1989-early 1990 Genesis titles: Your most or least favorites?

[goldenband]

Junction is sort of like a cross between Pipe Dream and the arcade/Intellivision game Loco-Motion. Basically, you're trying to move playfield tiles so that your ball traverses all the curved pieces that lie outside the main playfield. Once that's done, the level's clear. If your ball runs out of track or gets knocked out of the playfield, you lose a life. There are also annoying enemies and occasional power-ups that mostly serve to slow things down or speed them up.

It gets very tricky very fast, and later levels require you to engage in a lot of dynamic repositioning, including moving tiles while the ball is on them. (For some reason this reminds me of self-modifying code.) The wild card is the pyramid object, which lets you jump over otherwise-impassable tiles.

I found the game overly difficult and counterintuitive at first, but eventually I got better at visualizing how the tiles move (you're always filling up that one blank space), which was the biggest hurdle for me. I managed to clear the game on Normal for the "beat 'em all" last year, and also did the 10 bonus levels that are unlocked when you beat the game (Tony H came up with a Game Genie code for that too). At some point I want to take on Hard, though I'm sure it'll be ferociously frustrating -- especially since you need a certain number of points to get the game's ending.

[EmperorIng]

As for Super Thunder Blade, 10/10 is obviously wrong but this game is not bad, just average.

Burning Force exists, and because it exists, it pushes Super Thunder Blade down from "average" crashing into "below average." I have standards!

When it comes to lousy games, they rarely stay in my head (I can tell you a game sucks, but it would take some doing to tell you how much it sucks). I mean, unless they are Divine Sealing bottom-of-the-barrel trash, it's hard to remember them.

[SpaceHarrier]

Already said this in another topic but i also like Junction. It reminds me Pipe Mania which i had on my Atari ST & which was a fun, addicitve game (& which is the initial release of Pipe Dream).

BTW i still haven't answered to the topic because IMO early MD titles = rather '88 & '89 so i will open another thread about it &... OK not maybe but in fact it's something i recently especially considered, it's a very interesting subject for many reasons & i'll post something a bit detailled about it, but, later...

Burning Force exists, and because it exists, it pushes Super Thunder Blade down from "average" crashing into "below average." I have standards!

LOL, not only i know very well Burning Force but also i have standards too & when i say average it's because it's objectively something like that. The game has some qualities like its 80's mood with some nice, typical SEGA Arcade music + challenging gameplay but also some flaws like the kinda harsh pre-rendered scaling during into-the-screen sequences or the poor frame-rate during top view sequences but considering its release date, the latters are a bit excusable.
Burning Force is very good with some well made pre-rendered scaling + fun gameplay (+ A bitch riding a flying futuristic bike in bikini is a winning combination in my book). It's my 2nd fav' into-the-screen shooter on MD (Without counting M-CD & 32X) behind Panorama Cotton.

[Diablo Griffin]

It's been well over a year since I last posted on this site. My, how time flies!

I'm making it a goal for me to purchase all of the US Genesis games released up until the end of 1990. This may seem odd to some of you since I'm the person who started this thread, so scoff at me if you must . However, out of my collection of 38 Genny titles, only 10 of them are pre-1991 (besides some of the games on 6 Pak). I feel like this will be an ambitious and fun project for me, but I'll make sure to spread out my purchases over time so I don't spend everything in one piece. Games such as Truxton and MUSHA will have to wait until I feel like splurging for them. I'd rather find the games in complete condition (or at least with the box), but if the game is above $20, then I'll make more of an effort to just get the cart itself. I may go for one or two import titles if they're cheap enough, but I mainly want to stick to the US releases. Also, games released in Japan in 1990 but later in the US don't count. Here's what I've got so far:

- After Burner II (complete)
- Altered Beast (box and cart)
- Last Battle (complete)
- Phantasy Star II (everything but the hint book and map, both of which I also intend to find)
- Shadow Dancer (box and cart)
- Super Monaco GP (box and cart)
- Super Thunder Blade (complete)
- Sword of Vermilion (cart only)
- Thunder Force II (box and cart)
- Zoom (box and cart)

As of right now, I've got Burning Force, Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf, and Tommy Lasorda Baseball (if only for the hilarious cover) in my eBay cart. Any other recommendations as to where I should start? Perhaps something obscure but good?

