Had issues with my modded Mega Drive (which I've since sorted) which meant I had to record everything at 50Hz. Not ideal, but in the context of the video it's fairly inconsequential. Enjoy!
I'd like to give a small addendum to "Advanced Busterhawk: Gleylancer" (@15:24)= it was recently re-released in English for the PS5 by Ratalaika Games! also (in my opinion) worth mentioning= the game was done originally by Masaya/NCS, the makers of that oh-so-"fabulous" series known as Cho Aniki... just thought you'd like to know that, LOL!
Great job! Dahna also has a translation patch for those interested in the story. And Gleylancer was re-released on cartridge a while ago, so it's much easier to get now than before. I think Golden Axe III isn't that bad and it does a lot more new things compared to how similar the second game is to the first. You have more characters to choose from, multiple paths to pick across the game and even combo magic attacks.
Thanks! Good to know about Dahna, although I don't like the game. I see Gleylancer is on modern platforms now, which is great. Good points about Golden Axe III, maybe I was a bit harsh on it, although I'm still not a fan.
Slap Fight has 2 versions on it… The game on startup is the arcade port but you can choose Slap Fight MD in the options with the Yuzo Koshiro music, pretty sure he didn’t compose the soundtrack for the original game. The remake of the game and soundtrack is pretty cool! No idea why it wasn’t the “main” game and the arcade port a bonus in the options🤔
Thanks for clearing this up. I was HIGHLY offended at the insinuation that Yuzo didn't show up for this one. Kidding, of course, but the Special version is what redeems the whole package - and probably what accounts for the game's astronomical price.
Thanks mate, although I'm loathe to call anything a documentary unless it has real interviews with developers. Seems people are calling anything a documentary these days LOL. Happy new Year!!!
Great stuff Pete. Probably worth mentioning that Glaylancer is available digitally on ps4, ps5 and Switch. I think most of those games were better off left in Japan. From what you highlighted the ones I particularly like are...Battlemania 2, Twinkle Tale, Yu Yu Hakusho, Golden Axe 3 and Sailor Moon. That power instinct fighter looked pretty good on the Megadrive but its the Saturn follow up where that series really took off in my opinion. It's awesome.
Thanks, Rob! Yeah, a few have said that about Gleylancer; that's great. Most of them are take it or leave it sort of games, but there are some gems for sure, like the ones you've mentioned.
I would've tripped all over the Japanese names, well done matey. Huge fan of slap fight, played the spectrum version loads 🥰. Undead line looks fun. Gleylancer looks brilliant The Wonderboy game looks awesome, look forward to the video. Love new Zealand story 🥰 . Great video as always.
Dodge Danpei is awesome, it's one of my favorite Mega Drive games. A: Pass / Duck, B: Shoot / Catch, C: Jump. Just so you know, to perform super shots, jump then hold the shoot button (B) until the ball turns white. Once it's completely white, release B, and you'll perform a super shot that varies depending on your character. Getting the timing down takes a bit of practice, but you'll know if you released the B button too early or too late depending on the ball color (it'll be bright if you released it too early, and normal color if you released it too late).
Yeah, quite a few made it to collections over the years. Which did you play on Sega Channel? I thought Pulseman was the only one of these that was on it.
Awesome video! I'm glad Retro B8 mentioned this video over on his channel or I may have missed your channel. New subscriber here! Keep up the great work!
Fantastic video. Never knew that Golden Axe 3 and Fire Mustang were Japan exclusives. Also some good Japanese games are Dragon Ball Z, Magical Hat and one soccer games that can use superhero powers (eagle kick, atomic kick, etc).
Yeah, weird that Golden Axe III never left Japan. Dragon Ball Z got some western releases, like France, but sadly never came to UK or NA. Magical Hat I own, it's great! Didn't include it as it was (sort of) ported, and reskinned as Decap Attack. But one could argue it's an exclusive in a way (in its original form). Thanks!
How is Golden Axe 3 more of the same when it's actually one of the more complex beat em ups with fighting game style move inputs and even an actual block button? I just don't understand beat em up fans. It's like they forget that beat em ups started off complex like with Double Dragon & Double Dragon 2, but everyone seems to think that all beat em ups are supposed to play like Final Fight & Streets of Rage. Even Golden Axe 1 & 2 were slower & tactical like DD & GA3 took that concept & expanded upon it.
You neglected to mention the absolutely BONKERS plot of battle golfer yui. A mad scientist trying to conquer the world... through golfing. But it plays it so dead pan serious. I was in stitches.
Great video Pete, some awesome games in there. I feel your pain with Slam Dunk, I've been playing it a bit for a project I'm working on and you can tell there is a lot more going on there under the hood behind the language barrier. Of all the games on the list, I particularly love Battle Mania 2!
Happy new year, Pete! I did play some of these games back in the day. In my country, bootleg Japanese carts were really common. I even owned Double Dragon II and Sailor Moon. I'm playing Monster World IV right now (with a fan translation), and the game is really, really great. Some of these games (Cotton, Pulseman, Yu Yu Hakusho and Monster World) should have been launched in the west. Thankfully we can play them all today. A great video to start the year.
Mamono hunter Yohko is actually pretty fun once you get a hang of using the throwable shield thing. You just have to learn when to use it and when to use your regular attack.
Late to the party on this on Pete, apologires. Though I have to say it was worth the wait. A fair few games in this one that I'd not heard off and it was great seeing the box art for them all. It seems out of all the shooters that remained in japan it was a bit of mixed bag of good and bad. With some being really bad and some being really good. Exceptional stuff and always mate.
