Heads up, I said that Romance of the Three Kingdoms was based in Japan. Of course, it's really China. 12 hours of editing and I missed it every time. 😡
There's a reason I'm "Sega-biased", to this day. Having worked on Desert, Jungle, Urban Strike, Crue Ball, Madden, NHL and a myriad of Amiga ports, the Sega Genesis was my bread and butter and a joy to work on. Thanks for this list and a trip down memory lane.
@@SparkyMK3 realize when I say "Sega-biased", that means I have an affinity, but it's not like people today who seem a bit unhinged in their tribalism. I have every (and I mean "every") system. I play games. I love games. I just have some systems with more games than others and Sega is one of them.
Crue Ball is such an underrated pinball experience, and I'm saying that as someone who only knows a couple of Motley Crue's songs. Sounds like you worked for EA at their absolute peak. Did you work on "The Immortal" as well? I know that was a computer port, but I'm not sure if it was on the Amiga or not.
@@zanegandini5350 I don't know if it was "peak" (1991-1995, as well as 2008 - 2010 for the last great Medal of Honor game), but certainly a prolific time for me and EA and a time with more diversity in terms of game types. I did NOT work on Immortal, but worked with some of the amazing artists on other projects.
@@tonybarnes2920 always appreciated to hear from actual industry insiders like yourself. Gets old hearing the same lameness from know it alls who actually know next to nothing.
You are 100% correct when you say that the Sega Genesis version of MK2 “plays” better than the SNES version. 👍 Hyperstone Heist on Genesis also plays tighter than Turtles in Time on the SNES. The Sega Genesis had that “energy” that the Super Nintendo lacked.
EA here in Europe was for the Megadrive absolutely essential. It was very common to see stores like GAME do pack in versions of EA games over 1st party. I still remember the "Triple Strike" box of a md2 and all 3 strike games in 1994 for £150 Was massively popular pack here in Northern Ireland, along with their cheeky "Foursum" pack which was a md1, a 4way play adaptor, 4 pads and 4 EA games of Rugby World Cup, Fifa 95, NHL 95 and PGA euro tour. Now it was 3 button pads, but god dam that was the pack I still know people's dad's bought for them and their mates to sit and play together. EA was 16 bit Sega and they failed without them. Sega should have bought them in for $10 a share in 1994 like the rumours said.
I would give honorable mentions to Data East and Vic Tokai, maybe Interplay as well Edit: TAITO! I knew I was forgetting a big one. I respect this top ten list and would probably put these companies just inside or outside of the #10 spot for my list 😎
Cool Spot doesn't often come up in talk nowadays. But for those that were there, we know that that title was EVERYWHERE in the States and was heavily promoted in advertising & giveaways. I can't imagine the Genesis being the same without it.
Madden and Road Rash for me. Madden ran so choppy on the SNES, it was so much smoother on the Genesis. Also King's Bounty is still a favorite of mine I still play to this day.
People hate on Electronic Arts now (deservedly so) but back in the day when Trip Hawkins was running the show they made incredible games going all the way back to the early '80s for Atari, Apple and Commodore computers. Stuff like Archon, Hard Hat Mack, M.U.L.E. and Pinball Construction Set. Their packaging (made to look like vinyl record album covers) was legendary. I loved most of their output on the Genesis, excepting Sword of Sodan. 😂
Yeah, I wish more people knew history, because it's getting really tiresome being vilified for working at Electronic Arts, because people are on their hate-train of EA's current incarnation.
@@tonybarnes2920 I think they had the right idea back in the 1980s, when they put their games in record album-like boxes and treated their developers like rock stars. I think they turned to the dark side after the 3DO debacle, though.
I think EA still makes excellent, sometimes even incredible games. In the last five years they've published for example Dead Space remake, Jedi Fallen Order and Jedi Survivor, It Takes Two, Star Wars Squadrons, Grid Legends, Mass Effect 1-3 remaster and F1 '21-'24. Partly it's because of smart acquisitions (Codemasters, Respawn), but in any case they continue to be an important publisher.
@@tonybarnes2920 People are right to hate and vilify EA, they're morons to treat developers working there in the same fashion as investors, board members, executives, and senior management at most are to blame.
