Posted February 20, 2013 This deserves a thread of its own. So, I'm going to admit that when I was a kid growing up, I initially loved the MEGADRIVE (has to be spelled with caps, guizz) much more than the SNES. It took a while for me to appreciate nd love the SNES, which I do now, but the MEGADRIVE is the one console that captured my childhood. Unusually, what I remember from that era are some of the movie tie-ins. Alien3 was actually quite fun, so enjoyable that I bought both this and the SNES version. I looooved The Lion King and Aladdin games. I perhaps spent too much time playing the Judge Dredd game, which was more fun than the film. :p A surprising entry were the Caste and World of Illusion games with Mickey Mouse. World of Illusion was incredibly good fun. Then, there's the classic Sonic games, particularly 3 which needs to be played at least once by everyone. Come forth and love. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 I must admit that I too grew up owning a Sega Megadrive though I regularly got to play on the SNES at my friends house rather regularly but it was definitely my Sega System that I remember most fondly for being there for some of the best years of my childhood, right up until I bought an N64! Sonic was obviously a favourite from day one as I received both Sonic 1 & 2 with the console one Christmas, indeed I remember getting the console and was happily playing Sonic 1 then later I unwrapped Sonic 2 so the first thing I did was rip the cartridge from the console while it was still on in my excitement to try out Sonic 2 I only did that once though and I was six at the time but I think it's a memory rather representative of my excitement at the time. Other classic games included those from Disney as I would regularly rent both Castle and World of Illusion when I would go to stay with my grandparents Micro Machines was also one of those greats as well as the inevitable Sonic sequels which were fantastic back in the day but one game that I particularly remember fondly was the first game I actually saved up all my pocket money for which was Ecco the Dolphin; I recall mentioning 'I'm saving up for Ecco the Dolphin' many a time when visiting relatives... eventually I saved up enough, I believe it was around £30 at the time, I handed over the money and I was both mesmerised and traumatised in almost equal measures by what to me is still now such a powerful game. Indeed to this day I still have my original Genesis copy of Ecco in its box - never had any probs playing it on my Pal Megadrive - but nowadays I usually play Megadrive games on either my Sega Multimega-32X setup or on my Sega Nomad which I very recently acquired causing me to get properly back into loving Sega all over again. Ah to appreciate Sega this much truly takes ages! : peace: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 How good was this game?! I spent many an afternoon on it. That flamethrower... - And this. : peace:: peace:: peace: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 I convinced my brother to go halves on a Christmas present and we got our parents to buy us a imported Japanese Megadrive, as it wasn't released in the UK yet. That lead to a lot of confused playing - Japanese text is hard to read. Our first two games were Strider and Golden Axe. I can't remember anything else, except that a short time later we managed to get an Amiga A500 and a SNES out of the parents too. A blessed childhood. I know we don't talk about ROMs here, but you can get the entire Megadrive/Genesis collection pretty easily and it amounts to 7.5GB. Crazy small. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 So, we're 4 posts into a 'MEGADRIVE' thread and still no mention of.. ..? I was fortunate enough to have a SNES growing up along with a friend at school who would occasionally trade games with me However, a friend of mine, who lives just up the road from me, had a Sega Mega Drive II so we were both able to experience the best of both worlds Streets of Rage 1 & 2, Golden Axe, Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, Super Hang On, World Cup Italia 90, Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles, Road Rash and Kid Chameleon were all heaps of fun with some exceptional music.. and then there was Columns, a game that I didn't think an awful lot of but the music and sound effects really take me back and I appreciate it for that Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 (edited) Look what I got in the post yesterday: I had one as a kid, buy my mum gave it away when I got a N64. I loved the Sonic games, obviously, as well as the first two Streets of Rage games, Aladdin and The Lion King, Wiz N Liz, Toe Jam & Earl and Golden Axe (the latter has aged terribly). Sonic Spinball was also awesome. Although, after playing the Xbox Live version, Sonic feels really slow. Edited February 20, 2013 by Cube Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 Ah, i have some fond memories of the MEGADRIVE. I remember being asked by my parents back in 95 Christmas, would i like a Mega Drive or a SNES. A hard decision (and one i don't regret as i've played all my SNES games via the Virtual Console/GBA). First game i remember playing on it was this Probably because it came with the console, along with Both fantastic games. Had a second controller, so usually played the Columns with my Mum (she's now hooked on that Bejewelled facebook game) and Super Hangon with my Dad. Sonic, well i was hooked on the 1st game. I managed to borrow the 2nd and Sonic and Knuckles off my cousin, who sold his Mega Drive before i could give the games back. Basically, he gave me them for keeps. And i had a copy of Sonic 3 as well. I was told something which made me jump with joy, you could combine any of the 3 titles to either Play the special stages of Sonic 3/Knuckles (Sonic 1 combo) Play Sonic 2 with Knuckles (Sonic 2 combo) Play the ultimate, Sonic 3 + Knuckles (Sonic 3 combo). This was how i believe the game should have been, instead of splitting them up. Regarding Sonic 1 and Knuckles, that was great. Special stage, after special stage. And they gave you a code which you could use to replay the same level again. My S+K manual was and still is littered with random codes. Other titles i played included, and not limited to Toy Story, Aladdin, Micro Machines, Tazmania, Golden Axe, Ecco, Streets of Rage 1, 2 + 3. I got a day off work tomorrow, i may very well dig out my old MEGADRIVE and give it a whirl, see if the old girl can still function. