AndrewTS

A heavy portion of this is Sega of America's fault, while Sega of Japan either had little or no part of it. There's nothing wrong with loving the good Sega games, but it's a shame the folks which brought them to us were such tremendous f'ups.

35. Sonic 3D Blast: The last Genesis Sonic game, and the only "new" Sonic platformer featured on the Saturn happened to be an ill-conceived isometric platformer by Traveller's Tales. Here's a clip where someone else opines on the game's suckiness, in case you require further explanation.

34. Michael Jackson's Moonwalker -- the home game Back before Michael Jackson was a punchline, he was a hugely-successful pop superstar and cultural icon. So much so, that he had gotten his own movie--an odd music video/film called Moonwalker. The film was really, really bizaare, and featured Michael Jackson as a superhero of sorts rescuing kids from the machinations of a drug dealer. It also spawned an arcade game by Sega. The game was, really, really bizaare, featuring Michael Jackson using the power of song, dances, and sometimes good ol' fashioned violence for great justice! MJ was the original Elite Beat Agent! The game was a huge fixture at my local roller rink for a long time. The best part, though, was that the game was made by Sega--so friends and I just KNEW it was going to get a home version. I didn't actually own a Genesis at the time, but a few friends did. I was looking forward to playing it. Well, we were wrong. The game never had a home version. Sure, there was a game released CALLED Michael Jackson's Moonwalker on Genesis, but it wasn't the same thing. No, the bizaare, creative, and flat-out awesome arcade game was reduced to a lame platformer with virtually nothing else in common with the arcade original. Here's a look at the arcade game. Here's what we actually got on the home game Strangely, Sega produced like a billion different console versions, and none of them were anything like the arcade game. Even more strangely, this game was one of the major titles featured during the "Genesis does!" campaign. You know what else Nintendon't, Sega? They don't make a really fun arcade game and then give you a lame, boring home version that's nothing like the original.

Damn, all this is jogging my memory so much...I've literally sketched down over a dozen more additions to the list I'll have to post within the next few days. And I don't mean quickies, either. They're going to be each a few paragraphs long.

29. The Menacer -- both the Master System Phaser and NES Zapper were really good light guns. Simple, effective design, lightweight, very accurate, and had many playable games that supported them. Great examples of K.I.S.S., really. Now, the Sega/Nintendo wars could be quite easily and effectively summed up as a ****-waving contest back when they were ripping each other apart in their commercials. However, the phallic phun was elevated to a whole new level when they introduced their "next-gen" light guns. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?: http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp...0px-Menacer.jpg Why, it's the Sega Menacer, of course! Who needs a gun that you can easily aim and shoot with with one hand? This one requires you to hold it with both hands, and to look through a little scope to use it. This one we can't entirely blame Sega for, as Nintendo did it first, and just as bad: http://www.vidgame.net/NINTENDO/Nintendo/s..._superscobe.jpg However, this makes the Menacer even worse--when the Super Scope came out, everyone realized it sucked, but by then it was too late. What prompted Sega to COPY its awful design?! Unsurprisingly, not many games supported the Menacer at all, and Konami balked at both guns when Lethal Enforcers hit the home systems, instead producing the Justifier accessory: http://www.memm.de/gameselect/pics/lg-justifier.jpg

By the time Segata came around, Saturn was already in a steady decline.

Pretty much 80% of what we've covered/will cover is all SoA's fault, but yeah, Saturn was quite successful in Japan at first. However, that didn't translate to the U.S. because of: 26. The "stealth launch" -- There are accusations of PS3 being DOA just by the launch numbers. This is silly. Saturn in the U.S. was totally DOA. Sega "stealth launched" the Saturn in the US, during E3 2005, with like no games at all save for the shoddy Daytona and VF ports. Right after it was announced that the Saturn was available NOW, Sony then announced Playstation would retail for "$299". Saturn was $400. Saturn in US was dead before it even really had a chance.

25. Sega CD longboxes. The same company that bucked the trend of cardboard boxes during the Master System/Genesis days for those super-sturdy plastic cases introduced the awful long-box. I'm pretty sure 98% of every damn one of these that were manufactured (including the US Saturn and Playstation 1 cases) either have a big crack of them, have broken tabs, or are heavily damaged in some way. PS1 did have 2 other types of long boxes though: the plastic longboxes, which kicked ass save for the paper coverings stuck on them (the original Darkstalkers PS1 casing is a thing of beauty), and the rather-lame but rather sturdy all-cardboard boxes, which Primal Rage and Street Fighter Alpha came packaged in. Either one beat the fragile Saturn/SCD ones.

I had mentioned Sega pretty much handing over the 16-bit era to Nintendo. Making Genesis games for a while=not bad, but you forget that 1st party support was pretty much canned and they STOPPED MAKING the system. However, that is something you do a console that was a major disappointment (see: Gamecube, which Nintendo stopped manufacturing a while back), NOT a huge success like Genesis. However, the very existence of Sega CD 32X games was beyond retarded. I honestly don't recall any notable Genesis titles coming out after Saturn hit, let alone Sega made ones. Everyone I knew with a Game Gear had a battery pack, which usually provided more battery life than just batteries alone. I liked the Game Gear to some extent, but the system had its flaws. The cardboard cases actually began with Sonic & Knuckles, a Genesis game.

