-ons. I'm not a fan of disc video games in general, and I think the Genesis/Mega Drive can hold it's own without.

Edit:
Hey, if I'm sounding like an idiot here, don't be afraid to let me know. I'm just trying to figure things out, as to how the general perceptions seems to be favoring the SNES nowadays. ...and why the SNES seems to be attracting idiot fanboys... Even as a Genesis backer, I feel the SNES deserves better than that. Plus it seems to be a 2 way street. You'll see fanboyism(though not necessarily on the same level) in the comments section of Sega biased videos as well.

As I said in my first post, I've been looking more into the Genesis' library, which seems far too unknown for some reason. Perhaps because it's so varied.

[BlastProcessing402]

Man, I like the Japanese/PAL models a lot more than the ones we got in the states. That big "16-bit" looks sweet, and the PAL Mega Drive model 2 had the red power and reset buttons. (I'm a sucker for red, lol)

I'm with you on the big japanese 16-bit, but the white on PAL model 1 (where it's red on NTSC) looks like they forgot a paint app or something. Cheap and bad looking IMO.

(before you say it, really they just added triggers for the Saturn, it's still a Genesis 6-button otherwise)

Not in America. That pad was entirely different (at least until the "round button" Saturn revision was released) though I do have a 3rd party Saturn pad that's even closer to the 6 button Gen pad than even the "good" Saturn pad.

[GhostDog]

What a beast of a system. The Genesis/Mega Drive was my introduction to the world of SEGA and all the magic that came with it. Strider, Shadow Dancer, Sonic 1 and 2, Streets of Rage 2, etc. was when I really fell in love with the Genesis as a kid. I didn't have all of these games at first but a cousin of mine who lived in the same apartment complex did and I would come over and give the games a playthrough. I was blown away with the greatness that was Genesis in the early 90s. The catalogue of games was amazing and luckily most of the best games for the system came out in the U.S. with the exception of maybe Alien Soldier and a handful of others.

[j_factor]

Most of that would be western style though, wouldn't it? I think that's why the genre is lesser known for the Genesis. It had a lot of PC style games in general(come to think of it, does the SNES have a sandbox game like Pirates! Gold?). No one really goes out of their way to compare some SNES Ultima to D&D: Warriors of the Eternal Sun. RPG "fans," within console gaming, are usually just JRPG fans.

You'd think that would be less true now that games like Skyrim are so popular.

Personally, I never made the distinction between Western and Japanese RPGs so strongly in my head. To me, Shadowrun (Genesis) and Secret of Mana are the same type of game, and the same goes for Eye of the Beholder and Shining in the Darkness. The closest SNES equivalent to Pirates Gold would probably be Uncharted Waters (also on Genesis), which is great, and happens to be Japanese.

[skaar]

I still love that headphone jack. Back in the day my gaming TV was the broken TV where the sound was screwed due to blown speaker and someone trying to fix it managing to kill the sound completely. I had a set of PC speakers without volume control on them that I could hook right into the Genesis for gaming awesomeness.

[MidnightRider]

@GhostDog:
Not counting Seganet, I'd say some of the best also include:
The Daze Before Christmas (Australia, SNES also has it, same region and Europe)
I want to say Wily Wars(Europe), but they messed up on the sound front with that one(those screw enemies in MM3 especially...)
Golden Axe 3 (Japan)
Bare Knuckle III (Japanese Streets of Rage III, just a better version)
Pulseman (Japan)
Yuu Yuu Hakusho (Japan, also by Treasure, and an early 4 player fighter)


@J_factor:
It may just have to do with how people remember things. I believe western RPG's started gaining some steam around the late 90's with titles like Baldur's Gate, Fallout, and Diablo, but once they started getting released on Microsoft consoles(Elder Scrolls, Knights of the Old Republic, etc.) is when people really started to take notice.

After some thinking, I realized one of Sega's big mistakes, not on the Genesis itself, but affecting how people remember them in general, is that they never really followed up on their franchises going from console to console. The best you got on the Saturn was a fighting game rendition of Golden Axe, and a new Shinobi. Oh and a Sonic racing game. Then going from Saturn to Dreamcast you've got Dynamite Cop(sequel to Die Hard Arcade), Virtual On, and House of the Dead 2, probably others I'm not making the connection to. The main point being they should have followed up on stuff like Nights and Panzer Dragoon, while also keeping up with Shinobi, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, etc. Meanwhile Nintendo is still giving the same franchises they've had since the NES, SNES, and N64. I think that sequelitis, and Sega's lack of, unfortunately, is what affects how people remember these companies/consoles.


@Skaar:
In a sort of similar situation, I was never good with electronics, and I would have been happy with just the T.V., but my brother hooked the Genesis up to the speakers of a stereo system. Worked out pretty well.

[parallaxscroll]

I loved the earliest Genesis television commercials produced in 1989 that aired until the early part of 1990. I'm talking about the ones that were 'We Bring The Arcade Experience Home'.

These were the main examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1OiItVnEuQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx08BJ7Wmeg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7zGafJB-yE


Those actually aired well before the 'Genesis Does What Nintendon't' commercial campaign which did not start until the around early spring of 1990 going through that summer & fall.

[MidnightRider]

I didn't realize Zoom was one of the earliest titles. Might explain why that one is so overlooked.

[MidnightRider]

This is going to be next Tuesday, I'd hate to see the thread fall through the cracks before then.

I've been thinking about it, and this ignored console is secretly one of the most influential of all time.

1)It took the market share from Nintendo, proving that the dominant company could be equaled, let alone flat out beaten.

2)Unlike in the previous 2 generations, it showed that more than 1 console could be successful at the same time, which, combined with the previous point, opened the doors for Sony and Microsoft. I may not care about gaming beyond the 4th generation myself, but for those that are still into what gaming is, that can't be a bad thing.

