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Science presents: the top 10 best and worst Mega Drive games

Discussion in 'General Sega Discussion' started by Black Squirrel, Apr 10, 2021.

  1. Pirate Dragon

    Pirate Dragon

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    Coincidentally I was researching Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 release date via Usenet posts yesterday, posters seemed to think that Sega obtained 6 month exclusivity on "Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3", so Playstation owners had to wait 6 months for "Mortal Kombat Trilogy" which contained UMK3. The speculation was that this was why UMK3 was delayed until June 27 ... so Playstation couldn't get it until after Christmas. As it happened, the PS release of MK Trilogy happened on October 10th, so maybe there was some truth to this timed exclusivity back and forth, but certainly not 6 months. Midway seemed to have done OK playing Sony and Sega against each other anyway.
     
  2. Deathscythe

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    The story I heard is that Sony made a deal for MK3 and Sega made a deal for UMK3, while Midway made MKT to get around that Sega deal. Never seen it confirmed though.
     
  3. JaxTH

    JaxTH

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    Jack shit.
    I mean, Trilogy is still a MK3 anyway. :V
     
  4. Bobblen

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    MK3 did 'enhanced edition' before it was cool! :-D
     
  5. I don't remember SEGA even trying to get a deal with Midway for MK3 on Saturn?. I seem to remember, Atari making more of a effort to get some some of deal for the Jaguar
    I think for the 32-Bit systems it was 3D fighters starting to make a bigger impact and get more of limelight, it didn't matter the Saturn, had some of the best 2D fighters ever made.

    X-Men:COTA was my fav 32-bit fighter

    I agree with you on the gaming press too. I never liked how some knocked the VF3 port on the DC. When it's like 98% perfect was even in 1998 one of the the best fighters ever made.
     
  6. Lostgame

    Lostgame

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    Is it because support had been so excellent with Capcom? I'm not sure why they wouldn't have fought for that; although with the mismanagement of the Saturn in the west, nothing is surprising.
     
  7. BSonirachi

    BSonirachi

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    Looking back, I would definitely agree with filtering out the Russian scores as most of these are from the 2000s and thus wouldn't mesh well with all the older scores from the 1990s. It would mean having to fix the list, and I don't have the time for that.

    What I do have time for is listing off the best and worst Game Gear games as I won't have to worry about those aftermarket ratings here. Looking at all of these ratings, I've noticed how low-scoring these games are among certain magazines, particularly Famitsu - most Game Gear games they've reviewed scored less than 70 (the exceptions being Sonic Chaos and Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict), perhaps for the reasons Squirrel explained earlier in the thread that Nintendo was always favoured much more than Sega in Japan.


    Top 10:

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    10th best Game Gear game - 85.7894736842105 based on 21 reviews - The Chessmaster

    Chess professionals could explain why this one has scored so high from critics way better than I can, though I imagine there are better versions.


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    9th best Game Gear game - 85.8260869565217 based on 23 reviews - Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit)

    Not a surpise at all that Sonic's first 8-bit outing would be here. This game would have ranked much higher on the list, but low-scoring reviews from Famitsu and Hippon Super took this one down a peg. It still manages to make it to this list, though.


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    8th best Game Gear game - 86.0 based on 20 reviews - Prince of Persia

    This is one of the few Game Gear games that runs in Master System mode, to the point that it's even identical to the Master System version and is identified as a Master System ROM. Better versions still exist, though.


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    7th best Game Gear game - 86.0952380952381 based on 21 reviews - Micro Machines

    The classic Micro Machines games have always been fun no matter what platform they're on.


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    6th best Game Gear game - 86.5 based on 6 reviews - NHL Hockey (Game Gear)

    The only one of EA's hockey games that EA published on the Game Gear themselves, though this didn't have much to do with the Mega Drive game and instead is more related to NHL 95.


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    5th best Game Gear game - 86.5652173913044 based on 23 reviews - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)

    Personally I disagree with this having been rated so high by 1992 critics. The 8-bit Sonic 2 is already a difficult (and at times unfair) game, but the Game Gear version is seriously hindered by things like screen crunch and the Under Ground Zone boss being made much more difficult for some reason.


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    4th best Game Gear game - 86.7692307692308 based on 26 reviews - Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (8-bit)

    This is the version of Castle of Illusion I'm most familiar with. Just like Prince of Persia, it also runs in Master System mode and is identified as a Master System ROM.


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    3rd best Game Gear game - 87.8181818181818 based on 11 reviews - Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (8-bit)

    Though this version of the western Puyo Puyo rebrand has uglier graphics including Robotnik drawings traced from Milton Knight's model sheets, it also has a puzzle mode based on Nazo Puyo, which I suppose gave this version an advantage over the 16-bit one. Nowadays there are still more refined, content-rich Puyo Puyo games to check out.


