Ranking All EA 1995 Games for the Genesis & Mega Drive

[@michaelkeller5927]

I can't believe how much I'm enjoying this series

[@lo1bo2]

Road Rash 3 is definitely the star of this video. That series is part of my very modest Genesis collection, along with other greats like all the Street of Rage.

[@MegaPadVM]

Rr3 is definitely the best of the RR series

[@chevymetal83]

The very best for sega to me

[@KID_JEDI_76]

Long time subscriber here, John. Great video. I really enjoyed Coach K and NHL '96 back in the day and still do today. Over the last few years I've regretted selling my original Genesis/Sega CD many years ago and just this last April, I visited a local retro game store and bought a little portion of my childhood back. I got the Genesis (no Sega CD, though) and a few games, and now currently up to 12 games. I still would like to get three or four more games to complete my collection, as I'm only getting ones that I know I love and will play over and over. Just recently i had a new battery installed into my copy of NHL '96, so now the save feature works again just like it was brand new. ps. Oddly enough, (but thankfully) I did not sell my NES toploader. I broke that out of storage and now it, along with the Genesis, look great paired together on my old 20" Toshiba CRT, with new shelves beautifully displaying my NES and Genesis games. Strangely, I'm missing three NES games- Contra, Super Mario 2, and the Adventures of Link Zelda 2. I've no idea where they could be!

[@juliovindell264]

NHL 96 is the best in the series it had it all fast game play, fighting and you get a cool little stanley cup ceremony when you win . None of the other games has that , truly the year everything came together

[@ostiariusalpha]

Right, without nostalgia goggles on, '96 is clearly the best of the 16-bit EA NHL games.

[@scootermcg9910]

agree, the one timers were so satisfying.

[@vinceniederman]

@julio vindell That Game Doesn’t Work For My Mini Sega Whenever I Try To Play It!

[@Ravenwing888]

Road Rash 3 steals the show for me. Love the trilogy, I would love to see EA pick up on this IP again sometime.

[@cladescandor7719]

There is Road Redemption for the PS4. I believe it's a spiritual sequel

[@Ravenwing888]

@@cladescandor7719 That's true, it's certainly inspired by Road Rash :)

[@thebest12700]

i liked the majority of these. EA really had it on lock back then.

[@IanSane]

You can really see the transition of EA in these videos. In the first few years it's a nice variety of different titles but in 94 and 95 it's almost all sports games.

[@thebest12700]

the glory years of EA. wish they were still this great.

[@DarDarBinks1986]

EA was a much better company in the '90s than it is now. I don't touch anything they've made anymore because 1) they swallow up smaller studios (i.e., Maxis) and then shut them down, and 2) they gouge people with microtransactions. They've lived long enough to see themselves become the villains.

[@DarDarBinks1986]

@NALTO I received The Sims 3 as a Christmas present sometime in the early half of the 2010s. I haven't touched it in years because of the microtransactions involved. Also, I want to like The Sims but there's too much micromanagement. The more people you have in your household, the more tasks you have to assign to each one. It gets very exhausting after a while, so I quit playing it.

[@JASETHE13TH]

NHL 96 was the only sports game I had back then It's still one of my all time favorite games

[@vinceniederman]

That Hockey Game Doesn’t Work on My Mini Sega For Some Reason!

[@moarab936]

i think ranking EA games by year was an excellent choise. I really enjoyed this series.

[@joshoshea3194]

I know that you've probably covered most of them but can you do a "best of movie licence" list?

[@johnhancockretro]

Here are my other EA Ranking videos: EA 1990-1991 kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmW9pmyVgrpmnNE EA 1992 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmivoGp7ltBkp6s EA 1993 kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKvCenp6m52qntU EA 1994 kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYnEkGewr8SUbLM EA 1996-97 kzbin.info/www/bejne/n3XQaYx3d7p6pKc

[@animemaster4861]

Yeah I'm looking forward to when you rank all the koei gamex

[@jacobbaranowski]

Road Rash is my favorite

[@holddamayo7474]

Interesting idea for a video could be doing the best sports game for each sport. Love the vids

[@BCIronThunder]

Fun fact, I was working at EA for part of 95, and I tested Tripple Play (among other games). My name is spelled wrong in the manual. =)

[@OllyDee123]

I really enjoyed Theme Park. There was no way I was gonna afford an Amiga at the time so the Genesis version was a great cheap alternative. I don’t remember having issues with the controls personally, but when you’re a kid and you only got about 6 games I guess you deal with it. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

[@FoxUnitNell]

I had Theme Park for the saturn. I got it in high school and my friend knew I had a saturn and he had a friend whom was given a saturn game (theme park) but didn't have the sega console, so I was able to pick it up. It's a pretty fun game.

