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For a console that was officially discontinued almost a decade ago, it’s nice to see the Genesis still making waves in the industry. We have some news about the new Xbox 360 and PS3 Golden axe game, the fate of Earthworm Jim, another attempt at making the Genesis portable, Mega Drive games on the Wii, and some great guys using the Sega CD for charity.
As the head of the development team that made both Montana and the original Genesis version of John Madden Football, Knox was at the center of the internal controversy regarding both games, and he had some great information to share regarding how each was made. There’s even some previously unknown backstory to how the original Genesis Madden came about. It’s a must-read for any football fan, and you can get it all in our full interview.
When you think video game football, the first name to come to mind is Madden, and while it’s definitely the biggest name, its domination wasn’t always so clean cut. Almost a half a year before the console debut of EA’s never-ending franchise, another football series was born – by the hands of the same creators! Joe Montana Football was Sega’s first foray into the big leagues of digital football, and it almost died on the drawing board. In fact, there were at one time as many as three different teams working on it at one time, and it was Trip Hawkins’ company that finally saved the day.
There are quite a number of a industry personalities today that have a tenure at Sega somewhere on their résumé. Many designers, artists, and programmers either got their starts at the fabled company or made a stop there sometime on the road to success. David Foley is a great example of the latter. Working at Sega as both a designer and programmer, he took part in many famous projects, including Spider-Man vs. the Kingpin and Chakan. He also played a major part in bringing the Sega Channel to thousands of happy homes across America. Ultimately, Foley moved on to found several companies and enjoy the fruits of his efforts as an entrepreneur.
Nothing makes me angrier than sending off for a game that looks absolutely incredible in screenshots, only to have the actual product be a plodding stinker. Only two games ever really burned me this way: Fantasia and today’s review choice – Dahna Megami Tanjou. Who knew that she’d be a minisucle little thing running around, hacking fruitlessly at enemies and sliding off cliffs? Who could have anticipated the sedating gameplay or the dreary visuals?