Favorite Type of Game?

[Novaka]

So really, what's your favorite type of game for the Genesis?


I'll go with Platforms. There's enough of them.... And most of them are REALLY great games (Sonic comes to mind here)

[Genesis Knight]

Action RPG.

[108 Stars]

Action-games in general,
be it MUSHA, Zero Wing, Contra, Mega Turrican or Duke Nukem 3D.
And Sports-games,
just look at the whole EA-line...Unfortunately I hate sports-games.

I usually prefer RPGs and Action-Adventures, but there are pretty few of those on the Genesis, and even fewer can be compared to the great SNES-RPGs.

[Vyse of Arcadia]

For the Genesis? Platformer, definitely. I generally prefer RPGs, myself, but the Genesis has few that I care to play.

[j_factor]

Straight-up action games like Battletoads, Vectorman, Castlevania Bloodlines, Rolling Thunder 2, Shadow of the Beast, etc.

[HolyBloody16Bitter]

I like Comix Zone: Nice fighting game in a Comic!
Also found of Sonic 3 in combination with Sonic & Knuckles: Hyper Emeralds rule.
And me like Streets of Rage 2: Grand Nappa in Your Face, Final Fight!

[Demonic Weasel]

Platformers are nice, but honestly the RPG's win. And I have to say that I'm just kind of sad that there are so many people who believe that the Genesis didn't have many good RPG's, or many RPG's at all. There were plenty and most of them were good.

I don't want to sound rude, but of those of you saying that the RPG's weren't good enough, how many did you actually bother to play? And Genesis RPG's can hold their own very well against most of the ones on the SNES that I've played.

[ary incorparated]

could be i didnt like land stalker i hate the graphics very limited,maybe if you come further it is going to look nicer,i have to play it with all the patience.Phantasy star 4 erm yeah that one ruled the hell out of many snes RPG,s.But i have to stay with it that i have to give snes credit fot that,not that i say the MD cant or has good RPG,s the excakt opsite,story of thor,but many seemed to have lacking colours for yess the magic in the RPG,s that are for me the graphics plus storyline to make diffrence i like the magic in the RPG,s and if the graphics are crap the game can bore me faster like ps3 bores the hell ou of me,4 is a great exsample of RPG goodnes on genesis.and same as been sead on this site Ranger x almost looked as good as snes(in the review) as i recall its better then many snes games maybe not in colours but the paralax and level 4 almost 32bit atleast gave me the feel of 32bit,i dont want to be harch but the genesis with its so called meager pallete surpasses snes somethimes maybe even many times im not bothered with the minor colours casue i know youlle never see a game as good animated as a ristar on a snes -- / and some only clor depth in RPG,s and some games shine on snes,their on par the graphics genesis has the animtions to make a game look like 32bit in strange ways while snes has the colours to make DK been preferd as a common 32bitish title.
. .

[Demonic Weasel]

If you judge games by graphics then you're going to get some games with pretty awful gameplay, storyline, and music to boot. Not all the time, but some of the time.

Now if you prefer graphics then that's what you like, but I find them to be a pretty hollow point in games. As long as they aren't so bad that I can't play I'm generally cool with graphics.

And honestly, I don't like Landstalker that much either, but it is an impressive game. And there's Beyond Oasis, Warsong, Shining Force, Crusader of Centy, Light Crusader, Cadash, Exile, D&D, Phantasy Star, Faery Tale Adventure, Chiki Chiki Boys, and Gemfire to consider and that's only the titles I can think of off the top of my head.

I'm sorry, but the Genesis most definitely can compete with the SNES. I didn't like Earthbound very much, the Lufia's though good were very tedious, FF4 was pretty good though kind of mediocre, Breath of Fire 1 and 2 were both okay though somewhat tedious, and Bahamut Lagoon was terrible. Zelda was pretty good though as well as Illusion of Gaia and Chrono Trigger was indeed awesome. That's still only 3 titles that I liked a lot on the SNES off of the top of my head though compared to all the ones I named above for the Genesis.

And aryincorporated, would it be too much to ask that you try to punctuate your sentences? I frequently have trouble reading them.

[ary incorparated]

you already got it,to make a pact of al what i sead is that genesis isnt limited compared to snes ranger x surpasses snes,and yes genesis has its RPG,s nut the ones you named above arent all that good,the music sucks or the graphics do,Graphics is a essence of my cause i liketo see what genesis can do and it isnt strange that i dont like games like phantasy star 3 cuase graphic and music suck.the storyline and gameplay are the two brain halves,but the thinkwork includes music and graphics im not going to play a shining force stratigic boring story of yess that more like it everything kin of okay,and some more light crusader wasnr bad and PS4 was awesome,it can helds its own genesis.Who here is going to say just ones please that crono trigger is overated and has ugly photo images in the background.

[ROBOTRON]

I like SHMUPS...Genesis shmups library rules. Its my fav genre. Gunstar heros rocked as well.

[Demonic Weasel]

You just said what you wanted to hear about Chrono Trigger. And I agree that PS3 was not the best game. If graphics are your cause I suppose I can understand why you prefer the SNES, although as I say I'm pretty neutral on most graphics.

I must protest however when you say that Shining Force is a boring tactical game? Or perhaps the boring part in your mind is that it is tactical? I never fail to be amazed at all of the people who complain about the slowness of tactical games.

The simple fact of the matter is that they force you to think out your strategy and are not reduced to simply seeing an enemy on the screen and to start button-mashing. Whether people like it or not it's probably the most mature kind of battle-system there is because you have to consider your actions.

Or is taking the time to actually think about what you're doing a chore to you?

[TidalTempest]

Probably platformers.

[Nazza]

I liked platformers when I was younger, but now I'm more into run-n-guns like Contra. I tried getting into Genesis RPGs but the ones I've played I either have no idea how to play because I don't have the manual or I don't have enough time to play through them.

