I got my Genesis for Christmas 89, so pretty early in the console’s life. I was blown away by some of those games’ music and graphics….I remember just listening to all the music tracks in Ghouls n Ghosts for like 20 minutes before even diving into the game. Went on to beat that (yes even the 2nd playthrough…I was obsessed!). Then on to Golden Axe, Revenge of Shinobi (my God, what a soundtrack!), then my first JRPG, Phantasy Star 2…spent SO many hours on that game. Other early games I loved were Sword of Vermillion, Castle of Illuision, Quackshot, Subsoft’s Batman, Ghostbusters, DecapAttack, Forgotten Worlds, Mystic Defender, Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, Granada, Valis III, Phelios (STILL love that game), Rolling Thunder 2, Target Earth, Thunder Force 2&3….I could go on and on. Still my favorite era of videogames, and I’ve been playing since the 2600 days. So many great memories. Keep up the great work, man…yours is one of my favorite RU-vid channels. Always great content!
Ghouls n Ghosts running on a machine in your HOUSE when it was new was just mindblowing. The game was difficult but once you got that muscle memory it was a breeze and a pleasure to go through. Those early Genesis days were just something else, man..
It is interesting to see how Sonic really was the estuary between two eras of the Genesis, especially given how that game specifically is both arcade like and yet also remarkably deep as a platformer. After Sonic, you can really see how both Sega and various third parties really dive deep in their titles, and the console starts forming an identity outside trying to bring the arcade experience home. It also made games that were indicative of the older style but came out later (like Golden Axe II) really stick out against the more complex offerings that emerged post Summer of 91.
@@greenkoopa Bad game ? Not really. But it isn't great either. It was a decent game, it was good enough to build upon, which they did. It was good enough to spawn copycats so that's saying something. Edit : Now see the guy above me mentioned Golden Axe. Now that is a game I don't think was very good, at least compared to similar beat em ups like Streets of Rage. But then again we are all entitled to our opinions.
I got a Genesis as a gift well after Sonic 1 had released. I still remember just how much hype Sonic generated back in '91. It was unreal. Sonic was _always_ the game shown off at retail kiosks to promote the Genesis (much like Mario World was the original showpiece for the SNES). Sonic 1 was the game that made me fall in love with the Genesis and the library exploded with loads of great games after Sonic 1 made its mark on the console! Sonic basically saved Sega's butt!
There was a magic to being a child, walking around the front corner of a K-Mart store, coming toward the electronics department and hearing the Sonic & Super Mario World sounds in the distance, that todays generations simply can't understand
Thank Tom Kalinske for packing Sonic 1 with the Genesis. Sega of Japan was pissed at first, but it paid off. Probably why it sold better in the US. lol
@@SgtSega I had no idea. Hope Tom got a raise or promotion for that bit of foresight! 😅 I'm wondering what Sega of Japan's original idea was to shift more units?
I didn't get a Megadrive until after Sonic 2 was released, so I missed out on a lot of great early Megadrive games. I remember at the time having the choice of getting either a Megadrive or a SNES. I also remember that my decision was based mostly on the box art for the consoles and the pack-in game. I looked at Sonic, a cool looking blue hedgehog, and I looked at Mario, an old plumber with a moustache and big nose. The choice was an easy one, Sega was the ticket :)
Valis soundtrack is just so good. The game also has a strange early 90s sailor moon anime charm to it, despite it sometimes being infuriating hard. I wish they re-released it with both old versions and a redrawn and remixed one.
Valis is a franchise that just couldnt catch a break. After the 4th title, it finally got new titles after a long time... All porn focused visual novels! And finally, once a proper plataformer was made after this, it was for mobile systems, and worst of all it only plays on some weird japanese-only cellphones, so we cant even emulate it or play it on android or whatever. They really did our girl Yuko dirty. I would love to see a new game in the series or a remastering of the old one.
I’m in the camp of getting a Mega Drive after Sonic came out so some of these I missed out on but I’ve collected some of these early releases now although I’m interested in at least trying every one of these early releases.
