My Top 50 Favourite Sega Mega Drive Games: #10 - #2

Here we are. The Top 10. My ten favourite Mega Drive games. What will make the list? What classic games make the list? Are there any surprises? Let’s find out...

#10 – World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

Released: 1992 
Genre: Platform 
Rating: ****1/2 stars 
Best Moment: Just playing two-player mode, it’s one of the best if not THE best two-player games ever made.

As I say above, this game is just absolutely amazing in two-player mode. It’s so much fun, you and a mate, going through this World of Illusion. It’s a very short game, but the imagination, the jubilations, the music, everything about this game is just so much fun. Disney is world renowned for its amazing ability to make children’s films so great, and if there was one game that translates the feeling of watching a Disney film into game form, this is it. It’s that simple. This is simply one of the best kids games ever made. I dare any one to suggest otherwise.

#9 – Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament

Released: 1994
Genre: Racing
Rating: ****1/2 stars
Best Moment: Climbing through the League pyramid to the top. It can be very frustrating but the payoff at the end is great when you finally get there.

My favourite racing game on the Sega Mega Drive is Micro Machines 2. It’s possibly my favourite racing game of all time to be honest. I absolutely adore this game. For me, a racing game doesn’t always have to be about it technically being great, or the graphics being smooth and realistic, a racing game has to be fun. And I don’t find that many other racing games as fun as this. The different vehicles are great, the races are crazy, the characters all have their own little quirky personalities and the music is really smooth. Micro Machines 2 is the ultimate Micro Machines game and is simply one of the best racing games ever made. I truly mean that.

#8 – Michael Jackson's Moonwalker

Released: 1990 (1991 in the UK) 
Genre: Beat ‘em Up 
Rating: ****3/4 stars 
Best Moment: Indisputably, making your opponents dance to death. The different dance sequences on each level are all just beautifully animated and are quite funny at times.

What? Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker at #8 in my favourite Mega Drive games list? Damn right it is. Have you played this game before? If you haven’t, you have no right to question why I rate this game so high. If you have played the game, I reckon you’d understand why. It’s an absolutely fantastic game, and yes, I do rate it at ****3/4 stars out of five. Sure, Michael Jackson ‘rescuing little children’ is questionable in 2012, but back in 1990 none of the sexual abuse allegations were in existence really. Forget that though, what you have is an absolutely brilliant Michael Jackson video game experience. Everything that was great about Michael Jackson is beautifully represented in this game. The dance moves, the ‘magic persona’, the suits, the enemies (based on the movie Moonwalker), and most importantly, the music, it's all here, and it’s so so good. You really have to play this game if you haven’t before. Check out this video below. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

#7 – Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Released: 1992
Genre: Platformer
Rating: ****3/4 stars
Best Moment: The special stages, Sonic 2 has the best special stages in Sonic history.

Another Sonic game bites the dust in my list. In the main series only Sonic and Knuckles remains. Is it in my list at all? If so, how high? We’ll see. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is simply one of the most exhilarating platformer experiences of all time. Sega did very little wrong with Sonic 2, the 20 levels (in comparison to Sonic 3’s 12 levels) make this the most of any Sonic title on the Mega Drive, and for the most part, the levels are pretty damn sweet. The addition of Tails was quite nice, just so you had the choice of being someone else, although playing with both Sonic and Tails one-player can be very annoying. I really don’t know what to say about Sonic 2 because chances are you have played it and know about how good it is anyway. Sonic 2 is simply one of the best platformers of all time. I love it.

#6 – Shining Force

Released: 1992 (1993 in the UK)

Genre: RPG

Rating: ****3/4 stars

Best Moment: Like Shining Force II’s entry, nothing really stands out. It’s just simply one of the best RPGs ever made.

