Mega Drive Game Reviews
Review Alien Storm (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Shape-shifting aliens have infiltrated the city, creating chaos and panic!
There’s an alien invasion. Save the people! Kill the aliens! Not the most original premise for a game, granted, but Alien Storm carries its heart on its sleeve. Pretensions of artistry and greatness are laid aside; the story serves only as fodder to introduce baddies that...
Review Rolling Thunder 2 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Bring the thunder!
Rolling Thunder 2 is a conversion of Namco’s 1990 sequel to its original James Bond themed Shinobi-like game. The Megadrive home version is faithful to the arcade original in terms of gameplay and features a few improvements, including cut scenes between levels that feature some lovely artwork, 3 additional stages and some new...
Review Light Crusader (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Take the role of Sir David in this action-RPG and get to the bottom of the mysteries of Green Row.
After dazzling Megadrive/Genesis owners with the likes of Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy (let’s forget Ronald’s McDonaldland Adventure for now), Treasure turned its talents to the Action RPG genre with this 1995 release. Published in the...
Review Eternal Champions (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
This 2-D fighting game introduces a cast of different characters that met untimely deaths in their lives on Earth.
Released at a time when Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat were both selling like hotcakes, Eternal Champions may have had players thinking it was an exploitative cash-in to make Sega a quick buck. This could not be further from the...
Review Ecco Jr. (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
The aquatic adventures of Ecco come to life for a younger generation of gamers.
Ouch - what happened here? Ecco the Dolphin, suddenly transformed into a kid-friendly educational game? In this game, you play as Ecco Jr., a younger version of Ecco, or one of his two friends (Tara the baby orca or Kitnee the baby Atlantic dolphin). There is no real...
Review Alien Soldier (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Hello Epsilon-Eagle
Treasure produced some of the finest games for the Sega Megadrive such as Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy, both of which are available on the Virtual Console. Alien Soldier follows in that great Treasure tradition by being a great game that shows off what Sega’s 16 bit wonder was capable of. Outside Japan this game only came...
Review Sonic 3D Blast (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
The evil Dr. Eggman stumbles upon an alternate dimension where some odd birds called Flickies have the ability to travel anywhere.
After producing three Sonic titles for the Genesis/Megadrive Sega decided to do something a little different – instead of creating another platformer they produced an isometric adventure with CGI rendered graphics, and...
Review Golden Axe III (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
The once-peaceful kingdom so familiar to fans of the original Golden Axe is under threat once again.
If you’ve played Golden Axe 2 then you will no doubt be aware that it’s a little too similar to its predecessor. When Sega came to create the third game in the Megadrive trilogy it obviously realized that a sweeping change was in order. Sadly,...
Review Streets of Rage 3 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Just when you thought the world was safe from the Syndicate and its shady leader, Mr. X, they have returned to torment the city once again.
Streets of Rage 3 has been the victim of much flak over the past few years. Coming after the sublime Streets of Rage 2, the third installment had a fight (ho-ho!) on its hands to better such a fantastic game. On...
Review Super Thunder Blade (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
In this follow-up to Thunder Blade, you'll fly a new and improved attack helicopter in a series of attacks against guerilla armies that are bent on taking over the world.
One of the very first Megadrive/Genesis releases, Super Thunder Blade is a pretty underwhelming action title that failed to get pulses racing when it was converted to the 16-bit...
Review Crack Down (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
The situation is critical. The evil Doctor K has created an army of deranged replicants in order to take over the world, and only two can stop him - Andy Attacker and Ben Breaker - the top soldiers of the CIA's special Crackdown force.
No, this game is not related to the Xbox 360's Crackdown! Hardly anybody seems to know this game, despite it being...
Review ESWAT: City Under Siege (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
All is not well in Cyber City. Criminals are running amok - looting, pillaging and raping the city of all its worth.
This was one of the first games I ever loaded into my Megadrive and it still sticks in my memory as one of the best action platformers for the machine. Although it isn't a conversion of the arcade game of the same name (neither was...
Review Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Sonic and Tails are back for another adventure as they again battle the evil Dr. Eggman (AKA Dr. Robotnik), who is desperately trying to collect all the Chaos Emeralds in order to rebuild his Death Egg.
After the sublime Sonic 2 Sega decided to stick with the same tried and tested formula for the sequel – a move that disappointed many fans that...
Review Landstalker (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
After hearing of the legendary treasure of King Nole, the elvish treasure hunter Nigel undertakes a quest to gather various pieces of the famed loot.
Landstalker is an action RPG released in 1993. It's got an isometric view, something which is quite rare in games, and sounds a bit dated. So does it still hold up? In the game you are Nigel, a...
Review Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Arthur must go forth to save his beloved Princess and destroy the root of all evil!
When you look at this game today, it's hard to believe that it was one of the very first Megadrive releases. Sega did an amazing job of reprogramming the Capcom arcade original for their 16-bit console - the port isn't quite arcade perfect but you have to look...
