The 100 Greatest Sega Genesis Games of All Time

Nobi, I think it would be best if you updated the OP with the refined criteria (any game provided it was released on cartridge anywhere in the world, licensed or not, no meganet nor mega games allowed, S3K, MD+CD+32X versions, etc.) so that people who don't want to look at other lists can have all the info in the first page. Also maybe every list could be posted here with the spoiler tag ? Maybe you can edit the ones that have been already published and make this mandatory ?

Anyway a lot of people is going to forget Snatcher, you'll see.

My list is at about 90 games, only the first 10-20 are sorted. The remaining games I've played, but I don't like them enough to properly rank them. So I dunno. Getting the list to 100 is gonna be hard too, I feel tempted to put games I haven't really played properly but seem really good (like Rent a Hero and Hybrid Front).

Thankfully I did remember snatcher, and it's pretty high on the list. Only game of it's kind that I liked.

well if not Snatcher people are going to forget Monkey Island because it somewhat doesn't seem to belong on the Mega Drive catalog, it's hard to be really exhaustive and then there are things like Lord Monarch which maybe should belong here but almost nobody in sega-16 has any bloody clue if it's good or not. I guess if it was THAT good it would have already been traslated, as other text-heavy japaneses games have already been.

The problem here is there are around 150 games who could as well be in the 50th as in the 150th position depending on the mood of the day. I guess the aim here is to achieve a median list in which the first 30-40 on the list will be the absolute top tier in the eyes of this community.

For me, it's impossible to rank 100 games. The quality of the system's library is too high. Game 63 can be as good as game 88, but their points given will differ greatly. I would prefer to give 10 games 100 points, then 10 games 95 points and so on, down to 50 points for games 90-100 (if my math is right). Then again, this isn't my initiative and there are millions of ways to conduct a top list, and each and every one has its own flaw. The result will probably be good in the end anyway, I hope.

Just focusing on Genesis/MegaDrive games for this one, as there's so many great games and I can't be arsed to include some Sega CD offerings while also trying to figure out where they'd place. It was hard enough trying to figure it for the Genesis/MegaDrive lol.

001) Gunstar Heroes
002) Sonic 3 & Knuckles
003) Starflight
004) Shinobi III
005) Contra: Hard Corps
006) Shadowrun
007) Ristar
008) Gauntlet IV
009) M.U.S.H.A
010) Dynamite Headdy
011) Dune II: The Battle for Arrakis
012) Thunder Force IV (aka Lightening Force)
013) Pirates! Gold
014) Alien Soldier
015) Comix Zone
016) Phantasy Star IV
017) Monster World IV
018) Streets of Rage 3
019) Shining Force II
020) Beyond Oasis
021) Sonic the Hedgehog
022) World of Illusion
023) Gleylancer
024) Pulseman
025) Castlevania: Bloodlines
026) Landstalker
027) Ghouls 'n Ghosts
028) Langrisser II
029) General Chaos
030) Castle of Illusion
031) Skitchin'
032) Mega Turrican
033) Ecco: The Tides of Time
034) Crusader of Centy
035) Mutant League Football
036) Battle Mania Daiginjou
037) Revenge of Shinobi
038) Quackshot
039) Streets of Rage 2
040) Thunder Force III
041) Toejam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron
042) Flashback: The Quest for Identity
043) Rent a Hero
044) Warsong
045) Puggsy
046) Ranger X
047) Vectorman 2
048) Wonder Boy in Monster World
049) Golden Axe
050) (Misadventures of) Flink
051) Shadow Dancer
052) Road Rash II
053) Eliminate Down
054) Out of this World/Another World
055) Sonic the Hedgehog 2
056) Alisia Dragoon
057) X-Men 2: The Clone Wars
058) Gaiares
059) Rolling Thunder 2
060) Decap Attack
061) Elemental Master
062) Splatterhouse 2
063) Undead Line
064) King Colossus
065) Phelios
066) Rolling Thunder 3
067) Splatterhouse 3
068) Ecco the Dolphin
069) Twinkle Tale
070) Ghostbusters
071) Atomic Runner
072) Trouble Shooter
073) NHL '94
074) Rocket Knight Adventures
075) Midnight Resistance
076) E-Swat
077) Phantasy Star II
078) Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons
079) Adventures of Batman & Robin
080) Mercs
081) Streets of Rage
082) Gain Ground
083) Mega Man: The Wily Warsrolo
084) Spider-Man (vs. The Kingpin)
085) Master of Monsters
086) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist
087) Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter
088) Wings of Wor/Gynoug
089) Marvel Land
090) Toejam & Earl
091) The Ooze
092) Forgotten Worlds
093) Demolition Man
094) Mutant League Hockey
095) Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen
096) Bubble and Squeak
097) Rolo to the Rescue
098) Fire Shark
099) El Viento
100) Bubba 'n Stix

Starflight on 3rd that's quite a statement :)

anyway don't forget in those kind of lists the last place (the 100th game) is usually a hidden gem or something YOU want to be looked at beyond the fact that it's probably not going to make it onto the final list.

