Yes agree. While the 32X was indeed a very questionable add-on and rightfully panned, I never understood why the Sega CD was categorized by many the exact same way. It was a pretty good and reasonable extension, just like the CD drive was for the PC-Engine. The only thing that might be criticized is the limited size of the library and the quality of some of the games in comparison to the "unenhanced" originals on the unextended Genesis. Had Sega not stopped the Genesis, but continued to sell it as a low price, entry level system to gaming in parallel to the Saturn and not as abruptly substituted the Saturn later with the Dreamcast but continued to support it by translating more of the Japanese library, they might still be in the Hardware business.
Sega didn't really know how to get to most out of its CD add-on. There were flashes of brilliance, yes, but the fact is most of Sega's CD library are either FMV games or cartridge titles with minimal add-ons.
@@iwanttocomplain I didn't say that it was no longer available, but would you buy a new console that even it's creator doesn't support anymore ? The system was dead the moment Sega dropped support (well dead everywhere except for Brazil). They did this to not hurt the sales of the Saturn which badly backfired, as they lost most of their market share to Sony and most of their revenue from disontinuing the Genesis. And the 32X was dead at birth. You can't turn a 16-Bit system with an add-on into a 32-Bit system. That just doesn't work, except if you build a more or less complete new system, which is prohibitively expensive. The 32X had no library, it was too expensive and it's performance was far from worth the asking prize. Talking of asking price, The Saturn would have sold a lot better too, if Sega would have prized it reasonably. The business is: you loose money on the hardware, but make money with the royalties from the software which requires a large installation base. So the more you subsidize the hardware to drop the price, the more money you make later in royalties. (Sony also learned this the hard way with the PS3.) Had Sega continued the Genesis, this would have provided the cash necessary to offer the Saturn fairly cheaply. Sega was roughly 1 year ahead of the PS1. Had they use that time to build a large installation base by tackling the market aggressively with a competitively priced system and not the price they asked for, they could have come out on top of the 5th generation, as the Saturn was, despite it's lack of polygons, a pretty powerful machine.
@@adamking6645 I agree, but that's only partially Sega's fault, as the vast majority of the games were from 3rd party producers and people really thought FMV games would be the future of gaming. Then they didn't have the bad rep that they have nowadays. And some games made pretty use of the system eg Snatcher, or Silpheed. But you are right, overall this was a lot better on the PC-Engine CD.
It’s always going to be unique. Why did Sega get ripped when they were actually doing better than Nintendo in 1996. Final Fight and Sonic CD was better than Super Nintendo.
Sega CD is IMHO the most underrated system of all time. I keep seeing people say Dreamcast and GameCube, lol, those systems still sold a ton of units and also had very well known libraries Sega CD is mostly known as just a CD add-on to the Genesis by people who've never played a single game for it. It's more than a CD add-on, it added new hardware graphics features to the Genesis, features that the SNES couldn't match (it had better sprite scaling and rotation as well as Redbook audio, FMV, as of course a massive boost in storage oh and there were awesome games for it!
Ecco, Ecco Tides of Time, Sonic CD, and Earthworm Jim SE are my difinitive SegaCD games. I played them as a kid over and over and even carried them around in my cd-case for listening to at school just to get my gamer fix until I got home. Hell, I still do today.
Mad Dog McCree and Lethal Enforcers, plus their sequels, all on one disc each. Plus Out of This World and Heart of the Alien. I still play that last one to this day. And Eternal Champions was an interesting idea for a fighting game, though the controls were left something to desire.
Absolutely. My favorite system of all time. The only one with some truly time-impervious games. Not like the haphazardly slapped together Saturn titles, or the "copy everything, leave the soul out" Playstation - or the modern play-and-forget stencils.
@@HexenStar Well said, I ended up buying one and burning over a hundred games. Not all of them are masterpieces but it has a really good library for only 200 or so games total
This just goes to make us realise how important the audio is for games, it really creates a new sense of immersion and can even make the game seem better.
Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side was the game that made me really appreciate the Sega CD version. All those special characters to unlock. Plus the cool video intros for all the characters.
The only downside is if you had infinite karma enabled, whoever played Shadow couldnt just keep doing shadow mode the entire match. It was weird to give a character basic total invincibility as a special move.
I had The Terminator on the Genesis, but my friend had the Sega CD version. Took me 4 months after borrowing it to breakdown and give it back lol. On of the best platform shooters ever.
@@swilco266 I still have never played Shinning Force. Which is odd considering the only RPGS I have cared for have been on a Sega Console. I loathe turn based gameplay for the most part. But I got super addicted to Grandia 2 on the Dreamcast.
@@scottcollins5240 they're pretty good, they're strategy rpgs. A modern equivalent combat wise is something like xcom. Have a look on here, there are plenty of videos
I had a Sega CD back in the day. I remember getting it after begging my mom to buy it for me. She paid around $400 dollars for it. I remember being blown away by the amazing quality of the add-on from the games I rented/owned back then. A lot of my friends back in high school were jealous and amazed by the technology back then when I first showed it to them. I miss these simple days of gaming when everything felt fresh and new unlike gaming today where it is all redundant and appeals to the masses.
yeah i barely remember the sega cd, seeing it in the stores and that was rare then I remember at a flea market some guy was selling his whole kit, sega/cd/32x and games and I was losing it trying to get my dad to get it for me.
No joke, I’ve watched at least 10 hours of your content this last week. You’ve been an absolute godsend during this quarantine. Every day I wake up excited to consume more quality retro gaming content 👍
When I was a kid my grandpa almost bought me a sega cd when we was at kaybees but mom put a stop to it!!! But he did end up renting me one for the weekend, I had the second model genesis! Me and my cousin got road rash we had a blast that weekend!
My rich best friend had the Sega CD but literally the only game I remember playing was Ground Zero Texas. And yeah the sound on Mortal Kombat is great here. Huge difference.
@Sandy V. You must be a dumb little boy..Who would lie to random strangers on RUclips about what systems I had..We never had money but my parents made sure Christmas was awesome..And I am 36 so fuck off with the dumb ass ok boomer shit. You sound like a dumbass
@@krisfrederick5001 I wish I still had the Turbo Grafix..The 32x sucked I only played Doom and on the Sega CD I played Hockey and Sonic CD..Thank God for Emulators
Rise of the Dragon is also better on the Sega CD than the PC version. Sega CD has voice tracks, PC did not. Although the color palette isn't as good as the PC, it actually gives it the gritty feel.
Sega CD is also missing a scene, but overall I agree it is the better version. Also the voice acting is of better quality than what we generally got around that time.
victor araujo Didn’t know about a missing scene. Cool. I’ll have to find that. Thanks for the info. And yes, voice acting was pretty decent, and not cringe worthy.
On the PC version if you make nice with Blade's girlfriend and make the dinner date, there is an implied sex scene followed by Blade waking up the next morning in her bed.
My one knock against the Sega CD port of MK, is that the music is out of order. This was corrected in the CD-Rom edition for MS-DOS, which is essentially the ultimate home port. Though at that point MS-DOS machines were running a 32-bit architecture, so your point about the Sega-CD version being the best 16- bit port stands.
Really?! I should start selling then :-) Once the emulators have appeared - i gave away the my Sega rig, but kept the games. Next step was convert to ISO and play.
Love this system: our first two games were Sewer Shark and Night Trap, so needless to say, we were a little disappointed. Some time later my brother ended up with games like Sonic CD and by the end of its run, it was one our faves, easily!
i never thought of it as a failure it has some amazing games, including some games no one has heard of like the space adventure which was a snatcher like gem, and rise of the dragon, in fact cyber punk thrived on the system, not to mention working designs efforts and goofy fmv games like wirehead, avgn never did the system justice
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure for the Sega CD is hands-down the best version of the game...even better than the Atari Jaguar port. P.S. In addition to the original, I'd also add Ecco: The Tides of Time for the Sega CD to the list as well.
I still have my Megadrive + MegaCD 2 here, in the living, plugged to the TV, and I play quite often. I think it was an awesome system back in the days, when I was a kid, and it is awesome now. It has a lot of crappy FMV titles, but others like the ones mentioned in here and some more gems (Robo Aleste, Soulstar, Shining Force CD, Sonic CD, Silpheed, Lords of Thunder, Keio flying quadron, Dune, Eternal Champions CD... etc.) are amazing.
