What genesis/megadrive games turned out to be way better than you anticipated?

[Benjamin]

Landstalker- ... When I popped it in, I more or less fell in love with the game.

...And yet we (you) have no Landstalker themed Sega-16 logo.

Landstalker did end up being significantly different and better than I thought going in. It has all the appearance of a Zelda clone. It ended up being far more a platformer from hell than a stabby adventure game, which I liked better except for those times the perspective or blind jumps made me want to kill something.

ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkatron is my pick. Raged against the format change just like everyone else, yet in the end, the game is better for it. The world is so much more vibrant, the characters better developed, and the dialogue and variety is wonderful. I believe all these elements could have existed just fine in the original format and have satisfied everyone, but as it stands, Panic on Funkatron is a great game which advances the series more than its familiar aping of the mascot platformer would initially indicate. I miss the Nethack inspired gameplay of the original, but Panic on Funkatron overall is a better game.

[Nightwolf]

Super Hydlide indeed. As bad as it looks and shitty controls, the game turned very fun to me. Looking for secrets, what the hell to do, and the excelent music.

[TheFace]

I expected Mickey Mania to be fairly "meh." I got it because it was a part of a lot that I had a good deal on. Instead, I got Micky-vania. Many of the levels made me think of Bloodlines or Castlevania IV, if the protagonist chose to throw marbles instead of use a whip. The visual style is nice and the graphics are excellent. Plus, it's fun to play too!

The music is what convinced me to pick it up, the graphics are awesome as well. Bel always raved about the polygonal effects in some places. I think people don't like it because they consider Land Stalker a better isometric RPG and because Treasure made it and they think Treasure should stick to shooters.

It's my understanding that it's the frequency and difficulty of the puzzles that stops most people; it takes them "out of the game." I like the puzzles and I like the game. It's a very nice looking game, and the magic system is pretty neat (certainly derived a bit from the gun system in Gunstar Heroes).

[Mr Nuts]

Outrun 2019, i did not know what to expect from this but i found it extremely playable.

[goldenband]

It's my understanding that it's the frequency and difficulty of the puzzles that stops most people; it takes them "out of the game." I like the puzzles and I like the game. It's a very nice looking game, and the magic system is pretty neat (certainly derived a bit from the gun system in Gunstar Heroes).

Interesting analysis -- you may be on to something there. Personally, I "received" Light Crusader as a puzzle RPG first and action RPG second, so the puzzles couldn't take me out of the game; they were the core of the game!

If one perceives the puzzles as a distraction from the game's central mission, then sure, Light Crusader would seem like a middling action RPG that keeps interrupting itself. But that seems silly to me, like getting annoyed that all the items in Super Mario Kart get in the way of the pure racing experience. It comes back to the ol' adage that it's always a mistake to blame a game (or a movie, album, book, etc.) for not being something it wasn't trying to be in the first place.

[Kamahl]

The problem with light crusader aren't exactly the puzzles, it's just how uninspired the game is. The graphics are great but the art style is mediocre at best, every character in the game is lifeless, the magic system is great but the magic itself is completely boring, it's 1 giant dungeon with a puzzle in every room (puzzles that can get annoying fast), the weapons are the worst you can have (just "levels"), the items are all either potions, keys, stuff to sell, or "required to exist in the inventory", the dialog and story are garbage, etc...
As far as a puzzle game goes, it's only ok. As an action adventure it's pretty poor. What is Light Crusader trying to be? Is it a puzzle game? The action parts just get in the way then. Is it an Action Adventure? Well it fails at both.

[muteKi]

I still think it's better than Landstalker, if only because it a) had shadows and b) actually had controls that made some damn sense

Seriously, an isometric platformer like landstalker without shadows? That game's "puzzles" are just trial-and-error jumping challenges where you can't tell which direction you need to go to reach the next platform due to the flaws in the perspective.

[poperamone]

Mercs. The RPG lite origanal mode is fantastic

[KillerBean2]

Seriously, an isometric platformer like landstalker without shadows?

That's also what made me so frustrated that I gave up on completing the game. If Landstalker had shadows, it would be on my top five list of favorite games.

True Lies: Expected a crappy movie licence game but got something quite solid. Same goes for Dick Tracy.

[Theretrogamer12345]

Wiz'N'Liz is way more fun I thought it would be.

Same it looked dumb but I played it with my friend and it as pretty awesome.