My Sega Genesis Memories

Continuing with my VG countdown articles, this one focuses again on the 16-bit era, but this time, it's on the Sega Genesis. Like my Super NES article, I can only remember a few games that I had a lot of fun with on this system, but there are more memorable games on the Sega Genesis to me than the Super Nintendo, so for this one, I'm going to list 15.


What a jam-packed game! Hundreds of levels, tons of teleporters, lots of weird monsters to fight, and best of all, getting to transform into all these different heroes with lots of cool moves. The only con is that some of the guys you changed into didn't go up hills. The game may be hard as hell, but the fun factor of the game really lives up to being one of the best on the Sega Genesis.


A lot of movie-based games tend to fail, but this one doesn't so much. The game has good graphics, great sound, and compared to most movie-based games, this one is God! This 2D platformer follows the movie very well with music taken from the movie's soundtrack and even direct dialogue from the movie! Regardless of how difficult it may be, it's still pretty fun. "The Lion King" is definately one of the best movie-based games I've ever played.


This former mascot of 7-Up got three of his own video games, each on an entirely different system. Though, I gotta say, of all those games, the one on the Sega Genesis was the best. How cool would it be to be a little red dot with sunglasses, going around trying to save your friends while shooting 7-Up out of your glove at crabs, worms, bees, mice, spiders, toys, and all this other weird stuff, while at the same time listening to some cool jazz music? What a fun little game. Virgin should definately start making games again.


An evil scientist is trying to take over the world, and it's your job as this circus bat to stop him...but first you have to kill off all the other acts of the circus. There's only room for one acrobat in this circus, and that's Aero! This is a game you'll spend hours upon hours playing because there are so many levels, and with no way to save your progress and having them send you back to Act 1 of the world you were on after getting a game over, it just adds on.


If you thought a worm in a supersuit was weird enough, you haven't seen the half of Earthworm Jim! 200% of the stuff in this game is weird! Wether it be the characters or the stuff you do, Earthworm Jim is nothing but a mess of a cartoon, but still an overall cool game.


Ever since this game's release, it came with every Sega Genesis sold making it worthy of being in the Top 10! How can you talk about Sega and not mention Sonic the Hedgehog? This is the game that started it all for the blue speedy hedgehog, and it's still undeniably one of the best with it's sweet moves, colorful graphics and one of the best video game soundtracks ever!


I consider Vectorman to be one of the video game titles that fell off too soon. This game came out in the mid-90's and was going to be a new franchise for the Sega Genesis, but thanks to systems like the Playstation, we only managed to get 2 games out of this guy (maybe he had more, but at least I've never heard of any others). Like most games on the Genesis, while this game can be challenging, it's the amount of fun you have that matters.


The much-anticipated sequel to "Earthworm Jim" took everything we loved about the first game and made it even better! This time, it's loaded with more comic relief and a lot of cool mini games like a Simon game, a hammer game, a bouncing puppies game, and even a trivia game that'll make you laugh falling out of your seat! The only flaw of this game are the few levels that are long, boring and repetitive, but the many new guns that Jim has make up for most of that.


What can be better than a racing game? A racing game that's more realistic. While most racing games are about making laps while driving go-karts, "Road Rash" was all about riding a motorcycle and racing 15 other bikers to the finish. What's even cooler is that you got to change the name of your biker to whatever you wanted! So put some pedal to the metal on this game, and watch out for cars...and make sure to avoid those cops too.


Out of all the Tiny Toon Adventures games I've played, this has always been one of my favorites. Buster Bunny goes on a treasure hunt while at the same time rescue all his friends from Dr. Splicer. Those helpers you have in the game are also pretty cool. The only real problem with the game is that there are some things about it that rip off "Sonic the Hedgehog" (kinda like how TTA on Nintendo ripped off "Mario 3"). If you love the Tiny Toons, then I suggest giving this game a try.


One of the first games I ever played on the Sega Genesis, and even the most obscure games can result to greatness. Donald Duck traveling around the world for a secret treasure while attacking bad guys with plungers. Now, in real life, no one would be able to do all that in one day. Regardless of how corny it may be, the game is still well-planned-out how it requires going back and forth to the different areas of the game. Just a forewarning, remember that eating 5 red hot chili peppers will make you go insane!


How often do you see sequels better than the originals? Well, today, it's pretty common, but back in the 90's, it was still pretty common in the gaming world. What made "Sonic 2" better than the original were the lots of new zones, the introduction of Tails, the spin-dash attack, the 2-player mode, and the 3D half pipes! What a game! This is one of those games you'll want to play over and over again!


If putting Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck together in a 2-player platformer isn't cool enough, then how about giving them some magical powers? I never thought I'd see the day when Donald would perfect magic until I saw this game. Although the game is short, it's still very memorable, and it's fun enough to play with a friend. I do find it a bit annoying that the game doesn't progress unless both of you are on the screen at the same time. Oh well, at least there are still some references from classic Disney movies that you'll find enjoyable.


Yet another title that fell off. What happens when you take a bunch of forest animals and put them into a medieval setting with a Star Wars theme mixed in? You get this awesome game. What other game do you get to play as a possum who wears a vicious jet pack and kicks some ass by killing his enemies with the sound wave of his sword? I think it's about time Sparkster made a jump into the new age of gaming.


As I've said before, "Sonic 3" is the most interesting game of the Sonic trilogy, but the only way to make it at least 10 times better is by locking it on to "Sonic & Knuckles"! Giving you new levels to play, more areas to explore, more objectives to complete, and the addition of having Knuckles as a playable character, this is the game that blows all the other Sonic games away (maybe not quite "Sonic CD")! With all that said and done, "Sonic 3 & Knuckles", to this day, is my #1 most cherrished game on the Sega Genesis.

* = This game was also on the Super NES, but I liked the Sega version better.

Yeah, I admit, there are probably a lot of other classics on the Genesis that I forgot about. I know "Altered Best" and "Ristar" would fall under my list of honorable mentions, but I have a hard time remembering games from this system (I have seen some pretty bad ones, believe me). Well, that concludes my Sega Genesis list. Maybe I'll do one for the Nintendo 64, but probably not for a while. Thank you and have a good night.