What SEGA games do you appreciate outside Sonic? (and why)

[dscross]

I'm pretty jaded about Sonic Forces, which I found to be a disappointingly mediocre and way too easy (almost auto pilot) game, especially after the joy that was Sonic Mania. I don't hate it but I have no desire to replay it. That's unusual for a main line Sonic game for me - replayability is what Sonic is all about.

Therefore, today, I've decided to remind myself that SEGA used to be an excellent company when they devoted their time to multiple franchises. Some of my all time favourite games were from SEGA - Streets of Rage, Wonderboy, Golden Axe, Phantasy Star, Alex Kidd, Shinobi, Shenmue, Columns, SEGA Rally, Virtua Fighter, Nights Into Dreams etc.

Who out there still likes the classic SEGA games? Which are your favourites and why would you suggest that modern gamers play them, if you had to recommend them to future generations of gamers. Or tell me some modern ones if there are any...

 

[American Tanker]

SEGA Rally right in your OP? Hell yeah.

And I'm in general a fan of their older arcade racers. Hang-On, OutRun, Virtua Racing, Daytona USA and as you mentioned, SEGA Rally. I'm also a fan of After Burner: Who wouldn't be a fan of flying through entire enemy squadrons in an F-14 Tomcat jet fighter, blasting down every enemy plane you can get your sights on?

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Muthafuckin Ecco the muthafuckin dolphin!

 

[Rangaman]

Shining Force, which I always found was a better game than Phantasy Star and criminally underrated by comparison.

Oh and there's Vectorman, owner of the "Coolest Title Screen Music" Award. Shame it's only thirty seconds long.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Some stuff that hasn't been mentioned yet:
Vectorman, Ristar, Rez, Skies of Arcadia, Panzer Dragoon, Jet Set Radio and Gunstar Heroes.

As for more modern stuff:
Bayonetta, Valkyria Chronicles, Total War and the Yakuza series.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I?ll second Shining Force, both 1 and 2 were (are) amazing games. I bought the Sega Collection when it launched on the 360 just for those games. Shining Force II was the first one I played and the first video game I spent literally DOZENS of hours playing, whether it was grinding out levels or trying to perfect a strategy for one of the many lengthy battles. It was just so much more strategic than the randomness of Final Fantasy encounters and so much more rewarding than the mindless button mashing of hack-n?-slash action titles of the time. I still go back and play those games from time to time.

Also Beyond Oasis. It was the first game that brought me the same sense of exploration and adventure reminiscent of that I experienced as a 7-year-old wandering Hyrule in the first Legend of Zelda. Infinite Omega Sword FTW.

Lastly, the Condemned games. Only published by Sega, but to date two of my favorite Horror titles, first-person melee done RIGHT. I?d love few things more than to see this franchise reinvigorated; I?d even settle for a remaster.

 

[kilenem]

For old stuff comic zone, for new stugg puyopuyo v.s tetris

 

[EscapistAccount]

The Megadrive release of Robocop vs. The Terminator was the best one, its hard as nails, has the most enjoyable level design and si the one I emulate when I want to replay it.

 

[dscross]

I used to love playing Road Rash 1 & 2 on Genesis. I had a paper route where the Saturday papers would get dropped off at like 2 or 3 in the morning. I?d play until then, do the route and then come back and play some more. Very few games compelled me to play til the sun came up, but those were a couple. I also liked that 7-UP Spot game on Sega CD. Mutant League Hockey was another good one.

None of those are probably technically SEGA games, but afaik they weren?t available on other platforms.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm not aware of every IP they own, but I quite like the Yakuza games from what I've played.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

I used to own genesis and play sega games when i was a kid. i prefer sonic over mario. i hated mario even when i was a kid.

they made some really good games like earthworm jim and shinobi etc.

 

[Avnger]

Not going to lie, I had no idea Sega had other games...

