15 Underrated Sega Genesis Games for SNES Fanboys

[@truehare]

My favorite"obscure" Mega Drive game is probably Shadow Blasters. Four characters you can change between at any point in the game, each with their own upgradeable weapon, stage selection... And then there's something about the (admittedly simple) visuals and sounds that really grabs me.

[@pugshorty9852]

Back in the day, Pirate's Gold was my go to game on the Sega.

[@mattm7798]

I was a total genesis fanboy and never heard of most of these. Man the genesis had so many great games!!! Great video!

[@Nobunaga1983]

The haunting starring polterguy is such a unique fun game. There’s nothing like it on snes. Only on genesis

[@dripdaddy2192]

Was always hoping they do some kind of reboot. I am a massive fan of this game 😂

[@Kai0nTheMoon]

They released it on the PSP many years later as part of an EA compilation disc, which you can pick up today for a lot less than the original Genesis cart.

[@joncoyne6049]

My brother and I loved Haunting Starring Polterguy back in the day. We still talk about it every now and then to this day. Fantastic game.

[@TheEagleGameing]

Huge nostalgic game fir me I played it on psp

[@fuckgoogle8661]

That was one of my favorites

[@deionbeeldenstormer7498]

Biohazard Battle was an amaaaaazing Genesis shooter. Powerup system and choice of weaponry was pure perfection. Def in my Top 5 Genesis shooters, along with Gaiares, Sagaia, Insector X, and MUSHA.

[@JohnRiggs]

Ahead of its time, for sure. LOVED Insector X, too. That'll probably make the next list.

[@jessragan6714]

I'm scratching my head so much from the Awesome Possum recommendation that I'm getting friction burns.

[@jaymzx2587]

Yeah me too 😅 I really like this/his content but.. this recommendation is ridiculous. The framerate alone makes the game unplayable; it looks awful and plays even worse.

[@Jatycre]

Yeah. I love Riggs’ content, but that recommendation was confusing. That game is not good. It’s not even “so bad it’s good”, it’s just plain bad, and boring.

[@mattgillespie490]

Guess we know who has the opossum lobby funding them. So not awesome.

[@fireheartgames]

I'm more scratching my head at the Belle's Quest game. I have played played both games and Awesome Possum is way better than Belle's Quest lol.

[@WalkerRileyMC]

"How old am I I'm going to tell you about rollerblading" "It was a thing in the 90s" I hate to be the one to break it to you, but inline skating is still very much a thing. Not as huge as it was, but still very popular. If you wanna sound old....talk about POGs.

[@jaredhammonds8255]

We need to bring back POGs!

[@Projectwolfie21]

I always try to say that everything still exists somewhere in a different form. But the exception to that is probably POGs.

[@nick6var]

"Remember ALF? He's back--in POG form."

[@CrazyRiverOtter]

Meanwhile POGS have returned to the current ethos so hard that we're calling things "Poggers" now.

[@tardiscommand1812]

The Cyber Cop game looks like the Time Lord orbs when you fire

[@MotherKojiro]

Great selection here; you're very knowledgeable about system libraries! Some of my favorites not mentioned here are... + Arcus Odyssey - One of the few games with an isometric perspective that plays really well, and that's because you can't jump; you mostly shoot. Great soundtrack, great selection of characters, cool bosses, and a lot of interesting scenarios that you wouldn't expect from a game like this. + Beyond Oasis - Maybe a bit more well known, but worth mentioning; you might compare this to Zelda, but the combat makes it play a little more like a Brawler. You can find a wide variety of weapons, too, and you use your wits and your 4 elemental buddies to solve puzzles. + Contra: Hard Corps - Very likely that people have heard of this one, but I felt it deserved a mention, because I've never been a huge fan of Contra, but I love this one. + Gunstar Heroes - My favorite Run-and-Gun of all time; not only do you have 4 different guns that you can combine to make even more guns, but each stage is pretty different to keep things fresh. It also has the honor of having one of the few mine cart levels that won't make you scream. + Ristar - Cute, colorful Platformer about a star with extend-o arms, who uses them to slam his face into things. Great level design, beautiful worlds, and you'll be amazed at how many different ways you can utilize the ability to slam your face into things. + Road Rash - 2 is my favorite, but they're all pretty good; it's a motorcycle Racer that lets you punch other racers off their bikes... or smack them with a club, chain, cattle prod; whatever. Even beyond that, it's fun to save up for new bikes and see what lovely colors they have. I miss the days when EA used to make fun things like this.

[@GemmyIsGood]

Don't forget billy hatcher too! He was an underrated Sega game!

