Sega franchises: best to worst?

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Originally Posted by BonusKun

You know all this talk about best and worst franchises has me wondering why we've never done a game of the month type thread. It wouldn't have to be about just Sega but I'd love to see some people pick a game that everyone could easily have access to and talk about it for the month on their progress and where they're at. On TNL we had a thread for Dragon Quest III on Gameboy color of all things and it really took off by how many people got into it.

if anyone wants to seriously think about starting one I'd welcome it. I have a few titles I'm getting into this month so I'd be curious to see what everyone else is jumping into right now for the holidays.

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So basically like Racketboy's "Together Retro." Sounds good.

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Originally Posted by Lync

Best, worst? I could make a few suggestions. But underrated?:

Virtual On.

I can't even think of another game in the genre of mech-on-mecha 'fighting' that nearly compares. Playing the first game in the arcade was unforgettable, but I still believe Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram is not only the best entry in the series, but perhaps one of the most perfect games I've ever played.

I should look this up because I don't fully remember, but I'm sure I've read that Oratorio Tangram for Dreamcast was one of the few games to receive a perfect score from Japanese magazines during its time. I mean, the controls are still so satisfying, I love the attention to detail in the mechs and environments. Love it all. What an ace franchise SEGA had there. Booting this on my DC just gave me chills:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIFli6RCpYY

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Never played it with a proper controller, but without one its a chore. Would you say it's even better than Gotcha Force?

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Originally Posted by Jeckidy

Never played it with a proper controller, but without one its a chore. Would you say it's even better than Gotcha Force?

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It's funny you mention it because I remember when I bought VO:OT, the Dreamcast was still relevant and reviews insisted that the arcade-twin stick for the DC was critical in order to play. Personally, the controller is just fine; I never understood the ire - the only difficultly with it really is in pivotal-turning.

Otherwise, I think VO:OT plays pretty smart on the DC controller. Left trigger = left weapon, right trigger = right weapon, both triggers = center weapon, guard, crouch, boost... it's otherwise smooth to me.

Games like Gotcha Force or Custom Robo definitely tickle my fancy, but are no where near the level of polish Virtual On boasts - and that's because it's just hard to compare something that is raw, mech-on-mech, arcade action with other titles that decorates similar game-play with story-elements, strategy mechanics, customization, etc.

The closest thing I've seen to Virtual On is Last Legion UX on the Nintendo 64 by Hudson Soft. It's kind of obscure, Japan-only, but that's what comes closest to my mind.

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Originally Posted by BonusKun

You know all this talk about best and worst franchises has me wondering why we've never done a game of the month type thread. It wouldn't have to be about just Sega but I'd love to see some people pick a game that everyone could easily have access to and talk about it for the month on their progress and where they're at. On TNL we had a thread for Dragon Quest III on Gameboy color of all things and it really took off by how many people got into it.

if anyone wants to seriously think about starting one I'd welcome it. I have a few titles I'm getting into this month so I'd be curious to see what everyone else is jumping into right now for the holidays.

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That would be a neat thread. But I'd even consider expanding to all games and not just Sega. Perhaps more than one thread?

OutRun, Phantasy Star, SOR, Panzer, Sonic, Shinobi, TJ&E, Wonder Boy, Space Harrier, Yakuza, Shenmue, Shining...so many greats. i loved the shit out of most of the Alex Kidd games growing up, even.

worst is hard: i didn't enjoy Flicky, Altered Beast etc growing up but came around on them. even stuff that wasn't my cup of tea like Vectorman was still cool...i gotta check the compilation discs, there's always something i skip.

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Originally Posted by QuickSciFi

That would be a neat thread. But I'd even consider expanding to all games and not just Sega. Perhaps more than one thread?

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I don't see why not but I'd love to get the ball rolling slowly. idc if you're emulating it or just playing it on new or older hardware.

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Originally Posted by Obviously

I don't really love or hate Altered Beast. It is what it is.

I especially don't think it's an awful or broken game by any means. There's always been a lot of exaggeration from both sides that really puzzles me.

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The game plays more like Bad Dudes, then something like Double Dragon, or Street of Rage. How many people would pick Bad Dudes over the other two games?

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Originally Posted by gamevet

The game plays more like Bad Dudes, then something like Double Dragon, or Street of Rage. How many people would pick Bad Dudes over the other two games?

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I'm not saying you should but it's also its own weird thing. I don't think the existence of better beat 'em ups necessarily makes it irrelevant.

It's not a great game and I'm not really a big fan of it. All I'm saying is it's not broken or terrible either.

The original Double Dragon falls into a similar boat really. People either really love or really hate that one too.

I might pick Bad Dudes over Double Dragon. I'm not the biggest Double Dragon fan.

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Originally Posted by Obviously

I'm not saying you should but it's also its own weird thing. I don't think the existence of better beat 'em ups necessarily makes it irrelevant.

It's not a great game and I'm not really a big fan of it. All I'm saying is it's not broken or terrible either.

The original Double Dragon falls into a similar boat really. People either really love or really hate that one too.

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It's one of my 1st games for the Genesis. I just think that the moves are rather lame until you transform.

Double Dragon was the game that inspired other beat'em ups like Final Fight and Golden Axe.

Don't matter what it inspired. All comes down to if I enjoy it enough or not.

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Originally Posted by gamevet

Double Dragon was the game that inspired other beat'em ups like Final Fight and Golden Axe.

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Well yeah, of course. It deserves all the respect it gets for helping to define the genre but that's besides the point.

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Originally Posted by Obviously

The original Double Dragon falls into a similar boat really. People either really love or really hate that one too.

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Really? First I've heard that.

Double Dragon was like the SFII of it's day, which only made the subsequent home port debacle even worse. I'm still smarting the MD ports of both the first and second games have such severe issues...

DD may have inspired Golden Axe but for my money DD is the better game.

Altered Beast I can sort of understand. IIRC Someone here said it was the perfect pack-in though, being the tech demo that it was at the time (big sprites, detailed backgounds, speech, two-player simultaneous etc). It released the same year as the arcade game in Japan, at a time where home tech sometimes took a few years to get ports.

But gameplay wise it was superseded very quickly, obviously.

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Originally Posted by Thief

Don't matter what it inspired. All comes down to if I enjoy it enough or not.

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That's you, not me. I thought the game was kind of stupid when I played it in the arcade. It seemed to be more about the cool graphics and sound, over actually having good gameplay. It's lumped in my list of the worst of the genre, along with Bad Street Brawler and Bad Dudes. The other two at least gave you a slight clue by including Bad in their name.

Does Thunder Force count? I'd definitely choose that one for best, although Phantasy Star might be my favorite.

As far as worst, maybe Golden Axe? I personally find them to be enjoyable (well, mostly the first one), but I don't think they're particularly good. My least favorite would probably be Daytona, but I don't think they're really that bad.