Oh those old school video games...

[Warmaker]

I'm not sure how and why, but I ended up looking up 3 games that I played and liked from back in the day on my Sega Genesis.

First, I stumbled upon Valis (link is to the Turbo Grafx version). Now, the only one I tried in the USA was the Genesis version of Valis III. IMO, nothing was special about the gameplay in comparison to other outstanding side-scroller / action games of the 16-bit era. But there were 2 things I liked about it:

- The "cutscenes"

- Half-naked anime chicks with swords... in the early 90's, here in the USA

And then, during my search on the "Internetz," I came across a long forgotten favorite of mine: Arcus Odyssey

Back in the day, I loved that game also. The game was quite easy, especially with 2 players rampaging through. Again, there were 2 things I liked:

- The opening sequence

- The music! This was one of the few games in all my gaming (Sega Master System thru PC gaming today) where I used to leave it in Sound Test Mode. By far my favorite was the song upon defeating the final boss, "Castomira - Defeated."

Lastly, I ran into another old Genesis favorite, Target Earth (US title: Original was "Assault Suit Leynos" IIRC). There were a few difficult moments, but nothing to an avid video game player with a bit of dilligence. Three things drew me to this game.

- Japanese Mecha Combat! Complete with outfitting of different gears for your Assault Suit.

- A very military oriented game, reminding me of Macross. The game is permeated with this feeling with friendly Assault Suits, Warships, etc. all around. Yes, you played as the hero in a specially colored Assault Suit, but you were in a battle with units from all sides fighting. I always tried to make sure that friendly AI unit finishes the mission with me. The centerpiece again was the feeling of being in the middle of a battle.

- The end theme song and cutscene

My only knock against Target Earth was that it was short.

Edit to add: Another reason why Target Earth / Assault Suit Leynos still hold some meaning to me is that it was released here in the USA in a time when practically all Japanese Mecha themed games would not cross the Pacific. A subsequent frustration was the Front Mission Franchise, which didn't get over into the USA until well into the PS1's lifetime. By then, there were a ton of FM games released, most of which never got to see US releases. This is all of course before the days of the "Internetz" and the ability to browse around freely. It was just so frustrating back in the day...

Edited April 6, 2007 by Warmaker

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Thanks for the links. It seems that I missed most of the coll stuff back in my Genesis days. I may have to check those out (after I finished ZOE2, which I've waited four years to play).

[JsARCLIGHT]

I'm probably smoking dope but wasn't Target Earth, or a clone of it, released on the SNES in the mid '90s? I remember a friend of mine in college had a Genesis with Target Earth and then years later I found a game for the SNES that was virtually a clone of Target Earth but called something different. The graphics were different and from what I remember the story was different but the game was a japanese robot shooter that played just like Target Earth... it even had the "re-entry" stage.

Edit: The internet is your friend. Cybernator.

[Apollo Leader]

Assault Suit Leynos/Target Earth - Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Assault Suit Valken/Cybernator - Super Famicom/SNES

Assault Suit Leynos 2 - Sega Saturn (Japan only)

Assault Suit Valken 2 - PS1 (Japan only)

With the exception of Valken 2, I've had every one of these games; Leynos 2 is the only one I still have. Leynos 2 is like Cybernator on steroids. Valken 2 I believe was the last game in the whole series and was the first one to go 3D.

[jenius]

May I recommend the shooter Gaiares? That game was fantastic but it seems to be a gem not everyone knows about. It ranks as EASILY the best shooter that ever appeared on the Genesis in my book.

[myk]

Yes, YES! Gaiares and Radiant Silvergun are two shooters that I must own before I pass from this world...

[Ladic]

some of my fave genesis games where

sid meier's pirates gold

aerobiz supersonic

warsong

uncharted waters

[jenius]

I LOVED Warsong... absolutely LOVED it. I was so bummed when I heard it was but one game in a series that never ever got ported over to the US. Obviously any Shining game (Shining in the Darkness or Shining Force), World War III on the Sega CD, and anything Phantasy Star (even the so-so Phantasy Star III). It always bums me out that more of my friends don't remember the Phantasy Star games, especially Phantasy Star II, soooo many hours of my life in that game.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Yeah, two of three games Warmaker mentioned was brought to the U.S. by Renovation, and I would always look for what they were putting out. I only knew them as the game company that had dem kewl annie-may cutscenes. I think the last Renovation game I played was El Viento. Good times, Warmaker

[Sumdumgai]

Loved Valis IV for the SNES. Half naked anime chicks with swords ruled, and they still do!

