Top 100 Sega Genesis Games

[indianknightrider]

My personal best Genesis game is Outrun. The passing breeze makes me cry from the happiness pumping into my veins.
I still can't play Sega without being amazed by the range of music available on 16-Bit Cartridges.

I would put Golden Axe 3 on the top, the most deserving version in the series really.... The red girl was matured by this version, the music had deep meaning, and the new enemy (mainly the golden eagle) added new excitement and storyline which made me feel sorry for the old man stuck inside the evil soul.

[EternalChampion]

We should make an official Top-100 thread one day where we would post our lists, count the votes, and see what an "official" Top-100 list would look like.

The three that posted lists put them alphabetically so not really best first. People would have to put best on down for this to work.

[Baloo]

My personal best Genesis game is Outrun. The passing breeze makes me cry from the happiness pumping into my veins.
I still can't play Sega without being amazed by the range of music available on 16-Bit Cartridges.

If you like Outrun on Genesis, then you should definitely get the Saturn import copy, arcade perfect with all the music!

I'm not sure what my personal best Genesis game is. Probably Streets of Rage 2 or TMNT: Hyperstone Heist.

[evil_ash_xero]

Refined taste, sir.

You know, I thought about that...and I could probably list more, that I like somewhat. But there really isn't over 30, i'd want to own. I guess that's how I was looking at it.

[Loggo]

The three that posted lists put them alphabetically so not really best first. People would have to put best on down for this to work.

It can work without putting the titles in any particular order too, but it requires multiple polls.

[StarMist]

This is as far as I could get before everything began to feel like filler.
The first ten represents some pride of place; afterwards they're in no particular order.

1-60

Kid Chameleon
Chakan
Ecco 2 Tides of Time
Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage
Shining Force
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III
Sonic
Sonic 2
Sonic & Knuckles
Shadow Dancer: the Secret of Shinobi
Sol Deace
Hellfire
Zero Wing
Pitfall the Mayan Adventure
Earthworm Jim
Aladdin
Mickey Mania
World of Illusion
Lion King
Golden Axe II
Alisia Dragoon
Spiderman vs the Kingpin
Aero Blasters
Mercs
Eliminate Down
Ghouls n Ghosts
Rolling Thunder 2
Vectorman
Subterrania
Saint Sword
Pulseman
Generations Lost
Eternal Champions
Roadblasters
Mystic Defender
Fire Shark
Alien 3
Blades of Vengeance
Joe Montana Football
Junction
Home Alone
Evander Holyfield's Boxing
Comix Zone
Galahad
Pocahontas
Rolling Thunder 3
X-Men 2: the Clone Wars
Strider
Twin Cobra
Warsong
Gynoug
Dangerous Seed
Golden Axe
ESWAT
Immortal, The
Marble Madness JP
Burning Force
King's Bounty
----add: Devil's Crash-------------it just slipped my mind before.
61-70
These are borderline tack-ons.

Phantasy Star IV
Pulseman
Jewel Master
Panorama Cotton
Demolition Man
Prince of Persia
Paper Boy
Sagaia
Sunset Riders
Shinobi III

There are others such as Phantom 2040, BOB, Out of this World, Tecmo Super Bowl etc that would make the list for a MD exclusive gamer but I'd rather play on other consoles. Galahad's the only inferior version admitted since the Amiga's fairly exotic.

[Olls]

StarMist; this is the top 100 games topic, not the bottom 100.

You couldn't think of 30 more games before it began to feel like filler? Really?

How about:

Shining Force
Wonder Boy
Gunstar Heroes
Castlevania
Contra
Ristar
Rocket Knight Adventures
Revenge of Shinobi
Alien Soldier
Ranger-X
Dynamite Headdy
Yuu Yuu Hakusho
Monster World
Batman & Robin

etc.

These should be on anyone's top list, let alone a top 100.

[StarMist]

StarMist; this is the top 100 games topic, not the bottom 100.

You couldn't think of 30 more games before it began to feel like filler? Really?

How about:

Shining Force

Shining Force is the 6th game named. Your trolling powers are waning.

Wonder Boy

Monumentally dull.

Gunstar Heroes

Has some great music and I used to admire it but plays very shallow. It's no better than 50 or 80 other games that might be used to round out the top 100's final 30.

Castlevania

I don't even like the NES Castlevanias and this is watered down.

Contra

5/10 game here with zero lv design, no platforming or pitfalls, and a story that manages to be painful whilst only 50 lines long.

