Top 8 Sega Genesis Games that Nintendidn't have.

We all know that the SNES eventually won the 16-bit war but there were a few killer apps that gave the SNES a run for it's money other than Sonic the Hedgehog. So if you're looking for a list of Sonic games you're in the wrong place. These are just the games that, in my opinion, were the reason my SNES needed a buddy to sit next to on those cold lonely nights. So with that here's my list. SEGA!

08. Mutant League Hockey/Football: They are tied at this spot because they were both Genesis exclusives from Electronic arts. Both games have fantastic graphics and great game play. If you were familiar with EA's NHL series on the 16-bitters than you know what to expect but then you start to see the carnage. You can actually lose or forfeit the game if you run out of players even if you are leading in points. It makes for added stress and fun for all. Same goes for football but plays less like Madden 92/93 and more like the original Joe Montana Football. (EA actually made Joe Montana Football because Sega's own football game was falling behind schedule...long story for maybe another time.) EA used that fun engine though and churned out one heck of a bloody fun football title. Pun intended. As with most EA 16-bit titles you'll have to find the real games on Ebay or google emulators for the fun.

07. Moonwalker: Yeah, yeah, Michael Jackson little kids blah blah blah... This game was weird, different, and just all around a fun play through. You actually move around in a Castlevania type world as Michael Jackson taking people out with blasts of glitter and smooth dance moves while searching for all the missing little girls hiding in dumpsters and car trunks. The sound is actually decent and the songs sound better than what you might expect. The animation is tight and is nearly as good as those found in Sega's Aladdin or Flash Back. Sometimes if your good enough to remember which kid to find first Michael will have a chance to catch a shooting star and turn into a destructive robot of doom. It doesn't last long but it does reveal the hiding children for you while you obliterate the enemies on screen with heat seeking missiles and lasers! It's only let down is the final boss fight with Mr. Big where you are in a cockpit and you are trying to shoot Mr. Big in his own space ship...which was just stupid. Other than that this game is one of the most memorable experiences of the 16-bit generation. It's not found on any new platform so either get the real thing or have a fun half hour or so on your emulators. Even just for the LOLZ.

06. Gunstar Heroes: SNES had Contra 3 and it's a beauty but Genesis had this gem and it's just as fun if not a little better. Not only could you shoot everything but you could combine different weapon combos and experiment with different weapons which made it fresh with each play through. The game featured crazy effects with zooming and rotation that people thought was only possible on the SNES. This game proved the Genesis could do just about everything the SNES could do and at a faster frame rate. Treasure made an unforgettable gem and you can get it on XBLA and I think it's also available on the Wii. Beware, it's not on the Sonic Genesis Collection that was released a few years back. Have no idea why but what a mistake.

05. Gaiares: The game rocked the hell out of players with killer graphics, sound, and soundtrack. Game play was tight and never let up. It was different in that you would actually "yoshi-like" suck enemies in and transform them into powers and the more of the same kind of enemy you sucked in the more powerful the weapon became. As far as I know the only way to play this is with the original console or emulation. I'd love to see someone snag the license and see an HD remake.

04. Road Rash 2: The reason I go with RR2 is because it featured two player simultaneous play and Road Rash 3 seemed a bit choppy in comparison even though those graphics may have looked a little more realistic. RR2 was fun, brutal, and addictive like an RPG where you would win races to build up your stats or buy a new bike altogether to hang with the more difficult races ahead. I can't believe this game hasn't seen some type of HD remake as it's a classic through and through. Best bet is an emulator or be a hero and buy the real one on a real Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console!

3. General Chaos: Two on Two mini war strategy. Simple to pick up and so addictive that you couldn't put the controller down. Every time you thought you were done you wanted just one more go at it. The characters were vibrant and colorful and the animations were hilarious. Definitely more fun with a buddy on the couch. Again your best bet would be an emulator because it's an old Electronic Arts title.