[@retrodino1787]

Thank you for this list! I completely forgot about Flicky, I agree 100%! It's an amazing game and I think the thing that makes it so addicting is how simple it is!

[@billcook4768]

Great list. I’ve played a ton of Genesis games over the years, but many of these I’ve never seen before. Can’t wait to check a few out.

[@juiceman4109]

Flashback, I played it on Sega Channel, ended up being my favorite game all time

[@truehare]

Flashback is great! Pity about its sequel though... Totally forgettable.

[@tmanley1985]

I've been looking for Mystic Defender for years! I remembered there was a game that I played that had these sigils you could get that would give you power and it wasn't until today that I found the game. The funny thing is about 2 seconds before I saw it come on the list I said to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny if that game I've been looking for shows up in this list".

[@JonThysell]

Flicky is so fun when you get good at it - the trick is to get those high score bonuses by beating the levels super fast, learning the right paths to get all the birds in one pass without hitting the cats.

[@dy120481]

Rollerblading is making a comeback. Seen quite a few people do it recently, literally almost daily.

[@95ZR580]

Genesis was awesome. So many great games and memories were made on that console

[@deckofcards87]

Genesis had the best controllers ever made. Something about those smooth chunky buttons can't be beat and retains an arcade-like feel which Nintendo never did.

[@deathofkings5633]

I absolutely love Generations Lost Gameplay, atmosphere, surprising and deep (for the time) story that seems goofy in its dialogue until you discover the awesome twist. Great game!

[@BitTripBeat]

I absolutely love Crusader of Centy, replayed it again about a month ago. Skitchin' and Haunting were in my top games as well, you really need to add General Chaos! Moonwalker was a great game too, and I'd put Zero Tolerance for top fps game.

[@danielflynn8530]

Oh yeah general chaos was a classic. I loved playing that game and dark stalkers. So many great games I might have forgotten super baseball 2020 was actually entertaining.

[@matthewnikitas8905]

Crusader of Centy is the most expensive game on the console

[@MizfitZer0]

People forget that sega megadrive was created to compete with the NES... it came out 2 years before the SNES and its games still stood toe to toe with a system that had 2 years of new graphic technology and a sony sound chip. I will always love sega megadrive over the snes. The games just felt better to play and i absolutely love the megadives music

[@IMDLEGEND]

Thanks for the video. I love these kinds of videos much more than the Open Cart Surgery videos. I have resubscribed as a result. Keep them coming! I only have a handful of these games, and some I've never heard of. Thanks for giving the Genesis some love!

[@l30S3UX]

This is a true gamer list, it doesnt have only games that are re-released and those short list of titles that appears on modern retrô magazines. This is what we played back in the day. Oh God I did not even remember Art Alive and how many hours I have put into it. Thanks for sharing

[@danestegman155]

Good video! There are some Sega Genesis games, that you showed, that I haven't seen before! I will have to look them up now!

[@robertward5047]

The best thing about cybercop was you could send the game away with a photo of yourself and they would put your image onto the ID card at the bottom of the screen.

[@Odelayderado]

Haunting is really fun and interesting just wish it was only the parts where you on the house not the underworld

[@christopherrobinmarriott7218]

'The haunting' is up there with 'General chaos' as best Sega games and is one of my favorite of all time. Recently just grabbed a complete version for around $45. So not TOO hard to track down

[@JJKoester]

El Viento is really fun. I played that endlessly as a kid. You just can't go wrong with it.

[@ganggreen1983]

YAAAAS! Skitchin’!! I remember it being so awesome that Vancouver bc was actually a stage in that game. My home town! Great game selections. 🙂

[@matttherrien9608]

On the news, downtown looks beautiful. Sorrt

[@patrickdiggins85]

As a Nintendo kid I never liked Genesis due to my misguided and limiting brand loyalty. This list gives me so many "unknown to me" games to play. Thanks Riggs, eager to start with Haunting! Love the concept.

[@JohnRiggs]

It's cool to expand as needed.

[@launchedkode]

everdrive enhances this console I think

[@JesusHernandez-nv5mv]

Same! I will try Haunting 💚, it looks like an actual indie game.

[@TechWithSean]

4:40 El Viento was made by WolfTeam. They made several interesting genesis games, and the team members went on to develop games like Shin Megami Tensei, Tales..., Star Ocean, and more ✌️

[@MrDiMaggio5]

Love these vids. Having so many games available, its nice to get some sleeper picks I never would try.

[@royston0157]

Awesome vid. Iv just recently started playing my mega drive again so many good memories. Great selection of games on here some I didn't even know existed

[@TheTrueBro]

Biohazard Battle makes me wonder who has the upper hand in shmups: Genesis or TG16. Hard to decide.

