Friday, August 10, 2018

The Sega Gap

Earlier this week when I talked about my history with gaming, I mentioned my “Rip Van Winkle period” from 2005 to 2011. However, you may have also noticed another gap in my history with game systems; with the exception of the Sega Dreamcast, I didn’t own any Sega devices. During the 90s console wars, I was always firmly on the Team Nintendo side of the schoolyard. Despite my juvenile biases, I couldn’t help but admire some of the interesting-looking content Sega had on offer that I didn’t have access to. For example, I watched Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons and read Sonic comics, but never actually played the games with a Genesis controller in my hand. Many years later, after the fires of the console wars had died down, I sampled a little bit of what the other side was playing via ports to other systems. Here’s a quick rundown:
  • Genesis – Sonic 1 through & Knuckles (via a Gamecube collection), Gunstar Heroes (Virtual Console)
  • Saturn – Panzer Dragoon 1 and 2 (1 via Panzer Dragoon Orta on Xbox, 2 via emulation)
  • Dreamcast – Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, Shenmue 1 and 2, Jet Set Radio, Soul Caliber
Since the whole point of this blog is to clear backlogs and address “Gaming Shames”, I feel like there’s a rich wellspring of titles here that I’ve largely overlooked. I briefly skimmed the Sega Genesis catalog some years ago with an emulator, but I found it hard to focus on any one title. At this point, I’m looking to dig a little deeper and work a few titles into my Gaming Shames queue. I have a few ideas of what I could play but would love suggestions from readers of some must-play Sega titles (especially from the Genesis). Depending on the game, I might stream some of these Sega games on my Twitch channel. What are your favorite games from Sega history?

If reading this post has put you in the mood to pick up a game or two while also supporting this blog, you can do so via this Amazon affiliate link: Amazon Video Games 

Acknowledgments:
  • The topic for this post was largely inspired by chatting with some fellow Twitch streamers: Keyglyph, BogusMeatFactory, and HungryGoriya. Be sure to check out their channels!
  • This post is part as part of the #BlaugustReborn event. For more information about Blaugust, see this blog entry by Belghast.

7 comments:

  1. I grew up on the Master system but switched to SNES and then to Playstation. I haven't played it yet but I'm super hyped for Illusion City: Genei Toshi on Mega cd. Hope it's good!

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    1. I've never heard of Illusion City before, but it looks pretty nice based on the box art and screenshots I looked up. Enjoy!

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  2. An interesting game you might want to try is Shining Force, which was Sega’s answer to Fire Emblem. Shining Force is easier then Fire Emblem and has a more lighthearted/high fantasy then approach then the Fire Emblem games of the time, but its a good game.

    To explain what I mean by High Fantasy, while Fire Emblem has Cavalry, Armored Knights, Wyvern Riders, and Axe Fighters, Shining Force has Centaurs, Steam powered mechas, Dragon-men and Dwarves.

    There are also other games in the Shining Series such as Shining in the Darkness which plays like an old school first person RPG.

    If you want some good Zelda-esque games, then I’d recommend ‘’Landstalker’’ and ‘’Beyond Oasis(Story of Thor in Japan)’’

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    1. Thanks for the recommendations! The Zelda-like ones sound especially interesting for those times when I need a break from turn-based RPGs. Do you think any of the games you recommended would work well on a Twitch stream?

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    2. For me and Twitch Streams, I like to for interactive games where the Twitch commenter can help make decisions for the stream. Like in Shining Force, the commenters could help decide who you use in your army.

      I'd probably start with Shining Force or Beyond Oasis.

      By the way, I can email some of the games if you want?

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    3. That's an interesting approach for streaming a strategy game. I may end up trying it at some point. Also, thanks for offering to send me some games, but it turns out most of the popular Sega Genesis games are available on Steam. I've already started Beyond Oasis. I'm having mixed feelings about it so far, but I'm going to play a little longer to see if it grabs me.

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    4. Thats actually a common approach to streaming Fire Emblem anyhow.

      Maybe you can keep updating how your playthrough goes?

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