Mega Drive Most Wanted

King of Posters
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So the Mega Drive mini is coming to Japan and will probably be real disappointing. Still, Famitsu is shilling it good and the writers and editors put together a list of the 40 games they would like to see for it. It’s got what you mostly expect but also some pretty unwestern picks? Yu Yu Hakusho certainly is more of a thing then I thought!

1.) Shining Force: The Legacy of great Intention

2.) Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole

3.) Gunstar Heroes

4.) MUSHA

5.) Shining in the Darkness

5.) Vampire Killer

7.) Advanced Daisenryaku: Doitsu Dengeki Sakusen

7.) Contra: The Hard Corps

7.) Sonic the Hedgehog

7.) Phantasy Star II

7.) Yu Yu Hakusho: Makyo Toitsusen

12.) Thunder Force IV

12.) Shining Force II

12.) Sorcerian

12.) Ghouls ‘n Ghosts

12.) Herzog Zwei

12.) Lunar: The Silver Star (Mega-CD)

18.) Thunder Force III

18.) Silpheed (Mega-CD)

18.) Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom

18.) Streets of Rage 2

18.) Rent A Hero

23.) Tetris (Not released in the past)

23.) Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium

25.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2

25.) Bahamut Senki

25.) Phantasy Star Fukkokuban

25.) Puyo Puyo

25.) Streets of Rage

25.) Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker

31.) Columns

32.) Altered Beast

33.) Dyna Brothers 2

34.) Chelnov

35.) Puyo Puyo 2

36.) Monster World IV

37.) Lunar: Eternal Blue (Mega-CD)

38.) Gauntlet

39.) Golden Axe

40.) Thunder Force II MD

3 Likes
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dyna brothers 2 is a surprise. altered beast will definitely be on there, despite all the negativity of the internet’s received opinion on it, it’s much better thought of in japan (or at least it seems to be)

if m2 were involved in this thing, i’d expect to see thunderforce iii and iv on there, it seems like someone there really likes those games. since it’s atgames though, the realist/pessimist bet would just be that it’ll be the exact same set of games that are in every other quick knocked out mega drive collection there’s ever been.

and still all the families and nostalgia dads who buy wo’t take the opportunity to discover how great gain ground is ;_;

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M2 is busy keeping TFIV to themselves for the Switch Sega Ages stuff

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This is so much better than most Western lists would be. Interesting that Phantasy Star III placed ahead of IV.

1 Like
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Oh neat now I don’t need to replay the game to prove I was right and the game is actually good. Thank you, Famitsu. Many of those games are also on my list so it turns out you have good tastes after all.

I still don’t now how to play Herzog Zwei and I will never learn.

1 Like
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How could a game that takes place over the span of dozens of years on a generation ship be bad. Those are all the best things.

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I did this list a while back, using SNES classic rules: 21 games, fairly bland with certain things guaranteed (ie, every sonic game has to be included, genre breadth) but still with some room to work. genesis rather than mega drive, so western games are included. this is what I came up with:

sonic 1-3 + knuckles

streets of rage 1 + 2

toejam and earl

ecco the dolphin

phantasy star IV

landstalker

shining force II

contra hard corps

castlevania bloodlines

gunstar heroes

alien soldier

dynamite heady

rocket knight adventures

thunder force IV

strider

ranger X

mortal kombat II

jungle strike

wanted MUSHA, NHL 93, world of illusion, wonder boy in monster world, and shinobi III, but what can you do. don’t at all want columns, altered beast, or golden axe, but we all know they’ll be on there.

2 Likes
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I’m not sure what but it sure says something that Daisenryaku is #7.

I kind of don’t want this answer but it blew my mind that Alpha System’s daisenyaku but historical figures are lolis got a western steam release.

Why the hell do i know daisenryaku is made by Alpha Systems.

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Sonic 3 will almost definitely not be included due to legal issues with the music or some such thing, which is why it has been removed from the upcoming collection for Steam / PS4.

Same deal with Ecco, the director apparently took Sega to court to get the rights to the IP back so he could kickstart a reboot or something.

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The thing with Phantasy Star III is that it feels so barren and empty, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It is definitely better than PSII IMO

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damn I really need to play more of my mega drive backlog

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  1. why is the original Puyo Puyo more popular than 2? Paging Puyo peeps.
  2. how is Bahamut Senki on there and not something like Langrisser or Lord Monarch or Dark Wizard or KOEI stuff
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Wanting Yu Yu Hakusho seems like madness to me if the thing only has a three button controller.

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Seconding the notion that Gain Ground is pretty cool and under-appreciated :+1:

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  1. Because it came out in 1995, very late for the mega drive in Japan. People probably think of the Saturn version first
1 Like
16

Where is the best platformer on this list

Where is Marvel Land

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PS3 on an emulator with heavy abuse of fast forward is real fun because it eliminates this complaint.

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Where did the legal issues thing come up?

I immediately read it as unannounced Whitehead project.

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wasn’t it the reason they gave for s3k’s absence on various other compilations the past few years

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hell yeah for Rocket Knight Adventures.

I played columns a whole lot as a kid and I definitely wasn’t into puzzle games. It was good. Don’t know if it still is, though. It’s been a couple decades