What game do you really like that most would consider to be crap/mediocre?

[NeoVamp]

SSFII

Nobody considers SSFII crap or mediocre, its just that some people rank CE higher and some rank Super higher.
the game itself is considered a good release.

[HailToApples]

Pac-Man 2.

[OverDrone]

Sunset Riders. Noone talks about this when RnGs are brought up

It gets shat on for being a 4 MEG cart in 1992 and as a result there are a lot of cuts from the arcade version, yet still is an excellent example of the genre. It's hectic and you will get killed a lot, especially if you haven't yet mastered the slide move.

Personally I love the game.

[graffias79]

I don't know if it's considered underrated but I don't hear much about Valis. I love that game.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

Taz-Mania and Dick Tracy immediately spring to mind as games on the Mega Drive that I love but seem to be actively disliked by others. I'm also a fan of cheesy FMV games like Night Trap on the Mega CD (usually affectionately reffered to as Shite Trap by me) for all the wrong reasons. The bad acting, usually non-existent gameplay and over-excitement that pervade these titles is just an absolute scream during a drunken night in with friends. Ah, and to think those FMV games were considered the future of gaming back in the day.

[Despatche]

Some odd choices in this thread: actually bad games, games that most people consider good, etc. Golden Axe III, for example, is loved by many, and I was very surprised to see the Sega-16 article on it... mostly because it was a rubbish section that really just complained about how there was no Gilius.

Heavy Nova

Oh no, that game is pretty much unplayable. Everything else is great though, especially the music... whoever reviewed it for Mega must have been deaf. The worst part of all is that it was developed by Micronet, who made some pretty good games otherwise; Curse is actually decent, Raiden Densetsu is easily the best conversion (not port) of Raiden ever made, Caesar no Yabou (Warrior of Rome) is a pretty fun strategy game, etc.

As for Black Hole Assault, I'm not sure; I need to play it. I don't trust Sega-16's opinion of it at all, because the reviewer makes the time-honored mistake of putting the single player in versus fighters above the actual game; it's like saying that Mario Party is terrible because you don't find it fun playing by yourself. Also, collision detection was brought up in that article; people have this tendency to think that the concept and its handling has much to do with opinions, so I'm very skeptical about that claim... some reading already tells me that BHA's situation is quite complicated.

I want to add Wardner along side GA3. Wardner is a great example of an early masocore game. It's difficulty is brutal, but the liberal continues, lives and check points make it entirely playable.

I don't think Wardner requires continues... it's not as hard as the arcade version, and that version does not require continues.

By the way... continues are the real "masochism"; mindlessly cramming in quarters and/or mashing that start button, defeating the entire point of a lives or health system and that concept people love to hate: "challenge". Continues have pretty much killed skill-based single player gaming, and every real attempt to revive it has required that people either be ignorant of the issue completely (the shmups and general arcade community, also this thinking has snowballed into other problems) or to rebrand certain "common sense" bits of gaming completely (speedrunning).

I never understood the flak Golden Axe 3 gets. The biggest number of playable characters, alternate routes, cool combat system with quite a few moves, coop moves, solid controls, nice sound, the best graphics of the trilogy, what's not to like? I love Golden Axe 3.

A lot of people say it's "not Golden Axe" somehow, and they make fun of the graphics, but I don't get either of those.

The real problem is that the controls are garbage. There is ridiculous input lag at the strangest times and then there's that unholy block input to deal with, in a series where small mistakes will get you killed. Unless every direction change you do is from the back attack and you're able to time everything perfectly again and again and again, you're not getting very far in this game.

Being good at GA3 requires far more study and practice than versus fighters, and honestly I'm not sure even that is going to be enough.

[Obviously]

Sunset Riders. Noone talks about this when RnGs are brought up

It gets shat on for being a 4 MEG cart in 1992 and as a result there are a lot of cuts from the arcade version, yet still is an excellent example of the genre. It's hectic and you will get killed a lot, especially if you haven't yet mastered the slide move.

Personally I love the game.

I don't really know why anyone hates on it (well I do know but I don't agree with them). In a lot of ways it's not the best port, I agree, but it's fantastically fun and different enough to almost be its own thing.

[OverDrone]

I wouldn't say I love them or anything, but I enjoy the ports of Viewpoint and Double Dragon 2.

