Difference between revisions of "Mega Drive games"
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[[File:Supthunbld md eu cart.jpg|thumb|''[[Super Thunder Blade]]'' was a launch title for the system and is a fairly common game.]] | [[File:Supthunbld md eu cart.jpg|thumb|''[[Super Thunder Blade]]'' was a launch title for the system and is a fairly common game.]] | ||
− | As the [[Sega Mega Drive]] (Sega Genesis in North America) was [[Sega]]'s most successful video game console, there were thousands of '''Mega Drive games''' released for the platform. In Japan, the console debuted in | + | As the [[Sega Mega Drive]] (Sega Genesis in North America) was [[Sega]]'s most successful video game console, there were thousands of '''Mega Drive games''' released for the platform. In Japan, the console debuted in October 1988 with ''[[Space Harrier II]]'' and ''[[Super Thunder Blade]]'' as launch titles. |
Many of Sega's early Mega Drive releases were aimed to steal as much market share from Nintendo as physically possible, with Sega porting many of its arcade hits such as ''[[Altered Beast]]'', ''[[Golden Axe]]'' and ''[[Columns]]'', as well as partnering with celebrities to produce ''[[Michael Jackson's Moonwalker]]'', ''[[Pat Riley Basketball]]'', ''[[Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf]]'', ''[[James 'Buster' Douglas Knockout Boxing]]'', ''[[Joe Montana Football (Mega Drive)|Joe Montana Football]]'', ''[[Tommy Lasorda Baseball]]'' and ''[[Mario Lemieux Hockey]]''. There was also a licensing deal for Disney games, starting with ''[[Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse]]''. Progress was still fairly slow until the release of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' in 1991, prompting Nintendo to step up support for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Sega would then focus its efforts on attempting to beat the SNES on all fronts, releasing unsuccessful [[Mega CD]] and [[32X]] add-ons with their own set of games, and attempt to beat games such as ''Donkey Kong Country'' and ''Star Fox'' with titles such as ''[[Vectorman]]'' and ''[[Virtua Racing]]'' respectively. | Many of Sega's early Mega Drive releases were aimed to steal as much market share from Nintendo as physically possible, with Sega porting many of its arcade hits such as ''[[Altered Beast]]'', ''[[Golden Axe]]'' and ''[[Columns]]'', as well as partnering with celebrities to produce ''[[Michael Jackson's Moonwalker]]'', ''[[Pat Riley Basketball]]'', ''[[Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf]]'', ''[[James 'Buster' Douglas Knockout Boxing]]'', ''[[Joe Montana Football (Mega Drive)|Joe Montana Football]]'', ''[[Tommy Lasorda Baseball]]'' and ''[[Mario Lemieux Hockey]]''. There was also a licensing deal for Disney games, starting with ''[[Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse]]''. Progress was still fairly slow until the release of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' in 1991, prompting Nintendo to step up support for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Sega would then focus its efforts on attempting to beat the SNES on all fronts, releasing unsuccessful [[Mega CD]] and [[32X]] add-ons with their own set of games, and attempt to beat games such as ''Donkey Kong Country'' and ''Star Fox'' with titles such as ''[[Vectorman]]'' and ''[[Virtua Racing]]'' respectively. |
Revision as of 22:00, 15 July 2014
As the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in North America) was Sega's most successful video game console, there were thousands of Mega Drive games released for the platform. In Japan, the console debuted in October 1988 with Space Harrier II and Super Thunder Blade as launch titles.
Many of Sega's early Mega Drive releases were aimed to steal as much market share from Nintendo as physically possible, with Sega porting many of its arcade hits such as Altered Beast, Golden Axe and Columns, as well as partnering with celebrities to produce Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, Pat Riley Basketball, Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf, James 'Buster' Douglas Knockout Boxing, Joe Montana Football, Tommy Lasorda Baseball and Mario Lemieux Hockey. There was also a licensing deal for Disney games, starting with Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. Progress was still fairly slow until the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991, prompting Nintendo to step up support for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Sega would then focus its efforts on attempting to beat the SNES on all fronts, releasing unsuccessful Mega CD and 32X add-ons with their own set of games, and attempt to beat games such as Donkey Kong Country and Star Fox with titles such as Vectorman and Virtua Racing respectively.
