Remember, these types of content are never me telling you that you are wrong for liking these games. This is MY opinion of these games. We all like different kinds of games. Two of my favorite NES games are Jaws and Rambo, games that are typically panned by all. But I was kid and I put crazy time in them, so it was what it was. It's all for fun. :)
I got your point of view, but my list would be different. The worst game that I've seen in Sega console were Alex Kidd in Hightech World and The Flintstones.
It would have changed everything. Maybe for the better if you took all the personal history out of it. But Sega consoles defined much of my gaming world for well over a decade. I can't imagine not having been exposed to all that goodness.
You kind of contradict your disclaimer that people aren't wrong for liking these games but Sega should be ashamed for releasing them. people shouldn't feel bad for liking a product that a company should be ashamed of releasing? LOL. haven't even watched thee video yet, going to watch it now.
I'm really glad that REALLY easy targets like Sonic '06, Sonic Genesis and more weren't included in this video. I always prefer videos where people look into the horrible stuff we HAVEN'T heard bashed by a million people already. Also, Sega Smash Pack's emulation of SoR2's music may just be the worst sin ever committed against mankind.
@@feederunderground Well, Golden Axe's music isn't QUITE as iconic for me, but granted, the Smash Pack turns a pretty classic soundtrack into a Master System-esque nightmare.
Ugly duckling of the Sonic port stereo so you can fight Sonic 1 on the PSP is a the on Xbox is available on the Nintendo switch it's on Android it's on it's on the eye is on the iPod and the iPod Touch the Belleville on Kindle Fires the on on the PS2 it's bearable on the original Xbox packaging with Sonic a generation is it play is it playing the Bobo born at this time you're speaking of on the GameCube
Believe it or not I had some fun with Batman Returns as a kid. It was frustrating and I remembered that even then i questioned the controls and level design, but I actually really liked the presentation, as far as graphics and atmosphere. I thought it had a pretty unique dark-and-gritty while still kind of cartoony and stylized look.
I still love Returns' soundtrack, never really understood the dislike for the music. The graphics used a pretty unique approach in scanned-in hand drawn art rather than the standard pixel artwork - like many adventure games on computers did at the time - but passed through the Mega Drive's low palette it doesn't look amazing... I always thought it captured the look of the Batman comics of the time pretty well though, and like many games that rely heavily on dithering it looks a bit better on real hardware on a CRT TV.
This insightful video adds to the proof that Sega was its own worst enemy. With the ad-ons and wanting to outdo Nintendo by trying to beat them to every punch that could be thrown and not producing the promised results put them out of business. Meanwhile Nintendo just stayed on course and didn't do more than it felt like it needed to. Even with Playstation joining the fold, Nintendo never felt like it had to go above and beyond to compete and knew quality of the gaming will keep fans loyal to their brand.
It reminds me of how Arnold Schwarzenegger got Sylvester Stallone to star in “Stop or my mom will shoot!” (A total POS) by floating the rumor that he himself wanted that part. Nintendo would juke out Sega making them think they were doing something then Sega would bite the fake and shoot themselves in the foot dumping resources into something stupid.
Well, it's not like it was all smooth sailing for Nintendo either. If it weren't for the GameBoy line, they'd have gone out of the hardware business at latest after the Gamecube.
Batman Returns on the Master System is amazing, though. I still play it from time to time. Pure fun old school platforming. It can be the nostalgia factor, but I love it.
Every time I've seen a so-called "Arcade Selection" or "Arcade Hits" and it was nothing more than Genesis ports - that always frustrated me. The hardware it was made for could've handled the ACTUAL arcade versions. That's why I never bought any of these... It was an insult.
Dunno about those compilations but said games are arcade games anyway and the Mega Drive has many quality ports or exclusive remakes (e.g. Shadow Dancer) some of which better than the arcade versions so that's legit (even though I understand that it can be annoying for those who expect to get the arcade versions).
Sometimes I wonder how much better the Master System port of Altered Beast could have been if Sega hadn't blown half of the 2-megabit cartridge's memory on unnecessary digitized voices (or if they had used a 4-megabit cartridge) to add in all the missing content and bigger sprites.
I think Sega went a bit crazy with Altered Beast. The SMS was capable of great color, so all they really needed to do was adjust sprite size across the board so that it ran smoothly. Something along the lines of the Shinobi engine would have done it justice.
Or maybe even using tiny sprites like the NES version could have been a good solution too. The NES version was definitely a not a looker, but the gameplay sure was fast as heck (and it even added two extra levels, instead of removing one).
Sega should definitely be ashamed of Fantasia. It was rushed to tie in with the film's 1991 VHS release, and one of the developers admitted in an interview that it needed at least two more months of development to iron out its flaws. It is the worst Disney game on any Sega system, and a glaring example of a bad licensed game in Disney's long line of normally well-made ones. Believe me, the Sega Genesis was home to some of the most memorable Disney licensed games; Castle Of Illusion, Quackshot, Aladdin, and The Lion King, just to name a few.
Meh, even two more months wouldn't have saved it imo. I mean ,Fantasia entirely revolves around classical music. And the game uses the GEMS sound driver... using that driver for such a game would be like using Kinect to play Sonic 2... it's just not fit for the purpose.
I heard about fantasia in a interview Tom Kalinske gave to a Brazilian yt channel recently, actually there was a instruction Walt Disney left, to not publish further commercial works regarding Fantasia, but many people in Disney wasn't aware of it until it was too late and the game was released. So, they made an emergency call, pulled back all copies they could and paid Sega for all the games. It being a bad game was just an coincidence.
To be fair to this game - had you not played ANYTHING beyond master/Nes, then this game is actually an incredible port. It could've been better, agreed. But you've already played through the Genesis version.
I have to agree with Evil intsection. I loved Altered Beast on Sega Master System, but I didn't play anything beyond a Master System and NES until about three years after I played Altered Beast on Sega Master System. Given what I had during 1989, I thought Altered Beast on Master System was fun and was 100 billion times better than Master System games like F-16 Fighting Falcon (which is the worse SMS game).