Out of that list, I have Snow Bros., Slap Fight, Langrisser II, Puyo Puyo, Tant-R, Monster World IV, Rent-a-Hero on the Japanese Mega Drive Mini, Pulseman on the Japanese Wii VC and The New Zealand Story on cartridge. You can imagine which of those games I skipped over, lol. Sadly, I played Golden Axe III on the Mega Drive Collection for Xbox 360. I think I must have spent a good ten minutes on it before exiting the game for good. The only A-Train game I have is A-Train HX for the 360. Haven't played it yet, though. Good video as always, Pete.
Nice, got some good ones there mate. I'm still trying to crack a million on Snow Bros. Yeah, Golden Axe III seems to have its fans judging by the comments here, but it's not for me.
Pete, you're an absolute gem. Halfway through and loving it. Genesis is tricky because I see Heavy Unit or Vixen and immediately get a raging mech boner, but then the games turn out to be just decent.More than a few ebay sellers have gotten (a lot of) my money because of that.
Thats why I learned japanese, it opens up a huge library on games especially on PC Engine, Saturn and Dreamcast. And ypu can avoid horrible localizations/westernization or even worse the fan translations.
New subscriber to your channel mate. Really enjoyed that great video. Big fan of import games myself, both Japanese and USA. There were a couple I'd never considered there which look interesting like Doraemon and Magical Taruto, will check those out. Need to give Pulseman another go as never got on with that. Snow Bros and Pengo are great for me, closely followed by New Zealand be Story and Rainbow Islands 👍
Thanks for the sub, and welcome. Glad you found at least a couple here to check out. Snow Bros. is def a favourite for me, and I've been playing it loads lately. Still trying to break that 1 million mark.
Really thorough look at so many cool games, 99% hadn't heard of as I've always concentrated on pal territory releases but, enjoyed that insight. Cheers 👍
Really cool. Thanks for the content. I don't know which of the Wonder Boy games are my favourite. The Dragon's Trap and Monster World 3 all offer something unique.
Such a great video! Will have to try some of these on my MegaSD. There are so many translations nowadays. It is such a great time to be a retro gamer. I will never buy a new console again.
@@onaretrotip yes. Also pulseman. Predicting both twinkle tale and pulseman wil be on the genesis Nso library in the future. Mike Matei made me want to play that game. And oh yeah a loose or cib of twinkle tale is pricey. Same with pulseman
@@onaretrotip u should also do Japanese exclusive Saturn games cause there are good ones like steamgear mash, psychic killer taromaru which is castkevania meets shinobi, blastwinds, bulk smash which is as third person mech game, etc
About Gleylancer, the game has multiple story cutscenes so that's what the english patch is for. At least that's my guess, I had no idea there even was an english patch for it in the first place, I remember playing it long time ago and loving it
Great content, love Monster World IV and Snow Bros too. I was ready to ad Wonder Boy Monster Lair but I see it got out in Europe so... DBZ Bu Yu Retsuden? Penguin Land! Pyramid Magic... Madou Monogatari too, but needs trans.
Great picks, those are two of my favourites here. Been playing Snow Bros. loads lately; still trying to crack that 1 million score. Yeah, there are loads more exclusives I didn't mention.
@@onaretrotip The Dragon Ball Z one was huge here in Argentina. A Genesis iteration from the Butouden Snes series, maybe a little stif but great music. Love it.
Battle mania 2 is excellent although a bit on the easy side. Nonetheless still a title worth playing especially if you have limited amounts of playing time. Regarding Sailor Moon, it was on French telly and had a lot of success in the 90's with girls (and boys too but we were too proud to admit it) hence the French PAL version.
Golden Axe 3 is largely better than the first two games. Much tighter gameplay and super precise hit-boxes. A ton more moves. Many different paths which gives the game great replayability. And the soundtrack is definitely not bad, it is actually freaking awesome. You really didn't take enough time with this game and don't make it justice at all. For reminder, Golden Axe 1 is super short with pretty shitty hit-boxes, and Golden Axe II has an absurd AI. 3 is much better then both.
Yeah, I was probably harsh on it as I just don't like the game, but if I had played it in the '90s I would have perhaps liked it. To be fair, I don't play the first two these days either as they're so slow, so comparing them perhaps wasn't fair.
I played so much of the rom of Sailormoon for the Mega Drive and it's hard. The Sailormoon R-game for the SuperFamicom is the better one despite the fact the rom I downloaded at the time had a cheat implemented that no matter how many times I died and still finished the game
Tho I find it strange that many say that Golden Axe 3 was not in North America, yes maybe not in the USA but I as a Canadien played it, it was for rent tho do to a long time ago, cant fully remember if it was in sale in stores but I think I seen it in store and there was also Alien Soldier, Alien Soldier is one I sure remember. Tho I do know Canada is a strange place so who knows, cause from what I have seen of my land, there is many diffrences from provinces to provinces, tho I did not know before that there was such thing as a mega drive, it was the sega genesis. But its intresting to to learn this stuff!
M2 is doing collections of games by toaplan maybe,snow bros will end up in one later on.25:47 monster world iv is such a gem for the console.MWIV has had digital releases for ps3,Xbox 360 and wii and it's even included on the genesis/megadrive mini.