@@mattia1026 sigh... why do all of you "fans" live in such hyperbolic worlds of today without ever reading or understanding context? The video and myself are talking about EA during the Sega Genesis era, one of the eras I worked at and made; The Strike Series, Road Rash, Madden, Crue Ball, NHL hockey, Mutant League, etc... etc.. (seriously I worked on too many to remember). YOU hate-filled people are spouting and recycling hate-articles from TODAY. NOBODY is talking about today, except for haters who insist on not listening.
I was already wondering "Where the heck is Treasure" but then you mentioned it at the end and the explanation made total sense. So, all in all, pretty neat list =)
Hyperstone heist is my favorite game on the modern Turtles collection (even over the arcade titles). Konami did amazing things with the Genesis. I was happy to see Budokan footage in this video, too.
Ive really been binge watching your stuff lately. All i can say is that your consistency is admirable, and i really do enjoy your stuff. Keep up the good work👍🏽
Konami was a powerhouse on the Genesis. Most of their games usually made great use of the hardware through the graphics and especially the audio. By the way, you mentioned Koei. I just wanted to point out the Uncharted Waters strategy games, specifically New Horizons, because of the soundtrack by Yoko Kanno: the same person who composed the music to the Cowboy Bebop anime. As for Electronic Arts, they were a mixed bag in terms of quality. While they did have hits like the Road Rash games, they also had some certified stinkers, like Shaq-Fu... and their infamous port of Dark Castle. 😖
@@dwightdixon8508 i REALLY liked Sword of Sodan tbh, and Budokan could've been made better, but again i like it. Dark Castle is definitely beyond redemption tho
Contra Hard Corp is one of the best Contras ever made, but it’s a shame that the US VERSION is so dang hard compared to the Japanese version. It would get more love if the average person could make it past the first level. 😅
Sunsoft had some talented developers, their games were usually very polished. They also made some good titles for other platforms, like the very impressive Batman for NES, the SNES port of World Heroes and the decent brawler Pirates of Dark Water.
The reason Capcom's output on the Genesis/Mega-Drive was so miniscule was due to a similar bitter rivalry they had; kind of like how Nintendo's and Namco's rivalry was during the late 8-bit era and the 16-bit era!
@@G.L.999 Oooh, didn't know that. I had heard that SEGA underpaid and basically acted real bad to third parties during their Master System days and as a result burnt a lot of bridges- quick research show they still licensed some games to be converted to Master System, though apparently this was only after they started doing so for the Genesis / Mega Drive. Guess that when SEGA entered the 16-bit generation they managed to convince Capcom to still work with them, whereas they had completely sat out the Master Systems "active" years?
@@goranisacson2502 Yes. In Japan, that was the precise reason Japanese devs avoided the Master System of their own volition at the time. When Tom Kalinske came into power, he more or less built better bridges with devs both eastern and western.
i'm happy that KOEI got mentioned here, Aerobiz and Gemfire are two of my favorite titles from them, and while i've not completed either of them yet, i keep going back to them for more.
In almost all of its games for Genesis, Capcom handed over the license instead of developing it itself, unlike Snes. Like every Japanese company, it did not have faith in Genesis. They later realized with the super sales it had outside Japan, Konami difference saw the potential over time
It's an interesting dilemma- Strider for Genesis is an absolute banger, and Capcom farmed that out to SEGA. Their Street Fighter 2 version was good and made in-house, but not as good as the SNES version. Would it have been worth it to let Capcom do their own games from the start, even if they wouldn't have made them as good as SEGA's own conversions?
@@goranisacson2502 I think street fighter 2 on the mega drive/Genesis edges out the super Nintendo version because of the faster gameplay and better music but overall Capcom did not give that all had a little faith in Sega’s 16 bit console
everything depended on just the developer and the dedication they gave creating the game, before I thought that a game like Street Fighter Alpha 2 on Snes was unbeatable to adapt in 16 bits but years later a dedicated group is developing Fatal Fury Real Bout for genesis that It surpasses it by far, just like they are adapting Sunset Riders in an arcade edition version, just see what they did with MK1, very few in the 90s took advantage of the true potential of the machine
Imagine how The Punisher would have turned out if Capcom developed it but they left this to another company and see the difference it made with the versions of Knight of the Round or Captain Commando in comparison on Snes
Good stuff! I was a Genesis-only kid, so I never thought twice about the lack of third-party support compared to the SNES at the time. Besides the first and second-party games from Sega and Treasure respectively, I always gravitated to a Genesis game if Konami's logo was plastered on the box. Konami just had some of my favorite games on the Genesis that I still play today! It is a shame Capcom wasn't able to have more releases on the Genesis. They put out some amazing work on the SNES and it would have been great to see some more Sega-exclusive games on the Genesis.