@@evilinsecticon3813 but I hadn't played anything past 8 bit games when I first played this. Still...perhaps its time to go back and take another look at it as its been a few years.
Nobody cared for the Sega Smash Pack as we had better emulation choices of all Megadrive games on the Dreamcast back then,its another reason why DC is a beloved console as it was the first console which had many emulators developed on it (thats the only good thing Windows CE offered on Dreamcast). Altered Beast on Sms should have followed NES port with small sprites but proper framerate and gameplay. I was expecting to see Daytona USA Saturn port among some others,what a a big dissapointment it was that made MANY people choose Psx with Ridge Racer instead.
Well, Model 2 was way ahead of its time compared to the Saturn (or probably any other platform back in the day), 3D wise. Ridge Racer, on the other hand, ran on a less powerful system, closer to the PS1 specs, so the differences weren't as drastic. Or at least that's what I remember.
Garbage like the "Genesis 3", Sega Smash Pack and early Emulators with really spotty low-quality sound along with the low-fi sound drivers that many US made Genesis games used contributed to the "urban myth" among a portion of gamers that "Genesis games have crappy sound and music".... *smh* when that really wasn't true at all...
Even most versions of the Genesis 1 and 2 have terrible sound......if only the original wave 'High Definition Graphics' Model 1 sound chip was when Sega used throughout
I can’t imagine how many children had played the Capcom Mickey game and then were given Fantasia for Christmas or whatever and had their hearts broken.
Well... for me it was amazing. I always loved Fantasia, the only problem is it's extreme difficulty. Even nowadays it's better than the Great Circus for me.
I never really thought it was any more difficult than most games back then. Things might be hard or seem hard initially, but the game never changes so once you nail a level you're only going to keep getting better at it.
Totally disagree about Dreamcast Smash Pack. Yes, the emulation could and should have been better. But it was still an amazing collection and I played through at least half the games on it, for so many hours of fun gameplay.
I guess soooooooo... UNTIL THE SEGA GENESIS COLLECTION ON PS2 COMPLETELY BLEW IT OUT OF THE WATER, KICKED ITS TEETH IN, SHOT IT IN THE HEAD, PISSED ON ITS CORPSE AND LEFT IT TO GATHER FLIES IN THE SUN.
The remaster of Virtua Cop 2 alone was worth it. Not sure why they didn't release it as a stand alone in North America.....I had the pack in 2001 and have gotten many years of enjoyment out of my light guns
I actually gave Fantasia a lot of effort in finishing it. I played Castle of Illusion, and I think that's what pushed me to play it. The worst, most unfair stage was the last one with the black background and invisible platforms. You really have to wonder what they were going for there.
Yep. Batman Returns for the Genesis was a disappointment. There was a Sega CD version that tried to remedy it with the driving stages, but it fared slightly better.
The Sega Smash Pack was the only game that I've ever just returned to the store. Bought it new, took it home, fired up Phantasy Star II. 5 minutes later I'm driving back to the store to return it. I'm still absolutely amazed that it was just released like that.
@@SegaLordX oh shock!!! 😎😁 So cool to hear Sega Lord X reply to me and it's awesome to hear from you. What's your favorite Sega console of all time? Are you looking for the Sega Genesis classics for Nintendo Switch? 😊😊😊
And to think that when I was a fourth and fifth grader I used to love Batman Returns on the Genisis. It was that game that wasn't always at my local rental place (The Warehouse, which was like a Tower Records but was also a movie rental place) but when it was it was always a good time.
I work at argos and got asked about the at sega megadrive plug and play yesterday and told the lad he would have better results and more nostalgia trying to play his megadrive childhood games on his toaster. He bought it anyway. He's probably on ebay this minute looking for a megadrive.
Jaekoff probably not. By 2001, Sega just didn’t give a shit with some of their lower end games, so I can see them barely putting effort into something as a compilation.
The Smash Pack was not even a game you could buy separately if I remember correctly, it only came as a console bundle. I remember having to buy it through eBay, back when I hardly bought anything online.
Sega Touring Car Championship - Saturn version cannot be missing. Daytona USA got pop-up and low frame rate. OK, it needs time to understand the hardware. Sega then released Sega Rally, Daytona CC, Manx TT, all of them are great in game play. How can Sega make a piece of shit like Touring car? The ridiculous frame rate and poor control make it totally unplayable. It is the worst game I every tried in Sega Saturn.
I also agree. I bought this blind back in the day because I have played all the other SEGA arcade racing gems and was so disappointed by this (and every Daytona USA homeversion up to the PS3 & 360 versions where they finally managed to do it right). The only good thing about SEGA Touring Car Championship is the soundtrack: ua-cam.com/video/VqnV4YUT07U/v-deo.html
@Patrick - I also have all Daytona USA versions and I can tell you all the Saturn, PC and Dreamcast versions are terrible compared to the arcrade original. The SAT & PC versions have aweful graphics and frame rate and the DC game is only playable with a wheel, with a controller it's a completely unplayable mess. When I saw Daytona USA in the arcade in 1994 the graphics and sound absolutely blew me away and it always made me sad not having a decent home version of it. With the PS3 and Xbox360 versions that came out in 2011 SEGA finally managed to give us a proper port of the game - and it's even better than the arcade version with it's enhanced graphics and game modes. Watch this video and you believe me: ua-cam.com/video/Tv_GQNh9D68/v-deo.html
I think it's because the FM sound chip, that is exclusive to the Genesis, is not emulated correctly, but the PSG, which is both part of the Master System AND the Genesis, is emulated alright.
Maybe it was because I was really young, but I loved the Sega Smash Pack. I think I bought it as soon as it came out. The idea of playing older Sega games on my Dreamcast fascinated me at the time. I did notice the audio was off compared to the Genesis titles I owned but I kinda liked it. It wasn't as bad as the AtGames mini console. Sega Smash Pack was my introduction to Shining Force, which is one of my favorite RPG games. Great video!