[@blacksunshine7485]

I sat back, relaxed, but had no popcorn 😥 Love the thumbnail expression btw

[@rrrob19]

He missed the best part about NBA Live ‘96- the fact you can go into create player, enter in the name of several NBA legends or rookies from that season and play them in the game. So you can add Michael Jordan-who is not in the game by default because he was still playing baseball- or Jerry Stackhouse, one of the top rookies from that year. Also-at least on the SNES version because I owned it and only rented the genesis version- you can enter in an existing player and change his stats. My brother was a big Hawks fan so we would do this to give Dominique Wilkins his proper #21(He was on the Celtics that season and wore #12 for some reason) and put him back on the Hawks.

[@MikeMaduxx]

I really wish that NCAA had better games on SNES/ Sega. I love college sports and the NBA Live look. This is a great series of videos btw.

[@pelotows]

I'm loving this serie of videos, John. Thanks for all! 😄🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮

[@johnhancockretro]

Glad to hear it!

[@Trainy2]

The NBA Live '95 engine really upped the game for 16 bit basketball games.

[@vtirprelude]

Dude...Rugby League and Rugby are different sports (sort of)....there is no way the Australian rugby league game is a follow up of a rugby game.

[@TheSampleSlayer]

ARL 96 was the follow up to this game on PC with decent graphics and real time commentary from Ray Warren that's the game that will always hold a place in my heart :D !!

[@westlancsflips]

Quite right

[@jimsoczka9668]

Sweet! Just got home from work for EA 95. Finally picked up 2 great earlier titles CIB this weekend in Desert and Jungle Strike.

[@Palalubong]

Absolutely brilliant video. Keep them coming.

[@JamesChessman]

Nice video! I love the Genesis especially as it's basically an ancient artifact that shows us how life was, for primitive humans, in the 90's!!

[@waynesworld1655]

Atari was the true ancient artifact for primitive humans. Late 80’s was the resurrection of home gaming.

[@EirkenElite]

Lol....road rash was the first game i bought myself after my internship ended and got my first job still have it like my trophy ...man im old

[@MVLGAMING]

I love Road Rash, excellent game! Can always spot the EA games with the crazy looking cartridges too!

[@mikemr8340]

NBA live 96 had Jordan and Barkley but you had use the edit player and add them in you could also do that with rookies

[@JangoFett2467]

He brought back grab some popcorn!!!! John is the GOAT

[@roberttuttle598]

My brother and I wore out Nba Live or Triple play. Also got into some world series baseball as well. Loved the EA sports series.

[@mrt9539]

I have loved these! So great to see EA and all the sports games especially. Loved these back then and the reviews today thanks

[@zajicapp]

Probably the best over all sports lineup for EA. I played a ton and still do NHL, Triple Play and Madden. All great fun.

[@iCABALi]

Theme Park would probably sit towards the lower end of my top 20 Megadrive games, although admittedly I haven't played another version to compare it. I was a bit too young to understand how to do well when it first came out, and got more joy out of Rollercoaster Tycoon when that came out but I played this version of Theme Park a few years ago and found the micromanagement elements more enjoyable now and the controls didn't stick out as particularly bad.

[@Gatorade69]

Yeah, same with me. I had it on the PS1 and never got it as a kid.

[@ji99lypu44]

Love these ranking videos

[@FoxUnitNell]

I also wanted to post about nhl 96 which was one of my most played games ever for any system - tons of hour long games, and maybe I even played a full season. It had a nice create a player so a lot of the guys on my team were created and some were friends even. The game had some nice dek moves and the spin o ramma move which are more modern features of hockey games. I think I had 2002 or 03 which were some of the first to start using polygons and I recreated the characters in it. Spot on with the A ranking and I'm sure that it best on the sega with likely better screen resolution. edit: I also believe 96 also brought back fighting, and may have introduced knocking the players into the bench and through the glass.

