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The Sega Genesis is about as 90s as it gets. With iconic games like Sonic The Hedgehog, Mortal Kombat, Streets of Rage, and many others – it was truly a giant leap forward in terms of home gaming. However, there were also a plethora of games released for the system, so we’ve aggregated millions of actual user reviews, played the top choices, and can confidently tell you the best Sega Genesis games to get.
Whether you want a beat ’em up, a side-scroller, or an action-adventure game – we’ve got you covered. Read on for our top 10 best Sega Genesis games ever produced.
Our Top Pick
Sonic The Hedgehog
It’s almost impossible to be more iconic than Sonic The Hedgehog. Going from an artist’s sketch to a worldwide phenomenon in just under two years, Sonic was like a faster, cooler version of Mario – and gets absolutely ate it up.
However, what makes this game still stand up today, is its speed and ingenuity. While you can certainly beat it easier than you could back in the 1990s – it’s still pretty tricky.
The underwater levels are especially tricky and frustrating, but with one of the absolute best game soundtracks of all-time, you won’t mind spending 30-45 minutes just trying to get to the next stage. Sonic offered a ton of replay value, and also was at the cutting edge of graphics, at least at the time the game was released.
Other Great Picks
Streets Of Rage 2
Streets Of Rage (the first installment) is a classic game in its own right. However, the sequel is where it all really came together.
With an epic soundtrack, super fun side-scrolling action, and great 2 player action – it was way ahead of its time. The graphics are cartoony – but they fit the game’s premise perfectly.
One of the cool aspects of this game, is that there is no over-the-top violence (looking at you, Mortal Kombat) – so you can safely play it with your own little ones. Of course, we won’t lie – we played it for about 10 hours in our office, and there may or may not have been screams of both jubilation and frustration, amongst multiple mid-30s men.
Super Street Fighter 2
Street Fighter was one of the most revolutionary games of the early 1990s. Forever changing the landscape of fighting games, it offered memorable characters, an intuitive (yet complex) control system, and a super-fun two player mode.
Starting out in arcades, Street Fighter was quickly ported to consoles, and as Capcom kept making additions to the sequel, endless different versions ended up on the Sega Genesis (as well as other home gaming consoles). But Super Street Fighter 2 is the best of all of these incarnations, and the soundtrack alone still reverberates in our head, all these many years later.
NBA Jam: Tournament Edition
This is still our favorite basketball game of all-time – we’re not ashamed to admit it. With huge leaps forward from the already-revolutionary NBA Jam that was released only about 16 months prior, NBA Jam: TE was an absolute phenomenon.
Even NBA players got in on the action, with Shaq, Michael Jordan, and Gary Payton all being obsessed with the game. For the very first time, you could break backboards, have the ball literally catch on fire, and slam dunk it from absolutely anywhere on the court – what’s not to love about that?
OutRun
This game is likely the one you remember playing, but can’t recall the title of. It’s an absolute blast to play (despite its simplicity), and it still holds up all these years later.
Ported from the arcades, the graphics aren’t much of a downgrade, and the music is absolutely iconic. The sunsets, locales, and cartoony world of driving had never looked this cool – and you could legitimately play this one for hours upon hours.
Ecco The Dolphin
Ah, Ecco The Dolphin. Perhaps the strangest (and most frustrating) title we ever played as children.
With deep, philosophical music (and an equally deep plot), Ecco frustrated with its endless puzzles and rigorous gameplay requirements. The later levels are incredibly difficult, but they’re also mind-melting. Highly recommended.
Gunstar Heroes
This is one of the most fondly remembered games of the entire Genesis era – and for good reason. With great graphics, immensely fun gameplay, and a wide variety of moves – you’ll pretty much never get sick of playing it.
Even though the premise is simple (a classic ‘run and gun’ premise) – Gunstar Heroes feels like so much more. Show this one to any skeptical friends, and we promise that you’ll have them hooked within an hour or two.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
While Sonic 3 and Sonic And Knuckles were both more advanced than Sonic 2 – the sequel is what moved the most units. With 6 million copies sold (second only to the original Sonic), it is well-known as one of the greatest video games of all-time.
You play as Sonic, of course, but this time Tails has been added. He follows your every move, and even helps you grab some extra rings.
The graphics and level design had progressed from the first title, as had the gameplay speed. With easy accessibility, but also endless hours of replayability, Sonic 2 still remains one of our favorite video games ever produced.
Vectorman
Vectorman felt like it was from the future, upon it’s initial release. Quite frankly, it made the simultaneously-released Sonic games feel like they were already behind the curve, which was quite an amazing feat at the time.
Sporting incredible graphics, a cool soundtrack, and state-of-the-art level design, Vectorman was pretty much impossible to top. While the sequel is more advanced, we still have the fondest place in our heart for the original title. Highly recommended.
Castlevania: Bloodlines
One of the most fondly remembered Genesis titles, Bloodlines has incredible graphics (especially the level backgrounds), and two playable characters to choose from. With many reviewers stating that it is an outright ‘masterpieces’, it offers pretty much anything you could want in a video game.
The soundtrack is also amazing, and still sticks in our head all these years later. If you’re playing with little ones, there is some blood involved, but the game is still rated for all audiences.
What Is The Sega Genesis?
