Go (try) to find Toejam and Earl.Lambtron said:My parents got a small amount of money from my grandfather every year which they used to buy my brother and I a more expensive present, because they didn't have a ton of money at the time. We had to decide between a SNES and a Genesis, and after going to a friend's birthday party and loving Super Mario World, we got the SNES.
A couple months later and the price dropped significantly, and my mother wrote a letter to Wal-Mart where we bought it saying that she wanted her money back. They ended up sending her a check back. Around the same time the Genny dropped down to where that was almost enough to buy it, and they said they'd get it for us. I remember getting Sega Channel and playing a bunch of cool games, but I never really owned a whole lot of the Genesis games. Earthworm Jim was probably my favorite thing I played on it.
I've been buying up a bunch of old games lately so I just bought a Genesis & Sega CD, it's time to go back and get some of that awesome shit I missed.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Happy 20th Birthday SEGA Mega Drive |_O| Genesis !
- Thread starter camineet
- Start date
I will say that while I love my Genesis, I do wish Nintendo would partner with Hudson and Sega to just go and release the classic console controllers as Wii add-ons. Wii Genesis emulation is the same enough to give games that perfect feel, but modern enough (480p, save state, flash storage, etc) to bring them to today. All we need are the controllers and we are set.
or at the very least some third party needs to make Wiimote adapters for those controllers.
or at the very least some third party needs to make Wiimote adapters for those controllers.
The Mega Drive was the only console that managed to shake up Nintendo's stranglehold on the gaming market at the time and force them to push themselves to make their own 16-bit console. If it wasn't for the Mega Drive, Nintendo would of most likely of sat on the NES for much longer and wouldn't have felt pressured to make even better games which led to the most heated and most exciting console "war" in it's history to date, and two of the greatest consoles to ever be made. =)
technically it wasn't really the genesis that managed to do that. It was Sega's marketing through and through. To this day there probably has never been as effective a marketing campaign in the industry as Sega's early Genesis campaign.
From the start the Genesis was looking to be the master system all over again. All early games were first-party published, third parties stayed locked into their insane contracts with Nintendo, and while the system had it's great titles, all of the licensed and big name content remained on the NES. But Sega's marketing was absolutely ferocious and basically kept adding fuel onto the charcoal keeping all gamers interested in this wannabe contender to Nintendo's thrown, enough so that three little third party releases a year later from a then fairly successful publisher was the spark needed to start a fire that would last the entire generation:
Populous, Budokan, and a relatively unknown game I like to call John Madden Football.
From the start the Genesis was looking to be the master system all over again. All early games were first-party published, third parties stayed locked into their insane contracts with Nintendo, and while the system had it's great titles, all of the licensed and big name content remained on the NES. But Sega's marketing was absolutely ferocious and basically kept adding fuel onto the charcoal keeping all gamers interested in this wannabe contender to Nintendo's thrown, enough so that three little third party releases a year later from a then fairly successful publisher was the spark needed to start a fire that would last the entire generation:
Populous, Budokan, and a relatively unknown game I like to call John Madden Football.
yeah, there is a SNES and NES one. and the same company that makes those offers IC chips for EVERY system to USB. Kind of confused as to why they don't do the conversion to GCN as well if they already went to USB.Grug said:
grug, stop bogging down this thread with that piss.
I want a megadrive I never had one, my friend's brother had one though. Sonic 2 was the classic. But the "last battle" game(fist of the north star) was the shiiiiit. we thought it was called Lars' battle, cus Lars is a common name here. The game isn't very well designed looking back though. And I was amazed that in the JAP version the enemies disappear in a cloud of blood, while in the PAL version it was all gray.
I want a megadrive
I never had one, my friend's brother had one though. Sonic 2 was the classic. But the "last battle" game(fist of the north star) was the shiiiiit. we thought it was called Lars' battle, cus Lars is a common name here. The game isn't very well designed looking back though. And I was amazed that in the JAP version the enemies disappear in a cloud of blood, while in the PAL version it was all gray.Chiaroscuro
Member
ahhhhhhh this thread is making me think in buying a Genesis again. So good memories. Please stop.
No mega Drive trend should be without this video: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cnp6Z32KAAg
If you don't have time to dust off your Mega Drive today to give it a play, at least watch this 10 minute epic.