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 Fuck yeah, Italia 90. I loved that game, although the top down view made it hard. :p Super Hang On was also lovely. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 Does anyone remember an awesome Ice Hockey game which had a cool fighting mode? It had one of those taller cartridges with the little yellow bit of plastic. And Road Rash. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 Does anyone remember an awesome Ice Hockey game which had a cool fighting mode? It had one of those taller cartridges with the little yellow bit of plastic. And Road Rash. Is it the NHL Live games? I think I had 97, which would be this one. There's a fight at 3:50 into that video. I think I either had 96 or 97, but from the looks of it both are almost identical. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 One game I really loved on my Megadrive was Burning Force. Still bitter about the cartridge ending up being unreadable.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 The SNES certainly had better sound quality.. but the Mega Drive had a certain twang that still sounds awesome Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 Is it the NHL Live games? I think I had 97, which would be this one. There's a fight at 3:50 into that video. I think I either had 96 or 97, but from the looks of it both are almost identical. That looks like the one. I remember the star player markers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 That looks like the one. I remember the star player markers. It was actually a really good game too, from what I remember. The fights were hilarious. This was amaziiing. NBA Action 95. I spent so much time on this, including creating my own players and turning them into NBA legends. My team were the Indianna Pacers. :p Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 Fuck yeah, Italia 90. I loved that game, although the top down view made it hard. :p Super Hang On was also lovely. Was tricky, but overal it was great to play. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 The Mega Drive was about atmosphere! My first encounters with it were seeing it in Argos and playing Altered Beast on it Comet. 16-bit, arcade-quality... Was I reading this right?! It was exactly what I'd wanted during the late-80s, when I was always disappointed that the home versions never matched the coin-ops. I was desperate to get one as a Christmas present. I told my friend about it, who was also getting one for Christmas. He informed me that something called the "Super Famicom" was on its way, and that technically it was better. He showed it to me in his "Mean Machines" magazine, and I was jealous at the colours and sprite-quality of Super Ghouls & Ghosts. But this didn't put either of us off. The Mega Drive was exciting enough for us both, and it was here now. At around the same time, I saw a magazine in my local newsagent's called Sega Pro. Well, I was hooked. Reading this magazine was like going into a different world. I'd read the cheats, the letters page - absolutely everything. I learnt of all the Japanese games like Thunderforce, Phantasy Star etc, as well as exotic hardware like the WonderMega and Multi-Mega. There was even a page called "Game Over", which showed you what happened when you completed certain games (something you wouldn't be guaranteed to do in those days). Christmas Day arrived and I got my Mega Drive and a copy of Golden Axe. I can't really explain how much I valued it. In fact, I even took it round my friend's on that day and we played it 2-player, as well as his copy of Streets of Rage. My neighbour got one too, and I borrowed platformers like Castle of Illusion from her. At weekends, we travelled to London visiting relatives. I loved my Mega Drive so much I took it with me. They had an import shop down there, with a Japanese copy of Sonic the Hedgehog (I wondered why it had a different cover) and also a "Virgin Games", which was the forerunner of Electronics Boutique and GAME (if there's a big GAME in your town, it might well have started off as Virgin Games). One day my excitement went through the roof when I saw Golden Axe II in there, and bought it immediately. Why hadn't I seen this in magazines? Well, let's just say the situation was probably the same then as it is today. It's not that I didn't respect the SNES. I did, and so did all my mates, but there was something magical about the Mega Drive. In 1993, Landstalker came along and I was immersed in that world even more than A Link to the Past. Sega were always working on something, and there was always potential for the Mega Drive to improve. Cartridges got bigger and bigger, and there was even a (very expensive) chip called the Virtua Processor (used in Virtua Racing). But no console lasts forever. By the mid-90s the Mega Drive was showing its age and it was time to pass on the baton to newer consoles with CD drives, polygon-handling and better sprite capabilities. All the same, I will never be quite as fond of a console as much as I was the Mega Drive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 20, 2013 Is there any one else here that found Ecco to be slightly creepy growing up? There was something about the atmosphere of that game, maybe it was all those weird shades of blue, maybe