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| I'm not sure anyone saw the advantages of Activator... | Despite this advertisement, European Racers was never actually released for the Sega CD. |
Sega/Virgin 24 megabits/CD-ROM Capcom released an SNES version of Aladdin in 1993 as well, but the Genesis game (programmed by David Perry) is generally considered to be superior. Indeed, the game's ultra-smooth animation system went on to form the basis of the engine used for Shiny's Earthworm Jim. "The development team at Virgin does in 3 months what most companies couldn't achieve in a year. Aladdin is, without a doubt, the most visually impressive cartridge based game that I have ever seen. It is also a well thought out, long and excellent controlling action platform, making this the one action title of '93 on the same level with Gunstar Heroes." "What happened to the Genesis!?! Suddenly, all the latest titles are some of the best ever seen! This cart has got to be seen to be believed! The animation is absolutely flawless, making it look just like the animated movie - literally!" |
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Konami CD-ROM Konami's Genesis translation of their arcade hit Lethal Enforcers brought with it the ill-fated "Justifier" peripheral for gunning down the enemy. In a way, 1993 can be seen as the "Year of the Wacky Genesis Peripherals", as the Justifier joined the ranks of such hardware gems as the Activator, Menacer, and two separate and incompatible four-way play adaptors... "This game is not worthy of the Sega CD. With pixelized graphics and continuous loop background that look like the Flintstones, Lethal Enforcers is not up to Konami standards." "It's just like the arcade game, which isn't really saying much but you have to give it credit for coming out with its own gun." |
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Psygnosis 8 megabits Psygnosis' Puggsy's chief claim to fame appears to have been that it supposedly managed to exceed the limit of 64 on-screen colours on the Genesis system. Opinion is divided as to whether or not the game ever actually reached this goal, but the lively debate is probably the only reason anyone remembers Puggsy in the first place... "Puggsy isn't an action game, it's not a puzzle game and it's not a role-playing game, but it is sort of all of the above. It's an action-adventure-quest-puzzle-role-playing game!" "This game is cute. It has extremely colorful graphics (on Genesis no less) with music that seems like it's right from the Amiga computers." |
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Psygnosis 8 megabits Yes, the company that brought you games like Wipeout and Destruction Derby in the days of the PlayStation released a game called Wiz 'n' Liz for the Genesis. I've never played it, but it sounds like it had an interesting premise... "It's actually kind of fun (although mindless) but obviously designed with the child in mind (or those big time non-violent types)." |
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U.S. Gold 8 megabits If you're going to create a sequel to a beloved and groundbreaking video game classic, a rush-job is always inadvisable... especially if you weren't the one who created the original game in the first place. Enter Strider Returns, a critically panned disaster which thankfully doesn't seem to have tarnished the image of Capcom's adventure series in any meaningful or lasting way... "The fault here lies on the programmers who might now want to consider a job in the food service industry...I said no cheese on that bonehead!!! Hey...aren't you the guy who made Strider two?" "Unfortunately, this cart contains few of the elements that made the first one so good." |
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Konami 8 megabits Konami's Zombies Ate My Neighbours was well received upon its initial SNES release, but by the time it came out for the Genesis it seems the joke had worn a bit thin. As far as I'm aware, this franchise has never appeared again, but zombies remain as popular in games as ever... "It is still a terrific game with all of the tricks and puzzle solving that the original had but the music and graphics that created the mood of the SNES version have been watered down somewhat." "Like the Super NES version, this is an excellent game for one or two players, loaded with references to old horror movies!" |
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Sega 8 megabits At some point in mid 1993, Sega must have realised that Sonic 3 wasn't going to be ready in time for Christmas and decided to throw together a game based on the Casino Night Zone as a stopgap. That's my entirely baseless theory, of course, but I suspect a large percentage of the people who bought Sonic Spinball were likely desperate for any sort of cartridge-based hedgehog action they could get their hands on... "This title was obviously programmed here because it is missing that Japanese edge that the action games have. The music is especially chunked. As a stand alone pinball game, however, SS is excellent." "The graphics, music and sound are all top-notch. As it stands by itself, it's a good game, but it pales when compared to the other Sonic games." |
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Sega/Game Arts CD-ROM At the 1993 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, EGM editor Ed Semrad was irate that Nintendo's polygonal shooter Star Fox had been getting all the media attention, while Game Arts Silpheed was being largely ignored. He reasoned that Silpheed, after all, displayed more polygons in one of its stages than Star Fox managed to crank out in the entire game. When Silpheed was finally released, however, its critical response was somewhat divided. Typical complaints centered around the fact that although the player could interact with the game's polygonal backgrounds to a limited degree, they weren't rendered in realtime and in some respects the game could be described as a two-dimensional shooter pasted on top of a Full Motion Video backdrop. That being said, I happen to think that Silpheed is an excellent shooter with solid game play, great music and some of the clearest voice samples ever heard on a 16-bit system ("Shit! They got the carrier!"). Special mention must also be made of the game's backgrounds, as they were truly amazing for the time. Indeed, Silpheed's backgrounds look a bit like Zaxxon in 3D, except with gigantic spaceships that blow up into thousands of pieces and laser beams coming at you from every direction. Game Arts always seemed to be more at home with the Sega CD hardware than other developers, and nowhere is this more evident than in Silpheed. Coupled with their beloved Lunar series, it's no surprise that Game Arts titles form a part of every Sega CD player's Top Ten list. "I just can't imagine liking a shooter more than this. Since I got mine, I have played it over and over, every day. I'm sure I will never tire of the awesome graphics, great music, perfect playability and amazing intermissions. Will any developer ever take the time and money to top it? I think not." "I really wasn't impressed with this product after all the hype that was circulating about it. To me it's nothing more than a Galaga game with 3-D polygon backgrounds. Worse yet, the background isn't interactive so the screen in unnecessarily cluttered." |