Lords of Thunder was absolutely amazing on the Sega CD, the arrangements were far and away better, more polished and were an absolute joy to listen to.
could you play dune with a mouse and keyboard? In any case, rts were hitting their stride"r" during that time so having any port of these games would have been amazing.
I still have my sega cd system! The front loaded one (which needs repairs, and the top load one.) One of my fav was the fact that ya can take the cds with ya and put them in the car cd player to listen to the music!!! It was an amazing system! Love SEGA!
i got the front loader at launch under the condition that my next report card had to be stellar. it was the only time in my scholastic life i nearly achieved straight a's. on a separate note, had the mega/sega cd been engineered with a vdp of its own the enhanced color palette may have helped sell more units in spite of the excessive number of fmv releases.
@@alphaforce6998 kinda backwards thinking imo. It would have been much more complicated to code to enhance cart game with assets from the cd drive than build a game from the ground up as a mega/segs cd title. The cd drive already had a 12mhz 68000 cpu in it. All it needed was a vdp with a larger palette that could output more simultaneous colors. Its practically a few more lines of code and sega had already built system 16 arcade boards around the 68000 cpu.
@@alphaforce6998 i really dont care what you think the test is. Your parameters dont really mean anything to me. I was answering your assertion that a dev, any dev in the mid 90s would find it easy or efficient or cheap to write calls back to assets on a cd rom to enhance a cart game. Especially if the bespoke game for the cd add on still contained 80% of the same code as the cart version.
@@alphaforce6998im not mad i but i have read your immature trolling comments to others in this comments section. Feel free to believe youve 'won' but also know that your behavior nullifies any salient point anyone might have considered from you. You are simply not a creature worth listening to. Ever.
Redbook audio is pretty boring in general. Chiptunes have an extra layer of appeal to them because of the limitations of the sound hardware forcing the sound guys to get creative.
I hear ya. The CD soundtrack is OUTSTANDING though, so personally I find myself bouncing back and forth between the two versions. They both have their own unique charms.
I think it's an even bigger shame that classics like this along with several other Sega CD exclusives have not yet been re-released for the modern platforms. And now that I've mentioned it, I think I've just reminded myself to write Sega a personal wish list.. Lol.
I have a Mega CD but only have 1 game and it mainly just sits there decorating my shelf at the moment. I'll have to pick some more games up but the Saturn is my focus at the moment and this channel has been a great help in that regard
Amen to your thoughts on Final Fight CD, I couldn't agree more, personally I've found with all the emulated versions of the Arcade Original on various consoles even up to today that's all they are, the Arcade Original (nothing wrong with that though) where the Sega / Mega CD actually put their own spin on it and made it all the better for it! Still to this day it's my favorite version of Final Fight, great video btw! :)
Holy crap, thank you for agreeing with me about Final Fight, the Sega CD version is still the best one thanks to the amazing soundtrack and relative closeness to the arcade game.
@ciaran perry That is highly debatable, cause this depends on what defines and affects your experience with this game the most. If you are after graphics and difficulty only - then of course arcade wins hands down. But things are not as simple, if to look closer. Firstly, arcade Final Fight was not always accessible, since it was in the arcades and not at your living room. (i am talking times before MAME) Every fan wanted a home version. And on that front, Mega-CD version was as perfect as a home system could get at the time. It has better control options than the arcades, all stages, all enemies, all characters - and a good number of other great extras, that at the time of the 90's - i was yet oblivious to, due to being just a 14-year old. I clearly remember that the kids who had the Snesy version (as we called it: "the castrated final fight") - no one wanted to play it, and would sink time into Streets of Rage 2 instead. But when they laid their eyes on the Mega-CD port..."arcades!!!" was the first word that came out of their mouth, 9.5 times of 10. And that was it. Fast forward a few decades, and if we look closely - then we can easily and objectively count the difference in level detail, - and most levels are extremely faithful, and only very few certain areas suffer, - like the bar and the back alley of the stage 3, and the biker's street in the Bay Area. True, there are more enemies in the arcade version, and it's harder - but Mega-CD's difficulty is not to be discounted either. It definitely requires skillful play in order to finish the game. More so, if you play as Guy. Arcade was designed to rob people of tokens/coins - although i personally witnessed people playing the arcade version like a champion. Yet the most winning-by-a-landslide card for the Mega-CD is the MUSIC. Maybe i am a little biased because i'm a musician...but back in the 90's, before i even liked music, let alone studied it - i was known not only to ignore it, but recommend it being turned off (!) - "because it overshadowed Haggar's mighty screams" - was my teenage excuse... Many years later, when i started showing interest in music and electric guitar, i used to get a lot of jokes on me for that quote... But the bottom line is, that once i realized what exactly the Mega-CD does with the music, and even learned to play most of the tracks...the rest of the game quickly became synonymous with the arcades for me. Yeah, i know that it is the same melody - but the way arcade renders it - is like it's pissing on the composition, instead of rocking it. Since then i don't touch the arcade version with a ten foot pole. So in the end, it's what defines your personal experience. And for me, it is music; but technically, - the game is more or less the same. Perhaps even more.
@ciaran perry Tried with the MP3 years back - it doesn't work like that. Besides, sounds better live. As for controls, actual arcade did not have rapid fire and the special attack - you had to mash 2 buttons. So that's not better. Yeah, in MAME you can change that stuff, but not in the arcades (as a player). You can though in Mega-CD. Yes, what you say is indeed so, 100 percent - yet there is one "but". For most of that to come into play - you'd have to be an expert player. And you become an expert only through experience - and through learning from people who already are experts. And in the arcades - that was not a given, cause arcades cost money. And where would a boy in early teens get the money?! Let alone someone who's 6-10 years old?! That's right - from parents...or from pooling the meager cents together with the other kids on the block. And these two factors more often than not - would not allow too many attempts at becoming an expert. Unless, for some kids the money was not a problem - and they could become experts, if they liked the game enough. Today, of course, you just fire up MAME, learn some strats from youtube, practice a few days/weeks - and voila, you're an expert player. But back in the day that was not a given. No sir. An average Joe (and i've seen those in droves) most definitely would empty his pockets and die either in the ring against Sodom, or right before the bar - a few moments later. And if the average Joe had only a couple of coins - then death would usually occur at 1st boss - or early train. I've seen that happen way, way too many times to count. Hell, we used to place bets on when will the noob die, lol. And, since the greedy arcade owner had access to dip-switches, - so you had quite a few machines with only 1 life to go around. So the myth is most definitely true.
@ciaran perry :-) i guess that depends on how much you like speed-mashing a single button, and how good you are at it. Not my forte either way...I remember a particular game - Burning Soldier for 3DO (space shooter), which heavily relies on hyper-speed-single-button-mashing in numerous sections, and while i really like that game, - it was a gaming mini-nightmare in this regard: i often needed 2 friends to help take turns in the said task. (as did they, in this particular game) FF arcade is not very far from that for me, so i'm a rapid-fire fan.
@ciaran perry You're right, if you are using this type of tactics +Haggar. But you still need to speed mash a lot nonetheless :-) Especially for Guy / Cody, which were always my choice, cause they looked like martial arts movie heroes. My friends made a pact not to use infinite loops somewhere around 1995. Unlike them, i always preferred Vendetta, cause that one seemed way cooler and more visceral to me (and it still does) and the combat approach was radically different than Final Fight, which i found very interesting.
More Sega CD content, great! I really loved many of its games. Haven't hooked mine up for a while but have fond memories. Pitfall was also significantly enhanced.
I've been a huge fan of the Sega CD since the day it launched. I remember scouring all the local stores to try and find one when it launched, which wasn't easy back then. Stores weren't getting many and they were selling out immediately at the beginning. It has a lot of my favorite games of the entire 16-bit era on it and is criminally underrated in my opinion. Pretty much every genre is represented on it - JRPGs, strategy RPGs, action games, shooters, long scrolling adventure games, first person dunegon crawlers, graphic adventures, fighting games, arcade ports and some original titles that don't fit into easily defined genres. It may not have a ton of games in any one particular genre (yeah, yeah FMV complaints here, lol) but many of the games it does have are near the top of their genres for the time of their release.