Been watching a few of your uploads and gotta day you re-sparked my interest in some of these old sega games and systems just watched your sega cd vid and now got me digging through EBay looking For a deal lol, helping the economy one vid at a time!
I *like* Altered Beast on the SMS :). As a kid with a Master System back in the day it was great getting to play it and Golden Axe when I couldn't afford a Genesis.
Batman Returns is actually a good game. Takes patience and lots of practice. Over all, not too difficult. The Sega CD version has a masterpiece soundtrack. Once you get good at this game, it will rival the monotonous beat 'em up Snes version. I beat Batman returns on the Genesis back in the day and I cherish it today. Especially the Sega CD version which added the vehicle levels.
Great video as always. One thing I would add is how awesome 'Stadium cross' was on the arcade! It is clearly the inspiration for motocross championship but the arcade version is miles ahead.
Just when you said about the sound being off on streets of rage 2 has anyone noticed how different the sound is on streets of rage 3 on the megadrive collection on the ps4 ? I assume its the same on xbox .
Some SEGA fan should attempt to remake Batman Returns, Fantasia & Alien Syndrome (which you missed to include the lack-luster Master System version of, btw) on the SEGA Genesis. Also, I'd love to see someone take the Altered Beast graphics & instead make a Castlevania or Shinobi clone-style action game w/the ancient Greek Gods & Monsters theme. It would've been a better solution on the Master System than trying to emulate the gameplay of the arcade game & Genesis versions, that's for sure.
Sega Smash Pack Volume 1 was (subjectively) a good package to me. At the time I was only seven years old and that was pretty much my gateway into the Genesis library. This also sparked my interest in using Sega emulators (like Gens) to play Streets of Rage 2 online with others and games that weren't in the compilation (or my dad didn't own physically). Objectively speaking, that compilation does have all sorts of issues in terms of the colors/look and the sound is extremely off to original hardware and other emulators available. Would I recommend this to others? Not necessarily, there's alternatives out there now that blow the compilation out the waters.
I oddly quite liked the Altered Beast SMS port, but the fact there are no real sprites in the game (maybe outside the HUD or possibly enemies) and eveything is moving background tiles (like Golden Axe on SMS), really hurt it, and hurt the graphical quality since there weren't more colours onscreen than just the background palette. Using smaller sprites would have been better, or having characters being made of two sprites instead.
Batman returns literally made me hate my Sega. The NES VERSION was way better and completely different as was the case with 2 many of their shared titles
Those sound effects in Revenge of Shinobi sound like PC Speaker noises from an 80's/early 90's DOS game. All it needs now is for the music to be turned off and for the graphics to be rendered in 16 colour EGA and it'll be good to go. :)
I still remember when Batman Returns was launched for the SNES. Batman was huge and he had this move where he threw the enemies at the wall in the back of the screen. I was 7 years old and I remember thinking that was the most BADASS game I've ever seen.
Could you imagine buying a Sega CD for $300 and a copy of After Burner III for $60 .. and then getting something that could have been done on the Game Gear? That’s why game rentals were so important back in the day.. I’d have thrown my CD out the window.
Eh, I didn’t mind the sound problems on the smash pack. I was just happy to have all these games that I never had the game to play the first time around. I didn’t think the music sounded that far off.
it blows my mind to know that altered best arcade edition is so hard to come by, the only time i played it was on the ps3 collection disc, it was so good, at least i play it a lot on my pandora arcade cabinet at home.
I would throw The Ooze, Turbo Outrun, Galaxy Force 2, Super Monaco GP, and Super Thunder Blade in there, too. Turbo Outrun was by far the most disappointing game I've ever played on the Genesis!
I had alot of fun playing the Smash Pack. However, I was cranking Ozzy and Megadeth for a whole summer while playing Shining Force, SOR 2, and Shinobi. I never realized how bad it was in the Audio Dept.
Fantasia was one of my first video games. I actually found the initial level music catchy, likely because I didn't know better. Seeing Mickey die so easily was creepy for young me xD
One good thing about the MegaCD version fo Batman Returns is that the driving sections are very impressive, and make good use of the hardware, the music is also better. It doesn't save the rest of the game from being a very mediocre affair. One game I would add is Sega Touring Car Championship. While the game itself isn't bad (at least the arcade) , the Saturn port was a poor effort for a 1997 game, not to mention the controls being pretty messed up.
The Mega CD version of Batman Returns lets you choose to have JUST the driving sections in the options menu, making it a great game after a tiny bit of fiddling.
Of the modern rail shooters, the Wii, Wii U, PS3, and PS4 have the best support. The Wii wands and the PS Move controllers are fair substitutes, and there are a number of good games for those systems.
I thought that the Afterburner game was on the Master System since its graphics were so bad. To find out it was on the Sega CD reminded me of why I never bought the CD playing device for the genesis. Great video.
The Japanese release of After Burner 3 is way different than the US one. Closer to Strike Fighter music wise, supports that analog Mega Drive controller and the US one supports the six button pad but not the analog pad.
5:00 I can’t help but feel as though the Japanese executives wanted the Saturn to fail outside of Japan so that the US branch wouldn’t have as much power in the company.
I wonder how difficult Sega Genesis architecture was because even Sega themselves struggles to emulate their own hardware (1:38) how much more for third party like AtGame.
I got Sega Smashpack as a gift from a friend, and the first I noticed was "WHY DO THE GENESIS GAMES SOUND LIKE NES?". I mean, I admit I played and enjoyed the compilation (and Sega Swirl was surprisingly fun) but yeah, I understand the criticism on it.
Altered Beast on the Master System was so choppy because they used background tiles for everything instead of foreground sprites. While this eliminated flicker, it also decimated animation... And unfortunately, this wasn't the only game they tried that with. Golden Axe MS for example was also a victim.
Project: Altered Beast on the PS2 should've been included. Considering it came out at a time where all they would've needed to do was create a God of War or Ninja Gaiden clone & failed miserably, they should be ashamed of themselves. You could probably make the same argument for Golden Axe: Beast Rider, but Project: Altered Beast had the original arcade creators involved in it, so that makes things even worse!