Konami is so far of every other 3rd party when it comes to being the best 3rd party developers with the Mega Drive (Genesis) with only TechnoSoft, EA and SunSoft come close. I say Konami not because of their output because your list is spot on as it’s by the amount of games these developers contributes to the Mega Drive (Genesis), for me it’s Konami because of the quality of the vast majority of their games and i would put even Capcom in 2nd place also due to their quality as well everyone else on this list varying levels of quality, especially Acclaim and EA.
I think DreamWorks was an interesting publisher. Mystical Fighter, Fire Shark, Wings of Wor, Trampoline Terror, Shove It, Target Earth... they were all pretty fun and unique in their own way. I'd also have to check and see if Toaplan was doing their own ports or outsourcing. Grind Stormer, Truxton, Fire Shark, Slap Fight, Hellfire, Zero Wing... lots of different publishers, though. Tengen did good publishing. Dragon's Fury, Gauntlet IV, Ms Pac Man, Grind Stormer, RBI Baseball series, and so on. I think I'd bump EA down several notches. It's hard to overstate how massive their sports games were, but they were also on SNES. There are a ton of really lousy to mediocre games there that just really are only for classic PC players. Dark Castle (as noted in the description), the Warrior of Rome games, Budokan, Risky Woods, Rings of Power, and so on. I like some of their stuff like Crüe Ball and Haunting Starring Polterguy, but iterative sports games aside, they were a low quality rate publisher whose name did not inspire confidence outside of NHL and Madden games. I wouldn't take them off the list, but I'd put them below Acclaim. Acclaim's Midway publishing deal was huge.
EA would sometimes stumble across a pretty decent game that had nothing to do with tough actin', turducken eatin' sports commentators. Much of their non-Madden output was kind of janky, though. Remember Normy's Beach Babe A Rama? It'll give you a grudging appreciation for Greendog.
SLX, great video. At the start I could pick the top 3 and in the order, even though I didnt have a Konami game myself as a kid. Damn. I loved EA games back then. The other 7 I couldnt tell who or where they'd end up and I was interested to hear all your points during the video.
I still play Gemfire from time to time. Surprised it wasn't brought up. Granted it's not Koei's greatest game. This video brought back a memory of me messing around as a kid playing Liberty or Death and taking Cornwallis in my first battle. Great times
Nice video, thanks again. Anyway, i know for other reviewers that also most of the sega labeled games where developed by 3rd parties under sega branding. Maybe another idea for another video is to make a top 10 of them? Or a top 10 of inhouse games? And maybe its out of the channels scope. But another idea, where are all those talented devs under treasure, konami, capcom, sega and many others such as dave perry etc.. right now.
Very solid list, I think that you picked every major Publisher. As someone who experienced SEGA in France, it was pretty huge when we got Dragon Ball Z from Bandai here. I don't think they released anything else in France though. SEGA edited themselves a ton of excellent games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, Sub-Terrania and Mega Bomberman.
I'd probably have had Vic Tokai on this list, even if a couple are Sega published titles. Socket, Trouble Shooter, Whip Rush, Decap Attack, and Columns 3 are some of my favorites, and the music in those titles shows a mastery of the hardware few others reached.
New Horizons is one of my most played Genesis games. The fact that Warsong is the first Langrisser game and (AFAIK) Noriyuki Iwadare's first significant composition is enough in and of itself 😊
Takara would've been worth a mention: They ported some memorable Neo Geo fighting games to the Genesis, like Fatal Fury 1 and 2, King of Monsters 1 and 2 and Samurai Shodown.
I think their Neo-Geo ports are pretty decent. Sure wish we'd have gotten Fatal Fury Special on something with more horsepower than the Game Gear, though!