I absolutely enjoy your enthusiasm for all these old platforms and games. It brings me back to my youth. I love the nostalgia factor of it all. Even if some of these games I never got a chance to experience. As an adult I love neo geo and have been fortunate enough to be able to purchase a full size 4 slot redcab. I never could afford it as a child and now I cant believe I own the arcade cabinet of my childhood dreams. Keep the videos coming they are a wonderful distraction during this rough patch. Stay safe
Really surprised you didn't mention the Sega CD version of Spider-Man Vs The Kingpin. So much was added/modified to that game that it's practically an all new game. Definitely the best version of it.
Sega CD was THE go-to system to rent! Night trap, Third World War are my two favorites. Absolutely fascinating to hook up. I still remember being mind blown when I first realized my genesis port in the back actually had a purpose.
Better on the Sega CD now that's what I like to hear! I've always been curious how Chuck Rock sounds on the Sega CD. I used to play that on Amiga and loved the main song. I know it had a Genesis version too but I'm sure it couldn't do it justice.
You'll be surprised, but Chuck Rock's music was actually simplified for the Mega CD, compared to Megadrive. Just compare the title theme track. Megadrive has there an entire jazz-rock-funk kind of composition there, with solos and everything. Great material for recording and resurrection. Mega CD cut almost everything out and dumbed down what remained. I was unpleasantly surprised myself when i heard that, but there are a couple of cases like that. Chuck Rock-1 is one of them.
I live in the uk and had marky mark and the funky bunch make my video. It was alright but there were some problems with sync being a pal machine running a ntsc game
Anybody who was fortunate to get one at its release (I arrived at Toys R Us after a phone call with my parents to get the last one in my area the time) knew after playing the games that came with it (loved Sol-Feace's music and enhanced play from MD version) that this was the next level. My library at that time was about 15 games and I can honestly say I was not disappointed with them at all!)
Not always. ALMOST always. Chuck Rock 1 - Megadrive has superior music (Yep...surprise!) Same goes for Lethal Enforcers 1, with SFX to boot. Also, some games are entirely different: Frankenstein for Mega CD is a completely different game altogether. (doesn't mean it's better though - just different) Prince of Persia, on the other hand is completely botched for Mega CD, compared to Megadrive.
@@HexenStar Speaking of this topic, I don't think the Sega CD version of Mickey Mania is as good as the Genesis version. The Genesis version has great music by Matt Furniss, but the CD version's music is much less memorable imo. Though, I have to disagree about the Genesis version of Prince of Persia being better than the Sega CD version. It arguably looks better but plays horribly. Neither are as good as the PC-98 version, though, which is what the Sega CD version is based on.
@@thepirategamerboy12 Could be interesting to compare Mickey Mania, from the musical standpoint (and curiosity), as i never showed interest in Disney-cutesy themed games. But Prince of Persia...idk. It plays just like the PC original, and exactly like the similarly styled games, - Flashback, Another World, Blackthorne. At least, judging by my experience and that of my friends, who played this game back on 286/386 processors. So i can't fathom what did you find off with its controls. Maybe you're just not used to the games of this style. As for the looks, surprisingly, but Mega-CD goes for some gross and unforgivable simplifications in graphics/design/detail, while veering into a rather awkward direction thematically. Which is however strange, but not unheard of. Worse things have been known to happen, involving technology far more powerful than Mega-CD.
@@HexenStar Actually, I absolutely love Prince of Persia and games like it such as Another World. The sword-fighting in the Genesis version especially feels awful compared to many other versions. I'd much rather play even the original Apple II version because even though the graphics are basic compared to the Genesis, it plays really well. I've played through and beaten a number of versions and I'd personally say my favorites are the PC-98, SNES, and IBM PC/DOS versions. I'd highly recommend checking out DavidXNewton's videos where he goes through pretty much every version and says which ones are good or not.
The music alone makes that Sega CD Terminator game worth a purchase. Sucks that it wasn't released on any other platforms or remastered for modern options. I've never even seen a physical copy of the game.
I doubt we'll ever see any re-releases of any Terminator games. I myself would love to have re-releases of Bethesda's classic Future Shock/Skynet duology.
I found a copy of The Terminator for Mega CD in mint condition for £10 back in 2003. I'm so glad I added it to my collection when I did because the game sells for crazy money on Ebay these days! It's not as expensive as games like Snatcher, but it's getting up there.
Oh boy the Final Fight soundtrack on the mega/Sega cd is just different class. I always wanted to be able to play the arcade version with the mega cd soundtrack.
@TrueSinister You're right. It was the same gameplay. Someone mixed up 16 and 32 bit. However, Sega/Mega CD version was the only version where you could hear the songs during the race itself. (even though at a slightly worse quality - it wasn't a redbook audio) PS1/Saturn/3DO versions only allowed you to listen to the songs BETWEEN the bike races but not during. Which kinda defeats the purpose of a game soundtrack, but whateves. I guess some kind of a greed issue with the corporate bureaucrats. Or just plain dumb design. The gameplay, however...was beyond competition on the 3DO/PS1/Saturn. 3DO felt the most natural. PS1/Saturn felt like a soulless clone. Mega CD version...with all my love toward that system - was a total garbage. There are some truly time-impervious masterpieces on Mega CD. But Road Rash is not among them. Not even remotely.
I noticed you had the terminator cd music playing at the intro, nice x, one of my favorite games. Used to play that just to listen to tommy talarico's best work, and your absolutely right about demolition man, way better on the sega cd. Everything you mentioned here i loved, and i actually introduced my very skeptical friend to batman returns on the cd. Needless to say, he bought it afterwards. The problem with the sega cd was its high asking price, which held it back, severly underrated system to say the least. Always loved sega's systems, always will
Excellent topic! Here are a few more games that you could ad to the list of games that were better on the Sega CD in case you make a part 2 video: 3 Ninjas Kick Back, BC Racers, Chuck Rock, Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck, Cliffhanger, Eternal Champions, Flink, Hook, The Ninja Warriors, Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, Popful Mail, Puggsy, The Smurfs, Snatcher, Wolfchild, and Wonder Dog.
I wouldn’t say it’s better necessarily since all the versions have their own merits BUT Shin Megami Tensei for the PC Engine* has demons based on Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck which I absolutely love. EDIT: They do appear in the MCD version, but they go unused normally.
One of the first games I put on my megadrive mini classic once I updated project lunar was final fight cd. That soundtrack and intro is superb and brings back great memories
@@pintoflitzpiepe stick with retro arch, it's leaps and bounds better than project lunar. There's video on RUclips that can help guide you through setting up games to run on retroarch. They do have to be .CDI files though if I remember correctly
@@johnboydojo Thanks for getting back to me. I have a Game Enhancer USB stick that I use with the Psone mini. It runs the Sega CD games through Retroarch but they all seem to crash at some point. I'm struggling to find a reason why on here..
@@pintoflitzpiepe what cores are you selecting for Sega CD ROMs? I've never used retroarch on the PS classic so im not quite sure how to help you but I've had Sega CD games running fine on project lunar and retroarch on the megadrive (genesis) mini. Patton plays does great tutorial videos for setting this kind of stuff www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DnTogw05rfbo&ved=2ahUKEwiL0sXS0oztAhXVilwKHXnrB1AQwqsBMAF6BAgbEAM&usg=AOvVaw0Dt1xArgiSPzUBkEAztDK4&cshid=1605721796840 I tend to favour hackchi on the megadrive (genesis) mini purely because it has folder support so you can get more games on there. Eitherway I've not run into problems with either retroarch or project lunar on the genesis mini. If you're not fussed about having loads of games go for lunar, if you want a Ron of games across different systems (master system, 32x etc) go for hackchi and retroarch
Just an FYI, for those who were curious to what Q-Sound is, it was a spacial sound recording feature similar to Rolland Sound Space. The chief component of Q-Sound was to force the speaker, any speaker to vibrate in such a way as to disperse sound in a wider than 45 degree angle, making the sound more immersive. Capcom used this feature on many of the CPS2 games like Dark Stalkers and Street Fighter Alpha series.
What you said about who often now write history about the Mega CD makes me think about the minidisc. A lot of lazier journalists just look at US history - even non-US journalists - and conclude it was a failed technology. But in fact it did really quite well here in Europe, and over in Asia. I still have a couple players, they'll play for 80 hours or record for 24 on a single AA battery, so even now they're still useful to me. And as a hopeless nerd, there's still something wonderful about the tactile experience of a music player that uses physical media, especially physical media that clunks into place far more satisfyingly than a flash card and actually spins!