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    2nd best Game Gear game - 89.6 based on 5 reviews - The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants

    What's this? A Simpsons game that isn't Hit & Run scoring so high? And it's a handheld port of an average-at-best game from Acclaim? I don't get why, though the fact we have two identical ratings from Sega Pro may have something to do with it.


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    Best Game Gear game - 90.3 based on 10 reviews - Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament

    The sequel still remains on the top spot.




    Bottom 10:

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    10th worst Game Gear game - 46.0 based on 3 reviews - Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Horobishi Mono no Gyakushuu

    The first of two games based on the manga and anime series of the same name. Not familar with this one at all.


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    9th worst Game Gear game - 45.0 based on 1 review - Gear Stadium Heiseiban

    This one is just a 1995 re-release of the 1991 game Batter Up, but with a Nippon Professional Baseball license attached to it, and broken sound test graphics. Only one review from Famitsu.


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    8th worst Game Gear game - 43.0 based on 4 reviews - Kuni Chan no Game Tengoku Part 2

    The sequel to a bare-bones mini-game collection with more bare-bones mini-games. I don't have anything else to say about it.


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    7th worst Game Gear game - 42.8 based on 5 reviews - Hyokkori Hyoutanjima: Hyoutanjima no Daikoukai

    Back when Black Squirrel posted about this Japanese puppet show tie-in being the worst Game Gear game there was only one French review for it. Since then, there's been a few more reviews for it so it's no longer the worst, but is still considered bad enough to place here. It would have placed closer to the worst if not for the decent ratings by Beep! MegaDrive readers.


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    6th worst Game Gear game - 42.25 based on 4 reviews - Honoo no Toukyuuji Dodge Danpei

    While the Mega Drive version of this Shogakukan manga tie-in got some decent reviews, this Game Gear version was predictably inferior.


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    5th worst Game Gear game - 41.9 based on 10 reviews - Rise of the Robots

    This fighting game was already an infamously overhyped disaster on 16-bit platforms, and this watered-down handheld port is predictably even worse.


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    4th worst Game Gear game - 39.0 based on 4 reviews - Aa Harimanada

    The Game Gear version of the licensed Mega Drive sumo wrestling game of the same name. This one holds the dubious honour of being the worst Game Gear game according to readers of Beep! MegaDrive, with a reader average of 2.2602 out of 10.


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    3rd worst Game Gear game - 38.0 based on 1 review - Iron Man/X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal (Game Gear)

    And from here on out the list becomes very unreliable, as everything left is based on only one review, starting with this statistic in Acclaim's licensed rubbish output.


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    2nd worst Game Gear game - 37.0 based on 1 review - Star Trek Generations: Beyond the Nexus

    Another game with only one review. Star Trek games end up being lackluster in general, and this is no better, not even on the Game Boy.


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    Worst Game Gear game - 35.0 based on 1 review - Panzer Dragoon Mini

    One of the last official Game Gear releases in Japan, and part of the Kids Gear brand. Obviously the Game Gear could not hope to achieve the same technical feats as the Saturn could for Panzer Dragoon, but again, only one review, and from Famitsu. But yeah, this is statistically the new worst Game Gear game.
     
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  8. Overlord

    Overlord

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    Surprised GG Shinobi 2 doesn't rank higher, for me it's one of the best games on the system. MM2 taking the top spot isn't undeserved, though.
     
  9. JaxTH

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    Jack shit.
    Panzer Dragoon Mini is a really admirable effort though.
     
  10. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

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    There's only one review, so it's not very representitive. Unfortunately "find more reviews" is a challenge with Japanese-only Game Gear games from 1996 - the gaming press just didn't care.


    Though the Game Gear (and Game Boy) come with a lot of strange baggage when it comes to review scores. Much of the gaming press were expecting console-like experiences, or playing through specialised hardware that connected the system to a television, thus solving the very real issue of motion blur that could make fast-paced games borderline unplayable.

    You also get situations like Mappy (which I thought was a well-loved Namco classic) being panned because... uh... it's old I guess? Pac-Man's knocked around a bit too - too simple? How come Tetris gets a free pass then?
     
  11. I’d be curious to see a list of most frequently viewed game articles on the wiki sorted by console, to give an idea of which games people are most interested in today. Does MediaWiki have facilities for showing the most popular pages and then filtering by category?
     
  12. Bobblen

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    I might have broken that statistic as instead of having it bookmarked like a sane person, I just start typing in the address bar and what comes up comes up. Mortal Kombat II seems to be the most common! :D