Before the Mega Drive, Sega would do all manufacturing and distribution for both first-party and third-party games. Beginning with Technosoft's Thunder Force II, however, Sega allowed third-party developers to manufacture and distribute their own Mega Drive games, on the conditions that the publisher be a licensed one and that various rules needed to be followed (with some exceptions).
Unlike the Sega Master System, box designs for Mega Drive games were not consistant between regions and changed numerous time during the console's run, mostly in an attempt to reduce customer confusion in regards to other Sega platforms on the market - the Mega CD, 32X, Sega Game Gear, Sega Saturn and even the Sega Master System whose box art standards were being phased out by third parties during the 1990s. Initially Japan abolished strict box-art rules while the west adopted a grey-on-black grid-like pattern similar to the Master System. Shortly before the introduction of the Videogame Rating Council in North America, Sega Genesis games were given a red labelling scheme with white text, and after that, Europe saw a similar redesign using blue. Japan would see such a redesign in late 1994 to bring the design in line with the Saturn's new layout rules — however, Acclaim, who produced the most third-party games in this timeframe, still broke the rules on some occasions (like WWF Raw, which used the EU box layout).
Like the Master System, cartridge shapes differed depending on your location. In the west, they were all physically identical but often region locked, while in Japan, the carts were slightly less easy to reproduce and required a slightly different cartridge slot. Notably Electronic Arts refused to obide by these rules, producing their own "square" cartridges complete with yellow EA tab on the side. Codemasters went one step further, creating the J-Cart, allowing extra controllers to be inserted into the cartridge itself. Other companies, such as Ballistic, also used custom cart molds.
Mega Drive games are still being released to this day, albeit in small numbers. Many games are bundled with plug-in-and-play systems, or through compilation packs or downloads. There have been some special releases, such as 2006's Beggar Prince, which was distributed on a cartridge.
Subcategories
This category has the following 21 subcategories, out of 21 total.
M
- Mega Drive aftermarket games
- Mega Drive budget labels
- Mega Drive game compilations
- Mega Drive game technical information
- Mega Drive games by accessory support
- Mega Drive games by date
- Mega Drive games by genre
- Mega Drive games by region
- Mega Drive Mini 2 games
- Mega Drive Mini games
- Mega Hit Series games
Pages in category "Mega Drive games"
The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 1,276 total.
(previous page) (next page)C
- Columns
- Columns III: Revenge of Columns
- Combat Cars
- Comix Zone
- Commandos (Mega Drive)
- Contra: Hard Corps
- Cool Spot
- Corporation
- Cosmic Spacehead
- Crack Down
- Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi o Yobu Enji
- CrazyBus
- Cross Fire
- Crusader of Centy
- Crystal's Pony Tale
- Crüe Ball
- Curse
- The Curse of Illmoore Bay
- Custodian
- Cutie Suzuki no Ringside Angel
- Cutthroat Island
- CyberBall
- Cybershell Demo
- Cyborg Justice
D
- Daffy Duck in Hollywood
- Dahna Megami Tanjou
- Daikoukai Jidai II
- Dance 2000
- Dangerous Seed
- Darius
- Darius Extra Version
- Darius II
- Dark Castle
- Darkwing Duck
- Darwin 4081
- Dashin' Desperadoes
- David Crane's Amazing Tennis
- David Robinson's Supreme Court
- Davis Cup Tennis
- Daze Before Christmas
- Deadly Moves
- The Death and Return of Superman
- Death Caliber
- Death Duel
- Debtor
- Decap Attack
- Deer Hunter
- Demolition Man
- Demons Of Asteborg
- Desert Demolition Starring Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote
- Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
- Devi & Pii
- Devilish: The Next Possession
- Devwill Too MD
- Dial Q o Mawase!
