The Sega Genesis

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

None of you have been in the basement of the house I grew up in willingly.

When I was last home, my brother mentioned that our childhood Sega Genesis (a model "2", I learned) was in the basement and I could and should grab it and take it back with me, which I did. It was just the bare console. No power supply, video cable or gamepad. I did so and I got those items. It works. The Genesis was a ROCK, in my opinion. Left in a musty basement for 30+ years and it booted up just fine.

This is the thread for GENESIS MEMORIES.

[Da King]

I miss Mutant League Football and Mutant League Hockey.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Ok, we'll see if we can get those going. There is a flash cart that exists that may make it easier.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

This is what the Video Game Critic considers to be the best Genesis games - you can sort by "Grade" on this page:

https://videogamecritic.com/gen.htm?e=73241

There was a "Bulls vs Blazers" cartridge in the house. How? Why? Unknown.

It is not a good game. Or a good Sega Genesis game.

[Flack]

The very, very first flashcart I ever bought was from a company called Tototek and it was for the Sega Genesis. I still have it somewhere but you wouldn't want it. I think it uses a parallel port cable and the software ran pretty good in Windows 98. The cart didn't have a case and so when you insert it, the plastic doors of the Genesis kind of grab on to the components, so you have to shove your fingers down in there to safely remove the cart.

When I joined Digital Press back in the early 00s I started collecting... well, everything. Atari carts, NES carts, and Genesis carts. The thing is, pretty much every video game cartridge came in a cardboard box except those clamshell-style cases for the Sega Genesis, which looked so great to display. At least back then, Genesis games were dirt cheap. I remember winning an eBay auction for 50 games for just over $50. (Seller was local, so no shipping!)

When I started my current job in 1995, there were a couple of thrift stores close enough that I could hit one or the other during lunch. There was the infamous summer where I declared I would purchase every Sega Genesis I found that was less than $5. I think I ended up with at least 10, and sold most of them later at gaming expos just to get rid of them. Literally, they were worthless.

What changed the Sega Genesis for me was an article that directly compared its capabilities to the Amiga. In my mind, the Amiga was a magical, untouchable machine and the Sega Genesis was, you know, a 16-bit console -- sure, it was better than the original NES and SMS, but on par with the Amiga? What they heck? That article inspired me to go back and look at the Genesis library with new eyes. I've appreciated it much more ever since.

What was the question? Gah.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

You're absolutely right. I have this dream of completing Starflight on the PCjr to my right. It's a mess. The saving system is all screwed up and it took an adjustment to get it to use Jr's 16 colors (which I have since fixed, but still).

The Genesis version, which is over here:

1. Just works.
2. Is beautiful
3. Has decent animation and frame rate

If I am ever going to get deep into the game, it will be on the Genesis. The thing is severely under rated.

[Jizaboz]

I had a model one pretty soon after it came out for Christmas with Altered Beast. Ended up selling it after I had we got a 386, but I later got a CDx (that I also sold later) and still play Genesis/Megadrive games from time to time.

Phantasy Star II and Ghouls N Ghosts were my favorite 2 launch titles.

[Flack]

My parents bought an Atari 2600 when it came out and then never bought another family gaming console. By the time the NES and stuff we were already well vested on the home computer train... and downloading games. Paying $30 for an NES game made no sense when that same amount would get you 100 blank floppies, wholesale.

I mentioned that because the Sega Genesis was directly responsible for me getting my first NES. When I was a teen working in fast food, one of my co-workers got a Sega Genesis for Christmas in '89. To afford some new games, he agreed to sell me his old NES and 30 cartridges for $100. Back then I think my two week paychecks were about $300. I bought a RCA video switch box and hooked the NES up to my C64 monitor. Mostly I would play NES games while the C64 was busy downloading games. I'd queue up a download and then switch over and play some Super Mario Bros. or ExciteBike. When the floppy drive stopped a'whirrin', I'd pause my game and flip back over to the C64.

My main memories of the Sega Genesis were of playing it a couple of times at that kid's house. I know I played Sonic, Altered Beast, and Mortal Kombat. As for the latter two, my memory was that they were arcade perfect. With today's technology, we can see that they are not. I can literally pull up the arcade version of Mortal Kombat running on the MiSTer on one monitor and the Sega Genesis version on another monitor and compare them side by side and see the differences, but back then when the nearest MK machine was 20 minutes away and I hadn't played it in over a month and then comparing the memory of that version to the one in this kid's living room... they seemed pretty dang close.

It's weird to have lived through all these eras -- going from when home console games were nothing like the arcade versions (think Pac-Man and Donkey Kong on the Atari 2600), to 16-bit versions that were awfully close, to 32-bit ones that were essentially the same and then began to surpass arcade games.

[RealNC]

I was a Nintendo kid. Sorry...

[(ᵕ˵ ૩ᵕ)━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dIXw0OEtk4