Wiz N' Liz
 
   
80
Wiz N Liz on Genesis
 
 
Really fast, really fun, really unique. Run around catching rabbits and creating spells before the timer runs out, an original game that's also great in two player too.
 
 
Phantasy Star III
 
   
79
Phantasy Star III
 
 
A bit of a departure for the series, PSIII was still very impressive by RPG standards of the day, and admirably wasn't afraid to try out new things, hence the inclusion of its touted "generation system" whereby the game takes place over a period of many years and many generations of characters, at the end of each generation you also choose who you'd like to marry which effects the future paths the game takes.
 
 
NHL 94'
 
   
78
NHL 94'
 
 
Classic sports title that's easy to pick up and play and the 3 button controls seem to fit quite well, giving everything you need control wise whilst still being simple and accessible. This version was the best around at the time too, having slightly better animation over the SNES version.
 
 
Eternal Champions
 
   
77
Eternal Champions
 
 
A nice fighting game with lots of depth and tons of options, the graphics have that easily identified classic Mega Drive look about them and the characters are varied and interesting. The game is fairly difficult and pretty much demands the player to fully learn the nuances of each character to have any chance of progression.
 
 
Starflight
 
   
76
Starflight on Genesis
 
 
If you like your Adventure/RPG's to be massive and non-linear then you can't go wrong with this game. You can go wherever you want and fully explore the universe in any order you want, the alien races are all very well designed and full of charm and the whole thing is very unique, it's actually the spiritual predecessor to one of my favourite games, Star Control 2 (same people worked on both games) make sure to get a copy with the map, or if not I have one myself hosted here
 
 
 
Golden Axe
 
   
75
Golden Axe on Genesis
 
 
One of the most important pioneers of the earlier beat-em-ups, Golden Axe set the pace for a lot of the games that followed with its multiple characters, screen clearing magic, rideable beasts and dashing charge move. The Mega Drive version really blew people away with its similarity to the arcade when it was originally released .
 
 
Thunder Force III
 
   
74
Thunder Force III
 
 
Great music, fast frenetic blasting, a brilliant power-up system, great music and nice overall level design, all hallmarks of a great Shmup and a classic series.
 
 
Shining in the Darkness
 
   
73
Shining in the Darkness
 
 
Shining in the Darkness is the first game in the acclaimed Shining series, though unlike it's "Force" brothers the original focuses more on classic dungeon crawling RPG style game play than Strategy. Overall the experience is quite fun though simplistic.
 
 
Hellfire
 
   
72
Hellfire on Genesis
 
 
Great shmup that all the magazines seemed to rave about it the early days, it has to be admitted that there's some real finesse at the way that the multi direction power-up system works in this game, and how it effects the clever level and boss designs.
 
 
Mercs
 
   
71
Mercs on Genesis
 
 
The fantastic sequel to Commando, Mercs contained all the action and set pieces any fan could've wanted and was ported brilliantly to Mega Drive, not only this but Sega added a whole new original mode themselves as a bonus which was far better and deeper than the arcade mode! The new original mode adds rpg style powering up elements and multiple characters which can swapped on the fly. Easily one of the best top down shmups of the time.
 
  previous next