Friday, September 2, 2016

Top 10 Licensed Genesis Games

Hi everyone I'm Jack Red, did you think I was done posting blog entries today? No this was Sega's attitude during the 90s when the pressure built on them daily against Nintendo. I figured to help pieces more of my child hood playing an Sega Genesis by making another list. This time I put my Top 10 Licensed Genesis Games. Everyone has an different list for most consoles in terms of what are the best overall or great licensed games. This is purely my opinion alone with only those licensed games I played.

10. Home Alone

Most Home Alone games are crap cash ins that have little to nothing with the movies. Honestly I didn't know this fact until very recently because I loved Home Alone on Sega Genesis. You play as Kevin trying to save five houses from being robbed by the Wet Bandits. Yes this game has it's fair share of flaws but still an enjoyable experience. For one thing you can set traps similar to the movies. You could do either difficulty with some changes. Mostly three key ones that many people doesn't realize.

1. time limit from beginner to expert goes from twenty to forty minutes
2. In expert mode you have to manually built your weapons
3. In expert mode you will find items you won't find in beginner mode for more combinations

The only real way to get an game over is all five houses gets rob. This game surprisingly complex yet faithfully to it's source material. Honestly this could be the only good Home Alone game in existence. I recommend it to fellow Genesis fans as well as those really into Home Alone movies. I am very impressed how much work went into this by an smaller game team.

9. X-Men

Sorry to disappoint people as I still haven't played X-Men 2 on Genesis. X-Men is considered one of the toughest games on the console. But it is also one of the best Marvel licensed games for it's era. Yes as stated by many reviewers there's some mess up stuff related to this game. I like the story seems like the cartoon at the time as well as the comics. You get to play as an handful of members from X-Men with each having their abilities. This is still one of the best X-Men games I ever played. Yes there is an learning curve that may turn some people off. All these levels are very true to it's source material in every possible way.

8. Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

One of the original licensed Sonic games is still one of his best spin off games to date. Yes this is based on The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. An mixed reception cartoon that had plenty of good & bad things about it. Honestly I always felt this game directly based on that show was the best thing. Every opponent you face in this game was on the show. Although majority of them only appeared in one episode that looked better in this game. Yes I should state the obvious fact that originally this was an Puyo Puyo game in Japan. They came to Sega about doing this game before going to Nintendo for Kirby's Avalanche on SNES. All game modes work very well for an puzzle game. My two favorite things about this game that often gets praise are the following below...

1. One of the absolute best spin off Genesis game soundtracks
2. One of the best password systems on the console

Yes this game quickly gets challenging but it is addictive as you constantly keep on playing for hours. Seriously this is an amazing puzzle game that's still one of my favorite in the genre as well as franchise. I simply couldn't recommend this game enough to Genesis, Sonic or puzzle game fans in general.

7. Mortal Kombat

I know I very recently talked about Genesis version of Mortal Kombat. Along with the blood code that actually on an music album. This has one of the best cheat menus on the console. Yes you do have to look up what most options do. After an while you'll learn which ones you want to activate. By the way this cheat menu is completely absent from SNES version. If that's not an good amount reason mostly because SNES lacked blood. This is the only Genesis Mortal Kombat game to out sold any of the SNES MK games. To this day still my favorite port of Mortal Kombat.  Considering the short amount of time porting these games on most platforms. Genesis version is still one of the few worth mentioning among them.

6. Tiny Toons: Buster's Hidden Treasure

My Tiny Toons game from my child hood. I remember playing several hours not knowing about passwords. I usually got very far in the game in most of the times I played it. What's awesome is both password system & having infinite continues makes the game very replayable. Yes you have to enter a lot that could be annoying to write down. The game itself sorta like Sonic series back then. Buster is running fast collecting carrots & extra lives in most levels. Of course you have boss fights that mostly you attack the scientist. Yet these were creative despite being more similar to Super Mario World bosses. Despite this you can go multiple paths depending on which exit you take. You surprisingly get a lot of levels to explore with some being lengthy. An solid Konami game that more people needs to play.

