In 1990, Sega released its 16-bit Mega Drive (called Genesis) in Europe. It was a direct competition to Nintendo, but had no major problems to establish itself in Europe. While the console was very unsuccessful in Japan, it sold in the US slightly better than Nintendo's 16-bit machine SNES, among other things, because Nintendo had been the 16-bit technology before. In Europe, however, Sega could never really assert itself against Nintendo, although both consoles sold well. In 1991, Sega bought the publisher "Deith Leisure" to gain an even greater presence in the European market. In 1992/93, Sega introduced the Mega-CD, a CD-ROM add-on for the Sega Mega Drive, which offered additional 3D capabilities in addition to the higher data storage. Sega could never achieve a real breakthrough. The price was significantly too high for most potential buyers, which made the device uninteresting for many developers, although a CD could capture more data and was cheaper to build than a module. In 1994 Sega published two different hardware developments. While the development of the next generation of consoles called Saturn was undisputed, there was a conflict between Sega of America and the Japanese parent company. The latter wanted to publish a new Mega Drive version with a larger color palette. Joe Miller (Chief of the US Development Department) convinced the parent company to create a mega drive extension called 32X, which allowed polygongraphics instead. The expansion flopped.
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The Sonic Series (Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles)
Sega had no luck with the mascot Alex Kidd. Their games were getting worse and worse, the design - a mixture of Bilbo Beutlin and Prince Charles - was horrible and did not fit into the nineties. He had no chance against Nintendo's Super Mario. That's why Sega picked up a software department that knew only one goal: to create a hero with a game that stands out from Mario and best still demonstrates the strengths of the Mega Drive. Sonic The Hedgehog was born, whose premiere was good but still suffered from childhood diseases.
2
Streets of Rage 2
Sega's flagship Brawler listened to the name Streets of Rage and was in direct competition with Capcom's Final Fight series. The latter caused a sensation in the playroom, but came on the Nintendo consoles but only in a limited version on the market. That's why Streets of Rage kept the upper hand at home. Cult composer Yuzo Koshiro wrote the soundtrack and oriented himself to the then current disco scene.
3
Battletoads
Battletoads is a video game media franchise by Rare that began with the original beat 'em up game Battletoads in 1991. Starring three anthropomorphic toads named after skin conditions, Rash, Zitz, and Pimple, the series was created to rival the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games. The series as a whole has been quite popular with five installments up to this date and at its apex spawned an animated television pilot.
The initial Battletoads game for the Gamecube was renowned for its difficulty, but also received a cult following and spawned sequels for various platforms including a crossover with the Double Dragon series. In each of the games, the objective is to defeat the toads' nemesis the Dark Queen and her army of space mutants.
4
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist, released in Europe as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist and in Japan as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Return of the Shredder is a side-scrolling beat 'em up based on the comic book characters the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and was also the first TMNT game released for the Mega Drive/Genesis.
5
NBA Jam TE
He's on Fire! Midway reduzierte Basketball auf das Nötigste und peppte es mit Spezial-Dunks auf. Heraus kam NBA Jam, ein absoluter Kultautomat, der für Sportfreaks denselben Stellenwert hatte wie für Prügelfans Steet Fighter 2. Sämtliche Umsetzungen für zu Hause glückten hervorragend, allerdings ist die Mega-Drive-Fassung die einzige, die den Original-Titelsong des Automatenvorbilds mitbringt.
6
Aladdin (1994 video game)
David Perry and his team worked with the support of Disney on the unrivaled jump-and-run adaptation of the full-length character film "Aladdin". Color-intense graphics with buttery animation and hippy bouncy tasks were enthusiastic for weeks.
7
Mortal Kombat 2
Mortal Kombat II (commonly abbreviated as MKII) is a competitive fighting game originally produced by Midway for the arcades in 1993. It was later ported to multiple home systems, including the PC, Amiga, Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and various PlayStation consoles, mostly in licensed versions developed by Probe Entertainment and Sculptured Software and published by Acclaim Entertainment.
8
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (Street Fighter 2)
Finally, no longer envious of the Super Nintendo squint: Mega-Drive disciples were delighted thief, as they came after more than a year of waiting not only to the enjoyment of the Capcom cult springer, but also an advanced variant in the shop shelves. The so-called "Special Championship Edition" added two equal fighters in the Vs mode and dubbed the top turret with a turbo mode for increased combat speed. The joy did not last long, because music and sound effects sound creepy even for mega drive conditions. In addition, the competition was almost simultaneously at the same time a version called Street Fighter 2: Turbo, which graphically and acoustically better. Curiosity: If you did not have any of the optional six-button joypads, you had to switch between kicking and fist bumping on the standard controller. Very complicated.
9
Earthworm Jim
The adventure of the rainworm Jim is one of the hilarious but also the heaviest bouncy hunts of all time. Where else would you let the last boss fall a cow on the head? Of course, the Super Nintendo version looked a whole lot more beautiful and sounded better. Playfully, however, there were no significant differences.
10
Castlevania
The one-time noble playmaker Konami was one of Nintendo's closest allies for many years. With the increasing success of the Mega Drive, however, a multi-platform strategy has become increasingly probable. The turn came very suddenly, which was by no means disturbing Sega's disciples. They finally came to the benefit of famous brands such as Castlevania. The reinterpretation of some rules, as well as the exchange of the heroic wars, did not taste any, nothingdestotrotz belongs Castlevania to the most lauded hits on the Mega Drive.
The Sonic Series (Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles)
Sega had no luck with the mascot Alex Kidd. Their games were getting worse and worse, the design - a mixture of Bilbo Beutlin and Prince Charles - was horrible and did not fit into the nineties. He had no chance against Nintendo's Super Mario. That's why Sega picked up a software department that knew only one goal: to create a hero with a game that stands out from Mario and best still demonstrates the strengths of the Mega Drive. Sonic The Hedgehog was born, whose premiere was good but still suffered from childhood diseases.