Lord Spencer's Gaming (and other stuff) Blog

In this report of the top 20-11 Genesis games according to Retro Sanctuary , I have reviewed four games, all of which I enjoyed, with  Ecco: The Tides of Time  and  Beyond Oasis  proving to be quite nice surprises. Other than those games, all ten games, with the possible exception of  Pulseman,  deserve to be this high on the list, but  Sonic the Hedgehog 2  obviously should have been in the first game's place here. Surprisingly, this collection of ten games contains no Shmups, while having four Platformers. More surprisingly, seven games were published by Sega, which in hindsight is a clear indicator of the console's main weaknesses when compared to the dominant SNES. Regardless of these observations, this is still a solid list of games to play. Please enjoy my report:- 20- Sonic the Hedgehog (1992): Genre: Platformer. Publisher: Sega; Developer: Sega. Few games are as defined by their main competition as Sonic the Hedgehog . Here is a game that ...

In many ways, Beyond Oasis is a typical example of the games released at the end of the 16-bit generation. It manages to squeeze every ounce of the system's technical capabilities, as well as learn from all the past games in the genre, and yet is still ignored. If it had been released a year or two earlier, Beyond Oasis would have been hailed as a masterpiece. However, it was released when the SNES was dominating the market, and Sega released the Saturn for over a year, as well as the doomed 32X Genesis expansion. 12: Beyond Oasis:- Year: 1995. Genre: Action-Adventure. Publisher: Sega. Developer: Ancient.  

With the third Shinobi on the Genesis, Sega is making a game on the back of a poorly conceived Arcade port, and a well-loved game that is nonetheless overshadowed by other Ninja-themed action games. It is with Shinobi III that Sega cements the series as part of the Holy Ninja Triad of the 8- and 16-bit generations.   16: Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master:- Year: 1993. Genre: Action. Publisher: Sega. Developer: Megasoft.  

The two Ecco games are probably one of the most unique games on the Genesis. Water levels in other games are usually described as the weakest parts, but here is a game about dolphins composed entirely of water levels. It's also a game about a dolphin that looks like a real dolphin, not a cute mascot character. It is a testament to the skills of its development team that Ecco not only manages to be a unique game, but also is actually fun and worth playing. 19: Ecco: The Tides of Time:- Year: 1994. Genre: Action-Adventure. Publisher: Sega. Developer: Novotrade International.

In this report of the top 30-21 Genesis games according to Retro Sanctuary , I have reviewed three games, most of which I enjoyed, except for Strider , which I don't think translates as well outside of Arcades. Again, most of these games seem to deserve their placement, which is something good to know at this point in the list. The most notable game on the list is  Mortal Kombat II , which was a major advertisement coup against Nintendo's more family-friendly SNES console. Shmups are strong on the Genesis, and there are two such games here. The rest are a nice mix of Action, Platformer, and even decent ports of PC games. My pick of the bunch is  Crusader of Centy , a rather surprising game that reminds me of  A Link to the Past . Please enjoy my report:- 30- Disney's Aladdin (1993): Genre: Action Platformer. Publisher: Sega; Developer: Virgin Games. Of the many Disney-licensed games in the 16-bit era, none is more famous or well regarded as the pair of Aladdin gam...

Clearly, Strider is a very important game in its time. It tried, and to a great degree, succeeded in redefining the Action genre. It put emphasis on story and setting, not only on mechanics, and focused on being a unique game in its genre. However, that success doesn't necessarily translate well when played now, unlike Super Mario Bros ., for instance. Although Strider probably influenced the improvement of a lot of games in the genre, and in general, it is still trapped within the Arcade confines of the time. On the Sega Genesis, those confines were more limiting. 22: Strider: Year: 1990. Genre: Action. Publisher: Capcom. Developer: Capcom.