The really baffling thing is since Dreamcast ran windows ce they probably had a huge array of emulation options and still messed up that smash pack. That was when I knew the Dreamcast was dead, that game made me sad
Sega of America got Infogrames to develop it for them since they didn't have an internal team at the time. Sega often farmed out their games to small western developers.
@@SegaLordX I see, thanks for the info ! Btw, I love your opening theme but it reminds me a lot of musics from Quintet games on the SNES like Terranigma, Illusion of Gaia (Illusion of Time in Europe) and Soul Blazer ^^
Batman's purple/blue color palettes were overused too. Instead of shades of grey or use of blacks were odd decisions. Ecco, Chakan, Cyborg Justice, and more from that time frame all had a purple look. Then games from Japan like Gunstar Heroes, Alien storm, Streets of Rage series, Golden axe, Ristar, etc had really great color palettes.
Nintendo is known for their high quality releases as well as frequent delays in order to fine tune their software. They have their fair share of duds, like Wii Music, but they are quite infrequent. Back in the 90’s I more or less expected this same level of quality from Sega published games. As such, games like Batman Returns really burned as I was expecting something great. It felt even more insulting when SNES owners got a pretty good Konami game based on the film. That said, Sega was considered to be a master of sports games and NFL ‘97 was nothing short of disgraceful. Looking back, I feel bad for SOA. They single handedly made the Genesis a contender in North America and it seemed like Sega of Japan was constantly trying to undermine or outright sabotage them.
Motocross Championship was the last 32x game I ever bought and I couldn’t have been more disappointed. The good news is I only paid $7 for it in the bargain bin.
I think the Smash pack version of Virtua Cop 2 is just the PC version. They wouldnt have ported the Saturn version to it because the quad rendering wouldnt be compatible w the Dreamcast's architecture
Remember, these types of content are never me telling you that you are wrong for liking these games. This is MY opinion of these games. We all like different kinds of games. Two of my favorite NES games are Jaws and Rambo, games that are typically panned by all. But I was kid and I put crazy time in them, so it was what it was. It's all for fun. :)
I got your point of view, but my list would be different. The worst game that I've seen in Sega console were Alex Kidd in Hightech World and The Flintstones.
ye dont like Gale Racer arrrrrgh!! :O
It would have changed everything. Maybe for the better if you took all the personal history out of it. But Sega consoles defined much of my gaming world for well over a decade. I can't imagine not having been exposed to all that goodness.
Dark Castle was atrocious too IMO.
You kind of contradict your disclaimer that people aren't wrong for liking these games but Sega should be ashamed for releasing them. people shouldn't feel bad for liking a product that a company should be ashamed of releasing? LOL. haven't even watched thee video yet, going to watch it now.
Hey, no one said being the Batman was easy!
Indeed. Especially an all purple one.
I love Sega
We love you too!
Aww no homo
@@noufilmuhammad1344 lol
How am I supposed to enjoy Altered Beast when the voice doesn't tell me to wise fwom my gwave?
POWER UP
tales from the interwebs
Oh Whang...
Powlah uh
Whanggg!!I
I'm really glad that REALLY easy targets like Sonic '06, Sonic Genesis and more weren't included in this video. I always prefer videos where people look into the horrible stuff we HAVEN'T heard bashed by a million people already.
Also, Sega Smash Pack's emulation of SoR2's music may just be the worst sin ever committed against mankind.
Streets of Rage has a soundtrack too good to be muddled.
Maybe because you didn't heard the sound for golden axe, that is the greatest insult to mankind...
@@feederunderground Well, Golden Axe's music isn't QUITE as iconic for me, but granted, the Smash Pack turns a pretty classic soundtrack into a Master System-esque nightmare.
......
Consider ATGAMES....
Those games are 5 stars compared to the trash showcased in this video.
Shocked that Sonic Genesis for the GBA isn’t on this list.
Indeed. I wanted to keep the theme actually on Sega hardware for this one.
Hope you do a video like this for games not on Sega hardware in future.
Ugly duckling of the Sonic port stereo so you can fight Sonic 1 on the PSP is a the on Xbox is available on the Nintendo switch it's on Android it's on it's on the eye is on the iPod and the iPod Touch the Belleville on Kindle Fires the on on the PS2 it's bearable on the original Xbox packaging with Sonic a generation is it play is it playing the Bobo born at this time you're speaking of on the GameCube
If only Sonic 06 was an exception...
@@JuanGomez-ke5py What the heck am I reading
Believe it or not I had some fun with Batman Returns as a kid. It was frustrating and I remembered that even then i questioned the controls and level design, but I actually really liked the presentation, as far as graphics and atmosphere. I thought it had a pretty unique dark-and-gritty while still kind of cartoony and stylized look.
Batman Returns had the unenviable task of following up Batman by Sunsoft for me. I was expecting a game of similar style and quality.
I hear you on that, Batman and Robin on Genesis is the best of the bunch in my opinion. Great video by the way!
I still love Returns' soundtrack, never really understood the dislike for the music. The graphics used a pretty unique approach in scanned-in hand drawn art rather than the standard pixel artwork - like many adventure games on computers did at the time - but passed through the Mega Drive's low palette it doesn't look amazing... I always thought it captured the look of the Batman comics of the time pretty well though, and like many games that rely heavily on dithering it looks a bit better on real hardware on a CRT TV.
Is that the technique they used? Makes sense, I did think they did a good job capturing the feeling of that era of the comics.
Batman Returns was better on SNES, I was just playing it today on my fire stick
This insightful video adds to the proof that Sega was its own worst enemy. With the ad-ons and wanting to outdo Nintendo by trying to beat them to every punch that could be thrown and not producing the promised results put them out of business. Meanwhile Nintendo just stayed on course and didn't do more than it felt like it needed to. Even with Playstation joining the fold, Nintendo never felt like it had to go above and beyond to compete and knew quality of the gaming will keep fans loyal to their brand.
It reminds me of how Arnold Schwarzenegger got Sylvester Stallone to star in “Stop or my mom will shoot!” (A total POS) by floating the rumor that he himself wanted that part.
