40 Reasons to Love Sega

Note: I previously published this on GamePro.com, so some of the content may involve that site, and some of the old links may not work anymore.



40 Reasons to Love Sega



It's no secret that in recent years Sega has fallen from their former glory. With the death of their extremely promising Dreamcast, their turn to a software only company, the death of arcades (which Sega was the undisputed king of), their merger with Sammy, and some lackluster efforts in some of their recent offerings, it seems like Sega is kinda going down the tube as of late. However, I'm not one for giving up hope on any game developer (I still had hope in Acclaim, and 3DO to the bitter end). I always hope for a brighter future filled with a plethora of great games, and Sega is hardly beyond hope. If any developer can pull themselves out of a slump it's Sega.




IMO Sega has always been the true innovator in gaming. While other developers would play it safe with their games by whoring out their established characters, Sega was always the one to charge balls first into an innovative game idea, and give us something truly great. Instead of throwing Sonic on everything (like a certain other company does with a certain plumber), they'd opt to create something completely new, and even the games they made where they "borrowed" from other games were usually still high quality.




It's sad to me that Sega can no longer afford to be the innovator they once were. That's what helped put them in the hole (hardware debacles aside, most casual gamers just didn't "get" Sega's games), and is also responsible for the recent whoring out of Sonic. Sometimes I fear that we'll never see another company that's as un-afraid of Taking risks like Sega used to be. The day that that fear comes true is a sad day for gaming indeed.




In the spirit of the many great games Sega has provided us over the years, I give you 40 reasons to love Sega.



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Altered Beast- This early Genesis pack-in keeps it simple. Move from one side of the screen to the next and beat up everything that moves. If you collect three powerups then you get to morph into an animal and take baddies out in that form. It's simple, and it doesn't need to be anything else.




Astal-
A beautiful watercolored platformer on the Saturn. It doesn't do anything remarkably new, but what it does it does good. It's a very refined 2D platformer. The gameplay is simple, grap, throw, and jump. If you're a fan of the genre, then you'll love Astal.




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Beyond Oasis / Legend of Oasis-
These games were Sega's take on the Zelda formula, and they were damn good. Beyond Oasis was on the Genesis, and Legend of Oasis was on the Saturn. I rarely ever hear anyone talk about these games, but if you've got the hardware to play them, then go for it. They're two truly underrated gems.





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Chu Chu Rocket-
In this quirky puzzle game your job is to save a bunch of space mice known as ChuChus from evil space cats called KapuKapus by placing arrows on a grid and leading them to the safety of their rocket before the KapuKapus can get to them. The puzzle mode is totally addictive in ChuChu Rocket, but the multiplayer mode is where the game really shines. You'll compete with four other players to see who can collect the most ChuChus in the alloted time.




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Columns- One of the millions of Tetris style puzzle games, but like Tetris, Columns is plenty addictive. You have to line up falling columns (hence the name) of multi-colored gems. In order to get the gems to dissappear, you have to line up three or more same colored gems either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.




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Crazy Taxi series-
Who prior to the release of Crazy Taxi had ever though "Hey a game about being a taxi driver and having to deal with impatient passenger would make a fun game?" I'd say only the designer that's who. I'm not sure where they got the idea for this game, but it really doesn't bother me because Crazy Taxi is just so damn fun to play that it doesn't matter. Sure, the game gets knocked of it's lack of depth, but there are few things more exhilarating in videogames than hitting huge air in your taxi while collecting cool cash from your passenger to get them to their destination within the alloted time. Yeah, it's all the same thing over and over again, but even after all these years, I still boot up some Crazy Taxi for some mindless arcade fun. Even today if I hear one of the Offspring songs from the first CT, it put me in the mood to play the game.



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Daytona series- When I think of arcade style racing, there are two series' that always pop into my mind. One is Namco's Ridge Racer series, and the other is the Daytona series. The game might have stock cars in it, but it couldn't be farther away from being a racing sim. What Daytona offers it fast and furious arcade racing action. Who needs realism when you can have fun?