Wonder what would have happened if Sega decided to make the Mega CD an independent console instead of an add-on for the Megadrive. It would have been more expensive but it's target market wouldn't have been limited to Megadrive owners but everybody. More important, it wouldn't have been dragged back by the Megadrive color pallete, it's games would have looked much better.
Lunar: The Silver Star was an amazing jRPG on the system. JRPGs on the SEGA consoles often got overlooked outside Phantasy Star. Second best version after the complete collection on PS1 imo.
I bought a CD-X after boot camp back in 1994 when I got to my A-School. I friggin loved that thing. It was so easy to bring down to the rec-room where we would hook it to the TV and play hours of Eternal Champions. And yes, the music on Ecco is so perfect it almost is like a different game from the genesis version.
For as much as I love Sega and grew up with my Mega Drive, I hate to but must say that speaking of hardware designs, Sega really has a special talent of letting a single lethal weakness destroying so many strengths. For Mega Drive it was the color palette, an unfortunate but unacceptable mistake so harshly exposed by the SNES. And instead of trying to fix it in some ways, they doubled down by keeping that palette on this $49,800JPY Mega CD and selling it for supposed full motion video and animation?....That they literally hoped this machine would take off was beyond arrogance and stupidity. They continued their losing streak by keep doing this kind of mistakes. Good and winning hardware design usually means one or limited amounts of strengths can carry the console and hide its numerous weakness, but Sega always did the opposite and eventually dig its own tomb....
Another excellent video and as a fellow Sega CD owner I 100% agree with all these games and I 100% agree with why these games matter to Sega CD owners. I am proud to say I have physical copies of all these games. I hope this series continues because there are even more games out there better on the Seg CD. Again, well done!
Bro I have been totally hooked on your videos lately. I grew up a nintendo kid and it's great to see things from a Sega kids view. Keep up the amazing work man!
3rd video I’ve watched in a row! I really enjoy the style with nice audio visual appreciation breaks... it’s something I definitely try to do too, the games deserves the spotlight and many people talk right over that stuff or they have a single audio track that plays over several stages and you don’t get much of a feel for what the game is actually like. Nice job! Also refreshing to hear grass roots feel around the sega cd and yeah, those soundtracks are amazing! Also, wow I really want to play that animated / reaction game, it looks like a really cool experience and even has a universal studios ride feeling to it!
What a great topic you've bought to the you tube table. Just pumped the Thumbs up button and not even pressed play yet! This (I hope) is what the Mega CD was all about the best most definitive multi-plat versions for the in-house and back in the day AAA titles. Like 4k HDR movie releases today. Gonna put the kettle on and enjoy this one, have a real soft spot for the Sega CD
One comparison you forgot to mention was The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin. The Genesis version was great but the Sega CD port added so much more. It had animated cut scenes with spoken dialogue, you could choose a stage anywhere in New York via onscreen map, more villains were added to the main story, one of the added bonuses was to collect Spider-Man comics scattered throughout different stages, and the opening theme as well as the soundtrack was composed by 80’s rock band Mr. Big.
Finally enjoying some of these on my new Mega SD, I had tried them on Kega Fusion but many CD titles bug out or crash on that. I do not have an original CD unit so the SD was my next best option with FPGA
The problem with the Mega CD is that it WAS powerful, but nobody bothered to take advantage of it. It was easier to port Mega Drive games over, and Sega was just as guilty. Like you mentioned, The Terminator showed off what could be done when built from the ground up. This industry is the same today, publishers and developers will always do the bare minimum
This video does a good job of showcasing the Mega/Sega CD library. Console exclusives are important, but the CD expanded the right games at the right time. It’s the ultimate 2D platforming console.
The best thing about this quarantine is i get more Sega lord X videos
What do you think about your quarantine now?
What? That's worse than the virus!
Best part for me was working 60 hours a week.
Then again would have been cool to get like the rest of the country and live off the government teet.
Final fight CD has one of the best soundtracks EVER!
Nices Game
Agreed 100%
Oh yeah! So does The Terminator on Sega CD for that matter as well!
I agree! I have the game on my emulator and the soundtrack is better on the Sega CD
I would personally rank the Mega CD as the most underrated/misunderstood console of all time.
I have an incredible soft spot for this machine.
Yes agree. While the 32X was indeed a very questionable add-on and rightfully panned, I never understood why the Sega CD was categorized by many the exact same way.
It was a pretty good and reasonable extension, just like the CD drive was for the PC-Engine. The only thing that might be criticized is the limited size of the library and the quality of some of the games in comparison to the "unenhanced" originals on the unextended Genesis.
Had Sega not stopped the Genesis, but continued to sell it as a low price, entry level system to gaming in parallel to the Saturn and not as abruptly substituted the Saturn later with the Dreamcast but continued to support it by translating more of the Japanese library, they might still be in the Hardware business.
Sega didn't really know how to get to most out of its CD add-on. There were flashes of brilliance, yes, but the fact is most of Sega's CD library are either FMV games or cartridge titles with minimal add-ons.
@@iwanttocomplain I didn't say that it was no longer available, but would you buy a new console that even it's creator doesn't support anymore ?
The system was dead the moment Sega dropped support (well dead everywhere except for Brazil). They did this to not hurt the sales of the Saturn which badly backfired, as they lost most of their market share to Sony and most of their revenue from disontinuing the Genesis.
And the 32X was dead at birth. You can't turn a 16-Bit system with an add-on into a 32-Bit system. That just doesn't work, except if you build a more or less complete new system, which is prohibitively expensive. The 32X had no library, it was too expensive and it's performance was far from worth the asking prize. Talking of asking price, The Saturn would have sold a lot better too, if Sega would have prized it reasonably.
The business is: you loose money on the hardware, but make money with the royalties from the software which requires a large installation base. So the more you subsidize the hardware to drop the price, the more money you make later in royalties. (Sony also learned this the hard way with the PS3.) Had Sega continued the Genesis, this would have provided the cash necessary to offer the Saturn fairly cheaply. Sega was roughly 1 year ahead of the PS1. Had they use that time to build a large installation base by tackling the market aggressively with a competitively priced system and not the price they asked for, they could have come out on top of the 5th generation, as the Saturn was, despite it's lack of polygons, a pretty powerful machine.
@@adamking6645 I agree, but that's only partially Sega's fault, as the vast majority of the games were from 3rd party producers and people really thought FMV games would be the future of gaming. Then they didn't have the bad rep that they have nowadays. And some games made pretty use of the system eg Snatcher, or Silpheed. But you are right, overall this was a lot better on the PC-Engine CD.
It’s always going to be unique. Why did Sega get ripped when they were actually doing better than Nintendo in 1996. Final Fight and Sonic CD was better than Super Nintendo.
Sega CD is IMHO the most underrated system of all time. I keep seeing people say Dreamcast and GameCube, lol, those systems still sold a ton of units and also had very well known libraries
Sega CD is mostly known as just a CD add-on to the Genesis by people who've never played a single game for it. It's more than a CD add-on, it added new hardware graphics features to the Genesis, features that the SNES couldn't match (it had better sprite scaling and rotation as well as Redbook audio, FMV, as of course a massive boost in storage
oh and there were awesome games for it!
Ecco, Ecco Tides of Time, Sonic CD, and Earthworm Jim SE are my difinitive SegaCD games. I played them as a kid over and over and even carried them around in my cd-case for listening to at school just to get my gamer fix until I got home.
Hell, I still do today.
Mad Dog McCree and Lethal Enforcers, plus their sequels, all on one disc each. Plus Out of This World and Heart of the Alien. I still play that last one to this day. And Eternal Champions was an interesting idea for a fighting game, though the controls were left something to desire.
I think the best part of Echo the Dolphin is the story behind how it came to be. The game itself… kinda sucks.
The Sega CD is a holy grail of mine, especially an original Model 1 Sega CD to complement my Model 1 Genesis.
Same here. Add the 32x on top and you got it all.
Absolutely. My favorite system of all time.
The only one with some truly time-impervious games.
Not like the haphazardly slapped together Saturn titles,
or the "copy everything, leave the soul out" Playstation -
or the modern play-and-forget stencils.