Review Shining in the Darkness (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Dark Sol has vowed to reign over the enchanted Kingdom of Thornwood, and only you can stop him.
Anyone who has played the Atari ST classic Dungeon Master (or one of the many clones that appeared in its wake) will know full well that first person RPGs can be a hell of a lot of fun. Back when Sega first announced Shining in the Darkness (often called...
Review Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (Wii Virtual Console / Mega Drive)
The ninja master returns
Nasty Neo Zeed is back causing trouble again, and it’s up to our hero Joe Musashi to teach them a lesson they won’t forget with his supreme ninja skills. Unlike the original arcade classic, however, there are no hostages to be rescued and you now have an energy bar to spare you from one-hit kills. You have a limited...
Review Dynamite Headdy (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Headdy, the central protagonist of the game, is the star of the Treasure Theatre production of Dynamite Headdy.
Treasure has already secured its place in history as a purveyor of "gamers' games", encouragingly flying in the face of the accepted practice of style over content to provide such stone-cold classics as Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga...
Review Shining Force (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
In ages long forgotten, Light fought Darkness for control of the world.
Although Shining Force takes place in the same universe as fellow Megadrive/Genesis epic Shining in the Darkness, the games themselves couldn’t really be more different. Whereas SitD is a first person dungeon crawler, Shining Force is a turn-based strategy title more akin to...
Review Ecco: The Tides of Time (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Flipper the video game
Good old Ecco the Dolphin, after saving his dolphin chums from an invading alien race you would have thought he could have just spent the rest of his life in peace spinning a ball on his nose! These plans were shattered when the queen of the Vortex took it upon herself to travel back in time to start her trouble again. An...
Review Golden Axe II (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Not long after the malign reign of Death Adder has ended, another evil rises.
When I first clapped eyes on Golden Axe 2 as a lad I was over the moon. Being a massive fan of the original I simply could not wait to play this. Graphically, it looked even better than the original and promised to be the sequel I was waiting for. Sadly, it actually turned...
Review Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik) is searching for the Chaos Emeralds to fuel his new Death Egg engine.
Any gamer worth his or her salt will remember the day Sonic 2 was released. Cheekily dubbed 'Sonic Twos-Day' (it was released worldwide on a Tuesday, you see) it became a massive seller for Sega and cemented Sonic's position as one of the most popular...
Review ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Funky!
The original ToeJam & Earl was a quite a big hit for Sega at the time so it was a no-brainer than a sequel should be released. With the success of Sonic the Hedgehog it must have seemed like a logical step to reinvent ToeJam & Earl to be a 2D side-scrolling platform game as well. The exploration of an almost open-end world and long...
Review Kid Chameleon (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon.
The first thought that enters your head when playing Kid Chameleon is probably 'Mario Clone'. The game steals ideas from Nintendo's finest, such as jumping on the heads of enemies and bashing item boxes from below. It's not the first game to copy Mario and it certainly won't be the last, but back in the early...
Review Streets of Rage 2 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
The best one
For many of our readers this game will need no introduction. If you haven't yet played Streets of Rage 2 then you are in for a treat. Simply put this is probably the best scrolling beat-em-up available on any console. Yes it is that good! Sega didn't do just a lazy update of the original - this sequel got the full treatment. So what's...
Review Wonder Boy in Monster World (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Monster World was a peaceful, happy place until one dark day when an army of BioMeka monsters invaded.
If you have played Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap on the Master System you will know exactly what to expect here. The Wonder Boy series is famed for its confusing naming conventions; to clear it up this is the last Wonder Boy game on the...
Review Virtua Fighter 2 (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
The intrepid fighters return to the World Fighting Tournament.
Virtua Fighter 2 remains one of the best one-on-one fighters in the history of videogames. When it was originally released it destroyed the competition, and even today (after three updates) hardcore fans feel that Sega has never really bettered the classic brawler. But before you all get...
Review Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
Not as enchanting as the Master System adventures.
Before Sonic the Hedgehog our friends Sega had Alex Kidd as their mascot. I grew up with the quirky humour of the original games on the Sega Master System (the 8-bit rival of the NES) - at the time these were some of the best games around. However by the time the Sega Genesis / Megadrive was in full...
Review Vectorman (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
More than a load of old balls?
OK, so the main character is compromised of green balls, don't let that make you overlook one of the better 'run and gun' games to hit the Megadrive / Genesis. The shallow premise for the game is that humans have ruined the planet Earth and left the subsequent tidy-up job to their robots. You assume the role of the...
Review Beyond Oasis (Virtual Console / Sega Mega Drive)
You are the young Prince Ali in a desperate fight to defeat the evil that is threatening your island empire, Oasis.
This was another late Megadrive/Genesis release but thankfully it avoided the fate of games like Comix Zone and sold pretty well at the time. It's easy to see why - graphically it's one of the best looking games on Sega's 16-bit...