[Alianger]

1. platformers (includes shinobi-type games)
2. shooters (of all kinds)
3. action rpg's (like wonder boy, ecco or flashback)
some of the traditional rpg's (ps4, shining in the darkness, shadowrun) and s-rpg's (langrisser 2, shining force 2, vixen 357) are excellent, but there's too few of them.

[108 Stars]

I found Phantasy Star 2 and 3 mediocre at best, they had ugly graphics and bad soundtracks. Most important was that you had to explore a lot of boring dungeons with way too many random encounters. The stories themselves where okay but the way they were told was poor (very old-fashioned: town-dungeon-worldmap-town... and very short dialogues).
Phantasy Star 4 was improved in every way, really good, but it couldn´t stand against the best SNES-RPGs either: Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest 6, Star Ocean, Breath of Fire 2 were all better imho.
I did not play Gemfire and Exile.
Chiki Chiki Boys and Cadash were no real RPGs.
Shining Force was very good indeed, I agree. And Warsong is great.
BUT: The SNES had Fire Emblem, good competition for Shining Force. And Warsong was also available on SNES (in Japan) with enhanced graphics and sounds.
Faery Tale Adventure was good, though it seems a bit aged nowadays compared to other 16-Bit RPGs.
D & D was quite good, I´d rate it a 7 or so; but definately not a classic.
That leaves Landstalker, Beyond Oasis and Crusader of Centity. Those are Action-Adventures, no RPGS. All three of them have strong graphics in common.
Landstalker (one of my all-time favourites) has to struggle with the difficult controls, but besides that, it´s almost perfect.
Beyond Oasis has awesome graphics and great gameplay, but it can be finished within 3 hours, and imho such a play time is a weak point.
Crusader of Centity has nicer graphics than Zelda, the gameplay is smooth and so on, but the story starts strong while it seems terribly rushed to conclusion in the end. Personally I think that maybe there was also a future scenario planned but didn´t find it´s way to the game. Also, 8 hours of gameplay and very easy difficulty are to be considered.
When it comes to SNES-Action Adventures Zelda, Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu come to mind. They are at least equal. Zelda has weaknesses in graphics and story, but it´s perfectly designed otherwise. Secret of Mana´s only weakness (in my eyes) is the horribly colourful graphics. I´m not through with Seiken Densetsu 3 yet, but I have nothing to complain about so far...

I think the graphics and sounds are not the most important point in these kinds of games but they can raise the atmosphere very much. And a flaw of many Genny-RPGs is the bad balancing. You often have to walk around and fight for ages to get the EXP and gold you need.

That doesn´t mean that I don´t like Genesis-RPGs / Action-RPGs. I´m eager to start playing Shadowrun and King Colossus at the moment for example. But even as a Genesis owner I must admit that the SNES clearly wins the RPG-duel by points.

[Benjamin]

Platformers for me, too. I think the platformers have aged best, and unfortunately most of that is probably due to there being so few real attempts to do 2-D platformers after the Genesis. Few 2-D games have been released since 1995-96, and the bulk of them are watered down portable games. :(

[Demonic Weasel]

108 Stars, you're dodging the point. You say that, "Oh they're not real RPG's!" They're not the traditional type, but they are RPG's even if they're action RPG's or Strategy RPG's or whatever. And using the term RPG's, can encompass the whole of all types of RPG's.

Now then on to the actual RPG's. I though Phantasy Star 3 was ok, but it always was a dodgy title, so attacking it is like getting into a fight with a cripple. Not going to win you any points. As for Phantasy Star 2, you have to keep in mind that this was the first RPG launched on the Genesis. Of course the graphics are going to look dated. Personally I don't see what was so wrong with the music, but if you say so, then that's how you feel.

Anyway, the only SNES RPG you named as being so excellent that I give you is Chrono Trigger. Again, you have your opinion and I have mine, we're not going to change each others minds, but I stand by my point the the Genesis can and does compete.

Fire Emblem was left in Japan. Shining Force was actually localized in more countries and was a better pioneer of strategy RPGs. Warsong was part of a series. The game on the SNES wasn't the same, but I take your point.

SoM and SoE were both decent games, but I think that Beyond Oasis, Crusader of Centy, and Landstalker can still compete. And I agree music and graphics have an effect on RPG's, but I don't think you can just say that the SNES completely wins. Because it doesn't in my opinion anyway. But you backed up your argument well enough, and it's just left to me to tell you why I disagree. The Genesis can compete and is better in some intstances. Most instances I'd say. Although the SNES does have it's titles too, I just think most of them, while good, aren't good enough.

[ary incorparated]

hmm but i just dont like shining force yes it has ugly graphics even for e genesis and its date,the battle system is very difficult and trys to convince you of pusshing the genesis of,story of thore is great playable from the start not yess what i hate the woodsaw system in many RPG,s you push the saw while youre enemy pushes the saw back stronger turn based,is Crap no control over youre movements and you need expirience points,etc and youre attacks are so strange.i have to say not that Tunr based is bad it worked out well in many games,but i just cant stand Final fantasy cause first it has womenised man,and it looks crap on the psx and the CGI imiges look cheap,and its totally overated,and why for god sake Final fantasy 7 uses photo images all over the pleas which make the graphics worth a 7,gameplay probably good for the fand,9.sound 9,story too gay 6 i here guys say they left a tear for the game come on man yourself.ill give it a total 7.i think im not into to the real rpg,s Turn based stratigic,i love story of thor more and action RPG.strange the only thing that makes that game a RPG cause of Experience points and HP,if those two options werent there it would be and adventure,erm star ocean genesis cant match Grono trigger in my way fastly overated the game is okay,illusion of time,secret of mana Zelda and many more turned bas and of the same stuff but hell that ae RPG,s and look like them the magic is within the game traspirancies which genesis doesnt,and the music isnt soem scratchy orchestrial,theyre just hell good on snes,and thats snes its point in the total standpoint.genesis has better platform games,and action games,snes wins chrono trigger which i hate.