2. Toejam and Earl: Another game that's more fun with two players. Basically you survive earthlings on 25 levels to find missing pieces to your space ship. Once you find them you're free to go home. The animations, sounds, and gameplay were some of the most memorable of the era. So many little hidden things were in the game that you may not see until your 3rd or 4th play through. Falling asleep reading a book and the only way to wake your guy up is to hammer on the controller until the game screams "wake up!" after multiple whispered ones. The random times Earl's pants drop around his ankles revealing his boxers and playing with icarus wings to find hidden locals were just a couple of the great things you'll experience. It's available on Sega Vintage Collection on XBLA along with Toejam and Earl 2 which is fun in it's own right.

01. Streets of Rage 2: People will be quick to point out Final Fight 2 or Final Fight 3 or Rival Turf or what have you but they all paled in comparison. The game featured more moves, more playable characters, multi-scrolling backgrounds, more on screen enemies at one time, and a killer sound track that players still talk about today. Streets of Rage one set the bar with it's two player destruction and Streets of Rage 2 amplified everything and made it better. Streets of Rage 3 had even more features to the game play including a run attack similar to Golden Axe. Streets of Rage 3 just didn't have quite as good of sound track of it's predecessor and the new character Dr. Zan in place of Max was
kind of bittersweet to die hard fans. If you can find it there is a home made game called Streets of Rage Remake. It's worth it to track it down on google if you can but Sega has went out of it's way to take it down. So good luck. If you find it though it's worth it! You can get all three titles on Sega's Vintage Collection download on XBLA or PSN.

Thanks for reading my blog and feel free drop some games for me to try if you think there are any I may have missed out on.

[dedicatedtogamers]

Nice list! I love the Genesis. I don't know if you liked RPGs but the Phantasy Star series was way ahead of its time. One of the first sci-fi RPGs, and not to mention the graphics. Phantasy Star was doing this http://takegame.com/rpg/pic...
when Nintendo was still doing this http://www.consoleclassix.c...

Also, I know everyone gives the credit to games like FF:Tactics and Fire Emblem, but Shining Force 1 and 2 did the whole "grid based RPG" waaaay before the rest (at least, outside of Japan).

Again, nice list!

[BillytheBarbarian]

I loved Phantasy star 1,2, and 4. I've tried 3 but the battle system wasn't as good as 2. Shining Force was awesome too. I'm playing part two on psp right now.

I know there are a ton of games but these were the ones I've recently played again.

[darthv72]

already mentioned MUSHA but there was also Ranger X. It certainly pushed the graphical limits of the Genesis with the many layers of scrolling backgrounds.

Genesis is still my #1 system of all time.

[Relientk77]

There's actually a lot of Genesis games SNES didn't have even besides this list

Comix Zone
Ristar
Vectorman 1 and 2

are some other good ones

[BillytheBarbarian]

I appreciated what they were able to achieve with vector man but overall I didn't have much fun playing them. I should give comixzone another chance as I struggled with that title as well. I agree 100% with Ristar, awesome game.

There are a lot of good Genesis games, but there were a lot of games that were basically Sega's version of a popular Nintendo game. This list focused on experiences nearly unavailable on the SNES. Zelda to Beyond Oasis or Golden axe warrior. Mario to Alex kidd or Kid Chameleon. Mystic Defender and Jewel Master were Sega's Castlevanias. Dinosaurs for hire and Midnight resistance were for Contra fans before Konami could make games on Sega. Columns to Tetris, Mean Bean to Kirby Avalanche, etc... Sega worked hard to get the equivalent game type on Genesis.

[reaper24]

No love for Thunder Force IV or MUSHA Aleste? Two essential shoot em ups!

[dedicatedtogamers]

You mean Lightening (sic) Force? Hahah, that's what it was called here in the US. Heck yeah! I still have my cart + case + manual. That game is so much fun. I love how it pulled a Mega Man and allows you to choose the order in which you tackle the stages.

[reaper24]

Yeah this game exactly, I especially love the awesome music.

[MrChow666]

contra hard corps, alien soldier, light crusader, castlevania bloodlines, dynamite heady, landstalker, crusader of centy(soleil), beyond oasis(story of thor)...all amazing games, so many gems on that console

[camehlheon]

Agreed, Story of Thor is by far the best Megadrive/Genesis game I've ever played. Also, Streets of Rage 1 & 2 were awesome (3 was crappy).

But the comparison goes beyond : Aladdin is way better on Genesis than SNES, same statement with Ghouls & Ghosts, and probably a few more "shared" licences but different games. Micromachines also just poped in my mind.

