Friday, May 27, 2016

My Top 7 Sega Master System Games

I'm not a fan of most popular 3rd generation games so I like to find interesting games that are maybe just outside of mainstream. On the Sega Master System I found 7 of these. However, ss you may know from My Top (6) 8 NES Games, I like updating my list with more games that I think are worthy, so please let me know which of your favorite games were not included. And now, the list:

1. Road Rash 

Quite simply the best racing game of third generation consoles, Road Rash takes classic motorcycle racing and adds a twist. Everything you're doing is illegal. This means that you can hit other racers to try to knock them out, it means that the police are chasing you, it means much added excitement to an already topnotch game.

2. Lemmings 

Disclaimer: I have nostalgia for this game, so it may not be as good as I think it is.
The game that started it all, Lemmings was a really good puzzle game that introduced the concept of rts (real time strategy). You must get the lemmings to the exit by giving them a limited number of special abilities that the game let's you use. This game doesn't play tricks like giving you lives and such, it just plain and simple gives you a puzzle to solve and let's you try to solve it; can't solve it now? Here's a password so you can come back later. The only thing this version of Lemmings is missing is a fast forward button

3. Bonanza Bros. 

I've never seen anything quite like Bonanza Bros. It's technically a platformer, but it's got the feel of an early version of a stealth game. The goal is to go around buildings stealing things without being shot at. It's got some stealth mechanics like guards alerting each other and not being able to permanently kill them. It also has interesting difficulty settings where you choose how many lives you have and the time limit, but the levels stay the same.

4. Ancient Ys Vanished Omen 

Instead of the turn-based combat in final fantasy or the real time combat in the legend of zelda, Ys went with a system of their own invention. In Ys you attack enemies by bumping into them. Enemies also attack you by walking into you, so you have to be careful not to walk into their weapon. The combat takes a bit of getting used to, but it offers a refreshing change from the usual. My only gripe is that there's what level you're on matters too much so you will not be able to damage the first boss if you're still on level two for example. However, if you play without a guide you'll end up doing enough grinding that it won't matter, just make sure to save often, very often. 

5. Sonic Chaos 

I wish this wouldn't be called sonic, it's really not a Sonic game. Once you have that out of the way this is a really good platformer, the level design is spectacular and it's an overall great game. You can pick tails if you want to play on easy mode and be able fly or sonic if you like bonus stages and want to do a super peal out, I'm not sure what the difference is between that and spin dash, but whatever... (also, it makes the game slightly harder)

6. Penguin Land

The goal in Penguin Land is to move an egg from the top to the bottom. This means protecting it from baddies trying to crack it and from long drops. Like lemmings, this game doesn't make you start from the starting, but let's you start from wherever you want to.

7. Bubble Bobble

Arguably the best port of the arcade game, in Bubble Bobble you must blow bubbles at opponents, which then get swallowed by the bubbles. When there's just one enemy left, it goes into a fury and goes faster. Simple mechanics but it gets pretty hard

As I was making this list, I noticed that unlike in My Top 6 (8) NES Games, I didn't mention graphics once. I think the graphics on the sms were much better than the nes, if only the sms would have been as popular as it deserved... I was going to make an honorable mentions section, but there are so many games that deserve an honorable mention that I skipped it.
I hope you enjoyed this list and found it different than the average list. I'll probably make a top turbografx 16 list next so stay tuned if that sounds interesting.