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What are some good racing and sports games for the Genesis/Mega Drive?


RetroSonicHero

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I've heard some good things about the Genesis's racing games library, and with my recent acquisition of my very own console, I was hoping that some of y'all could fill me in on some of the good racing games to try. I've currently got Super Monaco GP, and Hard Drivin' in my collection, I'm just curious as to what else I could add in the future.

 

Sports games are a genre I haven't really dabbled in much, but from what I've heard, the Genesis is basically the go-to console for 90s sports games. Seriously, from what I can tell there were an ungodly amount of sports games released for it. With that said, what do you think the best ones are?

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In terms of racing, Virtua Racing for sure. The Genesis version only has 1 car and I think like 3 tracks? However, it’s still incredibly fun to play. It’s also quite challenging; you don’t just mash your accelerator to win. 
 

Unsure about sports games; never found any of them appealing. 

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24 minutes ago, bluejay said:

In terms of racing, Virtua Racing for sure. The Genesis version only has 1 car and I think like 3 tracks? However, it’s still incredibly fun to play. It’s also quite challenging; you don’t just mash your accelerator to win. 
 

Unsure about sports games; never found any of them appealing. 

I'll check it out, I've always found early 3D games like that interesting.

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Gotta jump in here, is one of my niches!

Super Monaco is great, but the Ayrton version is actually MUCH better, IMO-it takes forever to get your car back up to speed on Super Monaco, so sometimes it takes over a lap to get top speed for a good lap, which wastes time(I usually run time trials/fastest laps)(And I'm fast.).

 

I actually do NOT like Mario Andretti racing, tho I have a Pal that likes it a lot-the sprint cars are ok, but the game is just incredibly cheap, cars coming out of nowhere in front of you, at a dead stop.

Same buddy is also into Virtua Racing, but personally I HATE that game, I actually gave him my PAL copy, so I wouldn't even be tempted to play it(fast times are carrots dangling in front of me, I'm pretty stubborn)(and fast).

 

Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge isn't too bad at all, really, it's very similar to SMGP and Ayrton, mostly the same(real F-1)tracks.

 

I have one simply called Formula One, and it seems pretty good, but I haven't put a lot of time into it-you can't really see the elevation changes too much in SMGP and Ayrton, or Ferrari GPC, but the elevation makes Formula One LOOK nice, at least.

 

I have Top Gear, but I've never played it, I assume it's about the same as the SNES versions-something to play, but meh.

 

 

Overall, SMGP and Ayrton are my personal favorite 16 bit racers, but TBH I actually prefer the SNES library as a whole.

 

I'd also suggest getting/having a three-button and a six button controller available-because of the D-pads being slightly different, some racers respond better/worse to one or the other, I promise, you can bounce out of gear too easily with the "wrong" controller, and no problems with the "right" one.

 

Oh, yeah, also-gut it out. Use the manual transmission if you aren't already, the speed difference almost makes playing with automatic not really worth doing, you KNOW you aren't going as fast as possible. As a kid, manual transmissions(in games)scared the heck out of me, but it's not so bad after you get used to it.

 

Sorry for the lengthy response, again, is a preferred niche for me, I have an entire shelf dedicated to mostly 16 bit racers!

 

Have Fun!

 

 

racers.jpg

Edited by Rogerpoco
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6 hours ago, Rogerpoco said:

Super Monaco is great, but the Ayrton version is actually MUCH better, IMO-it takes forever to get your car back up to speed on Super Monaco, so sometimes it takes over a lap to get top speed for a good lap, which wastes time(I usually run time trials/fastest laps)(And I'm fast.).

Interesting... I actually haven't heard of that version. Good to know.

 

6 hours ago, Rogerpoco said:

I'd also suggest getting/having a three-button and a six button controller available-because of the D-pads being slightly different, some racers respond better/worse to one or the other, I promise, you can bounce out of gear too easily with the "wrong" controller, and no problems with the "right" one.

Absolutely, I've got both and I've lost count of how many times I've accidently pressed the diagonals in SMGP with the 3 button pad and shifted gears. Or at least, that's what I assume it is? I don't really have the issue with the 6 button pad, so...

