Another Top 5 SEGA Genesis/Megadrive Games (from 10 - 6)

Genesis does what Nintendon't, nah i'm just kidding. SEGA Genesis/Megadrive is a SEGA's best 16-bit system that are well known for some of the great arcade titles and exclusives back in our childhood days. Last year I already did make my original top 5 favourite Genesis/Megadrive games on my gaming blog, so why do I need to make another top 5 Genesis/Megadrive games? because I been wondering what are my 10th to 6th favourite games on my Genesis/Megadrive library. There are some of the great Genesis/Megadrive games that I really enjoyed it that should have been listed on my top 10 favourites Genesis/Megadrive games, but instead I only did top 5 list last year.

If you haven't seen my original top 5 Genesis/Megadrive games then please go check it out on the link down below:

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/top-5-sega-genesismegadrive-games.html

I decided to rank these games from 10th to 6th which I've already made 5 list on my Top 5 Genesis/Megadrive games.

So without go further do, here are my another top 5 Genesis/Megadrive games that should have been on my top 10's list.  

10 - Outrun

    

We all know that Yu Suzuki was the mastermind of SEGA arcade titles in 80's to 90's days such as After Burner, Space Harrier, Hang-On, and Virtua Fighter. My favourite arcade racing game on the system was Outrun for Genesis/Megadrive. It was released in 1986 as the original arcade machine which had becoming the highest grossing arcade game having sold over 20,000 arcade cabinets within a year. The success of the game has spread with the various of the home console ports, so my favourite ports goes to Genesis/Megadrive version of the game because it is a huge faithful to original arcade counterpart.

This game was known for non-linear gameplay where you have to drive through the stages and choose two of the different junction routes which is pretty innovative for arcade racing genres. The game are also pioneered with arcade like graphics which are heavily focused on third-person rear perspective and selectable soundtracks to listen with while playing on arcade mode. It has smooth driving controls with impressive handling and spectacular range of speed which increases the challenge of overall gameplay. The graphics feels vibrant and colourful on the environment details of beach themed presentation and it's also has the most memorable soundtrack that really fits well on the game. 

Outrun is a perfect arcade ports for the home console that Genesis/Megadrive owners should able to enjoy this amazing racing game classics. 

9 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist 

Back in our days, Konami made so many great licensed beat em ups titles such as The Simpsons Arcade, X-Men Arcade, Batman Returns, and of course Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. They made several of TMNT games for Arcade, NES, SNES, GB and Genesis/Megadrive, so they bought TMNT, TMNT II: The Arcade Game, TMNT III: Manhattan Project and TMNT IV: Turtles in Time. Konami decided to bring the first TMNT title for Genesis/Megadrive was TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist is a beat em ups game where you get to play as four badass Ninja Turtles to take down groups of Shredder's gangs and prevent Shredder from taking over the Ellis Island. 

This game just plays similar with TMNT: The Arcade Game for Arcade and TMNT IV: Turtles in Time for SNES, but it features longer levels, more aggressive enemy AI and faster-moving gameplay that adds the improvements of overall experience. It has total of 5 stages to play through such as New York City, A Mysterious Ghost Ship, Shredder's Hideout, The Gauntlet, and The Final Shell Shock. There are 6 bosses in each stages such as Leatherhead, Rocksteady, Tatsu, Baxter Stockman, Krang and the main villain of the series Shredder. You can also play with your friends with the 2-player co-op mode which adds the enjoyment of the game. 

The gameplay has excellent combat controls with different movements and cool special moves which handles really well in the game and each of the playable turtles has different variations of abilities such as Leonardo are balanced character with average attacks, Donatello has slower but powerful attacks, and Michelangelo and Raphael has faster but weaker attacks which makes the game feels more well-rounded for overall gameplay. It has epic boss battles, cool surfboarding action, incredible locations like caves, sewers and city, and insane hazard traps that really makes the game such entertaining to play. The game also has well dawned animations with comic-book style presentations and colourful details for stage environment that made the game look amazing for 16-bit era.   

