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IPPON! SNK’s Samurai Shodown sliced and diced its way onto just about every console imaginable, and many gamers expected the Sega CD version to be the best one. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. Long load times, a missing character, and an unforgivable bug hamper what is otherwise an excellent port.
The Sega CD will forever be remembered for having the largest library of FMV games around, and there are a ton of different opinions regarding the overall playability of the genre. Regardless of how you feel about them, one thing we can probably all agree on is that some FMV games should maybe never have been attempted at all due to the gameplay constraints they placed on the concept they were trying so hard to bring to life.
If there’s one thing Sega knows how to do, it’s rehash the biggest stars of the Genesis era. Before the numerous compilations released on modern consoles, the Sega CD was among the first machines to get hit with the cash run wave. Home to not one but two editions of the Sega Arcade Classics Collection (the only difference being one game), the add-on gave Segaphiles their first taste of watered down ports. The worst part? Sega didn’t even wait until the Genesis was discontinued before it started to butcher its library.
Taito released plenty of games for the Genesis, but its Sega CD library wasn’t quite as robust. Some of the games that made it onto the add-on seem to have a “B grade” quality to them, and after playing The Ninja Warriors for the Japanese Mega CD, that assessment might actually be too generous. Granted, the source material isn’t that deep to begin with, but one questions why the CD technology seemed to only be used for redbook audio. What a waste.
The PC classic Wing Commander made its way to the Sega CD in 1994, and there was some compromises that had to be made in order for Origin Systems to squeeze the game onto Sega’s add-on. It mostly made the transition intact, and it picked up some great audio along the way as well.