What Games Defined The Genesis/MegaDrive?

[grittykitty]

i agree that alex kidd belongs on that list of essentials (truly sega!), and i LOVE beyond oasis, but it feels quite zelda-like and not "sega" enough... err, but damn it is a great genesis game

[Ivo]

I got a little curious about this game.
I guess it was an Amiga game first in 92 (which means squat to US gamers) then Genesis, then SNES, then a host of others including PC, Jaguar (that I had a copy of), Sega CD, 3DO.
Man I remember showing this game off to people who didn't know anything about games and they were like "it's like you're controlling a movie!" pretty funny now with things like Metal Gear Solid.

Of course, it was made for the Amiga by a french team (Delphine) And actually, the most likely reason it hit the Genesis first was that it was based on the same Motorola CPU series, so porting it was probably easy.

Back on topic: I second the Oasis game, it is quite good; I never played Toe Jam and Earl but I do remember it being quite popular in mags back in the day; Altered Beast was (I think) the original pack in game and considering it was decent at the very least it might be worth a mention.

[alexkidd]

Yeah Toejam and Earl and Beyond Oasis are definately worthy of being on the list. I love Alex Kidd on genesis but I always think of Alex Kidd in Miricle World on SMS when I think of that character since it's my favorite of the series and probably the one I've spent the most hours on. But Enchanted Castle is way better than all the other SMS Alex Kidd games.
Also I can't believe I forgot Gunstar Heroes! That might actually be #1 for me. Whenever I rev up a Genesis emulator that's the first game I play. Other games possibly Ranger X, Wonderboy in Monsterworld, Shinobi III, Dynamite Heady, Phantasy Star 2 and 4, and Kid Chameleon. I never liked Lethal Enforcers or Mortal Kombat but they definately had a big impact on the system.
I love Tyrants but I doubt it "defined the system" since few of us 'non-diehards' have probably heard of it.

[Saraph]

Hmm. This is a toughy.

Sonic Series
Ecco The Dolphin
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
Mortal Kombat II
Vectorman
Altered Beast
Comix Zone
Earthworm Jim
Golden Axe
Spider-Man vs Kingpin
Streets of Rage Series

Those are some of the most popular games that come to mind that I can recall making me feel proud to have a genesis. I liked the sequel to Ecco, but like Jaws, the first one is usually the best.

[racketboy]

Anybody want to help me write up some game summaries for the list?

[Majors]

Thunder Force 3 (and 4)
Revenge of Shinobi
Moonwalker
Eternal Champions CD

Most of the other hit tittle have been mentioned.

[GSZX1337]

Batman Returns. The only good Batman game I've played (I haven't played Batman: Begins yet).

[Espio 1919]

Anybody want to help me write up some game summaries for the list?

I could lend a hand writing some summaries for this. Off this list I have All the major Sonic games (except the original), Gunstar Heroes, Vectorman, and Comix Zone. Just let me know which ones to write about, it's about time I fired up the Genny again anyway; it's been too long.