Somehow it seems like only yesterday that, sitting in a Biology lesson, Nintendo fans found themselves doodling Mario engaging in a special kind of plumbing - giving Sonic the Hedgehog a colonoscopy with something resembling a pylon.
Many of them ended up buying one. It might have had the sophistication of a bag of rattlesnakes, but then that was the point - it was a monster of a console. An angry piece of kit, with its cheap plastic moulded into a permanent frown, it looked completely different from anything seen before. It seemed somehow more serious, less toy-like. And with its volume control and headphone jack at the front, it felt less like a toy and more like a real piece of electrical equipment.
Most importantly, though, it offered some serious firepower. For the first time these were console games that looked and sounded (and even smelled, in the case of Altered Beast) like 'real' arcade games. A whopping 512-colour palette (only 61 of which could be displayed at any one time, mind you), 64 sprites on screen, and the ability to display the whole lot across four planes of parallax-o-vision.
Even before Sonic, Sega already understood, much like another Japanese company would some eight years later, that gamers fed on a steady diet of Mario and Mega Man were starting to grow up, and would happily eat up any games console that would make them feel like big boys.
Still, NEC's PC Engine (renamed TurboGrafx-16 for the States) simply couldn't match up. Gamers lapped up Genesis, and although it was some way off Nintendo's astronomical NES install base (almost 30 million units at the time), Christmas was all about Sega. All thanks to a range of software that was seen as more 'mature', somehow cooler.
Of course, they hadn't seen anything yet. In 1990 Sega hit marketing stride ("Genesis does what Nintendon't" being the most infamous slogan of the time), began to focus on an older, game-hungry audience and exploiting the fact that, with more powerful hardware, they could provide better looking software with unparalleled depth, something that became more convincing when third parties flocked to the console.
Developers, who had already built up a good reputation in the arcades, started to back the machine. Capcom's superb Russian-themed slash-'em-up Strider joined in-house efforts such as Revenge Of Shinobi and Super Monaco GP - and even Disney licences such as Fantasia and Castle Of Illusion arrived to make gamers lick shop windows like zombies at full moon.
They weren't exactly home and dry though. Sega was facing intensified competition; a more powerful, graphically capable new Nintendo console in the shape of the SNES, and the ungodly might of Mario. Sega needed something to shoot back with, and as good (not to mention weighty) as it was, Madden simply wasn't it.
Comments
25 comments so far...
sevvybgoode on 14 Apr '13 said:
There were some really great megadrive games that never tend to get mentioned in these sort of articles.
Rolo to the rescue, wiz n liz, story of Thor, battle squadron,columns, dune... You could hit the character limit for a post mentioning them all.
As for the mega cd snatcher and sonic cd are great shouts but what about the lunar games? Keiyos flying squadron? The criminally under rated eternal champions cd?
smmac41 on 14 Apr '13 said:
I don't think so. Last Battle is a fantastic game, and one I still play today.
HarleyQuin on 14 Apr '13 said:
I loved the mega drive the consoles of today don't seem to have the same magic as back then,i remember everyone at school talking about getting md's for xmas,good times loved the streets of rage golden axe and alicia dragoon.
Knight on 14 Apr '13 said:
Genuinely, I always feel fearfully sick when I think of Rolo to the Rescue. I've NO idea why. Maybe there was a really scary level or I experienced a very traumatic event in my childhood that I have tied to the game.
Little bit of insight into my life for you all.
toaplan on 14 Apr '13 said:
A pretty good read, although I disagree about the Mega CD "finishing the Mega Drive off". It was a pretty cool add-on and remained as such - i.e. it didn't split the userbase to a harmful degree or divert Sega's studio resources much away from the main Mega Drive software development. It was also released on time (already back in 1991 in Japan), was probably sold profitably (being quite pricey) and had some classic games released for it (Sonic CD, Final Fight CD, Lunar series etc.)
I'm not going to defend the 32X though. Sega should have concentrated 100% on the Saturn and not waste any R&D resources on the silly 32X. As a huge Sega fan, I of course bought it nevertheless and very much enjoyed Virtua Racing Deluxe and Star Wars Arcade. But still, the 32X was clearly a mistake, unnecessary and made the transition to the 32-bit gen more confusing for consumers.
The MD itself was a true must-have system for a lot of gamers, including me. There's so many great games on it that it's not easy to make a top 12 list. In general the highlights for me include Sega's first-party games of course, Capcom's arcade conversions and EA's sports games and their overall output.
CVG's top 12 includes many of the biggest classics. I'd add Madden, EA's NHL Hockey, Desert Strike / Jungle Strike, Revenge of Shinobi and Strider to the list. General Chaos, Subterrania and Star Control would be the first ones not to make the cut, if I made a strict top 10 list.