 

6 hours ago, Rogerpoco said:

Sorry for the lengthy response, again, is a preferred niche for me, I have an entire shelf dedicated to mostly 16 bit racers!

 

It's pretty cool to see people are into stuff like this, I've always found 16 bit racers interesting for the sole reason that they feel quite different from modern racers to play. It's cool to see that others share my interests.

Anyhoo, thanks for your recommendations! I've definitely got some more options now to say the least.

Edited by RetroSonicHero
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6 hours ago, Ryan Witmer said:

I go through periods of addiction to Super Hang-On.  It has that "first-generation game" feel that I love so much.

Just looked it up on YT, I haven't played too many Motorcycle racer games so that's definitely one for me to consider. It looks pretty fast.

Edited by RetroSonicHero
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Road Rash Trilogy for sure B) There's also one on the Sega CD...it's super watered down, but it's still Road Rash.

 

Kawasaki Superbike Challenge is cool if you like polygons in your racing games. It runs especially well with an overclocked Genny.

 

Hmm...not sure what else that hasn't already been mentioned...OutRun is a pretty decent port. Framerate isn't as good as newer ports, but the music is fantastic.

I think some of the Chase HQ games are on Genesis?

 

Sports, I'm not huge on sports, but on the Genesis, it's hard to go wrong.  Between Sega, Tecmo, and EA, there's a lot to choose from.

And if you're buying carts, I imagine they're not very expensive.

I always liked NHL '94 as a kid (the Sega CD version has REAL ORGAN MUSIC! WOO!)

NBA Jam is a no-brainer, and I feel like the Genesis cart has more of the voices than the other ports do (but I could be wrong).

A lot of them support four players, if you have friends.

 

RacketBoy usually has good stuff on everything Sega: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-best-sports-games-on-the-sega-genesis

Edited by Asaki
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40 minutes ago, Asaki said:

Road Rash Trilogy for sure B) There's also one on the Sega CD...it's super watered down, but it's still Road Rash.

 

Kawasaki Superbike Challenge is cool if you like polygons in your racing games. It runs especially well with an overclocked Genny.

 

Hmm...not sure what else that hasn't already been mentioned...OutRun is a pretty decent port. Framerate isn't as good as newer ports, but the music is fantastic.

I think some of the Chase HQ games are on Genesis?

 

Sports, I'm not huge on sports, but on the Genesis, it's hard to go wrong.  Between Sega, Tecmo, and EA, there's a lot to choose from.

And if you're buying carts, I imagine they're not very expensive.

I always liked NHL '94 as a kid (the Sega CD version has REAL ORGAN MUSIC! WOO!)

NBA Jam is a no-brainer, and I feel like the Genesis cart has more of the voices than the other ports do (but I could be wrong).

A lot of them support four players, if you have friends.

 

RacketBoy usually has good stuff on everything Sega: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-best-sports-games-on-the-sega-genesis

A lot of useful info here, thank you. It also definitely reinforces the fact that I should dabble into the bike racing games more.

Generally what I do is try out the games on my Everdrive before buying carts for em. If I enjoy the game, I'll pick it up physically if I can find it for a decent price. Which doesn't seem that hard to do with racing/sports games. There's a retro store where I live that consistently sells them between $10-$20 complete in box with manual, seems like a good price to me.

Edited by RetroSonicHero
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Try Road Rash.    

 

For Sports, there are a ton. Madden 94 or later might tickle your fancy.  I like the Joe Montana Sega Football games too.  But if you want more arcade style , maybe stick with the earlier titles.  I enjoy a few rounds of Sports Talk baseball, and especially Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf is one of my favorite golf games. 

 

NHL 94 hockey is a sweet game. It still has its fans. 

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8 hours ago, Cafeman said:

Try Road Rash.    

 

For Sports, there are a ton. Madden 94 or later might tickle your fancy.  I like the Joe Montana Sega Football games too.  But if you want more arcade style , maybe stick with the earlier titles.  I enjoy a few rounds of Sports Talk baseball, and especially Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf is one of my favorite golf games. 

 

NHL 94 hockey is a sweet game. It still has its fans. 