 

[Hawki]

To be honest...not that much? It's weird, because I fought for Sega during the console wars, but looking at my writing homepage, while I've got numerous Nintendo IP sections, Sega doesn't do too well in terms of representation outside Sonic.

But that said, looking up their game list on Wikipedia:

Bug!: Played this on a friend's Saturn. Enjoyed it at the time, but it left no real impression on me.

Clockwork Knight: See above.

Ecco the Dolphin: This left more of an impression. I only played The Tides of Time, and could never get past the first level. Ecco is...weird, but it's an interesting kind of weird. It's certainly a memorable weird for me due to its atmosphere and soundtrack.

House of the Dead: Enjoyed the first two games, cheesy as they are. Fortunate enough to have the second game on Dreamcast. I mean, it's no Resident Evil, let alone Walking Dead, but if you want a rail shooter where you shoot zombies and get to listen to questionable voice acting, House of the Dead is right up your alley.

NiGHTS: Played a demo of this on my same friend's Saturn. It was...weird. That's all I can say.

Sega Rally Championship: Played a game of this on another friend's console way back in the day. It was...fine, I guess? I'll be honest, racing games aren't really my thing outside kart racers, and even they went on the backburner for me.

Super Monkey Ball: Had the first game in this series on my Gamecube. It's...fun. That's all I can say. Fun. Also the sound effects of the monkeys falling down is both hilarious and adorable. And I never get what the people in those windows in some of the stages were doing. Dancing?

Toy Commander: Dubious as to whether this counts as a Sega game since it was only published by Sega, but hey, I enjoyed this game a lot in the day. It's not the first game to go with a 'toys to life' theme, but it's one of the more creative ones.

Virtua Cop/Virtua Fighter: I played them. They were fine. Moving on.

Road Rash 3: This can be called a Sega game only if one includes console-exclusives, since it was developed by EA. And despite being developed by EA (believe it or not, I used to be attracted to EA games if only for their "challenge everything" slogon that kept coming up on the loading screen), this game was a tonne of fun. There's something to be said about riding bikes while beating the shit out of fellow racers.

Bonanza Bros: Had this on my Megadrive. 2 player was hard because my second controller didn't work properly (it was a specialist controller, and I never got a standard second one), but I enjoyed playing it. Music is good, and I like the cartoony atmosphere.

Alex Kidd: Played the last Alex Kidd game. It was meh.

There's various other console exclusives I've played on the Megadrive (Castle of Illusion, Jurassic Park (the good version), Talmit's Adventure, etc., but I already stretched things with Road Rash and Toy Commander, I don't need to stretch things further.

Looking at the list of IPs Sega has, I can kind of say that Sega strikes me as a jack of all trades, master of none sort of publisher/developer. They've got a wide variety of IPs, but how many of them made it to the mainstream outside Sonic? What happened to the likes of Ristar, Vectorman, Ecco, or Bonanza Bros? Why was Phantasy Star eclipsed by Final Fantasy? These are rhetorical questions, but overall, nowadays, Sega stays more in my mind as a developer. I mean, I grew up with Sonic, I'm still a fan of Sonic, but aside from a few exceptions (e.g. Ecco and House of the Dead), none of Sega's other IPs really gelled with me in the same way as, say, Nintendo's did. Which is kind of in the opposite situation, because while I'm not really a Mario fan, Nintendo gave me IPs like Advance Wars, Metroid, Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, etc.

 

[Anggul]

Phantasy Star Online

Episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4 were great

I only wish PSO2 had come to the West, but it never did. The only option is an incomplete DeJap because for some reason they didn't think us filthy Westerners would want to play it.

