One of the most inspired platform games ever created, Sonic the Hedgehog is just full of so many original "how the heck did they come up with that idea" moments its incredible, a high speed rolling hedgehog? roller coaster loops? pinball bumpers and flippers? rotating bonus level? the health system? people really do take a lot of the stuff in this game for granted these days, its such a shame that later games in the series became so lazy and formulaic when the first was as admirably original as this. On the commercial side of things this was the big one, the game which cemented the MD as a true force to be reckoned with.

The Ecco series of games were not for everyone, it seems most people either hated them or loved them, though few could argue that Tides of Time wasn't a beautifully designed and unique game and with a excellent high quality storyline too.

Take Sonic, mix with Mega Man and then add loads of new interesting and clever ideas and you pretty much have Pulseman. one of the notable ideas worth mentioning here is the way the game play focuses on you charging your kinetic energy (basically running/dashing gives you a charge which you can use to either throw a blast or bounce around the screen) apart from that the graphics are also some of the best around, though Pulseman does admittedly contain some of the most headache inducing background designs I've ever seen!

The first in the series of games starring Sparkster, an Opossum with a rocket pack. The main difference between this and other platformers of the time is the addition of the aforementioned rocket pack, which allows you to fly forwards in short bursts and allows room for some more unique level designs. This probably represented the high point of accessibility for the series, with later games becoming faster and more action based.

Sega managed to strike the perfect balance of deep game play and all out action with this iteration of their classic series. The control method and move set contained a level of versatility not commonly found in many other action games of the time and really rewarded those who took the time to master it. Another classic Shinobi game.

Back during the 16-bit era I remember being in awe of Street Fighter II and dreaming of a fighting game with 4-player support, little did I know that this had already become a reality on the Mega Drive in an excellent game unfortunately never to be released outside of Japan. Unlike most other fighters of the time Yu Yu Hakusho didn't try to clone Street Fighter, and went instead for a multi-layered playing field, a set-up Treasure would later use for their Bleach series of fighters, the spiritual sequels to this game.

This game was probably one of the most important (if not the most important) real time strategy games ever made, it was the originator of the whole Command and Conquer style of games, and once you get to grips with the controls you'll find a game just as playable today as it was then.

This was, in my opinion an ultra refined beat-em-up, it never strayed far from the classic formula but was polished to perfection and contained the best fighting action of the period, with loads of simultaneous onscreen enemies and interesting boss fights. It was just an amazingly well presented and feeling game with a timeless quality about it.

This has to be one of my favourite RPG's on the system, the graphics are very nice, it's a lot of fun mainly due to its excellent fighting system, and it just has an amazing and unique style permeating it.

I'm a big fan of the later Wonder Boy games, they have this excellent marriage of platformer and RPG elements, playing something like a fantasy version of Metroid. In this one you had to find an ocarina and learn to play different tunes for it to open doors (sound familiar?). The one released after this was quite possibly the best of the lot, though unfortunately was only ever released in Japanese.