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Top Mega Drive/Genesis Games (WIP)

GENESIS DOES

The Top Mega Drive/Genesis Games for today

The games in these lists are judged on how fun and relevant they are for me today. It’s not a list of the most groundbreaking or popular games throughout history, nor is it a nostalgic (I do realize none of us can be completely cured) list of the games that I have the most fond childhood memories of. In other words, I don’t care how arcade-accurate a game like Strider was when it came out back in ’89 because right here and now, there are 100+ games for the MD that I consider to be better and would rather be playing at this moment.

Speaking of Strider, other ports of a game are always considered. Many MD games were multiplatform (SNES, PCE, Amiga, Arcade) and which one had the best version of a game is usually debatable. I’ll always be considering the gameplay first, while graphics, sound or minor extra features are secondary. Story takes the lowest priority here, not because I don’t care for that part of a game, but because the ones told in games from this time are usually not even close to being up to par with other media such as literature and film.

I’m no enemy to MAME or other emulation. Emulators today are accurate enough to be able to judge a (32-bit or older at least) game based on playing it that way instead of on real hardware. Because of this I also don’t factor in availability and cost, and fan translations as well as other hacks/mods of games are OK in my book. 

Technically impressive but otherwise lackluster games have a low priority. A game can look and sound like crap but still be a better game than one full of parallax, rotation, perfect color optimization, quality sound design, etc.

I wanted to represent all kinds of genres so as to get a well-rounded list, starting with listing by genre before grouping everything together. However, I feel that the Mega Drive was first and foremost an action game console. The platformers, shooters and run ‘n guns simply had the most effort put into them while also being the best fit for a console format with a simple controller. Like everyone else, I also have a certain bias towards some genres. You’ll see very few Sports, Sim, or Board games in any of my lists.


1. Rocket Knight Adventures - Konami
2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or Sonic Classic Heroes (Hack)
2. Panorama Cotton - Success
4. Sonic & Knuckles or Sonic 3 & Knuckles
5. Langrisser II – Masaya
6. Contra: Hard Corps (Japanese version) – Konami
7. Mega Bomberman – Hudson
8. Ristar: The Shooting Star
9. Landstalker – Climax Entertainment
10. Micro Machines: Turbo Tournament '96 – Codemasters

11. Thunder Force IV – Technosoft
12. Shining Force II
13. Thunder Force III – Technosoft
14. Battle Mania Daiginjou - Vic Tokai
15. Gunstar Heroes – Treasure
16. M.U.S.H.A./MUSHA Aleste – Compile
17. Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millennium
18. Dynamite Headdy (Japanese version) – Treasure
19. Monster World IV – Westone
20. Yu Yu Hakusho: Makyou Toitsusen – Treasure 

21. Sonic the Hedgehog or Sonic 1 with Tails (Hack)
22. Mega Turrican – Factor 5
23. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
24. Puyo Puyo Tsuu/Puyo Puyo 2 – Compile
25. Castlevania: Bloodlines – Konami
26. Sonic the Hedgehog 3
27. Streets of Rage II/Streets of Rage 2
28. TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist – Konami
29. Alien Soldier – Treasure
30. Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition – Capcom

31. Super Fantasy Zone – Sunsoft
32. Bare Knuckle 3 (Streets of Rage 3 JP)
33. Flashback: The Quest for Identity - Delphine Software
34. Revenge of Shinobi
35. Alisia Dragoon – Game Arts
36. Quackshot starring Donald Duck
37. Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament – Codemasters
38. Twinkle Tale – Zap
39. Ghouls 'n' Ghosts – Capcom/Sega
40. Earthworm Jim 2 (w/ weapon select hack) – Shiny Entertainment

41. Columns III: Revenge of Columns - Vic Tokai ---?
42. General Chaos – EA
43. Gaiares – Telenet Japan
44. Ranger X/Ranger-X – Gau Entertainment
45. Wonder Boy in Monster World/Monster World III – Westone
46. NHL '96 – EA
47. World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck
48. Micro Machines Military – Codemasters
​49. Herzog Zwei – Technosoft 
50. King Colossus

51. Super Street Fighter II – Capcom
52. Eliminate Down – Aprinet
53. Soleil/Crusader of Centy/Ragnacenty (EU version better translated – but not much)
54. The Lost Vikings – Silicon & synapse
55. Disney's Aladdin – Virgin Interactive
56. Samurai Shodown – SNK/Saurus ---?
57. Advanced Busterhawk Gley Lancer – NCS
58. Beyond Oasis/Story of Thor 
59. Phantom 2040 - Hearst Entertainment
60. Elemental Master – Technosoft

61. Mega Man: The Wily Wars (w/ mods/codes) – Capcom
62. Ecco II: The Tides of Time – Novotrade
63. Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse – Traveller’s Tales
64. Rolling Thunder 3 – Namco
65. Another World – Delphine Software
66. Thunder Force II – Technosoft
67. Wiz 'n Liz – Psygnosis
68. Fatal Fury 2 – SNK
69. Comix Zone
70. Honoo no Doukyuuji: Dodge Danpei – Sega ---?

