What did you guys think of the now beloved Sega Genesis when it made its debut in stores in the late 80's.
My brother told me that it might not sell too well because he thought the Master System sucked.
What did you guys think of the now beloved Sega Genesis when it made its debut in stores in the late 80's.
My brother told me that it might not sell too well because he thought the Master System sucked.
I thought it was great, but the first time I saw it on display before it was released I was disappointed that the boss in Altered Beast did not scale larger like he did in the arcade. I was impressed that Altered Beast had many more layers of scrolling than the arcade, though. When I finally bought thr system a week or two later, I was impressed at the sound quality of the game and the music, cheesy as they are. Then I purchased Thunder Force 2 and was blown away at the cool game and the music. I loved it and still do. Then I borrowed Space Harrier 2 from a friend and was extremely disappointed. It didn't scale!! What the fuck was this shit??? Damn I was pissed.
"I wish I could afford it."
I thought the round part was a CD-drive and that it played CD games.
My friend also thought that when he first saw the picture of the Mega Drive in the first or second issue of EGM. "The CD-ROM is built in, I know it!" he exclaimed. I wasn't so sure, especially since that was where the cartridges went.
it was really hard to find decent games for the first year :|
"Dad, I will never love you the same if you don't get me this"
I wasn't aware of it's release, but by the end of it's life I had transformed from ignorant child to a life time video gamer.
I was just a baby when the Genesis debuted. When I was little, I just had an NES and Game Gear, and I wanted just about every system I knew of (including an SNES, Game Boy, Genesis, Sega CD, and TG-16). I remember wanting the Genesis real bad for the Sonic games and Rocket Knight Adventures, as well as Blaster Master 2 (I had the original game and wanted this one bad) and Aladdin.
Fixed to reflect the truth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Smith
I had a NES when it came out. At first I thought "why is Sega making another system?". The concept of a new system seemed odd to me since all I had known was NES and the Master system. Around the same time I started going to arcades a lot and my NES looked very lame. That is what made me want the Genesis.
like wise! i waited years to get my model 2, my mum wasnt exactly rich so i had to wait a while for mine but it was worth the wait!Quote:
Originally Posted by nathanallan
for some crazy reason i traded my md2 boxed mint (some years later) for a snes in the same condition......... what the hell was i thinking! needless to say now i have so many megadrives i'll always have at least one!
i was mental on sonic as a kid so for me it was megadrive all the way! best system ever!
I lived in another dimension at the time. I first learned of it (and home consoles, in general) in 1994... I was 15. But it was love at first sight when I bought my Model 2.
...Ask me the same thing about the Saturn or the Dreamcast...
I was 14 years old and at that age, a $299 price tag might as well be a million. One day, a friend brought over his EGM to show me the ad for a little game called Lakers vs Celtics. Both of us being huge bball fans, we were shocked at how incredible the graphics were. From that moment, it was my mission to get a Sega Genesis.
I begged and begged for weeks. When Sonic came out, I stepped up my game and my mom finally gave in and purchased that little black piece of gaming heaven. The rest is history.
I have no memories of the actual debut of the Genesis, but the earliest memory I have of it was combing through the toys section of the XMas edition of the sears catalog (the one that was as big as a phone book, remember) and seeing side-by-side comparisons of Super Ghouls N Ghosts and the Genesis version.
It was around this time that I first realized that there were systems floating around other than the NES. I didn't actually want one until Sonic began appearing on all the game magazine covers.
The first time I saw / played it was at my cousins house. After playing a few rounds of Altered Beast I was sold.
I don't remember what I thought about the Mega Drive before my brother bought one, just remember being ridiculously amazed to come home and find he'd bought one and was playing the second stage of Castle of Illusion, I was jumping up and down virtually hyperventilating at the time when I saw it :D
Like Iron Lizard, I remember thinking it was going to fail since the SMS really sucked (my perception of the system back then). No one I knew had the system at launch, though I knew of one person that really wanted it bad (yeah, you J. ;) ). I did play Altered Beast demo every time I went to PlayWorld, but I was too wrapped up in my NES in '89 to really care. I didn't even know of the TG16 in '89. Altered Beast was OK, but if the had Black Tiger, Tiger Road, Side Arms, Rtype, or any other of my favorite arcade titles at the time - then I would have jump all over the Genesis. It wasn't until '90 that I got to play it at a friends house and decided I wanted one.
So on the debute of the Genesis, it wasn't significant to me at the time. I'm not sure some of you guys are actually talking about the debute of the system.
The black case looked awesome compared to the NES design
runback22 were was you livin at? The Genesis retailed for 189.99 in the USA
Back in the day I thought the Genesis does what Nintendon't was pretty catchy but nothing more and nothing less. I was stuck on the NES for a few years and my dad gave us the rare chance to get a Genesis but I got an NES instead. That wasn't the wises choice back then though lol but oh well.
Was it? My bad. I think I got it confused with the price of the psone. Anyways, 189.99 back in 89-90 was like 3-400 today. At 14, its time to beg your parents to death.Quote:
Originally Posted by Da_Shocker
Then my brother brings out a sleek black system with the words "16-BIT" on it.