The Sega Genesis was a cartridge-based video game system, that was released in 1989. It competed with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which was Nintendo’s follow up system to their original breakout console, the NES.
The Genesis is best remembered for its improved graphics and gameplay over the NES, as well as iconic games like Sonic The Hedgehog. For many kids, the Genesis brought home already-popular arcade games (like Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam) – which helped these games sell millions of copies.
Outside of North America, the Genesis was called the Mega Drive, and was Sega’s follow up to the less-remembered Master System. The Genesis boasted 16-bit graphics, as well as improved sound, from the then-dominant NES.
There were over 900 games released for the Genesis, which meant that players all over the world had a basically endless choice of titles to buy and rent. It was a huge leap forward for the then-nascent home gaming industry, since arcades were still fairly dominant at the time.
While the NES had done amazingly well, it was really the only huge console to take off, until the Genesis provided it with some much-needed competition. Over 30 million Sega Genesis consoles were sold, worldwide.
When Did The Sega Genesis Come Out?
The Genesis came out (as the Mega Drive) in 1988 in Japan, and as the Genesis in 1989 for North America. The Sega Saturn followed the Genesis in 1994, but it fared much worse in the marketplace.
What Was The Last Game Made For Sega Genesis?
Weirdly, the last game for Genesis was the classic Frogger. It was released in 1998, and was also the last title released for the Super Nintendo system.
How Much Is An Original Sega Genesis Worth?
Most Sega Genesis consoles sell for $20 to $40, but if you want something complete in box, it can run up to $100. As far as we’re concerned, this is an absolute steal, as the Genesis has nearly 1,000 games you can play.
You should keep your console in great condition, if you want to keep it going, as the pins can get dirty without regular cleaning and maintenance. We also have an N64 and NES in our office, and these consoles need the same care and love.
Why Was The Mega Drive Called The Genesis?
The rest of the world knows the Genesis as the Mega Drive – due to a trademark issue with a company called Mega Drive Systems inside the United States. This was a computer system that made storage devices, so it’s not likely that the Genesis would have been confused with this company.
Nevertheless, Sega decided instead to simply call the console the Genesis. In retrospect, this was probably a wise move, as Mega Drive is a cool name, but kids were probably more enthralled with something called the Genesis.
We remember fondly how cool the name sounded when we were in 3rd and 4th grade – and it’s likely that Mega Drive just wouldn’t have had the same impact. Games from other countries, as you might imagine, all bear the Mega Drive box branding.
Other Sega Genesis Games You’ll Want To Buy
We have to be honest – it was all-but-impossible to bring this list down to just 10 titles. With over 900 Genesis games made, we played about 100 of them – and they all kind of rocked.
While the 10 on our above list are all stellar, there are a plethora of other games that should also be experienced. Here are some other games you’ll want to play, if you love the Sega Genesis as much as we do.
Altered Beast: Quite frankly, this game is both funny and awesome. It’s quite easy to make fun of it, for all of its over-the-top theatrics and qualities – but it’s also very fun to play.
A relic of the late 1980s and early 1990s if there ever was one, it’s also endlessly playable. Even by 2000, it seemed extremely dated, but now it has an old-school charm that is impossible to replicate.
Mortal Kombat 2: Oh boy, this game! Perhaps the most fondly remembered fighting game of the entire 1990s, Mortal Kombat 2 was an absolute revolution at the time of its release.
Kids would whisper about the gory fatalities, as well as the possible cheat codes – and we loved playing against each other for hours. You can shoot lightning out of Raiden’s fingers, freeze people as Sub-Zero, or just be the ultimate good guy with Liu Kang.
NHL ’94: While sports games are often forgotten, due to their old rosters, this one completely changed the landscape of gaming. Never before had hockey been so fun on a console, and you could even simulate a whole season.
Lauded for its realism (of course, this was relative to the time), ’94 also is tons of fun. You can punch your friends in real fights, get scolded for slashing by the in-game refs, or just score endless goals with wraparounds (the in-game cheat that never got old).
ToeJam & Earl In Panic On Funkotron: Trying to explain ToeJam and Earl to someone who didn’t grow up with them, is more than a little difficult. In essence, imagine two aliens (who also love funk and hip hop), as they try to navigate around Funkotron, their home planet (after escaping earth).
If that sounds wild – you have no idea. The graphics, soundtrack, and basically everything about this game – still rule. However, it is a noticeable departure from the original, which was even more far out.
Virtua Racing: This game pushed the limits of graphics at the time, and it was extremely expensive, as a result. But for the time period, it was insanely awesome, and put every other racing game to shame.
This is still incredibly fun to play, and we recommend a CRT TV, to get that true Genesis feel. It was a good peek into what would be coming, in the next generation of consoles – true 3D.
The Best Sega Genesis Games
There you have it – our picks for the best Sega Genesis games of all-time. It was very difficult to narrow this list down to just 10 titles, and some of our favorite titles we left off include: Mortal Kombat 2, Toejam And Earl, NHL ’94, Golden Axe, and lots of other iconic games.
Since the Genesis is very affordable these days, you can still play these games in their original, cartridge-based format. You can also pick up reissues of both the system and its games, as there have been many retro packages released throughout the years.
Whichever method you choose, one thing remains the same – these games never get old. And now, they’re also being introduced to a whole new generation of video game fans – who never got to experience them the first time around.