I recently completed my own genny try-outs. I compiled a list of all games in the genras I like (for instance, all the shooters and racers), as well as all the games that just sounded interesting or funny or were mentioned/recommended in posts. The final list had a good couple hundred games on it.
I then tried them all out in emulation, so I could decide which ones I liked (and the ones i like I'll try to purchase real copies of).
Anyway, here's my final list of games I decided were worth getting. I thought I'd post in case someone wanted to point out something horrifyingly missing from my list, or to point out that something really sucks after the first level or something. Also, I'm definitely looking for good 2-player games, since there's so few. If you know a good 2-player, let me know.
Genesis Horizontal Shooters:
Mega Turrican (Just overall fast fun)
Sagaia (No real special reason, except that it seems better than the shooters that aren't on my list, and the fish are kinda cool)
Steel Empire (I really liked the graphic design style, as well as the bosses where you defeat them via an incremental logical process, and other neat things like shooting backwards and parts of levels where you go right to left).
Thunderforce III (Just seemed solidly good, to fun level details)
Lightning Force (Ditto)
Bio-hazard Battle (liked the cool insect/bug designs and fun weapons, like the pong-bubbles and homing worm lazers, but mostly the 2-player simultaneous part, since there are so few)
Contra Hard Corps (it was an NES fav. The genny version really doesn't feel the same as on the NES, but still fun, though hard as heck).
Genesis Vertical Shooters:
Vapor Trail (again, mostly the 2-player simultaneous part, since there are so few. Actually it gets kinda boring after a while, but it was fun to play with a friend for a bit)
Grindstormer (seemed pretty fast and fun)
Musha (overall solidly good, good designs and gameplay)
Viewpoint (actually isometric. The cool 3-d devices and baddudes keep it interesting. A lot of slowdown though. I like the weapon charge feature a lot).
Genesis 1st person shooters:
Panorama Cotton (needs no excuse)
Space Harrier II (cool creatures and I liked the 32x one)
Burning Force (looked fun)
Galaxy Force II (because I tried playing once may years ago at a Circus Circus arcade, but the machine was busted and I wasted 4 quarters, and ever since wanted to play it again)
Super Thunder Blade (actually looks iffy, but in case you haven't noticed, I just love all 1st person shooters, so I think I have all of them on my list...? (except exo squad which I wasn't particular for))
Genesis Platform:
Sonic 1, 2, 3, Knuckles (I used to own all of these before I sold most of my games, before I decided to get back into it again. Really, nothing on the platform beats the fast-paced solid platform action of the sonics in my opinion).
Cool Spot (Awesome control and amusing details at every turn, same story as above)
EarthWorm Jim 1, 2 (Completed 1 many times ago, still haven't done 2 yet though. The first level of 2 doesn't seem as addictive as with 1).
Streets of Rage 2, 3 (got 1 on my segacd 4-in-1, liked the game, graphics, and music)
Turtles Hyperstone (loved the NES games. Hyperstone seems too short though and doesn't have as much fun stuff in it as the NES versions. Still it's a good 2-player romp)
Battletoads (fun mix of styles and humor)
Genesis Fighting:
Weapon Lord (Liked the moves, characters, and weapons, good solid play).
Primal Rage (32x version, thought dinosaurs were cool, though it's disappointing there's only 7 dinos, and two of them are duplicates (MK3 ::cough:🙂.
Eternal Champions (CD version, which is not just a port, it's a whole new game, best fighting game I've ever played on any system)
MK II (32x version, I'm thinking about this one, though a long time ago my friend and I played all these MK games to death. We had the Game Informer moves list and spend all night for weeks tryping out every type of fatality and combo, so I"m just kinda MK'd out I think).
Samurai Showdown (I'm looking for another good fighter to try, thought this might be the one. I like japanese stuff and I like weapons (ie weapon lord). Is the segacd version better or worse? What about the 3do?)
Genesis Sim:
Mig 29 (The graphics are way outdated, stick with a modern PC game, but it was pretty fun to play through anyway. My conclusion on about all flight sims was just get a recent PC game instead)
Road Rash (the game engine is not based on real driving physics, which is probably why it's actually fun to play. These games are fun, though the bad music detracts them. Stick to the Sega CD version (not that I call most of that music "good", but it's good music to nitro and chain whip to)
Lotus II Recs (this fake driving simulation was fun on NES and Atari, but seems to have lost it's flare in genesis. The driving games on genny are just kinda boring. This one seemed to be the best of the lot. There are some sim-type driving games (race drivin, etc), but they get my same conclusing as with flight sims).
