Genesis Talk about any Mega Drive game that isn’t one of these 25

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

View attachment 144497
Sonic Eraser is a puzzle game with a god awful music
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Only released for SEGA Game Toshokan service. The game is a decent puzzle but better play it without sound

I got to play it thanks to a convention and a flash cart. It’s really rough and is very unrepresentative of the actual Game Toshokan service experience.

Columns was part of that service, if you really wanted a better puzzle game, but so was both Flicky and Fatal Labyrinth. All titles I consider to be solid B tiers in the game library of the Mega Drive that you could easily play over this hot mess. Let’s be honest: if it wasn’t called “Sonic” and had its horrific music… would anybody care?

Post automatically merged: Jan 13, 2026

I didn't grow up with the system, but Fatal Labyrinth is my favorite Mega Drive game. It was probably the first (or definitely among the first) "dungeon crawler" type game I played, and made me fall in love with that particular kind of gameplay.
I thought it was super immersive and exciting and tense despire being fairly simple.

LMAO I literally just mentioned it in my post above!
Literally a downloadable game from the early 90’s, and it’s this super cool dungeon crawler with infinite replayability. Has a few roguelike elements too, since the dungeons are randomized. Makes for a fun game! It reminds me of Double Dungeons on the PC Engine, being a simple RPG adjacent game that’s just really neat and simple.

Post automatically merged: Jan 14, 2026

Sorry, I guess you were looking for more intimate, personal stories, so I'll give proper input. Shining Force 2 was my first SRPG, and even though I didn't have the slightest notion of how to play I loved the beautiful graphics, memorable soundtrack and everything else. I didn't understand the dialogues back in the day, but even so I managed to limp my way up to Zalbard, but I could go no further as a kid.

I have a soft spot for the Shining series up to this day, and I'm always on the look out for hacks that switch things up or fix bugs. The Shining Force 2 disassembly allows for incredible things, and I wouldn't be surprised if whole new games spawned from it.

It’s okay to just post whatever, as long as it’s a contribution, but I love seeing stories like this most of all. I’ve not been smitten by the “Force” games, but I want to give “Shining in the Darkness” and “Shining the Holy Ark” a whirl! The latter seems like it has the potential to be a Saturn highlight to me.

I love the artstyle of all the Shining games though. Just so bright and poppy, in contrast to the usually muted colors of the Mega Drive library. You see so many sludgy colors on the console that you forget that it CAN do bright and cartoony visuals if it really wants to!

Post automatically merged: Jan 14, 2026

Sorry, I guess you were looking for more intimate, personal stories, so I'll give proper input. Shining Force 2 was my first SRPG, and even though I didn't have the slightest notion of how to play I loved the beautiful graphics, memorable soundtrack and everything else. I didn't understand the dialogues back in the day, but even so I managed to limp my way up to Zalbard, but I could go no further as a kid.

I have a soft spot for the Shining series up to this day, and I'm always on the look out for hacks that switch things up or fix bugs. The Shining Force 2 disassembly allows for incredible things, and I wouldn't be surprised if whole new games spawned from it.

It’s okay to just post whatever, as long as it’s a contribution, but I love seeing stories like this most of all. I’ve not been smitten by the “Force” games, but I want to give “Shining in the Darkness” and “Shining the Holy Ark” a whirl! The latter seems like it has the potential to be a Saturn highlight to me.

I love the artstyle of all the Shining games though. Just so bright and poppy, in contrast to the usually muted colors of the Mega Drive library. You see so many sludgy colors on the console that you forget that it CAN do bright and cartoony visuals if it really wants to!

 

[Another Iori]

We need a N64 one

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

All your base are belong to us

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

All your base are belong to us

Me when I have Zero Wings but all the base:

 

[PhaseJump]

This modern homebrew port should be in everybody's rotation with the Genesis. It holds up extremely well.

This game is simple, but gets straight to the point and is easy to pick up and play.

This one is a gem left in Japan, that stands up to stuff on SNES like Illusion of Gaia, Soul Blazer, Brain Lord

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Ranger X is so good dude.

Imagine a game where you are a giant mech with a battle platform or spaceship that you can control and merge with at any time. You are torrenting fire on an onslaught of various robotic antagonists in epic battlefields. The game itself has beautiful use of FM Synth for the music, fantastically layered worlds, and stages with true depth to their environments. On top of it all… it’s actually affordable in today’s market! And was SURPRISINGLY released in all regions! A great game, no doubt.

 

[SeventhSon]

OP, you fool! Thunder Force III and Shadow Dancer are superior to the games on your list!

Also:
Crack Down
Kid Chameleon
Road Rash
John Madden Football
The Immortal
Landstalker
Light Crusader
Shining in the Darkness
Shining Force

*the name is Genesis... GENESIS DOES not obey ur rulez

 

[BrawlMan]

Ristar is a great playing and looking platformer that has aged well. Earthworm Jim is always best on Genesis, aside from the PC and Sega CD versions. Splatterhouse 2 and 3 are the best horro themed brawlers on the system. I prefer the simplicity of the second game though. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition plays like the arcade and superior soundtrack to either SNES version of Champion/Hyper Fighting.