Sure DD2 could have been better, but it's more accurate than most versions and does have an excellent rendition of the soundtrack. The slowdown gets stupid with only a few sprites on screen and the sprites could have been larger for sure.

Viewpoint has some bad slowdown a lot of the time, the music and graphics aren't bad all things considered, and it helps that I'm a fan of the Neo original I guess.

I've also been known to enjoy a bit of Dragon's Revenge, which is more like a superball simulator than a video pinball game, but even that can be fun at times.

[Armoured Priest]

Two games in particular for me.

The first is Sword of Vermillion. People recognize its awesome OST, but tend to crap on its gameplay. I don't know...its a game I've played through 6 or 7 times (more then most RPGs...I've probably only played through Zelda 1 & 2 more times as far as ARPGs go). For me, I just enjoy the quest of it, like a little self contained fairy tale.

The other it Traysia. I know the combat has some major problems, and there are some serious balance issues, but i've always like the idea of an RPG where the random battles are like a tactical RPG.

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

I don't really know why anyone hates on it (well I do know but I don't agree with them). In a lot of ways it's not the best port, I agree, but it's fantastically fun and different enough to almost be its own thing.

If you don't mind me asking, what are the major differences between the SNES version and the SEGA Genesis version other than graphics? I finally managed to snag a copy of Sunset Riders for the SEGA Genesis but haven't found anytime to try it out. From what I've played of the SNES version, I thought the controls were quite intuitive and the game itself is fun. Hopefully, knock on wood, I'll find some time to play the SEGA Genesis version this weekend. It's one of those games I've been itching to play for quite some time!

[j_factor]

If you don't mind me asking, what are the major differences between the SNES version and the SEGA Genesis version other than graphics? I finally managed to snag a copy of Sunset Riders for the SEGA Genesis but haven't found anytime to try it out. From what I've played of the SNES version, I thought the controls were quite intuitive and the game itself is fun. Hopefully, knock on wood, I'll find some time to play the SEGA Genesis version this weekend. It's one of those games I've been itching to play for quite some time!

The levels are pretty significantly different. They share some portions in common, but they're different enough that they're basically different (but similar) games. I can see why most people seem to prefer the SNES version, but I think they're both worth playing.

[Obviously]

The levels are pretty significantly different. They share some portions in common, but they're different enough that they're basically different (but similar) games. I can see why most people seem to prefer the SNES version, but I think they're both worth playing.

The gameplay itself is also a lot faster paced and the bullets aren't neon colored so they're harder to dodge.

Most people focus on the fact that the SNES version has more characters (who are just cones of each other anyway) and the voice acting (which is still terrible on the SNES anyway) instead of the actual games which are both a lot of fun.

The SNES game is a bit brighter and more digestible overall and if you're only going to have one, I'd probably recommend that one, but not because the Genesis version is bad. The Genesis version is great.

[JumpingRyle]

Here's a good write-up that compares all aspects of each version (and favors the SNES version, of course):

http://www.retro-sanctuary.com/compa...%20Riders.html

I also get the impression that more time was put into the SNES port, while the Genesis port feels more rushed. But the Genesis version is still quite a bit of fun.

The Genesis version has fewer, but longer levels than the SNES version, and also has an additional unique level.

The SNES version is much more similar to the arcade.

Oh, and of course the SNES version had the Indians removed due to censorship, but the Genesis version retains them.

[OverDrone]

I'll add that there are numerous animations cut from the Genesis version, stepping on the rake and the comical running animation in the stampede sections are both not present.

The horse riding stage from the arcade/SNES version is now a bonus stage on the Genesis, no doubt another way to trim back on unique sprites to fit the game into 4 MEG.

Tell you what though, the bullets move a lot faster on the SEGA version and there does seem to be more sprites on screen in general, no surprises there though I suppose.

Regarding the game feeling more rushed than it's SNES counterpart - I think that was the case with a lot of Konami games on Genesis. The SNES versions clearly had more time and money put into them. That's not to say that Bloodlines and Hardcorps for example were inferior to their Nintendo versions, far from it, but I do look at them and imagine how good they could have looked if they had received equal love. TMNT HSH is the same story.

I say 'looked' because that's where I think the budget/time constraints hit these games, VK in particular.

[Kamahl]

Hard Corps received just as much love as Contra 3 did, if not more. Let's not generalize.

Rocket Knight Adventures and Hard Corps were both clearly *not* rushed, and were made by an A team at konami (the ones that made Contra 3).