Nintendo would juke out Sega making them think they were doing something then Sega would bite the fake and shoot themselves in the foot dumping resources into something stupid.
Well, it's not like it was all smooth sailing for Nintendo either. If it weren't for the GameBoy line, they'd have gone out of the hardware business at latest after the Gamecube.
I had Castle Of Illusion back then & rented Fantasia thinking it would be on the same level, what a disappointing day that was.
Batman Returns on the Master System is amazing, though. I still play it from time to time. Pure fun old school platforming. It can be the nostalgia factor, but I love it.
Can tell straight away that the Streets Of Rage 2 music is off on that Dreamcast port! Terrible!
There's actually worse deeper in the game.
There's messed up sound in all the Sega Genesis collections
@@altfact5179 Wait what? Including PS2, 3 and PSP versions?
The inclusion of Virtua Cop 2 entirely validated the existence of the disk though....I used to play that nearly every night in Summer 2001
@@Nestalgba92023 nah, the versions in Gen 7 and beyond are pretty spot on emulation wise. Sega Smash Pack Vol. 1 was an absolute rush job.
Batman Returns was an ok game. But it was horrible compared to the excellent Konami SNES version.
I don't feel the Mega CD game improved it with the driving sections.
Man I was so sad when I saw footage of Konami SNES game as we didn't have SNES in my country
Every time I've seen a so-called "Arcade Selection" or "Arcade Hits" and it was nothing more than Genesis ports - that always frustrated me. The hardware it was made for could've handled the ACTUAL arcade versions. That's why I never bought any of these... It was an insult.
Dunno about those compilations but said games are arcade games anyway and the Mega Drive has many quality ports or exclusive remakes (e.g. Shadow Dancer) some of which better than the arcade versions so that's legit (even though I understand that it can be annoying for those who expect to get the arcade versions).
Sometimes I wonder how much better the Master System port of Altered Beast could have been if Sega hadn't blown half of the 2-megabit cartridge's memory on unnecessary digitized voices (or if they had used a 4-megabit cartridge) to add in all the missing content and bigger sprites.
sms had to use background tiles to do larger sprites
I think Sega went a bit crazy with Altered Beast. The SMS was capable of great color, so all they really needed to do was adjust sprite size across the board so that it ran smoothly. Something along the lines of the Shinobi engine would have done it justice.
Sms cannot show sprites so big without a flickering or character-parts-disappearing fest, unfortunately
Or maybe even using tiny sprites like the NES version could have been a good solution too. The NES version was definitely a not a looker, but the gameplay sure was fast as heck (and it even added two extra levels, instead of removing one).
@@KittyMeow1984 this would be the sensible alternative I think.
Sega should definitely be ashamed of Fantasia. It was rushed to tie in with the film's 1991 VHS release, and one of the developers admitted in an interview that it needed at least two more months of development to iron out its flaws. It is the worst Disney game on any Sega system, and a glaring example of a bad licensed game in Disney's long line of normally well-made ones. Believe me, the Sega Genesis was home to some of the most memorable Disney licensed games; Castle Of Illusion, Quackshot, Aladdin, and The Lion King, just to name a few.
Meh, even two more months wouldn't have saved it imo. I mean ,Fantasia entirely revolves around classical music. And the game uses the GEMS sound driver... using that driver for such a game would be like using Kinect to play Sonic 2... it's just not fit for the purpose.
I agree.
My copy of Sega Smash Pack is still sealed and I think it will stay like that.
Altered Beast for SMS was pretty good fun actually, back in the day.
It was the first 8-bit I have ever seen. And I loved it
I enjoyed some of the master system ports. I played the hell out of altered beast back in the day
I played quite a bit of SMS portage myself, but a lot of them played really good. Can't say the same for Altered Beast.
So what regions got the bad SMS ports? Was it only Europe and Brazil?
@@SAM-ru4vx Which bad SMS ports?
I heard about fantasia in a interview Tom Kalinske gave to a Brazilian yt channel recently, actually there was a instruction Walt Disney left, to not publish further commercial works regarding Fantasia, but many people in Disney wasn't aware of it until it was too late and the game was released. So, they made an emergency call, pulled back all copies they could and paid Sega for all the games. It being a bad game was just an coincidence.
"American football", you sir, are right!
Much as I love the master system not even I can defend that port of Alterted Beast. SMDH its just sad.
It really is. I could have lived with the graphics and sound, but man, that gameplay.
To be fair to this game - had you not played ANYTHING beyond master/Nes, then this game is actually an incredible port. It could've been better, agreed. But you've already played through the Genesis version.
I have to agree with Evil intsection. I loved Altered Beast on Sega Master System, but I didn't play anything beyond a Master System and NES until about three years after I played Altered Beast on Sega Master System. Given what I had during 1989, I thought Altered Beast on Master System was fun and was 100 billion times better than Master System games like F-16 Fighting Falcon (which is the worse SMS game).
@@evilinsecticon3813 but I hadn't played anything past 8 bit games when I first played this. Still...perhaps its time to go back and take another look at it as its been a few years.
@@johnpenguinthe3rd13 I can't argue with that.
Nobody cared for the Sega Smash Pack as we had better emulation choices of all Megadrive games on the Dreamcast back then,its another reason why DC is a beloved console as it was the first console which had many emulators developed on it (thats the only good thing Windows CE offered on Dreamcast).
Altered Beast on Sms should have followed NES port with small sprites but proper framerate and gameplay.
I was expecting to see Daytona USA Saturn port among some others,what a a big dissapointment it was that made MANY people choose Psx with Ridge Racer instead.
Well, Model 2 was way ahead of its time compared to the Saturn (or probably any other platform back in the day), 3D wise. Ridge Racer, on the other hand, ran on a less powerful system, closer to the PS1 specs, so the differences weren't as drastic.
Or at least that's what I remember.
Hey Altered Beast for Master System isn't half bad. You need to try the ZX Spectrum version.
