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We’ve said it time and time again: Once a Genesis owner, always a Genesis owner. It stays in your blood, and no matter how hard you try to stay away, 16-bits bring you back. So why fight it? Contributor Brian Fielding realized this after almost a decade away from his console, and he shows us just how great it was to get back into Sega gaming in volume 34 of our Stories from the Book of Genesis series.
Let me see if I’ve got this right. Marko’s Magic Football was originally released in Europe on the Mega Drive, Mega CD, and Game Gear, and all made it across the pond to the U.S. except for the CD port. Eventually, the Sega CD version finally saw distribution in 2003 by Good Deal Games, which undoubtedly made all those who bought the incredibly expensive European original very unhappy. During the conversion process, the name was chopped off, no doubt due to America’s insistence in calling the sport “soccer,” but regardless of what it’s called, Marko is still a solid platformer that’s worth checking out.
SNK’s games have been ported widely, with the Genesis getting its fair share via Takara. Along with such hits as Samurai Shodown and Art of Fighting, the original Neo Geo fighting series, Fatal Fury, brawled its way onto 16-bit platforms. During the journey to Sega’s black box a few things were lost, and the first title in the series came away as a gimped port compared to rivals Street Fighter II SCE and Mortal Kombat. Is it still worth playing?
When Sega released James “Buster” Douglas Knockout Boxing for the Genesis, the product’s shelf life had already been cut short. Shortly after the game hit shelves, Douglas lost the belt in his first title defense, and Sega was left with one big turkey of a license. To top it off, the game was little more than a remix of Taito’s Final Blow coin-op. Most people waiting for a real boxing title were left with a bad taste in their mouths, and by the time the game was ported to the Master System, people had moved on. What they didn’t realize is that the 8-bit version is totally different and bears more of a resemblance to Sega’s Rocky than it’s 16-bit sibling.
Tomorrow’s MLB all-star game looks to be a great one, so why not level off all that positive energy with a really poor baseball title? Time Warner Interactive’s R.B.I. Baseball ’95 for the 32X took zero advantage of the hardware, much like other titles on the add-on, and it was even outclassed by offerings on the stock Genesis that year, such as Sega’s own stellar World Series Baseball ’95. Check out our full review for the sorry details, and trust us, it’ll make watching tomorrow’s game THAT much better.
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