Die Hard Arcade- A fun but mindless beat 'em up based very loosely on Die Hard. I remember spending almost $20 in quarters once with a friend trying to beat the game in the arcade. I've been wanting the Saturn version ever since I read about it in Gamepro years ago, but I've still yet to acquire it, but It's on my list.




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Ecco the Dolphin Series-
Beautiful underwater side scrolling adventure games for the Genesis, and Sega CD (I haven't played the new one released on the DC and PS2 yet, but it's on my list) where you play as a dolphin named Ecco (hence the name), who's on a mission to save his pod who disappeared due a mysterious storm hit after Ecco jumps into the air. Ecco migh be a little boring for you action buffs, but those who love a good adventure should really check this series out.



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Eternal Champions- The hottest genre of the early 90's was the fighting game genre. It seemed like every developer under the sun was throwing a me-to Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat clone at us. I could name a bunch off the top of my head. Eternal Champions is one of the stand-outs from that time in gaming history. EC plays like a mix between SF and MK. It had hand drawn fighters like SF, but it also had stage fatalities (dubbed Overkills in this game) and a darker storyline like MK. The game give you a plethora of modes different modes to play. If EC has any hitches, it's that the single player mode's enemy A.I. is stupid hard. It knows every move you make before you make it and it'll counter and block just about everthing you throw at it. They made a sequel on the Sega CD. Hardcore Sega fans have been screaming for a sequel for years, but Sega has yet to respond to their pleading.






Ferrari F355 Challenge- For those of you who know they'll never drive a real Ferrari, Yu Suzuki feels your pain (he doesn't share it though). In honor of driving Ferraris being all the rage amongst game developers (just ask John Carmack), Yu Suzuki decided to create Ferrari F355 challenge for the arcades (with three screens of view and three naomi boards running it), it was then ported to the DC, and eventually the PS2. F355 Challenge is pretty much a complete sim of driving the Ferrari F355. It's not for everyone, but racing enthusiasts should feel right at home in this game.




Fighter's Megamix-
It's pretty much Virtua Fighter vs Fighting Vipers with a bunch of other Sega characters thrown in for good measure (including the stock car from Daytona). I still have yet to acquire it, but it'll definitely be the next Saturn game I buy.




Fighting Vipers-
Sega's other popular 3D fighting series. Though it has less depth than Virtua Fighter, it's still a really fun game in it's own right. The only game I can liken it to in recent years is the Bloody Roar series minus the morphing into animals thing. They brought the first one out to the Saturn, but they never brought the DC port of the second game to America. I think it's high time Sega graced us with a sequel. However, fighting games are pretty dead as of late (minus a few established franchises that is), so I can't blame Sega if they choose to pass on a sequel.



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Golden Axe series- This game reminds me of a mixture of Gauntlet, and other arcade beat 'em ups. You've got your generic warrior, valkyrie, and dwarf. even the use of potions to do magic spells reminds me of Gauntlet, but that's ok because Golden Axe is still great mindless beat 'em up fun.



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Hang-On series- I remember playing this motorcycle racer for the first time in an arcade. I didn't get it at first and just started out going like five miles an hour. Needless to say I missed the first checkpoint. I didn't realize that I had to pull the handle back on handlebars just like you would on a real bike. The first Hang-On has you racing against the clock to reach checkpoints before the time runs out. Though you're not racing against any opponents, there are a bunch of evil guys riding bikes that of course make you bike explode if you even so much as brush against them. I also have Super Hang-On on the Genesis, and that game adds some more depth to the equation by letting you buy parts to upgrade you bike.



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House of the Dead series- Think Resident Evil with lightguns....no, no wait. Think RE with lightguns except it doesn't suck ass, and you'll get the general idea of what the House of the Dead Series is all about. If you're a fan of lightgun games, then you'll love HotD (lets just forget that the movie was ever made).



