Lord Spencer's Gaming (and other stuff) Blog

Made by one of the early stars of Sega's development teams, Landstalker was Sega's answer to the Legend of Zelda . The fact that nearly the only similarity between the two is that it stars a blonde elf is a significant positive for Landstalker . For better or worse, Landstalker is not a middling Zelda clone. It confidently goes forward as its own thing, warts and all. 5: Landstalker:- Year: 1993. Genre: Action-Adventure. Publisher: Sega. Developer: Climax Entertainment.  

Contra: Hard Corps is what happens when a series well known for its arcade-style roots evolves into a full-fledged console title. This is not your simple Contra Run & Gun game; it's the basic popular formula, with some of the best production values in the Genesis library. And that's a big reason why Hard Corps may be both the best Contra game and the best Run & Gun on the system. 10: Contra: Hard Corps:- Year: 1994. Genre: Run & Gun. Publisher: Konami. Developer: Konami.  

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.

Playing the original Resident Evil 2 after playing its 2019 remake is a weird experience. Initially, I felt the similarity between the two so strongly that I began to doubt my decision to play and review the game, since I wouldn't want to play the original of something surpassed and replaced by its remake. However, it soon became apparent that despite hitting the same beats, the two games have completely different rhythms. While the remake is an expertly crafted Action Survival-Horror game, the original follows the old-school Survival-Horror genre, which, despite being classified as "Action" in the past, I actively refuse to acknowledge it as such. I have made this point in the past, in my review of games like Alone in the Dark and Galerian , that classic Survival Horror games are closer to point-and-click Adventure games than frantic shooters, and that's true with Resident Evil 2 , which may be the best of its genre. #12: Resident Evil 2:- Year: 1998. Genre: Surviv...

Crusader of Centy is probably not a very well-known Sega Genesis game. While originally published by Sega in Japan, the then little-known publisher Atlus was responsible for the North American version. Consequently, it didn't get as much exposure as it deserved. While not exactly the Genesis's answer to A Link to the Past , CoC is a very solid game that manages to be a fun and unique lighthearted adventure. What it lacks in polish, it makes up for with charm. 24: Crusader of Centy: Year: 1994. Genre: Action-Adventure. Publisher: Atlus. Developer: Nextech.  

Of the many Disney-licensed games in the 16-bit era, none is more famous or well regarded as the pair of Aladdin games on the Genesis and SNES. The fact that both games were considered good meant a comparison between the two always took place in the middle of the larger console wars debate. Aladdin on the SNES was a good game, but Aladdin on the Genesis has some more obvious qualities that elevated it as the better game in the consensus. Even if not by such a large margin. 30: Disney's Aladdin:- Year: 1993. Genre: Action Platformer. Publisher: Sega. Developer: Virgin Games.

In this report of the top 40-31 Genesis games according to Retro Sanctuary , I have reviewed four games, most of which I enjoyed, except for the disappointing  Quackshot . Overall, the majority of these 10 games are well-regarded in their time, including solid ports of  Lemmings  and  Puyo Puyo , along with one of the best classical  Castlevania  games. Other than the presence of another disappointing platformer game, I am not sure there is much to criticize about the positioning of these games.  Please enjoy my report:- 40- QuackShot (1991):  Genre: Platformer. Publisher: Sega; Developer: Sega. The first thing I thought when I started playing QuackShot , a game starring Donald Duck and using the same title font as DuckTales , was whether the game would actually be as good as the NES DuckTales game. It turned out that QuackShot could have been better, but it unfortunately lacked the ambition to be anything more than a technically good license...

Known as one of the most difficult games in its time, the Ghouls 'n Ghosts series is unfortunately not remembered often for being technically impressive as well. With Ghouls ‘n Ghosts on the Genesis, we have a great-looking action game that is hard as nails but also fair in its difficulty. 32: Ghouls 'n Ghosts:- Year: 1989. Genre: Action Platformer. Publisher: Capcom. Developer: Capcom.

I knew Driver was a special game when it was released, since everyone talked about it with such reverence in the playground. Male kids in my part of the world are pre-inclined to love driving games, and everyone could see that Driver was mechanically heads and shoulders above the rest. More impressive, it was rumored that the game had multiple open cities that you could freely drive around. To my surprise, I realized that most people who played it (including myself) couldn't get over the opening tutorial stage, since it demanded near-perfect driving performance to clear. Nearly 25 years later, I managed to finish the tutorial stage for the first time and experienced the game as it was meant to be played. #13: Driver:- Year: 1999. Genre: Driving, Action. Publisher: GT Interactive. Developer: Reflections Interactive.