Garbage like the "Genesis 3", Sega Smash Pack and early Emulators with really spotty low-quality sound along with the low-fi sound drivers that many US made Genesis games used contributed to the "urban myth" among a portion of gamers that "Genesis games have crappy sound and music".... *smh* when that really wasn't true at all...
Even most versions of the Genesis 1 and 2 have terrible sound......if only the original wave 'High Definition Graphics' Model 1 sound chip was when Sega used throughout
I can’t imagine how many children had played the Capcom Mickey game and then were given Fantasia for Christmas or whatever and had their hearts broken.
It certainly broke my heart.
I actually enjoyed Fantasia back then, I would throw it in my rotation of games I would complete in a sitting quite often.
Well... for me it was amazing. I always loved Fantasia, the only problem is it's extreme difficulty. Even nowadays it's better than the Great Circus for me.
I never really thought it was any more difficult than most games back then. Things might be hard or seem hard initially, but the game never changes so once you nail a level you're only going to keep getting better at it.
Crapping the bed "from time to time"? By the time the Dreamcast had been released, Sega had crapped every bed in the house.
Anyone knows what is the song starting at 0:14 and ending at 1:04?
Its driving me crazy searching for it!!!
Totally disagree about Dreamcast Smash Pack. Yes, the emulation could and should have been better. But it was still an amazing collection and I played through at least half the games on it, for so many hours of fun gameplay.
We're your ears good? Because the music is a big turn off for me.
They probably just made an emulator for a "one size fits all" approach with their emulation.
I guess soooooooo... UNTIL THE SEGA GENESIS COLLECTION ON PS2 COMPLETELY BLEW IT OUT OF THE WATER, KICKED ITS TEETH IN, SHOT IT IN THE HEAD, PISSED ON ITS CORPSE AND LEFT IT TO GATHER FLIES IN THE SUN.
The remaster of Virtua Cop 2 alone was worth it. Not sure why they didn't release it as a stand alone in North America.....I had the pack in 2001 and have gotten many years of enjoyment out of my light guns
I actually gave Fantasia a lot of effort in finishing it. I played Castle of Illusion, and I think that's what pushed me to play it. The worst, most unfair stage was the last one with the black background and invisible platforms. You really have to wonder what they were going for there.
Yeah, it was Castle of illusion that got me excited for Fantasia. Needless to say, I knew it was a mistake by the end of the second stage. Awful game.
Yep. Batman Returns for the Genesis was a disappointment. There was a Sega CD version that tried to remedy it with the driving stages, but it fared slightly better.
The music was amazing in the Sega CD version, so there is that. But I do agree, Batman Returns on the Genny absolutely sucked.
I wasn't a big fan of Altered Beast on Genesis but I think the Master System version looks pretty decent considering what it had to work with
Altered beast was good. Thank God I had a genesis.
Holy crap, that amazing Revenge of Shinobi music is PAINFUL here!
Thanks for the video, always enjoyable to watch. You might want to put a epilepsy warning at 12:31 or cut those parts out of clips in the future
The Sega Smash Pack was the only game that I've ever just returned to the store. Bought it new, took it home, fired up Phantasy Star II. 5 minutes later I'm driving back to the store to return it. I'm still absolutely amazed that it was just released like that.
Whoever did the smash pack on the Dreamcast should of been fired. That was my first reaction listening to the Streets of Rage 2 music.
9:13
"Rise from your crave!"
Congratulate you on getting 10k subscribers
Thanks. :)
@@SegaLordX oh shock!!! 😎😁 So cool to hear Sega Lord X reply to me and it's awesome to hear from you. What's your favorite Sega console of all time? Are you looking for the Sega Genesis classics for Nintendo Switch? 😊😊😊
Saturn by a mile. I plan on buying some of the Sega Ages games I do not have a direct equivalent of, like Virtua Racing.
@@SegaLordX I love virtual racing and Daytona USA
And to think that when I was a fourth and fifth grader I used to love Batman Returns on the Genisis. It was that game that wasn't always at my local rental place (The Warehouse, which was like a Tower Records but was also a movie rental place) but when it was it was always a good time.
I don't remember Alterbeast playing all that well in the arcade either.
It's a good thing you stuck to the retro stuff here, since otherwise, like 60% of SEGA's releases past the early 2000s would be on here
Sounds like AtGames made that Sega collection for the Dreamcast it was so bad
I work at argos and got asked about the at sega megadrive plug and play yesterday and told the lad he would have better results and more nostalgia trying to play his megadrive childhood games on his toaster. He bought it anyway. He's probably on ebay this minute looking for a megadrive.
@@random_gamer_guy82 hahaha classic!!
@@random_gamer_guy82 - INB4 someone makes a Mega Drive toaster. 😆
Was that Sega Smash Pack 1 made by Atgames?
Atgames dream they could get that kind of sound quality
Seriously, did Sega flat out just not test that Genesis compilation at all??!!
Jaekoff probably not. By 2001, Sega just didn’t give a shit with some of their lower end games, so I can see them barely putting effort into something as a compilation.
Sega Smash Pack came out the same day the Dreamcast was discontinued.
The Smash Pack was not even a game you could buy separately if I remember correctly, it only came as a console bundle. I remember having to buy it through eBay, back when I hardly bought anything online.
Sega Touring Car Championship - Saturn version cannot be missing.
Daytona USA got pop-up and low frame rate. OK, it needs time to understand the hardware.
Sega then released Sega Rally, Daytona CC, Manx TT, all of them are great in game play.
How can Sega make a piece of shit like Touring car?
The ridiculous frame rate and poor control make it totally unplayable.
It is the worst game I every tried in Sega Saturn.
I also agree. I bought this blind back in the day because I have played all the other SEGA arcade racing gems and was so disappointed by this (and every Daytona USA homeversion up to the PS3 & 360 versions where they finally managed to do it right).