Nah, Model 2 set up for me. Model 1 CD is too expensive, unreliable, and hard to repair.
@@HexenStar Well said, I ended up buying one and burning over a hundred games. Not all of them are masterpieces but it has a really good library for only 200 or so games total
@@maxxdahl6062 There's an new SD based cart you can buy that replaces the Sega Cd on the genesis. But it's over 200 bucks last time I checked
This just goes to make us realise how important the audio is for games, it really creates a new sense of immersion and can even make the game seem better.
Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side was the game that made me really appreciate the Sega CD version. All those special characters to unlock. Plus the cool video intros for all the characters.
YESSSSS!!!!!!!!! And don't forget the soundtrack. Had a great soundtrack!
Exactly the cd was jam packed
Best Sega CD game. Also is the game that use all of the Sega CD color palette.
This game should have been on the list. Probably my favorite fighting game.
The only downside is if you had infinite karma enabled, whoever played Shadow couldnt just keep doing shadow mode the entire match. It was weird to give a character basic total invincibility as a special move.
The games for Sega cd were pretty sharp. My favorite was Terminator.
I had The Terminator on the Genesis, but my friend had the Sega CD version. Took me 4 months after borrowing it to breakdown and give it back lol. On of the best platform shooters ever.
Shining force CD for me, terminator is mint tho :)
@@swilco266 I still have never played Shinning Force. Which is odd considering the only RPGS I have cared for have been on a Sega Console. I loathe turn based gameplay for the most part. But I got super addicted to Grandia 2 on the Dreamcast.
@@scottcollins5240 they're pretty good, they're strategy rpgs. A modern equivalent combat wise is something like xcom. Have a look on here, there are plenty of videos
@@scottcollins5240 I used to love grandia, I have grandia 1 and 2 on my switch :)
I had a Sega CD back in the day. I remember getting it after begging my mom to buy it for me. She paid around $400 dollars for it. I remember being blown away by the amazing quality of the add-on from the games I rented/owned back then. A lot of my friends back in high school were jealous and amazed by the technology back then when I first showed it to them. I miss these simple days of gaming when everything felt fresh and new unlike gaming today where it is all redundant and appeals to the masses.
yeah i barely remember the sega cd, seeing it in the stores and that was rare then I remember at a flea market some guy was selling his whole kit, sega/cd/32x and games and I was losing it trying to get my dad to get it for me.
Rented? I remember that video giant (later to be west coast video) said that no place would ever rent a "cd" due to being easy to scratch lol
Yeah, same reaction when i bought sega saturn in jun 1995.
Preach bro 💯
No joke, I’ve watched at least 10 hours of your content this last week. You’ve been an absolute godsend during this quarantine. Every day I wake up excited to consume more quality retro gaming content 👍
You should check out generation gap gaming , tyler has great content
When I was a kid my grandpa almost bought me a sega cd when we was at kaybees but mom put a stop to it!!! But he did end up renting me one for the weekend, I had the second model genesis! Me and my cousin got road rash we had a blast that weekend!
My rich best friend had the Sega CD but literally the only game I remember playing was Ground Zero Texas. And yeah the sound on Mortal Kombat is great here. Huge difference.
My family was lower middle class and we had Sega CD and 32X..Also TurboGrafx 16 and SNES. Man I still remember those Christmas mornings
@@bdunk914 You were livin the dream for lower middle class. I was blessed to have Sega and Snes at different times. Obviously Nes
@Sandy V. Do you just come to comment section to cause drama? Like, your entire interaction here is one big shitpost
@Sandy V. You must be a dumb little boy..Who would lie to random strangers on RUclips about what systems I had..We never had money but my parents made sure Christmas was awesome..And I am 36 so fuck off with the dumb ass ok boomer shit. You sound like a dumbass
@@krisfrederick5001 I wish I still had the Turbo Grafix..The 32x sucked I only played Doom and on the Sega CD I played Hockey and Sonic CD..Thank God for Emulators
Spiderman on Sega CD is a massive upgrade from the original version on the Genesis in every way
Yeah, I wonder why that wasn't mentioned? It was was an awesome game.
Not unlike Shadow of the Beast II
Rise of the Dragon is also better on the Sega CD than the PC version. Sega CD has voice tracks, PC did not. Although the color palette isn't as good as the PC, it actually gives it the gritty feel.
Sega CD is also missing a scene, but overall I agree it is the better version. Also the voice acting is of better quality than what we generally got around that time.
victor araujo Didn’t know about a missing scene. Cool. I’ll have to find that. Thanks for the info. And yes, voice acting was pretty decent, and not cringe worthy.
On the PC version if you make nice with Blade's girlfriend and make the dinner date, there is an implied sex scene followed by Blade waking up the next morning in her bed.
victor araujo oh! Haha
Nice to find another Rise of the Dragon fan.
Sega CD! Now, you speak to my soul. I still have my console alongside all games. Yes, even a mint Snatcher lol
Snatcher was my favourite too
A mint copy of Snatcher at CM Games in Lexington, KY is currently selling for $699.99.
My one knock against the Sega CD port of MK, is that the music is out of order. This was corrected in the CD-Rom edition for MS-DOS, which is essentially the ultimate home port. Though at that point MS-DOS machines were running a 32-bit architecture, so your point about the Sega-CD version being the best 16- bit port stands.
One of the very rare cases when the MS-DOS version was the best, until the mid 90's MS-DOS had very bad arcade conversions.
@@Hektols Mainly because it was getting bad ports from the Amiga.
Hektols ssf2turbo was good on pc
Simply Sherbert can’t someone fix this in a zip?
@@3ambreakbeats977 watch?v=v3eiG_QmQZc
I had a sega CD when it was new. And I had all the games that now sell for a ton. Wish I had kept them.
Really?! I should start selling then :-)
Once the emulators have appeared - i gave away the my Sega rig,
but kept the games. Next step was convert to ISO and play.
Huge fan of the Sega CD, it was seriously amazing when it came out! Great video as usual
Love this system: our first two games were Sewer Shark and Night Trap, so needless to say, we were a little disappointed. Some time later my brother ended up with games like Sonic CD and by the end of its run, it was one our faves, easily!
Lord almighty, I never thought I'd live to see the day that someone says "limited continues" is a selling point for a game.
I would totally buy a Sega CD mini with the disc drive and all, if they make one
You can use an emulator on pc
stathissim just mod your genesis mini and add the CD games
To be honest a Sega CD mini would be much more important and remarkable than Mega Drive itself
@@Itsfayd you can do that and even get the plastic add on to make it look the part too!
Mega SD!!
i never thought of it as a failure it has some amazing games, including some games no one has heard of like the space adventure which was a snatcher like gem, and rise of the dragon, in fact cyber punk thrived on the system, not to mention working designs efforts and goofy fmv games like wirehead, avgn never did the system justice
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure for the Sega CD is hands-down the best version of the game...even better than the Atari Jaguar port.
P.S. In addition to the original, I'd also add Ecco: The Tides of Time for the Sega CD to the list as well.
Another slam dunk! Well done, this is great content - informative and interesting
I coveted the gen 1 Mega CD so much when I was a kid. I'd happily own that stack now just as an ornament. It's a great looking piece of kit.
I still have my Megadrive + MegaCD 2 here, in the living, plugged to the TV, and I play quite often. I think it was an awesome system back in the days, when I was a kid, and it is awesome now. It has a lot of crappy FMV titles, but others like the ones mentioned in here and some more gems (Robo Aleste, Soulstar, Shining Force CD, Sonic CD, Silpheed, Lords of Thunder, Keio flying quadron, Dune, Eternal Champions CD... etc.) are amazing.
Lords of Thunder was absolutely amazing on the Sega CD, the arrangements were far and away better, more polished and were an absolute joy to listen to.
could you play dune with a mouse and keyboard? In any case, rts were hitting their stride"r" during that time so having any port of these games would have been amazing.
I still have my sega cd system! The front loaded one (which needs repairs, and the top load one.) One of my fav was the fact that ya can take the cds with ya and put them in the car cd player to listen to the music!!! It was an amazing system! Love SEGA!
No eternal champions challenge from the darkside? Criminal 😂
Road Avenger is still the best playing and best sounding port after all of these years!