[@Berzerkir]

I never feel like Jurassic Park on Genesis gets the love it deserves, such a solid title!

[@718MUSCLE]

Mr RIGGZ... IM FROM BROOKLYN NEW YORK! MY BOYZ AND I SMOKE WEED AND WATCH UR VIDEOS. WE LOVE UR VIDEOS CUZ ITS FLASHBACKS ABOUT OUR YOUTH. U R THE MYTH, THE MAN, THE LEGEND. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK... U KEEP GOOD MEMORIES ALIVE... AND THATS GANGSTA!

[@blacksunshine7485]

Really cool list. Just when I thought I knew pretty much all the obscure titles. Alot to check out. More like this please 👍

[@SvennyMcG]

Awesome video, Riggs! I'm only familiar with a few of these titles so this was excellent to see. Thanks!

[@MizfitZer0]

Sonic 1,2,3 & Knuckles, Sonic 3D, Sonic Spinball, Streets of Rage 1,2 & 3, Rocket Knight Adventures, Sparkster, Busters Hidden Treasure, Dynamite Headdy, Acme All Stars, Flink, Castle of illusion, Quack Shot, Aladdin, Global Gladiators. Just to name a few. The sega megadrive is an amazing system with an insane amount of fun games

[@saudal-mutawa3197]

What an impressive list. Almost all of the titles are new to me, too. I remember being drawn to the Beauty and the Beast game when I used to see screenshots in magazines, too (lol!) but I never got the chance to play it. I did play the one where you control the Beast on SNES, though.

[@JohnRiggs]

I cant' explain it. I rented it knowing it was a child's game but I still enjoyed it.

[@Ephunker89]

I never played the Genesis game, but I played the DOS game loads. I was pretty young when we had that, also had beranstain bears and a Flintstones game.

[@JNAMOTORSPORTS]

It’s a shame sega and Nintendo don’t have a vintage line of brand new games and even release new games for old consoles as a heritage line

[@Bojanglez667]

Great video! I almost always go to Shinobi III or Ranger X! Oh lord, and because I almost need to include a game I have a very strong love/hate relatoinship with, Dune:Battle for Arakis

[@bobdole930]

Just tried out Haunting Starring Polterguy... definitely a hidden gem, loving it so far. The mini game where you collect slime to stay alive could have been a little more fun considering its something u do repetitively.

[@Yipper64]

I recently got a clone console, chose to get one that has a Genesis port last minute and... Now I have more Genesis games than nes and SNES games.

[@iangates8815]

how many you talking . ccomparasin

[@donaldsmith5667]

Cool. I’ve got about 100 Genesis games at this point.

[@Yipper64]

@A dudes thoughts oh yeah. Atgames SUCKS. They always have some kind of audio issue. Ive got a dinky plug and play from them and the controller is horrible. But it *did* give me a good demo for what games i might want to get as actual carts so at least it has that.

[@Yipper64]

@@iangates8815 okay so ive got 3 snes games (if you count the super Gameboy) 4 nes games, and 6 genesis games (if you count &nuckles as its own game) its not much, but it's my little collection.

[@iangates8815]

its all good

[@Alttabbins]

You should check out General Chaos. Its one of my favorite games for the Genesis and I'm surprised at how many people have never heard of it.

[@accvdre]

Mate, so with you on that, my cousin had it back in the day and we used to play 4 player with the EA 4 way play. I bought it on ebay in the early 2000s, also have my own 4 way play. If they released this on the newer consoles with online play I think it would get quite a following. I remake would be amazing.

[@Nobunaga1983]

That’s an awesome real time strategy game no one talks about. Creative and 4 players

[@freespace2dotcom]

@@Nobunaga1983 it was on the sega channel back in the day. Tis how I found out about it. Had a hell of a time remembering the title some 15 years later, haha.

[@marcustmachado]

I love this new series of vídeos. Thanks for helping my quarentine.

[@jessehayes8052]

Glad to see Exile on a list it was one of my absolute favorite games for my SEGA as a kid and got me interested in Action RPGS and Medieval history, and after replaying it and learning about the complete story its pretty obvious that its the basis for the original Assassins Creed

[@rubenalcalde7289]

Thank you for the video, some of this games were completely unknown for me !

[@tobiasz6613]

Absolute gem that never seems to get love on these retro channels: Red Zone, a desert strike-ish helicopter game with top down on foot levels and a good soundtrack. came out right at the end of the megadrive's life so i think gets overlooked. I loved that game so much.

[@Ephunker89]

As a kid of the 90s, I roller bladed and skateboarded just about everyday. Skitched only once holding onto the car of an older girl I was crazy about at the time. She seemed to love it. Funny what a young fella may do to impress a gal.