If you don't have time to dust off your Mega Drive today to give it a play, at least watch this 10 minute epic.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
1. PC
2. Playstation 2
3. Genesis
4. Playstation 1
5. NES
Top 5 gaming platforms of all time IMO.
2. Playstation 2
3. Genesis
4. Playstation 1
5. NES
Top 5 gaming platforms of all time IMO.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Good God! I miss/love Genesis!
I had so many games, It's not even funny. Had to sell em' all when I made my jump to PSOne for it was SHIT expensive in Pakistan (Sega Genesis games are still sold there btw. Alot of hidden gems are there actually. If i ever go there, I'll pick em up)
I had so many games, It's not even funny. Had to sell em' all when I made my jump to PSOne for it was SHIT expensive in Pakistan (Sega Genesis games are still sold there btw. Alot of hidden gems are there actually. If i ever go there, I'll pick em up
)Phantasy Star II is still the best RPG ever. The Phantasy Star offline games make up the best RPG series ever. I had the choice between Genesis and SNES, but after playing Phantasy Star 1 on SMS at a friend's house, the choice was clearly the Genesis. Of course later I got a SNES and it remains my favorite system ever, but I was a Genny kid for a while and even got into my fair share of the playground console wars... (secretly resenting all those people who got to play FF4... :lol )
Streets of Rage 1 was probably, unbeknown to me at the time, my introduction to house music... More Genesis fun for EDM fans.
One of my earliest memories about the system is when Macy's had an electronics section, and they had a Genesis set up with Altered Beast... I was clothes shopping at Macy's with my mom and brother (who was about 3-4 at the time)... and we couldn't find my brother. My mom panicked and we went off looking for him, only to find him playing Altered Beast.
Favorite games:
-Phantasy Star 2
-Phantasy Star 4
-Gunstar Heroes
-Sonic 1
-Sonic 2
-Sonic 3
-Sonic and Knuckles
-Rocket Knight Adventures
-Landstalker
-Shining Force
-Shining Force 2
-Ranger-X
-MUSHA
-Thunder Force 3
-Thunder Force 4/Lightening Force
-Streets of Rage
-Streets of Rage 2
-Alien Soldier
-NHL '94
-Shadow Dancer
-Shinobi III
Streets of Rage 1 was probably, unbeknown to me at the time, my introduction to house music... More Genesis fun for EDM fans.
One of my earliest memories about the system is when Macy's had an electronics section, and they had a Genesis set up with Altered Beast... I was clothes shopping at Macy's with my mom and brother (who was about 3-4 at the time)... and we couldn't find my brother. My mom panicked and we went off looking for him, only to find him playing Altered Beast.
Favorite games:
-Phantasy Star 2
-Phantasy Star 4
-Gunstar Heroes
-Sonic 1
-Sonic 2
-Sonic 3
-Sonic and Knuckles
-Rocket Knight Adventures
-Landstalker
-Shining Force
-Shining Force 2
-Ranger-X
-MUSHA
-Thunder Force 3
-Thunder Force 4/Lightening Force
-Streets of Rage
-Streets of Rage 2
-Alien Soldier
-NHL '94
-Shadow Dancer
-Shinobi III
I owned a Genesis before a SNES, and although the SNES eventually took over most of my gaming later that generation (and missed out on a lot of gems that I didn't revisit until many years later, like Shinobi III), the Genesis is still the one that I will go back to more often than the SNES.
What strikes me is how weak the shooter selection was on the SNES. I don't know what it was, and even though it had games like Axelay, Pop'n Twinbee, Space Megaforce and R-Type III, you look at the shooter selection on the Genesis, and it's just insane.
I think the tides really turned when the SNES got SF2 (my friends and I were blown away), and the momentum carried through to the end with some of the best (Chrono Trigger and Yoshi's Island), but the Genesis had one hell of a run (with really, REALLY bad packaging late-gen).
My first few games for the Genesis were Thunder Force II and Ghouls'n Ghosts. Both were awesome. I also had some stinkers, like Super Hydlide (ugh, although it had some decent tunes), Zoom! ("C'mon, boy"), Hard Drivin' (I was delusional to think that the Genesis could handle a game like this), and others.
Yes, Phantasy Star II was great, although I still prefer PS1 on the SMS. I really enjoyed mapping the 3D dungeons. Made me feel like I was playing a console version of the oldskool Bard's Tale, Wizardry, Might & Magic games.