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Jet Grind Radio/Jet Set Radio series- The original Jet Grind Radio on the Dreamcast is fighting with Shenmue as my favorite DC game. There's just nothing like it in the world. You're a member of a Tokyo-to street gang named th GG's, and your job is an easy one, don a pair of rocket skates, and start tagging up your turf with the cans of spray paint found in the environment while fighting off rival gangs, and the police force. The games story progresses via cutscenes that feature Professor K who's a DJ for the pirate radio station known as Jet Grind/Set Radio. JGR started the whole cell shading craze that is still effecting gaming to this day. I personally prefer the original to it's sequel on the Xbox, but you can't go wrong with either game.




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Kid Chameleon-
This is a pretty blatant rip off of Mario, but it's still a damn good one. You play as Kid Chameleon who gets sucked into a virtual reality game at his local arcade, and you must defeat the evil A.I. Heady Metal. Like I said, it's a platformer that borrows liberally from Mario, but it does put it's own twist on the formula.




Monkey Ball series- The concept is simple, take a monkey, put him in a giant hamster ball, and have him go through a multitude of puzzle stages collecting bananas. The games are also filled with a ton of fun multiplayer minigames. I know the recent versions haven't gotten that great of reviews, but you should definitely check out the early versions if you like quirky puzzle games.




Nights- NiGHTS is one of those games that's truly hard to explain so I'll just send you to the wiki page instead of trying to explain it myself.




OutRun- OutRun isn't so much a racing game as it is a driving game. You hit the streets in your Ferrari (yet more proof of Yu Suzuki's obsession with the cars), and your girl in a race against the clock. You have no rival racers to contend with, just traffic and the clock. You also get to choose your path through to the end via choosing a direction at the many forks in the road. You also get to choose your tunes as well.



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Panzer Dragoon series- To me, the panzer Dragoon series is the ultimate rail shooter. You play as a human character riding on the back of a dragon shooting down all sorts of enemies in a multitude of environments ranging from ancient ruins to lush forests to even inside giant battle ships. For your typical rail shooters, the Panzer Dragoon series has remarkable atmosphere. In fact, the series has such good atmosphere and back story, that they even decided to make the third game in the series an RPG. I've still yet to play Panzer Dragoon Saga, but that's because I'm not willing to pay the price all the ***holes on ebay are asking me to pay for it. I'm hoping Sega will wake up and re-release it.



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Phantasy Star series-
Though I prefer a great many other RPG series' to the Phantasy Star series, I still think most of the PS games are pretty good (PS IV being the best IMO, but PS III is just too boring to hold my interest). While Shining Force is my favorite Sega RPG series, PS was always good enough to make any Sega system owner proud. I haven't played the online version though.



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Rez- I've said it before and I'll say it again (no it's not man I love being a Turtle), Rez is Panzer Dragoon on a acid trip. Think Panzer Dragoon as a music game with a bunch of trippy effects. Every time you lock on to an enemy, it makes a sound that adds to the music. Also, when you get later into the levels, your controller will even vibrate in tune with the music. It's truly a trippy game.



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Ristar- During the 16-bit days another thing besides fighting games that was all the rage was creating platformers that had an animal with an attitude (we can all thank Sonic for starting that craze). Ristar however follows it's own path. In Ristar you play as a star. Ok that's not much different, but the main focus of the game is Ristar's arms that he uses to grab things like enemies, items, or other various things in the game environments. It might not set your world on fire, but Ristar is another example of a really refined platform effort from Sega. It's a shame the game didn't do that well in the sales department, but they did add it to The Sega Genesis Collection on the PS2 for those of you who might be interested in playing it.



