Among the consoles that have firmly settled in the memory of fans, a special place is occupied by SEGA Mega Drive (aka Genesis) – “sixteen-bit”, which seemed to be the pinnacle of gaming thought for many Russian gamers of the 1990s. It surpassed the seemingly outdated (but still beloved) “Dandy” by a head, in some cases it even came to disputes about which is cooler: “Sega” or “Sony”. And of course, there were a lot (really a lot!) Of cool games on Genesis. Let’s talk about them this time: it’s time to dive headlong into nostalgia for the nineties!
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Disney’s Aladdin
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Freelancer Sketch Turner found himself in a difficult position: while drawing a comic strip about New York captured by mutants from outer space, he suddenly found himself drawn into his work. This is due to a lightning strike that swapped him and Mortus, the main villain of history. In reality, Mortus gained flesh, but lost all superpowers, so to fight his own creator, he has to use a comic book and add new dangers. Turner has to figure out how to be in this situation and somehow get out back, along the way defeating the villain and, ideally, saving General Alyssa Cyan, whom he met in the comic.
The main feature of Comix Zone is metanarrative and regular demolition of the fourth wall: the game takes place on the pages of a comic, and Turner literally moves between panels. Each level is one story spread. Mechanically, this is a classic beat ’em up with a slight twist: to successfully complete, you often need to correctly use the objects that can be found on the levels.
Contra: Hard Corps
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The desert planet Arrakis is known as the main source of spice, a drug that is extremely popular in the universe. Three houses are fighting for power over Arrakis: Emperor Frederick IV promised full control over the planet to whoever can deliver more spice. The player is invited to take control of one of them – Atreides, Harkonens or Ordos – and defeat the two remaining great houses.
One of the first real-time strategies, which managed to set many important trends for years to come, came out to the console. The legendary Westwood, the parent of the iconic Tiberian Sun and Red Alert, was in charge of her. It is Dune II that we owe the appearance of a global map with missions, a resource collection system, a technology tree, unique features of the sides and a simplified construction of buildings. Of course, the game was released on other platforms, including the PC, but it was the SEGA version that players remembered the most.
Earthworm jim 2
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Dolphin Ekko lived a normal life and frolicked with friends. Once all his friends were kidnapped by an unknown force, and a brave sea mammal had to go to their rescue. On his way, Ekko will visit not only the sunken Atlantis, but also much more amazing places.
Ecco is a rather unusual game, but for some unknown reason it settled in the library of almost every Mega Drive owner. Dolphin’s adventures start out pretty mundane and are more like a child’s game, but the last levels suddenly plunge the user into almost Gigerian nightmares. True, they still need to get to: Ekko, being a mammal, must periodically breathe air, which greatly complicates the passage, and due to the need to move in two planes and the features of the combat system, the passage of one level can take an unreasonably long time. However, the atmosphere of the game, coupled with unusual mechanics and pleasant graphics, made Ecco the Dolphin a timeless classic.
Golden ax ii
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Shao Kahn was defeated by Liu Kang in a deadly duel, but the forces of evil from the Outside World once again return to the Earthly Realm. This is due to the mistake of the Shadow Priests: at the request of Shao Kahn, they revived Queen Sindel, but for some reason she ended up in the Earth Kingdom. Under the leadership of Raiden, the fighters are once again forced to fight for the lives of people and prevent the Earthly Kingdom and the Outside World from finally merging.
However, hardly any of the players attached great importance to the plot of the fighting game. The Ultimate version of the third part offered an extended roster of fighters (23 pieces!), And that’s not counting the secret ones. The number of moves has also increased: many characters have been pretty redesigned in the name of balance. Finally, it was possible to hold tournaments for eight players, which was especially popular: getting together and showing the class, performing combos written out on a piece of paper, and ending the battle with the help of fatality, was worth a lot.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (& Knuckles)
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Mr. X was defeated a year ago. Peaceful days, which lasted just over a year, are interrupted by unpleasant news: one of the three heroes of the original, Adam Hunter, was kidnapped by the returning villain. Together with this, the robbery returned: the bandits of X again tried to seize the city under their control. The heroes again have to take justice into their own hands, put things in order on the streets and return the kidnapped friend by all means.
Despite the fact that the main features of the original have been preserved, the sequel has been significantly improved: the number of characters and their techniques have changed, all enemies received a health bar and unique attacks, and the roster of opponents itself has expanded considerably. This made it even more fun to beat foes on the streets. The only drawback is the lack of alternative endings: now the game always ends the same way. However, the gameplay is so addictive that even going through the same levels over and over is incredibly fun.