I’ve placed the original Shining Force towards the top of the mountain for many reasons. Firstly, it’s better than the second game in the series, which was a brilliant game in its own right. Why? I just love the characters more, the story is better, and, honestly, the second entry didn’t really experiment much from the original. The original Shining Force is simply one of those games you have to play. Really. It’s a shame the Shining Force series never really developed much after the third game, which wasn’t fully released in the West, a terrible terrible shame, because while the formula has been done by other game series, Shining Force I feel did it best. The balance and variety of the characters, the different tactical approaches you can do in the game, a lot of it was pretty damn amazing for 1992. Final Fantasy was lagging by this point in the RPG games, in my opinion tactically, and that’s where Shining Force’s strongest point lies. Shining Force is a game you simply have to play, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

#5 – The Revenge of Shinobi

Released: 1989 (1990 in the UK)

Genre: Action

Rating: ****3/4 stars

Best Moment: Going against Batman and Spiderman on Stage 6. It’s really cool, and a set of totally unexpected cameos in the game.

This entry once again is another example where nostalgia places a game higher in my list rather than a game’s technicality. The third game in the series (at #12 in this list) is a far superior game technically; it improves on the amazing blueprint in this game in nearly every way. But I just can’t place this game any lower, it feels perfectly right at #5 in my list of favourite games. Why? I can’t tell you how many hours, how many times, I have completed this game. It’s embedded as one of my favourite games of my childhood. Besides, it’s so so cool, and I can promise you, not many games were as cool back in 1989. Golden Axe was released in this same calendar year, and it’s my very strong opinion that the action available in this game is far superior to that in GA, no disrespect. So yeah, The Revenge of Shinobi, simply, is one of the best games of all time, and my fifth favourite on the Mega Drive.

#4 – Quackshot starring Donald Duck

Released: 1991 
Genre: Platformer 
Rating: ****3/4 stars 
Best Moment: Getting the red plunger. Seriously. I love firing that weapon and climbing walls. Also the Egypt level is awesome too, and was featured in my list of favourite platformer levels ever, a list you can read here.

I have zero shame placing a Disney game at #4 in my list of favourite Mega Drive games. If you’ve ever played Quackshot, chances are you understand fully its placement this high on this list. Quackshot is just one of the best adventure platformer games ever. This game is just jam-packed full of amazing levels, great cameos by other characters associated with Donald Duck, and it can be a tough game to crack at times too. It’s one of my favourite ever platformers, and in my opinion, the best game Disney have ever released. If you’ve never played this game before, you’re missing out big time.

#3 – Streets of Rage 2

Released: 1992 (1993 in the UK)

Genre: Beat ‘em Up

Rating: ****3/4 stars

Best Moment: Taking out Abadede in the Baseball Stadium. He’s probably the toughest boss in the game and really kicks your ass.

What do I need to say about Streets of Rage 2 that hasn’t already been said before? Seriously, I’m finding it hard to describe anything about this game that you probably don’t already know. It’s just the best beat ‘em up ever made. I don’t think many people would dispute that. SoR1’s formula was absolutely fantastic, but this put all the great things about the original game and set it all to overdrive. SoR3 took many risks and tampered with the difficulty, so therefore opinions on the game are mixed, but SoR2 is by far the most balanced game in the series. And it’s the best beat ‘em up ever as I said, playing on your own or with a friend, it doesn’t matter, this game survives the test of time ridiculously well. I play this game frequently, and it’s 2012. Not many games released 20 years ago or earlier are as replayable now as Streets of Rage 2. What a game.

#2 – Sonic and Knuckles

Released: 1994

Genre: Platformer

Rating: ****3/4 stars

Best Moment: I love gliding with Knuckles. Lots of fun. I also really love Flying Battery Zone. One of the best Sonic levels ever made.

Yes it’s true. Sonic and Knuckles is my favourite Sonic game. If I were to include Sonic 3 and Knuckles together as one whole game however, that game would completely wipe the floor out of this list. But the games were released separately, so I’ve covered them separately. But even separate, Sonic and Knuckles is still my favourite Sonic game, and it’s just so much fun. There’s so much action, the level design is top notch, the game is decent in length, using Knuckles is really cool and the music as always is just awesome. Sonic 3 and Knuckles to be honest would be one of the few games I’d ever give five full stars. But as for Sonic and Knuckles on its own, it’s absolutely brilliant, an incredible experience, and is, on its own, my second favourite Mega Drive game.