Summer of 1990, my Father bought me a Megadrive (I was living in Spain) as reward for my good grades. I had no idea that he was getting me a good console from that store that had a ton of different ones (some provably rip-offs or something). It came bundled with Altered Beast and, on top of that, my Father added Rambo 3 Although I already played Altered Beast in the arcades, Rambo III was 100% new for me and So was the experience of actually owning videogames at home and not only in the arcades. Those were my first videogames ever, wonderful memories.
Selling far "Fewer" units Not "less" units. The rule in English that if the thing is "Countable" then we use the word "fewer" So it's "fewer hamburgers" and "less food" BTW same goes for "amount" and "number" Less is to amount as fewer is to number And please take this as a compliment. Most people I wouldn't bother even trying to correct because they wouldn't get it
@@hetiswathetis yeah thank youll notice it all the time now. People always say Amount instead of Number. But like with things, there are simple rules and that will make the correct word obvious. Similar to how people always say "and I" when "and me" is correct As in "do you want to watch a movie with Jeff and I?" When "do you want to watcha movie with Jeff and ME?" Is correct. The simple rule is just switch the sentence to Singular. So it becomes "do you want to watch a movie with I?" And "do you want to watch a movie with ME?" See? Now it is obvious that Me is the correct word. My theory on why people always say "I" is that in school they had it drilled into them that "me and Jeff" is wrong and makes you sound dumb. So they just assumed that "me" is always wrong and they don't want to sound dumb
What I loved about these early titles was the aesthetic. Amazing soundtracks, and a really warm color pallette that was unique to that period. Sword of Vermillion, Revenge of Shinobi, Forgotten Worlds, Strider...great time for a Sega fan
I really enjoyed the vibe of Last Battle. Very basic fighting engine and an unintelligible Japanese translation but I always enjoyed it never the less 😅🤷♂️
I worked all summer to afford my Genesis at 13 in '89 because there was no SNES in sight and only 1 person I knew had a TG16 (Trading was very much still a thing). I had Altered Beast, Last Battle, and Space Harrier 2 at launch. Favorites are Last Battle, Golden Axe, Cadash, Gaiares, Mystic Defender, Streets of Rage2, Shadow Dancer, Thunder Force 3/4, Laker vs Celtics, Forgotten Realms, Shining Force1/2, Mortal Kombat2/3, Strider, MUSHA, Aladin, Arcus Odyssey, Phantasy Star2 and 4 (Four being my overall favorite on the system) and so many more wonderful memories. Although not the biggest fan of Sonic, very Happy it took off and won the hearts to bring one of my favorite consoles of all time to the masses!
To this day, I fervently maintain that the Sega Genesis is the single best video game console ever released for a number of reasons, but I will admit that it was indeed Sonic that initially turned me on to it.
The Sonic genesis series is truly my favorite gaming series. From it's amazing gameplay to its exceptional soundtrack, Sonic is just an amazing series.
I'm so thankful for this channel. Growing up my household was a sega household. I had the genesis and my older brother had a Saturn and later we had a dreamcast. I feel like sega is so overlooked here on RU-vid. I enjoy nintendo but those titles have been done to death so to see you cover games like this is truly a breath of fresh air. Thanks again!
I got a Genesis mainly to play Mortal Kombat uncensored, but the inclusion of Sonic 1 & 2 with the system certainly helped me decide to buy it despite having an SNES. To this day it's the only generation that I bought 2 consoles.
Yup. I also had the snes and genesis. What hooked me on Genesis was their partnership with Game Genie where they encouraged ppl to use cheat codes, allowed gore, had more horror styled and violent games and sega just wanted u to have fun with it.
Same. I remember I still had an NES when Sonic came out. I was young enough that I didn't care for graphics, it was all gameplay that mattered to me and the NES still had some good titles being released. I remember in school the teacher telling us that Hedgehogs are not fast or blue cause I guess there was reports of people abusing hedgehogs at the time because of Sonic. I went over to a friend's house and his brother had a Genesis and that's when I was blown away and wanted a Sega.