[Duymon]

Man, Valis 3, I remember that game.

I actually have the JP version of Arcus Oddysey, that game rocked ()

Target Earth was also a romp, we liked how the CF suits were brown, just like in macross The ending cinema with a kagillion brown CF"s downing cruisers was the high point.

Assault Suit Leynos II for Saturn.... WTF it made me want to break my saturn multiple times.

Assault Suit Valken 2 was really fun. Lots of front-mission-esque battles and the suits were pretty cool.

As for Warsong (Langrisser)

Man you missed out on a lot Quite a few titles came after that and they were all pretty good

Same thing happened to Shining FOrce III on Saturn.

1 came out in US, 2 and 3 never made it and it pissed me off so much I imported and couldn't play them fully until 5 years and a Bachelor's in Japanese later lol.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Duymon

[gerwalk25]

Gaiares for the Genesis was a visually awesome shooter! It wasn't hard with a cheat code and loved playing it just for the visuals alone.

Another game on that system (Sega CD) was Android Assault/Bari-Arm. This was the first game I played that had a transformable/variable fighter. Arrowflash was the second game I played with a varible fighter.

I gotta give props to Renovation for bringing these games (xcept' Bari-arm I believe it was by sega) to the US as well as these titles I've played.

-Valis 3

-SYD Valis (an SD version of the Phantasm Soldier!)

-Final Zone (Character designs by Mikimoto!)

-Whip Rush

-El Viento

[the white drew carey]

Metal Marines for the SNES was pretty cool. Sometimes it's really easy, but some missions are kind of hard.

[jenius]

Gaiares for the Genesis was a visually awesome shooter! It wasn't hard with a cheat code and loved playing it just for the visuals alone.

It's going to make me feel old to type this but...

You know what else I loved about that game? The PHYSICs! Yeah, shut-up, I know. Anyway, remember that level where you were constantly being sucked into black holes? Even the bullets and missiles would get sucked away into them. That was nifty for a kid like me. It probably wasn't the first game to do it... but it may have been the coolest shooter to do it (up to that point).

PS - I'm not sure, am I derailing with the Gaiares chat or was the premise of this thread to talk about old favorite video games so we could all queue up our emulators again?

[David Hingtgen]

A couple of years ago, VideoGame Depot got some unopened cases of SNES games, and I was there to watch them be unsealed. I picked up the Ninja Gaiden trilogy, and Super Valis 4. Never beat Super Valis 4 (actually, never got very far---I need to hook my SNES back up and really try some day)

[Warmaker]

Warsong was a favorite, but the original Japanese was Langrisser and years later I found out there was a ton of games for this series, that of course didn't cross the Pacific.

Which was a shame since console strategy games in those days were rare here in the USA. Plus, you got the anime character treatments in a fantasy setting. There's still several missions in Warsong that I recall, like that big river crossing. There's also the great "class" system of advancement for your generals, so you could have even more variety in each game depending on how you promote your generals.

Another one from really early in the Genesis' release in the USA was Herzog Zwei. That got a good following from me and my friends. Even my Dad got really into that game. Even when I moved onto the PS1, when I came home to visit, I could still hear the familiar sounds of Herzog Zwei playing somewhere, knowing my Dad was still grinding with it. Sometimes he'd dive into a game I gave him, Dune, but he always went back to Herzog

I was quite good with Herzog, saw all the endings, and for as many times as I played against my friends, I only lost once. That loss came after a roughly 3 hour match. I was pounding away on his base but he had a sneak attack that got mine. I gambled for a quick victory in the end with literally throwing everything I had. The attack stalled and he sent a side detachment to take my base down. It was a loss, but it was a really satisfying match.

Also, you couldn't mention "Sega" and "RPGs" without throwing Phantasy Star in there. My friend introduced me to it, shortly after my purchase and beating of Miracle Warriors. He stayed the week over at our house (Summer vacation) and brought it over. His Mom just got it for him but he said he was stuck early in the game. I woke up early the next day and decided to try it out. "It can't be better than Miracle Warriors" I thought. Wow, was I wrong! Phantasy Star was vastly superior. The word, the dungeons, a really epic feel to it. I also got past wherever my friend was stuck at. When he woke up, he said, "How did you get over there?!?" I was a fan of the franchise when I stopped at PSIV. PSII was great and left a cliffhanger. PSIII was so-so... way too many characters that really did nothing for the story, and the story I felt was... I can't recall... but I was upset that it did nothing to resolve PSII's cliffhanger, even with the multiple endings of PSIII! PSIV was a fine wrapup in the Genesis days. It did everything right for a PS game.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Warmaker

[JB0]

Gaiares is awesome. I suck at it, but it's still awesome.