Yeah a Snow Bros. release would be great. Been playing the Mega Drive version loads lately, as well as the arcade original on Coinops. Good that MW IV got modern releases.
I put that turbo button to a good use for Psy-O-Blade, let me tell you. Though, it's probably not worth it in the end, since it's a somewhat butchered port of a Japanese PC game of the same name. My favs from this vid? I like King Colossus, Taruruto-kun, Gleylancer, Eliminate Down, Monster World IV, Star Cruiser, Battle Mania, Rent-a-Hero, Pulseman, Twinkle Tale and Panorama Cotton. Very cool selection overall. There are not so many RPGs/strategy games left in Japan, so nicely enough it looks like we haven't missed out on much in that regard, but every new translation is always nice to see. Surging Aura is perhaps the 'big' one, since it uses Phantasy Star IV engine IIRC, but you need to know French/Russian to play it at least, since they're the only patches available.
Seriously what the hell is it with shitting on Golden Axe 3? It has the most characters, the largest variety of moves for each character, multiple branching paths and the music is great. Am I taking crazy pills? It's easily the best Golden Axe on Mega Drive and you'd really have to be blinded by nostalgia to think otherwise.
Well, there is a need for the patch if you want to play it on Mega Drive (which I do)! Ah, I might have to play Verytex again now I know that; thanks for the info.
12:13 this is basically Universal's Space Panic (the original platformer) but with better graphics. I actually got to play a real Space Panic arcade cabinet one time, it was at a thrift store with two other old arcade machines someone had donated in the late 80's which were priced under $100 each. two of them weren't working (Star Castle and Armor Attack) but the Space Panic was. I was a kid at the time, now as an adult I would have taken them all.
That quiet a list.. i got to say the Sumo game is quiet interesting and I have a friend who love that kinda stuff at kinda glad that most got a English traslations
11:18 funny enough, the music playing in the background is actually the USA Army Song. Would have made more sense to put a 16bit version of the German WW2 anthem
Would like to track down a Japanese mega drive 3d shooter I played in the 90's where you controlled a tank thing. Sorry for the vague description! But if anyone can help me try some names I might be able to recall which game it was, or at least narrow down the search
Granada is a great tank shooter! I'm happy to have it in my collection. I've played it on the X68000, but having to swap disks for that version is a bit cumbersome. AFAIK, it was never released outside of Japan.
@@onaretrotip Oh, I wasn't aware of that. I only had fairly minimal Genesis exposure when I still lived in America. It wasn't until I moved to Japan when I started buying up lots of Megadrive games.
Fire Mustang is a game that is sad to see when compared to the arcade original, if we look at Ranger X, we can clearly see the Mega Drive is more than capable of reproducing faithfully most butchered conversions from that era, the problem always lies in developer skills/inspiration, time constraints and budget for development and to make smaller RAM carts. The color scheme of the arcade version reminds me a lot how Ranger X looks. Double Dragon 2 is weird to play, each button attacks left or right, it's bad programmed and the only way to make it play smoothly is by doubling the CPU speed in the emulator or even the faster CPU mod for Mega Drive, but as you said, Double Dragon was good for the time, but it doesn't really play well, not even the sequels, we tend to blame current gen games for being released in an unfinished state, but it really is the case from day one.
38:45 The gauge in the middle charges up and allows Ultraman to perform one of his special moves. The strongest one however, is the *_only move_* that can finish off an enemy once "FINISH" appears on screen. I know, it's garbage.
That video was the very opposite of NAFF I would have to say! Perhaps some of the games were a bit DAFT though. I think I will play Twinkle Tale, Undeadline, and Sailor Moon, maybe some of the shmups but I'm not a big shmup player, more of a run n gunner myself.
Awesome video, i was here cause im looking myself for a game ive played in mega drive when i was a kid and cant find it and its getting me real sad because i cant figure it out what game it was, the only thing i remember clearly from the game is that is a platformer and in the beggining you have to release a girl from a crystal. Cant remember so well but maybe the game has some medieval tone to it. if someone knows what game this is i wold be really apreciated. its getting me soooo frustrated to search for this title. Sorry for the english, not my native.
@@onaretrotip not much aside human female character, from what i remember the games stetics was like alisia dragoon and the girl used a staff and was a mage maybe, i was very young and just remember that part of the game, that you hit a crystal and get someone out of a crystral D:
Mamono Hunter Yohko is actual a video game adaptation of a line of OVAs with the same production values (as in getting more and more mediocre) the only selling point at the time was Aya Hisakawa (who did the voice of sailor mercury) voicing the character.
@@onaretrotip No worries. Went through it last weekend on my coin-op with my daughter. Found myself laughing at some of the bosses. Good game! Lotta sprites from Joe and Mac in it too!
The Japanese pick the PC Engine over the Mega Drive what were they thinking.Did they even see the games Sega was producing how in the world did it fail in Japan.
Three reasons. 1. It was eclipsed Super Mario Bros. 3, which came out a week before. 2. NEC released a CD attachment for their system, it was a huge innovation, and a commercial success there. 3. Unlike in the western, the Mega Drive had rather ruff beginning with in terms of library of games. The most infamous being Osomatsu-Kun: Hachamecha Gekijō as mentioned in this video.
Thunder Pro is... fine. It's one of the weakest entries in the FiPro series, but as you say, the only one on the Mega Drive or Genesis, so... any port in a storm, if you like the series? But yeah, much better options on the PC Engine or SNES.