it was how the game would be full of life and after one big leap, would become barren and isolating or maybe it was just the general atmosphere of it. I've never been able to pin it down, but all I know is that I'm not alone. A lot of people were talking about it last summer on an image board I go on, and the general consensus was there was something oddly disturbing about it. A lot of people attributed it to the music, whilst others (who are clearly much better at games than I was back then) put it down to how dark the over all story is considering the likely death toll. Have some music from the game which I've found to be quite disturbing And the creepiest by far (Doesn't seem to load on my computer when embedded, link ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 21, 2013 I like this thread I looooved The Lion King and Aladdin games. YES! Aladdin was awesome. Lion King was a tad too hard and unintuitive in places, but the music, the stampede level, and playing as Adult Simba was great. World of Illusion was incredibly good fun. YES! This is a fantastic game, and one of my favourites. Love that the levels are different for each character for the sake of variety, and the Co-op was very fun. Micro Machines was also one of those greats as well YES! Never owned it, but had tons of fun playing it at my cousins' Sonic, well i was hooked on the 1st game. I managed to borrow the 2nd and Sonic and Knuckles off my cousin, who sold his Mega Drive before i could give the games back. Basically, he gave me them for keeps. And i had a copy of Sonic 3 as well. I was told something which made me jump with joy, you could combine any of the 3 titles to either Play the special stages of Sonic 3/Knuckles (Sonic 1 combo) Play Sonic 2 with Knuckles (Sonic 2 combo) Play the ultimate, Sonic 3 + Knuckles (Sonic 3 combo). This was how i believe the game should have been, instead of splitting them up. Regarding Sonic 1 and Knuckles, that was great. Special stage, after special stage. And they gave you a code which you could use to replay the same level again. My S+K manual was and still is littered with random codes. YES! The first Sonic game made me fall in love with gaming, the second one was a grander experience, and the third one (w/Knuckles) just pushed the envelope even further! The connectivity with Sonic 1&2 was quite a treat, too. Sonic 2's level design had nothing to do with Knuckles, but they still allowed it to happen! Among my collection (which included hand-me-downs from older cousins), I also had Aero the Acro-Bat (very fun game, just needed a password system), Home Alone (quirky, experimenting with traps and devices), Tiny Toons (another great game), Marsupilami (liked this one a lot), Power Rangers: The Movie (Incredible in Co-op)... And this motherfucker here. Dragonball was so popular, the Japanese version of this game was sold in Portugal and France. It was a blast, too (even if Gohan was overpowered). Loved using Piccolo and Reccome, and my only regret was never learning how to do Ginyu's body change. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 21, 2013 Look what I got in the post yesterday: Ah, that takes me back to when I finally received my mail order cat. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 22, 2013 @Jonnas, I'm happy somebody shares my love for World of Illusion. A truly wonderful game. From what I remember, the game plays entirely different in places if you play as Donald as opposed to Mickey. I would love to see this on the VC if it isn't already. @Cube, as lovely as the original MegaDrive is, I much prefer the look of THE MEGADRIVE II. and in its final form : This is the equivalent of putting all of the Power Ranger Zords together. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 22, 2013 @Cube, as lovely as the original MegaDrive is, I much prefer the look of THE MEGADRIVE II. I had the original as a kid. Buying the MEGADRIVE II just felt wrong. Also: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 22, 2013 The original MegaDrive and MegaCD look like a turn-table and decks or something. I would love to modify that to play records. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 22, 2013 I happen to prefer the Megadrive I. Using buttons to turn on the console never sat right with me, and being similar-coloured to the Reset button didn't help matters. I'm happy somebody shares my love for World of Illusion. A truly wonderful game. From what I remember, the game plays entirely different in places if you play as Donald as opposed to Mickey. I would love to see this on the VC if it isn't already. There's no actual gameplay difference between Mickey and Donald themselves, but certain levels change depending on whether you're Mickey, Donald or playing in Co-op (for example, at around the same time, Mickey gets an aquatic cave, Donald gets a beach level, and Co-op gets an Atlantis level). Always loved that. I say yes to releasing it on the VC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 22, 2013 There's no actual gameplay difference between Mickey and Donald themselves, but certain levels change depending on whether you're Mickey, Donald or playing in Co-op (for example, at around the same time, Mickey gets an aquatic cave, Donald gets a beach level, and Co-op gets an Atlantis level). Always loved that. I say yes to releasing it on the VC That's what I meant, the game alters depending on which characters you're using. It was a bit wtf moment for me when I went back to replay with another character and things were different. The music in the game is beautiful, too. That first level blew me away at the time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 22, 2013 Megadrive and snes had their strengths but I believe the Megadrive wins outright in the multiplayer department. So many classic fun with friends back in the day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
