Party Night: Killing Time & Making Memories with Genesis

[Melf]

Tired of Halo LAN parties? Bored with crushing the competition online? Maxed out your World of Warcraft character? Time then, to kick it old school and show your friends how multi-player was when everyone had to be in the same room! The Genesis holds its own in this department, and staff writer Nick Gibson has gone through its multi-player line up to pick out those that are sure to make your pals respect their roots. Read his full report in our latest feature Party Night: Killing Time & Making Memories with Genesis (http://www.sega-16.com/2007/07/party-night-killing-time-making-memories-with-genesis/) and get ready to break out that multi-tap!

[capi1010]

Had great times playing chaos and mean bean machine with the entire dorm floor back in the college days. When playstation was ruling, we had the whole floor repping genesis.

[VinnyT]

I'll say more when i'm not using the Wii, but I caught the (old) Dilbert reference.

[Rusty Venture]

I'm kinda surprised that NBA JAM isn't on there.

[Alianger]

Nice article but where's micro machines?

Other good choices:
Super Off-Road
Street Racer
NHL '94-'96
Columns 3 (5 players :D)
Lost Vikings - nice coop game
Puyo Puyo 2 - better than mean bean machine
Puzzle & Action games - mario party predecessors?

[megabomberman]

Awesome, thats all that can be said, what a beautiful piece, fair enough everyones going to have their floor fillers, instead of mean bean machine mine was columns, etc etc, but this is what the genesis is about, I must now go and seek some of these titles I don't have, great work Nick

[Mr Smith]

We've been doing this for years, we now have to rent a hall for our Mega Drive tournaments. I also have to know why Micro Machines isn't there. That is the essential multi-player Mega Drive game.

[megabomberman]

We've been doing this for years, we now have to rent a hall for our Mega Drive tournaments. I also have to know why Micro Machines isn't there. That is the essential multi-player Mega Drive game.

Them Megadrive championships are class, ye are some bunch of legends, Myself and the lads were thinking about asking ye, can we throw an Irish Megadrive championships into yer site since ye already have the Portagese too, how I don't know?

Just reading through that fantastic, over the top, full of classic crap talking site has inspired us,

Its also the true way megadrive was meant to be played.

[McTom]

I'm missing Micro Machines 2 & NBA Jam: TE.

[Zebbe]

Ofcourse there are missing games in any article of this style, I personally missed the two Puzzle & Action games which are party games, but the feature was very well written and nice to read anyway.

[AEther]

good article, and yes, a Micro Machines game and is 8 player share mode is missing.

after each portuguese mega drive tournament we spend all night playing this type of games. fun for all. XD

[steve]

I agree, nice piece and also, just a great topic to talk about: party games. I plan to do one myself when I get enough time to lay out the scope of the land so to speak

[Genesis Knight]

I left out Puzzle and Action because they're hard-to-find imports (without the stunningly obvious value of Yu Yu); NBA Jam went out the door in favor of the far superior Hangtime. Micro Machines just doesn't thrill like it once did.

EDIT: Props to Vinny T! Ratbert for prime minister of France!

[InternalPrimate]

Awesome article. Nice to see someone touch on the differences between the multi-taps.

A little while back some friends and I got together for some Bomberman (Wii virtual console) and Tecmo Bowl (NES) action. Everyone was going crazy after only a few minutes. Hardly anything comes close to the multiplayer goodness of the 8 and 16-bit days.

[VinnyT]

Yeah, Tubular Luggage would make a great band name.

Still though, this whole thing was written out great! I can understand Micro Machine's being left off though.

But, you forgot the 2p games in Sonic 3, which i've had a storied past of playing, or even something like WWF Raw.

[Zebbe]

Elitserien/NHL series is also good for multiplayer, but only 2 or 4 player games.

This article gave me an idea of a similar one listing the best 2 player co-ops, but unfortunately I don't have that many games for that and don't play too much with a friend.

[MitsuruX]

NBA Hangtime finally gets some credit as a great party game.... It was the best of the NBA Jam type Games over all i think... (Altough the N64 version was just about Arcade perfect.. along with the halftime rap song with full vocals!!)

[Sen]

One note: Sonic shuffle rules. I really like it...

[Genesis Knight]

Two friends of mine are coming over in a few days, and I've asked him to bring some of the Genesis games you guys are mentioning. The three of us will try them out and I might add them on to the article.

[CMA Death Adder]

Wow. No mention of Action 52. I'm speechless. Sure, its games don't make use of the multi-tap, but Action 52 still makes for a great party game!

At least, in my experience it did. I recently brought a copy of the Genesis version of Action 52 with me to a friend's house after briefly talking to him about the game cartridge. There, a few of us made a bit of a party game out of Action 52, seeing who could "dominate" at Star Duel, Armor Battle and 1st Game (Pong). Skirmish would've been a hit, too, if it had actually been programmed to be played correctly.

What about the high-stakes action that Dyno Tennis' no-rules gameplay brings to the table? Well, it makes for a decent drinking game... urp... :confused:

As one of my friends made it a point to try -every- game on the cartridge at least once, I scoffed: "Wow. If this thing came out on the Gameboy Advance, people would actually BUY IT." He shot back with a laugh, "I WOULD BUY IT." No kidding...? That's both sad and food for thought at the same time.

Hmm. Sort of makes a person think, doesn't it? Action 52 could be considered a footnote to games like WarioWare, Inc., if you think about it. Take a load of quirky (i.e. cr@ppy) games and stick them all together - but make a POINT to playing them - and you have a sellable product.

And on a side-note: The Cheetahmen, however, really need to be licensed by a team who has and can carry out plans for greatness. I'd like to see a sidescrolling beat'em up based on the story of Active's little comic, that seriously takes our three cheetah-riffic heroes on a true adventure the likes of which they've deserved for over ten years now. Livin' large just isn't good enough for them, anymore!


http://dfg.the-underdogs.info/mbgfx/livinlarge.jpg

[KanYozakura]

Nice list. I would've added Family Feud on there, but that game's party fun factor is purely based on the pervertedness and wit of the people playing it. :D

[Alianger]

Yeah I forgot to comment on this earlier but why play Worms on a Genesis?

Micro Machines still thrills me good.. along with my friends.

2p mode in Sonic is a bit dull though..

Lost Vikings is The game to play coop with your friends! Just make sure you have some time to waste before taking it on.

[Benjamin]

The more people you add to Micro Machines, the more it shifts from being a racing game to being a fighting game. It's still just as playable and fun, and there isn't a better type of game doing what it does on a more modern console, which I can't say for some of the titles listed. Still, nice article. :)

[VinnyT]

Nice list. I would've added Family Feud on there, but that game's party fun factor is purely based on the pervertedness and wit of the people playing it. :D
Family Feud would be the best of the game show games, because of it's faster pace than the others, but some may get bored (pissed) after awhile of the computer constantly telling them they're wrong, then typing the same thing and getting it right.

I have a love/hate relationship with that game. Sad, I know.

[108 Stars]

Who are the people on the photo?

[VinnyT]

Ken's neighbors, who have no idea they were photographed.....

Oop, i've said to much!

[Genesis Knight]

I, too, wondered where one could find pictures of people playing Genesis.

[kevinski]

Ahh...Mega Bomberman...

Good times. :)

[Melf]

I, too, wondered where one could find pictures of people playing Genesis.

I'm like the CIA. I have eyes everywhere!