{"id":23678,"date":"2023-08-11T00:01:22","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T00:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=23678"},"modified":"2023-07-16T11:28:35","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T11:28:35","slug":"summer-of-the-sega-genesis-mini-2-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/11\/summer-of-the-sega-genesis-mini-2-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer of the SEGA Genesis Mini 2: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>While they aren\u2019t as huge as they were a few years ago, mini consoles are great because they package some of the systems\u2019 best games onto one tiny console you can relive the classics on.\u00a0 But the problem is they don\u2019t put ALL the great games onto one console!\u00a0 Luckily last year SEGA released a second version of their Genesis Mini console with more different games, including some unreleased and SEGA CD titles.\u00a0 I heard it was kind of hard to get, and even though I paid a tiny bit more for mine than I wanted to, it still wasn\u2019t that bad.\u00a0 So let\u2019s take a look at what\u2019s on the Genesis Mini 2!<\/p>\n

First let\u2019s take a look at the box.\u00a0 It\u2019s actually pretty tiny, much smaller than the Genesis Mini 1 console\u2019s box.\u00a0 No wasted space here!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the back of the box.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s the mini console in my hand.<\/p>\n

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And here\u2019s the controller.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad it\u2019s the six button version!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

OK now let\u2019s take a look at the games.\u00a0 There are so many (60 in all) that I\u2019ll have to split this into two parts.\u00a0 So look for the next part in a week!<\/p>\n

After Burner II<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not as good as the arcade, but I think this was an early Genesis title.\u00a0 I never really got into this one, but I did like the After Burner track in one of the recent Sonic and SEGA crossover racing games.<\/p>\n

Alien Soldier<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a 2D run and gun game by Treasure.\u00a0 They really had mastery of the Genesis hardware so this one looks great and runs smooth.\u00a0 Only problem is it\u2019s way too hard.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I don\u2019t like Treasure as much as others because I find their games either too hard or they feel like only half a game.<\/p>\n

Atomic Runner<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is based on an arcade game called Atomic Runner Chelnov.\u00a0 They changed the graphics here and dropped the Chelnov name, although you still play as Chelnov in the game.\u00a0 It\u2019s a continuous runner\/shooter, and I\u2019m awful at it because if you hit anything you die.\u00a0 Even a wall.\u00a0 It was made by Data East and I\u2019ve heard that Chelnov has some relation to the Russian strongman Karnov.\u00a0 Chelnov makes a lot of cameos in other Data East games at least.<\/p>\n

Bonanza Bros.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I freaking loved this one in arcades!\u00a0 You play as one of two robbers who must steal treasures from all sorts of buildings while finding ways to creatively get around cops and guard dogs.\u00a0 I also love the art style in this one.<\/p>\n

Clayfighter<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was so excited this was on here but sadly it\u2019s the Genesis version.\u00a0 The graphical power of the SNES was just so much better at showing these clay visuals.\u00a0 As an early fighting game, it\u2019s also a bit slow and clunky.\u00a0 I think Clayfighter is due for a revival or remake!<\/p>\n

Crusader of Centy<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is one of the main reasons why I got the Genesis Mini 2.\u00a0 I really wanted to play this, and while you can also get it on the Switch, I didn\u2019t know that at the time.\u00a0 Even though I paid a little more than what I wanted for the Genesis Mini 2 for this, it\u2019s at least way cheaper than the cartridge!\u00a0 Anyway, Crusader of Centy is a Zelda clone through and through.\u00a0 The graphics look so much like Link to the Past that I\u2019m surprised Nintendo didn\u2019t sue.\u00a0 I first played this via emulation back in college, and really wanted to take another stab at it someday, so now I can!\u00a0 It\u2019s definitely the kind of game I like, and one of the few Genesis games that really impressed me.\u00a0 There\u2019s a funny Sonic cameo in it, too.<\/p>\n

Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf<\/strong><\/p>\n

You fly a helicopter in an isometric perspective and shoot at stuff.\u00a0 I think I rented this once on the SNES.\u00a0 It seemed pretty popular back then, but not really my cup of tea.<\/p>\n

Earthworm Jim 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everyone says the Earthworm Jim games were better on the Genesis, but I dunno, I liked them just fine on the SNES.\u00a0 I love the cartoony graphics and humor, but I also think these games are more fun to watch than they are to play.<\/p>\n

Elemental Master<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a 2D vertically scrolling shooter, but instead of spaceships you are a wizard blasting spells while walking around fantasy landscapes.\u00a0 Interesting idea, but I\u2019m horrible at it.<\/p>\n

Fatal Fury 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

This SNK series was one of the first imitators of Street Fighter 2.\u00a0 I never really liked the SNES and Genesis ports of NEO GEO games.\u00a0 I\u2019d rather just play them in the arcades.\u00a0 Never was very good at Fatal Fury either.\u00a0 Those early fighters were a bit slow and clunky to me.<\/p>\n

Gain Ground<\/strong><\/p>\n

I actually kind of like this one.\u00a0 It\u2019s an overhead shooter like Ikari Warriors, but also mixes elements from single screen puzzle action games like Bubble Bobble.\u00a0 Your goal is to get all your guys to the top of the screen one by one, and each one has different weapons and speed and such.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fairly original idea, especially for the time.<\/p>\n

