I’ve been filling out my emulator collection and thought I’d poke my head into the world of Sega consoles, which I have no experience with.
What classic Master System/Genesis/32x/Game Gear/Sega CD games should I try? I’m more of an RPG guy, but I’ll play a good retro platformer or whatever.
What I’ve found so far from my own research (mostly Genesis):
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Altered Beast
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Beyond Oasis
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Castlevania Bloodlines
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Comix Zone
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Crusader of Centy
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Death and Return of Superman (I just really liked this comics arc)
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Earthworm Jim 1+2
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Gauntlet 4
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Golden Axe 1+2
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Landstalker
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Might and Magic - Gates to Another World (I think this is MM2?)
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OutRun and OutRun 2019
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Phantasy Star 1-4
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Shadowrun
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Shining Force 1+2
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ToeJam and Earl
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Ys - The Vanished Omens
What I have no interest in:
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Sonic
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Fighting games
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Sports games
EDIT: I’ll definitely take note of any Saturn/Dreamcast recommendations too, but my plan is to start with the older consoles and work my way up.


how about Sega Saturn? Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of the best JRPGs ever. Don’t mistake it for Panzer Dragoon 1 and 2, those are rail shooters and you don’t need to play them. Also Dreamcast has some really good RPGs, I love Grandia 2
Heresy! Panzer Dragoon Zwei is the better of the two and it’s a fantastic rail shooter. Play it! The first is still a great game too, even if the framerate suffers a little.
I agree that Panzer Dragoon Saga is a phenomenal RPG. The combat system is really interesting, and for the time it was extremely ambitious to have a fully voice-acted, fully 3D RPG.
Ha yea, but they aren’t required to play before Saga
I strongly agree, the rail shooters are great. Saga is also one of the best games ever made imo. I think as a whole, it might actually Sega’s best series. Sadly, it just never got much of a chance to grow.
I’ll probably move on to trying Saturn/Dreamcast later, when I know what I like from the earlier generations, but I’ll add that to my list. Loved both Grandia 1 and 2, we got them on Playstation as well.