We’re almost there. Want to know what my favourite Mega Drive game is? I’ll reveal tomorrow!

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My Top 50 Favourite Sega Mega Drive Games: #20 - #11

We’ve reached an important stage of my listing now. It’s Top 20 time. What are my Top 20 favourite Mega Drive games? Keep following to find out! 

#20 – Gain Ground

Released: 1992 (2007 in the UK)

Genre: Action

Rating: ****1/4 stars

Best Moment: Getting to the end of the level with all characters intact. The game crumbles very quickly if you lose your best characters.

I only discovered this game recently, on the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection actually. I’d never heard of it before then. To be fair, it was never released in the UK on the console itself, but has been ported here on compilation games celebrating the Genesis/Mega Drive. It’s a really good game. It’s hard to describe what the game is about. It’s actually a little like a video game version of British Bulldog if you’ve played it, if so you may have an idea where I’m going with this description; you start off with three characters and you have to get to the end of the level. There are two ways to do this; first, you can dodge enemies and walk to the exit, which is usually the hardest way to do it, mainly because you’d have to do this with every single character. The quickest way to beat a level is to just kill all enemies on screen. As I said you start off with three characters but you can recruit more characters by saving them, to do this you have to find them on the screen and take them to an exit, and in the next level onwards they’ll be added to your roster. If anyone dies then they have to be saved, otherwise you permanently lose that character. It’s a really good game Gain Ground, really worth playing and it’s a tough strategy game in the end but very fun to play. I don’t know how many people have actually played it, I doubt many, but it’s really worth your time trust me.

#19 - Street Fighter II: Championship Edition

Released: 1992

Genre: Fighting

Rating: ****1/4 stars

Best Moment: Beating the Bonus stages flawlessly. Always a good feeling.

How many versions of Street Fighter II was there? Well the Mega Drive had a few, with this version probably being the best. I’m not putting more than one version in this list; they’re far too similar too each other! Street Fighter II’s legacy speaks for itself, it’s simply the most influential fighting game ever released. I don’t think individually one single other fighting game can claim it’s made a bigger impact. I’m not saying it’s the best, but no game in the genre has added to the genre on the whole more than this game. Street Fighter II is a game you have to experience, to fully understand its place in video game history. It’s not coincidence that Street Fighter IV took a lot of inspiration from SF2 to take the game series back to the top of the mountain. Is Street Fighter II my favourite fighting game on the Mega Drive? No, you’ll find that out later in this list. But Street Fighter II is more legendary than it is one of my favourite games, that’s for sure, but regardless of its placement in this list, I respect the hell out of this game and Capcom for making it.

#18 – Worms

Released: 1995

Genre: Strategy

Rating: ****1/4 stars

Best Moment: Having to take a very risky and tough shot with a bazooka, and nailing it spot on.

Ah, the Worms series. It’s amazing to think that the original Worms game was released on the Mega Drive but it was. I never played it on the Mega Drive personally but I do know that the Mega Drive version has zero changes to it to the Playstation copy I had. And what a game Worms was, back in 1995. Sure, nowadays the Worms formula has improved drastically, as have the graphics and comedy voices, but let’s not take anything away from the original game. At the time Worms was unlike any other game out there. A strategy game with an incredible sense humour, this game could destroy friendships as the competitive gameplay was so good. Worms on the Mega Drive surely makes it one of the best games ever released on the console, even if it was released when the console was dying out.

#17 – Speedball 2

Released: 1990

Genre: Sports

Rating: ****1/4 stars

Best Moment: Scoring after a succession of great passes, either that or heating the ball up and throwing it at the goalie, with the ball ending in the back of the net. Fun times.

I’ve already reviewed this game on this site as part of my Old School Game Reviews, you can read that here. Speedball 2 was a truly terrific game. Sure, it may not be a real sport, but it’s still a sports game, and I rate it as one of the best sports games ever made. A mixture of rugby, handball and hockey, Speedball wasn’t that popular unfortunately, but it’s definitely playable, even today I play this game. It’s quite difficult but a heck of a lot of fun, frenetic fun that is. I love this game, and can’t recommend you play it enough.