There's an NES platform shooter called Metal Storm worth looking at, too(c'mon, you all knew I was gonna drag this out of the 16/32-bit eventually).

Damn fun game.

2 really notable things:

1. You have the ability to reverse gravity, which is actually integrated nicely into the game instead of just being a gimmick.

2. It's visually impressive, especially from a technical standpoint. Well-animated sprites(the death explosion is a thing of beauty), and more importantly, has 3 independently scrolling background layers. As I understand it, the only other game to implement multiple backgrounds on the NES was Ninja Gaiden 3, and that was only in 2 stages.

It puts several SNES/Genesis releases to shame, graphically speaking.

[Wes]

I liked the good old RPG-Adventure games. Cyrstalis and Terranigma were great. Also Earthbound(and the NES version) were fun.

blue blue...

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Mmm, good ol' Herzog. I had a hard time explaining to a newbie opponent why our own mechs couldn't harm the opposing home base...but nevertheless, it made for awesome battles. Seeing an absolute storm of SAMs making life hell for your opponent was sweet.

Speaking of old great games, Shinobi 3 kicks much arse even today. Playing with zero shurikens made the game shine even more. Fighting the Guges look-alike mech with nothing but a sword is still a great gaming memory.

[Warmaker]

I played the Shinobi games until III. Shinobi III was one of the last Genesis games I ever bought, but it was sweet. The action, controls, and speed were just right.

Oh, I just remembered a good 'ol Shooter. During one of my friend's visits, he showed me M.U.S.H.A. on the Genesis. The music, gameplay, and intro were bad***! It's also one of the last shooters I ever tried.

[Beltane70]

I remember those games!

I also had Valis III and Target Earth. Not being particularly good at shooters, I found Target Earth to be pretty difficult.

I borrowed Warsong from a friend of mine and beat his copy without buying one of my own. A couple of years later I bought Langrisser for the PC Engine.

The anime Samurai 7 reminded me a lot of M.U.S.H.A.

Of the games I mentioned, I only still own Langrisser. If I remember correctly, I traded all the old Genesis games I had, with the exception of Lunar and Lunar 2, for my original Playstation.

The biggest disappointing thing about most of the early Japanese games released in the States, was the changes in the box art.

[JB0]

Oh, I just remembered a good 'ol Shooter. During one of my friend's visits, he showed me M.U.S.H.A. on the Genesis. The music, gameplay, and intro were bad***! It's also one of the last shooters I ever tried.

The whole Aleste series is pretty cool(J name was MUSHA Aleste).

...

Aww, hell... almost everything Compile made that had a gun was pretty cool.

Reminds me...

The Guardian Legend.

Equal parts vertical shooter and "Crystalis with a laser gun."

[Warmaker]

I had the Sega CD also, and there were a few noteworthy titles in the library. But that thing was swamped with bad games like Bram Stoker's Dracula

*Hideo Kojima's Snatcher. Too bad the sequel, Policenauts never came over stateside *sob*

*Shining Force CD - I was a big fan also of the original Shining Force on the Genesis.

*Lunar I & II

[JB0]

I had the Sega CD also, and there were a few noteworthy titles in the library. But that thing was swamped with bad games like Bram Stoker's Dracula

*Hideo Kojima's Snatcher. Too bad the sequel, Policenauts never came over stateside *sob*

*Shining Force CD - I was a big fan also of the original Shining Force on the Genesis.

*Lunar I & II

Robo Aleste's there too.

And Sonic CD kicked ass.

Shining Force CD would be cooler if it didn't take basically every last byte of SRAM space. You'll have to delete every save file you have to play it, unless you have a save cartridge(or use an emulator, which wasn't available when I borrowed the game).

Alas poor SegaCD... we knew not what ye were capable of 'fore ye were buried neck deep in FMV crap.

[Keith]

Did someone say oldschool video games?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vipmROOQP2w&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ERuRjk_-YQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNrhKXBp3dg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j33BQXWkvUE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofZeMkgW_9g

And this one is the absolute best. I'm not even going to ruin the surprise.

[JB0]

Did someone say oldschool video games?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vipmROOQP2w&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ERuRjk_-YQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNrhKXBp3dg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j33BQXWkvUE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofZeMkgW_9g

And this one is the absolute best. I'm not even going to ruin the surprise.

Oh wow, who didn't see THAT coming...

Maybe next time we'll see a link to something worth watching?