Yes, there are definitely a ton. The majority of Genesis games I find in the wild are sports games hands down, and they're easily purchasable for $10 or less complete in box. I'll probably end up working my way up, starting with the earliest one that's widely regarded as being good, and doing the later ones to see the differences

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Ayrton Senna Super Monaco GP 2 is absolutely stellar. Playing on Master difficulty, you get to move around and switch teams like in the first.  The game is hard though. But rewarding as hell when you bring it all together. Drive manual 7speed. Much, much faster...much, much harder but its worth it. Super Hang On is excellent. Lotus 1 and 2 are cool too.

 

Outrun is great. Outrun 2019 is great. 

 

If you want to race with roller blades in a game identical to Road Rash? Skitchin' is worth looking at.

 

These are just good games in general:

 

Alien Storm, Beyond Oasis, Golden Axe 1-3, Road Rash 1-3, Streets of Rage 1-3, Shining Force 1&2, Phantasy Star 2-4, Death Duel, Subterranea, F1 Circus, F1 Nakajima, Alien Soldier, Comix Zone, Gunstar Heroes, Light Crusader, MoonWalker, James Bond The Duel, Ecco...

 

Sonic1-3 + Knuckles-whoops Mario, atleast in this specific generation it did.

 

Alisia Dragoon,  Target Earth, StreetSmart, AfterBurner 2, Columns, Revenge of Shinobi, Shadow Dancer, Shinobi 3, ShadowRun, Thunderforce 2-5, Gaiares, Hellfire, Jungle Strike,  Urban Strike,  Desert Strike, Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion, Robocop Vs Terminator, Contra Hardcorps, Castlevania BloodLines, El Viento,  Landstalker, Chakan: The Forever Man, MERCS, Valis 3, Pitfighter, The Punisher, X-men 1&2, Dynamite Duke, Rolling Thunder 2&3, Bimini Run, Rambo 3, Fist of The NorthStar.....

 

F@$%, I can still go on.

 

Genesis is one of the greatest consoles of all time. I liked it alot more than SNES. 

 

I feel the SNES had it's collection of premium high quality games that can arguably be better than most Genesis games, aside from Sonic giving Nintendo a run for its money.....this is roughly 30 games.....the rest are either on Genesis aswell or are shit. The Genesis versions though dont usually look as good excluding RoboCop Vs Terminator...... but usually have better gameplay. Any SNK game plays better on Genesis, but looks superior on SNES. Same for Pitfighter and Mortal Kombat 1.

 

What Genesis does have is an onslaught of like 300 games.  It has a bigger selection of good games. SNES I feel had the more important games..... just alot less of them in comparison. In terms of must haves...

 

Genesis' good-great 300 games VS 30-50 SNES higher quality phenomenal  games. Classic Quantity VS Quality that played out before your very eyes.... but SEGA showed quantity isn't a bad thing if your standards are high enough to consistently pump out great games.

 

I'm taking more games....the better playing versions of games, and the better sports games which can still be played today. Any NHL game on Genesis is still stupidly fun. NFL Football 94 Starring Joe Montana is still the best 2D football game. Just no one knows that until they finally play it. I dont even like sports that much to begin with.... i barely give a shit.... but when you dont like baseball and you consider World Series Baseball on the Genesis to be one of the greatest games of all time.....

 

That says something.

 

I had both consoles and over 100 games for each growing up.

 

SNES on paper is the better machine. But something about that black sports car lookin thing under your tv being slightly less powerful but being 2 or 3 times faster and being able to compete with what it had, it looked like something Ferrari would have designed if they decided to build a console ...... I'll never know exactly  what it is that made it so magical.

 

I was 100% sold I needed a Genesis. I was willing to overlook the technically more capable stuff on SNES till somehow We ended up with one and realized it was indeed superior....but there are way more games on Genesis that justify owning it.

 

Games that appeared on both.... The SNES versions usually suffer from slowdown when shit starts getting crazy on screen....sometimes unplayable levels of slowdown.... on Genesis, BLAST. PROCESSING. LOL Rarely slowed down. You can see this most evidently in Wrestlemania The Arcade Game. But the exlusives were what made the SNES the true winner in the end.