[Novaka]

Oh i agree, the Genesis had a handfull of good RPG's, Shining Force 1 & 2 are still some of my favorite games of all time. The PS series is great too, its just the number of good platformers well outweigh the number of good RPG's on the Gen.

And who was saying Stratagy games are slow? Let me shoot them please.

[Demonic Weasel]

I think aryincoporated was trying to say that. The point that people seem to miss about turn-based games like Shining Force is that you do indeed have control over you characters. You control what they do and you have to think and use strategy rather than just button-mashing your way through every enemy.

It's much more sophisticated and there's a lot of thought that has to go into it unless your strategy just is a straight charge and hope it works. However many gamers seem to feel that thinking your way through something is a chore. Perhaps from a lack of imagination, or maybe they just have a really short attention span. I don't know.

And 108 Stars, after looking at your post again I realize that I failed to adress another point of the PS games that you made. You say that they had too many random encounters and there was too much in the way of difficult dungeons. I really don't know what to say to that. Random encounters can drive someone insane, but all they really do is to make the game more challenging. From your tone I gather that you prefer RPG's to be easy? What's wrong with a decent challenge?

[108 Stars]

I have no problem with a decent challenge; but it should be a challenge I can handle more through strategy and cleverness than through hours of leveling up.
RPGs should allow you to defeat an enemy by the time you reach him (if you have not fled all battles until that point) if you use a bit of caution and tactics. This alone was not enough in Phantasy Star 2, and that kind of ruined the flow of the story.
If I remember correctly Chiki Chiki Boys was a platformer, was it not?
And as far as I know Der Langrisser on SNES is a direct port of Warsong, not only part of the same series. But I´d give the Genesis more credits, since there are no English versions of the SNES-ports. As for the sequel to Warsong there is at least a translation patch available.
Fire Emblem has the same flaw (Japan-only), granted, and I agree that Shing Force 1, 2, and CD are great.
For the Action-RPGs I´d say Crusader of Centity ends up a bit above mediocricity while Landstalker and Beyond Oasis are worthy counterparts for Zelda III, Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3. I haven´t considered Secret of Evermore at all since it is not very good. So let´s settle my personal score....

Top Genesis RPGs...........................................Top SNES RPGs

- Phantasy Star 4.................................................- Final Fantasy VI
- Shining Force............................................. ........- Chrono Trigger
- Shining Force 2................................................. .- Dragon Quest 6
- Beggar Prince............................................ ........- Star Ocean
- Warsong........................................... .................- Breath of Fire 2
- Langrisser Hikari 2.............................................- Final Fantasy IV
- ???????????....................................... ................- Lufia 2
- ???????????....................................... ................- Tales of Phantasia

above average Genesis RPGs....................above average SNES RPGs

- D & D: Warriors of the Eternal Sun....................- Final Fantasy V
- Phantasy Star 2................................................ - Lufia 1
- Shadowrun......................................... ...............- Breath of Fire
- ?????????????..................................... ..............- Dragon Quest 5
- ?????????????..................................... ..............- Super Mario RPG
- ?????????????..................................... ..............- Ogre Battle
- ?????????????..................................... ..............- Ultima 6
- ?????????????..................................... ..............- Ultima 7

Top Genesis Action RPGs.............................Top SNES Action RPGs

- Landstalker....................................... ................- Zelda 3
- Beyond Oasis............................................. .......- Seiken Densetsu 3
- ?????????????..................................... ..............- Secret of Mana

above average Genesis Action-RPGs...........above average SNES Action RPGs

- Crusader of Centity...........................................- Soulblazer
- King Colossus.......................................... ..........- Terranigma
- Wonderboy in Monsterworld.............................- Dual Orb
- Y´s 3................................................. ................- Y´s 3
- ??????????????.................................... .............- Y´s 4

Puh, that´s all that come to mind.
Of course this is just my opinion, but don´t think I´m some kind of a Genesis-hater. I´ve been a Genny-user with all my heart and soul, but when I was a kid I did not care about RPGs (since Sega didn´t translate a single one into German). But looking back from today, this is how it looks to me.
All games I have listed are at least available as a translated ROM-hack.

[Zebbe]

I´ve been a Genny-user with all my heart and soul, but when I was a kid I did not care about RPGs (since Sega didn´t translate a single one into German).

Why do I find all these bloody German versions in my eBay searches then? I accidently bought a German version of Landstalker just because you're people can't learn English like the rest of the world (except France, they are even worse!) (no offense, but a little irony here). Landstalker was released in 1993, when you were 12 = a kid. You should have bought that and Story of Thor (also infecting my eBay searches) the next year.

BTW Phantasy Star IV owns every SNES RPG imho.

[108 Stars]

Why do I find all these bloody German versions in my eBay searches then? I accidently bought a German version of Landstalker just because you're people can't learn English like the rest of the world (except France, they are even worse!) (no offense, but a little irony here). Landstalker was released in 1993, when you were 12 = a kid. You should have bought that and Story of Thor (also infecting my eBay searches) the next year.

BTW Phantasy Star IV owns every SNES RPG imho.

Landstalker, Story of Thor (Beyond Oasis), Light Crusader and Soleil (Crusader of Centity) were translated into German, that´s right. But none of these games are RPGs.
-No experience points or something comparable
-only a single playable character
-Action battles
-jump passages
those are the typical ingrediants for Action Adventures, not Role Playing Games.
And it is true: Not a single RPG has been translated.
Nintendo translated at least a few titles.

[Zebbe]

True, but did you really need it to be translated to German? My first RPG was Phantasy Star, which I played when I was about 12. I wasn't great at English then, but I got better, and as the years went by along with the RPGs, my English got better and better. I think the RPGs gave a lot to that.