Ah well, at least it's more than just the standard retard cursing about games. We've got DIVERSITY here!

[Gaijin]

And Sonic CD kicked ass.

If you had the Mega CD import. Spencer Nielsen's music was ok but paled in comparison to the amazing soundtrack that it had originally.

[yellowlightman]

Ah well, at least it's more than just the standard retard cursing about games. We've got DIVERSITY here!

I thought the whole 'ranting about lame NES games' was played out after Seanbaby did it... 6-7 years ago.

[danth]

*Lunar I & II

I worshipped those games. Awesome fantasy RPGs with great story, memorable characters, many hours of gameplay, and anime cutscenes. For 1992, those games had it all!

My favorite games for the SNES were:

Secret of Mana. Action RPG. Three player co-op! Great gameplay and story, lush graphics, and cool music.

Lufia. Fantasy RPG. This was the first game to actually make me cry.

[the white drew carey]

Vasteel for the TG-16 CD Drive is, to this day, one of the best mecha strategy games ever. My friend imported it from Japan when it came out and we had to figure out what all the stats for the mecha were (since they were in Japanese except for the numbers). The best part was the it was a hex-based strategy game, but when it came to fighting, it was mano y mano where you duked it out. The mecha designs are awesoem, too.

[Warmaker]

Alas poor SegaCD... we knew not what ye were capable of 'fore ye were buried neck deep in FMV crap.

For every Snatcher, Lunar, or Shining Force CD on the SegaCD, there was a multitude of cr*p like Marky Mark's video making game and Star Wars Rebel Assault. The SegaCD's library never got to be big, so the "stain" of games like the latter 2 really hurt what reputation the platform had left.

But this pales in comparison to Sega's failure with the 32x.

Then there's Nintendo's weird "Red/Black-Graphics-Portable-System-Mounted-On-Huge-Ridiculous-Goggles-Which-Sits-On-A-Tripod-But-Isn't-Really-Portable" thingie.

Really, these make Sega's half-a**ed promotion of the Saturn seem like a Godsent Success!

[Ladic]

call me crazy but i love my 32x, of course i only paid like $20 for it back then

[mister_e]

Wow! I had Valis 2 or 3 (can't remember which) for my Turbo Grafx 16. I loved that game, I can't believe I had forgotten it. I also remember really liking Legendary Axe, Bonk's Adventures, and Y's. Good times

[F-ZeroOne]

Ah, please ignore.

Edited April 7, 2007 by F-ZeroOne

[JB0]

For every Snatcher, Lunar, or Shining Force CD on the SegaCD, there was a multitude of cr*p like Marky Mark's video making game and Star Wars Rebel Assault. The SegaCD's library never got to be big, so the "stain" of games like the latter 2 really hurt what reputation the platform had left.

But this pales in comparison to Sega's failure with the 32x.

Then there's Nintendo's weird "Red/Black-Graphics-Portable-System-Mounted-On-Huge-Ridiculous-Goggles-Which-Sits-On-A-Tripod-But-Isn't-Really-Portable" thingie.

Really, these make Sega's half-a**ed promotion of the Saturn seem like a Godsent Success!

32x was a joke.

It only existed because Sega Japan was trying to embarrass Sega America. Seriously.

The fighting between Sega America and Sega Japan at that time was so embarassingly bad...

They were basically mad that the Genesis was a success in America and not Japan and that Sega America pulled it off by directly and agressively attacking Nintendo, which Sega Japan thought was too risky. They wanted to see Sega America fall more than they wanted to make money.

So, among other things, they told Sega America to design a 32-bit expansion for the Genesis console, since this would be an appealing angle for the american market(with the upgrade hypothetically being cheaper than a new system, and 100% backwards-compatible with existing software). Yes, it would be their only next-gen hardware, and they'd support it fully.

Then Sega Japan started developing a new system in secret, so Sega America didn't know about it. And the day after Sega America unveils the 32x, Sega Japan goes "Oh, by the way everyone... here's the Saturn. It's our REAL next-gen hardware, we don't know WHAT those silly Americans were talking about. May as well not even bother writing 32x games."

And the Virtual Boy is one of those massively under-appreciated systems.

I think the fact that it died before the second wave of software hit is one of the great losses of modern gaming.

It's biggest weakness, though, wasn't that it was monochrome. It was that the display had a 50Hz refresh and no phosphor persistence to mitigate it. So it had a barely perceptible flicker, which was especially pronounced at higher brightness levels and tended to cause headaches if you didn't turn the brightness down.

That and there was no 3D media to advertise in.