8 - Castlevania Bloodlines

      

Castlevania Bloodlines (A.K.A Castlevania: The New Generation in EU releases) is a side-scrolling action game for Genesis/Megadrive by Konami and it was the only Castlevania game being released for the SEGA's system. This game focuses on two vampire hunter such as John Morris and his friend Eric Lecarde has their quest to take up the fight against the female vampire named Elizabeth Bartley to prevent her from resurrecting her uncle Dracula.

Unlike the Super Castlevania IV for SNES, this game features story cutscenes, more variation of combat gameplay and two playable characters with different levels which adds the new elements of the game. This game features 5 stages to play, so you get to play as two of the playable characters such as John Morris which uses his whip as weapons and swings past through gaps, while Eric Lecarde uses his spear for attacking enemies and performing high jumps. This game has precised gameplay controls which worked well for those two playable characters and the boss battles are very challenging and entertainning at the same time to experience Castlevania's universe. Each stages are pretty well made with awesome use of 3D parallax effects on the backgrounds environment and it has impressive vampire themes of level design that made the graphics feels darker, but looked stunning for the 16-bit hardware. The soundtrack is just sounds good as the Super Castlevania IV for SNES which still makes the game so memorable. 

Castlevania Bloodlines are far superior to Super Castlevania IV for SNES that Genesis/Megadrive owners should able to experience this action-platform adventures. 

7 - M.U.S.H.A

        

Compile was really known for shoot em ups titles such as Power Strike, Super Aleste, and GunHed. There's one of the well known mecha shoot em ups games in 16-bit era was M.U.S.H.A (acronym for Metallic Uniframe Super Hybrid Armor) for Genesis/Megadrive. 

You take control of flying mecha pilot called who has the mission to destroy a large super intelligent computer that threatens the human life and planet Earth. This game features vertical perspective view of gameplay and different special weapons with upgradable power-ups. The player starts off with the main weapon that can be increasingly upgraded by collecting power chip and there's also three different special weapons can be picked up such as piercing lasers, fire-based explosives and rotating shields. It also has useful drones which can be set to one of the six attack modes, such as aiming forward, behind, or rotating around the player. 

The gameplay plays really well with unique set of weapons and power-ups, the graphics in the game has wicked use of parallax effects for the animations, and this game has kickass 16-bit heavy metal soundtrack that adds the overall atmospheres of the game. This game is quite expensive for most of the online stores with ridiculously priced from £200 to £300, so I was very lucky that I've bought this game as a reproduction copy of the game from Ebay for £7.00 last year. If you're the fan of the shoot em ups genres then buy this game cheaper by getting reproduction copy or you can also get it from Wii Shop Channel (via Virtual Console) for Nintendo Wii because M.U.S.H.A is such an awesome Vertical Shooter game for 16-Bit system.   

6 - Thunder Force IV

Technosoft has bought their mind-blowing side-scrolling shooter legacy in 16-bit era was Thunder Force IV for Genesis/Megadrive. The developer teams behind Herzog Zwei, Dragon's Fury and Hyper Duel was able to make one of the best side-scrolling shooter of Genesis/Megadrive's library that really shows the powerhouse of 16-bit hardware machine. You take control of fighter spacecraft called Rynex to battle against Vios forces throughout the ten stages.

This retains same upgradeable defaults, speed settings, and unique extra weapons from the previous third game. The game is on horizontal perspective view with selectable weapons to choose from such as twin shot, back shot, blade, rail gun, snake, freeway, hunter, and thunder sword. The claw are very useful device that circles around the ship allowing you to fire extra shot of each weapons, while the shields protects the ship from getting damaged from collisions hazard objects. 

This game has magnificent use of upgradable weapons making it easier to wipe out the enemy's ships and changing the speed of ship which makes the playabilty easier to control. It has 10 epic stages with intense action, insane enemy's ships, cool boss levels and quite atmospheric level design that made the game so amazing to play. This game has impressive parallax scrolling graphics with detailed environment and faster animation that really pushes the hardware limits and it also has the most metal soundtrack of Genesis/Megadrive library that helps motivates the player to enjoy the side-scrolling madness. 