Electronic Arts was the most important 3rd party company of the 16-bit generation by a mile. Sega was incredibly fortunate that they favored Genesis instead of Snes. The only other honorable mention in the same light as Treasure should have been Blue Sky Software. They were a legit AAA 2nd party for Sega of America.
@polycube868 Pretty much. Rare did publish a handful of games for Genesis in late 92 through 1993. Then they became a full on Nintendo 2nd party. BlueSky didn't have any games released on Snes. Funnily enough as well as their games did in the Western market BlueSky didn't have one single Genesis game release for the Japanese Mega Drive. That's why I said "Sega of America" 2nd party. I love what BlueSky did on Genesis. The World Series Baseball series, NFL 93 & 94 Starring Joe Montana, College Football National Championship. These games alone are grail level. Then the non sports. Jurassic Park and JP Rampage Edition, Ren & Stimpy, Shadowrun, Vectorman 1&2 plus more.
@dcboys4195 yes they did, Rare had Championship Pro AM and a Genesis port of Battletoads, actually got the former in my collection, much better than the NES version.
@polycube868 Both the Genesis Battletoads and Battletoads Double Dragon are my favorite versions of those games. I actually had Battletoads on Nes and Genesis growing up. Once we got the Genesis version, we retired the Nes version. I know some people do prefer the original Nes verison, though.
Interesting list, wasn't expecting to see Koei there! In Europe we've missed it completely, as well as most of Technosoft's and Telenet's output. On the other hand we had Psygnosis, Codemasters and Core Design, although you've mentioned the latter. I love Core's work on 16bit Sega, their inputs especially on the Sega (Mega) CD were amazing! Cheers!
I've hade P.T.O. for the SNES for thirty years. Have it for the Genesis too, only not as long and not as well played. Good to hear Koei's products mentioned here. Their games are for a specific audience and I don't see many reviews of them compared to others.
I'd consider Data East, not just for quality ports but because they made great use of Hitoshi Sakimoto and his Terpsichorean music driver. The soundtracks to Midnight Resistance and Crude Buster knocked spots off the arcade ones. But there was a lot of Data East arcade content that they *should* have ported over but never did - Sly Spy and Tumblepop spring to mind - and Captain America sounded and played the part, but should have had a bigger cart size for much better graphics.
I think Data East should have been included in the list. They released a lot of memorable games for the Genesis: Darwin 4081 (1990), Vapor Trail: Hyper Offence Formation (1991), Midnight Resistance (1991), Atomic Runner (1992), Side Pocket (1992), Two Crude Dudes (1992), Captain America and the Avengers (1992), Dashin' Desperadoes (1993), High Seas Havoc (1994), Joe & Mac (1994), Mega Turrican (1994), OutRunners (1994), Minnesota Fats: Pool Legend (1995), and Virtua Fighter 2 (1996). It's a shsme that the abusive contrat with Nintendo made them cancel DragonNinja for the Genesis...
Wouldn’t it be interesting if Sega would release an “Arcade mini” loaded with arcade games especially never released on consoles similar to the Genesis 1 & 2 mini?! That’d be awesome
Technosoft, EA and SEGA doing their own stuff were the standouts for me at the time. End of the day though not many publishers/devs intentionally did the console wrong on anything I reckon.
I was very biased against western developed games in favor of Capcom/Konami/Square/Nintendo/SNK/Sega etc...but there was a run there on the Genesis where Virgin made me stand back and clap with some of the things they were doing. Their games were so visually stunning for the era.
16 bit graphics games aren’t dead yet if you love 16 bit that much go play streets of rage 4 it’s playable on the Sega Genesis if they wanted to add it to that console shredders revenge is 16 bit and all those Sega games that’s 16 bit instead of arcade graphics are all available on Sega Genesis that publishers ignore don’t know why publishers are still making the games 16 bit graphics
Idea for video, as a follow-up to retro Sega on XBOX 360/XBOX One, retro Sega on PlayStation 3...there's actually several Sega titles on the PlayStation store on PS3 including Sonic Adventures 1 and 2 and Sonic CD, Nights into Dreams and Daytona USA to name a few.