Had issues with my modded Mega Drive (which I've since sorted) which meant I had to record everything at 50Hz. Not ideal, but in the context of the video it's fairly inconsequential. Enjoy!
I'd like to give a small addendum to "Advanced Busterhawk: Gleylancer" (@15:24)= it was recently re-released in English for the PS5 by Ratalaika Games!
also (in my opinion) worth mentioning= the game was done originally by Masaya/NCS, the makers of that oh-so-"fabulous" series known as Cho Aniki... just thought you'd like to know that, LOL!
*Buy a Japanese machine they are cheap now sir!*
That ruined the video for me....what a c***
@@afriend9428 I have a region modded MD.
@@DadLadsGaming LMAO
Great job! Dahna also has a translation patch for those interested in the story. And Gleylancer was re-released on cartridge a while ago, so it's much easier to get now than before. I think Golden Axe III isn't that bad and it does a lot more new things compared to how similar the second game is to the first. You have more characters to choose from, multiple paths to pick across the game and even combo magic attacks.
Thanks! Good to know about Dahna, although I don't like the game. I see Gleylancer is on modern platforms now, which is great. Good points about Golden Axe III, maybe I was a bit harsh on it, although I'm still not a fan.
@@heymynameisharry Yes, nostalgia always plays a part in these things. I might give Dahna another go.
@kevin weinz Yeah, but maybe they initially attempted to port it but changed plans due to the hardware not being powerful enough.
Does Gleylancer have a cheaper PCB like Darius Extra Version?
Slap Fight has 2 versions on it…
The game on startup is the arcade port but you can choose Slap Fight MD in the options with the Yuzo Koshiro music, pretty sure he didn’t compose the soundtrack for the original game. The remake of the game and soundtrack is pretty cool! No idea why it wasn’t the “main” game and the arcade port a bonus in the options🤔
Ah... Thanks for the info, Steve!
Thanks for clearing this up. I was HIGHLY offended at the insinuation that Yuzo didn't show up for this one. Kidding, of course, but the Special version is what redeems the whole package - and probably what accounts for the game's astronomical price.
Fantastic documentary mate. I need to get several of these!
Wish you a healthy and successful 2022 brother
Thanks mate, although I'm loathe to call anything a documentary unless it has real interviews with developers. Seems people are calling anything a documentary these days LOL. Happy new Year!!!
@@onaretrotip feel like anything with reporting and opinion is considered to be a documentary
@@broseb8050 Yeah, I guess it is. I just really meant in terms of video description - I'd never call this a doc.
@@onaretrotip verytex was my favourite japanese shoot -em- up game of all times and it still is now followed by master of weapon
What a banger of a video! Enjoyed this one, annoys me you haven’t got more subscribers!..so truly deserved.
Thanks very much, Luke. Kind words indeed. Hope you're good mate.
Great stuff Pete. Probably worth mentioning that Glaylancer is available digitally on ps4, ps5 and Switch.
I think most of those games were better off left in Japan. From what you highlighted the ones I particularly like are...Battlemania 2, Twinkle Tale, Yu Yu Hakusho, Golden Axe 3 and Sailor Moon. That power instinct fighter looked pretty good on the Megadrive but its the Saturn follow up where that series really took off in my opinion. It's awesome.
Thanks, Rob! Yeah, a few have said that about Gleylancer; that's great. Most of them are take it or leave it sort of games, but there are some gems for sure, like the ones you've mentioned.
Thank you kind Sir 😁. I'm a huge shmup fan and PC-E and Megadrive are among favorite consoles, so this list was very useful to me
Very glad to hear that! Thank you.
I haven’t any but I’ve a long list now, looking forward to the wonderboy video, that game looks awesome. Top stuff mate.
Thanks, Paul! Hope you've found some games to check out here.
You absolute madman ! I thought that thumbnail looked familiar and then I see you put Divine Sealing on the list !
LOL
Some of these I haven't even heard of and I had a Japanese Megadrive back in the day..... I'll be checking some of these out for sure
Awesome. Thanks, Lee!
Brilliant video. I really enjoyed watching. Somehow I missed Undeadline. Looks pretty good!
Thanks! Undeadline is good fun and something a bit different. Def worth checking out.
Excellent video Pete.
I'll definitely be checking out Twinkle Tale and Undeadline 👍👍
Thanks, Marcus! Good choices mate.
I would've tripped all over the Japanese names, well done matey.
Huge fan of slap fight, played the spectrum version loads 🥰.
Undead line looks fun.
Gleylancer looks brilliant
The Wonderboy game looks awesome, look forward to the video.
Love new Zealand story 🥰 .
Great video as always.
Haha I did my best. Undeadline and Gleylancer are def worth checking out mate, as is Monster World IV. Thanks, David!
Pete, fantastic video and a great idea to help people new to the JPN range and helps so many find some fantastic games
Thanks, Rich!
Dodge Danpei is awesome, it's one of my favorite Mega Drive games. A: Pass / Duck, B: Shoot / Catch, C: Jump. Just so you know, to perform super shots, jump then hold the shoot button (B) until the ball turns white. Once it's completely white, release B, and you'll perform a super shot that varies depending on your character. Getting the timing down takes a bit of practice, but you'll know if you released the B button too early or too late depending on the ball color (it'll be bright if you released it too early, and normal color if you released it too late).
Thanks so much for this! I'll be having another go at it now I know the controls.
