Video Games, Movies, Comics, & Pop Culture

Sega. It does what Nintendon’t.

One thing it didn’t do that Nintendid was grab my interest. There were some games, yes, but not as many to come close to the Nintendo and the Super Nintendo. In fact, I’m going to cover my experience with all Sega systems in a single post due to lack of in depth experience with them.

I first played Sega at another kid’s house in the neighborhood. It was the original model Sega Genesis and I think we really only played Sonic the Hedgehog, which was alright. I was impressed with the colors and music and, of course, the seeming speed at which Sonic would travel, the screen sometimes barely, if at all, keeping pace. I later got the model 2 Sega Genesis bundled with Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

While I liked the original Sonic the Hedgehog okay, and eventually beat it with all the chaos emeralds, the sequel was certainly better. I vividly remember the first time flying to the Death Egg and the battle against the giant mech-Robotnik (and yes, I still like “Dr. Robotnik” better than “Eggman” as an official name). One thing the Sonic games did well, a thing that became a notable feature, was their music.

I still love Sky Chase Zone’s music

Of course, Sonic 3 and the Sonic & Knuckles expansion came after and were also great. I also played Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast, but they really weren’t as good. I have, however, always found it odd that the characters created for the Archie Comics, who appeared on the popular Saturday AM cartoon, were never utilized by Sega for any games other than cameo appearances in Sonic Spinball. I think a game based on the comic/cartoon would be far better than some of the recent offerings.

I did like the X-Men game on Sega Genesis, but primarily with a cheat code that gave unlimited mutant powers since I never thought it made sense otherwise. Cyclops isn’t limited to a certain number of optic blasts before he has to recharge and Wolverine certainly doesn’t have his strength sapped when he uses his adamantium claws. I know I played the sequel, X-Men 2: The Clone Wars, but I don’t remember it as well as the first.

I only played one RPG on the Sega Genesis: Shining Force II. I really liked how the combat had a strategy element with a full army of party members to move about the battle field with different reaches for their attacks. I’d like to go back and play the first one, though I understand it is quite difficult.

I did play a bit of Ecco the Dolphin, though never really knew what to do. Despite that, just swimming around impressed me with how fluid the animations seemed. Despite not playing them too much, I’m still a fan of the Ecco series today.

I never played anything on Sega CD or Sega 32X addons for the Genesis, though I always wanted to play Sonic CD. I’ve since gotten all of the systems of the “Genesis Trio” here and hope to get to play the games I missed out on eventually.

At some point, and for some silly reason, I also had a Game Gear. I loved the bright colors of the screen, but it was certainly a large, unwieldy device with practically no battery life so the hand held was basically a home device for me, using an AC adapter. I had some Sonic games, X-Men, and Tails’ Adventure, but nothing really stood out to leave a lasting impression.

“Feed me your batteries!”

From Blockbuster, I rented a Sega Saturn to play Panzer Dragoon, thinking it looked like Star Fox on a dragon! I did definitely enjoy the game, but not enough to try saving up for the system and try more games for it.

As most know, the Dreamcast came out not too long after that, but I never had it. Instead, I had a friend I was roommates with in college that had it hooked up in our living room, but I only ever played Sonic Adventure on it.

So ends my woefully limited exposure to the Sega systems. Next, I will discuss my continued relationship with Nintendo as the N64 came out, though I certainly have less games to speak to there as well.