Here's a nice challenge for you. Recently scanned at Retromags, it's Electronic Gaming Monthly #18 (January 1991) which apparently obtained a list of Mega Drive games for 1991. Some are ever-so-slightly strange and bizarre - usually they're more sensible, which suggests EGM nabbed it from a non-official source. Can you identify which are the real deal??? http://I.imgur.com/XzFFEJv.jpg The list: Mega Drive: Pac-Mania -> released Rolling Thunder Deluxe -> Rolling Thunder 2? 3? RBI 3 -> released (as RBI Baseball 3) Pinball -> ?? Beirut -> ?? Midnight Resistence -> released Area 88 -> ?? Ultima 6 -> ?? Winning Run -> ?? Line of Fire -> ?? (Sega arcade, Master System version exists) Battle Golfer -> released in Japan Thunder Force 4 -> released Air Diver 2 -> ?? Battling World (Modem) -> ?? Super Bubble Boble -> ?? Incredible Hulk -> there was one in 1994 Captain America -> released? Ninja Warriors -> (Mega-CD version exists) Rough Racer -> (arcade version exists) Final Fight -> (Mega-CD version exists) 1941 -> ?? Aero Blasters -> released Fantasia -> released Vindicators -> ?? Darius -> ?? (Darius II turned up) Master of Weapon -> released Turbo Outrun -> released Cal.50 -> released Disempu -> released in Japan, Europe as Twin Hawk Galaxy Force -> Galaxy Force II? Willow -> ?? Toobin' -> ?? Tarzan -> ?? King Kong -> ?? Apache -> ?? Cadash -> released Aliens -> ?? EPROM -> well done lads Altered Beast 2 -> ?? Lunar Lander -> ?? 720 -> ?? Moonwalker 2 -> ?? (I've read rumours) Four-in-one Shinobi, Hang-On, Zaxxpm. "Rasslesia" -> ??? Mega-CD: Forgotten Worlds -> cancelled? Super Monaco GP -> not on Mega-CD Assault -> ?? Phantasy Star 4 -> cancelled Dragon's Lair -> released Points for scrapped games you can prove existed on the Mega Drive at some point.
Darius was probably Darius 2 aka Sagaia. No reason to release the first game, since at that point it was old. Captain America -> Captain America and The Avengers, released. Assault for Mega CD might be Rebel Assault.
Winning Run could be Limited Edition Hang-On, which was the arcade version of Super Hang-On that came out in '91. Winning Run is a song from Hang-On. :v
There was a slightly different version of Super Monaco GP included on the Sega Classics Arcade Collection for Mega CD. The Four-in-one for Mega Drive is weird ... three of those appeared on SMS, but I don't know what "Rasslesia" is. Maybe they considered having SMS combo carts for Mega Drive, similar to Phantasy Star 1. This issue also mentions that they've been racking up big phone bills to Japan from using the Mega Modem and Sega Game Toshokan, with a full feature appearing in Mega Play #2. I'd like to see that article.
Rafflesia. I'd assume this was RT2, since it features a handful of exclusive levels, but I guess a remake of #1 may not have been out of the question. Also, I don't think it's the first time I've seen a possible port of Willow being mentioned.
Ah, I thought it sounded familiar, I guess that means it would have been a collection of arcade ports, rather than SMS games.
"Beirut" is Desert Strike: Desert Strike underwent few changes from the plans outlined in the original design documents. The initial concept involved smoothly animated vehicles on an isometric playing field. The developers also aimed to include cinematic scenes, similar to The Revenge of Shinobi{{}}s introduction sequence.[9] The game began development some time before any discussion of an American invasion of Iraq,[10] originally based on the Lebanese Civil War and titled Beirut Breakout; this was later changed to the Persian Gulf region. EDIT: "Aliens" could also be Alien 3. It also released late, in 1992 not 91, but "Aliens" is the name of the second film, so assumptions may have been made.
This seems reasonable - there's quite a bit of coverage in Retro Gamer #45. Also apparently Gulf War veterans set fire to some copies of the game in protest of its existence - apparently CNN and the BBC reported it back in the day. if I'm feeling lonely later on I might try digging up footage.
Area 88 came out as U.N. Squadron in the US, but for the SNES and not the Genesis. It's based on a manga/anime. It was a port of a 1989 arcade game. The SNES port came out in 1991, so maybe Capcom planned to port it to Genesis as well and then abandoned the project?
Likely Dragon's Fury. I mean, duh, but this isn't that crazy in the face of Ultima IV being ported to SMS. Given that this list is kind of sketchy already, I'm almost wondering if an editor did an overcorrect on something like "Batting World," which would fit Tel Tel Stadium (it really only has batting.)
It's also in RG154, where Mike Posehn mentioned the Beirut Breakout thing again. In fact, he even sent us some design notes that the designer chose not to include in the final feature. A lot of it is technical and visually uninteresting, but I always like to add them where possible.