[@DreamcastQ]

95 was an amazing year in gaming!

[@soundsonline796]

“Rugby” and “Rugby League” are literally two different sports FYI

[@kaypete8471]

Hey Hancock, going back to the Dreamcast mini wish list video you made would Half life on Dreamcast mini would be a great game for the system?

[@johnhancockretro]

I would rather play the pc version.

[@kaypete8471]

@@johnhancockretro oh ok

[@hermanvonroth1555]

Elitserien is great, one of the few that's translated in Swedish!

[@atranfanatic]

Road Rash 3! I have loved the Road Rash series ever since the first time I played Road Rash II on the Genesis at a friend's house not long after the game was released! Such fun and challenging games with tons of replay value! I have beaten Road Rash II once as well as the PS1 version. I have yet to beat the other ones. lol

[@blue_ex3852]

Awesome video !!!

[@johnhancockretro]

Thanks!!

[@whataboutrob442]

If you'll notice, there is more space behind the goalie in the Olympic/Swedish league hockey game. The game has that included.

[@neilbottles2597]

Road Rash 3 is still one of my all time favorite games!

[@nellyp2622]

I loved NHL 96 back in the day but I played it on the SNES back then

[@chevymetal83]

Road rash 3 is perfect. I love the graphics much better than the previous

[@miguelalexandre7499]

Fifa96 was my favourite, played the crap out of it, still regret selling my og megadrive with the Fifa cartridge that I got as a gift from my grandpa. NHL 96 was great too.

[@24magiccarrot]

Got to completely disagree with you regarding Theme Park, I put a lot of hours into that game and still occasionally play it to this day. It's not the best Theme Park in comparison with computer versions but it's a much more laid-back casual version of the game. The controls aren't anywhere near as bad as what you make them out to be but it's a fun little business simulator.

[@FoxUnitNell]

I could personal use some toning down of tycoon games - very difficult and sometimes just not rewarding.

[@Gatorade69]

@@FoxUnitNell Yeah, I kind of agree, or at least when I was a kid. I had the PlayStation version of Theme park and for my young self it was really hard. I just wanted to build giant theme parks. I finally understood it when I came back to it (on the computer) years later. Edit : Same story with Sim Isle, except I barely understood that game and never went back to it.

[@24magiccarrot]

@@FoxUnitNell Tycoon games aren't difficult, on the most part they are easier than running a real business.

[@Silanda]

For its flaws, I appreciate what EA tried with PGA 96. They tried to squeeze their "next gen" golf engine on to an old system rather than taking the easy option and updating PGA 3, and I think that's to be commended. The putting was crap though, and the Genesis/Mega Drive really couldn't display enough colours to do the scenery justice.

[@marktreerng]

FIFA 96, played so much of that years ago but had forgotten the name. I'm sure we would button mash and somehow could make players fall over with referee calling fouls when nothing happened. Realistic Soccer indeed!

[@iCABALi]

You forgot the name of FIFA the football game that releases every year as well as tournament releases for Euros / World Cup and is also the name of the IRL football organisation. Didn't look very hard.

[@marktreerng]

@@iCABALi Remembering "a" mega drive football game isn't much to go from given the number of those on the system. Main menu screen jogged the memory

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

I theorize that the life of the Genesis was extended just a bit thanks to a group of gamers who just wanted a fun sports game and didn't care so much about having the latest graphics.

[@johnhancockretro]

Lots of folks could not afford next gen either. Others were happy to wait until 2nd and 3rd revisions made on hardware before jumping in.

[@MegaPadVM]

Thanks for a new ranking video! However, I strongly disagree with you on Theme Park “F” grade. F is for a turd and theme park on Genesis is Not! I only played this game on the sega genesis/megadrive and love it to this day. I had to get use to the controls first but never felt it was a shore then. I understand you played it on over machines w a better menu screen but come on give it at least a B.

[@johnhancockretro]

If you played it like I did on others first you would understand.

[@MegaPadVM]

@@johnhancockretro I respect that, thanks for your reply.