 

I can see why it happened. I still preferred SEGA over all. I own all those SNES exclusives too Super Mario, Donkey Kong Country 1-3, Mario Kart, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy 3, StarFox, Chrono Trigger, Final Fight 1-3, Super Castlevania 4, Act Raiser 1&2, Contra, Fzero, PilotWings, Secret of Mana etc.

 

Once I beat those and others....it was back to the dark side.

 

 

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How has this thread gone this far without this splendid Rare RC racing game being mentioned?
 


You can’t go far wrong with any of the EA Sports or Sega sports games. Other than some rather boring Accolade sports games, it’s hard to go far wrong with any sports games on the Genny. It was THE system for sports of the era.

 

There is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to boxing games, but let me specifically mention my hands down favorite: Greatest Heavyweights. It looks, plays, and sounds amazing, and it features truly the greatest lineup of boxers of any game I know of.

 

 

Here’s a great thread about hockey games that focuses on the Genesis:

 

 

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On 6/17/2021 at 7:01 AM, sn8k said:

Ayrton Senna Super Monaco GP 2 is absolutely stellar. Playing on Master difficulty, you get to move around and switch teams like in the first.  The game is hard though. But rewarding as hell when you bring it all together. Drive manual 7speed. Much, much faster...much, much harder but its worth it. Super Hang On is excellent. Lotus 1 and 2 are cool too.

 

 

Yeah I've heard a lot about it, I'll definitely be picking it up. It'll have to be the Japanese version cause I have an NTSC-J console, but it really doesn't go for much more than the USA version so its whatever.

I can definitely see why someone would prefer Sega over Nintendo, and games like Sonic have really made me reconsider who I prefer.

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On 6/17/2021 at 6:36 PM, jgkspsx said:

You can’t go far wrong with any of the EA Sports or Sega sports games.

That's what I've heard as well, EA had been consistently putting out decent games.

 

On 6/17/2021 at 6:36 PM, jgkspsx said:

There is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to boxing games, but let me specifically mention my hands down favorite: Greatest Heavyweights. It looks, plays, and sounds amazing, and it features truly the greatest lineup of boxers of any game I know of.

I actually passed up on a copy recently, my mom gave me a weird look when I showed her that was one of the games I was gonna buy, so I figured I'd just get it later down the line. Now I'm DEFINITELY going to buy it.

Edited by RetroSonicHero
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5 hours ago, RetroSonicHero said:

That's what I've heard as well, EA had been consistently putting out decent games.

 

I actually passed up on a copy recently, my mom gave me a weird look when I showed her that was one of the games I was gonna buy, so I figured I'd just get it later down the line. Now I'm DEFINITELY going to buy it.

Greatest Heavyweights is fantastic. The game that came before it was pure f@#$%ing excellence. Evander Holyfields Real Deal Boxing. Both games play very similar. GH is more fast paced. Has 3 different body types... EHRDB... only has one.

 

Career mode plays out the same across both games. When your fighter hits 30 fights.... he begins to age and his stats begin to decline. Each fight starts turning into dramatic long distance wars. 

 

Your fighter is automatically retired after 40 fights.

 

I always try and go 40-0....once you're in a fight. That's it. If that console turns off, glitches, power outage...... what ever it is aside from you winning by KO or decision.... will be a nice big blemish on your record.

 

Nothing more satisfying than barely holding on in a fight, getting your ass kicked and having just enough left to knock your opponents ass out.

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On 6/19/2021 at 6:42 PM, sn8k said:

Greatest Heavyweights is fantastic. The game that came before it was pure f@#$%ing excellence. Evander Holyfields Real Deal Boxing. Both games play very similar. GH is more fast paced. Has 3 different body types... EHRDB... only has one.

 

Career mode plays out the same across both games. When your fighter hits 30 fights.... he begins to age and his stats begin to decline. Each fight starts turning into dramatic long distance wars. 

 

Your fighter is automatically retired after 40 fights.

 

I always try and go 40-0....once you're in a fight. That's it. If that console turns off, glitches, power outage...... what ever it is aside from you winning by KO or decision.... will be a nice big blemish on your record.

 

Nothing more satisfying than barely holding on in a fight, getting your ass kicked and having just enough left to knock your opponents ass out.

I'll definitely keep this in mind!

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