#16 – Super Monaco GP

Released: 1990 (1991 in the UK)
Genre: Racing
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Best Moment: Just sticking to your gameplan, racing hard and fast yet accurate, and finishing in first place, naturally.

Technically I suppose the second game was superior and I may have rated it quite low at #32 but I just prefer the first game in nearly every way. I love World Championship Mode. I love starting in the Minrae (which is based on the Minardi F1 car), changing constructors and ending up in the Madonna car (based on the McLaren). I love racing on my favourite tracks (some being Great Britain, France and Italy). I also love and hate the second season of World Championship Mode, when you’re the defending champion and G. Ceara (based on the great Ayrton Senna) joins the season having taken the first season out and getting your arse whooped by him and struggling to reclaim your title. I just have so many personal memories of this game, all great, and it’ll forever be my favourite F1 game ever. There may be many technically better games, graphics or controls, but I’ll doubt I’ll ever find a game I’ll enjoy more based on Formula 1 racing.

#15 – Shining Force II

Released: 1993 (1994 in the UK)
Genre: RPG
Rating: ****1/2 stars
Best Moment: Just assembling your party and kicking arse in general. It’s just a brilliant RPG.

I feel bad that Shining Force II is so low on this list as it’s truly an epic RPG. There weren’t many RPGs on the Mega Drive (only the Shining Force and Phantasy Star games are really worthy of any mention in honesty) but Shining Force is not only the best RPG series on the console, but one of my favourite RPG series of all time. I truly love Shining Force, the stories are decent enough but it’s the strategy and turned based RPG system that truly sets it apart from other RPGs. It gets the formula totally spot on and I just love playing the games. If you’ve never experienced Shining Force, seriously, get an emulator or get the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection and play the two Shining Force games. You won’t regret it.

#14 – Streets of Rage

Released: 1991
Genre: Beat ‘em Up
Rating: ****1/2 stars
Best Moment: Honestly? The first level. The whole of it. The music is just so fricking awesome, topped off by the just as good boss theme. The level, while naturally the easiest, has excellent flow to it and it’s probably one of my favourite ‘first levels’ of all time.

I’ve already reviewed this game on this site as part of my Old School Game Reviews, you can read that here. The original Streets of Rage was just so good, ridiculously good even, for back in 1991. Sure, there were Beat ‘em Ups before it that made an impact, but I think Streets of Rage truly lifted the genre to new levels never seen before, and in honesty, not seen since. And this game started it all off. And the formula was improved further for the sequel, but this game, the first in the series, was and still is, one of the best Mega Drive games of all time.

#13 – Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine

Released: 1993 (1994 in the UK)

Genre: Puzzle

Rating: ****1/2 stars

Best Moment: Quite simply, getting an absolutely humongous combo and piling a load of clear beans on your opponent’s grid, rendering them almost incapable of making a comeback.

Man, I love this game. I’d possibly rate it as my favourite puzzle game ever, although that’s another list for another day. Is it the most original puzzle game ever made? Of course not. In fact, it’s a version of a video game series popular in Japan called Puyo Puyo, marketed for Western audiences. It has some of the same music, the same style of game in nearly every way, the only difference is the addition of Dr Robotnik and some other characters associated with Sonic. So it’s actually a ripoff. But do I care? No, not at all, I love this game, I’ve spent hours and hours playing this game; I’ve probably put more time into this puzzle game than all other puzzle games combined. It’s just a really fun game, and I’ll never play a better puzzle game ever, in my opinion.



#12 - Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master

Released: 1993

Genre: Action

Rating: ****1/2 stars

Best Moment: I just love running at ninjas and taking out my sword and slicing them silly. It’s a simple technique but it’s a hella fun.

