Most Expensive and Nostalgic Genesis Games

Hey everyone! I want to hear your stories! Stories about your most expensive Genesis games, how you got them, why you got them, how much you paid, etc. I also want to hear about your most nostalgic Genesis games. Your memories of playing them, where you played them, who got them for you, etc. I made on a video on this very topic which is *mostly* Genesis games. I've already gotten a lot of great stories in the comments of the vid, but I'd like to hear your stories as well. I think the stories would make for a great video on their own honestly...

You can find my video on the topic here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_N2w7zka3A

For me it was my uncle and grandmother mostly who nurtured my gaming life growing up. My Uncle Doug got me into gaming in the first place, my grandma was just nice enough to buy my brother and I many of the games we wanted. But years later, these games have shaped who I am in many ways, and even still do to some extent. I am also now passing these games on to my nieces, which is quite a surreal experience. At any rate, I want to hear them! Bring on the stories! :D

Streets of Rage 3 was a huge part of my childhood and had a pretty big hand in my sense of humor.
It also was what kicked off my unhealthy interest in amusing bugs and glitches in video games.

I got my Grind Stormer cart for $5 at a local store. It was just sitting there nestled in among the Disney and sports games like nobody's business. I played it exactly one time and then the cart died (a common thing for GS carts). I love telling this story because its the most ridiculous "steal" I've ever gotten. That store wised up now and keep all their high-value games in a glass case and I rarely find crazy deals like that anymore.

My nostalgia came from my cousins passing me down their old model 2 Genesis and several carts, which sat in a cabinet in our kitchen for awhile because we couldn't figure out how to hook up the system (lol). Once I started in on Sonic 2 and Aladdin, I fell in love. I hope to pass this on to my eventual children as well and that they'll appreciate it (at least a little bit!)

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Originally Posted by Eep386

Streets of Rage 3 was a huge part of my childhood and had a pretty big hand in my sense of humor.
It also was what kicked off my unhealthy interest in amusing bugs and glitches in video games.

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Yeah Streets of Rage 1 and 2 were mine. Probably equally. Although the original Streets of Rage is the game that really made me love beat em ups. I never got into 3 until almost a decade later in college. In all honesty I think 3 is the best game in terms of features and the sheer amount of "game" you get. It perhaps wasn't as polished and refined as SOR2, but overall it's by far the best challenge.

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Originally Posted by Chimaera

I got my Grind Stormer cart for $5 at a local store. It was just sitting there nestled in among the Disney and sports games like nobody's business. I played it exactly one time and then the cart died (a common thing for GS carts). I love telling this story because its the most ridiculous "steal" I've ever gotten. That store wised up now and keep all their high-value games in a glass case and I rarely find crazy deals like that anymore.

My nostalgia came from my cousins passing me down their old model 2 Genesis and several carts, which sat in a cabinet in our kitchen for awhile because we couldn't figure out how to hook up the system (lol). Once I started in on Sonic 2 and Aladdin, I fell in love. I hope to pass this on to my eventual children as well and that they'll appreciate it (at least a little bit!)

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I've never played Grind Stormer amazingly, but it looks fantastic! I see on eBay that they sell them with repaired boards... Interesting... Pretty cool that your Genesis was a hand me down, I think that is a similar experience for a lot of people actually.

For nostalgia, it's Thunderforce IV. I used to play it at my mate's house and the memories I have of sitting on his landing playing that game with those graphics and that music are very warm and fuzzy. After that we'd play Desert Strike. We always liked how both players could control the ship in the former; one of us used to be the gunner and the other piloted. We were always gutted that we couldn't do the same in the Strike games: Hack anyone?!

The most expensive game I bought was Panzer dragoon Saga. I just couldn't see the price going down so I jumped on board. It wasn't worth what I paid, but is still the only RPG I can say I have ever truly enjoyed playing. Fantastic.

I think I've never bought an expensive Mega Drive game. Back in the day my father wouldn't buy me games because they were too expensive for us, so we would rent games on the weekends instead. The first md games I bought were very cheap when a local store closed and was giving away its stock very cheap. I became aware of that too late but I still managed to get FIFA 95, SMGP2, Tiny Toons and TF3, plus an unofficial 4 in 1 cartridge with Golden Axe, Air Buster, Super Volleyball and SMGP1 and a Mortal Kombat repro.

The most nostalgic game for me is Flashback. It was also the most "expensive" I ever paid for a MD cart. 40 reais, which is like 10 dolars these days lol (I don't collect. I only buy games I want to play when I find them very cheap. And lately I've been buying digital games only since I don't when Im gonna get my MD fixed, or buy a new one). It was the game I rented the most before that and it really got my imagination going on. It is funny because the game is very linear but it presents itself like it isn't giving you a fake feeling of choice and it works because the presentation is so good. Another ones are SMGP, Golden Axe, SoR 1 and 2, Desert Strike, World Cup 92, Road Rash and Sonic. These are the games that made fall in love with the MD as soon as I got the system. My previous console was an Atari 2600 and I skipped the NES/SMS era, so I was totally blown away by the MD even if I only got it when it was already a few years in the market (late 1992 with Sonic packaged in).

