Jaw-dropping titles on Sega systems (16-bit +)

[lynchesque]

I mean in terms of your overall experience or, if you prefer, just some games that made you do an initial double-take.

Genesis: Vectorman, Snatcher, Flashback, Pulseman, Gunstar Heroes, Lightening Force

Saturn: Radiant Silvergun, Dracula X, Soukyugurentai, Panzer Dragoon Saga

Dreamcast: Guilty Gear X, Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, Rez, Ikaruga, Cosmic Smash

[Mr Smith]

The only thing that dropped when I played my Saturn was it, out of a window.

I really got a kick out of Resident Evil Code Veronica and am not ashamed (although probably should be) to say I found Claire Redfield attractive. Ikaruga was bloody awesome too and despite owning Shenmue I have never bothered to play it. I loved my Dreamcast back in the day, however, hooking it up recently I found myself getting very bored with it very quickly.

[108 Stars]

The only thing that dropped when I played my Saturn was it, out of a window.

:ok:

[Joe Redifer]

You Euros sure hate things that are good.

[Mr Smith]

I think you'll find it's you Yanks who like things that are crap.

[108 Stars]

You Euros sure hate things that are good.

That comes from someone who´s sanity has been proven long gone when he said the Dreamcast was Sega´s worst console.:p

[esb09]

The only thing that dropped when I played my Saturn was it, out of a window.

True Sega fans drop the Playstation 1 out of a window!

"Fly Plaything, fly!":D

[Rusty Venture]

I think you'll find it's you Yanks who like things that are crap.

I never liked "Crazy Frog" and I don't know anyone who did....what's Europe's excuse? :p

I like my Saturn for the awesome Japanese imports...I can't dislike a system that gives me an arcade perfect "Outrun", "Afterburner", and "Space Harrier".

[Iron Lizard]

The Saturn had its problems but there are some awesome titles for it. Anyone who doesn't can't fun playing 10 player Bomber Man ,Guardian Heros ,Dragon Force Panzor Dragoon Saga or Magic knight Rayearth simply just can't have fun.

[Genesis Knight]

Genesis: Vectorman, Ranger X, Contra, Lightening Force, Adventures of Batman and Robin, Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, and a whole lot more.

Saturn: Panzer Dragoon II, Virtua Fighter II, Last Bronx, Radiant Silvergun, Guardian Heroes, and a couple others that I can't think of at the moment.

Dreamcast: Half Life, Soul Calibur, Shenmue 2, Ikaruga, Jet Grind Radio, etcetera.

[j_factor]

Genesis - Contra Hard Corps, Mega Turrican, Gunstar Heroes, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic 3D, Vectorman, Lightening Force, Shinobi 3, Toejam & Earl 2, Ecco 2, Wiz n' Liz, Phantasy Star IV, Skeleton Krew, Flashback, Comix Zone, The Lost World, Red Zone, Street Racer, Toy Story, Batman & Robin, Panorama Cotton

Sega CD - Soul Star, Batman & Robin, Panic! (just because of the weirdness)

32x - Kolibri

Saturn - Last Bronx, Lunacy, Sonic R, Croc, NiGHTS, Astal, Layer Section II, Radiant Silvergun, Dead or Alive, Digital Dance Mix, Street Fighter Zero 3, Super Tempo, Powerslave/Quake/Duke3D

Dreamcast - Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure 2, Shenmue, Shenmue II, Headhunter, Space Channel 5 Part 2, Rez, Grandia II, Bangai-O, Karous

[outrunner]

Genesis:shinobi 3,streets of rage 2.
Sega Saturn:Congo and Ghen War.
Dreamcast:Shenmue
______________________
Restore sega to its former
Glory!!!

[Joe Redifer]

I think you'll find it's you Yanks who like things that are crap.
Damn! Foiled again!

[Demonic Weasel]

I think you'll find it's you Yanks who like things that are crap.

You are amusingly correct in your assessment of Yanks in general. That doesn't, however, explain how somebody of reasonable intelligence can write of the Saturn as worthless.