You know, I played The Revenge of Shinobi as part of my Mega 6 collection, that I mentioned earlier. I always said to myself, why didn’t they ever make a sequel to that Shinobi game? I never knew this game existed for years later, not to mention that they actually made a sequel for the Mega Drive itself. The second Shinobi game was released on the Sega Game Gear, but this third entry was put back on the Mega Drive as the Game Gear was a flop. Shinobi III was brilliant. It took everything that made the original Revenge of Shinobi a success and added so much more. The action in this game, is just awesome. It blows most games out of the water for the amount of moves and techniques available in an action game. And you really do feel like a badass ninja playing this game. Shinobi III is just simply, one of the best Mega Drive games of all time. You really should experience it if you haven’t before.

#11 – Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

Released: 1996
Genre: Fighting
Rating: ****1/2 stars
Best Moment: The moment when you finally kick Shao Kahn’s ass; Mortal Kombat is a very hard game at times and Shao Kahn is a worthy final battle, and when you finally defeat him it’s a huge sigh of relief and joy.

In honesty, I never played the original Mortal Kombat III. Nor did I play Mortal Kombat II until many years later. UMK3 is THE fighting game for the Mega Drive in my opinion. 24 characters in one fighting game... I’m pretty sure that was unprecedented in 1996. Naturally now we have bigger rosters, but for a Mega Drive game, to have so many characters all with different movesets and personalities... it was just epic. I honestly rate UMK3 as one of my favourite fighting games ever, it’s definitely my favourite Mortal Kombat game, and for me, it’s definitely the best fighting game on the Mega Drive. Even more so than Street Fighter 2.

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Game Review: Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection

With popular classics and a few hidden gems, the “Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection” is as good a compilation of 40+ games you’ll ever see.

The Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection was released back in February 2009, nearly two years ago, for both the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 and advertises 40 classic Mega Drive (or Sega Genesis, for those elsewhere in the world) titles all on one disc and for the first time, the games are compatible in HD.  It’s one of the biggest collections of video games on one bit of media available, and it contains some of the biggest and best games that were released on the fourth generation console. Also included are some unlockable games from either the Sega Master System or the arcade.

So what games are available on this compilation? How about all the main “Sonic the Hedgehog” titles, which are Sonic 1, 2, 3, “Sonic and Knuckles”, 3D and Spinball? It also has “Streets of Rage” 1, 2 and 3, “Phantasy Star” II, III and IV, “Golden Axe” I, II and III, the two “Ecco the Dolphin” titles, “Shining Force” I and II and “Vectorman” 1 and 2 amongst others. These games, back in the day, were anything from £20 to £50 each, and considering the game was £25 upon release and available now from £10 to £15. I’m pretty good at Maths and this spells out at up to £2000 in games back in the day, and all together it’s now available for anything up to 200 times less. That’s an immense statistic. There are other great games on this list too, like “Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle”, “Altered Beast”, “Columns”, “Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine”, “Flicky”, “Gain Ground” and “Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master”. I don’t really know if I really need to review this game because simply listing all of these amazing games says it all, but I’ll continue.

It's great to see such classic titles again, crisper than ever.

Having all the classic “Sonic the Hedgehog” titles in one game isn’t a new thing, it’s been done many times before, but it’s still a great way to play these games again, or for the first time if you’re too young to have played the games when they were released. The best thing about these Sonic titles, which are now up to 20 years old (Happy Anniversary Sonic!) are that the graphics still look absolutely beautiful today, with it’s amazing palette of colours and the fast action. The tightening of the graphics to HD level doesn’t make the biggest of differences but it’s a more than welcome addition.

