Lord Spencer's Gaming (and other stuff) Blog

Now that I've completed my Genesis Reviews series (playing around 33 Genesis games), it’s time to make a top 10 list of all the Genesis games. In my opinion, any console with 10 must-play games is worth owning. That number of great games would justify the price of the console by itself (unless it’s the bloody expensive 3DO or original run PS3). That’s not to say that all games in this list are “must plays” though, but all of them are worth playing indeed. Unlike with the SNES, I didn’t play many Genesis games before. As such, nearly all of the games on this list are from my review series. Note that the list is in alphabetical order. Castlevania: Bloodlines (1994): Genre: Action Platformer Publisher: Konami; Developer: Konami. Let’s start with one of the best action games of the 16-bit era. Bloodlines is really only competing with Super Castlevania IV for that title, but it has two protagonists instead of one. While I may have exaggerated my admiration for the game in my review (...

In this report of the top 10 Genesis games according to Retro Sanctuary , we have reached the pinnacle of the Genesis's library, as evidenced by the five games which I reviewed and enjoyed. Even playing Run & Guns, which is a genre I am not typically a fan off, I managed to enjoy  Contra: Hard Corps  and  Gunstar Heroes . While for the genres I have experience with, my only contrarian point is that  Sonic 3  is not better than  Sonic 2 , while it is clear that  Phantasy Star IV is the best RPG on the system. Then there are the games I didn't review, with some being influential masterpieces such as  Herzog Zwei  and Thunder Force IV , while others such as  Ristar  being late generation wonders that I perhaps should have reviewed. My only criticism of this list is the inclusion of  Street Fighter II: Champion Edition  instead of  Super Street Fighter II , and I have something to say about that below. Surprising no o...

By the time Sonic 3 was released, the 16-bit console wars were already coming to a close. After a strong fight in the beginning, Sega quickly lost ground to Nintendo. This was especially true because of terrible business decisions such as the Genesis CD and 32X enhancements.  While Sonic 3 is a great continuation of the excellent Sonic 2 , Sega's business decisions actually hamper this game as well. For some reason, Sega butchered the game and later released an add-on (like physical DLC) to extend the game's length and add Knuckles. Even if the base Sonic 3 game is not as good as the second game (or as good as it could have been without Sega butchering it), it still is a great platformer for the system. 1: Sonic the Hedgehog 3:- Year: 1994. Genre: Platformer. Publisher: Sega. Developer: Sega (Sonic Team).

To compete against Nintendo in the console wars, Sega made the conscious decision to make in-house games with as many varied genres as possible. That became even more important as Nintendo dominated in 3rd party support. The huge success of the first Dragon Warrior game in 1986 on the NES probably spurred Sega into making their own RPG franchise, which they obliged with the first Phantasy Star in 1987. However, Square’s subsequent success with Final Fantasy in the same year meant Sega could not rest on a single game, and so an RPG franchise was born. With both competitor franchises being based on a fantasy setting, Sega decided to look at the stars instead, and the Phantasy Star franchise became one of the first (and one of the most important) sci-fi RPGs of its age. Still, with its dedicated fanbase and consistent critical and commercial sales, Sega decided to retire the series after the release of the fourth game, in perhaps another strange decision in their string of mid-90s ter...