Your top 10 favorite Genesis games, and why!

[IrishNinja]

no order here

sonic 3 - best of the series
phanasy star 4 - closed off the sequential series in the best way ive seen done to this day
toejam & earl - i was tempted to say fatal labyrinth here, but intro roguelike + 90s hip hop was such a blast
moonwalker - it wasn't a perfect game, but i adored it
rolling thunder 2 - how i learned to stop worrying & love run n' guns
shining force - i know 2's better, i just spent forever in 1 falling in love with strat rpg's
bonanaza bros - not a popular choice, but a household go-to for co-op action
musha - the first SHMUP i put real time into, so of course it's a goddamn fortune now
streets of rage 2 - beat-em-up pinnacle i'd not see basically surpassed until last guardian
strider - this literally started closing the gap from arcade to home port for me

shoutouts to punisher, wonderboy in moster world, contra: hard corps, general chaos and so many others that belonged here!

[Night Driver]

Ask me on another day...

Same.

My opinions on games are always in flux. I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

From the original Top-10 list I posted in this thread, I would only have confidence in Sonic 1 and Out of This World making my current Top-10.

Actually, I hesitate to construct a Top-10 list at the moment because there are still so many Genesis games I have yet to play, including a number of heavy-hitters like Gunstar Heroes, Rocket Knight Adventures, Mega Turrican, Shadowrun, and more, which I feel could all potentially make my Top-10. Of course, with retro game prices being what they are these days, I doubt I'll ever get to play most of those titles.

[retronostalgia]

Hi Everyone, thanks for the new data.

I probably won't have much bandwidth for the next six months or so, but I plan to incorporate all of the new list submissions and update the overall rankings once I have time.

Nice work.

Though I've completely overhauled my top-10 list since I posted in this thread 9 years ago.

You're probably not the only one! For anyone who wants to update their list, when refeshing the overall dataset I can replace your old list if desired.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

OK buddy, you asked for it so here it is (well OK you didn't exactly ask me for it directly but here it is anyway)! Bowlsey's Top 10 Mega Drive games! First off let me just say that I love many, many Mega Drive games so this is very difficult for me to do but I'm gonna have a stab at it anyway.

1) Sonic 3 & Knuckles. OK so I'm technically cheating by including two games here, but I only ever play them together anyway so it still counts. One of the greatest platform games of all time and one of my favourite games of all time, period.

2) Shining Force. One of the most immersive and playable strategy RPG's ever made. 'nuff said.

3) Landstalker. A fantastic action RPG and one of my personal fave games of all time.

4) Streets of Rage II. Does much need to be said? Not only one of the greatest sequels of all time but one of the greatest beat-'em-ups of all time too. Not bad going!

5) Shining Force II. The simply excellent sequel to one of the most immersive and playable strategy RPG's ever made. 'nuff said. (OK so technically Shining Force CD is the direct sequel to the original game, but you get my point.)

6) Rocket Knight Adventures. Second only to S3&K in the platforming stakes for me, Konami's game about a jet pack wearing possum is an absolute work of art.

7) Sonic 1. Why? Blame nostalgia or blame it on the fact it's a bloody good game. I will always have a special place in my heart for the original Sonic.

8) Jungle Strike. Quite simply one of the greatest shoot-'em-ups of all time, and the superb sequel to the equally excellent Desert Strike.

9) Wonder Boy in Monster World. God I love this game. I can't tell you how many times I rented it as a kid only for it now to have a proud place in my collection. Platforming/action RPG goodness of the purest kind permeates this game.

10) Road Rash II. Quite a few sequels in my list eh? Well they all deserve it. This is simply one of the most playable and fun racing games of all time and still stands up today. Old school EA at their best.

So there ya have it! My personal top 10 Mega Drive games. I have missed out so many games that the honourable mentions list would go on forever so I'll just stop there.

[Syndicate]

...hmmm, my list may be a little different simply b/c

- Sonic 3 & Knuckles: This is the best platformer on the Genesis imo. It's a massive game, has great music, and is just a blast to play.