One of the main bad points about this compilation is that it doesn’t include the “lock-on” Sonic games. Just in case you’re not familiar, the Mega Drive cartridge for “Sonic and Knuckles” had an innovative “lock-on” section at the top where you can attach a second cartridge to it. This was so you could attach another Sonic title to it; if you attached “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” to it, a game that does not feature the Knuckles as a playable character, allows you to now do so. It also allows you to play through the “Sonic 3” levels and then the “Sonic and Knuckles” levels, giving you a whopping fourteen levels of gameplay. I always maintain that these two games combined a game that’s often called “Sonic 3 and Knuckles”, is the most complete version of Sonic the Hedgehog ever. The “lock-on” feature also gave you access to “Sonic 2 and Knuckles” and the original “Sonic the Hedgehog” title locked onto “Sonic and Knuckles” gave you access to hundreds of random bonus stages that are similar to those available on “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” and “Sonic and Knuckles”. So no “lock-on” features is a major downer for me personally, and many other fans as well, due to these versions of the games being so good in the original formats. The producer of this compilation said that there were “tight development times” for the release of this game and that’s the reason they’re not included. They said that if they were to release these “lock-on” games there would be no room for other games, like the bonus “Master System” games. It’s a fair point, although personally I would have preferred the “lock-on” versions over the old Master System and arcade games. But you also have to consider, we have six Sonic titles on this compilation already, so there’s enough Sonic content on here for other games to be considered, which is fair enough.

Riding dragons in Golden Axe was so much fun, now you can do it again!

There are so many games for you to choose from in this compilation, and they cover a lot of different genres here too. Sonic, naturally is a platformer, and that along with other games like “Alex Kidd”, “Dynamite Headdy” and “Shinobi III” will keep you going in a variety of different ways. For the RPG fans you can’t look any further than the “Shining Force” series, a turn based RPG that’s as good turn based RPG ever. The “Shining Force” series stands out as some of the best RPG games ever, and most certainly on the Mega Drive, a console lacking in good quality RPGs. The three “Phantasy Star” games are also well received RPG games that are available, so you have hours and hours of fantasy role playing games to sink your teeth into here. For the side scrolling beat-em-ups, the “Streets of Rage” series set the standard and has arguably never been beat for them. The “Streets of Rage” series, the trilogy, vary in difficulty and have great looking sprites, a range of characters and some funky music, some of the best music available on the Mega Drive. Other alternative side scrollers are the “Golden Axe” series, which are all very similar in style but still are very enjoyable, the very retro “Altered Beast”, a game that has dated a little since the early nineties but is still a little but of fun to play, and is slightly harder than the other games in the genre. There are other games in other genres too, too many to put into great detail here and are all worth a look.

I told you earlier, if you bought these games back when they came out, your total bill could have possibly reached £2000 so you definitely have a vasts amount of content here. There are some popular classics here, but there are also some games here that you may have not played, and that’s a good thing. There’s a justifiable reason for each of the 40+ games to be included here. There’s the obvious, Sonic and “Streets of Rage”, but there’s the more subtle, less popular games here that are of good quality yet their lack of popularity made them almost forgotten. Take “Gain Ground” for example, my favourite game from the few games I had never played before, it’s really good. “Gain Ground” is an odd arcade strategy-shooter, where you simply have go through all the levels and beat the game. In more depth, you can either get through each level by getting your characters individually to the other side of the screen, or kill all the enemies on the screen for automatic progress. As you go through the game you can save and recruit your hostages, all which are trapped warriors and can aid you in battle. It’s easier to play this game than explain it, and it’s a lot of fun, especially as each warrior has their own ways of attacking enemies with their own weapons and special abilities. If you get this compilation give this game a go if you’ve never played it before, it’s an interesting little game that doesn’t have much recognition as a great quality game from the Mega Drive days. Another decent effort is “Ristar”, a game released in 1995 when the Mega Drive was in its dying days, which was made by the same team that made Sonic. Give that a go as well as it deserves more recognition than it has. As I said though, it’s hard to do mini reviews of all the games available on here, but if I were to choose two ‘not-so-popular’ games on the compilation to play, these two are the ones I’d choose.

Shinobi III is still so much fun all these years later.

So all in all this is a fantastic compilation. I’m not going to claim that you’ll love all the 40+ games on this CD, you won’t. But there’s something here for everyone, and chances are there are games on this disc that you’ve never played before. Seriously, give the new games a go. You might find a hidden gem or two. It’s hard to rate compilations due to the fact that not every game on these things are going to be to your taste. But as homage to one of the best video game consoles of all time and the great games that came out on it, the “Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection” is as good a compilation of 40+ games you’ll ever see.

Rating: ****1/4 stars

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