Castlevania is a classic, but I never had any exposure to it until a few years ago. Nobody I knew had it, and it wasn’t in the game rental stores near me. I wish I had played it sooner, because it’s an excellent action platformer with a killer soundtrack. Difficult, too! 🎮
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a classic, and one of my all time favorites (though I’m an idiot for Sonic stuff). Just like its predecessor, the soundtrack is a huge part of why it’s so universally loved. I can beat this pretty easily these days. 🎮
World of Illusion is a great example of an early Sega classic, down to the box art. In classic Disney game fashion, difficulty can be punishing, so I’ve never gotten too far. It’s a blast to play with someone else, though! Friendly fire is hilarious here. 🎮
Rocket Knight Adventures kicks ass. I played this a lot as a kid and could barely get past the first area. It definitely requires some patience and pattern memorization, but the expressive animation and effects are worth it. One of the best-looking Genesis games. 🎮
Disney’s Aladdin is such an awesome platformer, despite the absolutely insane difficulty curve later in the game. It was surprising that SNES got a version by Capcom that wasn’t quite as good. The animation at the time was groundbreaking for a game. 🎮
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a great example of Sega in its prime, especially when connected to the previously mentioned Sonic and Knuckles. I’ve played through this so many times, and since it has save progress, I’d explore levels, finding every emerald possible. Probably Sonic’s peak, IMO. 🎮
Sonic & Knuckles (especially when combined with Sonic 3) is one of my favorite games ever! You get the full experience when locked on to Sonic 3, but the standalone game is great, too. I remember being so excited to play as a NEW character in a Sonic game…Knuckles! 🎮
X-Men 2: The Clone Wars (not the kind that happen in the Stars) was popular enough to be a Greatest Hit in the Genesis lineup, but I can’t say I love it. Way too much “what the fuck am I supposed to do here?” and uneven difficulty. Great sound effects, though! 🎮
Blaster Master has that classic Sunsoft soundtrack, and for some reason, every kid I knew growing up had this game. It’s a cool platformer/shooter, but in classic NES fashion, the difficulty means I barely saw any of the game. 🎮
The original Final Fantasy is a little hard to play these days (since it’s really old), but it’s still interesting to see the beginning of this the long running series. I’ve played through the remakes many times, but it’s cool to see how the series REALLY started; on the NES! 🎮
I used to rent Ecco: The Tides of Time a lot, because…you could be a dolphin, duh. You can also do dolphin things, like flips, use sonar, push stuff with your nose, etc. I did that more than trying to progress in the game, which is pretty difficult. An early example of a non violent game! 🎮
Holy crap, The Adventures of Batman & Robin kicks so much ass. A pounding industrial techno soundtrack, challenging but approachable difficulty, unique effects and graphic; it’s got it all, but NOBODY ever talks about this game! It’s a must play, even if you don’t care about Batman. 🎮
What can I say about Super Mario Bros. 3 that hasn’t already been said? I ended up with a NES in the household because my Mom wanted to play SMB3 really bad (which she rented, because the console was already expensive enough). The rest is history… This might be my favorite 2D Mario… 🎮
Batman Forever the game is just as awful as the movie, but possibly worse! Complete with completely bonkers controls and an area most people get stuck on because using the grappling hook makes no sense. Wonderful! Good thing it was released on every console under the sun. 🎮
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for NES is frustration incarnate, but I know tons of us have fond memories of trying to get past the stupid water level, getting run over by steam rollers, failing impossible jumps…you know, all the fun stuff. 🎮
Tetris on NES is still pretty cool, but I prefer the Game Boy version. NES doesn’t have the classic song! 🎮
Dr. Mario is an interesting puzzle game, mostly because of the Mario aspect. To be honest, it’s not my favorite, compared to traditional stacker games like Tetris or even Yoshi. 🎮
Toy Story is definitely an example of the brutal difficulty games aimed at children had back in the 90’s! Many a swear word was (secretly) uttered getting to the RC car level and then immediately losing. Ah, memories… 🎮
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game was a 2 player must-play back in the day, because not everyone had access to the arcade game. I kind of like the NES soundtrack more, myself. Great adaption!
Another Genesis favorite, the original Vectorman was sort of like the Genesis Donkey Kong Country in a way, with psuedo 3D graphics and action oriented gameplay. Great EDM soundtrack too! 🎮