 

[stroopwafel]

Just their classic AM2 stuff when Sega was at it's peak in the 80s and 90s: Daytona, Outrun, Hang On, Virtua Cop, After Burner. I played so much After Burner in the arcades. That little shit cabin that rumbled and shaked like you were 'in' the jet. The Megadrive also had great games like Castle of Illusion, Phantasy Star, Sunset Riders and all the arcade ports. The Saturn has a library of awesome shmups that nobody played and the Dreamcast while ahead of it's time wasn't marketed properly and failed due to lack of software. After that Sega lost it's spark and even as a publisher they are kinda meh. Yakuza is awesome though.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Valkyria Chronicles and the various Hatsune Miku stuff is my fav. Also Dengenki Bunkou fighting climax (though they just published it and lent it some licenses with french bread doing the development).

 

[dscross]

Looking at the list of IPs Sega has, I can kind of say that Sega strikes me as a jack of all trades, master of none sort of publisher/developer. They've got a wide variety of IPs, but how many of them made it to the mainstream outside Sonic? What happened to the likes of Ristar, Vectorman, Ecco, or Bonanza Bros? Why was Phantasy Star eclipsed by Final Fantasy? These are rhetorical questions, but overall, nowadays, Sega stays more in my mind as a developer. I mean, I grew up with Sonic, I'm still a fan of Sonic, but aside from a few exceptions (e.g. Ecco and House of the Dead), none of Sega's other IPs really gelled with me in the same way as, say, Nintendo's did. Which is kind of in the opposite situation, because while I'm not really a Mario fan, Nintendo gave me IPs like Advance Wars, Metroid, Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, etc.

I wouldn't be so quick to write off all their titles as mediocre though. Golden Axe and Streets of Rage are still brilliant to play through. Shenmue was excellent for the time. And many of the others are a question of whether you like quick arcade style titles that you can easily dip in and out of. House of The Dead and Crazy Taxi are perfect examples of this.

On Nights Into Dreams, yes it is weird, but its tutorial doesn't properly teach you how to play it in the way you are meant to. Once you get into it, it's a bit like Sonic in terms of replayability. It's actually dead fun.

 

[immortalfrieza]

I would have loved Valkyria Chronicles but I consider it sort of meh as it is. The combat system is great but the story is SO STUPID, so full of broken, nonsensical, and contradictory messages it makes my head spin, not to mention a main character death that makes No-Phoenix-Down-For-Aeris look smart. Said character, I might add, is one of the main targets of the whole "racism is bad" message that the game itself actively engages in itself by instead being racist against another species who are walking WMDs. Apparently just having superpowers and doing something extreme to give that person those superpowers when it's the only way to save everybody's lives is wrong. The bad guys were psychotic stupid evil villains and even the "good guys" were a bunch of dicks while everybody was a moron, so I couldn't like the story. I haven't tried any of the other games in the series past the first, but I hope when I do finally get around to them they have a much better story with protagonists I can actually root for.

Panzer Dragoon was pretty good, the on rail shooter ones were really fun but sadly pretty short. Fortunately the best is an RPG that basically keeps the on rail shooter style combat so I liked it a lot, too bad emulating it is a pain or I'd play it again like I did way back when the Sega Saturn was still around.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

Yeah, I was a Genesis / Mega Drive guy back in the day. Was just talking with my friends about this the other day actually. I'm on board with the beat 'em ups being the best ever in that era. I played Streets of Rage to death, and last year when I came aware of the remake I went nuts on it. Just yesterday I did another playthrough with Blaze on hard difficulty.

I liked Golden Axe, Rocket Knight Adventures, Road Rash series, Skitchin', Shinobi, Sonic series, Mazin Saga, Gunstar Heroes, Strider, Alien Storm, Cyborg Justice and a bunch of others I'd have to look up. Screw it, I'm on break I'll look 'em up now.

Some side scrolling 2D air combat games, like Aero Busters / Air Buster, Rolling Thunder Series, and another one which was a mech that could transform or something.

Ok I realize not all of these are by Sega, and some only published by, but that was my childhood in a nutshell. For modern, the only thing that comes to mind right now is Bayonetta, which I think I've played through at least 4 or 5 times.