The only good thing about SEGA Touring Car Championship is the soundtrack: ua-cam.com/video/VqnV4YUT07U/v-deo.html
@Patrick - I also have all Daytona USA versions and I can tell you all the Saturn, PC and Dreamcast versions are terrible compared to the arcrade original. The SAT & PC versions have aweful graphics and frame rate and the DC game is only playable with a wheel, with a controller it's a completely unplayable mess. When I saw Daytona USA in the arcade in 1994 the graphics and sound absolutely blew me away and it always made me sad not having a decent home version of it.
With the PS3 and Xbox360 versions that came out in 2011 SEGA finally managed to give us a proper port of the game - and it's even better than the arcade version with it's enhanced graphics and game modes.
Watch this video and you believe me: ua-cam.com/video/Tv_GQNh9D68/v-deo.html
1:27
Any time Sonic picks up a ring, it's like the sound effects from Master System/Game Gear Sonic 1
I think it's because the FM sound chip, that is exclusive to the Genesis, is not emulated correctly, but the PSG, which is both part of the Master System AND the Genesis, is emulated alright.
Maybe it was because I was really young, but I loved the Sega Smash Pack. I think I bought it as soon as it came out. The idea of playing older Sega games on my Dreamcast fascinated me at the time. I did notice the audio was off compared to the Genesis titles I owned but I kinda liked it. It wasn't as bad as the AtGames mini console. Sega Smash Pack was my introduction to Shining Force, which is one of my favorite RPG games. Great video!
Been watching a few of your uploads and gotta day you re-sparked my interest in some of these old sega games and systems just watched your sega cd vid and now got me digging through EBay looking For a deal lol, helping the economy one vid at a time!
I *like* Altered Beast on the SMS :). As a kid with a Master System back in the day it was great getting to play it and Golden Axe when I couldn't afford a Genesis.
Batman Returns is actually a good game. Takes patience and lots of practice. Over all, not too difficult. The Sega CD version has a masterpiece soundtrack. Once you get good at this game, it will rival the monotonous beat 'em up Snes version. I beat Batman returns on the Genesis back in the day and I cherish it today. Especially the Sega CD version which added the vehicle levels.
Great video as always. One thing I would add is how awesome 'Stadium cross' was on the arcade! It is clearly the inspiration for motocross championship but the arcade version is miles ahead.
Oh man, they aren't even close. Motocross Championship is a turd in comparison.
Just when you said about the sound being off on streets of rage 2 has anyone noticed how different the sound is on streets of rage 3 on the megadrive collection on the ps4 ? I assume its the same on xbox .
We never got the smash pack over here...I really wanted to play VC2 on the DC even though its not the arcade port.
Some SEGA fan should attempt to remake Batman Returns, Fantasia & Alien Syndrome (which you missed to include the lack-luster Master System version of, btw) on the SEGA Genesis. Also, I'd love to see someone take the Altered Beast graphics & instead make a Castlevania or Shinobi clone-style action game w/the ancient Greek Gods & Monsters theme. It would've been a better solution on the Master System than trying to emulate the gameplay of the arcade game & Genesis versions, that's for sure.
I was a crazy kid. I owned both Fantasia and Batman Returns and mastered them. The music in Batman Returns was awesome.
Sega can really piss me off with some of the decisions they've made. That Afterburner Sega CD game was such a disappointment.
i love this channel and youre putting out so much content!!!
Not gonna lie! Even the grinch would have gave these games back on Christmas! Great review SLX!
Sega Smash Pack Volume 1 was (subjectively) a good package to me. At the time I was only seven years old and that was pretty much my gateway into the Genesis library. This also sparked my interest in using Sega emulators (like Gens) to play Streets of Rage 2 online with others and games that weren't in the compilation (or my dad didn't own physically).
Objectively speaking, that compilation does have all sorts of issues in terms of the colors/look and the sound is extremely off to original hardware and other emulators available. Would I recommend this to others? Not necessarily, there's alternatives out there now that blow the compilation out the waters.
I oddly quite liked the Altered Beast SMS port, but the fact there are no real sprites in the game (maybe outside the HUD or possibly enemies) and eveything is moving background tiles (like Golden Axe on SMS), really hurt it, and hurt the graphical quality since there weren't more colours onscreen than just the background palette.
Using smaller sprites would have been better, or having characters being made of two sprites instead.
Can you do a video on Games Nintendo Should be Ashamed of in the future please.
We'd be here all day.
Batman returns literally made me hate my Sega. The NES VERSION was way better and completely different as was the case with 2 many of their shared titles
Those sound effects in Revenge of Shinobi sound like PC Speaker noises from an 80's/early 90's DOS game. All it needs now is for the music to be turned off and for the graphics to be rendered in 16 colour EGA and it'll be good to go. :)
I still remember when Batman Returns was launched for the SNES. Batman was huge and he had this move where he threw the enemies at the wall in the back of the screen. I was 7 years old and I remember thinking that was the most BADASS game I've ever seen.
Love the channel fella keep up the good work 👍👍
oh that noise is supposed to be thabell ringing?
Could you imagine buying a Sega CD for $300 and a copy of After Burner III for $60 .. and then getting something that could have been done on the Game Gear? That’s why game rentals were so important back in the day.. I’d have thrown my CD out the window.
Just when I think it couldn't get any better. This by far is the most funniest video you made. Keep up the good work!
Eh, I didn’t mind the sound problems on the smash pack. I was just happy to have all these games that I never had the game to play the first time around. I didn’t think the music sounded that far off.
it blows my mind to know that altered best arcade edition is so hard to come by, the only time i played it was on the ps3 collection disc, it was so good, at least i play it a lot on my pandora arcade cabinet at home.
I would throw The Ooze, Turbo Outrun, Galaxy Force 2, Super Monaco GP, and Super Thunder Blade in there, too. Turbo Outrun was by far the most disappointing game I've ever played on the Genesis!
super monaco gp? seriously? one of my all time favourite genesis games.I hated Thunder Blade though. awful
The Ooze is annoying at times but it has a lot going for it.