Maybe Nintendo translated the games they released in Europe, but that was not a big number of RPGs. The majority of those were left in the US or Japan. While Sega released most of their RPGs in Europe. They took a chance and didn't think "Europeans won't like RPGs" or "They must be translated to many languages" like Nintendo did. Sega believed in their European fans and I'm very thankful to them for that.

[108 Stars]

I have become very good in English indeed, and I owe it to comic books and videogames. Regarding it from today´s point of view, I suppose English RPGs wouldn´t have been that much of a problem.

I guess I was a bit frightened of them.
In Gamers, Germany´s most important Sega magazine of that time, they said nonsense like "be carefull if you´re used to jump´n runs", "very good knowledge of the English language is a must" or "it is very important to have a good English dictionary, not the cheap supermarket-editions".

I know today that this was bullshit and that school-English was quite good enough for the simple dialogues used in RPGs.

[XMARLTONX]

RPGs are very very good, espically when they have more of an openended type of play. Although when I think Sega......I think Sonic. My fondest memories of Sega will always be the struggle for the 100 rings to get that extra life....so for Genesis, it will have to be platformers.

[Benjamin]

Of course this is just my opinion

That's why I won't comment on your opinions (which I disagree with), but you are overlooking a number of Genesis games in your list such as Shining in the Darkness, Sword of Vermillion, Rings of Power, The Immortal, Monster World III and IV, and others along with all the Sega CD RPGs, which I'd include due to it being an add-on to the Genesis, bringing in both Lunar games, Dark Wizard, Popful Mail, etc.

[Demonic Weasel]

As I say, 108 Stars you back up your opinion well. However, though I agree that Phantasy Star 2 goes over the top, keeping in mind the time that it was realeased, RPG's were supposed to be hard at that time. The developers probably just got carried away with the new hardware. Heh.

And if you want to be fair, the Sega CD is more so part of the Genesis than it is it's own consol. Those RPG's more than even out the score.

Although mind you, I'd still rate the Genesis RPG's that I've played higher than most of the SNES ones I've played.

[ary incorparated]

I think aryincoporated was trying to say that. The point that people seem to miss about turn-based games like Shining Force is that you do indeed have control over you characters. You control what they do and you have to think and use strategy rather than just button-mashing your way through every enemy.

It's much more sophisticated and there's a lot of thought that has to go into it unless your strategy just is a straight charge and hope it works. However many gamers seem to feel that thinking your way through something is a chore. Perhaps from a lack of imagination, or maybe they just have a really short attention span. I don't know.

And 108 Stars, after looking at your post again I realize that I failed to adress another point of the PS games that you made. You say that they had too many random encounters and there was too much in the way of difficult dungeons. I really don't know what to say to that. Random encounters can drive someone insane, but all they really do is to make the game more challenging. From your tone I gather that you prefer RPG's to be easy? What's wrong with a decent challenge?

I think ary incorparated didnt sead that but what is trying to say that he is not into the hype of shining force and finds the city youlle walk trought look ugly yes,ill ive these games atry for you demonic weasel cause indeed i cant judge aftre playing and not succeding i think ill really have to get into shining force and maybe some day i will be the oposite of negative about shining force.im not into the strategie stuff right now,i like RPG,s and ill give youre precious shining force a change,i have too admit genesis has RPG that blow the snes up ps4 and many more maybe not with graphics but story hell yess,sam story as they comapre a pd saga to ff8 or 9 and say its crap cause their graphics while it has one of the most biuetifulk storys.I know and seen in the past that shining force 2 had a awesome end,but i couldnt play the game anbd didnt like it that much back then maybe someday ill wil but diffrence has to be made in humanitys taste ehy.I dont like beggar prince for the costs yes ittl probably be a good game but i have to say that the graphics are on par with ps3 and are a bit un easy on the eye,yes call me what you want but i may complain abouit graphics,im hell not going to but a game which graphic mediocore and sound is mediocore and the humor is good,graphics and sound have their sense for me,i cab read a nice book for 5 euros ehy,better that then a beggar prince for 50,i aint discurage you but that my look on the situation,i dont hate genesis RPG,s im nit really into them recently some i find moster and beating the snes,yes maybe one or more Genesis RPG,s are best and better the any snes rpg.snes always keeps the amount of more then 50 RPg,s that are good or decent many of the same i know but i have to say snes wins with that.PS4 is my faforite,and langrisser 2 on megadrive better then on snes and why the music and the graphics,the guitar pasrts in the genesis version are better.genesis wins its total defnitly but RPG,s snes will always have more as you can see on the list,and let me have my uppinion please,so not then im going to shoot those who arent open for uppinions.

[ary incorparated]

the graphics are far way not the most important thing but itll give the genesis a good image,a older genesis RPG can be swell,why it doesnt age cause of its gameplay.but then aggain what do you want then a game without nice graphics only RPG,s that look semi ness i dotn think so,graphics do have importancy you dotn want to play nes aggain on genesis i asume neither for the sound,Phantsay star doesnt look good for nothing and sounds good too,its the age 1994 and it wants to give you the precence of the show graphics and sound are more the package of the pressent that make a pressent look good and the looks of the pressent and the perssent itself is the you and the so called gameplay + value stiry.but im not a graphic whore but can you see the diffrnce between a phantasy star 2 and 4,yes in 4 you get the nice graphics as a gift of evolution of beeing better ny looking and sounding better.if graphics arent important they not always are if played the decent looking games on genesis that are great,like herzog zwei,but if a new game of herzog would game you can imagion the better graphics right and the better sound cause you want that.what do you prefer a street fighetr on mastersystem or on genesis and asume gameplay wise theyre both the same,see the genesis gameplay is good+the better graphics so it works most of the time demonic Ristar comix zone ranger x all good gameplay,sound,graphics you may expect goiod graphics cause you know it makes comix zone better ranger x and more,so does the sound you dont hit the mute button,Graphics + sound isnt the most important thing gameplay first but then they have to come to make a game look apealing and actually give you something too listen too and enjoy the game more fullyer then only like just a game with goofd story+ gameplay.this is as obvious as it can get,im bit a genesis fanboy but i love other systems toio ya know varation,genesis has it weakness and thats having not too big line upp of RPGs i didnt say theyre badd on genesis just not as many.

