Hey there. Welcome to the final part in my Top 50 Favourite
Mega Drive games list. Every day for the past 50 days I’ve been revealing one
game per day, in my biased opinion, my favourite games on this absolutely
amazing console. I’ve had a blast, reminiscing over these 49 amazing games. I
hope you’ve enjoyed it too, and maybe remembered some games you may have
forgotten before, or even, found new games in this list you never heard of, and
enjoy. We’re at the end now.
Here’s quick recap of my list from #50 to #2…
- #50 - Columns III – 1993 - ***1/2
- #49 - World Cup Italia '90 – 1990 - ***1/2
- #48 - Virtua Fighter 2 – 1996 - ***1/2
- #47 - Jurassic Park – 1993 - ***3/4
- #46 - Road Rash III: Tour de Force – 1995 - ***3/4
- #45 - FIFA International Soccer – 1993 - ***3/4
- #44 - Mega Bomberman – 1994 - ***3/4
- #43 - Golden Axe III – 1993 - ***3/4
- #42 - Micro Machines – 1993 - ***3/4
- #41 – Columns – 1990 - ***3/4
- #40 - Zombies Ate My Neighbours – 1993 - ***3/4
- #39 - Sylvester and Tweety in Cagey Capers – 1993 - ***3/4
- #38 – Flicky – 1991 - ***3/4
- #37 - Taz in Escape From Mars – 1994 - ***3/4
- #36 – Aladdin – 1993 - ***3/4
- #35 - Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle – 1989 - ***3/4
- #34 - Sonic 3D Blast – 1996 - ****
- #33 - Streets of Rage 3 – 1994 - ****
- #32 - Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II – 1992 - ****
- #31 – Lemmings – 1992 - ****
- #30 - Golden Axe – 1989 - ****
- #29 - Mortal Kombat – 1992 - ****
- #28 - Splatterhouse 3 – 1993 - ****
- #27 - Sonic the Hedgehog – 1991 - ****
- #26 - Theme Park – 1994 - ****
- #25 – Ghostbusters – 1990 - ****
- #24 - Micro Machines: Turbo Tournament 96 – 1995 - ****1/4
- #23 - Blood Shot – 1994 - ****1/4
- #22 - Super Hang-On – 1988 - ****1/4
- #21 - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – 1994 - ****1/4
- #20 - Gain Ground – 1992 - ****1/4
- #19 - Street Fighter II: Championship Edition – 1992 - ****1/4
- #18 – Worms – 1995 - ****1/4
- #17 - Speedball 2 – 1990 - ****1/4
- #16 - Super Monaco GP – 1990 - ****1/4
- #15 - Shining Force II – 1993 - ****1/2
- #14 - Streets of Rage – 1991 - ****1/2
- #13 - Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine – 1993 - ****1/2
- #12 - Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master – 1993 - ****1/2
- #11 - Ultimate Mortal Kombat III – 1996 - ****1/2
- #10 - World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck – 1992 - ****1/2
- #9 - Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament – 1994 - ****1/2
- #8 - Michael Jackson's Moonwalker – 1990 - ****3/4
- #7 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – 1992 - ****3/4
- #6 - Shining Force – 1992 - ****3/4
- #5 - The Revenge of Shinobi – 1989 - ****3/4
- #4 - Quackshot starring Donald Duck – 1991 - ****3/4
- #3 - Streets of Rage 2 – 1992 - ****3/4
- #2 - Sonic and Knuckles – 1994 - ****3/4
Okay then, this is it. My favourite game on the Mega Drive
is…
#1 – Gunstar Heroes
Released: 1993
Genre: Action
Rating: ****3/4 stars
Best Moment: Black’s Dice Maze. It’s just lots and lots of
fun.
Yes, my favourite Mega Drive game is Gunstar Heroes. I don’t
think any game since Gunstar Heroes has been able to compactly put so much
chaos on screen while maintaining a decent flow of entertainment. I really mean
that. This game has so much stuff going on, you shoot through hundreds and
hundreds of bad guys, but it just doesn’t get old, doesn’t get boring, and
doesn’t get stale. It’s so entertaining, and the game has a brilliant sense of
humour, awesome music and the sound quality is absolutely sublime. This game is
so exhilarating it’s incredible. It’s simply one of the most action pumped
games ever made and is a thrill to play, even 19 years later. Gunstar Heroes is
a game you simply have to experience before you die. It’s such a shame the game
isn’t acknowledged more, in comparison to other games in this list. Nothing
against those games. But Gunstar Heroes is simply one of the best games ever
made, and is my favourite game ever to be released on the Mega Drive.
Well that’s it! We’ve finished! I hope you’ve enjoyed this
list, and reminiscing over these brilliant games, games released between 1988
and 1996, the epitome of 2D gaming. I love all 50 of these games and I’m sure
there’s something in this list for everyone. If there’s any games here that
have given you some great memories, please, comment below. Is there any games
on here you’ve never played before and it being on this list made you try it?
Let me know, comment below.
If you know me personally, you know I’m a stats guy, and
here are two interesting graphs you may like.
This graph really interested me. I didn’t take into
consideration the year of each game’s release until the list was fully
complete. The year 1993 having 13 entries out of 50, that’s over a quarter of
the list, was an intriguing statistic. It makes sense though. Sonic 1 was
released in 1991, and that really set the Mega Drive off to not only compete
but to equal Nintendo at one point in the video game wars. Two years later and
game after game after game was released that were outstanding. I’m not really
surprised that most of my favourite games were released in 1993, but it’s very
interesting. If you were wondering, the earliest released game in this list is
Super Hang-On, the only game released in the year 1988, and the latest game was
Sonic 3D Blast, which was released on November 30th 1996. Nine years
of video games. Amazing.
This graph isn’t surprising at all, but it’s still cool to
see what genres were included the most. No surprise really that its action and
platformers that dominate my list. There were some awesome action games out on
the Mega Drive, and five of the 10 platformers are Sonic games. Beat ‘em ups
were high in tally inclusion as well, which isn’t surprising either as there
were some solid beat ‘em ups on the Mega Drive. I wasn’t expecting so many racing games mind, but it goes to show
that racing games were pretty good on the Mega Drive too. My favourite genre of
game is the RPG, but, as mentioned a few times, the Mega Drive really didn’t do
RPGs, hence the lack of tally in the list.
To conclude, the Mega Drive is one of the best consoles ever
made, and it’ll always have a strong place in my heart. It was my first ever
console, and it really opened my eyes to the beauty of video games. It changed
my life, quite simply. I love the Mega Drive. One day, I’d love to own all 50
of these games, preferably in Mega Drive format (bar Columns III, Golden Axe
III, Splatterhouse 3 and Gain Ground, which weren’t released on the Mega Drive
in the UK). It’s a long-term ambition, one I’ll hopefully be able to achieve
when I can afford to! Thank you so much for joining me in this countdown. I’ve
had a blast doing this list; it’s always a pleasure doing these listings. I
hope you got something out of it too. Until next time!
If you liked this article you might want to read:
If you liked this article you might want to read:
- Streets of Rage (Old School Game Review)
- Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection (Game Review)
- My Top 10 Favourite Levels on Platformer Games (Listing)
Continue reading the listing!
