What retro games from Sega’s console history are worth playing these days? Let’s find out.
Welcome to Esk Computers, I’m Scott and today on the desk of Esk, I admit I have a bit of a problem with gaming handhelds, primarily these emulation devices. Namely, decision paralysis not just from selecting which one to play, but then what game to play on them.
When you get into this emulation hobby you’ll soon discover collections like TOSEC, where with some relatively quick bittorrents you can have every game released for every system released, and if you have the hard drive space to spare that’s hard to resist.
For some reason a lot of these rom sets include not just different versions for every language, understandable, along with every minor revision, again I get it from a history preservation standpoint, but also bad dumps, which I very much do not get.
Even if you get a so-called one game, one rom set, you still have way more games than time to play and navigating these lists is a bit of a pain if you have a mouse and a lot of a pain if you’re on a handheld.
To tackle this, I want to create a Special Reserve of ten to twenty games for each system, and thought I’d bring you along for the ride. So, a bit of a different video from the norm, but there’s no point putting this hardware together if you aren’t going to play on it. More builds coming soon, when I’ve shifted some of the old ones and can afford a new one, but hopefully this is of interest in the interim.
I’m starting with Sega’s systems, in the main because I know their catalogues the best. I should point out that I don’t necessarily mean these are my picks for the absolute best games on system, but the games I’d want to pick up and play on an emulation device. So, for example, on the Saturn for me the best game is Panzer Dragoon Saga, a terrific, atmospheric RPG with great graphics for the system and some of the best sound design ever. But I’ve played though it a half dozen times already, so I don’t think I’ll get any more value from playing it again and I don’t want it taking up 4 CD’s of precious space on my memory cards.
So, with that in mind, lets get started. The furthest back I’m going is the Master System, so apologies to the dozens of SG-1000 fans out there.
And also apologies to Master System fans, as it’s the only base Sega console I never had. I was still busy with the ZX Spectrum at the time, so this is based on what’s recommended by decades worth of lists and whatnot. Which brings up another point on ports – for example it’s commonly held that the Master System port of classic Irem shoot-em-up R-Type is very good given the limitations of the system, as was the ZX Spectrum’s for that matter, but unless there’s good reason to why would you not go with emulating the Arcade version?
Commonly held as the system’s best RPG, Phantasy Star is first on the list – I’m not sure if I’ll ever sit down and play this all the way through, but I’m such a fan of the Megadrive sequels that I want the option, at least.
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap is maybe most frequently citied as the best game on the platform, and I’d be interested to give this platformer with proto-Metroidvania stylings a look
Alex Kidd in Miracle World keeps getting mentioned, which surprises me, because it’s dire – maybe some nostalgia coming in to play there. However, I’d feel bad not including the former mascot in some way, so let’s instead include Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, which also neatly sidesteps that restriction on arcade ports. Shinobi is great, so I’m sure this large-headed doofus won’t drag it down too badly
The mascot you’re more likely to have heard of is Sonic the Hedgehog, of course, he had a few well regarded outings on the Master System, all distinct from the Megadrive games. Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2, and Sonic Chaos deserve a place on the list.
Castle of Illusion and Land of Illusion appear on a lot of lists, but I could pick the Megadrive versions of those. The other Disney licensed platformer The Lucky Dime Caper Starring Donald Duck only came out on the Master System and Game Gear, so I’d be interested in seeing if it, and it’s follow-up Deep Duck Trouble lives up to the repuatation of the 16-bit games.
Given the success of the machine in Europe, it’s no surprise a few Euro-centric licenses came out, although it’s a bit surprising that they are well regarded, so I’d like to properly judge for myself with Asterix, its sequel Asterix and the Secret Mission, and those annoying blue gits The Smurfs. Where’s Tintin?