Thanks, I was gonna comment about that one hehe
Nice video. Fun fact, the character Rent-a-hero was a unlockable fighter in Fighters Megamix on the Saturn.
That is fun!
Very much enjoyed the video - much thanks for making it ♥️
Thanks, James! My pleasure.
Gleylancer is such a gem of a game. Well done friend !
Sure is! Thanks mate.
Thanks for helping me to find Taruruto game! It was so cool ❤️
My pleasure!
This is fantastic! Excellent guide, excellent video.
Thank you very much!
I've played some of these on different collections packs. And some previously on Sega channel back in the 90's.
Yeah, quite a few made it to collections over the years. Which did you play on Sega Channel? I thought Pulseman was the only one of these that was on it.
32:08 hell yeah brother (said in thick american accent)
💪
Awesome video! I'm glad Retro B8 mentioned this video over on his channel or I may have missed your channel. New subscriber here! Keep up the great work!
Ah, good old Paul! Thanks for popping over.
Fantastic video. Never knew that Golden Axe 3 and Fire Mustang were Japan exclusives. Also some good Japanese games are Dragon Ball Z, Magical Hat and one soccer games that can use superhero powers (eagle kick, atomic kick, etc).
Yeah, weird that Golden Axe III never left Japan.
Dragon Ball Z got some western releases, like France, but sadly never came to UK or NA.
Magical Hat I own, it's great! Didn't include it as it was (sort of) ported, and reskinned as Decap Attack. But one could argue it's an exclusive in a way (in its original form).
Thanks!
You forgot dynabrothers 2, but great list of exclusives! I recently played pulseman and it was fun
Thanks! Yeah, Pulseman is good fun, and love the chunky sprites.
How is Golden Axe 3 more of the same when it's actually one of the more complex beat em ups with fighting game style move inputs and even an actual block button? I just don't understand beat em up fans. It's like they forget that beat em ups started off complex like with Double Dragon & Double Dragon 2, but everyone seems to think that all beat em ups are supposed to play like Final Fight & Streets of Rage. Even Golden Axe 1 & 2 were slower & tactical like DD & GA3 took that concept & expanded upon it.
LOL Yeah, maybe I was a bit harsh as I just don't like the game.
Not to mention it has the best soundtrack of all three Golden Axe games on the platform.
I think the graphics and characters are a bit dull on it; suffered from a too small cart size so background tiles were very limited.
Gleylancer is on Switch now too. I think it's less than 5 dollars, and well worth it.
Awesome!
Gleylancer and Zero are two of the best Shmups on the Mega Drive/Genesis along with Thunderforce IV aka Lightning Force in the Colonies
💪
You neglected to mention the absolutely BONKERS plot of battle golfer yui. A mad scientist trying to conquer the world... through golfing. But it plays it so dead pan serious. I was in stitches.
😂
Great video Pete, some awesome games in there. I feel your pain with Slam Dunk, I've been playing it a bit for a project I'm working on and you can tell there is a lot more going on there under the hood behind the language barrier. Of all the games on the list, I particularly love Battle Mania 2!
Thanks, Nick! Battle Mania 2 is a great choice. Brilliant game.
Happy new year, Pete! I did play some of these games back in the day. In my country, bootleg Japanese carts were really common. I even owned Double Dragon II and Sailor Moon. I'm playing Monster World IV right now (with a fan translation), and the game is really, really great. Some of these games (Cotton, Pulseman, Yu Yu Hakusho and Monster World) should have been launched in the west. Thankfully we can play them all today. A great video to start the year.
Thanks mate! Yeah, the translation of MW IV is so good. Love it!
Mamono hunter Yohko is actually pretty fun once you get a hang of using the throwable shield thing. You just have to learn when to use it and when to use your regular attack.
Maybe I'll have to give it more time. Played it for an hour or so and it didn't really click.
Just introduced to this channel today. Great video. I'll be subscribing.
Thank you, and welcome!
Late to the party on this on Pete, apologires.
Though I have to say it was worth the wait. A fair few games in this one that I'd not heard off and it was great seeing the box art for them all. It seems out of all the shooters that remained in japan it was a bit of mixed bag of good and bad. With some being really bad and some being really good.
Exceptional stuff and always mate.
Thanks, Dylan! Hopefully you found at least a couple to try here. Very mixed bag overall really.
Ah finally RUclips recommended something good for once.
LOL Thank you!
Great idea! Undeadline reminds me of Knightmare on the MSX. Monster World looks amazing, that definitely caught my eye!
Thanks, Matt! Both are definitely worth playing. Monster World is a belter.
I love Golden Axe 3, think it is actually the best one on Mega Drive, even though the audiovisual presentation lets it down.
Shame really, as it could've been a lot better.
Out of that list, I have Snow Bros., Slap Fight, Langrisser II, Puyo Puyo, Tant-R, Monster World IV, Rent-a-Hero on the Japanese Mega Drive Mini, Pulseman on the Japanese Wii VC and The New Zealand Story on cartridge. You can imagine which of those games I skipped over, lol.
Sadly, I played Golden Axe III on the Mega Drive Collection for Xbox 360. I think I must have spent a good ten minutes on it before exiting the game for good.
The only A-Train game I have is A-Train HX for the 360. Haven't played it yet, though.
Good video as always, Pete.
Nice, got some good ones there mate. I'm still trying to crack a million on Snow Bros. Yeah, Golden Axe III seems to have its fans judging by the comments here, but it's not for me.
