 Today, I thought it'd be fun to get back to the roots of this channel. I grew up with a Super Nintendo, and finding games, both here and overseas, became a lifelong hobby. But in the meantime, I missed out on a ton of Genesis or Mega Drive games. So while this may be a no duh kind of a video for a lot of you, I thought it'd be cool to look at some of the best games that only were released for the Genesis. Maybe there are some of you out there there in the same boat as I am that were so hung up on the SNES that they just kind of ignored anything Sega did. So here we go. Just to be clear, I'm going to go over these titles real quick, not a lot of detail, and I'm not going to go into port differences. I know games like Earthworm Gym and Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat all came out on both systems, but this is stuff that just got released on the Genesis. If you want information about port differences, there's a couple great channels on that, like Game vs. Game and Console Wars. Might as well start with the most obvious of the obvious, Sonic 1, 2 and 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. Well, no frickin duh. I will at least say though that these games highlight something that's hardly represented at all on any Super Nintendo game, and that's the combination of Twitch controls, level design, and memorization. In other words, the Sonic games get better the more you play them, because then you get used to the level design and learn to anticipate the way things are laid out, and as a result, you just get faster and faster, and the faster you get, the more addicting the gameplay. And of course that's all predicated on the fantastic level design that I think reached its peak in Sonic 2. It's safe to say that no SNES games came close to what the Sonic games on the Genesis bring to the table. This also did the run and gun genre better than the SNES did, and all it really needed was two games to prove that, Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier. The frenetic energy, crazy ass enemy design, and the non-stop carnage these two games offer is second to none. The only Super Nintendo game that comes close to this kind of action is the Japan exclusive title rendering Ranger R2, and even then that game is just way too hard. Alien Soldier and especially Gunstar Heroes are much more approachable and accessible, so by proxy they're much more addicting. I seriously think Gunstar Heroes is one of the five best Genesis games ever made. Moving on, the Super Nintendo's problems with shoot-'em-ups are well documented. Games that could have been good, like Gradius III and Super R-type, were marred by crippling an unpredictable slowdown that came and went as you played. The Genesis hardware lent itself in a much better way to shoot-'em-up gameplay to the point that it created all-time classics like Thunder Force IV and Musha. Look, the SNES still had some really good shoot-'em-ups, but nothing was going to touch games like these two, and even then there's more under the radar shoot-'em-ups like Gairaz, Glay Lancer, and Steel Empire, not to mention the rest of the games in the Thunder Force series, as well as the superior port of Raiden Trad. The point is, if you like shoot-'em-ups, but you only had an SNES, you have like a dozen quality ones to choose from on the Genesis. One of the best developers for the Super Nintendo was Konami, cranking out games like Super Castlevania IV, Turtles in Time, and Contra III, but they didn't stop there. They created a Genesis exclusive game for each of these series as well, Castlevania Bloodlines, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hyper Stone Heist, and Contra Hardcore. When I was younger I thought these were just ports with different titles, but they are in fact original games and well worth checking out, especially Castlevania Bloodlines. Of course I have to mention the Streets of Rage series, Super Nintendo had Final Fight 1, 2, and 3, and the Genesis had Streets of Rage 1, 2, and 3, with the second game being one of the best beat-'em-ups ever made with a killer soundtrack and fantastic sound design. If you want even more beat-'em-up action, then I have to mention Golden Axe, one of the defining titles in the early Genesis library, a fun multiplayer arcade port. Speaking of multiplayer and defining Genesis titles, there's Toe Jam and Earl. If any game sums up the early 90s, it's this one. It's goofy, but it's still worth sharing a laugh with the second player. There's also the Shinobi series, in particular Shinobi 3, Return of the Ninja Master. The closest the Super Nintendo got to this was Hagane, and that game, while great, is just way too hard. The Shinobi games represent the same sort of side-scrolling gameplay that's a little more approachable and accessible for everyone, featuring tons of moves, techniques, and power-ups. Speaking of Ninja gameplay mechanics, there's also Strider, a really fun and fast-paced action platformer. The SNES again tried to come up with something similar in games like Run Saber, but Strider was just miles ahead and is certainly worth playing today. Sticking with side-scrolling platformers, there's games I've already done individual videos on, like Vectorman, X-Men 2, and Wristar, that are well worth checking out. But there's also games like Comic Zone, where you fight your way through the pages of a comic book, Kid Chameleon, where you use a ton of power-ups to run through over a hundred levels, and Aladdin. Yeah, this game is technically different from the SNES game, and it's better and well worth playing. Here's a game versus game video detailing the differences between the two games. No Genesis video would be complete without mentioning NHL 94. Yeah, the NHL series came out in Super Nintendo 2, but the Genesis is able to handle multiple sprites like this in a much smoother fashion, so the gameplay here is more immediate and responsive. Speaking of hockey, there's also stuff like Mutant League hockey, as well as Mutant League football. The title and footage here of each are pretty self-explanatory, and both games are a lot of fun, especially with the second player. You can even bribe the ref in Mutant League football, that's so awesome. Sega also took some interesting risks with certain games like Echo the Dolphin. Yeah, this game isn't for everyone, but it is a curious blend of atmosphere and exploration. It's almost like Sega's answer, kinda sorta, to Super Metroid. It's an interesting idea for a game at the very least. I'll mention a couple games I don't hear mentioned too often, like Landstalker. This is a great looking adventure style game with a sense of humor, well worth checking out if you can find it, and there's a lot more information here in this video review from Daria Reviews. There's also Beyond Oasis, a straight-ahead top-down adventure game. This one's closer to a link to the past, or even a secret-of-monotype clone, but it's really well done. I hardly ever see this game mentioned. Last but not least, there's the RPG genre. Yeah, the Super Nintendo pretty much runs circles around the Genesis in this category, but there's still stuff like Phantasy Star 4. There's nothing revolutionary or really that original here, but it's just got that traditional JRPG-type experience, so if that's what you're jonesing for and you've never played this one, it'll definitely scratch that edge. Plus, the soundtrack here is frickin' great. But yeah, sure, the SNES had a ton of great role-playing games, but on the strategy RPG side of things, eh, there wasn't a whole lot there. That's where you had to turn to the Genesis. Seriously, if you like strategy RPGs, or if you're completely new to the genre and you've always wanted to dive in, play Shining Force 2. It's perfectly balanced in all aspects with an easy learning curve, plus it's great looking with an upbeat soundtrack, an engaging story, and a fun battle system with a lot of mechanics, but not too much that you get overwhelmed. Of any on this list, this is the one I wish I got on the Super Nintendo the most. So yeah, that's about it for me. I know I could name like 10 or 20 more games, like the Road Rash games, Rocket Knight Adventures, Megaturrican, on and on, but I wanted to keep this video somewhat concise. And I want to give you guys in the comments a chance to list your favorites as well, so go ahead and do that. Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for watching, and have a great rest of your day.