[@waynesworld1655]

Road Rash 🏍!

[@Drift4Drifters]

I really don't understand why they changed the graphics from NBA Live 96 and Coach K, to that horrid new engine for NBA Live 97 and above. About Coach K, even without skill move button, it's a really cool game to play with all settings on the hardest and trying to play realistically. And as long I don't know the name of the players, I could be more imaginative about each team roster.

[@vinceniederman]

NBA Live 96 is Fun To Play and I Should Get Coach K Someday For My Mini Sega!

[@vinceniederman]

@John Hancock I Have NBA Live 96 For My Mini Sega and I Enjoy Playing It As a NBA Fan Besides Being a Philadelphia 76ers Fan and College Football USA 96 To Me is a Good Football Game!

[@tomhools1605]

I have a feeling that by '95 Sega Genesis kids have grown up out of it.

[@ofmannotmachine3012]

Man Triple Play looks like the fielding would be awful. The frame rate really chugged when it was scrolling.

[@loganjorgensen]

Some very nice presentation graphics in these sports titles. Technically I think grass needs at least 3 to 4 shades, 2 shades is grittier and more primitive looking than most Genesis graphics imo. :\ It was an era where golf game draw-in speed was a benchmarking tool for PCs, slow pace but golf isn't exactly fast paced lol. But hey, software rendered polygons. Another game with video digitized sprites and another grumble comment about it heh. If people could define better what was so bad about that technique it might sound less like white noise to my ears. ;) RR3 sprites could use a few more frames of animation but other than that they look fine to me. It is a real shame that a mouse and support for them came so late and sporadic on Genesis and SNES. They basically started porting these point & click games over well before 16-bit console mice were released. PS1 had a mouse but I think 16-bit and early 32-bit consoles were out when that type of game was most popular. True it's no Punch-Out but some excellent Genesis graphics in Toughman Contest, one of the better "big sprite" games for the platform.

[@gamingwithdodge154]

john giving theme park a F feels like being stabbed in the heart! ya the controls arnt the best, but its not unplayable, and the base game is still great

[@gtp1172]

loved nhl and toughman!

[@FoxUnitNell]

So did they release 10 percent of genesis titles? 100 seems like a lot and 1000 titles is impressive.

[@johnhancockretro]

Yes over 10 percent.

[@PottsAdam]

Rugby League and Rugby Union are two different sports. There 2 different games with same engine. Rules are way different, different about of players on filed, different ball weight and size and different scoring system.

[@mattb9664]

Ugh- I actually rented Theme Park. Back in 95, I was expecting the sort of experience we have now with Roller Coaster Tycoon. That was a waste of my $5 back then. I also rented Toughman Contest and thought it was quite good and pretty fun at the time. I also remember that summer of 95 (not quite old enough to drive yet) where the Saturn had just come out, and those of us with a Genesis knew the support was starting to dwindle.

[@johnsgamingandmore1237]

Road Rash 3 is a solid S for me...still play it in 2021

[@mjdf122]

Are you going to be making a video for 96 and 97

[@johnhancockretro]

Yes

[@mjdf122]

@@johnhancockretro perfect oh thank you immortal one

[@vinceniederman]

@@johnhancockretro I Like These Videos John and I Have a Mini Sega Also I Watch These Videos Close So I Can Get Games That I Should Either Get or Not Get!

[@SeekerLancer]

Disagree about Theme Park. It's not the best version but it was solid for the Genesis. It was one of my favorite Genesis games back in the day because it was the version I had.

[@juanmaestro8777]

One video with the "best sport game of each sport" for the SEGA Genesis :D Including EA and others franchises and arcade + sim kind of games.

[@sloppynyuszi]

Personally I think they missed a trick with Australian Rugby League. The actual Rugby game is different here. League and Union have quite the different rules and the World Cup game was Union. Rugby League is a fast paced game with a lot less nuance than Union. It’s kinda like comparing regular basketball to NBA Jam. So it’s a shame they made this game so slow paced. It totally doesn’t match watching the game on TV, or playing it in the schoolyard back in the day.