Growing up I rented a ton of games and bought games at a discount from the video rental shops when they needed to be moved. In 1996 and 1997, I bought a TON of Genesis games from the local Blockbuster at 3-5 bucks a pop. I don't think I ever paid more than $15 for a game the vast majority of the Genesis' retail life.

New games were generally gifts. I got Sonic & Knuckles and Earthworm Jim 2 together in one Christmas, and saved up for weeks to get Mortal Kombat 2 at launch. My parents used to give my sister and I $10 a piece each week for school lunch, but I'd hang onto that and take a PB&J, apple, and chips in my lunch to school from home. If my parents were aware of it, they never let me know it. Those 3 games were the "expensive" ones in my collection.

Thunder Force II is a particularly nostalgic game for me, being the first shooter I picked up for the MD as a kid. I find the title screen music and stage one theme 'Knights of Legend' emblematic of the early pre-Sonic days of the console. I still haven't cleared the damn thing either :)

The Toaplan hori duo of Hellfire and Zero Wing have a similar nostalgic pull (and I haven't cleared them either lol). Then you've got all your usual suspects like Golden Axe, Streets of Rage 1/2, Strider, Land Stalker etc, but to be honest any number of earlier entries in the library could sit in with those. It's the late release games I have less affinity with nostalgia-wise I suppose. It's the early stuff during the period where the console was really being pushed as the arcade-at-home experience I perhaps have the fondest memories of.

Strangely, I have some nostalgic feeling for certain titles I only ever saw in screenshots back then since I couldn't afford them/they weren't available in my shitty PAL region, like El Viento.

I sold off my childhood MD collection to fund the next big thing BITD, but have thankfully since reacquired most of them in their unfettered, unaltered JP format. Which has been expensive, but I regret nothing :cool:

As far as (really) expensive games go, I picked up a few of the heavy hitters back in 2012/13 through various online means (by then they were already in the low triple digits), and seeing their current Ebay prices makes me very glad I don't have to deal with them now. Shit was crazy back then, today it's practically untenable.

Slap Fight: needed this a Toaplan fanboy, could have probably passed if not for the MD exclusive Special mode with it's sizzling Koshiro soundtrack.

Panorama Cotton: came for the tech showcase, stayed for the strong rail shooter gameplay. Has become a favourite of mine so defo worth it. The 1CC of hard mode was the payoff.

Alien Soldier: it's Treasure's action swansong for the MD, of course I had to pick it up. Already had M2's excellent GH Treasure Box version for PS2... but you know :|

Battle Mania Daijinjou: It's a shmup, which is probably my dearest genre, so I eventually bought it - even if I don't love it quite as much as some of the other heavy hitters. Still no regrets.

Twinkle Tale: I like my top down run 'n guns, a genre sort of unrepresented on MD, so picked it up. One of the few I unfortunately had to sell off later when money became tighter. One for the flash cart in future, of course.

Yu-Yu Hakusho: tech showcase and remarkably forward-thinking 4-player fighting game from Treasure.

Undeadline : being one of the more hard-nosed MD shooters and JP exclusive earned it a place in my collection.

My MD collecting has (mercifully) slowed down almost to a stop since I've got most of what I really wanted, but I did pick up Kotetsu Teikoku (that's the JP Steel Empire) last year that clocked in at just under 200 Aus bills. Game looks a lot better without Flying Edge's shitty logo defiling the title screen, lol.

Got the JP Contra and Vampire Killer too, but those weren't so wallet shrivellingly expensive back in 2012.I regret none of it though. I've got so much play out of those particular
games, and my MD console in general in the past six years, that you can't really put a price on it all.

Man, I forgot I also bought Panorama Cotton, Yu Yu Hakusho, Alien Soldier, Twinkle Tale and MUSHA. OverDrone, I agree wholeheartedly with you about Panorama Cotton: An absolutely superb game that marries charm and creativity with amazing technical prowess.

So who here is in the Eliminate Down club? Not me, that's for damn sure.

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Originally Posted by cleeg

For nostalgia, it's Thunderforce IV. I used to play it at my mate's house and the memories I have of sitting on his landing playing that game with those graphics and that music are very warm and fuzzy. After that we'd play Desert Strike. We always liked how both players could control the ship in the former; one of us used to be the gunner and the other piloted. We were always gutted that we couldn't do the same in the Strike games: Hack anyone?!