Without a Castlevania game on the system, Master of Darkness is often cited as a good alternative. Speaking of, I do like a Metroidvania style game and there’s supposedly a couple of options for that in samurai laden Kenseiden, and the anime tie in Zillion, with the obligatory mention that the protagonist who I assume is named John Zillion’s weapon was the design basis for the Master System’s light gun. I miss light gun games. CRTs were better. I am old.
I’d want a few shooters to play, and Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa sort of ends around my qualms about ports by having started on the Master System then ported to the arcades. I don’t have any get outs for including the two appearances of the Aleste series, here called Power Strike I and II. I just like Aleste, okay?
I think that’s getting close to my self imposed limits, so we’ll round this off by adding another few well regarded platformers with Psycho Fox and an apparently distinct version of Ninja Gaiden compare to the more famous NES outing, and a couple of action-RPGs in Golvellius: Valley of Doom and Golden Axe Warrior, which I’m told isn’t just Zelda wearing a barbarian disguise. I don’t believe it.
Sega’s battery guzzling Game Gear handheld shares an architecture and a good chunk of a library with the Master System, but there’s a few exclusives that are worth considering.
As established previously, Shinobi is great, hence the inclusion of the G.G. Shinobi and Shinobi II: The Silent Fury.
Another couple of mascot platformers make the cut in Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble and Tails Adventure, and why not throw in the cart racer Sonic Drift 2 while we are here.
Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya will scratch a tactical RPG itch alongside Crystal Warriors.
Traditional RPG-ing is covered by Defenders of Oasis, and action RPGs by Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe, and there’s now an English language translation patch for Japanese exclusive Sylvan Tale that should be worth a look.
The Sega Megadrive is where I spent a simply ungodly amount of my childhood free time, so there’s a lot of nostalgia to contend with. However I have played to death an awful lot of the best games on the system, so they’re not going to feature here which might make this a bit of an oddball list, particularly when my first attempt at a shortlist had 55 games in it. Let’s see, shall we?
I’ll immediately make a hypocrite of myself by including a Sonic game, in my defense I’d got a bit tired of them by the time Sonic 3 came around and so I’ve never completed that, so it gets a spot on the list even if the first one is my favourite.
It’s a similar rationale for Streets of Rage 3, the second iteration in my opinion is the best Final Fight alike on the system, and with the banging Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack, but I’ve not given the third one the chance it deserves. It might be worth comparing it to the recently completed unofficial Final Fight MD port, so I’m adding that too.
Same story for Shinobi 3, with Revenge of Shinobi being my go to for Ninja action and another banging Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack. I’ve bounced off it a few times, so want to give this a proper go sometime. As I can’t get enough of Joe Mushashi, Shadow Dancer is also coming along for the ride.
Comix Zone shows up in so many best of lists that I must be doing something wrong in not clicking with it, I’ll give it yet another go.
Phantasy Star 2 took up an amazing amount of my time as a youth, but I bounced off the third one so hard that I’ve not really given Phantasy Star 4 a proper hearing. Let’s add that to the list.
Thunderforce IV was one of the best, and best looking shooters on the system, but I’ve played enough of that. I’ve not played the earlier entries in the series, so lets at least put Thunderforce 3 on the list. I need a few more shooters, and again I’ve played a lot of them to death already. I’ve not played Truxton and Steel Empire as much, so lets add them.
The obvious picks for run and gun games are Gunstar Heroes and Contra: Hard Corps. In truth I’ve played a huge amount of Gunstar Heroes, but it’s difficult to be tired of that. I think Contra is now too hard for my aged reflexes but let’s not acquiesce to aging just yet. Castlevania: Bloodlines has no guns, but I don’t think whip and gun is a recognised sub-genre. At any rate, it’s making the cut.
This era was the dawn of the Electronic Arts sports franchises most of which are running to this day in some form or another. John Madden ’92, PGA Tour Golf, FIFA ’95, NHLPA ’93 are going on the list, as they’re all quite replayable for a nostalgia hit even after sinking a lot of hours into them. There’s arguably better, later versions of all of these that belong on a best of list, but this isn’t one of those, so what’s the problem?