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist

Yes let's get the obvious out of the way. There's strong similarities between this & TMNT4 on SNES. Officially Sega took Turtles in Time transformed it into an original game. Of course most cut scenes with some level layouts are still similar. Believe it or not this was tougher out of the two TMNT games. Smarter overall AIs, an boss rush level & an more difficult Super Shredder boss fight. This is also one of the very few TMNT games to have Tatsu from the first two live action movies. If that's not crazy enough this has one of the best soundtracks of it's time. Still one of the best by third party companies on Genesis. This game I played so many times getting very close of beating it.

4. The Adventures of Batman and Robin

Even the best Batman games on Genesis was as close as good as those on SNES. Yes I said that but most of them are still recommended to many people. Unfortunately the top 3 Batman games has serious flaws. I think most would agree The Adventures of Batman & Robin was very impressive for it's time. Not only this is the hardest Batman game but also one of the few to really pushed the console. Let me explain this game throws so much at you from the moment you start playing. All it's cut scenes look very similar to the cartoon classic Batman the Animated Series. Some portions of this game has very mind blowing visuals including 3D models. Easily one of the best original soundtracks on an licensed games I ever heard. You can use level skip to see more of the game if needed. In Level 2 you get to fly the batwing being one of the few Batman games to do that. All four levels does an amazing job representing four of Batman's enemies. Although I got to be honest Mr. Freeze is horribly presented in this game. Despite that issue with the story being a little unlikely to happen. This still is an amazing Genesis game that more people should play. Hardcore gamers even have trouble playing this game it's that hard folks. Some would still play it, Batman fans or Genesis collectors should all collect this game.

3. Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage

I remember playing this game several times growing up. I actually have an interesting story related to this. As an kid I went to an game store to play more Genesis games. I ended up getting both Spider-Man & Venom games that day. Yes I got the red cartridge version of Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage. One of the few Genesis games to change the color from standard black. This game is directly based on the comic book story of the same name. I am very surprised how close it follows that story as shown in an YouTube video. You get to play as Spider-Man & Venom beating up bad guys. This game still blows many people away as it stands as one of the web swinger's best video games. I absolutely love this game's soundtrack to death. Everything works in this game but an challenging to beat. I really can't recommend this game more than many people before me.

2. Toy Story

I played a lot of Toy Story because I used to really like the movie. I still like it today but honestly most of my passion comes from Genesis game based on that movie. Toy Story directly follows the movie nailing every key scene. Still the best Toy Story game to date with some of the best in every category. Like The Adventures of Batman & Robin on same console, Toy Story also pushed it's limits. Some levels has different game play styles helping to make the game fresh. What really surprised me is I watched an Console Wars episode on Toy Story SNES vs. Genesis. I couldn't believe SNES version has smaller screen resolution & missing theme song. Most critics prefer Genesis version the most for many reasons. Honestly this isn't just one of the best this system has to offer. This also one of the very best licensed games I ever played. I highly recommend to Genesis collectors or Disney fans pick this game up.

1. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers The Movie
What possibly could top Toy Story among all licensed games I played? How about Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers The Movie on same console? Most consoles had their own version of MMPR games, each being more difference than the last. They decided to make MMPR The Movie an follow up to most platforms. MMPR game on Sega Genesis was surprisingly good in many areas for it's time. Then we rented the movie game during the time me & my brother were still fans of the show. Holy crap this game was even better. You can play as every rangers from season 1 & 2. In some portions you can play as zords from season 2 & 3 aka movie version. Similar to playing as them in the original Genesis game. Easily one of the best soundtracks among beat em up games on the console. Yes half of this game is based on the show more directly about episodes of the newer rangers replacing the old ones. This is one of the few versions to cover the movie instead of just putting Ivan Ooze as the final boss. This is still considered the best Power Rangers game in existence. I kid you not it's really that damn good. I'm still impressed everything present in this game delivering the fan letter treatment. This game alone was the best part of my time being an fan back in the day. They did such an amazing job that most Genesis collectors, beat em up fans or those of Power Rangers. Please pick this game up it's really worth your time, money & attention in every sense of the word.

I hope you guys enjoy my list as I still remember playing them an long time ago. Honestly all ten of them should be in most Genesis collector's collection of games. Genesis had some amazing games for it's era both licensed & original. I will always remember the memories I had with them until the day I die. Until next time I'm Jack Red & I'll see all of you later.

No comments:

Post a Comment