[Demonic Weasel]

I would just like to say I was not trying to deny you your opinion. Maybe my defense of Shining Force was too harsh, but there it is.

And I would also like to say that graphics are important in a game, they're just usually at the bottom of my list.

And lastly, the Shining Force graphics usually fit the feel and the mood of the story at least. And that's even better than just being pretty in my opinion.

[ary incorparated]

ill give it a try someday,im not into them today but i dont like beggar prince too for its comocian,i dont know but i dont like it and i aint to buy a game cause the media is pressing it good,genesis has good rpg,s,and theyre are good in their own perspective,RPG,s saturn owns snes,so sega has it only on a other console.in the total

Shooters genesis 1 point snes 0
action adventure games genesis 1 snes 0
RPG,s genesis 0 snes 1
racing games 1-1
sport genesis 1 snes 0.

Total 4 aggainst 2 if you ask me.

[108 Stars]

That's why I won't comment on your opinions (which I disagree with), but you are overlooking a number of Genesis games in your list such as Shining in the Darkness, Sword of Vermillion, Rings of Power, The Immortal, Monster World III and IV, and others,...

Alright, I forgot Shining in the Darkness and The Immortal.
Wonderboy in Monsterworld is in the list already, but I haven´t played Monsterworld IV long enough to say how good or bad it is.

Regarding Vermillon and Rings of Power I must say that I only listed games at least slightly better than mediocre, and I dislike both of them.


...along with all the Sega CD RPGs, which I'd include due to it being an add-on to the Genesis, bringing in both Lunar games, Dark Wizard, Popful Mail, etc.


And if you want to be fair, the Sega CD is more so part of the Genesis than it is it's own consol. Those RPG's more than even out the score.

For the Sega CD, I admit the Lunar games are very good, and Vay or Dark Wizard are not bad too. If I included them, maybe I could call it a draw.
But only a minority of Mega Drive-users owns a Sega CD while those SNES-RPGs work without hardware add-on by everyone...
:notworthy:
But hell yeah, since many of the Top-SNES-RPGs were not available in the Western world and can only be played in English using Emulators you convinced me that the real US-releases for the Genesis / Sega CD are about equal to the officially released US-SNES-titles.
But still, if you consider fan-translations, i´d prefer the SNES.

[ary incorparated]

Alright, I forgot Shining in the Darkness and The Immortal.
Wonderboy in Monsterworld is in the list already, but I haven´t played Monsterworld IV long enough to say how good or bad it is.

Regarding Vermillon and Rings of Power I must say that I only listed games at least slightly better than mediocre, and I dislike both of them.





For the Sega CD, I admit the Lunar games are very good, and Vay or Dark Wizard are not bad too. If I included them, maybe I could call it a draw.
But only a minority of Mega Drive-users owns a Sega CD while those SNES-RPGs work without hardware add-on by everyone...
:notworthy:
But hell yeah, since many of the Top-SNES-RPGs were not available in the Western world and can only be played in English using Emulators you convinced me that the real US-releases for the Genesis / Sega CD are about equal to the officially released US-SNES-titles.
But still, if you consider fan-translations, i´d prefer the SNES.

No snes used chip sets extra for boosting better graphics mode 7,speed boost in star ocean etc etc,you may count that as a add on,lol.yes sega cd has great RPG,s in the RPG department genesis doesnt dissapiont me at al does me a great pleasure.

[Zebbe]

108 Stars: If you count fan translation ROMs you could as well count Sega CD ROMs.

[108 Stars]

@Zebbe :nod:
This is what I said:
Considering only official US-releases, no fan-translations I admit both consoles RPG-library could be called equal.
With fan-translations/Sega CD counting, the SNES still wins for me.

@ary incorparated
The difference between the SNES´chips and Sega CD-ROMs is that at least every SNES user could use games with special chips while I only break my CDs trying to plug them in my standard Mega Drive´s cartridge slot.
And I never said Genesis had no good RPGs, just not as many as the SNES.
You stated the SNES was a bit better for RPGs too, didn´t you?

[Zebbe]

108 Stars: Yeah, I can see that now. Sorry for being so blind/dumb.

The chips made the SNES games very expensive. The SNES games were in fact more expensive even without the chips, compared to the Mega Drive's games. In 1995, a grand SNES RPG would be as expensive as a Sega CD, which price went down drastically over time after the release. So I don't really see a big problem buying an add-on when the RPG library expanded so.

[Demonic Weasel]

In the end the Genesis wins for RPG's. So nya.

[108 Stars]

The problem with the Sega CD was that even if I bought one in 1995, I had to get an import and a US-Genesis in addition. As you know the best Sega CD-RPGs were sadly never available as PAL-versions.
At least in Germany I didn´t see it get very cheap anyway; I only saw the 32X for 40,-DM (20€) here.
There were also the new consoles coming, so people kept their money for those (at least I did) instead of investing into a dead add-on.
The biggest problem was and will always be the limited amount of money one has to spend...
nowadays I wonder how much a US-Genesis with Sega CD costs or if it is possible to play US-CD-Roms on a PAL-machine. Though with my extremely limited income I guess I can´t afford one even today...

@Demonic Weasel
Yeah, it wins a nice silver medal, the SNES wins gold, lol!:lol:
But I might be willing to give a Genesis-RPG of your recommendation the chance to convince me. Maybe one whose inner beauty I missed when playing it before.
No Phantasy Star 4, Shining Force or Warsong, because I already admitted their high quality.

