When the Sega Genesis first came out, I paid no attention to it, to be honest. I was so focused on the NES that I didn't know one thing about the Sega Genesis. All of my friends and I, all had the NES, and tons of games for it. We constantly shared and borrowed games from one another. We constantly spent the night at each other's houses, and stayed up all night playing games. Fun times indeed. We knew nothing about the Sega Genesis. We couldn't even name one game on it, at the time. We didn't know anybody who had one, so we didn't know anything about it. So we didn't bother with it.
However, when the SNES was announced, my older brother had found out all he could about both the Genesis and SNES. He found out so much, and talked about them both so much, that he, somehow, convinced my parents into getting both for Christmas the year that the SNES came out. He, of course, told them that he wanted the SNES and that I wanted the Sega Genesis. Even tho I knew nothing about either, but was a big Nintendo fan. So, for Christmas that year, he got the SNES and I got the Sega Genesis.
We got both systems, and Super Mario World for the SNES and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Genesis. Both great games to introduce yourself to the system. I liked them both. Over time, my friends started to get both too, and so we started to get familiar with both systems. Trying new and new games out for each. Then, the rental stores were a constantly visited place. We rented games all of the time for both.
At first, we couldn't decide which one that we liked more. The SNES had some good exclusives, the Genesis had some good exclusives, and as for the cross-platform titles, some we liked on one, while others we like on the other system. Just depended on the game. So at first, we were divided on each.
However, soon after, the Super Nintendo started to easily pull away farther and farther. The Super Nintendo started to get more and more great games that we loved. The Sega Genesis still had some great games on it. But we loved the games on the Super Nintendo much more. So, for us, hands down, the Super Nintendo was the overall better system. It was close at first. But in the end, the Super Nintendo won us over. Especially since the Super Nintendo still has some of the biggest classics in gaming history. Super Mario World. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Super Metroid. etc.etc... just to name a few. And there's many more, for sure.
That said, I still have fond memories of the Genesis. Sonic the Hedgehog 2, to this day, remains one of my favorite Sega Genesis games. In fact, it's still my overall favorite Sonic the Hedgehog game, ever. I loved turning into the yellow Super Sonic, and going wild in the game. Fun times. I lost count how many times I've beaten that game.
But there were some other games that I liked too. Here are some of my favorite Genesis games, that I can remember off hand..
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Comix Zone
Earthworm Jim
Mortal Kombat 2 (I liked the Genesis version better because the controls felt smoother. The SNES's controls felt stiffer)
Aladdin
Streets of Rage 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyper Stone Heist
Castlevania: Bloodlines
Gunstar Heroes
Revenge of Shinobi
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Beyond Oasis
Vectorman
Golden Axe
Altered Beast
Rocket Knight Adventures
Splatterhouse
etc..
In the end, I liked the Sega Genesis. But I liked the Super Nintendo so much more. The Genesis was my second favorite Sega console tho. The Dreamcast was my favorite. I played the Dreamcast a lot, when that was around. I had a ton of games for that.
I played the Sega Master Drive, but not too many games on it.
Rocky
After Burner
Choplifter
Altered Beast
Sonic the Hedgehog
Those are the only games that I can remember playing on the Sega Master System. Rocky, After Burner, and Sonic the Hedgehog probably being the ones that I've played the most. But honestly, I didn't play them that much. I played Rocky the most. My aunt found the system and these games at a goodwill store, bought the system, and all of these games, for like $15. So she didn't want to pass up on the deal. So I went to my cousin's house and played it there, as it was his, now. We tried out all of the games, but Rocky was the one that we put the most effort into, as we had played the other ones before on other systems. It wasn't the best game out there, but it was tough. We finally beat it, once, and have never been able to repeat it again. We've gotten close a few times, but never did it. But we can say that we have officially beaten it. That's an accomplishment all in itself. But after trying to beat it again a few more times, we gave up on it, and then never went back to the system again.