[@Halbared]

Like you I was lucky enough to have both. Thought the Megadrive controller was a step up! Then I thought the SNES controller was a step up from that! Loved both systems.

[@julianobitsgen]

Another good ones: Arrow Flash, Gaiares, Gley Lancer, Thunder Force 2, 3 and 4, Gynoug, Vapor Trail, Trouble Shooter, Air Buster, Hellfire, Phelios, Zero Wing, Fire Shark, Final Zone Senki, Shadow Dancer, Mamono Hunter Yohko, Mazin Saga, Lotus Challenge, Outrun 2019, Dahna Megami Tanjou, Warsong, Master of Monsters, Rolling Thunder 2 and 3, Target Earth, Alisia Dragoon, Valis 3 and SD, X-Men Clone Wars, Mega Turrican, Ranger-X...

[@jamisonmccurley3462]

I love seeing awesome games others don't talk about; always looking for these types of videos. Gway to to go dude.

[@Halbared]

Lovely list, wish I'd known about Soleil back then.

[@AnthonyRiddle]

They worked some absolute magic with the color pallet in Crusader of Centy. It looks like it would be perfectly at home one the SNES. It's also a damn good adventure game

[@Leoj305]

You rock for bringing up Haunting: Polterguy. I LOVED this game. I feel like this game should be remade. Very unique premise, for the time, and even by today's standards.

[@danbauer3669]

Never owned a Genesis as a kid but I picked one up when I was 20 and have collected about 65 games since that time. I've got a multi cart 196 in 1 that has almost all these games on it and many more. I'm having fun with it! Good retro console for sure!

[@3DJapan]

A couple old favorites. For the sci-fi fan, Target Earth really fun game with spaceships and mech vehicles. For the Disney fan, Quackshot Starring Donald Duck. Really clean graphics and animation. It's Indiana Jones style and Donald shoots plungers from his gun, which you can jump on after they stick to a wall.

[@milosmilivojevic3539]

Great video! I would like to see more Sega Genesis/mega drive content on your channel!

[@haranchumacero7646]

Atomic Robo Kid was one I remember buying on sale for 19.99 at 12yo and became one of my favs

[@CaptainAlgebra]

I also had both consoles as a kid and loved both of them, but I still missed so.many good games. I recently stream Haunting and I really like it! Flicky is definitely addicting! Great list!

[@steveazbill4757]

Crusader of Centy is one of my all-time favorite games. Pretty cool to see it on the list. I remember playing Haunting at my cousin's house one time. Such a cool game.

[@bratsmovies17]

My dad got me The Sega Channel. So many games per month was awesome

[@TrainmasterCurt]

Then you must have played Pulseman

[@Pych0t3ddy]

Idk if you’ve ever heard this, but you have the absolutely perfect radio DJ voice. Love the videos.

[@McStarkiller666]

MUSHA Zero Tolerance Phantasy Star IV are three of my personal favorites

[@Jburneyjr]

My dad used to randomly buy games for cheap and he got bio hazard battle and skitchin. Still enjoy them to this day

[@jonathanmccarley926]

'Cool Spot' and 'Quackshot' are both brilliant and should be here!!!!

[@tangleshootburrfoot36]

Shining Force is highly addictive, challenging, and has a CRAZY replay value!

[@johnnyrenkiewicz2789]

Man I haven’t heard of any of these, great video!

[@billypiper7390]

the sega genesis controller had to easily be one of the most comfortable/durable controllers i have ever used, only 3 buttons but that was really all you would ever need.

[@BlackArachnid41]

One really good hidden gem on the Genesis, especially if you like puzzle games, is Shove It: The Warehouse Game. It essentially a push-block puzzle game, but it's pretty addicting and can get fairly difficult.

[@conorl1894]

Gynoug is an absolute beast of a shooter which rarely seems to get its props. Killer difficulty level too

[@Christdeliverme]

Yes Haunting, is absolutely one of the biggest hidden gems of all time, I think it's in my top 5 for the Genesis. I certainly got a ton of hours in the game.

[@ChristiantrospectiveGamer]

James Pond, Ecco the Dolphin, the Phantasy Star series...so many great games.

[@TheMultiGunMan]

Thank you JohnRiggs. The Sega Genesis ROCKS.

[@ZBR_ProXP]

Biohazard battle is the BOMB, the music!!!