3)It opened the doors for more mature gaming, or content that would otherwise be too much for the audience that Nintendo still targets to this day. It proved that people grow up while still playing video games, and that video games can grow up as well. As I sad before, if Nintendo were dominant the whole while, games like Doom, Doom Troopers, and the latter Mortal Kombat series either wouldn't happen, or be severely neutered, like the original MK was.

[devilman]

The Mega Drive was the first console I got heavily involved in. I'd had a Master System for a while but never really had the money to get as many of the games I'd have liked, but by the time the Mega Drive came along, I had a bit more money and there were more shops selling second-hand games (never really bought new). Interesting to see the RPG discussion - with Shining Force 1&2, Shining in the Darkness and Landstalker for starters, they occupied me hours on end, but I also enjoyed the less-revered port jobs of Might & Magic and Buck Rogers too.

[parallaxscroll]

I didn't realize Zoom was one of the earliest titles. Might explain why that one is so overlooked.

Although it was not a launch title, Zoom! came out both in Japan and the U.S. in January 1990.

The game dates back to 1988, made by Discovery Software for the Amiga, Commodore 64 and MS-DOS PC.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/zoom

[thom_m]

The Mega Drive was the last console I got as a birthday present from my parents; it was already the dawn of the Playstation era; I was always a gen or two back when it came to gaming. It was a Model 2, which is know here in Brazil as the "Mega Drive III" because they named the Model 1 Sonic bundle as "Mega Drive 2". I still have it; it's lacking a power brick and av cables. I play a modded Genesis I got on a trade from a member of these very forums.

I love the MD/Genny. Back in the console wars days, I was a Mega Drive backer all the way; the SNES guys liked to trash it because it had "inferior" graphics and sound; but, as much as I love the SNES (and I do!), I guess variety, fun factor and creativity were always on the MD's side. An "odd" game like "Haunting Starring Polterguy" would never find a home with Nintendo.

Recently I bought a "Gopher" handheld and was pleasantly surprised of how much use that thing is getting. Emulation problems aside, it made me "fall in love" with the system again, and remember how awesome its library can be. Long Live the Mega Drive!

[parallaxscroll]

I consider myself fortunate that I got a Genesis not too long after launch, in early spring 1990. By that time, some of the gamers in my school had the chance to form decent opinions about the new consoles, Genesis & TurboGrafx-16 and how they related them to the regular NES. Well before the SNES launched in the U.S. there was a mini console war between Genesis and TurboGrafx-16. Between Sega and NEC. At first, in late 1989 and very early 1990, more people seemed to like the Turbo better. NEC had more software out. Many people seemed to think Turbo games played better. However by summer 1990 and especially fall, Genesis was the clear winner in every area one could measure. Marketshare, mindshare, game lineup, 3rd party support and advertizing. Genesis had an awesome fall/winter lineup with games like Strider, Thunder Force III, Sword Of Vermilion, and in Jan 1991 came Shadow Dancer and Joe Montana Football.
Genesis was becoming the system to own, even before Sonic came along in the middle of '91.

I bought SNES the day it launched in late August 1991. This was the first Nintendo system I owned, the first system I bought at launch, and not counting Super Mario World packed in, Pilotwings was the first Nintendo game I ever purchased. I probably bought an equal number of Genesis and SNES games.

I went from being a "casual" gamer in the late 80s to kind of a "hardcore" gamer in the early 90s with all four 16-bit era consoles: Genesis, SNES, TG-16 and Neo-Geo.

Great memories all round.

[MidnightRider]

^Really? Well, I know who to call when I need a loan .

Christmas of '91. Coming off the NES, I wanted an SNES, I think that's the reason anyone did, really. My dad actually thought the Genesis looked better by comparison, when he went shopping. Can't say I was disappointed, I think I was just happy to have a new console. Plus this was when Sonic became a pack-in game, so you really couldn't ask for a better deal.

I don't care if anyone prefers the SNES, I just want the Genesis to get the respect it deserves. You aren't much of a gamer(if you want to be called that) if you can't at least respect every aspect of it.

[8-Bit Archeology]

Genesis is a great system. So many games had me hooked as a kid. And to this day theres still more out there I havent played. Whenever we talk about our first memorable boss fight at my shop the first that comes to mind is the lfloating head beast on Sub Terrainia.

I just picked up

Landstalker
Rocket Knight Adventures
Adv. Of Mighty Max
And Shadowrun<- wooooo

So excited. Plus seeing this thread just reminds me of how bad I want the Overdrive by Titan cart, which is in lack of a better term ... Epic. Its cool to see just what genny can do.

[Gunstar Hero]

I have a lot of love for my genesis (and the sega cd attatched to it) but since i got it last in the scheme of when I bought my consoles, I still havent picked up enough games for it. I'm thinking this month is a better time than ever to pick up some more Genesis titles

[zektor]

You know what is funny is that I imported a Sega Megadrive (through some magazine) a few months before the USA release. Wouldn't you know the USA model was released (bought it at Kay-Bee on launch day!) and TWO days later my Megadrive arrived. I thought it was weird and cool at the time that when I inserted USA game carts they were "different" in the MD. Like Revenge of Shinobi becoming "The Super Shinobi" and Mystic Defender guy wearing a "dress". Ahh..the good old days. Happy b-day MD.

[Emperor Megas]

It wasn't until June of 1989 that I heard of Genesis, thanks to a recorded message left on 1-800 USA-SEGA.

That was how I discovered the Genesis as well. I remember the recording: "Genesis is coming, and your world will never be the same." They also talked about the TeleGenesis modem, that would "allow you to play with friends across town, or across the country." I was a little disappointed that it was never released. Though we did later get X-Band, and the SEGA channel.