Pete, you're an absolute gem. Halfway through and loving it. Genesis is tricky because I see Heavy Unit or Vixen and immediately get a raging mech boner, but then the games turn out to be just decent.More than a few ebay sellers have gotten (a lot of) my money because of that.
Thanks, Calvin! Yeah, it can be tricky knowing if they're any good, and the awesome Japanese artwork can sometimes draw you in to a sub-par game.
Great video. Thanks for your work.
Brazilian market receive a lot of these Japanese exclusives trough pirate cartridges.
Thanks for watching! Yes, I did wonder how many of these unofficially made their way to Brazil.
Thats why I learned japanese, it opens up a huge library on games especially on PC Engine, Saturn and Dreamcast.
And ypu can avoid horrible localizations/westernization or even worse the fan translations.
I bet!
New subscriber to your channel mate.
Really enjoyed that great video. Big fan of import games myself, both Japanese and USA. There were a couple I'd never considered there which look interesting like Doraemon and Magical Taruto, will check those out. Need to give Pulseman another go as never got on with that. Snow Bros and Pengo are great for me, closely followed by New Zealand be Story and Rainbow Islands 👍
Thanks for the sub, and welcome. Glad you found at least a couple here to check out. Snow Bros. is def a favourite for me, and I've been playing it loads lately. Still trying to break that 1 million mark.
Gleylancer also available on Xbox one/series X as well.
Excellent video and a few I plan to pick up. Thanks
Thanks! Didn't know Gleylancer was also on XBOX.
Great vid Pete 😉
Thanks mate!
Really thorough look at so many cool games, 99% hadn't heard of as I've always concentrated on pal territory releases but, enjoyed that insight. Cheers 👍
@@rodgyretro That's awesome. Glad I could show you some new games, there are some superb ones in the mix here.
About the soundtrack of Slap Fight MD: actually, there's the updated version into this game with the real Yuzo Koshiro's rearranged soundtrack.
Yes, someone pointed that out. Thanks!
Really cool. Thanks for the content. I don't know which of the Wonder Boy games are my favourite. The Dragon's Trap and Monster World 3 all offer something unique.
Personally, I love Dragon's Trap, but the one in this video is brilliant.
You really forgot to mention Nadia and the secret of blue water! It is unique rpg-quest for Mega Drive. It also has a translation patch.
Yeah, I'm sure there are loads more i haven't mentioned. I'll check that one out 👍
Such a great video! Will have to try some of these on my MegaSD. There are so many translations nowadays. It is such a great time to be a retro gamer. I will never buy a new console again.
Thank you very much! Ha, I know, right. I play my Mega Drive loads lately, but haven't switched the PS4 on in months.
Great video. Congratulations and thanks
Thank you. Glad you liked it.
@@onaretrotip I've done a ultraman's longplay
Twinkle Tale is really good. Reminds me of pocky and rocky.
Same! Great game.
@@onaretrotip yes. Also pulseman. Predicting both twinkle tale and pulseman wil be on the genesis Nso library in the future. Mike Matei made me want to play that game. And oh yeah a loose or cib of twinkle tale is pricey. Same with pulseman
@@Kourumeme Yes, definitely not cheap!
@@onaretrotip u should also do Japanese exclusive Saturn games cause there are good ones like steamgear mash, psychic killer taromaru which is castkevania meets shinobi, blastwinds, bulk smash which is as third person mech game, etc
The grass is always greener on the other side as they say. Great list and a good reminder of what fun the Japanese MD brought.
It is indeed. Thank you!
@@onaretrotip welcome!
Nice one pete
Cheers, Scott.
Monster World IV - amazing game!
So good!
@@onaretrotip it’s great mistake, what it didn’t have USA realise.
Puyo Puyo did release in the west as "Squishy Splat"
On what?
The patch for Gleylancer is fir the story, it has a really cool fairly lengthy anime style intro.
Ah, assumed it was something like that. Thanks!
I'm excited to come to see it again
See what come again, sorry?
About Gleylancer, the game has multiple story cutscenes so that's what the english patch is for. At least that's my guess, I had no idea there even was an english patch for it in the first place, I remember playing it long time ago and loving it
Gleylancer has just been released on the Playstation and Xbox platforms. It's great.
Ah, I assumed as much. Thanks. Playable either way, and a great game.
@@onaretrotip gynoug has also been released on PS4 and Xbox. Something I thought I’d never see.
hmmm....I got stuck on that same statement. Makes me think he never played the game, but wrote the review from watching footage.
@@snarfmaster2 The footage in this video was all recorded by me. Played it loads. Probably just skipped the cutscenes TBH.
Dahna: Megami Tanjo has an english patch, if you're willing to seek it out.
Nice. Not a fan of that game, but good to know.
Great content, love Monster World IV and Snow Bros too. I was ready to ad Wonder Boy Monster Lair but I see it got out in Europe so... DBZ Bu Yu Retsuden? Penguin Land! Pyramid Magic... Madou Monogatari too, but needs trans.
Great picks, those are two of my favourites here. Been playing Snow Bros. loads lately; still trying to crack that 1 million score. Yeah, there are loads more exclusives I didn't mention.
@@onaretrotip The Dragon Ball Z one was huge here in Argentina. A Genesis iteration from the Butouden Snes series, maybe a little stif but great music. Love it.
Battle mania 2 is excellent although a bit on the easy side. Nonetheless still a title worth playing especially if you have limited amounts of playing time. Regarding Sailor Moon, it was on French telly and had a lot of success in the 90's with girls (and boys too but we were too proud to admit it) hence the French PAL version.