The Sega Saturn, on the other hand, one of my friends got. He loved it. He got himself a Pro Action Replay for the Saturn, and then started importing games from Japan. So we played a lot of Japanese import games on it. I don't remember a lot of the names of them tho. Some of the games didn't have instructions, and some that did were all in Japanese. Some were in English, but most were in Japanese. So we couldn't read most of them anyways. We just knew what game was what, based on the picture of the label. So I can't really tell you what games I remember playing the most, as I don't recall the names. But we had fun. However, after a few months, the system crapped out on him. So he had to buy another system. That system lasted about as long before it crapped out. He tried looking for another one, but the ones that he found were from people trying to sell their broken ones. And since the Dreamcast was coming out, he just got a Dreamcast instead. However, he did later pick up another Saturn that worked. But I never got to play it again, as I had moved away by then. I don't think he plays it today. But I know he still has it.
So the Dreamcast was next, and oh man, did I have fun with the Dreamcast. We played that a lot. In fact, my cousins used to come over to my apartment, and spend the night for a few days, and stay up all night and day playing video games. I would go to work, and leave them at my place, home alone, and they'd play games all day. I didn't care. I was about 4 to 5 years older than them, and already graduated high school. They were just starting high school. So they came over during the summer break, and spent a lot of time at my place so their mom wouldn't make them go to bed early or tell them what to do, and things like that. I didn't care. They were good kids. I knew they weren't going to mess around in my place when I wasn't there. So I'd let them stay there alone by themselves when I went to work. But we had a blast, as we had all kinds of games, and constantly played everything at the time. Good times. Once school started, they only came over on the weekends. So it slowed down a bit. But I eventually moved in with my fiance, at the time, so there was that.
Anyways, there were tons of Dreamcast games that we loved playing...
Crazy Taxi
Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
Phantasy Star Online
Power Stone
Power Stone 2
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing
Shenmue
Soulcalibur
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Street Fighter 3: Third Strike
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Resident Evil: Code Veronica
Virtua Tennis
Seaman
Jet Grind Radio
Skies of Arcadia
Sonic Adventure
Chu Chu Rocket
Grandia
Dead or Alive 2
Capcom vs SNK
Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves
The Last Blade 2: Heart of the Samurai
Virtual ON
MDK2
We put a lot of hours into the Dreamcast. That is, until the Playstation 2 took over. Once the Playstation 2 was released, and started to get on a roll, that's when all of our attention switched to that machine. Tho we still loved playing our wrestling games on the N64 at the time too.
In Las Vegas, they used to have a Sega room at the Luxor, when they first built that. I went into it. It was basically a giant arcade room. But it was fun. I think, arcade wise, Sega is most known for their car racing games (like Daytona Racing and what not), and shooting games (like House of the Dead, and others). I'm sure they have a bunch more too. But when I think of "arcade" and "Sega" together, I think car racing games and shooting games.
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I've always respected Sega. They've given me some good times over the years. However, they were never my favorite, at any given time. They were always regarded as "second best" at most, to me.
During the NES days, I had never heard of Sega. Had no idea who they were. By the time that the SNES came out, the Genesis had already been out for a while. But I was just hearing about them for the first time. I played the Genesis years before I ever even saw a Sega Master System, let alone played it. During the Genesis vs SNES days, I went with the SNES. The Genesis was good, but not as good, to me. The closest that Sega came to being my favorite was during the Dreamcast days. The Dreamcast came out before the PS2, Gamecube, or Xbox. So they had a moment all to themselves, which is when I played it the most. But I still had a ton of N64 and PSX games that I played a lot. Tho the games that I put the most time into on the N64 during that year when the Dreamcast was the sole "next gen" console, were the wrestling games. And I still put a lot of time into those games at the time. As for the PSX, I was still playing great hits, like ... Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo 1 & 2, Final Fantasy 7, Resident Evil 2, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Xeno Gears, Soul Reaver, Driver, Chrono Cross, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Bushido Blade, Super Puzzle Fighter 2, Rival Schools, Mega Man X series, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Fear Effect, Bloody Roar 1 & 2, etc.etc.... So, the Dreamcast had some competition at the time, even tho it was the only "next gen" at the time.
For me, the Dreamcast was on it's way to becoming my favorite system. However, then the Playstation 2 came out, and just took over. Then, soon after, the Dreamcast died out. Had Sega continued, they may have eventually of made my favorite console during a given generation. But, in the end, I've only ever seen them as "second best". Which is not a knock on them at all. I'm saying "second best" as a put down. 2nd place is good. I'm just saying that, personally, for me, they were never my Number 1 favorite. But I still enjoyed Sega.