I had the good fortune of having lots of different age kids around my house back in the early 90s, my mom ran an at home day care, and then my next door neighbors ranged from Ages 1-7 years older than me, but would still let me hang around, plus my cousins were all older than me, so I used to get quite a bit of playing time on systems I didn't have yet. I had to wait all the way until 1993 to get a Genesis in my house because my Dad had gotten wind that the sports games were superior to SNES, so he decided we should have a Genesis as well. My house really got popular once we had both systems. Video games were so communal back then. The first time I ever played Sonic 2 at a Kay Bee Toys, a kid several years older than me showed me how to spin dash for the very first time. That's the type of stuff you just never forget. Kids these days do not get to experience those types of moments in gaming anymore, where you come into contact with a total stranger for a few seconds and have a defining moment like that. Sad.
I got the Genesis before Sonic. I knew it was a winner. I didn’t need a mascot to make that choice for me. I borrowed it from my friend played it once, liked it but never really got into Sonic. Had nothing against the character I was just getting older at that point so I wanted more mature themes in my games. One thing is for sure Sonic was WAY better than Alex Kidd.😵💫
Prior to the release of Sonic the Hedgehog was my most valued era for the Sega Genesis, but that was mainly due to the new and exotic feedback of the early 16-bit games on both the Genesis and Turbografx. (and lots of shooters being released also) Sonic upon release made a major impact and it was unknown and wasn't widely anticipated at that time so we were blown away by it in a sense. Most of the games in this video wouldn't represent the best of the early era of Genesis games but those have already been showcased generously. Valis 3 was a fun one; Sword of Vermillion, Mystic Defender, Gaiares, and Truxton are other examples that are not totally unknown but are along the same lines as games in this video.
The first console I played was a mega drive in 1991 and I played Streets of Rage. It was beyond epic. Christmas Eve 1991 I played Street Fighter 2 on the SNES and just wanted Street Fighter. It was the greatest thing I’d ever seen at the time. I had to wait until Xmas 93 to get my own console which was a MegaDrive with Streets of Rage 2. Absolutely blew my mind. I’d played Sonic 1 & 2 at a friends house, but the Sonic game i truest fell in love with was Sonic 3 (and knuckles). It just had a different, better vibe than the others and it’s still my favourite to this day. Didn’t own a copy of street fighter until March 95. Special Champion Edition on the Mega Drive. It was totally worth the wait ;)
I got my Genesis at launch and loved it sense day 1. Still have it with a Model 1 Sega CD and 32X! Tower of Power baby! Bought a 2nd Genesis for my Power Base Converter lol. Finally some love for Shadow Blasters! That is one of my guilty pleasures I still play to this day!
Shadow Blasters was one of the first titles I purchased on my own when I was about 11 years old. It was one of those budget titles for $20 so I wasn't expecting it to be that great but I played it often and grew to love it! Hearing the sound effects today takes me right back to that special time.
@@KISSFan1977 You can't be serious...I actually got chills reading your reply. Phelios and Junction were two others I picked up around the same time! I loved Phelios but Junction was SO bad. Fighting Masters was another one...so bad it was good.
@@KISSFan1977 For sure, brother. Back then, we rented the expensive titles and bought what we could out of the bargain bins. I remember having shit like Cyberball in my collection lol
Early Sega Genesis sales were pretty good passing over a million within a few months. I'm sure they want it more but it wasn't something like the Masters is the word petered out quickly.
Master System often had watered down ports from the arcade. Don't get me wrong. The games are still fun. But the Genesis was the closest thing to having arcade games at home at the time.
I know it's not the best port, but I have so much nostalgia for Pac Mania on Genesis. It's simple and not super graphically intensive, but the gameplay is so good and the music goes so hard.
Something about your usual upbeat tone makes it all the more hilarious when you bust out a curse now and then to put emphasis on something lol. Mean it in a very good way
Shadow Blasters has been logged in my memory for SO MANY YEARS and I was too young to remember what it was and no one could tell me. Thank you for solving that mystery.