Biggest surprises on the system? Early on, it was Target Earth. Worst packaging ever and a black & white cartridge label, but the game was fun. Really tough (probably one of the toughest games I've ever finished), but very rewarding. Great ending! Later on, I think Gunstar Heroes really blew me away. That game did stuff that I never thought possible on the Genesis.
It's a reminder of why I love the 8- and 16-bit generations so much. Not just on consoles, but on computers, you had to be creative to extract the most out of a piece of hardware. You rarely had more than you needed to get a job done. You had to really think things through, and when you were successful, man, the results were eye (and ear) popping. I saw more of this on the Genesis because it did lack a lot in terms of displayable colors, hardware scaling/rotation, etc.
Definitely a great system, and one of my favorites!
What strikes me is how weak the shooter selection was on the SNES. I don't know what it was, and even though it had games like Axelay, Pop'n Twinbee, Space Megaforce and R-Type III, you look at the shooter selection on the Genesis, and it's just insane.
I think the tides really turned when the SNES got SF2 (my friends and I were blown away), and the momentum carried through to the end with some of the best (Chrono Trigger and Yoshi's Island), but the Genesis had one hell of a run (with really, REALLY bad packaging late-gen).
My first few games for the Genesis were Thunder Force II and Ghouls'n Ghosts. Both were awesome. I also had some stinkers, like Super Hydlide (ugh, although it had some decent tunes), Zoom! ("C'mon, boy"), Hard Drivin' (I was delusional to think that the Genesis could handle a game like this), and others.
Yes, Phantasy Star II was great, although I still prefer PS1 on the SMS. I really enjoyed mapping the 3D dungeons. Made me feel like I was playing a console version of the oldskool Bard's Tale, Wizardry, Might & Magic games.
Biggest surprises on the system? Early on, it was Target Earth. Worst packaging ever and a black & white cartridge label, but the game was fun. Really tough (probably one of the toughest games I've ever finished), but very rewarding. Great ending! Later on, I think Gunstar Heroes really blew me away. That game did stuff that I never thought possible on the Genesis.
It's a reminder of why I love the 8- and 16-bit generations so much. Not just on consoles, but on computers, you had to be creative to extract the most out of a piece of hardware. You rarely had more than you needed to get a job done. You had to really think things through, and when you were successful, man, the results were eye (and ear) popping. I saw more of this on the Genesis because it did lack a lot in terms of displayable colors, hardware scaling/rotation, etc.
Definitely a great system, and one of my favorites!
Altered Beast Last Battle Launch!
Thunder Force then Ghouls and Ghosts, heaven for two months!!
Phantasy Star 2, it sold three of my friends on this system day one, we had PS2 circle going for months.
Then Sonic hit, omg dad check out how fast this game is! the first time I loaded it up.
LANDSTALKER!!! Freak'n beautiful, end story.
Thunder Force then Ghouls and Ghosts, heaven for two months!!
Phantasy Star 2, it sold three of my friends on this system day one, we had PS2 circle going for months.
Then Sonic hit, omg dad check out how fast this game is! the first time I loaded it up.
LANDSTALKER!!! Freak'n beautiful, end story.
I still remember the Christmas I received my Megadrive. With Altered Beast, Super Hang On AND Golden Axe. One of the happiest moments of my childhood. I remember games were more expensive than now, and I waited all the year for the moments in which I'd receive a game: birthday, and Xmas. And obviously, I spent hours watching catalogues and reading magazines.
Good memories. Happy birthday MegaDrive!
Good memories. Happy birthday MegaDrive!
jjasper said:
I can't believe I forgot to mention this game
Awesome game, good Noriyuki Iwadare buttrock soundtrack, I've always felt the Langrisser games were the best SRPG series around, shame we missed out on every single entry aside from the original.
Chiaroscuro
Member
andymcc said:
mod?
Ryu Hayabusa
Member
Happy Birthday MD and thanks for Streets of Rage
Chiaroscuro
Member
Parallax said:
There is no region protection key/software in the Genesis/MegaDrive games, just the shape of the cartridge that is slightly different. You can just cut the two dents on the genesis that prevents the oval shaped MegaDrive cartrigde to enter the slot. Although there were "adapters" made at the time for the ones who did not want to cut the cartridge slot.
I had a Brazilian MegaDrive console at the time (= Genesis) but I had several US cartridges, Brazilian ones and a couple of Japanese ones.
