Sega Genesis Games You Played in 1989

[@JohnRiggs]

]SUBSCRIBE to show you love this style of video and I'll do more years with Genesis and other non-SEGA consoles

[@dwaynemenzies8824]

We were poor so we did get the NES until 92 and I didn't get the SNES until I got a summer job in 96.

[@j.goggels9115]

John, hold C when you reach maximum speed at Super Hang-On 🚀

[@markm4033]

Cool videos my brother! When the year 89' is ever mentioned, all that comes to mind is the 89 quake in California. That was scary and my house rocked as if it was at sea. No joke.

[@johngavalas712]

@@markm4033 that was a very scary day

[@blastedmcgraw152]

1989 was one of the best years of my life. I was in junior high, got into skateboarding…just remember this being a really fun year. Didn’t get a Genesis until 2 years later, but the NES was still rocking and I didn’t feel like I was missing too much.

[@marccaselle8108]

I was in 2nd grade in 1989 and still loved my NES.

[@miamimagicians]

great times, NES pizzahut, TMNT, and nick at night

[@kenterminateddq5311]

@@miamimagicians You speakin' FAX, man. I remember the 80s and 90s were about Nintendo and using the VCR after renting a VHS from a rental store. Unfortunately, most of that is treated like an 8-track. Damn, it sucks being older :(

[@jasonmorgan8110]

I can't remember if snick was around yet. It was tween horror programming on nickelodeon

[@miamimagicians]

You mean are you afraid of the dark

[@javierruizleon]

I graduated HS in 89, was working at UPS loading trucks, bought the SG after seeing the display behind glass at Toys R Us, people today don't understand how big the jump in graphics was from the NES

[@EvaFull]

The year I received my Gameboy & a bunch of games for my Birthday/Christmas.

[@syrtycon7299]

I remember getting the genesis along with two free games you could pick. I chose Golden Axe and Revenge of Shinobi. Two of the best Sega games ever. Good times!

[@ZakkHung]

1989 was one of the best years of my life. The Genesis is a BIG reason for that. Great video!

[@iHusk]

When did the "80s vibe" to life finally end for you? 1993-ish for me. 1995 felt like a whole new world.

[@malecus7664]

Worked all summer when I turned 13 to get mine at launch. I had Altered Beast, Space Harrier 2, Rambo, Thunder Force 2, Mystic Defender, Ghouls n Ghosts, Forgotten Worlds, and The Last Battle. I think the next summer I played Phantasy Star 2 for like 3 months straight. I just bought an original model about a year ago for $50 and still love it so naturally had to start collecting for it 😝

[@JesseH76]

I remember renting Forgotten Worlds, thinking it was just okay, but man, when a friend came over I couldn't believe how much funner the game became! It gave it a totally new dynamic, racing your friend to collect the blue gems to power up your weapons, I think the second controller allowed endless continuous, too. Personally, I think it's the only way to play it, couch co-op! It's a blast!

[@Des_Zee]

Having the Sega master system, I was super excited to get the Genesis that Christmas. It just blew everything away that came before it. Revenge of Shinobi still one of my top 10 games of all time. Oh and can't forget about Strider!

[@bObAfEttOx]

Revenge of shinobi, Strider and Ghouls'n Ghosts are one the the best Genesis games ever made

[@KAZ3EM]

Thx for the re-upload! Now the games look crisp and the framerate isn't broken anymore!!!

[@anthonysmith8321]

I remember shinobi was big growing up. I was in 5th grade at this time. My friend had this game in elementary school. he was the popular kids so he let me come over one time to play it because we didn't have a Genesis.

[@svendsgaard1]

I remember Sega having a display at the mall during the holiday season of that year where they had around 16 consoles on display and you could play most of the titles and even some that were not released until 6 or 9 months later. I was blown away by the graphics and couldn't believe you would be able to play these games that seemed to be on par with the arcade at the time. I somehow convinced my mom to get me a console about a week later. There was a game store in town that would get the latest titles from the Sega distibutor and i use to call them every other week and remember walking into their store and my eyes lighting up when they finally had the titles such as Forgotten Worlds and Revenge of Shinobi that I remembered playing and seeing at the mall. What a great time to be a 13 year old kid

[@donnieclicks]

Great video with a lot of great memories. I remember my best friend calling me a traitor for getting something other than an NES! We got over that pretty quickly haha. Surprised to not see Last Battle included here as I purchased that along with the system back in ‘89. I also had a 3rd party joystick that made Forgotten Worlds infinitely more playable. Thanks again!