I can only presume that bad taste is not limited to Americans.

[Vehemont]

I know this isn't from a Sega system but I would have to say the Otogi series and Panzer Dragoon Orta for the Xbox. Oh, and I would also say Shenmue II.

[Ash]

I think the only moderately "jaw dropping" title were:

Vectorman - A little surprising in the speed department. We've all seen vectors used like this for bosses in multiple Genesis games but never one to make a whole game out of it. Really fast gameplay too, and I was especially surprised at the fact the bonus levels were full of special effects which the poor genny never saw much of.

Mickey Mania (Sega CD) - The animation was so fluid, was just like playing a cartoon. Decent special effects too, like the moose chase scene and the rotating tower with the fire coming up underneath your butt. ;)

Hard Drivin' - Yeah, go ahead and laugh.. but it was cool to be able to move in 3D space for once, turn the car 360 degrees if I wanted to and go the wrong way... all the stuff we take for granted in 3D racers today.

Out of This World - Just a year or two before a friend brought it over, I saw it running on a Mac and was impressed a freakin Mac at that time could run 3D graphics like what was shown in the intro... and then I saw it on the Genesis. I was REALLY surprised.

The rest were just sort of jaw dropping moments in games, like:

Thunder Force 4 - When you clear the first four levels, and the guitars kick in from nowhere and the music just kicks ass from that point forward.

Revenge Of Shinobi (Sega CD Version) - When the green dinosaur from the Genesis version is standing there but with no skin, and you can see all his innards through the bones... just wicked.

Sonic CD - Bonus levels. Scaling and rotation baby, 'nuff said.

Red Zone - The introduction, with the dictator video and everything that followed it (the helipcopter, and subs, etc) along with how cool the helicopter scene level looked and moved. Poor genny just didnt see much of those special effects....

[108 Stars]

I cannot agree with you, Ash.
Out of this world was dated because of it´s late release and the competition from Flashback.
Also the skeletton dino in Shinobi appears in the cartridge-version as well. There are several revisions of the cartridge with changes in the Godzilla-enemy and with Batman being edited into a bat monster later.

[David J.]

Damn you Revenge of Shinobi! :D

[Black_Tiger]

16-bit+ Sega console game experiences that dropped my jaw:


Genesis/Sega-CD:

Cobra The Space Adventure
Lunar Eternal Blue
Shining Force's


32X:

Doom
Virtua Racing Deluxe


Saturn:

Daytona USA
Virtua Fighter 1 & 2
Tengai Makyou: The Apocalypse IV
Grandia
Shining Force III's
Duke Nukem
Sega Rally Netlink Edition


Dreamcast:

Phantasy Star Online's
Grandia II


I was probably jaw dropped by experiences with SMS games more though.

[Zebbe]

Mega Drive
Pulseman (the graphical effects and general atmosphere)
Phantasy Star IV (everything)
Thunder Force III (the soundtrack)
Gunstar Heroes (the blast processing)
Contra: Hard Corps (most of it)
Revenge of Shinobi (the soundtrack and general atmosphere)
Elitserien 96 (IT IS A SWEDISH MEGA DRIVE GAME OMG LOL WTF !!11!101011)
Panorama Cotton (the AMAZING graphics and general atmosphere)
Thunder Force IV (the general atmosphere and music)
Monster World IV (the extremely well use of colour)
Streets of Rage II (the music and controls)
Rings of Power (the nude chick code)
Sonic 2 (my first MD game... the blast processing)
Beggar Prince (OMG LOL WTF BBQ!!!1001010 A MD GAME IN 2006!!!110101)
Alien Soldier (the general atmosphere and graphics)
Ys III (the music)
Virtua Racing (the 3D graphics)

... I have probably forgotten a few.