Sega was like a "wild card". You never really knew exactly what they were going to do or what direction they were going to take. They didn't do things in a conventional manner. Even their advertisements weren't conventional. They did things their own way. They just never had the mass appeal that they had hoped for. They had some good franchises, for sure. And they had some of the better versions, on certain cross platform games. But what hurt them the most, I think, was the Sega Saturn. The Genesis was good. The Dreamcast was good. And the Saturn was also good, for what it was. However, the Saturn never got as big as the Genesis or Dreamcast.
Nintendo pretty much dominated with the NES during it's day. Sega gave Nintendo a run for their money with the Genesis.. at first. But Nintendo pulled away towards the end. And then, it almost felt like Sega disappeared. I mean, Sega had the 32X, which failed. Then it went to the Saturn, which never really got a strong foothold in the market. The Saturn was supposed to compete with the PSX and N64, but I never heard people talking about the Saturn during it's days. I mean, yeah, I saw games on the shelves, and ads and what not. But nobody I knew had one. I didn't hear anybody talk about the Saturn, until my friend got one, about a year before the Dreamcast came out. It was like a two console race, between Nintendo and Sony. Sega was no where to be seen. We knew it existed. We knew it was around. But nobody ever saw it. The Dreamcast, on the other hand, they made a huge deal about. It was like Sega's comeback. There was tons of buzz about it, at the time. Tho I heard a lot of skepticism as well, from those who scoffed at the Saturn, and thinking that the Dreamcast was going to be another Saturn. But lots of them changed their attitude after playing the Dreamcast. The problem was, Sega had dug themselves into too big of a hole, and the Dreamcast turned out to be a "flash in the pan", as it were. I mean, when it was going, it was good. But then, as fast as it came, it went away. It had a short window span, before Sega went under. It was fun while it was here, but, like I said, the hole Sega was in was just too deep. A shame, really.
Tho, to be honest, I don't think that the gaming industry could support 4 major consoles on the market at the same time. Having Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and Sega, all on the market at the same time... somethings gotta give. That's just too much. Especially with the rising costs of games, and the time, effort, and money it would take to port them to the other platforms. And with so many consoles all out at once, sales of the cross platform titles would be spread too thin to make it worth while. Somebody would get the shaft, sooner or later. As I've explained in another thread, Nintendo has the franchises and production quality, to support themselves for quite some time. So we know that they would still be around. And Sega had some franchises of it's own. I think Microsoft may have been the first casualty if Sega wasn't in such a big hole before they released the Dreamcast. I think their hole sunk them. And that hole was largely created by the Sega Saturn. But Sega's "death" allowed Microsoft to grow.
I think 3 major systems is the max that the industry can support at any given time. 4 is too many. 4 might do okay, at first. But over time, it'll prove to be too much.
But yeah, I like Sega, and appreciate all that they've done over the years. I like that they didn't just fold up shop, sell off all of their franchises, and call it quits. I like that they kept their products, licensed them out, and then continued to make games. That was the best thing that they could of done. And who knows, maybe they'll make enough money one day, or get some investors on the side, who will entice them or convince them to give another console a try one day. Of course, they would have to wait until their license contracts run out, and then not renew them. And, they would be wise to wait until Sony or Microsoft drop out, making it a 2 console race, before making a new console again. But it's nice to know that the option is always available, whenever Sega wants to surprise us with it. And, because the Dreamcast was fun, people should be at least more receptive to a new Sega console. If the Dreamcast fell on it's face and didn't have many games on it, and was blasted all of the way around, then the idea of a new Sega console would be laughed at. But the Dreamcast, overall, has a good reputation. Sega just was in too deep of a hole to fully support it. But it was good, and thus, a new system should be seen as welcome addition to the market. Even if it's a 'cautionary' welcome.
But for now, I like that they are still staying in the game, by making games. I like that they didn't just give up, sell everything they own to other companies, and then go home. That would of been sad. So I praise Sega for continuing their work. Which, if they ever do decide to rejoin the race again, then they will have been in the middle of the race, as it were, never fully leaving the market. So it won't be like they are starting from scratch with now clue as to what the market is doing, at the time. They will have been with the market the whole time, first hand, and seen what's going on and the direction that it's going, and thus, should be able to make a good console for the consumers. So I wish Sega good luck. Whether they stay as a software only company or jump back into the hardware business, I hope they do well.