Ristar

Tedious tosh.

Rocket Knight Adventures

Way too little rocket use and terrible art style. It's fine for others to list.

Revenge of Shinobi

Revenge of the slow ninja? It looks nice but it plays like a dumbed down Altered Beast.

Alien Soldier

Boring boss rush with the usual tech demo worship here.

Ranger-X

Notable but not great. Another decent game in Gunstar Heroes's position.

Dynamite Headdy

Overrated and hideous. 6/10 at most.

Yuu Yuu Hakusho

ZOMG 4 people can playz at once?! 4 people can also lock themselves in a car with a hose attached to the exhaust pipe.

Monster World

see Wonder Boy.

Batman & Robin

Unredeemed tosh. Zero lv design. Tech demo worship.

Always a pleasure.

[retrospiel]

You sir have a terrible taste in gaming.

[Olls]

Monumentally dull.
Has some great music and I used to admire it but plays very shallow. It's no better than 50 or 80 other games that might be used to round out the top 100's final 30.
I don't even like the NES Castlevanias and this is watered down.
5/10 game here with zero lv design, no platforming or pitfalls, and a story that manages to be painful whilst only 50 lines long.
Tedious tosh.
Way too little rocket use and terrible art style. It's fine for others to list.
Revenge of the slow ninja? It looks nice but it plays like a dumbed down Altered Beast.
Boring boss rush with the usual tech demo worship here.
Notable but not great. Another decent game in Gunstar Heroes's position.
Overrated and hideous. 6/10 at most.
ZOMG 4 people can playz at once?! 4 people can also lock themselves in a car with a hose attached to the exhaust pipe.
see Wonder Boy.
Unredeemed tosh. Zero lv design. Tech demo worship.

The same could be said about every game on your list. Or every game ever made for that matter.
You're trying hard to be edgy and unique by dismissing all the good games in favour of tosh.

Mentioning Shining Force doesn't make it right.

[goldenband]

ZOMG 4 people can playz at once?! 4 people can also lock themselves in a car with a hose attached to the exhaust pipe.

Actual LOLs here.

BTW while I don't have strong opinions on many of the games StarMist mentions (positively or negatively), and I disagree with him on some, I have to say I'm sympathetic with his basic point: people tend to name technically flashy games to these kinds of lists, but the set of {games that are technically impressive} is not by any means synonymous with {games that are fun}. Of those two sets, the latter is by far the more important.

StarMist has been pretty consistent on this point in all his posts I've ever seen, so claiming he's "trying hard to be edgy and unique" by not naming the games you think are good is silly. I don't give two shits about being "edgy and unique", and I wouldn't put most of Olls's "should be on anyone's top list" games on my Top 10, or even my Top 50.

(Either way, I unhesitatingly agree that lots of people who pontificate about games fall victim to "tech demo worship". Eye candy is great since, after all, it means you can have an informed-sounding opinion about a game without actually bothering to play it.)

BTW I agree that Gunstar Heroes is flashy, but ultimately feels shallow. But many run 'n' guns I've played have that problem, e.g. the revered Metal Slug. At least for me, they're often a bit like junk food -- easily consumed, but seldom fully satisfying.

[retrospiel]

Gunstar Heroes might not be perfect, but it sure is Top 100 material.

+ The point of a Top 100 is to to come up with a Top 100, not with "I can think of only 60 half decent games, everything else you like is crap".

[1990eam]

Why are there not any F1 games? Crazy!

[goldenband]

I'd have a hard time thinking of 100 Genesis games I'd want to unequivocally endorse, personally -- no doubt I'll find more as I get to know the system library more deeply; playing for 5-15 minutes doesn't really count for anything -- but more to the point, I'd get tired of being told that my taste in games wasn't what it's supposed to be, and that certain games "must" be there.

Gunstar Heroes would probably break my Top 100, sure, but are there 100 other Genesis games I enjoy more, or find more addictive/compelling? Right now, probably not, but I don't base my enjoyment on community consensus. I didn't expect to enjoy Galaxy Force II or Jewel Master as much as I did; both have shown up in "worst Genesis games" lists, but I found myself actively looking forward to playing them in a way I don't look forward to playing most games on any system.

[retrospiel]

Well, the difference is that you at least admit you'll most likely stumble upon more games. Other users who posted in this thread claim "there are only 60 good games, anything else is filler".

And Jewel Master surprised me as well. Still gotta play Galaxy Force II (for more than a couple of minutes).