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The Mega CD has plenty of great games that never left Japan, and A-Rank Thunder Tanjouhen is one that fans of anime and visual novels should definitely try. The language barrier may be a problem, but the cool character designs and presentation make it worth the effort. We need a fan translation!
Action titles based on anime are quite common, and for the most part they’re nothing special. Cyborg 009 falls squarely in the middle of the road due to uninspired gameplay and an overall lack of a creative spark. So much could have been done to bring Shotaro Ishinomori’s classic manga to life, but Riot squandered the chance.
Renovation brought over a ton of games for the Genesis, many of which found their ways onto other consoles. Exile was an action/RPG that was also available on the TuboGrafx-16 CD-ROM (check out our comparison of the two). While it didn’t boast all the bells and whistles of its CD sibling, the Genesis cartridge had some strengths of its own.
If you were a Genesis-owning wrestling fan during the first two years or so of the console’s life, you most likely spent a lot of time in a bad mood. First, after being teased for months with Sega’s Wrestle War, you were quietly let down when the game never came stateside. Then, the only game even resembling a wrestling title was Renovation’s Beast Wrestler, which was in no way a substitute. Yeah, it’s that bad.
When Wanderers from Ys was first released on the Turbo Grafx-16 CD-ROM, fans were taken aback by the change in gameplay style. Why had Falcom messed with the formula? Why make it a side-scroller? Needless to say, many gamers turned their back on the game, and it remains something of the black sheep of the franchise to this day. Even with later ports to both the Genesis and SNES (as well as the MSX and even the NES), it still gets no respect. The irony is that Ys III is actually a competent little action/RPG that deserves to be played.