Thunder Force IV is fun shoot em ups game that I really liked on my video game collection. 

Want to know what are my favourite 5th to 1st Genesis/Megadrive games, please check it out on the link down below:

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/top-5-sega-genesismegadrive-games.html

If you like my recent blog, please hit like and comment below for further questions. 

This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.

               

       

Another Top 5 Super Nintendo Games (from 10 - 6)

Super Nintendo are always one of my all time favourite game console in my childhood gaming. Last year I already did make my original top 5 favourite SNES games on my gaming blog, so why do I need to make another top 5 SNES games? because I been wondering what are my 10th to 6th favourite games on my SNES library. There are some of the great SNES games that I really enjoyed it that should have been listed on my top 10 favourites SNES games, but instead I only did top 5 list last year.

If you haven't seen my original top 5 SNES games then please go check it out on the link down below:

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/top-5-super-nintendo-games.html

I decided to rank these games from 10th to 6th which I've already made 5 list on my Top 5 SNES games.

So without go further do, here are my another top 5 SNES games that should have been on my top 10's list.    




10 - Killer Instinct

 













The fighting game genres was very popular in early 90's with the success of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat that dominates the arcade fighting games genres which influences several video game developer teams to make their own fighting game series such as SNK's Fatal Fury, Atari's Primal Rage, Interplay's Clayfighter and there's one of the game that blows everyone mind was Rare's Killer Instinct for SNES.

It was released in 1994 as the arcade system that demonstrate the power of Ultra 64's graphics technology known as Silicon Graphics featuring pre-rendered sprites for characters, 3D stage arena effects and FMV cutscenes. However it was supposed to be release on Nintendo 64, but unfortunately it was delayed and was ported to the SNES and Gameboy instead in 1995. Despite being released for SNES the game was a commercial hit which sold 3.2 million units worldwide and gained some critical acclaim by most of video game critics calling it best 2D fighting games on the Nintendo system.

Killer Instinct was known for fast-paced combo hitting gameplay that makes the playability much easier to execute special moves and perform over 80 ultra combo hits. You get to play some of the amazing rosters such as Jago, Cinder, Orchid, Chef Thunder and more. It has several of game modes for SNES version such as arcade mode, complete against your friends with 2-player versus or tournament mode and master your own moves with practice modes. It has the best soundtrack in the game which comes with bonus arranged CD called Killer Cuts was bundled with the game that you can enjoy listening kickass music from original game. Killer Instinct is not the only best fighting game on SNES, but it is considered to be a huge faithful to arcade counterpart that made the game so memorable.



9 - Super Castlevania IV

       














Back in our days when Konami was the biggest gaming company that bought the incredible game franchises such as Gradius, Contra, Metal Gear, Silent Hill and of course Castlevania. One of my favourite game on the series was Super Castlevania IV for SNES that made me becoming a fan of the Castlevania series. You take control of vampire killer named Simon Belmont has his quest to defeat evil vampire named Dracula through 11 levels. The game was similar to original's 1986 Castlevania for NES, but features 16-bit graphics with the use of Mode 7, Gothic soundtrack with new pieces and arrangements based on previous Castlevania music, and ability to control Simon's whip in eight direction.

It has darker presentation with gritty level design and deadly enemies that adds the overall atmospheres. The gameplay has incredible challenges in each levels including boss battles and the controls are very simple to use with whip weapons and items attack. Castlevania does always have one of the memorable soundtrack in gaming history that made the game so fun to play it on your 16-bit system. If you're the fan of action side-scrolling genres then this is must play on your SNES.



8 - F-Zero

    
I was quite surprised to see any of the racing game titles that managed to push the limits of SNES hardware, so that was F-Zero for SNES which was part of the two launch titles (along with Super Mario World) for the Japan release in year 1990.

F-Zero is a futuristic racing game where you take control of four playable drivers through three leagues on grand prix mode. This game was well known for impressive futuristic themes of game's presentation, variety of tracks with fast speed boost and crazy level design that adds the challenging gameplay, and graphical ability to use mode 7 that allows 3D environment of level track to scaled and rotated around the vehicle which made the F-Zero a huge standard of futuristic racing game genres.