[ary incorparated]

@Zebbe :nod:
This is what I said:
Considering only official US-releases, no fan-translations I admit both consoles RPG-library could be called equal.
With fan-translations/Sega CD counting, the SNES still wins for me.

@ary incorparated
The difference between the SNES´chips and Sega CD-ROMs is that at least every SNES user could use games with special chips while I only break my CDs trying to plug them in my standard Mega Drive´s cartridge slot.
And I never said Genesis had no good RPGs, just not as many as the SNES.
You stated the SNES was a bit better for RPGs too, didn´t you?

108 stars why did i put the LOL after the sin i didnt mean it serious,but i think the sega cd may be counted with since i have a CDX hehe,and it has popfull mail the best and ways above the others version 3X3 eyes was an RPG or not dunno for shure.

[Zebbe]

You can't play US CD-roms on a PAL Mega CD without an import cart. You don't need a Genesis, just modify the Mega Drive so it has a 50/60 Hz switch, which practically makes it a Genesis in 60 Hz mode.

[Demonic Weasel]

Oh, right then, I'll have to think of a title for you 108 Stars. Anyway, when you say Shining Force does that knock out the whole series? I probably wouldn't choose a Shining game in any event, just checking. And does it have to be a pure RPG? Or do hybrids count?

[ary incorparated]

[QUOTE=Zebbe]You can't play US CD-roms on a PAL Mega CD without an import cart. You don't need a Genesis, just modify the Mega Drive so it has a 50/60 Hz switch, which practically makes it a Genesis in 60 Hz mode.[/QUOTE

yes i already gave it the 60hz mod is tat also doable with sega cdX.i think that thing works really strange and the you have to bypass the bios options,im not going to screw my genesis not my CDX i want to keep it just like it is without any Tumb switches on them or modifiations i screwed enough genesis with the wrong modifications alreadhy but theyre not that expensive,own fault.i just connect my sega cd 1 with import cart cdx doesnt work with the CDX pro converter neither doesn sega cd 2 pal both then.

[108 Stars]

@Demonic Weasel
Well, I already played Shining Force 1 and 2 till the end, and I like them. You just needn´t convince me of those games, and Shining Force CD is pretty much the same from what I have seen. I just thought that there may be a game I gave up on too early or something. And hybrids are alright for me.
And you seem to know quite a deal about RPGs, so I´m open to your recommendations.
Uh, and besides what is ZCRN?


You can't play US CD-roms on a PAL Mega CD without an import cart. You don't need a Genesis, just modify the Mega Drive so it has a 50/60 Hz switch, which practically makes it a Genesis in 60 Hz mode.

So I can use a modded PAL Mega Drive with a US-Sega CD? Aren´t there any problems regarding different power supply in PAL and NTSC-machines?
As for the import cart, how good does it work? The import-cartridges for normal MD-games were a mess, some working better, some worse.

[Demonic Weasel]

Oh, ZCRN is a fake agency that I made up with a couple of my buddies years ago and we basically ruled the world and all. I still like to use it though.

Anyway as for a good RPG to try I'd recommend Beyond Oasis. Although you may also like to try Gemfire, it's sort of a simulation war game, so the lines between RPG and war become a bit fuzzy here, but I count it as an RPG.

And I think you really should give Phantasy Star 2 another try. I agree that it's too hard, but beyond that I really love the game.

[Zebbe]

108 Stars: At least the connection between the Mega Drive and Sega CD will be the same. I don't think the power supply do any effect if it's the same volt. I don't know much about the import carts, but I guess they block the region lock the Mega CD tries to use.

[Drixxel]

I'm most certainly a fan of Genesis action games above all else.. but "action" is a little broad. Under that banner I hurl shmups, run-'n'-guns, and any platformer with an action focus. So, err.. "games with explosions."

[108 Stars]

A few minutes ago I got D & D: Warriors of the Eternal Sun and Super Hydlide on ebay, both boxed and with manual for about 22,-€.
There were some even more rare games from that guy, such as Gemfire, Exile, Romance of the three kingdoms 2, Arcus Odyssey and Warsong on ebay from the same guy too, but one guy with a biiiig wallett beat me to all of them.
I would have loved to get my hands on Warsong, but 38,30 € was too much. What do these games cost in the USA nowadays.

In two days an auction for the brazilian Master System version of Mortal Kombat 3 will be finished. This game must look awfull...!

[Demonic Weasel]

That's too bad. Gemfire's great. As of course is Warsong. And I like Exile. All of those games can be gotten for about $40, but that's about the minimum. Unless you're lucky of course.

[Alianger]

@108 Stars - Gemfire and Exile are likeable, yeah.. and Arcus Odyssey is a pretty good diablo-type game if you avoid the 2-player mode..
But the games you need to try out, judging by your previous posts, are Langrisser 2 & Monster world 4!

Regarding this Snes vs MD debate, I'd like to point out that while some of the top Snes rpg's are indeed slightly more polished & balanced than their MD equivalents, nearly all of them are made either by Square or Enix, who as we all know were veterans of the genre by the time Chrono Trigger or DQ6 were released.
I mean it's not hard to notice there's a 4 after the PS and a 6 after the FF, right? Square had 2 full games of additional experience (;)) when trying to perfect their formula. Of course, this doesn't make the MD games any better, but I think it's something to consider in this kind of debate.

Oh and MK3 actually looks alright considering it's 8-bit, but it plays like crap.

[Demonic Weasel]

Experience doesn't mean a thing if the games are suck.

[108 Stars]

@Demonic Weasel
Pleeeeeaaaaaaaaase
not again the SNES-RPGs suck-debate, okay? Peace, man!
Though I did not get the rarest gems, I hope both games are worth the price I payed. What do you say?