Where was the original Saturn release of Virtua Fighter? That port was shameful, not even much of an upgrade from the 32X port
I had Sega Smash Pack and even as a 12 year old I could tell the music was off. "In the Bar" in Streets of Rage 2 was one that stood out especially
I had alot of fun playing the Smash Pack. However, I was cranking Ozzy and Megadeth for a whole summer while playing Shining Force, SOR 2, and Shinobi. I never realized how bad it was in the Audio Dept.
I actually liked altered beast as a kid jus saying
He's not saying Altered Beast is a bad game. He's saying it's bad on Sega Master System, the predecessor to the Genesis.
@@smartacus88 Maybe he was talking about the Master System version?
If you compared the SMS version to the Mega Drive/Genesis version, you'll realise the graphics was scaled down.
Butchering Yuzo Koshiro's music in the Smash Pack should be considered a crime against humanity.
I agree. There's no excuse for it.
Fantasia was one of my first video games. I actually found the initial level music catchy, likely because I didn't know better. Seeing Mickey die so easily was creepy for young me xD
The fact that you included Altered Beast in this list tells me you don't know what youre talking about! I loved that game on my SMS as a kid.
Wow I love the Saturn. We just went through and liked all your videos. Top shelf.
Thanks. Appreciate the comment. :)
One good thing about the MegaCD version fo Batman Returns is that the driving sections are very impressive, and make good use of the hardware, the music is also better. It doesn't save the rest of the game from being a very mediocre affair.
One game I would add is Sega Touring Car Championship. While the game itself isn't bad (at least the arcade) , the Saturn port was a poor effort for a 1997 game, not to mention the controls being pretty messed up.
The Mega CD version of Batman Returns lets you choose to have JUST the driving sections in the options menu, making it a great game after a tiny bit of fiddling.
Sega CD Batman Return's driving parts completely made up for the piss poor action game. I'm not even sure why they included that part.
hmm... Starting to get a itch for railshooters.. How is the support for modern lightguns?
Ps: Tony’s chocolonely is also fantastic!
Of the modern rail shooters, the Wii, Wii U, PS3, and PS4 have the best support. The Wii wands and the PS Move controllers are fair substitutes, and there are a number of good games for those systems.
I thought that the Afterburner game was on the Master System since its graphics were so bad. To find out it was on the Sega CD reminded me of why I never bought the CD playing device for the genesis. Great video.
The Japanese release of After Burner 3 is way different than the US one. Closer to Strike Fighter music wise, supports that analog Mega Drive controller and the US one supports the six button pad but not the analog pad.
5:00 I can’t help but feel as though the Japanese executives wanted the Saturn to fail outside of Japan so that the US branch wouldn’t have as much power in the company.
I wonder how difficult Sega Genesis architecture was because even Sega themselves struggles to emulate their own hardware (1:38) how much more for third party like AtGame.
I got Sega Smashpack as a gift from a friend, and the first I noticed was "WHY DO THE GENESIS GAMES SOUND LIKE NES?". I mean, I admit I played and enjoyed the compilation (and Sega Swirl was surprisingly fun) but yeah, I understand the criticism on it.
No cosmic carnage from the 32x?
Altered Beast on the Master System was so choppy because they used background tiles for everything instead of foreground sprites. While this eliminated flicker, it also decimated animation... And unfortunately, this wasn't the only game they tried that with. Golden Axe MS for example was also a victim.
Project: Altered Beast on the PS2 should've been included. Considering it came out at a time where all they would've needed to do was create a God of War or Ninja Gaiden clone & failed miserably, they should be ashamed of themselves. You could probably make the same argument for Golden Axe: Beast Rider, but Project: Altered Beast had the original arcade creators involved in it, so that makes things even worse!
My vids aren't one offs. I covered what I wanted in this episode. If people like it, I'll do more.
I don't get why games companies knowingly release shitty versions of their best games. Are they trying to ruin themselves??
More like “Faltered Beast”.
Yea. Altered beast 8 bit felt like it played underwater
The really baffling thing is since Dreamcast ran windows ce they probably had a huge array of emulation options and still messed up that smash pack.
That was when I knew the Dreamcast was dead, that game made me sad
Next episode...Sonic 2006. Nuff’ said.
Isn’t Fantasia was made by Infogrames and not Sega ?
Sega of America got Infogrames to develop it for them since they didn't have an internal team at the time. Sega often farmed out their games to small western developers.
@@SegaLordX I see, thanks for the info !
Btw, I love your opening theme but it reminds me a lot of musics from Quintet games on the SNES like Terranigma, Illusion of Gaia (Illusion of Time in Europe) and Soul Blazer ^^
Batman's purple/blue color palettes were overused too. Instead of shades of grey or use of blacks were odd decisions. Ecco, Chakan, Cyborg Justice, and more from that time frame all had a purple look. Then games from Japan like Gunstar Heroes, Alien storm, Streets of Rage series, Golden axe, Ristar, etc had really great color palettes.
The stuff from Japan was so much better looking and sounding.
Nintendo is known for their high quality releases as well as frequent delays in order to fine tune their software. They have their fair share of duds, like Wii Music, but they are quite infrequent. Back in the 90’s I more or less expected this same level of quality from Sega published games. As such, games like Batman Returns really burned as I was expecting something great. It felt even more insulting when SNES owners got a pretty good Konami game based on the film. That said, Sega was considered to be a master of sports games and NFL ‘97 was nothing short of disgraceful.
Looking back, I feel bad for SOA. They single handedly made the Genesis a contender in North America and it seemed like Sega of Japan was constantly trying to undermine or outright sabotage them.
How the heck they allow Altered Beast to be released in SMS like this????
Motocross Championship was the last 32x game I ever bought and I couldn’t have been more disappointed. The good news is I only paid $7 for it in the bargain bin.
You took my suggestion! Nothing wrong with some lols every now and again!
It was a good one. :)
I think the Smash pack version of Virtua Cop 2 is just the PC version. They wouldnt have ported the Saturn version to it because the quad rendering wouldnt be compatible w the Dreamcast's architecture
Nearly all of the PC games back then were ports of the Saturn versions. Daytona, Sega Rally, Virtua Cop, etc. It was how Sega did things.