Gameoholic007 on 14 Apr '13 said:
Good article. I remember growing up playing these games, some I've forgotten about, others I've never heard of. Brings back a lot of memorys though, a lot of good gaming back then.
placid ca5ual on 14 Apr '13 said:
Every single time a magazine or website mentions Snatcher they use that exact same screenshot. I'm now convinced that its not a classic game at all its just on picture of a guy with no head which you look at for a few hours while the cd noisily whirs around...
Dalaeck on 15 Apr '13 said:
A good article, it's curiously written however, almost like it's not from an old-school gamer but more a current generation gamer looking back through the modern lens - the game selection is definitely NOT what I would have picked!
Toe Jam and Earl, Shining force I&II, Herzog Zwii (the origin of all RTS), Heavy Nova, Revenge of Shinobi, Taz mania, Zombies ate my neighbour, Ghouls N Ghosts, Golden Axe, Earthworm Jim are all games that really deserve mention.
Any of these titles kick the crud out of Subterrania, snatcher, general chaos, star control. Really odd selection!
MRHONGKONGDAVE on 15 Apr '13 said:
Wonderboy 3 (was this master system?)
Bonanza Bros. (was this master system?)
Cyborg Justice
Shinobi
Kid Chameleon.
Earthworm Jim
Virtua Fighter on the 32X
Asterix was good
There was a good Donald Duck game to rival Mickey
Anyone know what the game was called where you were a headless mummy? You had to find all your body parts and when you threw your skull the character would shout"RAAAALLLLLPPPPPHHHHHH".
RustySpoon80 on 15 Apr '13 said:
I surprised you didn't go into more detail regarding the 32x and the trouble Sega had developing it. From what I remember Sega of America developed the 32X (codenamed Sega Mars) at the same time as Sega of Japan were developing the Saturn, but neither team talked to each other. This was the first major mistake that Sega made and cost them a load of money in wasted resources.
If they'd skipped the 32X and concentrated only on the Saturn they might have faired better. I remember being really excited about the Saturn's arrival but still ended up getting a PS1 instead.
richomack360 on 15 Apr '13 said:
Great list - Donald Duck game was Quackshot and the headless mummy game was called Decap Attack - awesome game that was
Rolo to the Rescue was great, but I used to get v upset that I couldn't save all the animals
You sure ? Even with "THAT" flying kick animation ???
My personals faves were (Are)
Golden Axe, Streets of Rage 1 and 2, Shinobi 3, Gunstar Heroes, Ranger X, Road Rash, Rolling Thunder 2, Two Crude Dudes, Eswat, Flicky, Super Monaco GP (Damn you Zeroforce) Thunderforce 3 and 4, Herzog Zwei, Bonanaz Bros, Dr Robotniks Mean Bean Machine, Steel Empire, Forgotten Worlds, Alex Kidd, Sonic 1,2 and 3, that Wonderboy game which was a side scroller slasher (ended up with a legendary sword with a star on it) to name but a few !
El Mag on 15 Apr '13 said:
So am I the only person that liked this then!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/Robocop_versus_Terminator_cover.jpg
WHERESMYMONKEY on 15 Apr '13 said:
Decap Attack. Blummin' love that game.
Does anyone else remember The Haunting. Amazing game where you played as a poltergeist and had to haunt the family of a corrupt business owner.
richomack360 on 15 Apr '13 said:
Damn, forgot that and Haunting from my list - did you ever, in RvT, find the cheat room, where you had to go behind the scenery, down a zip line and into some weird Cyberdyne style area ?
Those swines hiding behind curtains didn't like the taste of the plsma rifle I got from there
c97dem on 15 Apr '13 said:
I was a Sega kid growing up, had a mega drive and mega CD and some very weird games (Pigskin Footbrawl, Mutant League Football etc)
Robocop Vs Terminator was great, also loved the Terminator game (Mega CD version), Jurassic Park (MegaCD adventure game)
But I will *always* have a special place for Snatcher on the MegaCD, it was a fantastic adventure game, one of the best of the time and the fact it was on a console, was even more special, granted it was a rip off/homage to Bladerunner and Terminator, but still a great game! (http://www.snatcher.co.uk/ if you want to read up on it and also see the comparisons between Bladerunner and Snatcher...ie they just took the backdrop of Bladerunner lol)
I even looked recently at picking up a mega drive and mega cd recently, just to get Snatchers again, and when I saw the price of the Snatcher game, bloody hell that put me right off it!
c97dem on 15 Apr '13 said:
Oh and would also like to say, if you look in the right places, you can get an emulator and megacd game iso's
sonic_uk on 15 Apr '13 said:
I think you'll find that's 64, not 61. Get it right Cvg!