_Heavy Unit_ bears a striking resemblance to another 1990 Genesis shmup called _Arrow Flash_ That game had the exact same mechanic of being able to switch between a robot and ship as well. The graphics even look fairly similar.
Dude, thanks so much for mentioning Shadow Blaster! Played this game as a little kid (borrowed it from a neighbor) and almost beat it. I had always wanted to return to the game someday to complete it. The problem was, I absolutely forgot its name! This was bugging the heck out of me for 20+ years until I watched your video yesterday, haha. Gonna find a used copy on ebay and try to finally beat this thing!
I was sure Mystic Defender Forgotten Worlds and Altered beast would be on this list. but this video was still a treat since I have not heard of most of these games. Power blasters looks very similar to Mystic Defender looks fun.
@00:45 I remember when my amazing mommy took that older Genesis back with altered beast and got the one with Sonic for free and we didn't even put the altered beast game back in the box lol because we knew the store manager wouldn't check
This is such a minor thing, but mate, I love that you openly encourage people to try games out through emulation. So many RU-vidrs pretend to skirt around it and act like buying original carts for a few hundred bucks is no big issue.
Wardner was a very common in Arcades here in Chile, it was hard as hell but still I played it a lot and became very good at it, so when I played it on Genesis I have no trouble finish it.
I had a Genesis shortly after launch after seeing Ghouls n Ghost and Altered Beast I knew this was going to be a great system! I had Air Diver and Shadow Blaster we found out that if you pressed pause while dying that you would be invincible! You could play 2 players with a Master System controller.
That look at Rambo took me back. One of my FIRST games in this life that brought back some good memories now I wanna go back. And play it as an adult since I was like 5 when I had it thank you for posting this!
Wow.... I watch a plenty of retro gaming channels yet somehow never knew that Sonic was NOT a launch title for Genesis!! Thanks for that "something new I learned today" lol
It is interesting to see how things were before Sonic and after. Very clearly things changed dramatically. I definitely wasn't aware at the time and seeing these games really tells you something.
I got my Mega Drive before Sonic was released. It was actually a bundle including Altered Beast. I have played most of the games that you have showed in this video. Pure nostalgia! Thank you!
I was 4 when the Megadrive/Genesis came out, my earliest memories of it is my friend getting one with Sonic 2 for Xmas while I got a SNES that year with Mario. I loved the SEGA, it was awesome, great memories playing it in his house, think it could've been xmas 93', maybe, its a bit hazy trying to remember exact times but that xmas was awesome
This was a great video. Even as someone who became a really big shmup fan the last couple of years and has an obsession with combing through console release lists on wikipedia, there were some cool surprises here. My 8th grade friend across the street had Air Diver as well...except he never wanted to play it, while that cockpit design and the loops you could pull absolutely blew my mind.
Good video about Rambo III. lol. I only owned Sonic games for my Genesis for the first 3-4 years I had it, like.. every Sonic game and nothing else.. then my sister in law found a huge lot of games at a yard sale for me and I got to experience pretty much everything in this video. So glad I got to see the rest of the library.
2:10 You have unlimited machine gun ammo too. The enemy ace fights in Air Diver can be quite challenging, especially the final ace, without mastery of the afterburner loop maneuver it's impossible to beat them. 14:46 I did not expect to see this game featured, I only know it by its Japanese name, Shiten Myooh. It's one of the few games that is easier on hard than it is on normal by virtue of hard having more power up drops due to having more enemies. Powering up is critical to success in the game. It makes all the difference in terms of how much your characters are powered up and it's best to power them all up and not let any of them leg behind or worse, die. The pit deaths are the worst thing that can happen to you in this game, avoid them at all costs!
I was born in July of 1990. So I wasn’t even one yet when Sonic came out, but my brother was almost three by then, so my dad had already gotten the Genesis before then to start playing with my brother (although I know he secretly bought it to play Shinobi by himself). I had a bunch of games from the early life of the Genesis, although most of my favorite games are from later in the life, like SOR2 Castlevania, MK3, Vectorman, etc.
