Sega CD Coverage Expanded — When One Page Turns into Two or Three
19 December 2009 3:15 pm

Ahh, vacation, how wonderful it is, provided you can dodge this monstrous snow storm. Anyway, I've been adding some bells and whistles to the Sega CD page lately. I've added the two titles below: 3x3 Eyes and Shin Megami Tensei. But a much bigger undertaking was creating unique pages for just about every regional release of the top Sega CD games. Try clicking on the flags, and hopefully you'll discover some properly-functioning inter-page linking.

A Closer Look at Sega CD Box Art — Brilliant Compositions...In Some Regions
8 December 2009 11:15 pm

Anyone who has checked out this site regularly has probably figured it out already. I'm a Sega CD apologist. In other words, I'm a Sega CD fan. So it took very little effort on my part to come up with a list of great games and compare their artwork across their respective regions. The results were, surprisingly, actually. Read after the break for the details.

The Console War Never Ends — Top Genesis Games Added, Too
6 December 2009 12:41 am

Adding 6-Pak and Lost Vikings is pretty straight-forward. The former contains too many great games (Revenge of Shinobi, Sonic, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage). That's four titles that have already made the Genesis greatest games list — all on one cart! It's already a hell of a deal before you even throw in the last two mediocre titles (Columns and Super Hang On). Lost Vikings made the list for all the same reasons that it's SNES cousin did. Simply a great puzzle game.

Speaking of puzzle games, Klax is rather old school and plays a lot like Columns, but it has a much slicker appearance and feel, helping to distinguish it from the all-too-typical Tetris wannabe. Next up is Snake Rattle 'N' Roll. Sadly, it's not a sequel to the brilliant NES original. Nevertheless, the Genesis version bears all the quality and challenge that are Rare's hallmarks.

We'll wrap up with a little strategy action, two distinct approaches to the genre, in fact. General Chaos is real-time, flame-throwing and rocket-launching mayhem that supports as many as four players at once. It's also one of the most underrated part games ever made. If turn-based action with more of an RPG feel it what you like, and especially if you're a fan of pirates, then you have to check out New Horizons. It's one of the best strategy games of the era.

Giving the SNES A Little Love — New Top Games Added
4 December 2009 9:05 pm

Thanks to the ability of web forums to—well—inform me, I've recently discovered two solid candidates for the top 10 run 'n gun and shoot 'em up lists. Choujikuu Yousai Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie is a shoot 'em up that was never released outside of Japan, yet it represents an impressive package of excellent graphics and a deep weapons system. Metal Warriors is a run 'n gun developed by—you're never going to believe this—LucasArts! Fo realz, and only in the USA. While the level design is pretty average and the music is unremarkable, the gameplay is insanely good.

Next up are the Viking Games. Who'd have thought that before Warcraft, three goofy vikings were supported biggest franchise for Blizzard (originally known as Silcon & Synapse, when the original Lost Vikings was released). There are a million turn-based and falling-block based puzzle games out there, but he hybrid puzzle-meets-platformer approach of the Vikings games is quite refreshing even 15 years later.

Rounding out the new arrivals are two more titles with top 10 potential, for lists that haven't quite arrived yet. Not only does Ganbare Goemon: Kirakira Douchuu Boku Ga Dancer ni Natta Riyuu have one of the most ludicrously long titles ever, it's a brilliant platformer, full of clever minigames. The sequel to Uncharted Waters, New Horizons, has to be one of the best pirate games ever made, a fine example of the strategy genre from exactly the developer you'd suspect: Koei.