Upon playing the Simpsons at the arcades I set out looking for a home conversion of that stellar beat'em up.. which of course was impossible thanks to lack of said conversions. However in my search I came across Krusty's Super Fun House (lame) and of course Sonic on the Megadrive and I was sold on 16-bit Sega platformers for good.
By PlayWorld do you mean Lionel PlayWorld? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by tomaitheous
what's a debute
is that like the french version of a debate
ghostbusters ghostbusters ghostbusters i want ghostbusters
i had the game but i didn t now that it couldn t play on a mastersystem
that s a little me when i was 13 years old didn t even understand that there where other machines beside nintendo 8 bit en mastersystem
What did you think of the debute for Saturn or Dreamcast? :pQuote:
Originally Posted by QuickSciFi
I was (still am) an Amiga owner back then, so while I was somewhat impressed with the Genesis, but I wasn't $189 impressed. Yeah, it had solid ports of Sega's arcade games, but I really wanted to see more before I made a decision and the existance of the TG-16 didn't make it much easier.
A friend of mine had bought the console, when they had the mail-in offer for 2 free games. He had Super Thunderblade, along with this new RPG I'd never heard of called Phantasy Star II. I was really impressed with PSII, thought Super Thunderblade was decent (but too hard to really enjoy) and I was never a fan of the pack-in game Altered Beast. He had bought the Genesis as a cheap alternative to PC gaming but he wasn't feeling it. I later talked him into buying Herzog Zwei and his interest in the Genesis was peaked by that game, but he still wasn't convinced it was enough.
He wanted to buy a PC, so I bought his Genesis, with the added Herzog Zwei :) for about $180. The NES soon became trade-in fodder for my addiction to the Genesis.
I already had a NES and SNES before picking up the Genesis... And the ONLY reason I got a Genesis was for the Sega CD! I never owned a Genesis game until just a few months ago... Sorry guys! I'm just a big Sega CD fan!!! And to tell you the truth.. The only reason I own ANY genesis games are because I got them as a package deal with my CDX! 27 Genesis games!:cool:
Yes :D That place was HUGE too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron Lizard
My Genesis came from Lionel Playworld. My grandmother picked it up while I was at school. I had given her the cash and the mission to find it. She called different stores every day until she got it. Imagine my joy when I came home that day!
i thought wow this looks just like the arcade games
my first 3 games were the pack in altered beast space harrier and super thunderblade
I'm only 17, give me a break. :daze:
I just mainly remember my Mega Drive as something I could play Golden Axe, Toejam and Earl or Shining Force on, I actually never had a Mega Drive based Sonic game (Sonic and Garfield collection has the obvious limitation on being for PC).
This also brings memories of using the RF box, oh, the memories of trying to make it work.
I don't remember, exactly. It was a really long time ago, and I was just a child. I remember my first Mega Drive was the Model 2, and it came packed with Sonic 2. I think that bundle was new out at the time, though the MD had been around for a while by that point. So if anyone knows the date that bundle was released in the UK, that was the year I got my Mega Drive. I think it was 1993, but I can't be sure. It wasn't any later than that, and Sonic 2 came out in 1992. So it was either that year or '93.
That Mega Drive was my first ever game console, but I had actually been a gamer for a few years, by this point. Before my Mega Drive, I had the marvellous Atari ST! To save you Googling it, it was one of those early PCs like the Amiga which had a surprisingly-strong gaming following. Capcom even released Street Fighter II on the Atari ST! It sucked, though - the control stick only had two buttons!
So anyway, I think maybe one time I had been round my cousin Tony's house, and saw his MD and fell in love with it. I think maybe it was him, but could easily have been anyone. I really don't remember. I know that at some point I was exposed to the MD and begged my parents for one. To my surprise - they got me one. I think I had actually played Sonic 2, somewhere. Amazing game. The amazing graphics and sound (and gameplay, of course) completely converted me.
Before this point, consoles seemed to be quite lame next to my 'ST. The NES and SMS paled in comparison. They actually probably (definitely?) had a far superior range of games to the Atari ST, but the graphics sucked so much. Then came the Mega Drive. Basically arcade-quality graphics, proper games. Those early PCs had so many rubbish 'games'. A lot of them looked quite nice, but the gameplay was often a very hit-and-miss affair, with awkward controls, loading times, etc.
By comparison, the Mega Drive basically offered instant-orgasms. I remember thinking Sonic 2 was by far the best thing I had ever seen in my life. The graphics were to bright and colourful, the music was great, and the whole thing was blisteringly fast, at times. While I personally think all that 'blast-processing' stuff from SEGA is just silly marketing nonsense, seeing Sonic run so fast that he haemorrhaged off the side of the screen was pretty damn nang. I always used to imagine that he would burst out the side of my television, haha.