Id say Revenge Of Shinobi was the very first to adopt the later style of Mega Drive games with beefier sound. Second was either Shadow Dancer or Moonwalker.
I got a Genesis for Christmas way after Sonic 2 was out. It was a sports pack with Tennis and Greatest Heavyweights. The tennis game was the first tennis game I ever played, and it was such an excellent introduction to the video game version of the sport. It was the sole reason I've always been a Virtua Tennis fan. I played the absolute heck out of Greatest Heavyweights. I eventually went through the entire career mode undefeated and beat all the legends too. The only other game I really put much time in to was Rocket Knight Adventures, but boy did I put a lot of time into it.
I didn't get my beloved Sega Mega Drive until Xmas 1993, when I was already 10yrs old. Yes Sonic came with it, and I loved it, but the games that I fell in love with and made me desperately want a Mega Drive in the first place were the likes of Strider, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage II, Desert Strike, Moonwalker and Rambo III. All of which I played at friend's houses a good year or two before I finally owned my own Mega Drive console. The Sonic series is top tier gaming for the system, and the music second to none, but it's important to know that there was plenty of other killer apps on Sega's console masterpiece before the iconic blue blur appeared.
While I got the Sega Genesis after Sonic the Hedgehog was released, it wasn't that game that got me sold on getting it. What did me in was Streets of Rage & Batman. The music from both of those games were awesome. My friend, who lived across the street, had a small collection of games. I was lucky to purchase one from a pawn shop which also came with Sonic 2. Prior to getting my own Genesis, I would rent one with several games from the video store. Some of the games I would rent regularly were Cyborg Justice, Road Rash II, Golden Axe, & Golden Axe II.
So I was a late adopter of the Genesis, I think I got mine around 2000, but I played Altered beast with my Cousin well before Sonic was out. There are some great choices here. Most of them I have because I worked in a used game store and got to clean and test every game. Keep up the excellent work.
Respect for noting that a slightly better version of Battle Squadron exists on the Amiga... it is not often that a console focused channel ever admits that good games can exist on a (gasp) computer! Very refreshing to know Sega Lord is knowledgeable in wider circles of videogames!
I found this channel by accident and I’m so happy I did. I’m 36 so I was alive when this was going on but too young to comprehend. Your videos illuminate a part of history I glossed over
I blindly mail ordered the Japanese version of Wardner as a kid for only 10 bucks. That was a steal considering my limited budget at this time. I was so proud of this hidden gem back in the days. I often bought import games just because they were sometimes extremely cheep. At least the shelf warmers they couldn't sell off. This way I got to know Mystic Defender and the almighty Shadow Dancer (still one of my all-time favourite games.)
Brilliant video. I was lucky enough to pick up Final Zone and Wardner as Japanese imports where I grew up in London in the 90s. Loved Final Zone and still have a blast on it today. Back then I didn’t know Wardner was an arcade port and I also picked up Insector X on the Mega Drive. Great times!!!
The sega genesis was a great console in my opinion. I've alway's preferred nintendo and later on I became a playstation fan but sega had some great console's. The sega genesis and the sega dreamcast are probably my 2 favorite sega console's. Maybe it's because I owned one and enjoyed it as a kid but I think the sega genesis is one of the best console's ever made. The sega genesis also had some really good game's and exclusive title's.
One thing to add about Rambo III. That makes it a better game than just an arcade shooter. The bullets and knife are both unlimited. But you can use stealth or not. You can run and gun the levels. Or you can get through most of some of the levels with stealth. You can stab guys to death without raising the alarm, if you don't face them directly. As I recall.. a side or back stab will keep things on-the-low. This was satisfying stuff. Get through half a level by gutting guys quietly. And then if you use your gun or explosives the whole level wakes up and rushes around. If you know how to do do it.. you can stick and move for much of the level... And then shoot a guard or use an explosive arrow .. and cause the alarm to sound. Knowing the hallways and where guards will rush from you can drop a well placed timed charge or two and nuke a whole handful of pursuers without even turning around. This really did match the best side of the Rambo character... The green beret killer with PTSD and a STRONG sense of justice!
