Crossing the line: Nintendo kid looking for SMS and Genesis recommendations

[toptenmaterial]

I grew up playing Nintendo and have never really delved into the Sega side of things too much. I've recently been settings up some emulators, and I'm wondering which Master System and Genesis games you guys might recommend. Thanks!

[Flojomojo]

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/games-that-defined-sega-master-system

 

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/best-games-that-defined-sega-genesis-megadrive

[Pixelboy]

For SMS, I would recommend Phantasy Star and Wonder Boy III - The Dragon's Trap. There are several other good ones on the system, but those two were always my favorites, and I'm a Nintendo guy myself (so I have to admit I find Alex Kidd rather dull).

[zylon]

Sonic the Hedgehog on either

[leods]

In my oppinion Mega drive excels at different games than SNES does. I like it's scrolling shooters and beat them ups.

 

Of course the known stuff, like Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Space Harrier are nice.

 

I also like Fire Shark, Hellfire, MUSHA...

 

What kinds of games are you into?

[Punisher5.0]

Road Rash series

Sonic Spinball

[HoshiChiri]

Cyborg Justice. It's not the best of the best games out there, but it's damn fun to go rip the limbs off of robots and keep them for yourself. Especially when that robot is player 2. So many fights over sawblade arms as a kid...

[dj_convoy]

Welcome to the next level, topten!

 

I yield to none in my love for the Master System. While the arcade ports were such an intregal part of the system at the time, nowadays, with the ability to play real arcade games in a matter of seconds from a lap top, that sort of thing isn't as great unless there is some vast difference worth taking a look at. I'll try to shy away from that sort of thing in my recommendations. Here are some classics:

 

Master System:

 

Castle of Illusion (a bit different than the Genesis version, and in some respects, better, IMO)

Phantasy Star (a must have)

Govellius and the Valley of Doom

Psycho Fox

Columns (again, I prefer the SMS version, as it has some different options than the Genesis port)

Zillion (if you like Impossible Mission or a kind of half assed Metroid style thing)

Gangster Town and Wanted if you have the Light Phaser and a CRT

Lucky Dime Caper starring Donald Duck

The best version of Choplifter on a home system

The Sonic the Hedgehog on the Master System is different than the one on the Genesis and worth a shot

Power Strike (spendy, but a really good SHMUP if that's your thing}

Fantasy Zone II

Spellcaster (terrific sidescroller / visual novel / adventure style game that hardly anyone ever talks about)

 

Genesis:

Phantasy Star IV

Gunstar Heroes

Sonic 2 (some people prefer Sonic 3 plus Sonic and Knuckles; I like it, too, but the combined game is almost overkill for me. Sonic 2, save some funky level design here and there is almost perfect)

Columns III

Revenge of Shinobi

Shinobi III

The best shoot 'em ups are getting too expensive, now, but if you have the money, MUSHA is good (REALLY good, but not good value for money nowadays), Gaiares is good, Thunder Force III is great, Thunder Force IV is outstanding

Road Rash (there's also a fairly decent SMS version, but the Genesis one is easier to find) or maybe Road Rash II

The Ecco games are such an odd experience that it may be worth sitting down and playing one just to kind of see what you think

Streets of Rage II

Contra Hard Corps

Shining Force and Shining Force 2 are great sort of strategy, sort of RPG games

Adventures of Batman and Robin is pretty hard, but worth a look and different than any other version

Herzog Zwei is an early example of RTS and is still fum if you maybe sit thru some game play or read a walkthru

 

Zillions more, of course. Trying to just list exclusives and not too many arcade ports for you.

[Tanooki]

I would suggest checking into some of those PC (DOS) to Genesis conversions/adaptation games. Dune 2 and Star Control made it over along with Test Drive and they're really some solid stuff, and if you're into earlier baseball games the Hard Ball series would be something else to look into.

[Pixelboy]

For Genesis, I would recommend "Mega Man - The Wily Wars" if you like Mega Man. Fun game.

[dj_convoy]

I would suggest checking into some of those PC (DOS) to Genesis conversions/adaptation games. Dune 2 and Star Control made it over along with Test Drive and they're really some solid stuff, and if you're into earlier baseball games the Hard Ball series would be something else to look into.

Starflight is another good PC port.

[toptenmaterial]

 

 

What kinds of games are you into?

Awesome awesome ideas everyone. For Nintendo I'm into Mario, Mario Kart, Castlevania, Advance Wars

[+chicgamer]

Try Master of Darkness for the SMS. It's pretty much the SMS version of Castlevania.

 

[mbd30]

I second Shinobi III and Streets of Rage 2.

 

If you like Shinobi III then also check out Revenge of Shinobi and Shadow Dancer. But Shinobi III is the most polished of the three and the easiest to get into.

[Tanooki]

I'd say a fair argument -- look into any of the era Sega arcade conversions to the SMS, GG and Genesis. They're fairly safe to be good enough to pass for the arcade game fun wise if you liked the game in the first place.

[godslabrat]

Strong reccomendation for Konami games. Konami developed different games for Nintendo and Sega systems, playing to the strengths of each.

[toptenmaterial]

Ok, I have Retropie up and running so I'm looking forward to getting into these. So far I've only played Castlevania Bloodlines, but I hadn't yet figured out how to properly map my controller so it was tough. I've played it before, it's a good one. What a great time we live in for gaming!!!!

[+jeremiahjt]

A lot of people recommend Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, but I have never been able to get into it. I really like Wonder Boy in Monster Land though. The rest of the stuff I like is pretty much the standard fare that everybody else likes.

 

Phantasy Star

Golvellius: Valley of Doom

Golden Axe Warrior (better than The Legend of Zelda in my opinion)

Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord (okay, this one probably won't be on a lot of lists)

R.C Grand Prix

Double Dragon

Gangster Town (2 player light gun game)

Ghouls 'n Ghosts

Ys: The Vanished Omens

Wonder Boy

the 3-D games, especially Missile Defense 3-D

 

For Genesis, I finished playing through the Shining series (Shining in the Darkness included) on Genesis (and Sega CD) not too long ago and I really enjoyed all of them.

Edited February 19, 2018 by jeremiahjt

[derFunkenstein]

Strong reccomendation for Konami games. Konami developed different games for Nintendo and Sega systems, playing to the strengths of each.

Definitely. Some of the best Genesis exclusives are Konami games. Castlevania Bloodlines, Contra Hard Corps, Rocket Knight Adventures...and if you get into Sega CD, Snatcher and the Adventures of Batman and Robin are both excellent.