Hi, my name is Jason and I think Sega Genesis games are fucking hard. Sure, this may come off as an admission of weakness, but I don’t look at it that way. I look at it as me coming to grips with something that many gamers likely have already known for 30 years now. A little backstory for context.
I was not a Sega kid. I was a Nintendo kid, having grown up with the NES and then the SNES. I eventually graduated to the Playstation and Playstation 2 as a young adult before giving Nintendo another try with the Gamecube and Wii in the 2000s. As you probably noticed, no mention of Sega. I never owned a Sega console during its original run. A cousin of mine owned a Master System and he was THE only person I knew that had one in the 80s. I also had a friend in high school that owned a Genesis, but he was mostly into sports games so we’d play “Tecmo Super Bowl”, “Madden NFL Football” or some baseball or hockey game instead. Once I got to college, I met others with Genesis consoles but we’d focus on multi-player fighting games such as “Mortal Kombat” and “Street Fighter II” since those were titles best served to keep a dorm room full of young men engaged.
The Sega Saturn was a complete miss for me. I didn’t know a soul who owned one. Then by the time the Dreamcast was released, while I was intrigued and thought it was a cool looking console, I was still having a lot of fun with my Playstation. I also knew that the next gen (I considered Dreamcast current gen even though it really wasn’t) of consoles was coming out soon so I didn’t bother with it until it had been discontinued and I could buy one for a vastly reduced price.
I knew Sega in general, and the Genesis specifically, had quality games. I just didn’t have the opportunities to play them while they were “new”. Once I started collecting games for the Genesis in the early 2000s, I focused on the games I recognized from when I sporadically played it in the 90s. The fighting games, the sports games, the mascot games (e.g “Sonic”, “Earthworm Jim”, “Toejam and Earl”) all found their way into my collection and they were fun and oftentimes challenging but I was used to challenging thanks to my NES (i.e. no save state) upbringing. However, I’ve finally been getting around to playing some of the games that I’ve been collecting over the past 10 or so years (I know….what’s taken me so long? Its called having children) and my first impression is “Wow, Sega Genesis games are fucking hard”.
So at this time, you may be thinking “What games are you playing that you find sooo hard?” and that’s a valid question. I would think that the answer to this question would be important in determining my credibility level and deciding if I’m just shitty at video games (I’m not). This is the list of games I’ve been spending time with.
- Gunstar Heroes
- Contra Hard Corps
- Castlevania Bloodlines
- Ecco the Dolphin
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist
- Streets of Rage I & II
- Comix Zone
From this list, I’ve managed to finish “Gunstar Heroes”, “Castlevania Bloodlines” and “TMNT: Hyperstone Heist”. I’ve had varying levels of success with the other games, some I’ve made some progress in (“Streets of Rage”) and others, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what the game has to offer (“Comix Zone”).
The games I’ve finished required some skill, but also plenty of continues and time. If a game allows unlimited continues, you can eventually finish any game as long as you have the skill to eventually make it past each level, defeat each boss and learn through repeated attempts. I’ve had less success in finishing games that do not offer unlimited or plentiful continues or level bosses I haven’t been able to figure out (Fuck you, “Streets of Rage” level 5 twins!) This is not rocket science. Give anyone enough chances to master something and most will find a way.
Are Sega Genesis games harder than Nintendo (NES) games? Or is it that I’m less practiced since I didn’t grow up with a Genesis and I’m trying to work through the games now with my middle aged reflexes and adult time constraints? Also, I recognize that I’ve likely only scratched the surface of difficult Genesis games and there are other titles out there that have caused gamers to rage quit, scream in agony, throw their controllers and curse incessantly. What are these games? Asking for a masochist friend.
Cartridge Corner 