71. Light Crusader - Treasure
72. ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron 
73. Rock 'N Roll Racing (v16 Hack) – Blizzard/Interplay
74. High School Soccer Kunio Kun – Technos ---?
75. Great Circus Mystery starring Mickey & Minnie – Capcom
76. Bubba N Stix – Core
77. Pulseman – Game Freak
78. Earthworm Jim – Shiny Entertainment
79. Road Rash 3 – EA
80. Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel – Iguana Entertainment

81. Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster’s Hidden Treasure - Konami
82. Road Rash II – EA
83. Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin
84. Shadow Dancer
85. Streets of Rage
86. Chuck Rock II – Core
87. Shining Force (w/ mods)
88. Rampart – Tengen
89. Arcus Odyssey – Wolf Team
90. NHL '95

91. Biohazard Battle/Bio-Hazard Battle/Crying
92. Rolling Thunder 2 – Namco
93. Splatterhouse 3 – Namco
94. Wimbledon Championship Tennis ---?
95. McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventure – Treasure
96. Master of Monsters – Opera House 
97. Pirates! Gold – MicroProse
98. Golden Axe II
99. Warsong/Langrisser – Masaya
100. Cannon Fodder – Sensible Software


101-200
​101. Vixen 357 – Masaya
102. Ms. Pac-Man – Innerprise Software – Unresponsive control? Try again on real HW
103. Dragon's Fury – Technosoft
104. Two Crude Dudes (w/ mods/codes) – Opera House
105. X-Men 2: Clone Wars – HeadGames
106. Fire Shark – Toaplan
107. ToeJam & Earl
108. Hellfire - Toaplan
109. Bonanza Bros
110. Micro Machines - Codemasters

111. Ghostbusters - Sega/Compile
112. Crack Down – Sega
113. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine/Puyo Puyo
114. Chiki Chiki Boys – Capcom
115. Kid Chameleon 
​116. Sunset Riders – Konami
117. Mercs (includes Original Mode)
118. Uncharted Waters: New Horizons -----------------------??? – Koei
119. Klax – Tengen
120. Shadowrun (w/ mods)

121. The Lion King
122. Columns
123. Valis III – Telenet Japan
124. ESWAT: City under Siege/E-SWAT
125. Pac-Attack ------------------------------------------??? – Namco
126. Castle of Illusion
127. Doraemon Yume Dorobouto 7 Nin No Gozansu ---? – Sega
128. Steel Empire
129. The Jungle Book
130. Hybrid Front ----------------------------------------??? – Sega

131. Sensible Soccer -------------------------------------?
132. Golden Axe
133. Batman – Sunsoft
134. Devil Hunter Yohko – NCS
135. Top Gear 2 ---? – Vic Tokai
136. Gynoug/Wings of Wor – Masaya
137. Puzzle & Action: Tant-R
138. Undeadline/Undead Line
139. NHL '94
140. Misadventures of Flink – Psygnosis

141. Trouble Shooter/Battle Mania
142. Demolition Man
143. Road Rash – EA
144. Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis
145. Mystic Defender
146. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 ---?
147. Lemmings ---?
​148. Virtua Racing ---?
149. OutRun
150. Vectorman

151. Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
​152. Snake Rattle ‘n Roll ---??? – Rare
153. The Adventures of Batman & Robin
154. Mortal Kombat II
155. Gain Ground
156. The Lost World: Jurassic Park ---? – Appaloosa Interactive
157. Snow Bros. – Toaplan
158. The Chaos Engine
159: James Pond 2/James Pond II: Codename Robocod – Vectordean
160. Strider – Sega

160. Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2
191. Forgotten Worlds
163. Puzzle & Action: Ichidant R
162. Zombies Ate My Neighbors – Konami ---?
164. Rambo III
165. Puggsy ---? – Traveller’s Tales
​​166. Rainbow Islands Extra – Taito
167. Sokoban / Shove It – Masaya
168. Surging Aura ---?
​​161. Ecco the Dolphin ---? – Novotrade

​169. Road Blasters - Sterling Silver Software
​170. Lord Monarch -------------------------------------------------???
171. The Haunting starring Poltergeist – EA
172. King of the Monsters 2 – SNK
174. Dashin’ Desperadoes ---?
176. Mega Panel ----------------------------------------------------??
175. Lemmings 2 ---?
​177. StarFlight -------------------------------------------------------???
178. The Legend of Toki: Going Ape Spit
​181. The Flintstones ------------------------------------------------?