Golden Axe II<\/strong><\/p>\n

SEGA\u2019s flagship fantasy beat \u2018em up series is all right.\u00a0 A bit slow and clunky, but not bad.\u00a0 Can you guess who my favorite character is?<\/p>\n

Granada<\/strong><\/p>\n

You control a futuristic tank (or spaceship I can\u2019t tell), in an overhead perspective as you zip around mazes shooting other tanks that come out of lairs that you have to destroy.\u00a0 So because of that, it also reminds me of Gauntlet.<\/p>\n

Hellfire<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this 2D horizontally scrolling shooter, you can switch between four weapon types at any time to best suit your needs.\u00a0 Unfortunately this is one of those one hit and you die games and you don\u2019t get to start over where you left off, you have to go back to the beginning or a checkpoint. \u00a0I hate those kinds of shooters.\u00a0 You know what Genesis shooter I wish was on here?\u00a0 Gaiares.\u00a0 That one was so awesome.\u00a0 You could absorb enemy weapons like Kirby, and the music was awesome.<\/p>\n

Herzog Zwei<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always heard from Genesis fans how unique this game is, in that it\u2019s a RTS game but you control an airplane in real time and can deploy and build things where you need them on the fly.\u00a0 During my play, I couldn\u2019t figure out what to do so I think this is one of those where I would need an instruction booklet to play.<\/p>\n

Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another 2D horizontally scrolling shooter.\u00a0 The background graphics made it hard to see projectiles and it gave me a headache after a while so I didn\u2019t play long.<\/p>\n

Midnight Resistance<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a 2D run and gun arcade game from Data East, and not very good.<\/p>\n

OutRun<\/strong><\/p>\n

I guess the Genesis version of this is all right, but I\u2019d much rather play the arcade one.\u00a0 I also really liked OutRun 2000.\u00a0 SEGA should revisit this series.<\/p>\n

OutRunners<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a two player split screen competitive version of OutRun.\u00a0 The title cards have Data East on it, which confused me.\u00a0 I like the arcade version of this a lot more.<\/p>\n

Phantasy Star II<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was never impressed with this RPG sequel.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be until the fourth installment where I would feel like it would be something I\u2019d want to play.<\/p>\n

Populous<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was one of the first \u2018god games.\u2019\u00a0 I rented it once on the SNES and couldn\u2019t figure out what to do.\u00a0 Same goes here.<\/p>\n

Rainbow Islands Extra<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Bubble Bobble sequel arranges the levels from the original game, hence the \u201cExtra\u201d in the title.\u00a0 I was impressed with how close they got the graphics and sound on the Genesis, though.\u00a0 Pretty much arcade perfect.<\/p>\n

Ranger-X<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a 2-D shooter but it scrolls in all directions and you can shoot forwards or backwards similar to games like Section Z and Side Arms.\u00a0 You pilot a robot mech and there are some pretty cool 3D effects and huge bosses, so I was kind of impressed with this one on a technical standpoint.<\/p>\n

Ristar<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like Ristar better than Sonic.\u00a0 There, I said it.\u00a0 This is one of the few Genesis games that really impressed me when I first played it.\u00a0 Almost SNES quality.\u00a0 The stretchy arm and grabbing mechanic is used in lots of cool ways.\u00a0 I remember when this game first came out and everyone was worried that Ristar would replace Sonic as SEGA\u2019s mascot!<\/p>\n

Rolling Thunder 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the sequel to Namco\u2019s side scrolling spy game.\u00a0 I never was very good at it.\u00a0 The sequel has better graphics, more locations, and you can now play as the female spy who was captured in the first game.<\/p>\n

Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi<\/strong><\/p>\n

And speaking of Rolling Thunder, Shinobi games are just Rolling Thunder with ninjas.\u00a0 But who copied who?\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to say, since both Shinobi and Rolling Thunder came out around the same time I think.\u00a0 Anyway, this is loosely based on the arcade game sequel.\u00a0 The levels are a little different, but you get a dog just like in the arcade.<\/p>\n

Shining Force II<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a strategy RPG in a fantasy medieval setting.\u00a0 It kind of reminds me of a more cartoony Fire Emblem.\u00a0 The developers of these games say they were not influenced by Fire Emblem, but I called BS on that one.\u00a0 Did you know the Shining Force games were developed by Camelot, who would go on to make stuff like Golden Sun and Mario Golf?\u00a0 You may be wondering where Shining Force 1 is, but we\u2019ll get to that later.<\/p>\n

Shining in the Darkness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually before the first Shining Force game, there was this.\u00a0 It was a first person perspective RPG, but still had that distinct cartoony look.\u00a0 I hear the same folks who did the first person dungeons in Phantasy Star helped with this game, too.\u00a0 You\u2019ll like the Genesis Mini 2 if you\u2019re a Shining fan!<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all for now.\u00a0 Tune in next week when I\u2019ll go over the rest of the Genesis games, as well as the unreleased stuff and SEGA CD titles!\u00a0 Later!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While they aren\u2019t as huge as they were a few years ago, mini consoles are great because they package some of the systems\u2019 best games onto one tiny console you can relive the classics on.\u00a0 But the problem is they don\u2019t put ALL the great games onto one console!\u00a0 Luckily last year SEGA released a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23678"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23680,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23678\/revisions\/23680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}