The console that started my wide-eyed amazement at the world of videogames, long live the Genesis.
I vow today that I will do everything in my power to make sure that later generations remember, respect, and fear Sega's brightest achievement. It is the bluest of all blurs, and the ultimate key-holder to my throbbing geek heart.
/gushing.
I vow today that I will do everything in my power to make sure that later generations remember, respect, and fear Sega's brightest achievement. It is the bluest of all blurs, and the ultimate key-holder to my throbbing geek heart.
/gushing.
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Wrong.Chiaroscuro said:
The Gen/MD had region coding, but it was on a per-game basis. Most early Genesis games would play on any region console, but region-locking was more common in the later years.
I should know, as my JP copies of Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier won't play on my US Genesis if it's in ENG/NTSC mode. (Curiously, they will both boot successfully if I start the system in ENG/PAL mode, and the text is displayed in English instead of Japanese. For this reason, I usually boot Gunstar in ENG/PAL, then switch it over to ENG/NTSC after it successfully loads.)
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
Luckily the Genesis games that were region-locked were typically by-passed through a Game Genie code.
That's how I played Pulseman at least.
:lol Get that shit out of here.
That's how I played Pulseman at least.
Grug said:
:lol Get that shit out of here.
Chiaroscuro
Member
Sixfortyfive said:
Oh, you should be right, it has been a long time and I was off from the console world at the later genesis years. I do recall having several Japanese games, the original Sonic included, and all played without any modification (aside from the different cartridge shape).
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Grug said:
camineet said:
It must have been then, because PSII was definitely in that first purchase. That game consumed me all summer. Even with the huge hint/cheat book it came with that game was still hard and epic.
Those spread ads posted earlier are a big part of what sold me, along with Golden Axe, which was my favorite arcade game at the time. Golden Axe, at home?!
I later had a SegaCD and 32X, but I used each very little. I kept the core unit through 1997 or so, regularly playing Golden Axe and Forgotten Worlds co-op even after I had a N64.
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Pretty sure that's only in SoR2.Hive said:
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
:lolGrug said:
I love that after all these years shit like this still goes on.
Mega Drive till I die. :lol :lol :lol
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I guess you missed the thread where people were arguing that Genesis wasn't eligible to be voted the best 16-bit system because it was 32-bit.Grug said:
From the Wiki article on the 68000...
"Address storage and computation used 32 bits, however, with the high-order byte ignored due to the physical lack of pins. This allowed it to run software written for a flat 32-bit address space. By modern definition this meant that the 68000 was a 32-bit microprocessor."
Guybrush Threepwood
Banned
TAJ said:
Fake 16-bit indeed
Alex Connolly
Member
Happy birthday, Megadrive/Genny!
There's no doubt Nintendo expected to have 90-95 % of the 16-bit market, just like they had with the 8-bit market. Instead, SEGA forced Nintendo to split the 16-bit market with them.
Even though SFC/SNES sold more than MD/Genesis, Sega still had 35 to 40 percent of the worldwide market, easily. I don't have exact numbers but i'm sure it was something like that.
Thumbs up for having an original model Genesis AND original model SegaCD!
(and running the best looking stage from Thunder Force III)
I always hated the Genesis2 & SegaCD2 .
Even though SFC/SNES sold more than MD/Genesis, Sega still had 35 to 40 percent of the worldwide market, easily. I don't have exact numbers but i'm sure it was something like that.
havok666 said:This is my current Genesis setup, happy bday Mega drive.
Thumbs up for having an original model Genesis AND original model SegaCD!
(and running the best looking stage from Thunder Force III)
I always hated the Genesis2 & SegaCD2 .
StreetDisciple
Member
Damn that box brings back memories! Altered beast was the shit!
andymcc said:
Very easy, here you go.
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/sega/md1switches.htm
Most games made past 1992 will have a region lock out and you will need a switch that can change the region from US to JPN. For example, Bare Knuckle (Streets of Rage in the US) will not boot up in US mode.
Thunder Force III is a multi region game and will work in either US or JPN settings.
Chiaroscuro said:
I think Thunder Force III is region locked... I know for a fact Thunder Force IV is, (I had to use a converter before buying a Japanese MD) so I assumed it was a mod of some sort...
the post above me confirms it is only TFIV....
havok666 said:
Still looks a bit complex for me. I wanted to just use one Genesis instead of having to swap them out...