Other less traditional sports games that I think deserve a spot are Sensible Soccer and the violent futuresport Speedball 2, and I’d played a lot of Road Rash back in the day, but not the sequels, so let’s get Road Rash 3 on the list.
We’re a bit light on platformers, given how many came out on the system, but I’ve played a lot of the best. A few well regarded outings that I’ve not played in any depth are Dynamite Heddy, Vectorman, and World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, so that rounds out that genre.
I’m already bumping up against the limits of what I want to include, but I want to include a few more RPGs, namely Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun, Shining Force II, Landstalker, and Beyond Oasis.
I’m rounding off this slightly bloated list with a couple of puzzle games, Blockout and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. Twenty nine games is way over target, but thankfully I’m only answerable to myself, and he’s okay with it.
Other excellent games not making the list either because better versions are elsewhere or I’ve played more than enough of them already are the versions of Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat 2, Strider, Buck Rodgers: Countdown to Doomsday, Rings of Power, Hellfire, Super Monaco GP, The Story of Thor, Desert Strike and its sequels, Dragon’s Fury, the Toejam and Earl games, Shining in the Darkness, Ranger X, Granada, Ecco the Dolphin, Midnight Resistance, and dozens of others.
There’s even more 16-bit contenders on the semi-popular Mega-CD add on, although a lot of the catalogue is mildly enhanced Megadrive games rather than exclusives, and a lot of those exclusives didn’t age that well. Full Motion Video did not turn out to be the future of gaming, and the Mega-CD wasn’t all that good at it in the first place. Although I had a Megadrive, I didn’t get any of the add-ons, so this list will be general reputation based.
Still, for the sake of gaming history and arguably for the memes, let’s include Night Trap and Road Avenger from the FMV era.
Batman Returns is mostly notable for the added driving stages that take advantage of the scaling hardware, let’s also put Jaguar XJ220 on the docket.
Violence next, as I’m told the enhanced version of Eternal Champions is much better than the mediocre MD original, so let’s see if that’s true. While it should by rights fall foul of my “why ports rather than the original”, I’ve not played Final Fight CD and for a long time it was considered the best home version, so I’m curious to see how that compares to the MD version mentioned earlier.
Sonic CD is the Mega CD’s killer app, so it’d be churlish to leave it out. The other contender being Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher albeit perhaps more in retrospect given the career he went on to have.
Thunderhawk also takes advantage of the hardware, so deserves further consideration. Silpheed also does, albeit with a bit more smoke and mirrors. That’s a video, not real-time polygons rendering. And mainly because I couldn’t squeeze Aleste into the MD list, let’s get Robo Aleste in here.
I’ve not played any of the Lunar RPGs, even though they’ve been going for about as long as I’ve been gaming, and I do want to rectify that so let’s put the second outing 1994’s Eternal Blue on the list. And because I do love a good RPG, lets also put Vay and Dark Wizard up for testing to find out if they are, in fact, good.
I’ll round out this list with two platformers that could not be further apart stylistically, the cutesy Popful Mail, and The Terminator, which is about as gritty as you get on the system
Sega’s further ill-advised, sort-of 32-bit add on the 32X didn’t have that many games released for it, and very few of those were regarded as any good at all, so a short section is expected.
I’m giving a couple of sports that didn’t get representation in the Megadrive list slots here with NBA Jam Tournament Edition, which is a lot of fun, and World Series Baseball Starring Deion Sanders, which given how dull baseball is I’m not sure about but finding out is sort of the point of this exercise.
There’s a few pretty reasonable stabs at porting arcades, but most of them aren’t interesting enough to include over the arcade original. I’m looking at you Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat II, and After Burner Complete. However, I think Virtua Racing Deluxe is different enough to earn a spot, and because it’s the closest thing the 32X has to a killer app, Star Wars Arcade gets a spot too.