Ahhhh, that explains it. Thanks!
I have Langrisser because the art is by Satoshi Urushihara 😁
👌
Wish the Genesis was as popular as the PC Engine in japan. There would be even more gems to play,
Yes, it's surprising how little they sold there.
very good I love genesis megadrive
Me too! :)
i am japanese, there are many western exclusives!!!! darn it!!!!!
LOL
Golden Axe 3 is largely better than the first two games. Much tighter gameplay and super precise hit-boxes. A ton more moves. Many different paths which gives the game great replayability. And the soundtrack is definitely not bad, it is actually freaking awesome. You really didn't take enough time with this game and don't make it justice at all. For reminder, Golden Axe 1 is super short with pretty shitty hit-boxes, and Golden Axe II has an absurd AI. 3 is much better then both.
Yeah, I was probably harsh on it as I just don't like the game, but if I had played it in the '90s I would have perhaps liked it. To be fair, I don't play the first two these days either as they're so slow, so comparing them perhaps wasn't fair.
I played so much of the rom of Sailormoon for the Mega Drive and it's hard. The Sailormoon R-game for the SuperFamicom is the better one despite the fact the rom I downloaded at the time had a cheat implemented that no matter how many times I died and still finished the game
I found the Mega Drive one so slow and it got very repetitive.
Tho I find it strange that many say that Golden Axe 3 was not in North America, yes maybe not in the USA but I as a Canadien played it, it was for rent tho do to a long time ago, cant fully remember if it was in sale in stores but I think I seen it in store and there was also Alien Soldier, Alien Soldier is one I sure remember. Tho I do know Canada is a strange place so who knows, cause from what I have seen of my land, there is many diffrences from provinces to provinces, tho I did not know before that there was such thing as a mega drive, it was the sega genesis. But its intresting to to learn this stuff!
Maybe they imported games to rent, as it was definitely a Japanese exclusive. We had the same in the UK - a lot of sellers would import games.
Snow Bros. on Sega?!? Who knew, but I still say the Bros. look like creepy snowmen
Like the evil twin children of the Stay Puft marshmallow man.
I had the very same Sony Vega (Wega?) Trinitron depicted in this video!
Great TV.
Slap Fight also has a remixed mode with an entirely new soundtrack (and new levels IIRC), it's right there in the main menu ;)
LOL Yeah, I'm an idiot. A mate pointed that out when I uploaded this.
A 40 minute vid on Mega Drive games? Don't mind If I do.
Treat yo' self! LOL
Good video. Eliminate down and trouble shooter /battlemania are sega megadrive games at their best for me
Thanks. Oh, absolutely. They're real gems of the library for sure.
M2 is doing collections of games by toaplan maybe,snow bros will end up in one later on.25:47 monster world iv is such a gem for the console.MWIV has had digital releases for ps3,Xbox 360 and wii and it's even included on the genesis/megadrive mini.
Yeah a Snow Bros. release would be great. Been playing the Mega Drive version loads lately, as well as the arcade original on Coinops. Good that MW IV got modern releases.
I put that turbo button to a good use for Psy-O-Blade, let me tell you. Though, it's probably not worth it in the end, since it's a somewhat butchered port of a Japanese PC game of the same name. My favs from this vid? I like King Colossus, Taruruto-kun, Gleylancer, Eliminate Down, Monster World IV, Star Cruiser, Battle Mania, Rent-a-Hero, Pulseman, Twinkle Tale and Panorama Cotton. Very cool selection overall. There are not so many RPGs/strategy games left in Japan, so nicely enough it looks like we haven't missed out on much in that regard, but every new translation is always nice to see. Surging Aura is perhaps the 'big' one, since it uses Phantasy Star IV engine IIRC, but you need to know French/Russian to play it at least, since they're the only patches available.
Yes, Psy-O-Blade didn't seem worth the hassle, so I'm glad you've confirmed that. Great picks there!
Seriously what the hell is it with shitting on Golden Axe 3? It has the most characters, the largest variety of moves for each character, multiple branching paths and the music is great. Am I taking crazy pills? It's easily the best Golden Axe on Mega Drive and you'd really have to be blinded by nostalgia to think otherwise.
LOL
Wonderboy got an official translation on wii in 2008 so no need for translation patch.. also Verytex has a button to change to 3 types of speed
Well, there is a need for the patch if you want to play it on Mega Drive (which I do)! Ah, I might have to play Verytex again now I know that; thanks for the info.
12:13 this is basically Universal's Space Panic (the original platformer) but with better graphics. I actually got to play a real Space Panic arcade cabinet one time, it was at a thrift store with two other old arcade machines someone had donated in the late 80's which were priced under $100 each. two of them weren't working (Star Castle and Armor Attack) but the Space Panic was. I was a kid at the time, now as an adult I would have taken them all.
Oh, yeah! You're absolutely right.
That quiet a list.. i got to say the Sumo game is quiet interesting and I have a friend who love that kinda stuff at kinda glad that most got a English traslations
Yeah the sumo game is nice looking and plays quite well. Definitely worth a look if your mate likes that kind of thing.
11:18 funny enough, the music playing in the background is actually the USA Army Song.
Would have made more sense to put a 16bit version of the German WW2 anthem
Ha!
