indigozeal

Sega Genesis Classics Pack 1:

Altered Beast: No one needs to play Altered Beast in 2013.

Ecco the Dolphin: Oh, absolutely. Beautiful graphics, palette, and animation; unique premise. Shame on me for not having played this before.

Gain Ground: I saw Run Button play a bit of this once. I've no idea why it's a mainstay of these packs, as it looks bland as heck. Some titles deserve to be forgotten, people.

Space Harrier II: The main thing I reemmber about this was the skirt-wearing alien boss of level...2, I think? Paranoia, its name was, but it's modeled after the Flatwoods monster, which was a staple of Time-Life hardbound book series on UFOs and the paranormal and which seems to have an unusually strong fanbase in Japan. Anyhow, I recall it being a nimble shooter with an ahead-of-its-time 3-D-ish perspective, and I find the relatively simple gameplay of shooters relaxing. I could do worse than to spend some time with this.

Comix Zone, Crack Down, Shadow Dancer, Shinobi III, Vectorman: No interest.

Pack 2:

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle:: I used to read these game-hint compilations when I was a kid - ones that would cover, like twenty Genesis games, one walkthrough per chapter, etc. It was a way to read people talking about videogames in the days before widespread internet use. Anyhow, I've always been intrigued by this Alex Kidd title since I read a Genesis hint book in which it was featured. I understand that its gameplay is hailed as unbearable now (and the idea of having boss fights ride on pure luck with rock-paper-scissors seems ridiculous in any age), but it seems to have a sweet toybox aesthetic that appeals to me.

Columns: Have played this before. One of the pillars of Tetris variations, and an elegantly-executed gem theme rarely goes wrong with me.

Ecco Jr.: If I like Ecco, I guess? I'm not sure if this is a sequel or a spin-off for the younger set.

Eternal Champions: I actually bought a hint guide for this back in the day, despite never owning or even playing the game. Its premise of the souls of warriors murdered just as they were about to make a significant positive contribution to history was unique and appealing, and some of the characters (a '30's gangster who knows Praying Mantis kung fu and uses his cat-burglar grappling hooks in his aerial attacks; a pastel-ribboned French-immigre acrobat who happens to be the last of the Romanovs; an alchemist who was burned at the stake during the Salem witch trials) are just too cool. The pixel art is bright and colorful, too. Too bad I'm hopeless at fighting games. The Sega CD sequel, which is notorious for its gore even in Mortal Kombat's heyday, seems a sacrilege to the original premise, like graffiti slathered over a work of art.

Fatal Labyrinth: I've played a little of this. It's a neat, manageably-sized dungeon crawler where floors and loot are largely randomized, playing on the drama of luck and the coolness of netting rare swag. Also remarkable: the game's single audio track loops after about ten seconds yet somehow never gets old.

Galaxy Force II: Is this a space shooter? It looks like a space shooter.

Kid Chameleon: Like Gain Ground, I don't know why this still gets attention. It's should've gone by the wayside when games stopped including words like "rad" in their titles.

Bonanza Bros., Ristar, Super Thunder Blade: No interest.

Pack 3:

Alien Storm: Cinemassacre did a bit on this, and it appears to be a beat-'em-up. Never knew that; might give it a go eventually.

Columns III: What happened to Columns II? You never hear about it.

Ecco: The Tides of Time: Yes, as I know this is the proper sequel to Ecco.

Flicky: I've always found this an anomalous release in the 16-bit era. An animal-themed arcade-style game with boards and mans and what have you seems like a refugee from the older arcade heyday.

Golden Axe II: Played this a bit when I had a GameTap subscription, and what a letdown. So cheap and lazy in its gameplay and production values.

Sword of Vermillion: The Genesis launch-window RPG renowned for being lackluster, the one you bought after you were done with Phantasy Star II, and yet I'm tempted to play it just to get a taste of the experience.

Virtua Fighter 2: I have this on Saturn. I used Leon and got up to like the fifth opponent. I've no idea how they fit a 3D polygonal fighter on the Genny.

Bio-Hazard Battle, Decap Attack, ESWAT: City Under Siege: No interest.

Pack 4:

Gunstar Heroes: This gets such good reviews, and yet it looks so cartoony, particularly for a commando-esque title.

Landstalker: The guy who ran the '90's RPG fanzine Shining Forth used to rave about this.

Light Crusader: I've always found amusing that the titular knight stumbled onto the game's quest while he was on vacation. Beyond that, the game looks intriguing and the graphics appealing adult, but that goddamn later-Ultima-esque 3/4 perspective drives me crazy. Some '90's titles used it in a bid to seem more "mature," but I have a hard time navigating only on diagonals.

Shining Force, Shining Force II, Shining in the Darkness: Despite having no experience with SRPGs and little affinity for dungeon crawlers, these games seem affable, and I should give them a try for history's sake. Darkness in particular seems to have such high production values.

Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 2: As mentioned, I like beat-'em-ups, yet this series held little interest for me. The graphics seem monotonous, somehow.

Alien Soldier, Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair: No interest. If I play a Wonder Boy game, it'll be IV.

Pack 5:

Beyond Oasis: I tried Legend of Oasis, the sequel, for the Saturn, and it's one of the few games (maybe the only game) I've ever brought back to the store. I just found it too cartoony and uninteresting.

Golden Axe III: This Golden Axe sequel, I recall, had a little more life to it. Still not as good as the first, but it had a stage where you knocked people off a moving dragon-drawn cart, and that's something.

Phantasy Star II, III, IV: It's reassuring that I have the PS games available to play on a licensed platform as long as Steam lasts. Well, maybe not you, 3. I'm kind of done with you.

Dynamite Headdy, Revenge of Shinobi, Streets of Rage 3, Vectorman 2, Wonder Boy in Monster World: No interest. I read enough about Revenge of Shinobi in my Genesis book.