[@TrainmasterCurt]

They didn’t use the lousy Gems sound engine for it

[@kaylacollins7408]

skitchin has the most badass music of any sega game. good video

[@retromtg1834]

Gunstar Heroes is a great lesser-known Genesis game. One of the reasons I got the Sega Mini, was STOKED to see it included on there

[@andsoooo]

I would suggest Road Rash, X-Men 2: The Clone Wars, Aladdin, World of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Gunstar Heroes, Rocket Knight Adventures, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Ranger X, Jurassic Park (I think it was the 2nd game where you could play as a raptor and eat people), and Ghostbusters. Not sure which of these titles would be considered mainstream. I had both systems but I was a SNES kid.

[@ThatAintGud]

Dynamite Duke is a clone of The Punisher for NES

[@JoshuaNoone]

How about that skitchin' soundtrack. I use to listen to spicy placenta for hours on end.

[@8BitGlitch79]

Thanks for sharing John. Some of these I never heard of so might have to check them out.

[@SamaritanJohns]

Phantom 2040 is very underrated shooter 2D RPG with backtracking multiple weapons and diffrent endings

[@AzureKnightmare32]

You have great taste in games. Exile was one of my favorites. I played both the Genesis and Turbo CD versions. Crusader of Centy is most definitely a gem, as is Exile. I played the hell out of Mystic Defender and Elemental Master, too. Rock on!

[@Videogamelover58]

Really good picks. Skitchin is awesome!

[@retrofasho7970]

El viento was perfectly said my guy 👍👍👍👍 love these interesting episodes

[@randomrickreviewsrrr4662]

Some of my favorite SegaGen games were Eternal Champions, Lakers vs Celtics, Weaponlord, Golden Axe (of course), Road Rash, Virtual Racing.

[@anthonyferretti28]

I have the same exact story. I also saved up paper route money when I was about 12 yo and bought a used Genesis from a video game place called "Save the Princess". I eventually traded the Sega in years later for a used PS1.....i miss that store!

[@dexxpheonixgameonpointtv]

Haunting is the game Beetlejuice should have been. Great video. I didn't know about some of these games.

[@forcedfeedbackclassicgamer5499]

I was a hardcore Nintendo fanboy during the 8- and 16-bit era. My best friend had a Genesis, but the only games we ever played on it were Sonic 1 & 2 and Spinball (but we really loved them). Fast forward twenty years, and I rescued a Genesis from my garage sale happy mother-in-law before she could sell it. Ended up falling in love with the system, and it's probably my second favorite console of all time. And dare I say, the 3-button Genesis controller is probably my favorite controller of all time. Spent the last several years building up my Genesis/Mega Drive library, so many hidden gems!

[@maxpower10k]

It has ghe same amount of buttons as the NES for a -6 bit console. I mean i guess changing the select hutton to C is something but i cant even olay Genesis without a 6 button. It just feels better in hand too. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ lol

[@MaxwellsUnearthly]

A total worthy mention was Kenseidon. What a great action game, and hard as hell too. I honestly would love to see a remake of this game.

[@riffbw]

King's Bounty is an underrated PC Port. I don't know anyone that really talks about it for Genesis, but it spawned the Heroes of Might and Magic series and it's a series of it's own to this day. The original was a lot of fun to explore and learn.

[@whosaidthat84]

The battle music still plays in my head to this day.

[@timhutchinson8485]

Wow.. I never thought I'd find a video talking about Awesome Possum. I hear about this game so rarely, there are times when I think I might have imagined it XD

[@jeremylovesretro]

Love me some CrackDown and Gain Ground for an arcade experience. Mystical Fighter and Growl are fun beatemups, but probably not very hidden anymore, based on their prices. If Mystic Defender gets too tough, check out Shadow Blasters for a similar feel but with unlimited continues. Oh! And am I the only person who actually enjoys Zero Tolerance? It’s a FPS.

[@CrazyRiverOtter]

I've never heard of Mystical Fighter or Growl. Sounds like I gotta try it.

[@rasputingrigori8901]

I was way more into my SNES in the day, but the one game that made me keep going back to the Genesis was Fatal Labyrinth.

[@georgechau6800]

Flicky is an arcade game. The Genesis version is a port of that game.

[@edrosa3485]

Dynamite Duke looks like it plays like the old arcade game Cabal, with the fighting segments resembling LJN's Punisher game.

[@jackwhite3564]

Don't forget!!! Vector Man 2, Earth Worm Jim, and Cool Spot (little red spot from 7UP logo has his own game)

[@UPHENOS]

Vectorman and its sequel, most SNES games I can think of! I believe they were specifically made as an answer to SNES's DKC trilogy. And what games they were, even though relatively unknown!

[@bigdumbjosh]

I imagine you have already played it but zero tolerance was a really fun shooter for the sega. Awesome video btw.