Router said:
In 7th grade junior high (late 88 to early 89) before i knew about the MD/Genesis, i was a really terrible student, struggling just to pass. The summer of 89 turned my life around! I took 3 summer-school classes (desktop publishing, creative writing and something on learning to be more organized) Those were the best classes i ever took in my entire life. because... That same summer, i learned about the Genesis. i needed the Genesis!
i made a deal with my dad. if i got a B+ average for at least 2 quarters, he would get me a Genesis. i worked my ass off to do well in 8th grade junior high (late 89 to early 90) and it payed off. By mid January 1990 i had done it. i had the required grades. i didn't walk home from school that winter day, i flew home. i'm positive my feet never touched the ground. i was the happiest kid in the entire world at that moment. i told my dad. he said he'd buy me the Genesis as soon as he had the money. In late March 1990, i bought Ghouls 'N Ghosts with my own money, this was the first 16-bit Genesis game i owned (yes before Altered Beast). I put GnG away on the upper shelf of my closet for a few weeks, where nobody would find it. In April my dad finally bought the Genesis, an extra controller and Power Base Converter. I conducted a retirement ceremony for the Master System console, it was being put out to pasture, even though it served me well. With Sega's rebate for free game, that meant i had (would have) three Genesis games without needing anymore money (Altered Beast, Ghouls 'N Ghosts, +1game of my choice) That free game, which would be Forgotten Worlds, went towards Phantasy Star II (as i explained on the first page of this thread) I had arrived into the 16-bit generation. There was no better time in my life for gaming than that.
Sega-16 has a decent write up on Altered Beast, I've seen much better articles, but this will due I suppose.
http://sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=366&title=Double Take: Altered Beast
The only thing the MD/Genesis version of Altered Beast has over the System 16 arcade version, is parallax scrolling. In the console version there's four layers of parallax in the first stage, then two layers in the rest of the stages. There's no parallax at all in any of the arcade version's stages.
Still, I much perfer the look of the System 16 arcade, with its vibrant colors, smoother animation and great detail (for a 1988 game anyway).
http://sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=366&title=Double Take: Altered Beast
Double Take: Altered Beast
By: Ken Horowitz | October 28, 2008
Twenty years ago this month, Sega unleashed the Genesis upon an unsuspecting world. So great was its impact that lives were changed, marriages ended, and dogs and cats began living together. Ok, maybe it didn't really happen that way. I guess I could be exaggerating. A more likely scenario was that Sega simply released its shiny new 16-bit machine to a NES-crazed Japanese public and said "buy our console, please?" The country shrugged its shoulders with indifference and went back to playing the newly released Super Mario Bros 3.
Yes, Japan would take some time to warm up to Sega's new hardware (if one could even say that it ever did), and it wouldn't be until the console was renamed and delivered to America that the company's fortunes would change. The NES generation was growing up, and it was eager to move beyond mushrooms and Master Swords. The 8-bit hardware Nintendo steadfastly supported was beginning to show its age, and gamers were looking for more. Moreover, NEC was having a difficult time getting American audiences to embrace its newly rechristined TurboGrafx-16 with the same fervor that it had received in Japan. The time was right for a bold move, and Sega would step up to the plate, bringing its rich arcade heritage into the next generation (after doing a pretty darn good job with it on the Master System). As the Genesis slowly made its way onto store shelves across the country, one thing became increasing clear: the 16-bit revolution had started, and the opening salvo was a little game called Altered Beast.
Rise From Your Grave!
Who didn't get shivers the first time they heard that? The voice was incredibly clear and loud, and it made clear a singular reality: gaming had just matured. Pack-in games were still standard in 1989, and the Genesis, bundled with Altered Beast, was a pretty sweet package. One must forget what is now common knowledge about the game - it's brevity, repetitive gameplay and enemies. Those thoughts are fueled by hindsight and though they serve us well in the present, they have no place in the Double Dragon-infested arcades of the late '80s. Repetitiveness was the business' stock and trade then, one of the reasons why Street Fighter II knocked it on its ass in 1991. No, to fully understand and appreciate the importance Altered Beast had on home video games and the reasoning behind its pack-in status, one must look beyond the physical gameplay.