Mega CD
Snatcher (the great voice acting and cinematic atmosphere)
Sonic CD (the general atmosphere)
Popful Mail (the voice acting, although not always great, made the game so "alive")
Lords of Thunder (the awesome metal music)
Road Avenger (the awesome opening song and SFX)
Lunar (the awesome opening song)

32X
Space Harrier (the general atmosphere)
Knuckles' Chaotix (the HORRIBLE controls and EXTREMELY DESPICABLE bonus levels!)
Star Wars Arcade (the piss-poor colouring and Genesis soundtrack)

Saturn & Dreamcast
I don't have any of these and haven't played them that much, but Nights and Shenmue deserves a mention...

[Joe Redifer]

So why is this limited to 16-bit plus? Master System games should be allowed. Here are some SMS games that jopped my draw:

Golden Axe - No sprites at all anywhere! The entire game is a single animated background that YOU control! That also means lots of stuff on the screen and zero flicker.

Space Harrier - Very few sprites at all plus awesome gameplay!

Choplifter - 3D scrolling effects! SMS Does!

Phantasy Star - Those dungeons should not exist on an 8-bit system. Even Shining in the Darkness' dungeons don't quite stack up in overall animation quality.

Street Fighter 2 - This is the SMS? Very surprising!

Many, many more...

[playgen]

Golden Axe plays like crap on sms, because it uses only tiles it makes everything really slow - and also limites the amount of colours in the game. Having said that its miles better than sms Altered Beast which works in the same way.

Space Harrier 3D is better than the first one, the 3D glasses help make the sprite scaling movement seem better, and also helps you ignore the borders around sprites.

The most impressive games on sms are later European games, Outrun Europa looks and moves like a 16bit game, Lucky Dime Caper looks brilliant and had some sweet effects in levels etc.

Street Fighter 2 looks pretty good on sms, but plays awfully, the player sprites are near uncontrolable so the game is little more than a button masher. A much better fighting game is Master Of Combat which looks good, has animated backgrounds, and most importantly of all the controls and fighting actually work really well, which is something of a challenge on a two button control pad, but it manages it.

Anyway megadrive games that impressed me - Sonic 2, Comix Zone, Rocket Knight Adventures stand out the most.

[Joe Redifer]

Space Harrier 3D moves at half the speed and framerate of the original.

[playgen]

:?
I don't think so, I was playing it only the other day and noticed no such thing - and if it was running at HALF the speed it would definitly be noticeable.

[Zebbe]

Golden Axe - No sprites at all anywhere! The entire game is a single animated background that YOU control! That also means lots of stuff on the screen and zero flicker.

That's interesting. The 16-bit Neo Geo can't handle a straight GA SMS port then, because you said once it only uses sprites, IIRC.

Phantasy Star - Those dungeons should not exist on an 8-bit system. Even Shining in the Darkness' dungeons don't quite stack up in overall animation quality.

The TurboCPU-8 should be able to handle it. I think Shining and the Darkness has also smaller dungeons.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World impresses me. It has awesome gameplay way ahead of its time. All the items you buy must have inspired Super Mario Bros. 3. I also think Sonic 2 and Sonic Chaos has some very beautiful design for the system.

[Joe Redifer]

:?
I don't think so, I was playing it only the other day and noticed no such thing - and if it was running at HALF the speed it would definitly be noticeable.
It runs slower. Technically it HAS to because it is drawing each frame twice, once for the left eye and once for the right. That's twice the stuff to draw. You may not perceive the game to be advancing at half the speed, but the frame updates happen only half as often. Same with Out Run 3D.

[Vehemont]

The best looking game on Dremacast has to be Soul Calibur.

[Genesis Knight]

I would actually say Headhunter looks better than Calibur.

[Vehemont]

Hmm... could be, never really paid much attention to Headhunter.

[Genesis Knight]

PAL only; not too common. Pretty nifty, though. It's reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid mixed with GTA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cI_zdPwyrQ

[Joe Redifer]

That looks positively awful. Some of the worst graphics I've ever seen. Looks not much better than 32X texturing/polygons.

[Genesis Knight]

Man, what's with the random crazy statements regarding the 32X recently? :p That trailer isn't the best for showing the quality of the game, but I don't understand how anyone can think it looks remotely like the 32X.