[spiffyone]

Since the thread has been resurrected:

Most favorite '89/90: Revenge of Shinobi
Middle of the road: Mystic Defender
Least favorite: Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle

The last one was just a HUGE disappointment coming from Miracle World. Of course, it was a step up coming from Lost Stars and High Tech World, but I refuse to acknowledge those games (because they suck). Miracle World was a great game though, janken boss fights aside (had it real boss fights it would be among the top three games of that gen, IMHO), and I was excited that Enchanted Castle looked to be a more direct sequel to that game than the other Alex Kidd games had been. But the controls were just complete ass in Enchanted Castle, so much so that everything else (level design, graphics, etc.) just faded into the background for me. I just couldn't get over the awful controls. And while Enchanted Castle certainly was better than a lot of the other games that came out in '89 and '90 it was my least favorite because of how disappointing it was for me.

[copper20]

Favorite out of my collection: Space Harrier 2 - Not the best space harrier but hey for the Genesis, it does it justice. Use a joystick or turbo controller though since playing it with a standard Genesis controller isn't the best way.
Least Favorite out of my collection: Altered Beast - Music isn't that great, and WHY in the world can I not beat the final boss? The digitized voices are great for Genesis standards.

Few other favorites from '89 and '90 would be Zoom since I'm kind of a puzzle game guy and After Burner II.

[o.pwuaioc]

I don't play a whole lot of crap, so I'm not an expert on what's the worst, but there are some stinkers I've found. For 1989,

Best: Forgotten Worlds, Ghouls N Ghosts (still one of my Genesis favorites after 20-something years of playing it), Thunder Force II (doesn't quite hold up, but was good for the year; the alternating stages can really grow on you)

Stinker: Last Battle (this was a big pile of shit)

There are too many great games in 1990 to name.

[Jeckidy]

As far as Shinobi-like games go (as I'm a big Shinobi fan) I like most games in this spectrum such as Jewel Master, El Viento, Rolling Thunder 2 and 3, etc. but Mystic Defender comes up short. I liked it at first but the levels are just too clunky and tedious for their own good. The weapons are cool, though. I still say Jewel Master beats it by far, even though it starts off kind of 'meh'.

I did play a bit more of Super Thunder Blade on the Ultimate Genesis Collection for PS3 and still maintain that its rather lackluster. Playable if you take the time to adjust to it, but I still think this and Last Battle are among the weakest. Fatal Labyrinth is also up there. It's another one that, as I've taken time to learn it, just comes up short. Personally, I find the original Rogue with ASCII graphics more engaging. I do like the music in Fatal Labyrinth though.

Also, glad to see someone mention that Thunder Force II is not that good. I also don't care much for the others. Nice weapon system, but they're actually not that impressive to me.

[GelmiR]

My favorites would be Batman, Crack Down, Shadow Dancer, Spider-Man, Chuck Rock, Golden Axe 2, QuackShot, Road Rash and the first Sonic.

[Gentlegamer]

Favorites: Shadow Dancer, Golden Axe, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Thunder Force III

Anti-favorites: Sword of Sodan, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle

[Firebrandx]

For 1989:

Favorites: Ghouls'n Ghosts, Golden Axe, Phantasy Star II, Revenge of Shinobi.
Least liked: Super Thunder Blade (though I still completed it)

For 1990:

Favorites: Castle of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse, Gaiares, Ghostbusters, M.U.S.H.A., Super Monaco GP, Thunder Force III
Least liked: John Madden Football.

[Firebrandx]

It's been well over a year since I last posted on this site. My, how time flies!

I'm making it a goal for me to purchase all of the US Genesis games released up until the end of 1990.

- Sword of Vermilion (cart only)

^^^ Wasn't released in the USA until 1991.

[Chimaera]

For 1989:

Favorites: Altered Beast, Phantasy Star II, Revenge of Shinobi.
Least liked: Last Battle, Super Thunder Blade

For 1990:

Favorites: Super Hydlide, Columns, Elemental Master
Least liked: Atomic Robo-Kid, Stormlord, Sword of Sodan

Atomic Robo-Kid and Last Battle aren't the worst games on the system, but they're still, so, so bad.

[goldenband]

^Huh, I'm surprised you dislike Atomic Robo-Kid so much. I had a good time with it, though a couple bosses are frustrating.

[Chimaera]

^Huh, I'm surprised you dislike Atomic Robo-Kid so much. I had a good time with it, though a couple bosses are frustrating.

Yeah, it's quirky and unique and I'd usually be all about that, but I just found it slow and tough and not worth the frustration, so I sold off my cartridge. Maybe I'll give ARK another chance someday...