A lot of noise is made today about a console's "tie-in ratio," or the amount of software purchased with each system. Modern companies rely on AAA software from first and third party publishers to carry their platforms (with the exception of the Wii, which has reaffirmed how successful the pack-in practice really is). Previously, hardware manufacturers gave consumers a "free" title with their purchase. It seemed to be a win-win situation for everyone involved. The company nabbed a buyer who would hopefully go out and buy more games, and buyers got a "free" game with their new machine. The game didn't necessarily have to be deep or exceptional in quality. It only had to show off what the hardware could do, making it the one piece of advertising every new owner was guaranteed to see.
Sega, like Nintendo, was undoubtedly going to include a game with its hardware. The trick was to give Genesis owners a taste of what the console could do, thus ensuring that they would run out and buy additional software. Nintendo had experienced great success with this strategy, deciding to package Super Mario Bros. with the NES, a move that was instrumental in that console's success (as well as that of the game itself, which to date has sold over forty million copies). Altered Beast may not be in the same league as Super Mario Bros., but it had the desired effect. It set the groundwork for Sega's success, a job that a certain blue hedgehog would finish two years later.
High Definition Graphics
To promote its fledgling Genesis, Sega needed a game that would entice prospective consumers with knockout visuals and sound but be simple enough as to not keep them from buying other software. Altered Beast filled that role brilliantly. The sprites were much larger than what 8-bit gamers were used to, and the colors and parallax scrolling screamed "arcade experience." For a company banking its future on how well it could reproduce the arcade at home, Sega's choice of Makoto Ushida's side-scrolling beat-'em-up was a wise one. Only five levels meant that it was over quick, leaving gamers wanting more, and how were you supposed to get your fix? By going out and buying more Genesis cartridges, of course! No one at Sega believed that Altered Beast was supposed to be a killer app, otherwise it would have been sold on its own. No, its purpose was to entice freshly minted Genesis owners into buying more games, nothing more.
That isn't to say that the game is bad, necessarily. The two-player co-op is fun while it lasts, and the transformations are always cool to look at. The main problem with Altered Beast is that it's just basically the same kicks and punches from start to finish, with little variation. Of all the launch titles, it was the one that most likely couldn't stand on its own for sale, and bundling it with the Genesis was not only good marketing, it gave the game exposure that it might not have gotten otherwise.
Even so, these inherent flaws didn't really have much weight on impressionable young gamers who played it into the wee hours of the night in 1989. They saw what seemed to be an incredibly accurate copy of one of the arcade's hottest machines, and it was right there in the box with their new Genesis. Think of what it was like for a new Genesis owner to invite his NES-owning friends over for some gaming, and you can imagine the conversations (read: arguments) that must have taken place... and rightly so. Compare Altered Beast to anything else on the home market at the time, and the difference is markedly clear. The rich, detailed visuals were shockingly close to their arcade source material, though there were notable differences. Understandably, the flaws in the Genesis version, such as the butchered ending, weren't really all that important. Most people were pretty excited at just how faithful a translation it had turned out to be. Later conversions, such as Golden Axe and Ghouls 'n Ghosts, continued to foment the Genesis' reputation of producing quality arcade ports, but it's most likely that both games owe some of their sales to Altered Beast.
Shadow of the Beast
Thinking back on it now, it's amazing just how far arcade ports have come. Today, we take for granted that the home version of a game will be better than it was in the arcade, and the advancements in technology have all but ensured that those dark and loud havens where we spent our quarters will all but die out eventually. Before this became the standard however, gamers had to hope for as faithful a home conversion as possible, due to the limits of the hardware at the time. The Genesis made its early reputation by offering some of the best arcade ports available, and Altered Beast was the first game to truly show gamers that such a thing was possible.
One can argue about Altered Beast's short, repetitive levels, and it's easy to dismiss the game as something that has long been left behind to the annals of history. But reflecting on this twentieth anniversary of our favorite little black box, it's important to recognize the standard of overall quality that Altered Beast set, a standard to which Genesis gamers held every single arcade port that followed. That's quite a legacy for a game with only five levels, don't you think?
The only thing the MD/Genesis version of Altered Beast has over the System 16 arcade version, is parallax scrolling. In the console version there's four layers of parallax in the first stage, then two layers in the rest of the stages. There's no parallax at all in any of the arcade version's stages.
Still, I much perfer the look of the System 16 arcade, with its vibrant colors, smoother animation and great detail (for a 1988 game anyway).