[@MyRetroLife]

Didn't get our Genesis until 1991 but we owned many of the 1989 games early on. In fact by 1994 we owned every game featured here except for Truxton, which for some reason I have never in my life owned a copy of. I agree that Golden Axe would have been a better pack in!

[@JohnRiggs]

same. I went thinking Altered Beast was still the pack-in but they JUST changed the Pack-In to Sonic so that's the one I got.

[@anthonysmith8321]

I remember in 1990 my best til this day got the Genesis for his birthday. It came with alter beast.

[@roderickstockdale1678]

JohnRiggs same here, and I was DISAPPOINTED!!!

[@billcook4768]

It’s like deja vu all over again.

[@fivestringpat]

Man in 1989 the genesis looked amazing

[@Alexvander10]

My brothers and I had a Genesis around Christmas of 1989. I remember being blown away, especially the following year when we dropped $80.00 retail on Phantasy Star II.

[@ShadowBasch]

So happy to see Mystic Defender get some love. A childhood classic for me! I want a shirt of that kickass cover art.

[@BlackMoore82]

The Puroresu nerd in me has to mention this - On April 18, 1989 in AJPW Jumbo Tsuruta defeated Stan Hansen to unify three belts to form the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. On April 24, 1989 Keiichi Yamada returned to NJPW under the Jushin Thunder Liger gimmick, taken from the anime Jūshin Raigā. '89 had classic anime & cartoons such as Babar, Beetlejuice, Captain N: The Game Master, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, The Legend of Zelda, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Dragon Ball Z, Jūshin Raigā, Patlabor, and one of my all-time favorites... Ranma ½.

[@UToobin75]

I was an early adopter of the Sega Genesis, purchasing one from KayBee Toys in late '89. I was all aboard the 16-bit train from that point forward, relegating my NES to collect dust. Watching this video makes me realize just how many first year titles I owned. I think that the majority of my nearly twenty originally owned carts were from 1989. Altered Beast, Forgotten Worlds, Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Last Battle, Mystic Defender, Rambo III, Revenge Of Shinobi, Space Harrier II, Thunderforce II, and World Championship Soccer. And I had a blast with all of 'em.

[@TheMultiGunMan]

My brother and I got a Sega Genesis for Christmas in 1990. We absolutely loved it. It's a great console. My favorite game for the system is Rambo III.

[@gillywritescomics]

Nostalgia vids like this make me glad I got a Mega SG and Mega Everdrive pro. Best investment I made. Love the Genesis. Crazy how many awesome games are on this system.

[@julesgamingnstuff]

Got my Genesis in 1989 and I played most of these. Classic!

[@starbase2994]

Yep. Played all this stuff and owned every single game when it came out. Bought every single one. Ahh, the memories. :D

[@stevemelo]

Great video John. I was born in 83, got my Atari 2600 in 89 lol (my family here in Canada was always late to the party apparently) then got my NES in 91 and finally my Sega Genesis in 93. Oddly enough, Ren & Stimpy was the packed in title I got with mine, but the main reason I wanted a Genesis was when I learned that they ported my favorite computer game to it.... Another World (Out of this world) and it is still one of my favorite games of all time to this day.

[@junybuckles7927]

Mystic Defender was one I had forgotten the name of but woke up one day with the music in my head and took me a long time to find it, classic.

[@flrpitflrp1965]

The first two or three years for the Genesis are my fav time in gaming

[@JohnRiggs]

89-92 is, like, the golden years of retro gaming.

[@jacobbaranowski]

I love SEGA, my first console

[@markplotkin1166]

Back in the day I think me and John and other people our age would have been friends and traded games

[@Diskoboy1974]

I didn't realize until many years later that Mystic Defender was actually the sequel to the Master System game, Spellcaster.

[@LordSephleon]

Same; its anime origin was also another surprise to me when I learned about it in the early 2000s. I somehow missed out on Spellcaster (which is odd because any chance I had to play a magic user, I jumped on it), but I always thought that Mystic Defender was a stand-alone game with no ties to any other IP. Definitely a "win" for internet availability. :)

[@Invidente7]

Revenge of Shinobi was a superb action game with a kickass soundtrack. Thankfully it's alvaible on the PSN.

[@willrobinson7599]

Think in the UK we got the megadrive in 1990.i brought when ghouls n ghosts came out

[@WasephWastar]

I'm watching all the videos of this series on my second monitor while playing euro truck simulator. lol

[@dannychan6167]

My uncle bought a Genesis 1989, man it was great.