For a simple console only 1991 brawler, Streets of Rage 1 still holds up well enough.

Especially compared to what came out either before or during that same year. Or even compared to brawlers that came out afterward on Genesis and especially SNES. Streets of Rage didn't have the best looks, nor animations, but still look good and has between decent and good presentation. The soundtrack is still godlike, and put Yuzo Koshiro on the map!

What's amazing is how the in-house team at SEGA got creative with their game with such a limited budget. The game is Final Fight style, but there are some minor Golden Axe elements on how you fight the enemies and how their AI works. With Double Dragon style level design. Not every level is a flat plane. You got either environmental hazards, bottomless pits, and the outside elevator in the next last stage. In the last stage, you actually go from right to left. Weapon variety is on point and is bigger than most early SNES brawlers like Final Fight, Rushing Beat 1/Rival Turf, or Sonic Blast Man. Where there are only the three weapon types, weapons barely show up and are minor distraction at best, or none show up at all. With two out of the three games being one player only. In Streets of Rage, you get knives, pipes, bats, beer bottles, and pepper shakers. You read that right. and they're all decently powerful. Though knives are most powerful, if you know how to use them properly.

This game is one of the first brawlers to have a dedicated input for back attacks. So that way enemies can't sneak up on you, nor have to waste time turning around. Also, one of the first where you can break out of a back grab via pressing forward and attack. You'll either do a forward kick, if there is another enemy getting to the front of you, or throw the punk grabbing you from behind. Another first for brawlers, SOR is the first console brawler to have dedicated tag team moves/throws. Though technically, The Simpsons Arcade game beat it to SEGA first, if we're going by arcades. Still amazing this little game accomplished so much on the first outing.

The game's biggest weakness are three leads play similar to each other. They do have different attacks, strengths, speeds, and jumps, but they all share the same suplex input. Making them somewhat less unique against each other. They do have different forward throws with Blaze having the longest throws, and the best for levels 4 and 7. The sequels would improve on all of these fundamentals and play styles. Leading to the best brawler ever made on the Genesis to beat nearly anything rivaling on the SNES.

 

[Jdan-S]

Buster's Hidden Treasure is a solid platformer just like the other Tiny Toon Adventures games on various platforms. On a related note, Animaniacs is another platformer worth checking out.

Monster World IV is kind of like a different Shantae game. You have an overworld and various places to visit, including towns. You gain new abilities to unlock new areas as you go along, and you grow stronger through power ups.

I know you said no Puyo-Puyo games, but Madou Monogatari is kind of its own thing. It's a first person dungeon crawler featuring the same characters with completely different gameplay. The first game is on Mega Drive, while the rest continue on Game Gear.

Dragon's Fury/Devil Crash MD is pinball that's metal AF. Even if you're not a pinball fan, just go and check it out.

Grind Stormer/V-V are two variants of the same game in one cart. One variant mimics the power-up system in Gradius.

Also, RageBurner already mentioned Twinkle Tale. +1 to that. It's an accessible "cute-em-up" where the difficulty is fair.

Boogerman was... definitely a product of its time. It came out when gross-out humor in kids' media was still popular.

(All screenshots are from the Repo, I claim no ownership.)

 

[Mopeybloke]

Daze Before Christmas: play as Santa. Jump on things. The usual, but with Santa. It's easy enough for child me.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Daze Before Christmas: play as Santa. Jump on things. The usual, but with Santa. It's easy enough for child me.

It’s also the only Aussie exclusive Mega Drive game!

Post automatically merged: Jan 14, 2026

View attachment 144623 View attachment 144625
Buster's Hidden Treasure is a solid platformer just like the other Tiny Toon Adventures games on various platforms. On a related note, Animaniacs is another platformer worth checking out.

View attachment 144626
Monster World IV is kind of like a different Shantae game. You have an overworld and various places to visit, including towns. You gain new abilities to unlock new areas as you go along, and you grow stronger through power ups.

View attachment 144630
I know you said no Puyo-Puyo games, but Madou Monogatari is kind of its own thing. It's a first person dungeon crawler featuring the same characters with completely different gameplay. The first game is on Mega Drive, while the rest continue on Game Gear.

View attachment 144631
Dragon's Fury/Devil Crash MD is pinball that's metal AF. Even if you're not a pinball fan, just go and check it out.

View attachment 144632
Grind Stormer/V-V are two variants of the same game in one cart. One variant mimics the power-up system in Gradius.

View attachment 144633
Also, RageBurner already mentioned Twinkle Tale. +1 to that. It's an accessible "cute-em-up" where the difficulty is fair.