3:50 not Japan, it's China. Romance of Three Kingdom took place in China, its based on popular novel that had same name. Nobunaga's Ambition sister series from Koei takes place in Japan. Both series are flagship titles of Koei and still continues to this day.
I used to think it would be a difficult decision to choose between Capcom or Konami, but as I've gotten older I have to choose Konami. I suck at MegaMan games, I never played Street fighter much, but Castlevania, TMNT, looney toons and sunset riders are some of my favorite games to go back to.
I'm always surprised when I realize that Aero the Acrobat isn't from Acclaim. Just kinda feels like the kind of product they'd put out, ya know? EDIT: It was developed by Iguana, no wonder.
Acclaim and Sunsoft had a working relationship in the 1990s. Fortunately, the former didn't buy out the latter, like they had done with so many other developers. Also, I think Aero the Acro-Bat was created by Dave Siller, the original Sushi-X from EGM.
Aklaim being on the list did surprise me, especially since you love to rag on them (and it’s justified too), but I won’t deny they had plenty of good games too. Heck even much later on their burnout games were quite good.
If I removed my qualification of not being directly associated with Sega itself, they'd be top 15 material. Their sports games, Vectorman, Jurassic Park, and Starflight would earn them that.
Heads up, I said that Romance of the Three Kingdoms was based in Japan. Of course, it's really China. 12 hours of editing and I missed it every time. 😡
I listened but never even took that on board in the video!
Yup, Nobunaga's Ambition was their Japan titles. Very similar games.
Easy to make a mistake, at least you mentioned it here before hand. Glad you said it here anyway.
You also said Liberty or Death was based on the French Revolution.......jk 😆
Relaxxxx my nigha not a big deal
Capcom is important for essentially paving way for SEGA's 6 button controller.
There's a reason I'm "Sega-biased", to this day. Having worked on Desert, Jungle, Urban Strike, Crue Ball, Madden, NHL and a myriad of Amiga ports, the Sega Genesis was my bread and butter and a joy to work on. Thanks for this list and a trip down memory lane.
Glad to hear this from the perspective of someone who has actually worked in the video game industry, especially during that time!
@@SparkyMK3 realize when I say "Sega-biased", that means I have an affinity, but it's not like people today who seem a bit unhinged in their tribalism. I have every (and I mean "every") system. I play games. I love games. I just have some systems with more games than others and Sega is one of them.
Crue Ball is such an underrated pinball experience, and I'm saying that as someone who only knows a couple of Motley Crue's songs. Sounds like you worked for EA at their absolute peak. Did you work on "The Immortal" as well? I know that was a computer port, but I'm not sure if it was on the Amiga or not.
@@zanegandini5350 I don't know if it was "peak" (1991-1995, as well as 2008 - 2010 for the last great Medal of Honor game), but certainly a prolific time for me and EA and a time with more diversity in terms of game types. I did NOT work on Immortal, but worked with some of the amazing artists on other projects.
@@tonybarnes2920 always appreciated to hear from actual industry insiders like yourself. Gets old hearing the same lameness from know it alls who actually know next to nothing.
You are 100% correct when you say that the Sega Genesis version of MK2 “plays” better than the SNES version. 👍 Hyperstone Heist on Genesis also plays tighter than Turtles in Time on the SNES. The Sega Genesis had that “energy” that the Super Nintendo lacked.
EA here in Europe was for the Megadrive absolutely essential.
It was very common to see stores like GAME do pack in versions of EA games over 1st party.
I still remember the "Triple Strike" box of a md2 and all 3 strike games in 1994 for £150
Was massively popular pack here in Northern Ireland, along with their cheeky "Foursum" pack which was a md1, a 4way play adaptor, 4 pads and 4 EA games of Rugby World Cup, Fifa 95, NHL 95 and PGA euro tour.
Now it was 3 button pads, but god dam that was the pack I still know people's dad's bought for them and their mates to sit and play together.
EA was 16 bit Sega and they failed without them. Sega should have bought them in for $10 a share in 1994 like the rumours said.
Sega Lord X is the reason I wake up in the morning.
you have problems
That is sad...
He's the reason for your morning wood.
Wow that's sad, dude. Get help.