Would like to track down a Japanese mega drive 3d shooter I played in the 90's where you controlled a tank thing. Sorry for the vague description! But if anyone can help me try some names I might be able to recall which game it was, or at least narrow down the search
I was thinking Granada, but that's not 3D. What kind of 3D graphics?
I'd describe the movement sort of like Marble Madness, or maybe Sonic 3D I think
@eckto3 Hmm, so isometric? Final Zone maybe?
Awe yeah, that's the one. Loved this game. Thanks so much for that.
Granada is a great tank shooter! I'm happy to have it in my collection. I've played it on the X68000, but having to swap disks for that version is a bit cumbersome. AFAIK, it was never released outside of Japan.
I really like Granada. PAL territories didn't get it, but it was released in North America.
@@onaretrotip Oh, I wasn't aware of that. I only had fairly minimal Genesis exposure when I still lived in America. It wasn't until I moved to Japan when I started buying up lots of Megadrive games.
Nice 👌
🙂👍
Fire Mustang is a game that is sad to see when compared to the arcade original, if we look at Ranger X, we can clearly see the Mega Drive is more than capable of reproducing faithfully most butchered conversions from that era, the problem always lies in developer skills/inspiration, time constraints and budget for development and to make smaller RAM carts. The color scheme of the arcade version reminds me a lot how Ranger X looks. Double Dragon 2 is weird to play, each button attacks left or right, it's bad programmed and the only way to make it play smoothly is by doubling the CPU speed in the emulator or even the faster CPU mod for Mega Drive, but as you said, Double Dragon was good for the time, but it doesn't really play well, not even the sequels, we tend to blame current gen games for being released in an unfinished state, but it really is the case from day one.
Yes, totally agree regarding Double Dragon.
38:45 The gauge in the middle charges up and allows Ultraman to perform one of his special moves. The strongest one however, is the *_only move_* that can finish off an enemy once "FINISH" appears on screen. I know, it's garbage.
Ah, I see. Utter rubbish LOL
That video was the very opposite of NAFF I would have to say! Perhaps some of the games were a bit DAFT though. I think I will play Twinkle Tale, Undeadline, and Sailor Moon, maybe some of the shmups but I'm not a big shmup player, more of a run n gunner myself.
Thanks! Good choices there, especially Twinkle Tale.
Best Golden Axe Sega Arkade Maschine, Sega Arkade Mine nice Maschine.
👍
I think Golden Alex 3 es great, got great art and is a good beat em up, don´t really get the hate, plus it did came to the west through sega channel
Just didn't gel with it for some reason.
Awesome video, i was here cause im looking myself for a game ive played in mega drive when i was a kid and cant find it and its getting me real sad because i cant figure it out what game it was, the only thing i remember clearly from the game is that is a platformer and in the beggining you have to release a girl from a crystal. Cant remember so well but maybe the game has some medieval tone to it. if someone knows what game this is i wold be really apreciated. its getting me soooo frustrated to search for this title. Sorry for the english, not my native.
Nothing else you remember? Was the player character human? What kind of design?
@@onaretrotip not much aside human female character, from what i remember the games stetics was like alisia dragoon and the girl used a staff and was a mage maybe, i was very young and just remember that part of the game, that you hit a crystal and get someone out of a crystral D:
Mamono Hunter Yohko is actual a video game adaptation of a line of OVAs with the same production values (as in getting more and more mediocre) the only selling point at the time was Aya Hisakawa (who did the voice of sailor mercury) voicing the character.
Oh dear.
Very good jeux Sega megadrive 🕹️👍😀🎌
Yes, some great games here.
Monster World 4 is on the Genesis mini
Ah, nice. I think it was released on modern consoles too. Great game.
That GA III take 😬
Honestly not a fan at all.
If you like snow bros. You'd like Go Go Diet from Data East
Ooh, not heard of that, I'll check it out. Thank you!
@@onaretrotip No worries. Went through it last weekend on my coin-op with my daughter. Found myself laughing at some of the bosses. Good game! Lotta sprites from Joe and Mac in it too!
HI. I suscribe your channel. LIKE
Thanks!
Eliminate down - the original copy is 4 figures!! - but it is a good game.
Yeah, crazy money. Thank God for Everdrives LOL
12:13 Wani Wani World looks more like Lode Runner or Mr. Do Castle than Bubble Bobble.
The comparison was just to make the point that it's a single-screen platformer, rather than having ganeplay akin to Bubble Bobble.
@@onaretrotip gotcha
The Japanese pick the PC Engine over the Mega Drive what were they thinking.Did they even see the games Sega was producing how in the world did it fail in Japan.
I have no idea. Bizarre.
Three reasons.
1. It was eclipsed Super Mario Bros. 3, which came out a week before.
2. NEC released a CD attachment for their system, it was a huge innovation, and a commercial success there.
3. Unlike in the western, the Mega Drive had rather ruff beginning with in terms of library of games. The most infamous being Osomatsu-Kun: Hachamecha Gekijō as mentioned in this video.
was waiting for The Hybrid Front
Quite a lot more I didn't include. Not played that one though, is it a turn-based strategy game?
Where is the game in the thumbnail?
Most of those I already knew.
Edit: ah, nvm, found it.. :^/0-
Yes, Divine Sealing ;)
Thunder Pro is... fine. It's one of the weakest entries in the FiPro series, but as you say, the only one on the Mega Drive or Genesis, so... any port in a storm, if you like the series? But yeah, much better options on the PC Engine or SNES.
Yeah, you've hit the nail on the head there.