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Hidden gems

      

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2 years ago - Saturday, December 12, 2009
#1
RetroRalph
Type: Administrator
Posts: 1336
Joined: 7/19/2009
Since there is now Megadrive / Genesis emulation in RetroCopy I thought maybe people could post any games that they believe are under rated. The two biggest "hidden gems" I know of on the system would be :-

Kings Bounty - The predecessor to Heroes of Might and Magic, in my opinion a better game because it is somewhat easier to get into whilst still having a lot of depth.

Star Flight - This is an very in depth space trading game, you basically assemble a flight team and then search planets for minerals. I remember spending 30 minutes with friends when we first got this wondering what on earth to do.

So who has any others?

2 years ago - Saturday, December 12, 2009
#2
MarshMellow
Type: Member
Posts: 83
Joined: 7/22/2009
I would have to put my hand up for Syndicate. I'm not sure how underrated it was though (I didn't hear anything about it prior to renting it) but it blew me away with its gameplay.
2 years ago - Saturday, December 12, 2009
#3
RetroRalph
Type: Administrator
Posts: 1336
Joined: 7/19/2009
Yes that was also a good game. I think I played the SNES version though, I wonder if there is much difference between the ports. I believe it was a popular Amiga or PC game prior to coming to consoles, so I'm not sure if it's a "hidden gem" as such. :)
2 years ago - Sunday, December 13, 2009
#4
Neville
Type: Member
Posts: 63
Joined: 12/13/2009
Yes, "Syndicate" is a port of the Amiga / IBM PC game of the same name. It was a huge hit at the time and got rave reviews on those systems, because of its hi-res isometric graphics and the depth of the gameplay. There were always many ways to finish a mission, and it was also action-packed, but in a thinking man's way. I remember playing it in my 486/66, that one and "Dune II" were the most addictive games I knew at the time.

When I found out there were console ports I tried them as well, but found them quite bad. Too much has been toned down to please the distributors (in the original, flesh and blood civilians often ended up caught in the crossfire), and I also found the controls to be frustrating. Like in "General Chaos", the hectic gameplay often causes the player to mix up the buttons and die.
2 years ago - Sunday, December 13, 2009
#5
RetroRalph
Type: Administrator
Posts: 1336
Joined: 7/19/2009
Yes around the time of early 90s is when PC gaming really started to take off. I remember Syndicate Wars was just a lot more impressive than anything on console at the time.

You could still kill civilians in Syndicate on SNES, it was fun. In a way the type of gameplay in Syndicate went on to spawn Diablo, the whole "Just another few minutes to get that upgrade".

I believe I played General Chaos on the Megadrive but only briefly, it was fun too.

2 years ago - Monday, December 14, 2009
#6
Neville
Type: Member
Posts: 63
Joined: 12/13/2009
I also have a soft spot for "Risky Woods". It's a very good game, with eye-popping visuals and furious gameplay, but there are also sentimental reasons to take into account. It was developed by Dinamic, a legendary 8 bits Spanish developer, and it was their swan song, an indication of the path to follow for future releases that never occurred. Many Spanish developers of that era failed to adapt into the 16-bit era and went bankrupt sooner or later. Dinamic managed to outlast them all, but at the expense of producing only inexpensive soccer / basketball sims (the PC Futbol and PC Basket series) for the rest of its career.

The Megadrive version of "Risky Woods" is also unique in that Electronic Arts asked for specific changes, such as changing the design of the player. The game as originally conceived was released for the Atari ST, the Amiga and the IBM PC.
2 years ago - Monday, December 14, 2009
#7
RetroRalph
Type: Administrator
Posts: 1336
Joined: 7/19/2009
Risky Woods looks interesting, a bit like Lord of the Magicians on NEOGEO.

2 years ago - Monday, December 14, 2009
#8
FadWare
Type: Beta Tester
Posts: 82
Joined: 11/5/2009
I think that games like El Viento, Alisia Dragoon, Gynoug and Granada were very good games and i think they can be qualified like hidden gems in Mega Drive.

I own Gynoug and Granada and everyone hate that games, but, the sound, the graphics are very cool. And the game action is incredible. And they are quite hard even in low dificulty levels. No one of my friends wanted to make a weekend trade of those cartridges, but i think you sould try. Granada is a Sharp X68000 convertion, the intro was lost in the convertion, but the fun is still there.

A friend of mine had both El Viento and Alisia Dragoon, i've was able to play this games when i trade my The Immortal cartridge with him, and let me say that those games are freaking action crazy. There are action and strategy to play every levels. Skill is required to play those games. The sprites and sound of Alisia Dragoon are amazing too.

I'm editing because i forgot another amazing game: Populous. It was a very strange game, but with the manual and a lot of pacience, you could learn it and spend hours trying to beat the other gods. This game was released for other other plataforms, and i think this was another convertion.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by FadWare
2 years ago - Tuesday, December 15, 2009
#9
Neville
Type: Member
Posts: 63
Joined: 12/13/2009
I have another, "Gunstar Heroes". It's a really hectic shooter with great graphics and constant twists. I was a bit reluctant to mention it here because of its fame, but it's a Megadrive exclusive title, so I guess it qualifies.



It's every bit as good as any Contra / Probotector entry for the Megadrive or the SNES, but much more fun.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Neville
2 years ago - Tuesday, December 15, 2009
#10
RetroRalph
Type: Administrator
Posts: 1336
Joined: 7/19/2009
Gunstar Heroes is on GameGear I believe, I was playing it the other day! It is a fun shooter, a bit like Metal Slug in some ways.



I checked out Alisia Dragoon too, I like the art work in this game and it does have a lot of sprite movement going on.



2 years ago - Tuesday, December 15, 2009
#11
Neville
Type: Member
Posts: 63
Joined: 12/13/2009
It's true, there's a Game Gear version of "Gunstar Heroes". Never heard of it before, found out while consulting MobyGames.
2 years ago - Tuesday, December 22, 2009
#12
Neville
Type: Member
Posts: 63
Joined: 12/13/2009
A recent re-discobery, Rolling Thunder II and III.



The original Rolling Thunder is not available for the Genesis, and it's a pity. It's a venerable action game (so venerable, actually, that once in my teens I mentioned it to my English teacher as one of my favourite arcade games and he was shocked) with pseudo-Bond ambientation and traces of platform in its gameplay. We play as a suave secret agent who is infiltrating some underground base, and although we dispatch enemies with firearms, most screens have two or more levels of height, and we must take that into account to succeed.

These second and third instalments add more action (if possible) and eye candy to the formula, and they can be seen as a more accesible and action packed alternative to the different Shinobi titles for the system. And well, ninjas are so 80s... Bond instead will live forever as far as the movies earn money.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Neville
2 years ago - Tuesday, December 22, 2009
#13
RetroRalph
Type: Administrator
Posts: 1336
Joined: 7/19/2009
I've heard a lot about that game but never played it. I will have to give it some time one of these days. I like your story though, it would be perfect for the database when it is finished!

We are only adding SMS games first as a trial run of the whole system so we will see when Genesis is added I guess. Should be exciting.
2 years ago - Monday, December 28, 2009
#14
RetroRalph
Type: Administrator
Posts: 1336
Joined: 7/19/2009
I accidentally removed your last post Neville while testing some new forum features, sorry about that! I need to add an undo feature. :)
2 years ago - Friday, January 01, 2010
#15
Neville
Type: Member
Posts: 63
Joined: 12/13/2009
It's OK, it only mentioned the first "Rolling Thunder" game (and the second one too, now that I think of it) are playable in MAME. The first one is still my favourite, even if the graphics are plain compared to the sequels.

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