Top 10 Mega Drive Games

[englishinvader]

The recent Mega Drive discussion in the What Did You Buy Recently? thread got me into Mega Drive mode and I was thinking about the top 10 games I would pick. The MD has been a huge part of my life from the age of 10 and it's one of the few systems where I could list 30 favourite games without even trying. This is what I came up with and I feel that they're games that are very particular to the MD and, even if they've been ported to other systems, they're not the same:

1) Sonic the Hedgehog
2) Kid Chameleon
3) Streets of Rage
4) Golden Axe II
5) The Revenge of Shinobi
6) Shadow Dancer
7) Ghostbusters
8) Desert Strike
9) Splatterhouse II
10) European Club Soccer

What are your top 10 games or just the games you enjoy the most? Any thoughts or discussion on particular games is also welcome.

[Transatlantic Foe]

I only had an SMS when Desert Strike came out, but have the sequels on the MD (rented them for the SNES back in the day and got pretty far) and the original is definitely the best by far. Need to check out Shadown Dancer, but the one hit kills keep putting me off. I had friends with Mega Drives but we pretty much never played anything but Sonic 2 and the Golden Axe/Streets of Rage/Revenge of Shinobi combo cart. And, for some reason, Last Battle. Which is a horrible, horrible game!

This is in no order (except for Thunder Force IV at the top):

Thunder Force IV - killer soundtrack, looks amazing, well balanced and great fun
Thunder Force III - as above, only easier and a slight graphical downgrade
Gunstar Heroes - best run & gun this (or indeed that) side of Metal Slug
Fire Shark - classic top-down shooter, just beats out Truxton by virtue of better difficulty balance
Golden Axe - synonymous with the Mega Drive, arcade quality right from the start!
Streets of Rage 2 - pretty sure only Alien vs. Predator is better in the genre
Mercs - standard arcade fun but the RPG-lite original mode is something else
Revenge of Shinobi - looks and sounds incredible, brutal but worth it
Sonic 2 - refines the gameplay without going overboard like the subsequent games did
Alien Storm - nice twist on the arcade beat 'em up, creative enemies and varied stages

[ShadowAngel]

Top 10 is hard, there are so many good games...

No particular order of course:
- Sonic 3: which for me is the best Sonic game, it builds up on the great Sonic 2 and adds a lot more stuff and has some great level design
- Golden Axe 2: Yes, the second one, because despite being not offering a lot, the things it did improve (controls, magic system) are welcome. Of course, the music isn't quite as good but i prefer it to the first one
- Streets of Rage 2: Best Beat 'em Up on the system and one of the best Beat 'em Ups of all time (maybe even only rivaled by the greatness that is Songoku 3 (Neo Geo)
- Landstalker: Despite having some frustrating jump sequences thanks to the isometric camera it's a great Action Adventure with a nice story
- World of Illusion: The Illusion games have always been great and Sega did a near perfect job on Disney games (Craptasia excluded) and this is a great game with Coop
- Thunder Force IV: Probably the best Shoot 'em Up outside of what the Neo Geo has to offer
- Shinobi 3: I always preferred it over Revenge which again has better music but Shinobi 3 has the better gameplay and a lot more variety to boot
- Alisia Dragoon: This game is so underrated
- Gunstar Heroes: i simply copy what Transatlantic Foe said: Best Run and Gun next to the Metal Slug series and the first Shock Troopers on the Neo Geo
- Wonder Boy in Monster World: the best title in the series in my oppinion

[Batman666]

I'm going for the games I play the most rather then an objective top 10 as I can't really rank them either way.

EA Hockey
NHLPA'93
NHL'94
Elitserien '96
Robocop Vs. Terminator
Sonic 1
Sonic 2
Alien 3
Alien Storm
Street Fighter II

[db]

In alphabetical not order of rating my choices are:
1. Aladdin - this is one where I struggle between which version I like better, this or the SNES. They're different games but both have their strong points. This one certainly has better opening animations than the SNES.
2. Castle of Illusion - I always thought this was the same as the SMS version, just graphically enhanced but I recently found out here there's different level design in each so I'll have to check out the SMS one now too but this is the one I've usually played.
3. Ghosts & Ghouls - I'm not really good enough to get too far in the arcade version too often. This one has the continues to keep me going and some interesting differences from the arcade to boot.
4. The Jungle Book - It's cute and clever and looks like the movie. Good solid gameplay too. One of the better platformers on the system.
5. Michael Jackson's Moonwalker - Yes, I am serious. If not incredibly deep this one's still a lot of fun and it's a rare example of where I think they did a better job of this home port than the arcade version. They could've just called it Michael Jackson Shinobi though. Shouldn't the hostages be little boys instead of little girls though? This is MJ we're talking about after all
6. Mickey Mania- I really like this one too. It seems the MD/G was really kinda Disney's spiderpig with so many great Disney games availble for it. They actually used Disney animators for this one and it really does look and play like an actual Mickey Mouse cartoon. That's what they were going for and that's what it is.
7. NHL '94 - I'm not a fan of hockey or hockey video games but this one had all kinds of little details and flourishes and was a whole lot of fun to play. It temporarily made me a hockey fan. No small feat!
8. Outrun - this is one of those Zen games for me, both stimulating and relaxing at the same time. This one is pretty similar to the original but has a different track layout.
9. Paperboy - Some here have said that the SMS port is very good but to me this one is much closer to the arcade experience, replete with digitized voices and pretty much constant commentary from the little guy about his experience on the job that really adds an extra kick to it for me. A great port!
10. Super Fantasy Zone - When I first tried this series I wasn't crazy about it, thinking it was kind of a stupid kids game or something. Then I had a breakthrough and started seeing it as the psychedelic gem of a shooter it really is. This is probably the most advanced iteration of it on any home console to the best of my knowledge.