[Joe Redifer]

I bring up 32X because the game looks extraordinarily primitive, just like 32X polygons. The trailer made me queasy. Looks floaty. Soul Calibur rips it a new anus. Hell, Kolibri rips it a new one.

[AxelStone]

Best looking Dreamcast title is probably either Zombie Revenge or Virtua Fighter 3TB...or Skies of Arcadia (Shenmue 2 was pretty damn good aswell...)...btw I challenge you for comparing the Dreamcast to the 32X...I DEMAND SATISFACTION :)

[Joe Redifer]

Should I apologize to the 32X?

[108 Stars]

Best looking Dreamcast title is probably either Zombie Revenge or Virtua Fighter 3TB...

Virtua Fighter 3tb is as ugly as my hairy butt.

BTW there is also a PS 2 version of Headhunter and a horrible sequel.

[Mr Smith]

Should I apologize to the 32X?
No, Sega should apologise for the 32X.

[Genesis Knight]

Although the backgrounds in V3TB were awesome, the characters were too low-poly to stand up to Soul Calibur.

[AxelStone]

Theres no argument that Soul Calibur looks better, has anyone played DOA2 on the Dreamcast?, that was quite nice

[Black_Tiger]

Theres no argument that Soul Calibur looks better, has anyone played DOA2 on the Dreamcast?, that was quite nice

DOA2 on Dreamcast doesn't look too far off of DOA4 on Xbox 360. Of course, the same goes for all the DOA inbetween. ;)

[AxelStone]

DOA2 on Dreamcast doesn't look too far off of DOA4 on Xbox 360. Of course, the same goes for all the DOA inbetween. ;)

I probably wouldn't go that far but I see your point it has reeally well modelled characters...if you know what I mean;)

[Genesis Knight]

Sometimes DoA2 looks better than SC, on other days it doesn't. The environments are certainly more impressive, however.

[AxelStone]

Especially the Desert arena; I don't know what it is about Deserts that enchants me so *drools and stares vacantly at an otherwise boring picture of Nevada*

[Genesis Knight]

Ahhh, sarcasm.

Okay, what about all the other stages?

EDIT: Wait, you weren't joking. LOL!

[AxelStone]

Ahhh, sarcasm.

Okay, what about all the other stages?

EDIT: Wait, you weren't joking. LOL!

Lol! Seriously I am totally nuts about deserts, the futuristic building Arena is pretty damn slick aswell in retrospect

[Joe Redifer]

I probably wouldn't go that far but I see your point it has reeally well modelled characters...if you know what I mean;)

If you like horribly wrong breast-bounce physics, then yeah... you're really going to love DoA games. I'm 100% positive that Itagaki has never touched a real breast that was of any significant size. If he had, he'd know they don't bounce like water balloons that are 75% full.

[AxelStone]

I'm 100% positive that Itagaki has never touched a real breast that was of any significant size. If he had, he'd know they don't bounce like water balloons that are 75% full.

Video games aren't meant to be realistic, most are heavily stylised. It's like saying Resident Evil is crap because the T-Virus doesn't exist. Still funny though :)

[Black_Tiger]

If you like horribly wrong breast-bounce physics, then yeah... you're really going to love DoA games. I'm 100% positive that Itagaki has never touched a real breast that was of any significant size. If he had, he'd know they don't bounce like water balloons that are 75% full.

He definitely knows what nerdy 'otaku' like though. ;)

[AxelStone]

Blatant Metal Gear Solid reference:

I dwells in lockers wetting my pants :)

[j_factor]

Anyone played Fighting Vipers 2? I'm told the graphics were great, but the gameplay sucked.

[Genesis Knight]

I've played it. Doesn't look THAT great; plays almost exactly like the original.

[j_factor]

I've played it. Doesn't look THAT great; plays almost exactly like the original.

Well then that's not that bad. I'd heard that they totally ruined the gameplay or something. I like the original.

[AxelStone]

Fighting Vipers 1 mops the floor with 2.

Has anyone played the woefully bad Snow Surfers on the DC? if so join me in weeping