Your channel has me so excited for my Sega CD to arrive lol
"no bullshit blood code" love it. Sega cd was for the cool kids. I was pretty much happy with my Amiga 600
i got the front loader at launch under the condition that my next report card had to be stellar. it was the only time in my scholastic life i nearly achieved straight a's. on a separate note, had the mega/sega cd been engineered with a vdp of its own the enhanced color palette may have helped sell more units in spite of the excessive number of fmv releases.
@@alphaforce6998 kinda backwards thinking imo. It would have been much more complicated to code to enhance cart game with assets from the cd drive than build a game from the ground up as a mega/segs cd title. The cd drive already had a 12mhz 68000 cpu in it. All it needed was a vdp with a larger palette that could output more simultaneous colors. Its practically a few more lines of code and sega had already built system 16 arcade boards around the 68000 cpu.
@@alphaforce6998 i really dont care what you think the test is. Your parameters dont really mean anything to me. I was answering your assertion that a dev, any dev in the mid 90s would find it easy or efficient or cheap to write calls back to assets on a cd rom to enhance a cart game. Especially if the bespoke game for the cd add on still contained 80% of the same code as the cart version.
@@alphaforce6998im not mad i but i have read your immature trolling comments to others in this comments section. Feel free to believe youve 'won' but also know that your behavior nullifies any salient point anyone might have considered from you. You are simply not a creature worth listening to. Ever.
Ecco still gives me nightmares, I fucking hate those aliens.
I prefer ECHO with the original Sega MD music and sound though, nostalgic feelings it brings up to me.
It helps that Ecco has one of the best soundtracks in the Megadrive's catalog.
I prefer the game gear version myself the sound and gameplay was perfect when I was 8
Redbook audio is pretty boring in general. Chiptunes have an extra layer of appeal to them because of the limitations of the sound hardware forcing the sound guys to get creative.
I hear ya. The CD soundtrack is OUTSTANDING though, so personally I find myself bouncing back and forth between the two versions. They both have their own unique charms.
I bet the difficult is too high, heh?
Batman Returns on CD is awesome, I like how the Batmobile's primary projectiles are Oreo cookies
Snatcher was my favourite game. Shame there was no sequel 😢
Yes there is Policenaughts
I think it's an even bigger shame that classics like this along with several other Sega CD exclusives have not yet been re-released for the modern platforms. And now that I've mentioned it, I think I've just reminded myself to write Sega a personal wish list.. Lol.
@@rsuriyop Snatcher and Policenauts deserve a re-release. Would love to see them on Steam.
I have a Mega CD but only have 1 game and it mainly just sits there decorating my shelf at the moment. I'll have to pick some more games up but the Saturn is my focus at the moment and this channel has been a great help in that regard
Thank you for the tip about NBA Jam on Sega CD. It’s my new favorite version. I never would have thought to try it before this video.
Final fight CD, sonic CD, and mortal kombat are good ones.
Amen to your thoughts on Final Fight CD, I couldn't agree more, personally I've found with all the emulated versions of the Arcade Original on various consoles even up to today that's all they are, the Arcade Original (nothing wrong with that though) where the Sega / Mega CD actually put their own spin on it and made it all the better for it! Still to this day it's my favorite version of Final Fight, great video btw! :)
Holy crap, thank you for agreeing with me about Final Fight, the Sega CD version is still the best one thanks to the amazing soundtrack and relative closeness to the arcade game.
Relative :-) But sweet.
@ciaran perry That is highly debatable, cause this depends on what defines and affects your experience
with this game the most. If you are after graphics and difficulty only - then of course arcade wins hands down. But things are not as simple, if to look closer. Firstly, arcade Final Fight was not always accessible,
since it was in the arcades and not at your living room. (i am talking times before MAME) Every fan
wanted a home version. And on that front, Mega-CD version was as perfect as a home system could get
at the time. It has better control options than the arcades, all stages, all enemies, all characters - and
a good number of other great extras, that at the time of the 90's - i was yet oblivious to, due to being just
a 14-year old. I clearly remember that the kids who had the Snesy version (as we called it: "the castrated
final fight") - no one wanted to play it, and would sink time into Streets of Rage 2 instead.
But when they laid their eyes on the Mega-CD port..."arcades!!!" was the first word that came out of their
mouth, 9.5 times of 10. And that was it. Fast forward a few decades, and if we look closely - then we can
easily and objectively count the difference in level detail, - and most levels are extremely faithful, and
only very few certain areas suffer, - like the bar and the back alley of the stage 3, and the biker's street
in the Bay Area. True, there are more enemies in the arcade version, and it's harder - but Mega-CD's
difficulty is not to be discounted either. It definitely requires skillful play in order to finish the game.
More so, if you play as Guy. Arcade was designed to rob people of tokens/coins - although i
personally witnessed people playing the arcade version like a champion.
Yet the most winning-by-a-landslide card for the Mega-CD is the MUSIC. Maybe i am a little biased
because i'm a musician...but back in the 90's, before i even liked music, let alone studied it - i was
known not only to ignore it, but recommend it being turned off (!) - "because it overshadowed
Haggar's mighty screams" - was my teenage excuse... Many years later, when i started showing
interest in music and electric guitar, i used to get a lot of jokes on me for that quote...
But the bottom line is, that once i realized what exactly the Mega-CD does with the music, and
even learned to play most of the tracks...the rest of the game quickly became synonymous with
the arcades for me. Yeah, i know that it is the same melody - but the way arcade renders it - is
like it's pissing on the composition, instead of rocking it. Since then i don't touch the arcade
version with a ten foot pole. So in the end, it's what defines your personal experience. And for
me, it is music; but technically, - the game is more or less the same. Perhaps even more.
@ciaran perry Tried with the MP3 years back - it doesn't work like that. Besides, sounds better live.
As for controls, actual arcade did not have rapid fire and the special attack - you had to mash 2 buttons.
So that's not better. Yeah, in MAME you can change that stuff, but not in the arcades (as a player).
You can though in Mega-CD. Yes, what you say is indeed so, 100 percent - yet there is one "but". For
most of that to come into play - you'd have to be an expert player. And you become an expert only
through experience - and through learning from people who already are experts. And in the arcades -
that was not a given, cause arcades cost money. And where would a boy in early teens get the money?!
Let alone someone who's 6-10 years old?! That's right - from parents...or from pooling the meager
cents together with the other kids on the block. And these two factors more often than not - would
not allow too many attempts at becoming an expert. Unless, for some kids the money was not a
problem - and they could become experts, if they liked the game enough.
Today, of course, you just fire up MAME, learn some strats from youtube, practice a few days/weeks -
and voila, you're an expert player. But back in the day that was not a given. No sir. An average Joe
(and i've seen those in droves) most definitely would empty his pockets and die either in the ring
against Sodom, or right before the bar - a few moments later. And if the average Joe had only a couple
of coins - then death would usually occur at 1st boss - or early train. I've seen that happen way, way
too many times to count. Hell, we used to place bets on when will the noob die, lol. And, since the
greedy arcade owner had access to dip-switches, - so you had quite a few machines with only
1 life to go around. So the myth is most definitely true.
@ciaran perry :-) i guess that depends on how much you like speed-mashing a single button,
and how good you are at it. Not my forte either way...I remember a particular game - Burning Soldier
for 3DO (space shooter), which heavily relies on hyper-speed-single-button-mashing in numerous
sections, and while i really like that game, - it was a gaming mini-nightmare in this regard:
i often needed 2 friends to help take turns in the said task. (as did they, in this particular game)
FF arcade is not very far from that for me, so i'm a rapid-fire fan.
@ciaran perry You're right, if you are using this type of tactics +Haggar.
But you still need to speed mash a lot nonetheless :-) Especially for Guy / Cody,
which were always my choice, cause they looked like martial arts movie heroes.
My friends made a pact not to use infinite loops somewhere around 1995.
Unlike them, i always preferred Vendetta, cause that one seemed way cooler
and more visceral to me (and it still does) and the combat approach was
radically different than Final Fight, which i found very interesting.
Great video, bud! Just the kind of quality content I need for quarantine.
Cool to know, i always invested so much time to find out which version of Pitfall is the best. Stay safe, stay home, let‘s play!
More Sega CD content, great! I really loved many of its games. Haven't hooked mine up for a while but have fond memories. Pitfall was also significantly enhanced.