Again, that's 12 layers, not 4! Jeez, who does your research?!
The MegaCd came before the 32x, so in actual fact it was the 32x that finished off the machine.
Some of the MegaCd games were crap (all the Fmv ones anyway) but it did produce some remarkable gems that strangely always seem to be forgotten or missed out entirely when people reminisce about the console. I'm talking Sonic Cd, Ecco 1, Ecco 2, Xj220, Thunderhawk, Battlecorps, Silpheed, Soulstar, and Final Fight. Every one awesome, and not one of them was a boring Fmv slug fest that most MegaCd articles refer to. The 32x was utter s*** though, trust me, I was unfortunate to have had one.
Also, in your "top 12" Megadrive games, not one Sonic game mentioned? Those games were the bread and butter of the Megadrive and were of extremely high quality at the time so I find it strange not one of them was mentioned especially as you mention the crap General Chaos, the awful Star Control and the diabolical Phantasy Star 4!
Vampyre on 15 Apr '13 said:
"comparable to the Amiga 500". It's 20-odd years ago and I'm probably clouded by the mists of time but wasn't the MegaDrive, with it 's extra chips (I know they shared the same 68000 CPU) quite a bit more powerful? I'm just judging by the look and feel of the games here, for example, Street Fighter 2, Space Harrier 2 and OutRun being streets ahead of the Amiga versions. Or was that simply down to the crappy Ocean/Probe/etc coders in comparison to Sega/Capcom's?
MrPirtniw on 15 Apr '13 said:
Great lists people- brought back a lot of memories reading though the comments. I too had a megaCD (and a Saturn) and there were a few really great games for it. I was usually playing sonic CD.
Speaking of Decap Attack- I used to read Sonic the Comic as a kid which was a fortnightly comic made up of several Sega IP's. For whatever reason a bloke called Nigel Kitching thought Decap Attack would make a good comic story- and he was right- it was bloody genius in a mental Ren and Stimpy meets Duckula sort of way.
Old Skool Gamer on 15 Apr '13 said:
I had nearly all of the main consoles in the 90's and loved the mega drive, booting up Golden Axe for the first time was sensational, no other game has come close apart from going online on Halo 2.
Sega has so many IP's it could bring up to date, love to see some remakes.
Agent75 on 15 Apr '13 said:
SEGA made a profit from the Mega Drive, it only flopped in Japan. Even though the SNES sold better, I thought the Mega Drive was a better console. The Mega CD and Mega Drive 32X flopped worldwide. EA Sports games and Disney games always seem to be better quality on the Mega Drive than on the SNES. SEGA have never officially released sales figures for the Mega Drive, rumoured sales figures are around 50 million. Out of all the consoles and computers I've owned, the Mega Drive will always be at the top. The Master System adaptor was ace, also the arcade stick and 6 button controller, more so the wireless 6 button controller which is quite rare now. The Mega Drive is a legendary console, probably the best SEGA knocked out.
Knight on 15 Apr '13 said:
Sonic the Comic! Nice to see another Boomer.
There's a few boxes containing hundreds of copies of StC up in my attic. Decap Attack was what made me think to mention it too, but you already beat me to it. The Planet Metallix storyline was a highlight for me, but I remember loads of good stories from various Mega Drive games. Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Eternal Champions, Rocket Knight Adventures (towards the end), Shinobi, Shortfuse the Cybernik, etc.
MrPirtniw on 15 Apr '13 said:
@Knight: It was a great little comic back in the day wasn't it? Until the price went from 95p to something like £2.15. Really wish I had kept hold of them- used to love Richard Elson's artwork... but going back he really used to make Sonic look fat didn't he? Like, super fat.
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100516140125/sonic/images/5/59/STC71-Sonic.jpg
...still better than Steve (modern Sonic
)
Knight on 15 Apr '13 said:
Now you mention it, he does look a bit of a Porker Lewis! Haha!
You know what, Richard Elson is the first comicbook artist I ever bothered to remember the name of. His panels got better with age, whether that was because they started drawing Sonic a little different to the game, or they got a different colourist, I don't know. Got a great urge to dust my collection off and have a read. Think I stopped collecting around the time Metal Knuckles showed up.
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090815170214/sonic/images/1/14/STC100-SuperSonic.jpg
EDIT:
Nope, it was later than that. Looks like I stopped reading when Sonic was reunited with Kintobor in Shanazar.
sonic_uk on 16 Apr '13 said:
I still have a few clippings of Sonic the comic. I used to write my own videogame magazine and used the pictures from the comic as guides for my sketching. Very useful, they taught me how to draw properly, and the comics were great to read too.