I agree with Zebbe: as I said, it's much easier to group our preferences in tiers and the only rank the top-tier ones. Also ranking 32X games amongst MD games seems weird (we are just not used to) as it is somewhat regarded as a different console on its own (that must be planted onto the MD, though...)

Here is the updated criteria from the original post in this thread. Thank you guys for helping me iron this out. I'm very pleased to have already received 6 lists in less than 24 hours!

• There is a maximum limit of 100 for your list, but there is no minimum. You can send a list of your top 100, 50, 25, 10, whatever you can do. You can't list 100 favorite Genesis games? That's no problem, send a list of whatever you can. Your maximum is 100, there is no minimum.
  
  
• Games rankings on the official list will be determined by a point system. Games will be given points depending on your rankings. The number of games you list will determine how many points your games get. If you send in a list of 100, your #1 game on the list will get 100 points, #2 will get 99 points, #3 will get 98, so on and so on until your #100 game gets 1 point. If you send a list of 20 games, your #1 will get 20 points, #2 will get 19 points and so on and so on until your #20 will get 1 point.
  
  
• The countdown is for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games, Sega CD games, and 32X games, all can be included on your list.
  
  
• Sonic 3 & Sonic & Knuckles should be listed as 1 game.
  
  
• Pier Solar is eligible. Anything that was released in physical cartridge/CD and is playable on a Genesis/Mega Drive/CD/32X is eligible. Games that were not released in physical cartridge/CD form will not be eligible.
  
  
• This is not exclusively just North American releases, this is for any game released worldwide. For different versions of games like Bare Knuckle 3 vs Streets of Rage 3, if BK3 gets 10 votes and SOR III gets 5 votes for example, it will tally together for a total of 15 votes(and however many total points), but BK3 will be the representative, same goes for Sonic CD NA vs Sonic CD Japan, etc. Be sure to vote for your favorite version of the game.
  
  
• For compilations: If it is a compilation of games that are not released individually on the Genesis, it will count as one game. Mega Man and the Wily Wars for example is indeed eligible to be on your list(as one game, Mega Man 2 on it's own for example will not be eligible). Compilations of games that are on the Genesis in individual form will not be eligible, for example, the 6 Pack will not be eligible.
  
  
• For games with multiple ports across Sega CD, 32X, and stock Genny/MD all votes for all versions will be added into the same total. If say for example 10 people vote for regular Genesis version of Ecco, and another 12 people vote for the Sega CD version, the total for Ecco will be 22 votes, but on the final list the CD version will represent because it got the majority votes. I will specify in the countdown which versions got how many votes.
  
  
• Send your list to me in a Private Message.
  
  
• Deadline to get the lists in is July 25th. Take your time and put some effort into it. You've got all month. Countdown will start in the beginning of August and will be real fancy, I promise. :cool:

The inclusion of 32X and Sega CD games is the one thing I am not willing to budge on. To me those add ons are a pretty big part of what makes the Genesis special, those libraries are just as much a part of the Genny as any stock cartridge. You can't play 32X or Sega CD games without a Genesis. I guess you can consider this a Tower of Doom countdown!

I don't mind posting your list in this thread, though it's not something I would do personally. When the time comes to post the results I will post a picture of the box art, the title of the game, the year/publisher/developer, some screen shots, a writeup on what makes the game special, as well as stats as far as how many points and how many lists it appeared on and whatever other alternate versions received votes. Also will link the official Sega-16 reviews and any other relevant articles we have here pertaining to the game. I will probably post 5 games at a time until we get into the top 20 or 30, then each game will get a little more attention. I'm going to be revealing where the games ranked on my personal list as the results are revealed with my thoughts on why I love it and why it ranked where it ranked for me, I invite you all to do the same. I anticipate this to generate a lot of discussion, and maybe a few fist fights!