- Lightening Force/Thunderforce IV: Yeah, I haven't been able to even finish this one but it's still a blast to play. I think it's the best shooter on the console, which says a bit on a platform w/so many solid games in the genre.

- Castle of Illusion: Another very solid platformer, the game still looks, sounds, and plays great too.

- Streets of Rage 2: Better and more refined than the first game in the series, w/o the weirdness in the third game. SoR2 is a must own imo for the Genesis.

- Shinobi III: My favorite of the Genesis Shinobi games, it's fast but can still be technical and has an excellent presentation. I think that Revenge of Shinobi has a slight edge music wise but as an overall package I think Revenge of the Ninja Master has a slight edge.

- Toe Jam & Earl: Another Genesis classic that I haven't finished but have a blast every time that I play. TJ&E is full of just a really cool vibe and is just a very fun game.

- Castlevania Bloodlines: Sort of ringer here since it's the only Castlevania game on the console. However, looking at the entire series, Bloodlines is a very solid entry. Great gameplay plus excellent music makes this another must play imo.

- Street Fighter II SCE: A Street Fighter game needs to be on this list and having recently revisited the version of Super SFII on the Genesis, I'm surprised at just how much better SCE is than Super. The lack of the "New Challengers" sort of sucks but SCE seems to actually look, play, and hard as it is to believe sound better.

- Phantasy Star II: I know that PSIV is better but I have a some memories attached to this one and it's still a very good entry in the series.

- E-SWAT: I picked this one up b/c I really enjoyed the arcade version and as a kid and that is what I was expecting to get. However, I found out quickly that it was a completely different game and that certainly was not a bad thing. I had a great time with it and actually think it's better than its arcade namesake.

...of course there's a truckload of honorable mention on the Genesis, maybe there needs to a larger list eventually.

[Kamahl]

Not in order, order is too hard.

- Streets of Rage 2: Best home console beat'em up of the generation.

- Thunder Force 4: The MD has some great shooters, and this one is the best one of them all.

- Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Gotta have a Sonic game, and these two put together makes for the best one.

- Rocket Knight Adventures: What if the creator of the best Contra games made a Platformer? The sequels totally dropped the ball, they didn't get it.

- Shinobi 3: Ninjas are cool, and this is the coolest ninja game of the generation.

- Shining Force 2: Town exploration, fast movement and combat animations, fair difficulty. While other SRPGs went for depth, SF2 went for fun.

- Gunstar Heroes: Best Run 'n Gun of the generation. I had so much fun with this game, it never gets old. The ability to grab and throw enemies is what really sets it apart.

- Contra Hard Corps: There's just so MUCH in this game. 4 characters, tons of weapons, multiple paths and endings, it's insane.

- MUSHA: This game is insane, specially considering how early it was released in the console's life. No other vertical shooter on the MD comes close, not even the SCD sequel.

- Ristar: After S3&K and RKA this is the best platformer on the system. IMO no SNES platformer comes close to the best stuff on the MD.

[GelmiR]

When I saw this topic, I would have just preferred to type out a list without the why. I didn't think I could come up with too much info for each game. But it became WAY longer/more than I thought. Anyway, here's my top 10 in alphabetical order. The games are mostly in this list because they tend to stick with me for pretty long whenever I've replayed them.

Aladdin
Played this lots with a friend when it came out, but lost sight of it later. Sometimes I'd cheat my way through as fast as I could. Of -course- it's boring when you cheat. I was also annoyed at the collision detection with the platforms in the Dungeon, going as far as feeling the game was overrated. It regained all its magic for me after replaying it on all difficulties (NO cheats!) for the trophies when it was re-released. Even right now, close to a year later, I feel like playing it. Beating the Escape level for the first time felt like a very proud moment.

Castle Of Illusion
I have always been more of a QuackShot and World Of Illusion guy. For Castle, I much preferred its Master System version. It wasn't until recently (inclusion on Mega Drive Mini helped) that I looked into it more. I have a lot more respect for it after reading some background info and really taking my time with the game. I can't beat the last level yet, but the rest has become a real treat. Very special, after all. My favorite tune is the one that plays in the short level with the leaf-jumping and the spiders.