F-Zero has the most memorable tracks in the series such as Mute City, Big Blue, Death Wind, Port Town and more stages to play that offers the fun factor of game's overall due to straightforward driving controls and excellent playability. The graphics are so impressive to see how well the SNES system capability that the developer team could able to manage the powerful mode 7 with well detailed track design, excellent textures and background, great scaling animation and badass looking vehicle. With the success of first game was spawned with the sequels for N64, GBA and GC, and they bought main protagonist of the series Captain Falcon to the famous fighting game series Super Smash Bros as playable roster.



7 - Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

  

 












Nintendo has bought the masterpiece of Super Mario World for SNES that helped the SNES hardware sales which sold over 20 million copies worldwide and it is considered to be all time best platformer game ever made.

They later released the prequel to the original was Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is a 2D platformer game where you take control of lovable character named Yoshi has his quest to bring baby Mario to reunite with baby Luigi, who had been kidnapped by baby Bowser's minions. Despite Shigeru Miyamoto decided not to make computer pre-rendered graphics like Donkey Kong Country, he wanted to create a hand-drawned style platformer game that runs on Super FX 2 chip to add variation of special effects.

This game features nearly 50 levels on single-player including wacky bonus levels and it involves clever puzzle solving and collecting items in each levels. Yoshi has ability to perform flutter jump through the stages, ground pound on the enemies and objects, produce eggs from swallowed enemies which allows him to throw eggs at the enemies and objects, and spitting out the enemies and power-ups such as fire, ice and seeds which adds the new elements of gameplay style. It featuring impressive boss battles such as Salvo the Slime, Bigger Boo, Marching Milde, Naval Piranha and of course badass version of Baby Bowser are one of the most epic bosses in Yoshi's series. The graphics are very colourful, cartoony and cutesy in whole game thanks to Super FX 2 chip that shows the powerhouse of Nintendo's 16-bit machine.

The game received universal praise by critics and sold over 4 million copies which makes Yoshi a beloved Nintendo characters in Mario's universe. The success of game was spawned with sequels, spin-offs and cameo throughout the series such as Yoshi's story, Yoshi's Island DS and Yoshi's Woolly World. This game are also been re-released with GBA version in 2002 as Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3.  



6 - Actraiser

Actraiser is a action-platform/city-building simulation game for SNES which bought you by Enix (now called Square Enix). This game's plot follows god-like protagonist known as The Master has his mission to battle and defeat against the devil-like antagonist known as Tanzra in order to save the mankinds.

This game are mixed between action hack n slash and strategy simulation gameplay where you have to defeat most of the bosses in action mode, while you have to give people commands to build road planning and seal the lairs of monsters in simulation mode. I really liked the idea of combining two genres together which makes the game pretty innovative in early 90's to show how creative the game was and it plays really well on the action mode which has 6 excellent stages including 2 acts and challenging boss battles, while the simulation mode are pretty straightforward which offers the great guide for mankinds to learn how to build homes, paths and bridges, and sealing the lair of monsters to prevent them from respawning. Playing as angel in simulation gameplay are also helpful which has ability to use bow as weapon to defeat hodes of monsters, while master has ability to use the power of miracles and offering gifts to mankinds.

This game does have one of the best soundtrack on SNES which was composed by Yuzo Koshiro was the mastermind behind Street of Rage and Revenge of Shinobi just proper nails it with realistic sounds of orchestrated music which really fits the mood of the game's presentation. The game does have an impressive storytext that focuses on war between heaven and hell, and putting the world peace once again that made the story of the game sounds interesting to read and play at the same time. After the first game was well received that led to sequel such as Actraiser 2 which are completely ignored due to poor sales and it's a shame that there's no mentioning of making another sequel, so it would have been awesome if the team of Square Enix could able to make another sequel in future times because Actraiser is still a fantastic action/simulation game out there.


Want to know what are my favourite 5th to 1st SNES games, please check it out on the link down below:

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/top-5-super-nintendo-games.html


If you like my recent blog, please hit like and comment below for further questions.

This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.