The Sega Mega Drive (or Sega Genesis if you've lived in North America) isn't one of the best-selling consoles of all time, but it is easily one of the biggest and its fierce rivalry with Nintendo and its SNES machine. it has ushered in a golden age of home consoles. Golden Joystick Awards 2021 We're celebrating 50 years of gaming together with the Golden Joystick Awards 2021, the world's largest publicly voted gaming awards ceremony. This year's show will celebrate a milestone in video game history, the launch of Computer Space, the world's first commercial arcade machine in November 1971. And we'll be looking for your votes on the best console of all time (starting in 3:00 pm GMT, November 8) - Will Mega Drive/Genesis make the cut? Released in Japan as the Sega Genesis in 1988, it quickly became a staple in children's bedrooms around the world and now holds a very special place in the hearts of millennials around the world. Many console generations are defined by rivalries between major players, and the 16-bit era has seen Sega go to great lengths to try and beat Nintendo. Schoolyards around the world were shared between Nintendo and Sega fans, and while the Mega Drive/Genesis didn't ultimately beat the SNES, it was an innovative product that had been in production for nearly 10 years and is home to over 900 games. . There may be a bit of the old Sega fan in me when I say this, but without the Mega Drive/Genesis, many of the features we take for granted on modern game consoles would never exist.
The cool console for kids
Lorsque Sega sorti the Mega Drive in Japan in 1988 (I launched later under the name of Genesis aux États-Unis in 1989 et atteignant l'Europe in 1990), Nintendo était en plein essor, the NES étant un énorme succès et la SNES on the horizon. As a kid in the UK, the Mega Drive's delayed release was actually to my advantage, as it had an incredibly healthy launch lineup that would make any console, like Alex Kidd in the Castle, green with envy. Enchanted, Altered Beast, Columns, and Golden Ax available for purchase from day one in Europe. Despite Nintendo's success, many gamers considered the company "safe" and "kid-friendly," a perception some still hold today and one that Sega has masterfully tapped into. Sega's famous "Genesis Does What Nintendon't" campaign cast Sega's new console as the cocky, cool newcomer that dared to go where Nintendo feared it might go. Sure, this is an early '90s product where everything was "awesome" and "cool," but it worked, too. To many kids, Sega was cool and Nintendo was lame, arguably one of the first consoles to appeal to adults as well. Interestingly, I was recently flipping through an old issue of Viz, the British adult comic, which featured the following Mega Drive commercial.
The humor is rude and rude (much in line with the post it appeared in), but it showed that Sega was offering it to both adults and cool (and bad) kids slyly reading Viz. You would never see Nintendo doing this. The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis also had Blast Processing, which sounded much better than any technology found on the SNES, though it was mostly just marketing. Perhaps the best feature of the Mega Drive/Genesis over the SNES, however, was that its plastic casing didn't turn yellow like urine when exposed to the sun. Defeat Nintendo fans!
Battle of the Pets
The battle between Sega and Nintendo in the late 1980s and early 1990s was characterized by corporate mascots. While Nintendo had Mario, the cute, mushroom-eating plumber, Sega had Sonic, a "radical" and "extreme" hedgehog "full" of "attitude." Whereas the levels Mario ran through demanded pinpoint jumping precision, careful climbing, and large-scale reptile genocide, Sonic's levels were designed to run at breakneck speeds, and the Mega Drive gear sometimes gets tough. Unintentional falls or jumps rarely end in death, but rather highlight a new path through the level, preventing the fast-paced gameplay from being interrupted. While Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 is certainly a masterpiece of level design, my friends and I played Emerald Hill Zone 1 much more often than Sonic The Hedgehog 2 as we tried to beat everyone else's best time. It required memorizing the levels and knowing each shortcut, a precursor to racing challenges.Extensions galore
The Sega Mega Drive / Genesis had been in production for almost 10 years, and Sega tried to extend its life with a number of add-ons for the console. While these add-ons were mostly oddities, they showed inventiveness and a willingness to try new things that are often lacking in later console generations.
The Sega CD connected to the Mega Drive and allowed it to play CDs, which were all the rage at the time. The audacity to release a $270 (£299, AU$400) add-on for a console was unheard of, and while few console makers have attempted the craze since then, Sony's PSVR seems like a continuation of that state of mind. It could also be argued that Sega's other add-on, the 32X, which increased the processing power of the Mega Drive/Genesis and was considered a mid-gen release before the proper launch of the 32-bit era. ancestor of the PS4 Pro. and mid-gen Xbox Scorpio upgrades. Let's not forget innovative cartridges like Micro Machines, which included two additional controller ports for four-player multiplayer, and Sonic & Knuckles, which let you plug in Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 cartridges and play as Knuckles. While many people have suggested that these crazy ideas contributed to Sega's downfall, they also characterized the exciting innovation happening with game consoles at the time. While I enjoyed the Saturn and loved the Dreamcast, the Sega sequels, the Mega Drive/Genesis was Sega's last great console, and its rivalry with the SNES meant that anyone who had lived through the great console wars of the 16-bit era would have amazing memories of fantastic games.
The best Sega Mega Drive / Genesis games
Sonic the hedgehog 2
To be fair, you can choose any of Sonic's 2-bit 16D adventures and be sure to have a good time. When Sonic's star fell with the switch to 3D in the early 90s, Sonic's impressive level designs, illustrations, and music showed that Sega was at the top of their game. While 3D Sonic games have failed to capture this magic, Sonic from the Mega Drive era still carries considerable influence, and this year's highly anticipated Sonic Mania seems poised to bring back that 16-bit glory.
Aladdin
There was a time when movie related games were pretty good, and Disney's Aladdin is one of them. Taking full advantage of the power of Mega Drive / Genesis, Aladdin reproduces the feel of the animated movie with bright and vibrant characters and backgrounds. There was also a fantastic game level where you were flying through the mysterious cave on the flying carpet while lava, rocks and other obstacles were flying your way. Best of all, the Mega Drive version of Aladdin was far superior to the SNES version, providing additional ammo for game console wars!
Streets of rage
<p class="vanilla-image-block" style="padding-top:56.56%;">- Vote for your best game of all time and the best gaming hardware of all time by visiting goldenjoysticks.com; voting ends on November 12.