Home Alone
To me, this is the best movie-licensed game on the system. As well as an innovative one, due to its early crafting system. Like most games, the memories come from playing with a friend, and this is no exception. I managed to obtain my friend's copy of the game, which is the copy we played back in the day - so that's very special to me. To be honest, I could never make it through the expert mode. But I love playing the easy mode for 20 minutes every now and then. It's a magical game to me, sometimes I even like to just wander around the houses and listen to the tunes, especially the ones from the Old and Ultra Modern houses. Also, it's a Christmas game!

Jurassic Park
Not a fan of Jurassic World, but to this day, I'm still nuts about a lot of stuff related to Jurassic Park. This game was absolute murder back in the day, and I remember how proud I felt when I was finally able to beat it. My favorite level is by far the River, because it differs from the rest and was the hardest to figure out.

Jurassic Park Rampage Edition
The Aliens-type sequel that went from action/strategy to full-blown action. I've always liked this Jurassic game even more than the original. Again, the river (along with the Rex chase) is my favorite level. Though Grant can't get out of the boat this time, I absolutely love the use of colors in the level.

The Pirates Of Dark Water
A friend of mine got me into this one after he saw the show. Even to this day, I still need to rewatch and finish all of that, as I did like it. As for the game, we eventually beat it together. Love the small rpg elements, quite a few of the tunes, and the excessive amount of hidden items. I still don't think I found all of them. My friend and I looked forever for Ren's missing sword piece, which, along with an actual ending, were elements not in the cancelled cartoon series. I eventually found out thanks to a GameFAQs post - we could never find it on our own. Love the game, though I have to admit I enjoy it best in short doses.

QuackShot
This is it. If I could only have a single Mega Drive title, it'd be QuackShot. My favorite Disney character in a great platformer that's a mixture of DuckTales and Indiana Jones. To me, it was a match made in heaven. Little rpg elements, inclusion and fun use of lots of other Disney characters, and what a looker for such an early game. I can never get enough of this game. As I type this, I can already hear the Transylvania tune.

Road Rash
I never cared for sports or driving games, though there have been some exceptions. My brother got me into this one, and I think it doesn't really need any explanation. What's more fun than kicking someone off their bike, and check your rearview mirror to see them get hit by a car before they even had a chance to get up? Or when it happens to you as the player? You should be dead, but after seeing some stars and running back to your bike, you're good to go. Such lighthearted fun.

Turtles The Hyperstone Heist
Well, it's Turtles! In recent years I have tried to get into Turtles in Time for SNES, but couldn't. I will gladly admit that the Gauntlet level in Hyperstone Heist was incredibly lazy, but I still prefer Sega's use of color and especially the music. I would have liked more characters like the SNES game has, but yeah - it's Turtles on Mega Drive, and a very fun and solid title to me. My favorite is definitely Raph, and favorite tune is Shredder's hideout.

World Of Illusion
Third game we got for the system, after Sonic 1 and 2. Also the first one I bought with my own money. No game holds more magical 2-player memories to me than this one. Another game of which my physical copy is also very special to me. Far easier (and shorter) than Castle Of Illusion and QuackShot, I still frequently enjoy this game when I don't have too much time to spend on a game. Favorite stage and music is by far the under water level.

EDIT: Typo.

[midnightrider]

^No Spidey?

Same.

My opinions on games are always in flux.

That's me as well, with the caveat that Streets of Rage 2 is always my #1.

[GelmiR]

^No Spidey?