[@jamesmoss3424]

The Sega genesis still kick ass today. 😀👍🎮

[@evoltnvii]

Loving this series John keep it up.

[@plp9894]

Brilliant.most of the games you covered I've played.rambo 3 was one of my favourites and the music for it was superb.for 12.30 mins I was back in my childhood.

[@Alexvander10]

I remember being in awe of the title screen Rambo III and how good it looked

[@afriend9428]

*Great video sir! Love Shinobi and Truxton!!* ⭐️

[@dagda825]

I loved my Sega systems. I think a part of the fun was arguing my system vs my friends systems 😀. We'd argue for hours at school over our games and our computers. I was a C64 fanboy mainly because it was what I could afford. I bought all my stuff with my paper route money.

[@RetroGamingNook]

My first three were: Altered Beast, Ghouls and Ghosts, and Armold Palmer Golf... then Golden Axe around Christmas of 1989. I graduated high school earlier that year and could buy what I wanted thanks to working full time that fall. Good times!

[@jaredhammonds8255]

That background of Altered Beast looks a lot like Marble Zone in Sonic The Hedgehog.

[@fin8246]

I never played Mystic Defender but it looked awfully familiar, and it turns out the Japanese version of the game is in fact licensed from a manga/anime series called Kujaku-Oh. Great vid btw.

[@knkn5049]

master system and nes have these games + translations

[@edpinkus8688]

This is was part part 2 of Master Systems Spellcaster game.

[@Real_The_Goof]

I was 9 years old. Dang.. time flys..

[@amadoxxxx7593]

I went TG16 …. That Christmas. I regretted it for years, until the TurboGrafx had its resurgence …. Like Riggs said, you can own multiple platforms …. Being 44 is the best 12 year old life, ever!

[@kenwheeler3637]

1989. Wasn't doing nearly as much gaming; instead going to shows, playing in bands and engaging in various forms of debauchery. Ironically I've come full circle and doing lots of gaming and nerding out. All of that aside I really like this new series of videos, John.

[@nicholaskingston390]

Great video for my birthday today! (1989). Let’s see what I missed since I was too little and mostly a ps1 kid.

[@JohnRiggs]

Happy Birthday!

[@michaels9595]

Forgotten worlds was a blast in 2p. Brother and I spent a whole day beating it. Upgrades were awesome.

[@marctoad]

I spent the last couple days thinking I dreamed seeing the thumbnail for this video lol

[@JohnRiggs]

I posted this same video a couple days ago but the Genesis footage was too choppy (processing error) so I took it down, re-captured footage so I could reupload.

[@marctoad]

@@JohnRiggs Ahh, thanks John! Love the videos. I was so born in '86 so this was a good one for my nostalgia synapses.

[@TheRetrollectors]

My first Genesis games in 92-93 was Sonic 2, Golden Axe & XMen. Those were the days, Christmas and Birthdays always had a game as a gift.

[@daddykorn1977]

wow ,those are some flashbacks john,great memories. me and my brother had them all you listed we spent every single savings we had 😆 we bought ghouls and ghost with revenge of shinobi even before we got the genesis we ordered the system from a sears catalog .mystic defender was awesome, it was the sequel to spellcaster of the master system.

[@bernieberg]

I got my Genesis soon after launch bundled with Altered Beast. It came with an offer for a power base converter an a few games for a discounted price. The games I remember getting with that deal were Super Thunder Blade (for the Genesis) and Phantasy Star (for the Master System). Also, at the time I only had one controller, but the controller ports were the same as the 2600 joysticks, so when we played two player on Altered Beast, the second player could only punch. Good times.

[@roderickstockdale1678]

Super Thunder Blade was my favorite back in the day.

[@chrisrj9871]

So many of these games remind me of when my dad's work friend would come over with his Sega Genesis! I was in 4th grade, we only had NES, so it was a total treat and a very different vibe! We didn't get our own until XMas 3 years later!

[@maximusdecimusmeridius8888]

The cool thing about John Riggs is he is EXACTLY like this in person, super cool and down to earth guy. Nothing but good things to say about him. Keep up the great work! 👏🏼

[@bObAfEttOx]

I played all these games at Genesis launch and they are still for most of them today my favorites Genesis games. Thanks for this great video that reminds me one the best time of my life. Revenge of Shinobi and Ghouls'n Ghosts !

[@zpepgamer]

Thanks for putting this back up, much appreciated 👍😁

[@JohnRiggs]

I had to fix the video.