There’s not all that much else that looks like it’s worth considering, to be honest. A couple of platformers in Tempo, and Sonic spin-off Knuckles’ Chaotix, and I suppose Kolibri deserves a space for being a rare example of a hummingbird themed shooter. That’s as many as are worthwhile, let me know if there’s any hidden gems I’ve missed.
The Sega Saturn is going to be an odd one, in the main because I sank so many hours into this when I ought to have been studying for university that I have played a great many of the system’s best enough that they ought not to be put on for the sake of nostalgia alone. So this will be a weird list, I’ll mention the more obvious best picks as we go.
There’s lots of great driving games on the system, most obviously Sega Rally and Daytona USA, but in the interests of trying some that I’ve not played at all, Gale Racer and Road Rash are going on the list.
There’s just so many good fighting games, both one on one and side scrolling in 2D and 3D that I could fill a list with them alone. In no particular order, there’s Fighters Megamix, Guardian Heroes, Last Bronx, Virtua Fighter 1 and 2, Die Hard Arcade, Fighting Vipers, the various flavour of Street Fighter, including X-Men and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, indeed Marvel Super Heroes and X-Men Children of the Atom, Night Warriors, the King of Fighters series, and I’ve got a soft spot for Golden Axe: The Duel
What I’ve not played in any depth was the original Dead or Alive, so it’s making the cut, and while by all accounts Final Fight Revenge is a bad game, I want to find out how bad so against all logic and reason it’s on the list.
In terms of shooters, we’ve already got an earlier entry on the list, so let’s make sure it’s not lonely by having Thunder Force V join it. As with the fighter’s there’s an absolute tonne of great candidates that could join it, such as Batsugun, Dodonpachi and all the rest of the Cave bullet hell games, Guardian Force, Gunbird, Galactic Attack, the mighty Radiant Silvergun, Strikers 1945, Hyper Duel, Cotton 2, but the one on best of lists that I’ve not played is In the Hunt, so that’s going on this list. Alongside Tempest 2000, which I will always make an exception for, because it’s excellent.
It seems a recurring theme in what I’m picking is Japanese releases that didn’t make it over to the UK back in the day, many of which now have fan sourced translations. Such as Treasure’s Silhouette Mirage, so it’d be rude not to, wouldn’t it. While we’re looking at side scrolly platformy type affairs, let’s take a look as the very pretty Astal.
Three Dee platformers weren’t such a strong suite for the Saturn, and we still lament the lack of a “proper” Sonic game for the system. I’ve never been able to properly get into Sonic Team’s Burning Rangers, but let’s give it another go. I’ve played enough Nights, so let’s instead add another early attempt at a 3D Mascot platformer, Clockwork Knight, although I may regret that.
For RPG-esque games, we’re again going to the fan translations for Hideo Kojima’s Policenauts, and we can now also play the complete Shining Force III, so that’s enough to be going on with.
We’ve now reached the age where first person shooters start appearing, and while there’s pretty good ports of Duke Nukem 3D and Quake, I’ve not played Exhumed, or Powerslave in some regions, so I want to catch up with that.
Sports games werere also a bit of a weak point on the system, but I’d like to give Steep Slope Sliders a go, and although I played a great deal of the arcadey Athlete Kings, I didn’t play its follow up Winter Heat, so that gets on the list.
My last wildcard entries for the Saturn capsule are Soviet Strike and Baku Baku Animal. Honorable mentions also go to Dark Savior, Dragon Force, Virtua Cop 1/2, and Mass Destruction, but they didn’t quite make the cut, broadly because I’ve played them a lot already.
This brings us to Sega’s last console, sadly, the excellent Dreamcast. Home to many a great arcade experience, a great many of which I have experienced at some length. Given their nature they’re almost infinitely replayable, so I’m allowing myself a few more familiar faces here.