I would give honorable mentions to Data East and Vic Tokai, maybe Interplay as well
Edit: TAITO! I knew I was forgetting a big one. I respect this top ten list and would probably put these companies just inside or outside of the #10 spot for my list 😎
I gave Vic its shout out.
Cool Spot doesn't often come up in talk nowadays. But for those that were there, we know that that title was EVERYWHERE in the States and was heavily promoted in advertising & giveaways. I can't imagine the Genesis being the same without it.
Felt exclusive for genesis like nothing the NES could come close to. Then it came out on SNES and that version was meh
Love seeing Sega Lord X video games and his love for the Sega console's
• consoles
Thank you Renovation Products (later became Telenet Japan) for publishing my all-time favorite Sega Genesis game, Gain Ground.
Technically it was always Telenet Japan. Renovation was just the US publishing arm Telenet formed.
I really appreciate Electronic Arts, looking at you Road Rash and Desert Strike series!
Madden and Road Rash for me. Madden ran so choppy on the SNES, it was so much smoother on the Genesis.
Also King's Bounty is still a favorite of mine I still play to this day.
Thanks for playing!
@@tonybarnes2920 Your profile Pic reminds me of the Jungle Strike copilot Scott Antonio (AKA: Ego)!
People hate on Electronic Arts now (deservedly so) but back in the day when Trip Hawkins was running the show they made incredible games going all the way back to the early '80s for Atari, Apple and Commodore computers. Stuff like Archon, Hard Hat Mack, M.U.L.E. and Pinball Construction Set. Their packaging (made to look like vinyl record album covers) was legendary. I loved most of their output on the Genesis, excepting Sword of Sodan. 😂
Yeah, I wish more people knew history, because it's getting really tiresome being vilified for working at Electronic Arts, because people are on their hate-train of EA's current incarnation.
@@tonybarnes2920 I think they had the right idea back in the 1980s, when they put their games in record album-like boxes and treated their developers like rock stars. I think they turned to the dark side after the 3DO debacle, though.
I think EA still makes excellent, sometimes even incredible games. In the last five years they've published for example Dead Space remake, Jedi Fallen Order and Jedi Survivor, It Takes Two, Star Wars Squadrons, Grid Legends, Mass Effect 1-3 remaster and F1 '21-'24. Partly it's because of smart acquisitions (Codemasters, Respawn), but in any case they continue to be an important publisher.
@@tonybarnes2920 People are right to hate and vilify EA, they're morons to treat developers working there in the same fashion as investors, board members, executives, and senior management at most are to blame.
@@mattia1026 sigh... why do all of you "fans" live in such hyperbolic worlds of today without ever reading or understanding context? The video and myself are talking about EA during the Sega Genesis era, one of the eras I worked at and made; The Strike Series, Road Rash, Madden, Crue Ball, NHL hockey, Mutant League, etc... etc.. (seriously I worked on too many to remember). YOU hate-filled people are spouting and recycling hate-articles from TODAY. NOBODY is talking about today, except for haters who insist on not listening.
All 10 of these 3rd party companies really validated being a Sega Genesis kid back then. Ahhhh the memories...
Kinda funny that you and SNESdrunk covered the Koei strategy games in the very same month.
You guys really need to finally do a crossover! 😁
I was already wondering "Where the heck is Treasure" but then you mentioned it at the end and the explanation made total sense.
So, all in all, pretty neat list =)
Toejam and Earl would make for a great video topic
FYI, There is a new Unoficial demake or port of Real Bout Fatal Fury Special for genesis.
I saw. Pretty interesting.
Hyperstone heist is my favorite game on the modern Turtles collection (even over the arcade titles). Konami did amazing things with the Genesis. I was happy to see Budokan footage in this video, too.
Konami killed it for the Genesis.
That they did.
They were doing way more than Capcom was at that time. Bothered with an exclusive or two made in house. Even admirable classics in their own right.
Castlevania bloodlines, hyperstone heist. Dang Konami is such an amazing company then
I count snatcher as well imo
McDonald’s Treasureland Adventure
Ive really been binge watching your stuff lately. All i can say is that your consistency is admirable, and i really do enjoy your stuff. Keep up the good work👍🏽
Before watching I'd say the Top 3 is as Follow:
1- Electronic Arts
2- Treasure
3- Konami
Good guess.