That early 90s final fight music is so cool
I've been a huge fan of the Sega CD since the day it launched. I remember scouring all the local stores to try and find one when it launched, which wasn't easy back then. Stores weren't getting many and they were selling out immediately at the beginning. It has a lot of my favorite games of the entire 16-bit era on it and is criminally underrated in my opinion. Pretty much every genre is represented on it - JRPGs, strategy RPGs, action games, shooters, long scrolling adventure games, first person dunegon crawlers, graphic adventures, fighting games, arcade ports and some original titles that don't fit into easily defined genres. It may not have a ton of games in any one particular genre (yeah, yeah FMV complaints here, lol) but many of the games it does have are near the top of their genres for the time of their release.
I absolutely enjoy your enthusiasm for all these old platforms and games. It brings me back to my youth. I love the nostalgia factor of it all. Even if some of these games I never got a chance to experience. As an adult I love neo geo and have been fortunate enough to be able to purchase a full size 4 slot redcab. I never could afford it as a child and now I cant believe I own the arcade cabinet of my childhood dreams. Keep the videos coming they are a wonderful distraction during this rough patch. Stay safe
Really surprised you didn't mention the Sega CD version of Spider-Man Vs The Kingpin. So much was added/modified to that game that it's practically an all new game. Definitely the best version of it.
Sega CD was THE go-to system to rent! Night trap, Third World War are my two favorites. Absolutely fascinating to hook up. I still remember being mind blown when I first realized my genesis port in the back actually had a purpose.
Better on the Sega CD now that's what I like to hear! I've always been curious how Chuck Rock sounds on the Sega CD. I used to play that on Amiga and loved the main song. I know it had a Genesis version too but I'm sure it couldn't do it justice.
You'll be surprised, but Chuck Rock's music was actually simplified for
the Mega CD, compared to Megadrive. Just compare the title theme track.
Megadrive has there an entire jazz-rock-funk kind of composition there,
with solos and everything. Great material for recording and resurrection.
Mega CD cut almost everything out and dumbed down what remained.
I was unpleasantly surprised myself when i heard that, but there are a
couple of cases like that. Chuck Rock-1 is one of them.
I had a Mega CD at the time. It was an add-on that was underused. I have to confess that I had the "INXS make your video" game. 😁😁
Bought that at a used games store for $1.50 when I had my Mega CD...that was about how much it was worth.
I live in the uk and had marky mark and the funky bunch make my video. It was alright but there were some problems with sync being a pal machine running a ntsc game
NHL '94 on Sega CD was also the best home console version of that game.
Anybody who was fortunate to get one at its release (I arrived at Toys R Us after a phone call with my parents to get the last one in my area the time) knew after playing the games that came with it (loved Sol-Feace's music and enhanced play from MD version) that this was the next level. My library at that time was about 15 games and I can honestly say I was not disappointed with them at all!)
I had a Mega CD in the 90s. Benefit? If the same game was on the Mega Drive/Genesis - get the CD version. Same gameplay but better sound quality.
That isn't always the case, particularly with Mortal Kombat.
Not always. ALMOST always. Chuck Rock 1 - Megadrive has superior music (Yep...surprise!)
Same goes for Lethal Enforcers 1, with SFX to boot.
Also, some games are entirely different: Frankenstein for Mega CD is a completely different
game altogether. (doesn't mean it's better though - just different) Prince of Persia, on the other
hand is completely botched for Mega CD, compared to Megadrive.
@@HexenStar Speaking of this topic, I don't think the Sega CD version of Mickey Mania is as good as the Genesis version. The Genesis version has great music by Matt Furniss, but the CD version's music is much less memorable imo.
Though, I have to disagree about the Genesis version of Prince of Persia being better than the Sega CD version. It arguably looks better but plays horribly. Neither are as good as the PC-98 version, though, which is what the Sega CD version is based on.
@@thepirategamerboy12 Could be interesting to compare Mickey Mania, from
the musical standpoint (and curiosity), as i never showed interest in Disney-cutesy
themed games. But Prince of Persia...idk. It plays just like the PC original, and
exactly like the similarly styled games, - Flashback, Another World, Blackthorne.
At least, judging by my experience and that of my friends, who played this game
back on 286/386 processors. So i can't fathom what did you find off with its
controls. Maybe you're just not used to the games of this style. As for the looks,
surprisingly, but Mega-CD goes for some gross and unforgivable simplifications
in graphics/design/detail, while veering into a rather awkward direction thematically.
Which is however strange, but not unheard of. Worse things have been known
to happen, involving technology far more powerful than Mega-CD.
@@HexenStar Actually, I absolutely love Prince of Persia and games like it such as Another World. The sword-fighting in the Genesis version especially feels awful compared to many other versions. I'd much rather play even the original Apple II version because even though the graphics are basic compared to the Genesis, it plays really well. I've played through and beaten a number of versions and I'd personally say my favorites are the PC-98, SNES, and IBM PC/DOS versions. I'd highly recommend checking out DavidXNewton's videos where he goes through pretty much every version and says which ones are good or not.
The music alone makes that Sega CD Terminator game worth a purchase.
Sucks that it wasn't released on any other platforms or remastered for modern options.
I've never even seen a physical copy of the game.
I did g, owned it when i was younger, wished id kept a lot of the stuff i got rid of. I played that game to death, love it!
I doubt we'll ever see any re-releases of any Terminator games. I myself would love to have re-releases of Bethesda's classic Future Shock/Skynet duology.
I found a copy of The Terminator for Mega CD in mint condition for £10 back in 2003. I'm so glad I added it to my collection when I did because the game sells for crazy money on Ebay these days! It's not as expensive as games like Snatcher, but it's getting up there.
@@johnbowles5399 your lucky john, take good care of it, think you could send a pic so we could the case?
First comment about how most reviews of it being a failure were from people who never owned one... spot on, sir.
I’m shocked you didn’t mention Spiderman VS The Kingpin...
I gotta draw the line somewhere. The vid was already over 15 minutes long.
DUDE! That was a GREAT game. Really felt like you were in New York.
I liked the music better on the Genesis for that game..I prefer the darker theme it had especially the first stage
Imagine if Sega stuck with this, instead of developing the 32x.
it wouldve been smart. 32x was a waste
I actually liked the 32x too. Mortal kombat 2 was and is still the best console version
Imagine if the Mega-CD simply was what the Saturn would become. And released a full year before the PlayStation...
Yuuuip
@@GodWeenSatan still stupid
Oh boy the Final Fight soundtrack on the mega/Sega cd is just different class. I always wanted to be able to play the arcade version with the mega cd soundtrack.
Road rash had better gameplay and amazing sound track with real famous rock bands.
@TrueSinister You're right. It was the same gameplay. Someone mixed up 16 and 32 bit.
However, Sega/Mega CD version was the only version where you could hear the songs
during the race itself. (even though at a slightly worse quality - it wasn't a redbook audio)
PS1/Saturn/3DO versions only allowed you to listen to the songs BETWEEN the bike races
but not during. Which kinda defeats the purpose of a game soundtrack, but whateves.
I guess some kind of a greed issue with the corporate bureaucrats. Or just plain dumb design.
The gameplay, however...was beyond competition on the 3DO/PS1/Saturn.
3DO felt the most natural. PS1/Saturn felt like a soulless clone. Mega CD version...with all
my love toward that system - was a total garbage. There are some truly time-impervious
masterpieces on Mega CD. But Road Rash is not among them. Not even remotely.
Nothing like beating up bikers with chains while listening to Soundgarden
I noticed you had the terminator cd music playing at the intro, nice x, one of my favorite games. Used to play that just to listen to tommy talarico's best work, and your absolutely right about demolition man, way better on the sega cd. Everything you mentioned here i loved, and i actually introduced my very skeptical friend to batman returns on the cd. Needless to say, he bought it afterwards. The problem with the sega cd was its high asking price, which held it back, severly underrated system to say the least. Always loved sega's systems, always will
Echo's such a great game. My 4 year old son and I love playing it on my original console and cartridge. So relaxing.
Got NBA Jam for Christmas 1994. One of the best Christmas breaks ever playing that game all day, every day with my friends.
Excellent topic! Here are a few more games that you could ad to the list of games that were better on the Sega CD in case you make a part 2 video: 3 Ninjas Kick Back, BC Racers, Chuck Rock, Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck, Cliffhanger, Eternal Champions, Flink, Hook, The Ninja Warriors, Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, Popful Mail, Puggsy, The Smurfs, Snatcher, Wolfchild, and Wonder Dog.
