Recognized by Genesis fans as one of the hardest action/platformers of all time, Shadow of the Beast reportedly owes its notorious difficulty to a higher refresh rate that made it run almost 20% faster than it should have. Lots of game pads lost their lives taking on this incredibly hard game, but there are those gamers out there who had the patience (and the extra controllers) to actually play through to the end. Are you man enough for the challenge?
Author: The Coop
Heavy Nova
The thought of upgradable robots battling to the death should have been a recipe for pure win. In reality, Heavy Nova was a slow, plodding game that took some serious patience to love. Unfortunately, most gamers haven’t been that devoted, and Heavy Nova is sort of overlooked today.
Viewpoint
Aicom and Sammy scored a big hit with Viewpoint, an isometric shooter that was big on visuals and hard as nails. Sammy decided that there weren’t enough versions of the game around, so it decided to release the game for several consoles, including our very own Genesis. Sega fans should take note that this is perhaps as close as they’ll ever get to a real Zaxxon sequel. And no, Motherbase 2000 on 32X doesn’t count.
Galahad
Many Americans in early ’90s may not have seen all the great games that came out for computers, but they sure did get their fair share of Amiga love by way of the Genesis. Many great games were ported, among them Psygnosis’ Galahad, which was a tough action/platformer with great visuals. How does the Genesis version fare against the original?
Task Force Harrier Ex
The Genesis is widely known for its shooter library, and among the many titles available is a relatively unknown arcade port of Task Force Harrier Ex. Toned down a bit but still retaining the essential gameplay and feel of the coin-op original, the Genesis version is a competent little game that far too few people know about.