As for the prices:
Don´t get a heart attack, but they were very low...
Exile went for 7,50 €
Gemfire went for 7,48 €
Romance of the three kingdoms 2 made 9,50 €
The Immortal made 5,50 €
Faery Tale Adventure made 5,60 €
Buck Rogers made 4,03 €
Sword of Vermillon made 10,61 €
and Arcus Odyssey finished at about 20,- €

Dammit, I´m totally broke already so I could not afford to go any further; I´ll have to cut my food already to pay the two games I actually got.
The problem was also that all those auctions ended within 2 minutes, so there was not much time to think and swich between biddings.
Placing a maximum bid of 10,- or 20,- € for every auction was too risky; I would have been dead if I won at that price and had to pay all that money.

No there are copies of Heroic Legend of Arslan (1,- € now), Blue Almanac (now 9,99€), Shadowrun US( 1,99 €), Shining in the Darkness US ( 9,99 € "buy it now"), Lunar 1 and 2 US (62, 90 € and 67,90 € buy it know), Phantasy Star 1 for Genesis (39,- €), Vay (14,99 € buy it now), Shining Force US (26,99 buy it now) and Phantasy Star 4 US (29,99 € buy it now) on the sale...
I NEED MORE MONEY!!!

[Zebbe]

108 Stars: Why do you buy Phantasy Star (1) for Genesis? It's only in Japanese as far as I know.

[Demonic Weasel]

I wasn't trying to say that all SNES RPG's suck as I have admitted to enjoying some of them. I was trying to imply that most FF's suck however. Since I know that's a sore point with you though I'll try to restrain myself in the future.

I wish I had more good moneys to be buying some of those games with, but collecting for the Saturn is expensive.

[Elusive]

108 Stars: Why do you buy Phantasy Star (1) for Genesis? It's only in Japanese as far as I know.

It's the Master System version with a built-in converter, if I recall rightly.


So I can use a modded PAL Mega Drive with a US-Sega CD? Aren´t there any problems regarding different power supply in PAL and NTSC-machines?
As for the import cart, how good does it work? The import-cartridges for normal MD-games were a mess, some working better, some worse.

Here's how Mega-CD protection works (coming from a guy with a fully-modded MD2 and stock MCD2):

Mega Drives worldwide have two settings that dictate their region: the 50 or 60Hz video signal output, and the location setting labelled by Sega as 'Domestic' and 'Overseas' - i.e. 'Japanese' and 'Rest of World'. So:

European Mega Drive: 50Hz output, Overseas
American Genesis: 60Hz output, Overseas
Japanese Mega Drive: 60Hz output, Domestic
(offshoot: Korean Mega Drive: 50Hz output, Domestic)

Mega CDs worldwide are identical internally - they only have a program that checks the region of the CD and the region of the Mega Drive that determines whether it'll boot or not.

First, the 50/60Hz difference. Once the Mega Drive is turned on, the CD console activates. The CD console then checks the video output of the Mega Drive: if a PAL (i.e. 50Hz) Mega-CD detects anything other than a 50Hz signal - from an American Genesis or Japanese Mega Drive - it displays a black error message on a turquoise screen and refuses to boot. If an NTSC (i.e. 60Hz) Sega CD detects anything other than a 60Hz signal, it displays the error message and refuses to boot.

Assuming it passes this test, the CD console then checks the location setting of the Mega Drive. If a European 50Hz Mega-CD detects an 'Overseas' console, it knows it is attached to a European Mega Drive, and so will go on to boot the game. Ditto American detecting 'Overseas', Japanese detecting 'Domestic'.

So now you have the following combination:

European Mega Drive (50Hz, Overseas) - European Mega-CD = will boot
European Mega Drive (50Hz, Overseas) - American Sega CD = fails video test
European Mega Drive (50Hz, Overseas) - Japanese Mega-CD = fails video test
American Genesis (60Hz, Overseas) - American Sega CD = will boot
American Genesis (60Hz, Overseas) - European Mega-CD = fails video test
American Genesis (60Hz, Overseas) - Japanese Mega-CD = passes video test, fails location test
Japanese Mega Drive (60Hz, Domestic) - Japanese Mega-CD = will boot
Japanese Mega Drive (60Hz, Domestic) - European Mega-CD = fails video test
Japanese Mega Drive (60Hz, Domestic) - American Sega CD = passes video test, fails location test

This is all assuming you have completely stock equipment. Adding the two switches to the Mega Drive is documented elsewhere - these change the video and location settings of the Mega Drive, so that you can match the video and location settings of your cart game or Mega-CD.

The power supplies are identical. A European power cable will work in an American machine, with the appropriate plug converter of course.

Import cartridges? Hit and miss. Expensive. Better off the modding route I'm afraid :(

[108 Stars]

108 Stars: Why do you buy Phantasy Star (1) for Genesis? It's only in Japanese as far as I know.

@Zebbe
Not going to buy it anyway, since I don´t have enough cash. But it would be a nice addition to any collection because from what I have heard there were only 1000 copies or so produced. For me it would be more important to get all the understandable RPGs first.

@Elusive
Wow, that wa a good explanation. As for the import carts I thought so; they were a pain with standard Genesis games as well.

[Zebbe]

Elusive: A big applause to you for giving me this info. I have a modded Mega Drive 1 (60Hz and language switches) and a Mega CD 2, which means I can play all American Sega CD games if I just put the Mega Drive switch to 60 Hz? Is it really that simple?

[Alianger]

No there are copies of Heroic Legend of Arslan (1,- € now), Blue Almanac (now 9,99€), Shadowrun US( 1,99 €), Shining in the Darkness US ( 9,99 € "buy it now"), Lunar 1 and 2 US (62, 90 € and 67,90 € buy it know), Phantasy Star 1 for Genesis (39,- €), Vay (14,99 € buy it now), Shining Force US (26,99 buy it now) and Phantasy Star 4 US (29,99 € buy it now) on the sale...
I NEED MORE MONEY!!!

