Exophase
Nothing good will ever come of Exophase.
Guys, no love for Phantasy Star 2? 4 is better but 2 is quite a classic and has some pretty challenging old school super labyrinth dungeons with a compelling (if terse and awkwardly presented.. okay, compelling for 1989) plot. Can take or leave 3, I couldn't really get into it enough to play it all the way through, but it's not a bad game. 4 really is an excellent game, even if it does drag on towards the latter half.. still can easily hold its own against the best RPGs on SNES.
I'm also quite astonished that Landstalker hasn't been listed yet. It's somewhere between Zelda and Seiken Densetsu on the adventure vs RPG continuum - ie, there's a lot of emphasis on puzzle dungeons but also on plot/NPC interaction and equipment. The level design is very effectively done in isometric view, even if the controls are a little fiddly (but not nearly as bad as say, Snake Rattle 'n Roll). I actually haven't beaten this game still due to some really weird bug preventing me from being able to clear the last section the last time I tried it in an emulator. I hear it was actually a bug in the emulation, although I don't have good information on it :<
Other games I enjoyed that haven't been mentioned yet:
- Contra: Hard Corps: This game is really hard and really good as far as Contra games go. It's somewhat more of a boss fest than the earlier ones, but has some pretty great boss battles at that. 4 characters to pick from and four paths to choose from (well, sorta, they lead to 4 end levels and endings anyway)
- Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Okay, I know other people have mentioned "Sonic" in this thread, but IMO these two sort of half-games combine perfectly to make one great game that was unfortunately split apart but restored by Sega. One is not complete without the other. It's funny how Sonic 3 is what gives Sonic & Knuckles its save game capability, which really opens up the game to clearing all the stuff in it (and getting Hyper Sonic and Doomsday Zone is pretty great)
- Sonic 1 & Knuckles: .. I'm not kidding. This is of course not an actual game of playing as Knuckles in Sonic 1 like it is with Sonic 2 (pretty crazy trick there) but the Sonic & Knuckles cart lets you "unlock" 1's data to be used as level data for Sonic 3 style special stages. This sounds like it'd be terrible but somehow I spent hours and hours playing these special levels, writing down the passwords, clearing a few each day, thinking I'll eventually clear them and see some kind of ending. Little did I know that this combination generated 65536 levels. Kind of cruel when you think about it.
- Taz-mania: Fun level design and cartoony effects, based on the cartoon from the same era.. this was actually my first Genesis game.
- Greendog: I don't actually remember much about this game except that I liked it and I was able to beat it back when I wasn't very good at games so it probably wasn't very hard.
- Cool Spot: Back then games starring license mascots could actually be good.
- Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition: Felt like a really solid conversion, even if the music wasn't quite up to par despite being done on a Yamaha synth..
I'm also quite astonished that Landstalker hasn't been listed yet. It's somewhere between Zelda and Seiken Densetsu on the adventure vs RPG continuum - ie, there's a lot of emphasis on puzzle dungeons but also on plot/NPC interaction and equipment. The level design is very effectively done in isometric view, even if the controls are a little fiddly (but not nearly as bad as say, Snake Rattle 'n Roll). I actually haven't beaten this game still due to some really weird bug preventing me from being able to clear the last section the last time I tried it in an emulator. I hear it was actually a bug in the emulation, although I don't have good information on it :<
Other games I enjoyed that haven't been mentioned yet:
- Contra: Hard Corps: This game is really hard and really good as far as Contra games go. It's somewhat more of a boss fest than the earlier ones, but has some pretty great boss battles at that. 4 characters to pick from and four paths to choose from (well, sorta, they lead to 4 end levels and endings anyway)
- Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Okay, I know other people have mentioned "Sonic" in this thread, but IMO these two sort of half-games combine perfectly to make one great game that was unfortunately split apart but restored by Sega. One is not complete without the other. It's funny how Sonic 3 is what gives Sonic & Knuckles its save game capability, which really opens up the game to clearing all the stuff in it (and getting Hyper Sonic and Doomsday Zone is pretty great)
- Sonic 1 & Knuckles: .. I'm not kidding. This is of course not an actual game of playing as Knuckles in Sonic 1 like it is with Sonic 2 (pretty crazy trick there) but the Sonic & Knuckles cart lets you "unlock" 1's data to be used as level data for Sonic 3 style special stages. This sounds like it'd be terrible but somehow I spent hours and hours playing these special levels, writing down the passwords, clearing a few each day, thinking I'll eventually clear them and see some kind of ending. Little did I know that this combination generated 65536 levels. Kind of cruel when you think about it.
- Taz-mania: Fun level design and cartoony effects, based on the cartoon from the same era.. this was actually my first Genesis game.
- Greendog: I don't actually remember much about this game except that I liked it and I was able to beat it back when I wasn't very good at games so it probably wasn't very hard.
- Cool Spot: Back then games starring license mascots could actually be good.
- Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition: Felt like a really solid conversion, even if the music wasn't quite up to par despite being done on a Yamaha synth..