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Funny part for me was that I never played Thunder Force 4 until I was an adult, in fact, not until around 2015. I did an expansive video and 1cc on the game a few years ago and absolutely LOVED it! Even with no Nostalgia attached at all the game holds up amazingly well. Thunder Force 3 was the nostalgic one for me as it was my first 16-bit shooter. Also still an amazing game to this day.

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Originally Posted by Zygrunt

The most nostalgic game for me is Flashback. It was also the most "expensive" I ever paid for a MD cart. 40 reais, which is like 10 dolars these days lol (I don't collect. I only buy games I want to play when I find them very cheap. And lately I've been buying digital games only since I don't when Im gonna get my MD fixed, or buy a new one). It was the game I rented the most before that and it really got my imagination going on. It is funny because the game is very linear but it presents itself like it isn't giving you a fake feeling of choice and it works because the presentation is so good. Another ones are SMGP, Golden Axe, SoR 1 and 2, Desert Strike, World Cup 92, Road Rash and Sonic. These are the games that made fall in love with the MD as soon as I got the system. My previous console was an Atari 2600 and I skipped the NES/SMS era, so I was totally blown away by the MD even if I only got it when it was already a few years in the market (late 1992 with Sonic packaged in).

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Flashback is great and a favorite of mine from that era. The Genesis is also the definitive version to play from what I understand. I was also a big fan of Out of This World, or Another World as it was called overseas. But once Flashback came out.. it took that concept to a whole new level. I was also lucky enough to pick the game up in college for a couple bucks. Although the game is still pretty cheap...

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Originally Posted by OverDrone

Thunder Force II is a particularly nostalgic game for me, being the first shooter I picked up for the MD as a kid. I find the title screen music and stage one theme 'Knights of Legend' emblematic of the early pre-Sonic days of the console. I still haven't cleared the damn thing either :)

Slap Fight: needed this a Toaplan fanboy, could have probably passed if not for the MD exclusive Special mode with it's sizzling Koshiro soundtrack.

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WHOA WHOA WHOA! I had no idea Koshiro did the soundtrack to the MD Slap Fight! That's amazing! Now I have to get it.. except I looked at the prices... Yikes.. Repro it is!

Also, I had fond memories of playing Thunder Force 2 at my grandmas house around 1991. We used to rent it at the local video store. I remember the voices in the game were so hilariously bad, I still to this day have no clue what they are saying. And I too have never beaten that game. The overhead levels were a serious PITA...

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Originally Posted by OverDrone

So who here is in the Eliminate Down club? Not me, that's for damn sure.

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The price is insane.. like over a grand for a loose cart I believe? I was planning on getting a repro at some point...

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Originally Posted by AggroSky

Funny part for me was that I never played Thunder Force 4 until I was an adult, in fact, not until around 2015. I did an expansive video and 1cc on the game a few years ago and absolutely LOVED it! Even with no Nostalgia attached at all the game holds up amazingly well. Thunder Force 3 was the nostalgic one for me as it was my first 16-bit shooter. Also still an amazing game to this day.

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Agreed. I was going to quote cleeg and say that I would have loved that game back when it came out and would like to have nostalgia for it, but I'm in the same boat as you on this one. This game still looks and sounds great, and it immediately became one of my favorite Genesis games (despite sucking at it).

Since I mentioned a game I didn't play until recently, I'll mention one I've been showing people as an adult. I got Vectorman as a gift pretty soon after it came out, and immediately enjoyed it. I was a big fan of Sonic, of course, and in this game, you could jump around and explore similarly to sonic, but you could also shoot baddies! Can't go wrong with that. I would have my friends play it back then, and I thought it was weird how they couldn't grasp basic mechanics such as squatting on an upward slope to shoot up and dodge projectiles. They would also try multiple times but never be able to beat the boss on the first level. Fast forward 20 years, and all of the people I have play this game have all of the same issues.

Arrow Flash despite being very plain...is quite expensive (at lest its genesis copy). I want to get it though. I like the atmosphere.

^ Has some good music in it too. I've been looking at grabbing the Japanese version but I'm having trouble justifying the price. Like you say, the game itself is kind of on the plain side shmup-wise, but it does have some nice graphics and sound going on.

Speaking of shmups, Task Force Harrier EX and Fire Mustang are on my list but I'm having trouble justifying them at their price. Gleylancer would obviously be nice but I'm about ten years too late on that one I'm afraid.

Outside that's people already cited before i have 2 games that i love and probaly i never gonna own my phisical copy.

Splatterhouse 2 e 3.

I really think that this series is very underhated..
the looks and atmosphere of the game is amazing, the soundtrack with trash horror film theme wins me at first glance.
I rent and finish it incountable times in my chieldhood..