Top 5 Mega Drive Games

Top 5 Mega Drive Games

I love the Mega Drive. Sure, it is called Genesis in America, but let's face it, the name Mega Drive is cooler.
So, why not make a countdown of this? We now have a new rule for these countdowns, by the way.
Only one game per series can go into the countdown from now on.

The game DOES NOT have to be a Megadrive exclusive to go in!

What? How is Mega Drive a better name? Genesis sounds infinitely better.

@Zero
It is because you are used to the name Genesis.

No, it's that you're used to Mega Drive. XD Sega Genesis is just a much better name. There's nothing wrong with Mega Drive, but Genesis just sounds cooler imo.

I also think the Mega Drive is a better name since the Sega Genesis was also not that great of a name.

Day 1
It's the first day of the countdown. Let's deal with the #5 place today.


#5: Earthworm Jim (By Shiny Entertainment)

How can I describe Earthworm Jim? It might look like a normal action game at first. But it's not, Jim's Adventure is filled with wackiness and fun.

All the enemies are filled with uniqueness in Earthworm Jim. There are lawyers who are trying to attack you by sueing you, there is a boss who burps out fish when you attack him, and there's even a bodyguard cat as an enemy.


The levels are also filled with unique stuff. For example, one level involves you trying to bump into your enemy as hard as you can, to cut his rope and make him drop down the swamp.


One another level involves you trying to protect a dog from enemies attacking him. If you fail to do so, the dog will turn into a monster and bite you.


I also really like how Jim was unique from all the other heroes out there. He actually has a voice, which is very funny and catchy to listen to. (Especially the GROOVY! I posted above) Also, his idle animations are funny to watch, and gave him a personality different from other characters. He even used himself as a jump rope once on his animation!

While this game was ported into other consoles like SNES/GBA/Game Boy/et cetra, I found the Mega Drive version to be the best out of all of them. (Excluding the Mega CD one, I think it is unfair to compare a catridge console and a CD console.) The other games lack some of the levels which was in the Mega Drive version, and some versions of this game have terrible gameplay..

If you don't think Earthworm Jim is interesting enough to captivate you, then look at this. Earthworm Jim has to rescue Princess What's-her-name from Queen Slug-for-a-butt, who lives in an area called Buttville. I think I made enough point.

Day 1 over.

Oh, I thought these would be Genesis exclusives. Earthworm Jim was on other consoles too.

@Zero
Nope, if the game is on Megadrive, it goes in.
Plus Megadrive one came first.

Hm, okay then. Earthworm Jim is a great game of course, I just expected this to be only exclusives is all.

Day 2

It's the second day of the MegaDrive fest. But before revealing the fourth place, let's check out the entertainment poll I did.

Which name is better?
Megadrive [ 1 ]
Genesis [ 3 ]
Nintendon't [ 0 ]

I still think Megadrive is a better name, but it may be because I'm more used to the name Megadrive. Oh well.

Without further ado, let's start today's countdown.


#4: Shining Force II (Made by Sonic)

Oh, and that Sonic up there is not Sonic Team. It is a completely different team, so keep that in mind.

The Shining Force series are SRPGs, much like Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics. And actually, the first Shining Force game was my first SRPG game.


While Shining Force I was overall a good game, it had some problems. First, the characters were pretty unbalanced. While some characters were amazingly strong, some characters are so weak that you will rarely use them while playing this game.


Second, some of the battles are just plain tedious. There's a lot of distance to go before even you get to fight the enemy side. When you reach the enemy, you will probably get tired of the battle already.


Shining Force II fixed these problems. There's lot less tedious maps, and most of the characters are now balanced that you'll like using most of them. That makes Shining Force II's Gameplay pretty much perfect, since Shining Force I's gameplay system was also originally pretty nice.


But the best part of Shining Force II is that its freedom value. Unlike in most SRPGs like Fire Emblem, you can actually walk around and explore the towns. The towns are all unique and have nice villagers inside them, so I liked that. Also, you can sometimes choose which battle to do over the another, which I really liked.


I also like how you could select the difficulty of this game. (Believe me, RPGs with difficulty settings were rare back then.) That added a lot up to making your strategy well and the replay value.

The storyline of the game is also pretty good. While it isn't as interesting as Final Fantasy VI or Mother 3, it definitely doesn't make you get bored. And you don't need to worry about the game's bad translation. Sega always had great translators, so you would be able to understand everything easily.

Give Shining Force II a go if you love other SRPGs like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics. It won't dissapoint you. Oh, and there's no permanent death in this game, so the beginners to the SRPGs will get to enjoy this game as well.

Day 2 over.

Both of those games are really cool. I might try Shining Force soon since I would likely enjoy it.

Well, that's one I never played. I believe my cousin owns it on her Genesis...although it probably doesn't even work for me to be able to play it if she does.

And I prefer SNES, not that the Genesis was bad, but I just grew up more on Nintendo consoles I guess. And I've played and enjoyed way more SNES games than I have Genesis ones.

Day 3

Today we cover the third place. But let's check out the poll first.

Which console was better?
Megadrive/Genesis [ 0 ]
Super Nintendo [ 4 ]

Woah, an unanimous poll. Let's get started then.


#3: Columns (Sega)


Columns is an amazing puzzle game. The basic thing you need to do is to put down columns of jewels. If three or more same kind of jewels are connected in a straight line horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, they will disappear.


I really like how you really need to rely with strategy with Columns. That is mainly because of the combo system. You can create combos in Columns, since the jewels fall down when the other jewels underneath dissapear. If those jewels can make a match as well, then Viola, you get a combo. I really liked thinking about how I should place the jewels to cause a chain of combos.


There are also special jewels that adds more fun into the game. When you make a special jewel dissapear, all of the jewels in that kind will dissapear. There is also a 'flash mode' which is completed when a random flashing jewel is matched. And finally, there's something called 'Doubles Mode' which involves two players working in an one area, turn by turn. (I warn you, this mode can cause friendship breaks if you aren't careful.) These things kept playing Columns fresh.

Finally, I really like how this game has a Greek theme. The backgrounds and the title screen are actually based on Greek Art. Also, the music of this game sounds like Greek music as well. Themes were rare in puzzle games back then, so this is something worth mentioning.

That makes Columns my 3rd favorite Megadrive game. Don't shoot me for saying this, but I think Columns was much more fun than Tetris. Whether if you are a puzzle gaming fan or not, you will have a lot of fun with Columns.

Day 3 over.

Bob the Builder of course

Tetris, Columns really isn't that great of a game to be honest. Especially considering the huge amount of games (both before and especially after Columns released) that are almost exactly the same. It may just be that I never played Columns around the time it released though.