Groundbreaking 16-bit titles

[Arkaign]

I was going through stacks of old Snes, Genesis, and TG-16 games, and noticed a few games that really took me in at the time with their unique aspects. I might even be so bold as to call them 'ground-breaking'. Comment on these or add your own

1) Herzog Zwei - Sega Genesis. This was a really cool and strange title. Above view, almost a RTS game, sort of a shooter, this title let you battle head to head against the computer or another player. Complete with a variety of maps, decent music, a variety of units (that you could program to do different tasks!), etc .. it had a bit of a learning curve but I found it *very* rewarding. I remember laughing at the review in EGM, they gave it like 3s,4s, and 5s (on a 10 scale), and I could tell that they just didn't *get* it.

2) Actraiser - SNES. Another odd one, had oustanding graphics for the time, and great music. Had a side-scrolling slasher mode that was very well animated and detailed, sort of like Legendary Axe, and then it had a great strategy/rpg kind of above view mode. Really well produced. Had a disappointing but playabel sequel.

3) Silent Debuggers - TG16. Not a fantastic title, but interesting nonetheless. I remember playing this through on a TurboExpress handheld while sitting in the backseat of a very long road trip. Was a sort of FPS, with a variety of weapons. The sound FX were pretty cool, it actually had sort of an 'Aliens' vibe with the whole life-scanner thing beeping faster or slower depending on what was around you. Cool touches like a map and little cinemas helped a lot. It's probably too dated now to sit through after seeing what FPS became, but it's interesting to see an early attempt at adding some complexity and atmosphere to the console FPS genre of the time (nearly nonexistent).

Well, of the major 3 16-bit consoles, those came to my mind .. how bout you?

*I apologize if there's another thread covering this exact idea, but with 200+ pages, it's confusing to accurately verify in advance.*

[Haoie]

In terms of cart size, I'm thinking Tales of Phantasia [1 of my all time favs] as well as all the SDD1 chip games like Star Ocean.

[Trebuken]

Isn't Tales of Phantasia Japanese? I suppose theres a translation patch for it....anyway

Yours :

Actraiser - yeah this game got me too. It was just so different then anything I had played before and it used some of the SNES tech to good effect. Gamneplay was solid too.

Herzog Zwei - Had this but didn't play it much. A friend of mine could not get enough of it though.

Mine:
Military Madenss - This was the my first real strategy title. Had me hooked for a long time...been playing Advance Wars DS lately, quite a resemblance...

Sonic the Hedgehog - Obviously. Got this as soon as it came out. Was in awe of how fast the gameplay was. Probably was less inspiring to those who came upon it later.

Gates Of Thunder - See newest issue of Hardcore Gamer - the sound was insane. CD audio on the TG-16 embarassed the Genesis and SNES...

Many others...

Trebuken

[smokehouse]

My vote goes for Final Fantasy III. This game pushed the limits of a small size cartridge. At 32 megabits this game was only 4 megabytes.

-The graphics were some of the best to found on a 16-bit system with colors everywhere and amazing magic effects.
-The sound was phenomenal for a game of that size.
-Finally the game was HUGE! All the side quests and contend was amazing.

How they crammed all that into a small meg game I’ll never know.

[Doonzmore]

Aladdin on Genesis.

[mr_pollock]

I think Final Fantasy IV was more of a groundbreaker than FFVI. (I personally think VI is a better game though)

It really introduced the classic console-RPG game to America. It had a decent story, good character development, good music, good gameplay and it was quite epic.

FFVI just went above and beyond of all that to create the finest game ever made.

[kainemaxwell]

I'd put Tales of Phantasia pretty high up there maybe alongside FF3. The graphics and sound were near PSX quality and the game actually had voices in it. Question, was Super Metroid the first SNES title with some voices?

[Simply Dave]

I'd put Tales of Phantasia pretty high up there maybe alongside FF3. The graphics and sound were near PSX quality and the game actually had voices in it. Question, was Super Metroid the first SNES title with some voices?

I'm not sure but I clearly remember the first time I played Super Metroid and I heard that voice. "The last Metroid is..."
Man, that was exciting stuff.

[kainemaxwell]

I'm not sure but I clearly remember the first time I played Super Metroid and I heard that voice. "The last Metroid is..."
Man, that was exciting stuff.