@@SegaLordX Well I was almost spot on ; if only Treasure qualified 😛
Konami was a powerhouse on the Genesis. Most of their games usually made great use of the hardware through the graphics and especially the audio. By the way, you mentioned Koei. I just wanted to point out the Uncharted Waters strategy games, specifically New Horizons, because of the soundtrack by Yoko Kanno: the same person who composed the music to the Cowboy Bebop anime.
As for Electronic Arts, they were a mixed bag in terms of quality. While they did have hits like the Road Rash games, they also had some certified stinkers, like Shaq-Fu... and their infamous port of Dark Castle. 😖
Road Rash was huge by them, as were Populous, that is true.
Sword of Sodan & Budokan were stinkers too
@@dwightdixon8508 i REALLY liked Sword of Sodan tbh, and Budokan could've been made better, but again i like it. Dark Castle is definitely beyond redemption tho
Holy crap, seriously? I love Yoko's work!
Contra Hard Corp is one of the best Contras ever made, but it’s a shame that the US VERSION is so dang hard compared to the Japanese version. It would get more love if the average person could make it past the first level. 😅
1st level ain't bad. It's like level 3 or 4
Figgin' Contra, man!
Glad to see you back making content
10. Sunsoft
9. Koei
8. Virgin
7. Namco
6. Technosoft (Thunder Force)
5. Telenet (Gaires)
4. Capcom
3. Akklaim
2. Konami
1. EA
Sunsoft had some talented developers, their games were usually very polished. They also made some good titles for other platforms, like the very impressive Batman for NES, the SNES port of World Heroes and the decent brawler Pirates of Dark Water.
Always a video I look forward to! Thanks SLX
Ah, back when EA and Konami had amazing games consistently. I miss this era so much.
So glad you addressed Treasure at the end. For me, when I think Mega Drive I first think Sega and then second Treasure!
The reason Capcom's output on the Genesis/Mega-Drive was so miniscule was due to a similar bitter rivalry they had; kind of like how Nintendo's and Namco's rivalry was during the late 8-bit era and the 16-bit era!
Didn't know that Capcom and SEGA didn't get along like that- what was behind it?
Nintendo vs Namco???
@@goranisacson2502 Cartridge royalty support differences.
@@G.L.999 Oooh, didn't know that. I had heard that SEGA underpaid and basically acted real bad to third parties during their Master System days and as a result burnt a lot of bridges- quick research show they still licensed some games to be converted to Master System, though apparently this was only after they started doing so for the Genesis / Mega Drive. Guess that when SEGA entered the 16-bit generation they managed to convince Capcom to still work with them, whereas they had completely sat out the Master Systems "active" years?
@@goranisacson2502 Yes. In Japan, that was the precise reason Japanese devs avoided the Master System of their own volition at the time.
When Tom Kalinske came into power, he more or less built better bridges with devs both eastern and western.
i'm happy that KOEI got mentioned here, Aerobiz and Gemfire are two of my favorite titles from them, and while i've not completed either of them yet, i keep going back to them for more.
In almost all of its games for Genesis, Capcom handed over the license instead of developing it itself, unlike Snes. Like every Japanese company, it did not have faith in Genesis. They later realized with the super sales it had outside Japan, Konami difference saw the potential over time
It's an interesting dilemma- Strider for Genesis is an absolute banger, and Capcom farmed that out to SEGA. Their Street Fighter 2 version was good and made in-house, but not as good as the SNES version. Would it have been worth it to let Capcom do their own games from the start, even if they wouldn't have made them as good as SEGA's own conversions?
@@goranisacson2502 I think street fighter 2 on the mega drive/Genesis edges out the super Nintendo version because of the faster gameplay and better music but overall Capcom did not give that all had a little faith in Sega’s 16 bit console
everything depended on just the developer and the dedication they gave creating the game, before I thought that a game like Street Fighter Alpha 2 on Snes was unbeatable to adapt in 16 bits but years later a dedicated group is developing Fatal Fury Real Bout for genesis that It surpasses it by far, just like they are adapting Sunset Riders in an arcade edition version, just see what they did with MK1, very few in the 90s took advantage of the true potential of the machine
Imagine how The Punisher would have turned out if Capcom developed it but they left this to another company and see the difference it made with the versions of Knight of the Round or Captain Commando in comparison on Snes
@@goranisacson2502SFII Genesis wins with 6 button controller
please make in the future this videos Top 10 3rd Parties on the SEGA CD, SATURN, 32X, DREAMCAST and nintendo consoles
Awesome video man! Always a huge fan of your work! Keep it up SegaLX!