SEGA was at their very best during the 80s & early 90s. Mystic Defender, Thunder Force II and Elemental Master are three superb games that were released before Sonic hit the screens. These three titles offer beautiful visuals and masterful soundtracks, not to mention kick-ass gameplay.
I remember playing Wardner when I was little, I wanted to again years later but I couldn't remember the name. Thank you for reminding me about that game!
My dad got the Genesis close to launch,I loved Altered Beast,TL Baseball,Rambo, Last Battle,loved it and still my favorite console next to Dreamcast and PS1
My older cousin had sonic for his genesis I wanted a genesis so bad because of sonic. When I finally got one by that time sonic 2 come packed in and man was I happy 😊
I had a happy childhood because I could play Rambo 3,Valis III and Shadow Blasters japanese version called Shiten Myooh in my Mega Drive in the early of the 90's.Very good and underrated games.The Valis series was one of my favorites in that times and sadly I never played the original PC Engine games.
I got my genesis for christmas 89 and it came with Altered Beast. I always loved the system and it has some great games. Another fantastic video good sir.
I like the title. i hate when videos have titles like "some games you definitely never heard of but i have cuz im so awesome and i think my viewers are idiots that have never looked through a list of roms"
SLX seems like a decent dude. At least a lot better than a lot of crappy RU-vidrs. I would rather listen to him instead of channels like Cinemassacre (The Angry Video Game Nerd) who treats his viewers like shit. Gamesack is also cool.
@@chimp9465 AVGN is not decent. He was losing me and I wanted to support James but after they plagiarized a review (numerous, even the Polybius episode was plagiarized) I was out. I was already on the fence when he called fans with actual criticisms "Fans of the Assholish variety." He does nothing. Seriously, he doesn't play the games, write or edit anymore. He set up his camera in one static position and reads a teleprompter. That's it. Hell he never even credited Mike (or others) for the episodes they wrote. He didn't pay his friends. The ones acting in his videos, making music, editing and building the sets (and Kyle who wrote his theme song) and they want nothing to do with the guy anymore. He now just wants to read a teleprompter and cash the checks. All he cares about is his god awful band who suck. Seriously he thinks he's a rockstar now but all he can do is play a couple chords. It's laughably bad. If you say anything negative about him his rabid fans then insult you. If you want good RU-vidrs look into Matt McMuscles, SNESdrunk, NES friend, pandamonium reviews, Jenovi, Austin Eruption, Same Name different game. They all put so much more work than James in their videos.
@@Gatorade69 The two guys that do the port battle between SNES and Genesis are pretty good, Console Wars. For Sonic Mega Drive related stuff redhotsonic is great and yeah I can't think of anyone else besides SLX right here who I think is no.1
If ya'll want an amazing Genesis compilation, get Sonics Ultimate Genesis Collection for the PS3/360. Theres also a similar collection for the PS4/XB1. Contains over 50 classic games from across the Genesis and SMS
I never could find a copy of warrior of Rome. There's another Roman themed strategy game on the Genesis whose name I can't remember but again could never find a copy. Same with war song. All three were unobtainium
Hey SLX I got a few ideas for more episodes for you. I personally really loved the episodes where you focussed on other publishers and developers like Sunsoft, Capcom, Konami and Data East. Would love to see your take on others like Toaplan, Taito and EA and the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. These are just some ideas, I know you have your own stuff planned and these are only ideas/recommendations etc meaning you certainly don't have to do it. I didn't know where to post this so I posted it here.
I remember seeing Rambo III running on a tv in a local game shop and it looking so cutting edge. Didn't make me buy a Mega Drive though, I was firmly in the nes camp. I guess this was 1991 based on the release date of my pack in game (TMNT). Rambo III didn't release in the EU until sept 1990.
Did get the megadrive alongside altered beast and had some games that were released before sonic. Games like castle of illusion, alex kid were fun for me.
I got my first genesis around 1994 ish. We did not have any stores that sold video games in my area as a kid. We moved and than I got to go to KB and Lionels. OMG I never knew such things existed