Genesis Other:
Ms. Pac Man
Paperboy 2
Wimbledon (was looking for a fun simple arcadish ball sports game for mutliplayer, this seemed pretty fun)
Puyo-Puyo 2 (by far the best puzzle game on the genesis. The one flaw of the genesis is lack of cute puzzle games. I wish there was something like adventures of Lolo on here).
Super Bubble Bobble (yah! If I can find it! and i can't even find a working rom)
Williams arcade greatest hits (actually I just want to play Joust again, and this rom doesn't work on Gens)
32x Stuff (there's only a dozen games, no use separating them):
Doom
Star Wars (gameplay kinda sucks actually, but being a hyper-classic-star-wars fan I have to enjoy it... I'm a tool)
36 holes (golf, not porn. Something to play with my dad).
Primal Rage (aformentioned)
Virtual Fighter
Space Harrier
Motherbase 2000 (seems like a direct ripoff of viewpoint, though I wish it also had the weapon charge feature. The hump-a-weapon is fun, and there's a cool Macross transforming Valkryie on level 2 you gotta check out).
BC Racers (I liked the segacd game a lot, but the 2-player coop was lame, so I thought I'd give the 2-player split-screen of the 32x a try. The gameplay is smooth and the colors better, but the screen is actually smaller on the 32x than the segacd, and I really miss the funny fmv intro and the cd music from the segacd version. But I already completed it on cd, I just got it for the 2-player, though it turns out none of my friends like the kart-style steering controls, sigh)
Virtua Racing
Motocross (I love this game, don't listen to the other reviews. Fast-paced high-flying arcade-style fun, and texture mapped ground! And if you run over the crowd they scream)
Kolibri (the only horizontal shooter on the 32x, figured I have to give it a whirl)
Shadow squadron (been a while since I last played, remembered it being rather short and frustrating at the end though).
Knuckles Chaotix (the only action platform on the genny, plus i liked sonic, figured I have to give it a whirl)
Darxide (I tried it out in the emulator (though it plays at about 2 fps on my pIII 500 in Gens). I actaully wa pretty unimpressed with the gameplay, even though the graphics are amazing (for 32x). And the behind-the-ship control was impossible to use. Unless someone tells me otherwise, I definitely don't think it's worth the 300$ price tag.
NBA Jam TE (I don't like modern sports games, but it sounded more "arcade"-ish, and I was looking for some type of fun sports game to do with 4 players, and it was only 99c 🙂
Sega CD:
See my post on the segacd board.
Thanks,
JMT.
I then tried them all out in emulation, so I could decide which ones I liked (and the ones i like I'll try to purchase real copies of).
Anyway, here's my final list of games I decided were worth getting. I thought I'd post in case someone wanted to point out something horrifyingly missing from my list, or to point out that something really sucks after the first level or something. Also, I'm definitely looking for good 2-player games, since there's so few. If you know a good 2-player, let me know.
Genesis Horizontal Shooters:
Mega Turrican (Just overall fast fun)
Sagaia (No real special reason, except that it seems better than the shooters that aren't on my list, and the fish are kinda cool)
Steel Empire (I really liked the graphic design style, as well as the bosses where you defeat them via an incremental logical process, and other neat things like shooting backwards and parts of levels where you go right to left).
Thunderforce III (Just seemed solidly good, to fun level details)
Lightning Force (Ditto)
Bio-hazard Battle (liked the cool insect/bug designs and fun weapons, like the pong-bubbles and homing worm lazers, but mostly the 2-player simultaneous part, since there are so few)
Contra Hard Corps (it was an NES fav. The genny version really doesn't feel the same as on the NES, but still fun, though hard as heck).
Genesis Vertical Shooters:
Vapor Trail (again, mostly the 2-player simultaneous part, since there are so few. Actually it gets kinda boring after a while, but it was fun to play with a friend for a bit)
Grindstormer (seemed pretty fast and fun)
Musha (overall solidly good, good designs and gameplay)
Viewpoint (actually isometric. The cool 3-d devices and baddudes keep it interesting. A lot of slowdown though. I like the weapon charge feature a lot).
Genesis 1st person shooters:
Panorama Cotton (needs no excuse)
Space Harrier II (cool creatures and I liked the 32x one)
Burning Force (looked fun)
Galaxy Force II (because I tried playing once may years ago at a Circus Circus arcade, but the machine was busted and I wasted 4 quarters, and ever since wanted to play it again)
Super Thunder Blade (actually looks iffy, but in case you haven't noticed, I just love all 1st person shooters, so I think I have all of them on my list...? (except exo squad which I wasn't particular for))
Genesis Platform:
Sonic 1, 2, 3, Knuckles (I used to own all of these before I sold most of my games, before I decided to get back into it again. Really, nothing on the platform beats the fast-paced solid platform action of the sonics in my opinion).