- Dick Tracy
- Dick Vitale's "Awesome, Baby!" College Hoops
- Dino Dini's Soccer
- Dino Land
- Dinosaurs for Hire
- The Disney Collection
- Disney's Aladdin
- Disney's Aladdin (iam8bit)
- Divine Sealing
- DJ Boy
- Domino
- Donald in Maui Mallard
- Doom Troopers
- Doraemon: Yume Dorobou to 7 Nin no Gozans
- Double Clutch
- Double Dragon
- Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone
- Double Dragon II: The Revenge
- Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls
- Double Hits: Micro Machines / Psycho Pinball
- Double Pack: Aladdin and Ranger X
- Double Pack: Another World and Arcade's Revenge
- Double Pack: Another World and Wrestle War
- Double Pack: Ballz and Donald Duck
- Double Pack: Bubsy and Jewel Master
- Double Pack: Bubsy II and Shinobi III
- Double Pack: Combat Cars and World Cup Italia '90
- Double Pack: Davis Cup World Tour and Gunstar Heroes
- Double Pack: Dick Vitale's Basketball and Super Thunder Blade
- Double Pack: Dragon and BattleToads
- Double Pack: Ecco the Dolphin and Ariel the Little Mermaid
- Double Pack: Fantastic Dizzy and Rocket Knight Adventures
- Double Pack: Hulk and Spiderman
- Double Pack: Joe Montana Football 3 and Double Clutch MD
- Double Pack: Lethal Enforcers 2 and Psycho Pinball
- Double Pack: Micro Machines and F1
- Double Pack: Mortal Kombat II and Revenge of Shinobi
- Double Pack: Quackshot and BattleToads
- Double Pack: Robocop v's Terminator and Winter Olympics
- Double Pack: RoboCop Versus Terminator and Marko's Magic Football
- Double Pack: Rocket Knight and Tiny Toons
- Double Pack: Sonic 2 and Global Gladiators
- Double Pack: Sonic 3 and Mega Games 1
- Double Pack: The Jungle Book and Columns
- Double Pack: X-Men and Space Harrier 2
- Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
- Dracula no Shiro
- Dragon Ball Z: Buyuu Retsuden
- Dragon Ball: Final Bout
- Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes
- Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II
- Dragon's Eye Plus: Shanghai III
- Dragon's Fury
- Dragon's Revenge
- Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
- Du Shen Zhi Meng Huan Poker
- The Duel: Test Drive II
- Duke Nukem 3D (Mega Drive)
- Duke Nukem 3D (Piko Interactive)
- Dune II: Battle for Arrakis
- Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun
- Dyna Brothers
- Dyna Brothers 2
- Dynamite Duke
- Dynamite Headdy
E
- EA Hockey
- EA Sports Double Header
- Earnest Evans
- Earth Defense
- Earthion
- Earthworm Jim
- Earthworm Jim 2
- Ecco Jr.
- Ecco the Dolphin
- Ecco: The Tides of Time
- El Viento
- El Viento (Retro-Bit)
- Elemental Master
- Eliminate Down
- Eliminate Down (Retro-Bit)
- Elitserien 95
- Elitserien 96
- Escape 2042: The Truth Defenders
- ESPN Baseball Tonight
- ESPN National Hockey Night
- ESPN Speedworld
- ESPN Sunday Night NFL
- ESWAT: City Under Siege
- Eternal Champions
- Eternalist: A Telefuture Compilation
- European Club Soccer
- Evander Holyfield's "Real Deal" Boxing
- Ex-Mutants
- Exile
- Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land
- ExoSquad
- Eyra the Crow Maiden
F
- F-117 Night Storm
- F-15 Strike Eagle II
- F-22 Interceptor: Advanced Tactical Fighter
- F1
- F1 Circus MD
- F1: World Championship Edition (Mega Drive)
- The Faery Tale Adventure
- Family Feud
- Fantasia
- Fantastic Dizzy
- Fantasy Zone (Mega Drive)
- Fastest 1
- Fatal Fury
- Fatal Fury 2
- Fatal Labyrinth
- Fatal Rewind
- Felix the Cat
- Feng Kuang Tao Hua Yuan
- Feng Shen Ying Jie Chuan
- Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge
- Fever Pitch Soccer
- FIFA 97: Gold Edition
- FIFA International Soccer
- FIFA Road to World Cup 98 (Mega Drive)
- FIFA Soccer 95
- FIFA Soccer 96 (Mega Drive)
- Fighting Masters
- Final Zone
- Fire Mustang
- Fire Shark
- Fire Shark Collector's Edition
- Fix-It Felix Jr.
- Flashback
- Flicky
- The Flintstones (Ocean)
- The Flintstones (Taito)
- Foreman for Real
- Forgotten Worlds (Mega Drive)
- FoxyLand
- Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball
- Frogger
- From TV Animation Slam Dunk: Kyougou Makkou Taiketsu!
- Fun 'n' Games
- Funny World & Balloon Boy
- Fushigi no Umi no Nadia
- Future 2612
- FX-Unit Yuki: The Henshin Engine
- Férias Frustradas do Pica-Pau