@Author : About Final Fight, I think its quality matches the Street of Rage series, at least the Arcade version.

[from the beach]

ESWAT.. Rocket Knight Adventures.. Golden Axe.. Strider.. Gunstar Heroes.. Streets of Rage 3.. Comix Zone.. Revenge of Shinobi.. Sonic the Hedgehog.. to this day my favourite console.

[clonerz]

Landstalker is a great game snes didn't have beautiful graphics when it was released

[Pintheshadows]

I much preferred the Megadrive/Genesis to the SNES. I prefer its IP's I think. And as mentioned, it had Streets of Rage 2 and Road Rash 2. I also loved Alien Storm with a passion.

[PrimeGrime]

Oh man I completely forgot about Comix Zone, that game was so cool. Vector Man was freaking hard but me and old friends played the shit out of that.

That and Beavis & Butthead... That game was really fun also. I'll never forget the sound when you would hit someone in that game.. Oooughh.. Oooughh.. or trying to sneak into the Gwar concert lol.

Oh lord that brings back so many memories. Oh wow I am the only person who brought up Beavis & Butthead on Sega, I thought it was awesome.

[BillytheBarbarian]

"@Author : About Final Fight, I think its quality matches the Street of Rage series, at least the Arcade version."

I bubbled you up for the comment but I have to disagree. The core experience is similar I'll give you that, but running side by side and looking at all the little things you'll see that SOR is much further polished than the Final Fight games. I recently played through them just to make sure but for example when your characters stand in place for a long while SOR characters will animate other than the standard breathing animations. Blaze combs through her hair and Axel rolls his fists for example. It's small but it just adds life to it.

Yuzo Koshiro's sound track on all the SOR titles are timeless classics that people are still talking about. He also did tracks for Revenge of Shinobi, Shenmue, and SNES's Actraiser RPGs. Sorry but no one talks about the music in Final Fight, not at all. Now Street Fighter's music on the other hand is a whole different story. Classic Tunes!

Small touches in the game itself when heavier characters would get slammed on the ground shook the ground. Chains dangling from ceilings would shake. Waves on the beach front would move like waves...where as the Final Fight games were all stiff and static with no movements or animations. There was just a ton of code squeezed into the SOR series. SOR 2 was a 16 meg title and SOR 3 was 24 megs. The first two Final Fights were 10 megs and the third was 16 megs. All that extra space went into those little touches. SOR 3 also had multiple branching paths.

I'd just try to play them again and pit them against some of those old SNES beat'em ups. They just don't stand up well. Rival Turf, Battle Toads, and Super Double Dragon have not aged well at all. They're really straight forward and in the same vein as the lifeless Death of Superman found on both consoles.

The two decent side scrolling fighters that are still good today would be TMNT IV Turtles in Time and Batman Forever was decent. TMNT Hyperstone Heist is really awesome on the Genesis as well it just didn't have the cool mode 7 throw effect the SNES had.

clonerz:
"Landstalker is a great game snes didn't have beautiful graphics when it was released"

Awesome game. I started to play that one on my PSP but the Sony Dpad is just no good for it so I'll be looking to play it on my laptop with a better Dpad. I loved the graphics, right up there with some of the best 16 bitters.

@SMGP:

I did enjoy the Disney titles. They could put a compilation out with all of them and cash in. HD remake is coming for Castle of Illusion soon. I'm curious to see how that turns out but yeah Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Jungle Book, Quack Shot, Lion King, etc...just a lot of really great platformers with great animation and game play.

Games I didn't put in my list that I would recommend would have been Golden Axe, Hell Fire, Joe Montana Football 1994, NHL 93, World Series Baseball, Street Fighter 2 Special Champion Edition, Eternal Champions, Greatest Heavy Weights, After Burner 2, Space Harrier 2, Phantasy Star 2 and 4, Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force 1 and 2, ....

...just my primary focus here was true experiences that were only available with a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive without the 32x or CD rom drives. There are a huge number of top notch titles on this unforgettable console. This is my last comment because I've run out of bubbles. I bubbled everyone up that posted! Thanks for remembering the Genesis with me.

...Beavis and Butt Head rocked.