Cool Spot (Awesome control and amusing details at every turn, same story as above)
EarthWorm Jim 1, 2 (Completed 1 many times ago, still haven't done 2 yet though. The first level of 2 doesn't seem as addictive as with 1).
Streets of Rage 2, 3 (got 1 on my segacd 4-in-1, liked the game, graphics, and music)
Turtles Hyperstone (loved the NES games. Hyperstone seems too short though and doesn't have as much fun stuff in it as the NES versions. Still it's a good 2-player romp)
Battletoads (fun mix of styles and humor)
Genesis Fighting:
Weapon Lord (Liked the moves, characters, and weapons, good solid play).
Primal Rage (32x version, thought dinosaurs were cool, though it's disappointing there's only 7 dinos, and two of them are duplicates (MK3 ::cough:🙂.
Eternal Champions (CD version, which is not just a port, it's a whole new game, best fighting game I've ever played on any system)
MK II (32x version, I'm thinking about this one, though a long time ago my friend and I played all these MK games to death. We had the Game Informer moves list and spend all night for weeks tryping out every type of fatality and combo, so I"m just kinda MK'd out I think).
Samurai Showdown (I'm looking for another good fighter to try, thought this might be the one. I like japanese stuff and I like weapons (ie weapon lord). Is the segacd version better or worse? What about the 3do?)
Genesis Sim:
Mig 29 (The graphics are way outdated, stick with a modern PC game, but it was pretty fun to play through anyway. My conclusion on about all flight sims was just get a recent PC game instead)
Road Rash (the game engine is not based on real driving physics, which is probably why it's actually fun to play. These games are fun, though the bad music detracts them. Stick to the Sega CD version (not that I call most of that music "good", but it's good music to nitro and chain whip to)
Lotus II Recs (this fake driving simulation was fun on NES and Atari, but seems to have lost it's flare in genesis. The driving games on genny are just kinda boring. This one seemed to be the best of the lot. There are some sim-type driving games (race drivin, etc), but they get my same conclusing as with flight sims).
Genesis Other:
Ms. Pac Man
Paperboy 2
Wimbledon (was looking for a fun simple arcadish ball sports game for mutliplayer, this seemed pretty fun)
Puyo-Puyo 2 (by far the best puzzle game on the genesis. The one flaw of the genesis is lack of cute puzzle games. I wish there was something like adventures of Lolo on here).
Super Bubble Bobble (yah! If I can find it! and i can't even find a working rom)
Williams arcade greatest hits (actually I just want to play Joust again, and this rom doesn't work on Gens)
32x Stuff (there's only a dozen games, no use separating them):
Doom
Star Wars (gameplay kinda sucks actually, but being a hyper-classic-star-wars fan I have to enjoy it... I'm a tool)
36 holes (golf, not porn. Something to play with my dad).
Primal Rage (aformentioned)
Virtual Fighter
Space Harrier
Motherbase 2000 (seems like a direct ripoff of viewpoint, though I wish it also had the weapon charge feature. The hump-a-weapon is fun, and there's a cool Macross transforming Valkryie on level 2 you gotta check out).
BC Racers (I liked the segacd game a lot, but the 2-player coop was lame, so I thought I'd give the 2-player split-screen of the 32x a try. The gameplay is smooth and the colors better, but the screen is actually smaller on the 32x than the segacd, and I really miss the funny fmv intro and the cd music from the segacd version. But I already completed it on cd, I just got it for the 2-player, though it turns out none of my friends like the kart-style steering controls, sigh)
Virtua Racing
Motocross (I love this game, don't listen to the other reviews. Fast-paced high-flying arcade-style fun, and texture mapped ground! And if you run over the crowd they scream)
Kolibri (the only horizontal shooter on the 32x, figured I have to give it a whirl)
Shadow squadron (been a while since I last played, remembered it being rather short and frustrating at the end though).
Knuckles Chaotix (the only action platform on the genny, plus i liked sonic, figured I have to give it a whirl)
Darxide (I tried it out in the emulator (though it plays at about 2 fps on my pIII 500 in Gens). I actaully wa pretty unimpressed with the gameplay, even though the graphics are amazing (for 32x). And the behind-the-ship control was impossible to use. Unless someone tells me otherwise, I definitely don't think it's worth the 300$ price tag.
NBA Jam TE (I don't like modern sports games, but it sounded more "arcade"-ish, and I was looking for some type of fun sports game to do with 4 players, and it was only 99c 🙂
Sega CD:
See my post on the segacd board.
Thanks,
JMT.