Seaman- Do you remember the tamagotchi phase that swept America in the 90's? You know those little gameboy looking things with those small screens that had an animal or something that you had to take care of and feed virtual food to, and that would generally be a huge pain in the ass, and would die all the time. Well, Seaman would be Sega's version of a tamagotchi except this tamagotchi could learn to speak your language that you teach him via a microphone attachment to your DC controller. I don't know if you've ever seen a picture of what Seaman looks like, but he's absolutely hideous. It's a human head on a fish's body. The game runs on your DC clock, so raising and maintaining your Seaman is a day to day affair (assuming you don't just set your DC clock ahead a day to cheat like I do). It's truly an interesting game, but it's definitely not for everyone.




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Sega Rally-
Once again, I'm not sure if Sega was the first company to bring Rally Racing to videogames, but I am sure of the fact that Sega Rally is an awesome arcade racer with incredible depth. It doesn't have a lot of courses or car choices, but the depth is in learning the courses. Nailing a perfect run on one of the courses can put in a state of gaming zen. Yeah, sure games like Gran Truismo have more depth, but Sega Rally is a great mix of Arcadey racing and serious racing.




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Shenmue series-
If memory serves me correctly I believe that Shenmue started out life as a Virtua Fighter RPG. Somewhere along the way, it morphed into one of the most ambitious games ever released. Shenmue follows the story of Ryo Hazuki, who's on a quest to find the man who killed his father. The games throw you into Ryo's world, but it let you choose how to proceed. You get to explore Ryo's world while progressing the storyline forward(if you choose to do so that is). While there is a story path you have to follow, getting there is a totally non-linear experience. I believe that Yu Suzuki intended players to explore Ryo's world. You can talk to everyone (though, NPC's are rarely helpful), and explore almost everywhere. You can spend all day at the arcade playing the various classic Sega arcade games (it depends which of the two Shemue games you're playing because each has different arcade games in it) if you so please, or you can spend it talking to everyone or just exploring your surroundings. What you want to do is your choice. Think of it as a GTA style sandbox game without the killing. That's not to say that Shenmue is totally devoid of action. Throughout various points of the storyline, you'll be able to fight various thugs with moves you learn throughout the game, or participate in Quick Time Events (QTE) in which you have to press the corresponding button or d-pad direction than the one that pops up on screen. The QTEs kinda remind me of all those terrible full motion video games on the Sega CD that just require you to press a button at the right time in order to watch the video, but they're not as bad. Overall, I say that it's a damn shame that Shenmue bombed so badly that we'll probably never see a sequel, but we Shenmue fans can always dream can't we?




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Shining Force series-
My favorite RPGs on the Sega Genesis were the Shining force games. These strategy RPGs (forget about the new games in the series) gave the Genesis one of the very few RPGs that reached the level of quality of Snes RPGs of the same time period. Sega also made Shining Force 3 for the Saturn in three different episodes, but they only localized the first episode to America because the Saturn was dying at the time. I'm still hoping that Sega will eventually re-release all three episodes so we can enjoy Shining Force three whihout having to donate a kidney to afford it.




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Shinobi series-
If you look through the history of Ninjas in videogames, you'll find hundreds if not thousands of games with ninjas in them. The Shinobi series has always stood out as one of the best in the bunch. I just recently acquired a Sega Master System and the original Shinobi, and I must say that it's as engaging as ever. That's a testament to it's great design. The series as a whole has always been challenging, but challenging in a rewarding way. I'd liken this series to say a Castlevania (in gameplay style not level design) where it takes, finesse, patience, and memorization to learn the levels well enough to eventually beat it. The most recent 3D Shinobi on the PS2 is one of those games that people either love or hate.




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Sonic series- Say what you want about Sonic's most recent games, but there's no doubt that the original 2D games were awesome. Even Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted to playing them. The best part about the design was there wasn't a set path to go. The levels were huge, and had so many different ways to get through them. I haven't played any of the newer 3D ones post the first Sonic Adventure, but from what the reviews say they weren't that good (I'm still going to eventually pick them up to see for myself). I have the utmost faith in Sonic Team, and I'm sure they can find a way to re-invent the series.