[@androidtekashi402]

Popcorn was getting cold. Finally bruh haha

[@SteveBrandon]

Was 1995 the final year when EA still innovated with its Genesis titles? I get the idea that the EA Sports games for the Genesis from 1996 and 1997 were just the usual minor upgrades with team lineup changes, a new title screen, and not much else. In Toughman Contest, there's a boxer named "Hiro Sokitome"? I guess it's supposed to be a pun on "Sock it to me", but, if you're pronouncing the surname properly, it's more like "Sew Key Toe May".

[@kevinstrade2752]

EA was mostly a sports game factory at this point. Lol not that is a bad thing though.

[@metalgodvI]

Rugby league and rugby union are two completely different sports.

[@DarDarBinks1986]

The closest I have to any of the games shown here is the original Road Rash. I don't have any of the sequels, neither the original cartridges nor ROMs. And sports games have never appealed to me; hell, I don't even watch IRL sports. The only exceptions are kart-racers such as Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing and wrestling games such as WWE's Attitude Era games on the PS1 and WCW/nWo Revenge on the N64. I have only one EA sports game other than Road Rash, though: Knockout Kings 2000. Even then, I've only played it ONCE and then never touched it again.

[@joesshows6793]

How much further did EA go with the genesis??

[@johnhancockretro]

97 was the las year published.

[@ronaldhenson3379]

Hi o g john Hancock I got another original sega genesis off ebay it was a bundle it came with sonic the hedgehog 1 and sonic the hedgehog 2 I cleaned fixed inspected refurbished repaired restored and sanitized it and it works excellent I cleaned the top and bottom of the system shell the rf shielding the motherboard and cartridge slot took about 10 q tips I got all the dust out

[@Cyberbrickmaster1986]

Based on what you said about PGA Tour 96, I'd assume you would give it an F, not a D.

[@johnhancockretro]

Really a D-. Impressed with the 3D courses, but for a game it does not work at all due to load times.

[@arcadedbeast]

NHL 96 is the best out of all of them in my opinion.

[@jacobbaranowski]

I love SEGA

[@adammacmillan]

I loved the triple play series but I played it on pc. Growing up not Genesis

[@candmmi]

What about NHL All Star Hockey 95?

[@johnhancockretro]

Published by Sega not EA.

[@candmmi]

@@johnhancockretro ahhh lol

[@vinceniederman]

@@johnhancockretro Yup and Some People Don’t Like That Hockey Game Since It’s Slow in GamePlay!

[@gustavoaranda4492]

My bad I love sega wish they made a sega revolution

[@gustavoaranda4492]

Are you looking forward to Metroid on the switch

[@johnhancockretro]

Yes I am

[@gustavoaranda4492]

John Hancock I’m excited I know your going to make a video on the new Metroid

[@ricardomauricioaraya7625]

why do people praise the 16 bit FIFA games so much? it was difficult to pass, difficult to shoot, and overall not that fun. Other than the licenses there was not much to them gameplay wise. When ISS Deluxe came out that was it for me, I never played a FIFA game again, not even nowadays on the PS4 (I play PES, which is the evolution of ISS)

[@shadowcaidz6985]

Theme park was alright on sega, not perfect but still fun

[@shadowcaidz6985]

Your videos are a solid AAA though, keep em coming sir

[@rster536821]

Anyone notice the American flag hanging wrong at 2.22

[@johnnycigar2061]

They all get a zero.

[@awardwinner9184]

Haha, i think i sent you that Rugby game. Then again youve likely had 10 of them since or before from Aus fans

[@johnhancockretro]

Thank you very much!

[@jamiecashes]

NHL96 is great!

[@vinceniederman]

@Jamie’s Jukebox That Hockey Game Doesn’t Work for My Mini Sega Which Stinks Unlike NHL 94 and NHL 95 For It!

[@Barney_rubble983]

Just to let you know rugby league is not the same as rugby very different

[@hankscorpio5396]

Sports

[@scootermcg9910]

NHL 96, easy S imo

[@kostyatszyu]

lot of '96 games released in '95

[@iCABALi]

Because that's how sports titles work. The season would be 95-96 so the game runs alongside until the end of that season in '96.

[@Cimone90]

SPORTS

[@androidtekashi402]

Sports*

[@krazytaxicabbie]

This has got to be the worst list EVER!

[@RolloTonéBrownTown]

Sports