20. The Activator -- Okay, the Power Glove sucked. U-Force REALLY sucked. Wii-Mote is still to really prove itself. However, at least they had buttons and solid traditional design backing them to some extent. I can't really make the Activator seem any more retarded than Sega themselves can: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMW9HSrljhA

19. Streets of Rage 3 localization: Okay, I can accept Ash being cut, because at least they left in the character hidden in the game coding so that a Game Genie could bring him out of the closet SoA locked him in. However, completely screwing up the plot beyond any sort of logical comprehension? Terrible. But even stupider? Changing the characters' outfit colors. They did it to give them more, I'm not kidding you, "gender-neutral" colored clothing. Censoring character sprites that appeared un-censored in earlier games. Oh noes, put a jacket on that whip-wielding dom hooker! Cover up the legs of that punk mohawk chick! EDIT: Fixed the number

comment on 16 - actually, the tubes say such a beast is in the works, and will be shown/announced soon at Wee3 (the new, eunuch-y version of E3). comment on 17 - I distinctly remember that, and laughing my BUTT off at it. "So long, Plumberbox; you weren't worth waiting for." (launches it in a skeet shoot cannon and blasts it apart)

10. Gunstar Heroes' new box art. Old: http://gunstarheroes.classicgaming.gamespy...apanese_box.jpg New: http://gunstarheroes.classicgaming.gamespy...gunstar_box.jpg Although I guess it's not that bad compared to other box art changes. 11. http://ytmndsega.ytmnsfw.com/ 12. Shining Force 3. A game so HUGE and EPIC it had to be split into 3 parts. A game too HUGE and EPIC for the US and Europe to get parts 2 and 3. 13. Sega making a game so HUGE and EPIC it apparently had to be split into 3 different games with different SKUs, rather than making it a multi-disc game. 14. Panzer Dragoon Saga's limited production - "Nope, we still don't think people really dig RPGs in the US much. Let's make, like, 20 copies of it." 15. Sega Ages -- "Imagine your favorite games from the classic Sega days...now imagine them being raped by semi-PS1 era polygons and terrible control. And sold separately. And since US gamers will be wise to it by that point, let's plop them together on one disc and market them as 'classics'".

7. The awesome pack-in value that was Altered Beast. Because if anything will make you satisfied with your purchase, it's a slow-ass, generic side-scrolling beat-em-up that's got rather freaky voices, decent graphics and not much else.

HEADLINE: Gamer loses 15 pounds playing Wii!

I've made that point about Beyond Oasis in the past. What's remarkable about it isn't just that it's a good Zelda clone, but it is still so polished. Crusader of Centy was a flat-out, blatant Zelda clone, and it lacked really any identity of its own. Beyond Oasis, OTOH, had fantastic graphics, gorgeous animation, well-designed dungeons, and it had a darker tone than any Zelda at the time. Sega of America had a retarded policy of the time of pushing a bunch of crappy licensed games at the time, while original IPs and *any* RPG would be lucky to get a print ad. However, Beyond Oasis has some flawed control. Despite being out long after the 6-button came out, the control was CRAMMED into 3 buttons. So you have silliness like jump and duck being controlled by a single button (tapping results in jump, holding results in a duck). It's very awkward. "But man, if any company could be considered the WCW of gaming it's Sega. They had everything and ruined it through monumental stupidity." Agreed. The reason I'm a big Nintendo fan--I used to be a huge Sega fan first. "P.S. I am still holding out for the TurboGrafx's Neutopia on the VC. That would be my first online purchase for the system." Isn't it kind of redundant, with 2 classic *real* Zelda games already on there?

Anya doesn't like the 8-bit.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/nintendo/new-vc-t...ousy-231849.php BEYOND OASIS!! (Yeah, I noticed OOT is on there too. I already own it enough, though. )

You forgot the full title, which is Kid Kool and the Quest for the Seven Wonder Herbs. No comment necessary. Did it have multiple playable characters, though? There's lots of debate on just what the hell game Decap Attack/Magical Hat Flying Turbo Adventure is the sequel to. Geez, Vic Tokai sucked at naming games.

Zapper?! ZAPPER?! There is no Sega "Zapper"!!!! PHASER! Psycho Fox is awesome. I never heard or played the game until I played my brother in law's master system...in 1998 or so. Even so I played the crap out of it. Good game. Double Dragon in SMS is better than the NES for one simple reason: 2 player simultaneous. I've never played the Genesis Double Dragon--Double Dragon dojo says the controls suck on it, though. I've actually picked up some master system games, a Master Gear converter, and have a Game Gear on the way through Ebay.

Wario Land: Master of Disguise, the awesome new DS Metroid-ish game is due out in March for the U.S. We all know about the Wario Ware games, but his platformers are really awesome too. Try them if you haven't already (and have a GBA to play Wario Land 1-3 on). Oh, and a look back at Wario's humble beginnings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuwSGbYw4X8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ6OcJLgWOY&NR Nintendo had such awesome commercials back in the day. Youtube doesn't have the Wario Land 1 (SML3) commercial, though.

I assumed so, and it was mentioned in the original topic that people could drop hints and stuff.

Countering the Magic Punch is the key. Tap down to block about every half-second. As long as you can at least successfully block the last few punches, he gets dizzy and has to take a breather--score a direct punch to the face immediately when he's stopped spinning to score an instant knockdown. Also, when he's about to punch you in the face and the jewel flashes, hit him in the face to earn a super punch.

It's less "not any games" and more "the games that are coming out are lame licensed games, gamecube ports, or both." When *I* can't muster much enthusiasm for Prince of Persia Wii (another lame port), that's pretty bad.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/ds/gears-cracks-j...arts-231307.php Gears of War does something Halo couldn't: penetrate the Japanese market like a vicious tentacle beast.