[@legendaaries6890]

Dude! I completely forgot about Super Thunder Blade! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I loved my Genesis when I had it. Riggs, if you haven't checked it out already, you should play Target Earth. Kind of an obscure title for the Genesis but it was one of my all-time favs growing up. I'm also loving this current vid series you have going 😊

[@M1nus_p]

Might need to grab a copy of Mystic Defender. Don't think it's on the PS4 collection or Steam.

[@Groglor]

I had a bunch of these games as a kid. loved them

[@Shepkillz]

Man so many memories here. And so many other games I’m sure you just didn’t have time for. Rocket knight adventures, gunstar heroes, kid chameleon, shinobi 3, Chakan, all the sonic games

[@thecensae]

when i was growing up my grandma had the megadrive with 3 games sonic, shadow dancer and truxton. truxton was so good the music the sound effects the visuals you just can't go wrong with that amazing game. shadow dancer was also a really fun game. i was always so excited when we were going to grandmas as i only had the nes at the time and was just blown away by everything i was seeing from the genesis.

[@Apanblod]

Shadow Dancer is hugely underrated. Immensely difficult, especially being a child, but very good memories with that one!

[@andre.79]

Awesome! But you forgotten to mention 'Last Battle'.

[@roderickstockdale1678]

And Tommy Lasorda Baseball.

[@RetroGameNova]

I remember going to the arcade (at a camp site) to play Golden Axe, Altered Beast, and Gi Joe. Good times and it wasn’t tll much later I figured out they were released for Sega XD

[@roderickstockdale1678]

Except GI Joe which Sega never did a version of.

[@lancepelissier5510]

The only ones I ever played then where the dome systems at the retail stores. I never got into buying or playing them until Windows 95 and C-NET induced me to emulation. I never gone back to the OG system.

[@mattmtdc]

Thanks for sharing! Definitely played most of these since a friend's brother bought him nearly every game during that first year. It wasn't until years later, when I played SpellCaster on Master System (great game, by the way), that I learned Mystic Defender was its sequel. I always wished they would have ported Black Tiger to the Genesis!

[@roderickstockdale1678]

Black Tiger and Tiger Road would have been great hits on Genesis although I always felt that Black Tiger was more for TurboGrafx.

[@knkn5049]

@@roderickstockdale1678 i have checked 'tiger road', and probably it is not a high quality product, by the way 'black tiger' have spiritual successor on SNES called "magic sword', levels are not so vertical, but same overpovered hero, if you dont want to play true c64 version of black tiger)

[@roderickstockdale1678]

@@knkn5049 Black Tiger would have hit on Turbografx though. It was a natural fit for it.

[@roderickstockdale1678]

Genesis was always better with the action games

[@wolfgamemusicvideo4532]

I loved Sega Genesis as a kid! it was the first system I remember getting as a youngster, at the age of 8 in 1995, played the hell out of Earthworm Jim, Lion King, Toy Story and of course the Sonic The Hedgehog games

[@Rountree1985]

I love that old picture of you playing Space Harrier. You can see a Bump N Jump cabinet in that photo 😊

[@kylecon602]

I didn't get a Genesis until it came with Sonic packed in. It was the version that came with the mail in coupon for Sonic 2 for free.

[@TomGarrett73]

Great video. I got the Genesis Christmas of 1990, and my games were Altered Beast (obviously), Golden Axe (favorite), and Cyberball. I also briefly owned Last Battle, but I didn't understand it (years later, discovered it was a FOTNS game with the license removed), nor was I good at it.

[@coffeecuparcade]

I love this video John! Awesome job on it. When I talk to people about my favorite system I will send them over to this video. Love it

[@timwasylyszyn9838]

Great video John! So many nostalgic titles released during its first year.

[@Hoodooter]

LOVE the Natas Kaupas shirt. That is some old school memories right there

[@junybuckles7927]

Please the mega drive version of ghouls and ghosts was all about the cape, that's what I wanted the red cape.

[@Rountree1985]

Love the Genesis. I didn’t get mine until 1994, when I was 9 and I had the model 2 which came bundled with Sonic 2. My parents also got me the 6 pack game that had Sonic 1, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Revenge of Shinobi, Columns and Super Hang-On. That was a good bunch of games to get started with. Later on I had a copy of Splatterhouse 2 and I wish I still had it because that game isn’t easy to find for a good price.

[@samfrito]

Space Harrier 2 was pretty amazing when I got it, but didn't come close to the arcade original (hardware differences). 1989 had some great early Genesis games.