Thanks for the update! After reading your last paragraph I'm sensing Project Y will be released before this project ends ;)

Mega Man, I forgot Mega Man! Oh well. I just wanted to drop my list and follow the thread without questioning myself too much. People, you have a whole month, so think harder!

Also if you don't recieve enough submissions (I doubt it) or too many to process 100 votes each time, please consider switching to a Nth number of tiers or grouping of some kind. A lot of people would be glad to do a 100 list if they just have to splice it in 3-5 parts.

100 games may seem like too many to list, but it's perfectly legit for a console like the Genesis/MD. There are plenty to choose from, so off to making the list. Got some decisions to make.

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Originally Posted by goldenband

I'll be keeping mine under wraps because of the Spunkwater Effect

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:D

Yeah, this list is going to take some thought. I'm on it though.

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Originally Posted by chilled

Anyway a lot of people is going to forget Snatcher, you'll see.

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I didn't 'forget' Snatcher, but I actually didn't include it in my list. I gave it some thought though (it would have probably ended up about rank 110-ish - if I made a list of 20 SegaCD games separately it would certainly have been in there). The thing is, I never really played Snatcher, so I can't really tell where to 'rank' it in my personal Top 100. I more or less went about it that way: "I know I like game x, but would I rather play it now than game y currently ranked there?" I really only can do this with games I have actually played for some time. Also, Snatcher is relatively prolific when compared to other games that in my eyes deserve more praise. For example, I've included "Yu Yu Hakusho: Sunset Fighters" in my personal Top 20; a game most people probable don't even have on their radar (though I see chilled did; good man ;) /edit: oh, spiffyone ranked it as well, I see ). Oh, also, I was kind of surprised myself, but currently "Brian Lara Cricket '96" is in my no. 100 spot. Let's see if this game will get more than a single point overall at the end of this vote. :p

Also didn't include secret of Monkey Island. I love the series (I would jump immediately if Telltale would continue their "Tales of Monkey Island"), but in my eyes neither did the Sega CD define the series nor the other way round.

As for the idea of tiered ranking, frankly I kind of agree that this isn't a bad idea. When sorting my list, I also ended up breaking my personal suggestions down into a "top", a "middle" and a "bottom" tier. It is kind of like Zebbe says: It's relatively easy to discern ranks 1 to 25, but depending on the personal mood there can be high fluctuations in what game I'd prefer. I game I ranked #64 today could be no. 46 on another. I would also be feel a bit more at ease making my list when using a tiered system. Maybe something like: Top 1 to 20 are rated depending on rank (100 for #1, 81 for #20), afterwards there are tiers in 10s: #21-30 get 70, no. 31-40 get 60, #41-50 get 50, and so forth, until #91-100 get 10 each. Granted, it won't make the list as finely granulated, but I could imagine that people would have an easier time coming up with their top100 games and ranking them accordingly.

PM sent.

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Originally Posted by Phantar

Also didn't include secret of Monkey Island. I love the series (I would jump immediately if Telltale would continue their "Tales of Monkey Island"), but in my eyes neither did the Sega CD define the series nor the other way round.

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See that's the argument many people in here have and I don't share. You have frigging Monkey Island on the system and you don't like it because either you didn't played it or it was relatively unknown at the time or, worst, you consider the port isn't that good. I prefer to consider those games not taking into account where they come from. Monkey Island is one of the most bevoled PC games of all time (just as Doom btw), just as Street Fighter II is for the arcades, so I don't understand why they wouldn't make into the top 100 list of a console released at the time.
Maybe it's more difficult if you are to choose the best Wii games and you end up having Virtual Console and older games ports, but those games were current by the time they were ported to the Mega Drive.
If I pushed my logic to the limit, I should have put Tetris also in there, but I had to find a compromise. It's not a bad idea To focus in exclusives for the system or just ports that really shined as someone stated before, though. I don't know, at some point I'd like to see a ranked list of the best games conceived specifically for the system (not ports, but including games that were ported elsewhere afterwards, not only exclusives) or released simultaneously with the original system (like Flashback)

The problem with Monkey Island is that it's just not a good port.

yeah like SSF2, Doom and many many others, but if you didn't knew any other version, what would you think of this cartridge/CD ? See, that's the point I'm trying to make. But I reckon most people compare each game to similar games on other systems (=ports) instead of comparing with the other 900 games of the Mega Drive catalog. The guy is asking to rank what we think are the best amongst those 900, not the best amongst other systems