Shaka’s Top 7 Genesis Games

You talk about a great gaming system, then chances are you’re talking about the Sega Genesis, which I still feel at times never got the real appreciation it deserved. There were so many games some people never even got a whiff of that existed and were incredibly awesome. Unfortunately, I can’t even really get into them, I’ll just name the best – in my opinion, of course.

7. Road Rash 2

Ok, so while it IS true that graphically this game would not win any awards, it is also true that I played the hell out of this game. While violent, it was unbelievably silly and still fun. Yes, fighting each other while driving at over 100mph made no sense, but taking some guy’s chain and clobbering him with it is still one of the most satisfying moments I can remember.

6. Ranger X

Some of you are going to look at this and say, “hold on, what the fuck?”, but trust me, Ranger X falls into that category of the best game you never even heard of, and was hands down one of my favorites. You’re basically a one man army in a battlesuit trying to save your world, your only help being… a sentient motorcycle. Ranger X could fly on his own, or merge with the motorcycle at anytime, which was creative and really changed the battle strategy throughout the game. This game single-handedly fulfilled my need for cool robots.

5. Shinobi 3

I didn’t really understand just how awesome ninjas were until Shinobi 3… seriously. I stuck out playing (but never beating) this Shinobi because I didn’t feel so defeated after I got my ass kicked – sometimes I actually felt like I had a chance. I played the PS2 version, which is way different, so I still say this is the best in the series, period.

4. X – Men 2: The Clone Wars

X-Men 2 was such a huge improvement over its predecessor that it’s ridiculous. The graphics alone make you want to put the first group of developers in front of a firing squad. Factor in some great and fairly challenging gameplay along with a respectable (i.e. they could never give us enough, we wanted more) cast of characters and this was easily one of the best side-scrollers to hit the Genesis.

3. Shining Force II

I have an indiscriminate and utterly biased love for the Shining Force saga – I can definitely attribute some of my imagination as a kid to different iterations in the series. Still the second one for Genesis is the one I hold dearest, especially when you combine the improved graphics and the huge cast of the characters you got, ranging from a wolfman, a cyborg, and a cowardly phoenix who gets more badass as the game goes along.

2. Streets of Rage 2

How do I summarize my love for this game? Simple – I can’t. Streets of Rage 2 created friendships with kids from school, as you two burned away entire Saturdays playing it over and over and over again. It was just challenging enough that you could play it all the way to the end and feel satisfied, but no easy as to make you drop it after a few play-throughs.

1. Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles

First off, I am not cheating by having both at the top of my list here. Why? Sonic & Knuckles was the first (and I think only) game cartridge that was build with an attachment slot on top of it to accommodate another game. It was a cool enough concept at first that once you get past the shininess, turned out to be an incredibly deep and fun game. I think I maybe beat the entire thing once with Knuckles, and even then there was still another half to play.