But.. none of those are monster world 4 or langrisser 2.

[108 Stars]

But.. none of those are monster world 4 or langrisser 2.

Monster World 4 costs 49,95 €...

But I WILL play the fan-translation. Same goes for Langrisser Hikari 2.;)

[Elusive]

Elusive: A big applause to you for giving me this info. I have a modded Mega Drive 1 (60Hz and language switches) and a Mega CD 2, which means I can play all American Sega CD games if I just put the Mega Drive switch to 60 Hz? Is it really that simple?

Close, but no cylindrical smoky thing.

Once the hardware check's out of the way, the machine performs a software check: it spins up the CD-ROM, and looks at the region code information stored on the disc. If that information matches the information stored in the Mega-CD's BIOS, it will run the game as usual - if not, it will throw a tantrum and boot to the CD audio player screen.

It's this process the import carts will intercept; as the carts were created in Europe, I'd guess it will pass European region information to the console instead of the region data present on the disc. However, this process is slightly different for Mega-CD model numbers and board revisions - hence the hit and miss nature of the cart. It'll work with one CD console and not another - or maybe just one or two games on a specific board revision.

So to actually answer your question - no, it won't work. You have a European Mega Drive 1 and Mega-CD 2, I assume - if you keep the Mega Drive at stock 50Hz Overseas setting an insert an American disc, your machine will boot, but it'll refuse to run the game as it'll detect it's an American game from the CD's region info. If you set the Mega Drive to 60Hz Overseas as you suggest, the machine won't boot at all as it won't match hardware settings with the Mega-CD. Plus, it'll still fail the software test as the American game won't boot in an European console :(

There is a solution - use ConvSCD (http://retrodev.com/convscd.html) to change the region code present in an .iso or .bin. This means that you can inject European region information into an American game, meaning it will pass the software test. Hooray!

There is also an alternative solution floating around the net, called Multibios - this is apparently all three Mega-CD BIOSes on one chip, that you select with the flick of a switch. It goes on top of the regular Mega-CD BIOS - however, I've no experience with this as I'm too big a pansy to mess with the guts of my Mega-CD.

So yeah, two possible solutions.

HOWEVER

American and Japanese games are designed to be run at 60Hz. If you run it on a 50Hz Mega Drive & Mega-CD setup, the game may be glitchy - in the case of FMV-ish games, the audio and video will be out of sync. So, you have a 50Hz machine running a 60Hz-designed game 20% slower than it was intended to be run. How do you get it to run correctly, whilst still passing the hardware/software checks?

Simple. Boot the Mega Drive & Mega-CD in standard 50Hz mode. Assuming you've patched its region code, the game will spin up and load as usual, going to the Sonic 'dling-dling ... da-daaaaah' screen. At this point, set the machine to 60Hz. Problem solved yaaaay

There you go, Melf: one educational article for you =P


uhhhh, on-topic: cartoony games. Not like 'games based on popular animated series', I enjoy games that place gameplay experience over realism. Daytona USA's various incarnations are incredibly unrealistic, but I love it to bits anyway as it's fun. Same goes for OutRun 2006 for its absurd driftiness, Cave Story for its compelling plot and floaty physics, RKA for its cutesy exterior and hard-as-nails gameplay. Why worry about, say, which type of tyre is best for a particular racing track, or how much fuel I should put in my car, when I can scream round corners sideways in a Testarossa, hit a tree and somersault, and keep right on going? Realism may have a place, but I hate it when it becomes the central focus of the game. God forbid we have a Sonic game with animals akwardly standing in clothing and catching fleas, or a Mario game where the character has a heart attack after smashing his head into a brick too many times.

[ary incorparated]

You just said what you wanted to hear about Chrono Trigger. And I agree that PS3 was not the best game. If graphics are your cause I suppose I can understand why you prefer the SNES, although as I say I'm pretty neutral on most graphics.

I must protest however when you say that Shining Force is a boring tactical game? Or perhaps the boring part in your mind is that it is tactical? I never fail to be amazed at all of the people who complain about the slowness of tactical games.

The simple fact of the matter is that they force you to think out your strategy and are not reduced to simply seeing an enemy on the screen and to start button-mashing. Whether people like it or not it's probably the most mature kind of battle-system there is because you have to consider your actions.

Or is taking the time to actually think about what you're doing a chore to you?

I think Thinkinking about the time it needs is my chore,Aldo i started landstalker and im enjoying it,so maybe some day i change and say F...ck crhrono trigger and many of the same RPG,s on snes try Shining force for a diffrence,i think shining force is more mature than the brainless button maching RPG,s on snes,Wh did you think snes had so much.Cause they could fox it with the faster paced games like platformers and the mode 7 overated crap,klike Pilot wings that game scared the hell out of me somethimes,slow and ugly.One really big advantage in genesis RPG,s is speed and not the long dragging across a field on the snes,genesis is like 3 times faster then a snes and that helps the choice of RPG for me.But still snes has more and would be overall best,but I think if im going to play more geesis RPG,s im going to laugh at chrono trigger.BTW anyone noticed Lufia has much colours but the entire land looks the same and in genesis RPG less colours in screen but more over the entire level.

[GeckoYamori]

I like games you can quickly get into and just have a blast for 10 minutes, but at the same time play extended periods and still have a lasting appeal.

[16-bit]

I like SHMUPS...Genesis shmups library rules. Its my fav genre. Gunstar heros rocked as well. Yeah, especially because of no slow downs, I have 2 schmups for SNES Gradius 3 and Sper Nova, and they both slow down quite a bit, (Gradius more that Super Nova)

[ary incorparated]

snes is shitty slow and does the chore for the system 2,58 mhz if i recall even the z80 in th master system is faster,go sit in the corner and play with all youre RPG,s thingys SNES cause youre defnitly the slow and stinking,learning boy.