​182. Splatterhouse 2 – Namco
173. Dangerous Seed
​180. Donald in Maui Mallard
183. Trampoline Terror! – Masaya
185. Space Harrier 2
179. Sol-Deace – Wolf Team
184. Truxton – Toaplan
180. Grind Stormer/V-5 – Toaplan
177. NBA Jam ---?

​189. Exo-Squad
191. Burning Force – Namco
190. Wani Wani World – tedious bosses, repetitive, starts boring but gets a bit more fun once you pick up some power ups like bombs, slow transitions between levels, somewhat primitive control

​192. Rolo to the Rescue ---?
187. Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
182. Space Invaders ‘91
186. Alien 3 (Easy mode hack) ---?
183. Eternal Champions ------------------------------------------? – CD version is better
190. Atomic Runner – Data East
160. Gargoyles ------------------------------------------------------?

192. Mazin Saga – Vic Tokai
193. Vapor Trail
188. Battletoads – Rare
209. Gemfire -------------------------------------------------------?? (PC Port)
168. Ball Jacks – Namco ------------------------------------------?
195. Aero Blasters/Air Buster
​194. Toy Story – Traveller’s Tales
198. El Viento – Wolf Team
201. Battletoads & Double Dragon – Rare
199. Weaponlord --------------------------------------------------??

210. Granada – Wolf Team ---?
​201. Darius II
211. Championship Pro-Am – Rare
199. Robocop vs. Terminator 
210. D&D: Warriors of the Eternal Sun 
208. Decap Attack – Vic Tokai
209. Battletech
189. Marvel Land – Namco
202. ​Golden Axe III
82. Target Earth – NCS

​195. Bubble and Squeak ---???
200. Devilish
91. Sonic 3D Blast (w/ mods) ---?
204. Star Trek: DS9 – Crossroads of Time -------------------???
205. Kawasaki Superbike Challenge
215. After Burner II
​206. Sub Terrania ---------------------------------------------------?
​206. Predator 2
​207. Star Control-----------------------------------------------------???
203. Boogerman

66. Zero Wing
Viewpoint (overclocked)
211. Whip Rush
​​94. Worms ---?

​211. Super Hang-On - career/original mode with 6 different parts to upgrade in-between races and a rival NPC each race, password save, decent sense of speed (turbo) with fairly large sprites, slopes, difficulty options; hard even on beginner difficulty in arcade mode; pretty choppy - hard to react in tighter zig zag turns or after slopes, music sounds worse, slowdown, bike handling and speed suck when starting out in career mode making the first few races suck, no ramps or steep slopes to jump off of and no on-road obstacles like in turbo outrun, race against the clock only

​212. James Pond 3 --------------------------------------? – Vectordean
214. Vectorman 2
48. Cool Spot - Virgin
211. Rings of Power
300. Phantasy Star II (w/ mods)

James Pond
Techno Clash
Might and Magic ---?
206. Tinhead – MicroProse
157. Jungle Strike -----------------------------------?
Shining in the Darkness - Climax
Mr. Nutz
Second Samurai
FIFA 98: Road to World Cup
Asterix and the Power of the Gods

​Paperboy (MD, 1991) - + Unique concept (ARC original), can go pretty fast as well as very slowly, decent obstacle course mini-game after each level with ramp jumps, pretty good initial variety, can stop burglars for bonus points, respawn on the spot (some delay though), difficulty options (easy-hard modes, easy-hard streets), ; +/- Steep difficulty curve, plenty of voice commentary (sounds muffled and a bit scratchy though); - Touching any little thing knocks you out (one hit kills), can't turn enough to the sides, overly unforgiving hit detection on mail boxes and certain NPCs and objects (break dancer, sign, black car, trash can), can't turn back around and try again if you missed a mailbox, you only get one shot at the obstacle course after each level, can't get back up on the sidewalk if there's no incline (you should've been able to hop onto it with a button or button combo), can't jump or do any stunts (every button throws), repetitive after a couple of levels, so-so use of color and detail level (looks more like a Master System game overall)

Daffy Duck in Hollywood
Psycho Pinball ---?
193. Populous
48. Mortal Kombat
Hard Drivin' (overclocked)
Man Overboard! ---?
Phantasy Star III (w/ mods)
76. Jurassic Park
Street Racer
Super Skidmarks
Syndicate
​205. Pit-Fighter
220. Pagemaster
Cyborg Justice
X-Perts

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