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Lots of arcade shooters made the jump to the Genesis, but some suffered great changes. Insector-X is an example of a game that went through massive graphical and audio alterations on the trip home. The cartoony visuals were traded for some seriously robotic bugs, and the soundtrack was completely swapped out. Some argue that it’s all for the better, while some say the game is worse off for it.
Released a year after the PC original, John Madden Football started a franchise that reigns to this day. Though it may not be the best football game on the console, it is arguably the most important, as it not only spurred the Madden juggernaut but also tons of great competition from companies such as Sega and later Visual Concepts.
Wolfteam released so many games for the Genesis that it’s a miracle it found time to do anything else. Game after game made its way to our little console, and while some are better than others, most are worth checking out in some way or another. Take Final Zone, for example. With its complex gameplay and isometric view, it probably turned off a lot of gamers, but look deeper and there’s a decent game to be found.
To celebrate the publishing of our 700th review, we’ve chosen a shooter that’s aptly named. Toaplan’s Hellfire was released by the shortly-lived Seismic, and it’s pretty darn hard. Though it may not be visually stunning compared to other games in the genre, it’s a great game that offers solid gameplay and a rockin’ soundtrack to compliment its difficulty level.
The Mega Drive has a ton of shooters that never saw release outside of Japan. Unfortunately, for every gem like Battle Mania 2 there is a dud like XDR: X-Dazedly-Ray. If you ever needed a game to cure insomnia, Unipacc has filled your prescription to the letter. Read our full review for more details, and trust us. It’s more fun than the actual game itself.