[@user-or6yn8pm3c]

It was mind blowing to play games that looked as good as the arcade on a home console back then. Especially when the NES was looking weak in 89.

[@MichaelMartin-qe5ye]

I can't believe I played all of these, that's the power of the weekly video store game rental.

[@porksandwich5693]

Just subbed. Love your content. My kids xbox games give me a headache, but as a kid I spent hundreds of hours on Sega, and before that nes, Atari 2600, Odyssey, Combat tank, and Telstar pong. I remember the Pitfall game from 2600. I sent a picture of my high score to the company to join the high score club!

[@ericmims2000able]

John my man. Found you through MJR but were bout the same age LOVE your channel man. We would have been best friends lol. Awesome content dude

[@GoodNewsJim]

Ghouls and Ghosts Theme track in the arcade is so fire it's on my play list.

[@thefifthdoctor6780]

Yep a perfect year for me 😎👌

[@sylvainster30]

Space Harrier 2 is my favourite or 1 of i guess, I find SH2 plays perfect on the Genesis! ✌🏼😎👍🏼

[@T.Sizzle]

Looks like you and I had the same 13” color TV there. A Montgomery Wards branded made by Sharp in Japan. Thanks for all your videos 👍

[@SladeBling]

Does anyone remember that once Genesis became popular circa 1990 you could go to Sears and they'd have something like a photo album you could flip through and each page had a photo of a game you could pull out of the sleeve, give it to the customer service clerk and they'd order it for you and call you when it came in. You weren't buying the game it was basically a rental you just brought the game back within a certain amount of time wash, rinse, repeat. I wonder if this was one of the first video game rental places ever?

[@michaelt.lancaster9776]

I miss my old Genesis! What sold me on the system was I found out there was a code to put the blood and fatalities in Mortal Kombat.

[@obscuredoblivion444]

I remember renting a Genesis console from Blockbuster. Nothing more '90s than that.

[@apap1586]

I also was a Nintendo Fanboy and i thinking about getting a Genesis.My aunt convinced me to wait for the Super Nintendo and I'm glad I did. But that's how I was back then you were on one side or the other.

[@bigbean78]

Many of the Genesis games had such great music!

[@billyheaning]

1989 was the coolest year ever. I was 10 years old, it was the summer of Batman, Ghostbusters 2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, my man Bobby Brown was at the top of his game, I discovered The Green Hornet comics, and, of course, these Nintendo games.

[@vincentferrari]

Thank you for fixing the framerate on the caps. My eyes approve. :)

[@JohnRiggs]

I thought it was just my system but turns out many others saw it, too.

[@pikaporeon]

I dont always share your opinion but things like the Paprika reference will keep me coming back

[@HypnoGenX]

Yay, it's back.

[@uriahh4932]

Hey John, long time viewer here! Absolutely love your more retro focused videos! Do you enjoy hot sauce?

[@JohnRiggs]

I love things like hot wings but rarely add my own hot sauce to anything. Any you'd recommend?

[@uriahh4932]

@@JohnRiggs I'm a Tabasco lover but I do appreciate a bottle of Cholula every once in awhile. I highly recommend it 👌

[@SpiritBuddy]

awesome video, i might check out some of these games : )

[@PeterParker-vq2cz]

pretty sure my sega came with sonic 2, so i def didnt get the first one let alone know of any of its launch titles. glad to see this vid!

[@studiokadaver]

I kinda have to approve of any video that starts with GnG music.

[@mediaglitch]

You know I'm here to see what you say about The Revenge of Shinobi (my favorite game of all time). Also, so you know, Mystic Defender is the sequel to Spell Caster on the master system and based on the manga Kujaku Ou. I did a video on it, and I looked at all the games and movies, and anime in the series. Yeah, I'm a fan.

[@justingaming9979]

Fun fact about altered beast: if you dont get the three orbs eventually the boss will still happen... but it is borderline IMPOSSIBLE to beat.

[@stephen44gxp]

I swear i saw this yesterday...but it wasnt "upto standers"..🤔🤔then Rigg recommended liking the video and HOLY SHIT it worked! Smooth a butter now!

[@dickguzinya3803]

*Up to standards*

[@cesartaker]

Funny when you said that by playing or wanting a Sega Genesis you felt like if you were betraying nintendo. I felt the exact same way 🤣

[@JohnRiggs]

It was a real feeling I had.

[@roderickstockdale1678]

Better than TurboGrafx!