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Today we kick off a new feature series! Double Take gives readers a chance to take a second look at those special titles that made a major impact. Instead of the standard review fare, the series seeks to offer a better look at the overall experience a particular game offers. We start things off with that first of great Genesis action/platformers: The Revenge of Shinobi. Sega really got the 16-bit ball rolling.
No one can argue that regardless of what you think of the game itself, Night Trap is a pretty important title. It was a major factor in the creation of the ESRB ratings system, and it is the poster child for the entire full motion video genre (for more on that, check out our Genre Spotlight article on the subject). In an effort to weed through all the speculation and opinions, Sega-16 sat down with the man who created the game: Rob Fulop himself. His gameography is a great one, with several classic Atari 2600 titles standing out, but no game has caused as much controversy as Night Trap.
When most people think of RPGs, they don’t think of the Genesis. That’s unfortunate, as the console boasts a great library of quality titles (almost as many as it has shmups!). When you’re done with the Phantasy Stars and Shining titles, there’s another game awaiting your attention. Nowhere near as pretty or manageable as those games but boasting a quest almost three times the size, Might & Magic: Gates to Another World is the one Genesis RPG that will make you humble. Trust us, any game with a 169-page instruction manual is one that doesn’t pull its punches.
Sega Interactive was a big part of Sega’s arsenal during the mid ’90s, and many gamers underestimate the group’s contribution the Genesis line up. With hits like Eternal Champions, Star Wars Arcade, among others, it had a knack for churning out the hits. We recently got to sit down for some Q&A with Steven Lashower, one of SI’s former programmers, and he shared some great insight into some of its biggest games.
Catapult wasn’t the first company to try and bring online gaming to consoles, but it was the one that actually turned it into something viable. If not for the Xband, we might not have seen SegaNet, or later on Xbox Live and the Playstation Network. Catapult was the first to make playing against someone long distance a concept that was actually workable on consoles, and many Genesis fans have fond memories of playing Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam over their phone lines. Recently, Sega-16 chatted with Catapult’s former Vice President of Software Development, Konstantin Othmer, and he had much to say about the company and its famous product.