Nope Need to change my avatar. Spidey has been in my list for the longest time, but while some games have regained their magic for me, Spidey has lost it. I've tried putting it away for over a year, but it hasn't come back. Can't put my finger on it, but for some reason I'm not enjoying it anymore. Maybe some day again

[Alianger]

Rocket Knight Adventures
RKA! This game is a smörgåsbord of all things I love about Konami during this era; fast and tight movement, great variety with a couple of shoot 'em up levels mixed in as well as a boxing duel between two giant robots, great bosses that sometimes have multiple forms or phases, great audiovisuals with some humourous touches, and near technical mastery of the system all in one package. The jetpack, while implemented slightly better in later games, is great fun to use here as well and sometimes makes the game a contender for the fastest playing 16-bit game if you know the levels well. By the way, check out Screw Attack's Retro vs. Reboot for a laugh.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or Sonic Classic Heroes (Hack)
I gotta go with 2 as I think it has the best overall pacing, music and my fave set of zones in the MD Sonic games. I think the spindash was a great addition since it makes any side- or backtracking much less tedious and you often want to do this with the multiple paths through each level, plus it's just fun to rev it up and let go like in a pinball game. With mods/hacks you unlock a lot of cool stuff like the hack mentioned where you can switch between the three playable chars on the fly and play across both 1 and 2 in one game, though that's true for the other games as well.

Panorama Cotton
It's pretty odd that this game even exists for the stock MD. Success, a game company that never made anything for the console prior to this (though I think some devs come from Compile), decides to turn Cotton into a Space Harrier-like shooter, make it one of the most technically impressive efforts for the system, then release a limited amount of copies exclusively for the Japanese market as late as mid-1994. Well I'm glad they did, because they certainly _succeeded_ in making Panorama Cotton an amazing game (for example you get branching paths and RPG elements years before PD Zwei here) and something of a swan song for the 2D-based rail shooter. Now if someone would port this to the MCD for super smooth scaling...

Langrisser II
When it comes to SRPGs I think this is as good as it gets for the MD, and the game outshines its prequel (Warsong) with its improved character customization, balancing, AI and variety. L2 offers a very challenging game (dead characters stay dead), huge battles, cool classes like Summoner and Dragon Knight, a decent story with a lot of humour and twists, and excellent music. Still only playable in English via emulation, but you'll probably want to be able to fastforward after a few battles anyway. Also: Chou Aniki cameo.

Contra: Hard Corps (Japanese version)
If I was god, the levels in this game would be about 20% longer, and the egg-shaped crawling robot segment would be removed from most paths. It would be the perfect run 'n gun game. Contra: HC is worth playing simply for the fact that it's an experimental entry in a very conservative series - they actually let you dodge attacks without that akward jump here, and in the JP version you can take more than one hit before dying! As with RKA, Konami makes great use of the hardware for a fast and intense experience that basically never repeats itself.

Ristar: The Shooting Star
A late release for the system that most people (including me, at the time) missed out on. Ristar seems like a slower, more kiddy version of Sonic at first, and it kind of is but it's also a high quality platformer with a fun to use grab/climb/headbutt ability as its main gimmick, interesting levels and some of the best sounding music on the system. The flow of the game is closer to the Illusion games or Revenge of Shinobi except said gimmick makes movement more involved, though sometimes you'll also find these gadgets that let you temporarily fly across part of a level while bouncing off of the walls and this can be used to reach certain items or a higher path if you get good at it. The higher difficulties are definitely challenging too, so if you're one of those hardcore gamer mandudes you still need to play Ristar.

Micro Machines: Turbo Tournament '96
There's not that much to say about Micro Machines except that it's an excellent multiplayer game which is easy to get into for anyone. This iteration let you build your own courses and had more modes than the previous games. As with MM2 no multitap was needed to play with 3 others (they called this J-cart technology, you actually had a couple of controller ports on the cart itself. You could also play up to 7 other people at once by sharing 4 controllers, which I haven't tried yet but I'm sure it's awesome.

Thunder Force IV
There's a bunch of great shoot 'em ups for the MD and this is the best horizontal one overall. A pretty big leap from the prequel in several ways. The developers had really mastered the MD hardware at this point and their talent and attention to detail is visible throughout every aspect of the game, from the big, tough and intimidating bosses to the impressive and catchy soundtrack that somehow mixes metal and jazz fusion tracks in a way that works. I thought the great people at Technosoft overdid it a bit when trying to make up for the low difficulty of the prequel, to the point where some parts require precise memorization and having the special charge-up weapon ready, but it does still take first place in the series for me. An odd tidbit I can add is that while there's some slowdown here and there, it tends to be built in for effect.

Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole
This game can stalk my land any time. Landstalker is... quite a bit like Zelda 3 if it was an isometric view game, but with an actually interesting story (not the usual damsel in distress thing with a silent protag), a less formulaic structure, and more challenging puzzles. The lack of a shadow when jumping and some other control quirks were only a minor annoyance for me, since I used save states hehe.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Makyou Toitsusen
Was gonna put Mega Bomberman on the list but assuming we're doing PCE/TG16 (this was copy-pasted from another thread) I can mention this one instead. Growing up we used to play the 3-player fighting game International Karate+ on a buddy's Amiga a lot, and we loved the sheer chaos of it. So when I discovered that this game had the same feature but with yet another player added, I had to play it. And (spoiler) Treasure did it once again, it's a great fighting game in the vein of Fatal Fury 2. Matches might not be as fair or precise as in Street Fighter 2 when you play like this, but the laughs from unintended results and the fun in temporary alliances make up for it.


Honorable Mentions:
Sonic & Knuckles, Shining Force II, Mega Bomberman, TF3, Battle Mania 2, MUSHA, Gunstar Heroes, PSIV, Shinobi 3, CV Bloodlines, Dynamite Headdy, Monster World 4, Puyo Puyo 2, Mega Turrican, Streets of Rage 2-3, TMNT: Hyperstone Heist, Alien Soldier, Super Fantasy Zone, Quackshot, Twinkle Tale, NHL '96

[Kamahl]

For me the issue with Landstalker is not the lack of shadow per se, but the lack of shadow alongside the brutal jumping puzzles (which later in the game are also incredibly punishing).
It makes the game feel cheap and unfair, and is enough for me to put Crusader of Centy and Beyond Oasis above it, even though I consider Landstalker to be the more interesting game.
The other two have better graphics and gameplay but their stories and world are just boring.

The developers redeemed themselves with Alundra, which I rank higher than any Zelda game. Somebody needs to port it to the Mega Drive .

[Alianger]

Right, well a jump shadow might be an easier quick fix for that rather than redesigning the jumping puzzles. In theory anyway. Soleil on the other hand could've used more challenge in some areas, and Beyond Oasis a more interesting world like you said. I think they also could've used the six button controller more effectively for that game as some combos are too cumbersome.

Now that's a good challenge (Alundra port). Tiago? You reading this?

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

It's funny but even as a kid I never had a problem with Landstalker's controls. My friends did, so I know why people struggle with some of the jumping/platform puzzles, but I never did and just instantly took to the isometric viewpoint. I guess it just depends on the individual playing the game.

[Alianger]

It's funny but even as a kid I never had a problem with Landstalker's controls. My friends did, so I know why people struggle with some of the jumping/platform puzzles, but I never did and just instantly took to the isometric viewpoint. I guess it just depends on the individual playing the game.

It might also have to do with these games being more uncommon so that a lot of people didn't grow up playing them and thus, didn't get the "training" during childhood.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

It might also have to do with these games being more uncommon so that a lot of people didn't grow up playing them and thus, didn't get the "training" during childhood.

Yeah that's true of Landstalker I suppose, but for a different example look at how many people hate the 'tank control' system of moving around in the classic Resident Evil games. Even back in '96 when the original game came out on the PS1 people were bitching about the controls. I was 13 at the time and not once did I ever have a problem with the controls. They just instantly clicked and made sense to me. Now that was obviously reinforced by many hours of playing Resi and it's sequels over the years, but even when the 'tank control' system was brand new it took me no time at all to get the hang of it. Now the Resident Evil franchise wasn't uncommon, these were top selling mainstream games, so why so many people struggled with the control system, and still bitch about it to this day, is beyond me.