Same here, I was surprised and happy there was some voice in the game, I ended up resetting my game just to make sure the game wasn't playing a trick on me!

[intvsama]

I'd have to go with Super Metroid being up there with the big groundbreakers. Everything about that game was enormous, sprites, enviornments, action, adventure. It set the bar for future adventure games (CV:SotN, anyone?)

[whoisKeel]

No way Super Metroid was the first with voices, but I can't deny its awesomeness. Didn't the first Street Fighter II have voices? I'm sure there were even more before that. (I know some of the Sports Talk series for Genesis came out around that time)

Speaking of which, I think Street Figher II was a pretty groundbreaking game, even just considering how well it was ported. It opened the doors for the fighting game fever. I sometimes wonder if Capcom had screwed up SF2 as a port, if fighting games would've been as big as they were.

I remember F-Zero looking absolutely cool as *#$% when it came out, it's Mode7 fueled Mario Kart, which in turn fueled a whole genre of cart racing.

[Zing]

Super Metroid won my award for the gayest (literally) voice I have ever heard in a video game.

"The galaxy is at peath..."

[Damaramu]

Perhaps you've forgotten the annoucer's voice for Super Street Fighter II/Turbo?

WTF did they do to Guile's voice? And most importantly, what were they thinking? x_x

[Ed Oscuro]

If only Silent Debuggers was playable...

For my part, I'd have to say that Gain Ground broke some new ground, in its own way.

[Damon Plus]

Perhaps you've forgotten the annoucer's voice for Super Street Fighter II/Turbo?

WTF did they do to Guile's voice? And most importantly, what were they thinking? x_x

Altered Beast had voices, and it was the first Genesis game. Did the T-16 have a game with voices before that one?

Also, groundbreaking titles would be games like Virtua Racing and Starfox. And what about Sonic?

[Sotenga]

I put my bid towards Super Castlevania IV. It's not just because I'm biased towards Castlevania... though, that is part of the reason. Heh... but seriously, this game had some of the most incredible graphical effects, musical compositions, dead-on play control, and overall solid gameplay. All for a freaking 1991 SNES launch title. I think it was way ahead of its time, and it kinda cemented my decision to snag a SNES.

[bazariah]

I put my bid towards Super Castlevania IV. It's not just because I'm biased towards Castlevania... though, that is part of the reason. Heh... but seriously, this game had some of the most incredible graphical effects, musical compositions, dead-on play control, and overall solid gameplay. All for a freaking 1991 SNES launch title. I think it was way ahead of its time, and it kinda cemented my decision to snag a SNES.

im thinking the same.. it's probably the only snes game i'd play day in day out without getting bored

also contra3/ contra spirits/ super probotector (dependent on location ), the end area reminded me of both aliens (by the level design and enemies) and predator (because of the music) truley a game worthy of any accolade for greatness

[Graham Mitchell]

I felt the first 3 launch titles for the SNES, Super Mario World, F-Zero, and Pilotwings were totally groundbreaking. The Mode 7 effects absolutely blew my mind, and the wavetable sounds were unlike anything else I'd seen on a console. It was the first time I realized that it was possible to have arcade-quality games on a home system.

Everybody's going to groan but I also thought Drakkhen was pretty ground-breaking. That was the first time I'd seen a first-person, polygon-based game that wasn't Hard Drivin'. The game never gets credited with being groundbreaking because it wasn't well-recieved, but I think it's a classic, despite its flaws. Admit it; the music and sound effects can be pretty convincing at times.

I also thought Y's Book I and II for the TG-16 CD was pretty incredible. That's probably the first CD-based RPG we saw in the states. After spending an hour with the game I was absolutely convinced that CD's were the medium that games should all be using.

[poloplayr]

My vote goes for Final Fantasy III. This game pushed the limits of a small size cartridge. At 32 megabits this game was only 4 megabytes.

I'm pretty sure FF3 is only 24mbits. Hmm.

[Amy Rose]

I'd put Tales of Phantasia pretty high up there maybe alongside FF3. The graphics and sound were near PSX quality and the game actually had voices in it. Question, was Super Metroid the first SNES title with some voices?

Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars has voice in it. FIND THE MIRACLE BALL.

Sonic was the big one for me. It got me into gaming and I've never been able to escape