Once again there’s so many great fighting games I could fill up the quota with them alone, with great two and three dimensional experiences from the likes of Capcom vs. SNK 1 & 2, Dead or Alive 2, Fighting Vipers 2, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Guilty Gear X, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Marvel vs. Capcom: 1 & 2, Plasma Sword, Power Stone 1 & 2, Project Justice, Psychic Force 2012, Street Fighters III and Alpha 3, King of Fighters 98 through 2002, The Last Blade 2, Virtua Fighter 3tb, and Soulcalibur. It’s the last two of these that are making the list, as of course a lot of those mentioned could have the arcade version emulated instead.
The side scrolling beat ’em up was falling out of favour around this time, but from a short list of Cannon Spike, Zombie Revenge, Dynamite Cop and Sword of the Berserk I’m going to add the under-rated Cannon Spike and House of the Dead spin-off Zombie Revenge to the list.
There’s a decent spread of racing games for the system, from arcade conversions like 18 Wheeler and Daytona USA to the Gran Turismo inspired Sega Gt, but I’m going to include Sega Rally 2 and the excellent Metropolis Street Racer on the somewhat realistic side, and Crazy Taxi and San Francisco Rush 2049 for some more arcade thrills.
Fewer shmups appeared on the Dreamcast than my memory would have it, but the average quality of them is very high. Bangai‑O, Border Down, Giga Wing 1&2, Last Hope, Mars Matrix, Psyvariar 2, Triggerheart Exelica, Trizeal, Zero Gunner 2 would all be great additions, but I’m going to go with Ikaruga and Rez.
We’re now entering the period where there’s a bit of blurring of lines between platformer, adventure, role playing game, and arguably third person shooter, and so while there’s a lot candiates for this amalgam of genres I’m not sure I’d particularly want to revist them on the regular.
I’ve never got on with Resident Evil style games, so I’ll commit blasphemy by not including Code: Veronica, or those inspired by the formula like Illbleed and Blue Stinger. I never did give Headhunter a proper go, so let’s add that, and also Shiny’s Mdk 2. On the cutesy end of things, I’d like to revisit Fur Fighters. and given the moaning the about the lack of a 3D Sonic game on Saturn, seems churlish not to include Sonic Adventures 1 & 2. I can’t possibly leave Jet Set Radio off the list, and I swear at some point I’ll properly play Shenmue.
Of the more traditional RPGs available on the system, Skies of Arcadia is an easy include, and if I ever get round to playing the first in the series, I’ll want to go on to Grandia II. Time Stalker isn’t all that well regarded, I think, but it’s piqued my interest, and I’d also like to play the more arcadey Record of Lodoss War.
It’s also around this era where sports games started to get a lot more complicated and closer to simulations than the sort of arcade experience that I like. So while the early 2K Sports games such as NFL, NBA and NHL 2K2 are very good for the time, they’re not quick pick up and play experiences, unlike Virtua Tennis, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, both of which need little introduction, and pushing the definition to the limits, Cosmic Smash, the squash slash Breakout hybrid.
There’s a lot of light gun games that it pains me to leave out of the Dreamcast and Saturn lists, but I’ve never liked playing the likes of House of the Dead, Silent Scope and Confidential Mission on a joypad. For much the same reason Samba de Amigo isn’t making the list until I can properly emulate maraca controllers, or indeed Sega Bass Fishing without the rod controller. Strange times! I miss them.
That leaves this list to be rounded off by the puzzler ChuChu Rocket! and the iconic rhythm game Space Channel 5, with dozens of games I’m sad to leave on the cutting room floor, but they may well rotate back in in future.
Mercifully, that brings what was supposed to be a quick off the cuff video idea to fill a scheduling gap to a close, after weeks of research and video capture. There’s plenty of other systems out there to do the same exercise with, but let me know if that’s of any interest, or indeed if there’s any games I have offended you by leaving out.
Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.