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Space Channel 5 series- Parappa gets sexy. Space Channel Five is Sega's off the wall spin on the music game formula. It's kinda like the 60's idea of space atmosphere meets Parappa the Rappa style gameplay. You play as Ulala and you're the news anchor for Space Channel 5, and your job is to report the news and keep your ratings up via dancing fighting and shooting the aliens who have suddenly invaded in the game. Sega actually got sued by Lady Miss Kier (who?) a singer from the group Deee-Lite (once again who?) because she thought Ulala was too close to her likeness. She ended up losing and having to pay Sega's $600,000 in legal fees.




Space Harrier-
Space Harrier is an early rail shooter from Sega. It's just purely mindless blasting fun, but that's ok in my book. I'm not quite sure what the story is (like it matter in a game of this type), but you play as a guy who runs/flys through a multitude of levels blasting everthing that moves while dodging everything they throw at you from trees and other environmental hazards to enemy fire. it might be to repetitious for some of you, but for you fans of oldschool style game, it should be right up your alley.




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Streets of Rage series-
Yeah, Yeah, if you look at the first Final Fight, and then you look at a bunch of enemy characters from the Streets of Rage series, you'll find that the SOR enemies are a blatant and direct rip off of the enemies in FF. However, that being said, SOR is by far the better series IMO. I can't really explain what I find so engaging about these games, but I don't really feel the need to. They're just mindless beat 'em up fun, but even after all these years, I still can't get enough of these games. SOR 2 is by far my favorite in the series. Some people swear by the third one, but other use it as a swear word. I think they just tried to jam too much into one game, and made some changes to the formula that were for the worst IMO.




Typing of the Dead- This is one of those off the wall games that makes one say "Only Sega would think of this". Imagine playing through House of the dead, except instead of killing the undead masses with a light gun, you use your keyboard instead to type up messages that appear on your enemies in order to kill them. I've been meaning to pick this one up for years. I even have the DC keyboards with which to play it. Blieve me, I need all the typing help I can get.




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Vectorman series- Hitting near the end of the Genesis' lifespan, Vectorman 1&2 were top notch action games that showed that the Genesis was still capable of competing with the Snes graphically. The game plays like an action platformer. Each level has plenty of powerups and other items to collect, platform jumps, and enemies to blast. It's like kinda Sonic meets Contra.




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Virtua Cop series- I'm not sure if the original Virtua Cop was the first lightgun game to use polygons, but it was definitely one of the first. You play as a cop trying to take down a powerful crime syndicate by going through the city while blasting hordes of criminals. If you're a fan of light gun games then this is one of the best IMO. Light gun games might be a dying breed of games, but VC is a testament to what makes those games so fun.




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Virtua Fighter series- Despite being the first 3D fighting game series, Virtua Fighter is also the deepest fighting game series out there. Just learning the moves isn't enough, you have to know to do a move or when and how to either block a move and counter or just simply duck it. It goes more in depth than that, but let's just say that it takes just as much devotion to master VF as it does to master a real martial art.



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Virtua Tennis- Virtua Tennis did for tennis what Hotshots golf did for golf, it made tennis fun. A tennis game might sound pretty stupid to some of you, but believe me, VT is virtual crack. Whether you be playing by yourself or with three friends, the game is super fun to play.



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Virtual On-
Giant Japanese style mechs in a fighting game. That pretty much sums Virtual On up. It's a new take on the traditional 3D fighting game. Think of it as Armored Core without the missions but just all the mech on mech fighting. The combat also moves a whole lot faster than AC's does as well. I heard Virtual On Mars wasn't that good, but I've yet to play it myself. However, the original on the Saturn and Oratorio Tangram on the Dreamcast are great games even if the control scheme is off because the original arcade versions had dual sticks for aiming and moving.




Sorry if some of these explanations seem a little quick or weak to you, but I've been working on this blog all day, and have run out of steam near the end.




Anyways, feel free to tell me what you think of the blog, or to add any Sega developed games to the list that you feel should be there.

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