Definitely agree with Hook. John Williams original film soundtrack on the Mega CD version was truly beautiful.
8:56 - "...This is the part where you fall down."
I wait weeks for my other favourite RUclipsrs to put stuff out but u keep coming up with good stuff in days
My local game store has a few of these titles. As soon as they take trades again I plan on picking a few up for the ole X’Eye.
Nice list Sega lord x
I own all 10 of these games in your list
I can't wait until you do a sega sports only video
I'm slowly getting there.
This has quickly become one of my favorite Sega channels of all time. Great reviews, fresh information and excellent narration!
I wouldn’t say it’s better necessarily since all the versions have their own merits
BUT
Shin Megami Tensei for the PC Engine* has demons based on Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck which I absolutely love.
EDIT: They do appear in the MCD version, but they go unused normally.
@MultiTarded Actually I was mistaken. They're in the PCE version, not the MCD version :(
But they are unused assets prior to that
Sega no 1
One of the first games I put on my megadrive mini classic once I updated project lunar was final fight cd. That soundtrack and intro is superb and brings back great memories
Hi can I ask, do Sega CD games run better on Project Lunar than on Retroarch? I'm having a little trouble with Retroarch y'see:) Thanks
@@pintoflitzpiepe stick with retro arch, it's leaps and bounds better than project lunar. There's video on RUclips that can help guide you through setting up games to run on retroarch. They do have to be .CDI files though if I remember correctly
@@johnboydojo Thanks for getting back to me. I have a Game Enhancer USB stick that I use with the Psone mini. It runs the Sega CD games through Retroarch but they all seem to crash at some point. I'm struggling to find a reason why on here..
@@pintoflitzpiepe what cores are you selecting for Sega CD ROMs?
I've never used retroarch on the PS classic so im not quite sure how to help you but I've had Sega CD games running fine on project lunar and retroarch on the megadrive (genesis) mini.
Patton plays does great tutorial videos for setting this kind of stuff www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DnTogw05rfbo&ved=2ahUKEwiL0sXS0oztAhXVilwKHXnrB1AQwqsBMAF6BAgbEAM&usg=AOvVaw0Dt1xArgiSPzUBkEAztDK4&cshid=1605721796840
I tend to favour hackchi on the megadrive (genesis) mini purely because it has folder support so you can get more games on there.
Eitherway I've not run into problems with either retroarch or project lunar on the genesis mini.
If you're not fussed about having loads of games go for lunar, if you want a Ron of games across different systems (master system, 32x etc) go for hackchi and retroarch
The core I'm using is MS/GG/MD/CD(km_Genesis Plus GX)
Just an FYI, for those who were curious to what Q-Sound is, it was a spacial sound recording feature similar to Rolland Sound Space. The chief component of Q-Sound was to force the speaker, any speaker to vibrate in such a way as to disperse sound in a wider than 45 degree angle, making the sound more immersive. Capcom used this feature on many of the CPS2 games like Dark Stalkers and Street Fighter Alpha series.
What you said about who often now write history about the Mega CD makes me think about the minidisc. A lot of lazier journalists just look at US history - even non-US journalists - and conclude it was a failed technology. But in fact it did really quite well here in Europe, and over in Asia. I still have a couple players, they'll play for 80 hours or record for 24 on a single AA battery, so even now they're still useful to me. And as a hopeless nerd, there's still something wonderful about the tactile experience of a music player that uses physical media, especially physical media that clunks into place far more satisfyingly than a flash card and actually spins!
Wonder what would have happened if Sega decided to make the Mega CD an independent console instead of an add-on for the Megadrive. It would have been more expensive but it's target market wouldn't have been limited to Megadrive owners but everybody. More important, it wouldn't have been dragged back by the Megadrive color pallete, it's games would have looked much better.
I loved the soundtrack to Sol-Feace!
Yes!!!👍
Lunar: The Silver Star was an amazing jRPG on the system. JRPGs on the SEGA consoles often got overlooked outside Phantasy Star.
Second best version after the complete collection on PS1 imo.
I bought a CD-X after boot camp back in 1994 when I got to my A-School. I friggin loved that thing. It was so easy to bring down to the rec-room where we would hook it to the TV and play hours of Eternal Champions.
And yes, the music on Ecco is so perfect it almost is like a different game from the genesis version.
For as much as I love Sega and grew up with my Mega Drive, I hate to but must say that speaking of hardware designs, Sega really has a special talent of letting a single lethal weakness destroying so many strengths. For Mega Drive it was the color palette, an unfortunate but unacceptable mistake so harshly exposed by the SNES. And instead of trying to fix it in some ways, they doubled down by keeping that palette on this $49,800JPY Mega CD and selling it for supposed full motion video and animation?....That they literally hoped this machine would take off was beyond arrogance and stupidity. They continued their losing streak by keep doing this kind of mistakes. Good and winning hardware design usually means one or limited amounts of strengths can carry the console and hide its numerous weakness, but Sega always did the opposite and eventually dig its own tomb....
Another excellent video and as a fellow Sega CD owner I 100% agree with all these games and I 100% agree with why these games matter to Sega CD owners. I am proud to say I have physical copies of all these games. I hope this series continues because there are even more games out there better on the Seg CD. Again, well done!
Hey you brought up some good points. Time to emulate these titles!
How can the music be something that is a sight to behold. Come on now.
the mk commercial still gets me super hype till this day.
Thank you I've been waiting for a video like this.
Bro I have been totally hooked on your videos lately. I grew up a nintendo kid and it's great to see things from a Sega kids view. Keep up the amazing work man!
I will say though my favorite retro system is the dreamcast that system just has a special spot in my heart.
3rd video I’ve watched in a row! I really enjoy the style with nice audio visual appreciation breaks... it’s something I definitely try to do too, the games deserves the spotlight and many people talk right over that stuff or they have a single audio track that plays over several stages and you don’t get much of a feel for what the game is actually like. Nice job! Also refreshing to hear grass roots feel around the sega cd and yeah, those soundtracks are amazing! Also, wow I really want to play that animated / reaction game, it looks like a really cool experience and even has a universal studios ride feeling to it!
What a great topic you've bought to the you tube table. Just pumped the Thumbs up button and not even pressed play yet! This (I hope) is what the Mega CD was all about the best most definitive multi-plat versions for the in-house and back in the day AAA titles. Like 4k HDR movie releases today. Gonna put the kettle on and enjoy this one, have a real soft spot for the Sega CD
Great content! I really love the Sega Genesis and Sega CD so seeing new games i never heard about always puts a smile on my face! Great video SLX!
Loved my sega cd. Spiderman was epic
One comparison you forgot to mention was The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin. The Genesis version was great but the Sega CD port added so much more. It had animated cut scenes with spoken dialogue, you could choose a stage anywhere in New York via onscreen map, more villains were added to the main story, one of the added bonuses was to collect Spider-Man comics scattered throughout different stages, and the opening theme as well as the soundtrack was composed by 80’s rock band Mr. Big.
Finally enjoying some of these on my new Mega SD, I had tried them on Kega Fusion but many CD titles bug out or crash on that. I do not have an original CD unit so the SD was my next best option with FPGA
I love your content. Best channel I've found in years.
The problem with the Mega CD is that it WAS powerful, but nobody bothered to take advantage of it. It was easier to port Mega Drive games over, and Sega was just as guilty. Like you mentioned, The Terminator showed off what could be done when built from the ground up. This industry is the same today, publishers and developers will always do the bare minimum
This video does a good job of showcasing the Mega/Sega CD library. Console exclusives are important, but the CD expanded the right games at the right time. It’s the ultimate 2D platforming console.
If I had a Sega CD, I would get Sonic CD, Final Fight CD, Mortal Kombat 1 and Fatal Fury Special.
Great games there.
Maaaan this was a great analysis. I’ve made it my goal to get a Sega CD one day a while ago. Watching this definitely sealed the deal.
Pyron color hacks on Final Fight CD really help bring it in line with the look of the arcade. Definitely my favorite version of the game as well.
Great to see these games showcased, I have copies of Mickey Mania and Ecco. Sega CD is so overlooked and many of the games deserve better.
That Terminator game is the spiritual successor to Journey to Silius and I love it.