View attachment 144634
Boogerman was... definitely a product of its time. It came out when gross-out humor in kids' media was still popular.

(All screenshots are from the Repo, I claim no ownership.)

Insane banger list. Love learning more about my favorite system of the 16 bit generation.

 

[diet_orange]

Oh, I can talk at length and often have about how good the original SOR is. Maybe lacking a little bit in the gameplay department when compared to the sequels, but the atmosphere and soundtrack are BAR FUCKING NONE

Same for Revenge Of Shinobi

 

[Isegrim]

Splatterhouse 2

Splatterhouse 3

I loved the series. My sister hated it and was scared of it. I was not happy I couldn't find the PC Engine version of Splatterhouse locally anymore when I got hooked on the Genesis games. Nowadays, I can even play the arcade version in my browser through the Internet archive.

I started the series on Splatterhouse 2. It had great scary ghost face images which scared the crap out of my sister. Save the girl you didn't save in the last game at the other Splatterhouse mansion. That is, save her by opening a portal to Hell and raising her from the dead with a spell. That part as well as other details was not clear in the U.S. version which was the one I got and I was shocked to learn that much much later from other sources.

I originally thought she was imprisoned in some kind of hellish limbo but still alive so the whole raise dead Jennifer thing knocked me for a loop.

So does this mean post SH2 Jennifer could be a zombie?

Splatterhouse 3 was a love hate issue with me. Mainly because of the time limits.

The Japanese version of Splatterhouse 3 which I played is a no brainer. Due to the portal to Hell you left open in Splatterhouse 2 (which the Japanese version of SH2 made sure you were aware of), the monsters as well as the mask have come to your own mansion and turned it into a splatterhouse as well and you need to save Jennifer again as well as your young son. Played like a beat em up, you have a magic meter you can fill up with eldritch orbs that lets you transform into Super Rick. You now have a time limit to save Jennifer and David (I hate time limits) or they die and give you a bad ending. The version I had was a prototype version I think since they only die if the cutscene where they actually do plays. If the time goes to zero while fighting a boss but the cutscene didn't play, they'd live. I'd submit it to the repo if I could get it into a digital form.

However, I've been playing the U.S. version lately and what an eye opener. It's like a different new game. The need to spam buffed up special moves like crazy to get a good ending at Game Master level was just wild. The Japanese version had bigger time limits but had more limited or weaker special moves so you had to rely more on tried and true tactics learned from Final Fight type beat em ups and strategically save your magic meter on the harder areas.

I can't say which I like better now. Maybe I'd hate the U.S. version if I couldn't do the special moves but due to playing a lot of old SNK fighters, I was practiced enough to do them back to back. Thanks to using Ryo as a main and doing his Zan Retsu Ken.

 

[Mr. SyS]

Channel is back!

 

[killk28]

Keep playing Final Fight MD these days

The best port version ever have
https://retrogametalk.com/repo/sega_genesis_roms/final-fight-md-homebrew/

 

[bliss_freak]

Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure imprinted on me hard as a little kid even though it takes me maybe 20 minutes as an adult to get to the furthest point in the game I ever saw back then (honestly not an uncommon story for most Genesis games I loved besides Sonic). It was a difficult game, and what ultimately got me stuck was the first point in the game that actually required a wall jump to complete a level. I didn't have a manual and I had never heard of such a move. There are several places I could and did fall into and get stuck because I couldn't wall jump, but those just read as avoidable hazards. Coming back to the game as an adult I just instinctively attempted a wall jump in that mandatory spot without even thinking about it because I am platformer-literate now, and it took me a second to process what I had just done.

The game gets pretty bullshit after that point anyway.

This music in a dark forest level when you're like 5 or 6 is some intense shit. I know it's supposed to be wacky cartoon music but it sounds like a clown car barreling into a maternity ward.

I genuinely remember having a nightmare about one of those levels, specifically, as a little kid.

 

[ThunderBoy]

Man Overboard

Really fun game

 

[Diadu]

I am kinda shocked that Landstalker isn't in that list

Back when it was touted as Zelda for the Genesis/Mega Drive and received tons of coverage. Was also one of the few games that received multiple translations at the time. It wasn't half bad either and those who remembered it were really hyped (and mostly disappointed) by Time Stalkers for the Dreamcast.

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

Magical Hat no Buttobi Turbo! Daibōken

Colorful 2D platform adventure based on the manga series exclusive to SEGA MD. Plays similar to other platform games of the time with it's own charm. You can pick up items to use that will give you abilities such as to freeze enemies on screen, freeze enemies, attack further, or even temporarily become submarine, helicopter, or a mechanical-ape. Your main weapon besides punching is throwing Robogg (ロボッグ) A tiny egg-like robot. An English fan-translation patch has been released, it's worth a playthrough so go ahead give it a try since... Now You're Playing With Power™

 

[Mechablade-X]

Forgot about The Ooze, that's a game no one brings up here or get's mentioned