So yeah, I think it was just how the whole package was totally dedicated to gaming that impressed me the most. My dad bought me an Atari ST just as a general toy (it had word processors and what have you on the OS). It pretty much introduced me to gaming, and I thank it for that, but it wasn't a games machine, and a lot of the games themselves reflect this. The MD gave me instant-loading, better graphics, better sound, and by about ten-thousand miles had the better games overall, in my opinion. Games with really fun gameplay, not just some half-assed thing which looks OK but doesn't play very well.
It was probably the first time I had played a Japanese game. Maybe not, actually. My friend Simon had a NES, so I probably played Mario before that. Ultimately, it was the Mega Drive that really cultivated my passion for computer games.
Haha, never thought of it like that, but I see how you could!Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty Venture
I remember drooling over screenshots of Ghouls n' Ghosts on a Japanese Megadrive in Mean Machines (I think) magazine. I guess that must have been fairly earlier on in its life because I don't think the system had been released here then.
Bearing in mind at the time I owned a Sinclair Spectrum +2, the prospect of owning a Megadrive was like going from a Gameboy to an XBOX 360.
My first impression of the Genesis was that it was mostly oriented towards Arcade ports. At that time (1989/1990), I wasn't that interested in the Arcade games, and was more interested in games designed specifically for home consoles. I made the unfortunate mistake of choosing the TG-16 over the Sega Genesis. Part of that was the fact that I was able to get a Montgomery Wards credit card, and at that time, they carried the TG-16 instead of the Genesis.
Still, I remember seeing the various advertisements in the magazines and being really impressed by the graphical capabilities. Even though I decided to go with the TG-16, I ended up getting a Genesis sometime in the middle of 1990. I remember the first game I got with it was Pat Riley's Basketball. I pretty much played Pat Riley and Altered Beast, and then I bought Lakers vs. Celtics the day it came out. For some very strange reason, I had no idea that John Madden Football was available. I came home from community college, and my roommates buddy was over and they were all huddled around the TV playing the Genesis. I thought for sure they were playing Lakers vs. Celtics, but they were playing Madden. I had never seen it before, and it blew me out of the water. After the dude left with his Madden cart, I immediately rushed over to Electronics Boutique and got Madden. We played that game so much that the label wore completely off.
Early on, I was pretty much a sports gamer, but that quickly changed. I started to get more into the shooter games like Gaiares and stuff like that.
Fascinating to hear these stories about the early, pre-Sonic days of the Genesis.
So, what was the MSRP for games back then?
"Pat Riley Basketball"..........so there exists someone who bought that game at release!!! PLEASE tell me you didn't pay more than $20 for that one (the supposed MSRP for Pat Riley was $19.99). I can picture why people were excited over Lakers Vs. Celtics and the original Madden back then. The Genny was the first well-rounded sports game console after all.
The same here; but I also bought Thunder Force II with those other games and the console back in Sept 1989. Then I picked up the control pad and Power Base Converter. It was later that year that I also picked up Tommy Lasorda Baseball and Last Battle. I was not overly impressed with the latter two launch games, but after having played them at a friend's, I decided to buy them afterall.Quote:
Originally Posted by bohokii
I was really young at the time; 3 or 4 years old. I just remember my parents gave away our NES and took me to Toys R Us to get this so-called "new Nintendo," which ended up being a Model 2 Genesis. As I recall they bought X-men and Zombies Ate My Neighbors with the free copy of Sonic 2. I didn't realize there was a difference between that and the NES, as my immature brain was unable to read graphical differences.
I had the fortunate circumstance to have a mom who worked at the local video store at the time. I remember renting the Sega Genesis when Sonic the Hedgehog came out. We rented that game, Ghostbusters, and Michael Jackson. I knew I had to have one.
For my birthday, I got the Sega Genesis Model 1 (in HIGH DEFINITION!) as well as Sonic the Hedgehog. My dad rented Toejam and Earl that same evening, and even though I was sick as a dog with the flu, we played the hell out of it all night.
Because my mom worked at a video store, I never bought any game after that, save for Sonic Spinball which I used my birthday money on, and Star Control which me and my dad bought together. Apart from that, the games I owned were all from the video store. People would return carts constantly saying that "they didn't work" in order to rent something else. So my mom would bring them home and let me test them, by the dozen. If I really liked a game, her boss would let me keep it. Because of that, I mostly collected loose carts.
The one game I didn't own until much much later was Ecco the Dolphin. I remember renting it when it came out, and being scared absolutely shitless by it. I eventually "rented" it for about a six month period before we finally returned it to the store, for Sega CD. I never managed to get through it, though I can get to the last prehistoric level before I can't go on any further.
I never really collected a huge collection of Genesis games, or Sega CD games, because my mom bought me a used SNES which came with 20 games and two controllers. Sega was still always my favorite, but I had a bigger variety of games on the SNES, and my friends were never impressed by my Genesis, and always wanted to play Mario Kart or some such.
Eventually, I sold my Genesis and all of the games around the time when Playstation was very popular. I was naive and stupid, and wish I hadn't. Now, I own a model 2 with the best possible motherboard, as well as around 45 Genesis games, so I can't really complain.
It was the best then, and it is the best now.