by alienjesus Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:39 am
I played a lot of Mega Drive titles last year (52 of them), including a fair few of the viable list for this TR. Here's quick thoughts on the ones I played:
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle - This is garbage. It controls terrible, looks ugly and sounds bad. There's too much luck too. A massive downgrade from Miracle World
Altered Beast - This game has it's charms, but it's still ultimately quite a bad game. Unlike many others on this list though I would say there's some small modicum of ironic fun to be had.
Golden Axe - One of the best options this month, although you've all probably played it before. I found it even more enjoyable than ever last year, even if it's still a bit cheap and has some stupid AI.
Phantasy Star II - This one seems to be remembered as an important release, but it's ultimately a boring 40 hour grindfest. I played it via a method with fast forwarding options. If you plan to play it, I highly recommend you do the same.
The Revenge of Shinobi - The only actually genuinely excellent game of this list. Revenge of Shinobi is very challenging, even a bit cheap at times, but if you put in the time to learn it it can become very satisfying. Some mean precision jumps and a rotten final stage and boss bring it down a little.
Space Harrier II - This is my least favourite game of this list, which is saying something because there's a lot of bad games on it. I genuinely think Super Thunder Blade is better. The choppy scrolling gives me a headache and the gameplay is dull and repetitive and not worth the pain.
Super Thunder Blade - This is absolutely atrocious. Barely playable, no fun at all, ugly as sin. I still like it more than Space Harrier though, because at least its over with quicker.
Sword of Vermilion - This is a slog and a half. Ugly graphics, terrible gameplay in all 3 styles (first person dungeon crawling, top down random encounters and side view boss battles) and a boring story that drags out for 15-20 hours with nothing to redeem it. It's shite.
I've also played these before:
Super Hang-On - The arcade game's pretty good if you like that sort of thing. It's no Outrun. There's a career mode that theoreitcally has promise with bike upgrades etc but I found it far too hard to get started and potentially too grindy to really enjoy. Pass.
World Championship Soccer - This is known as World Cup Italia '90 here. I have a lot of nostalgia for it as it's one of my earliest games, but it's genuinely shite. The view is too close, the controls have no refinement and the game looks a bit crap. I do love the chunky sound effects though.
Would you believe I'm actually a big fan of the Mega Drive/Genesis? Unfortunately, I think the honest truth is that the console was mostly not really worth owning until a little way into the 90s, when they really hit their stride and offered a real competitor to Nintendo. Up until then, the Master System library was probably better.
Anyway, I have Herzog Zwei on deck, so hopefully I'll get around to playing it this month. Got a bunch of other stuff to deal with first though.