I miss the 1980s/90s T.M.N.T. 💙🐢💜🐢❤🐢💛🐢
This is a list I can't argue one bit...a TH-cam rarity! Great job!
Great video but I kept waiting for Treasure and it never came but thanks for the explanation
Good stuff! I was a Genesis-only kid, so I never thought twice about the lack of third-party support compared to the SNES at the time. Besides the first and second-party games from Sega and Treasure respectively, I always gravitated to a Genesis game if Konami's logo was plastered on the box. Konami just had some of my favorite games on the Genesis that I still play today!
It is a shame Capcom wasn't able to have more releases on the Genesis. They put out some amazing work on the SNES and it would have been great to see some more Sega-exclusive games on the Genesis.
I need to check out some of those strategy games. PTO looks fun.
So many great games, thank you my man
Glad you enjoyed the vid.
That was a cool video and gave me some ideas for some games to play! Thanks d00d!
Another great video and i love your videos for bringing me to the Sega world.
Loved this topic! It covered so many games too
Konami is so far of every other 3rd party when it comes to being the best 3rd party developers with the Mega Drive (Genesis) with only TechnoSoft, EA and SunSoft come close. I say Konami not because of their output because your list is spot on as it’s by the amount of games these developers contributes to the Mega Drive (Genesis), for me it’s Konami because of the quality of the vast majority of their games and i would put even Capcom in 2nd place also due to their quality as well everyone else on this list varying levels of quality, especially Acclaim and EA.
I think DreamWorks was an interesting publisher. Mystical Fighter, Fire Shark, Wings of Wor, Trampoline Terror, Shove It, Target Earth... they were all pretty fun and unique in their own way.
I'd also have to check and see if Toaplan was doing their own ports or outsourcing. Grind Stormer, Truxton, Fire Shark, Slap Fight, Hellfire, Zero Wing... lots of different publishers, though.
Tengen did good publishing. Dragon's Fury, Gauntlet IV, Ms Pac Man, Grind Stormer, RBI Baseball series, and so on.
I think I'd bump EA down several notches. It's hard to overstate how massive their sports games were, but they were also on SNES. There are a ton of really lousy to mediocre games there that just really are only for classic PC players. Dark Castle (as noted in the description), the Warrior of Rome games, Budokan, Risky Woods, Rings of Power, and so on. I like some of their stuff like Crüe Ball and Haunting Starring Polterguy, but iterative sports games aside, they were a low quality rate publisher whose name did not inspire confidence outside of NHL and Madden games. I wouldn't take them off the list, but I'd put them below Acclaim. Acclaim's Midway publishing deal was huge.
I like your opinions 👍🏻
You are Genesis Savvy
@@warehousedave7937 Thanks, nice of you to say!
EA would sometimes stumble across a pretty decent game that had nothing to do with tough actin', turducken eatin' sports commentators. Much of their non-Madden output was kind of janky, though. Remember Normy's Beach Babe A Rama? It'll give you a grudging appreciation for Greendog.
SLX, great video.
At the start I could pick the top 3 and in the order, even though I didnt have a Konami game myself as a kid. Damn. I loved EA games back then. The other 7 I couldnt tell who or where they'd end up and I was interested to hear all your points during the video.
I still play Gemfire from time to time. Surprised it wasn't brought up. Granted it's not Koei's greatest game. This video brought back a memory of me messing around as a kid playing Liberty or Death and taking Cornwallis in my first battle. Great times
Great list! I only wish you mentioned notable Sega CD releases…Snatcher must always be mentioned 😉
Great video. Some of these companies/developers also created great stuff on the NES and otherwise. Juggernauts indeed.
Saturn next?
Great list thank you.
Appreciate the view.
Nice video, thanks again. Anyway, i know for other reviewers that also most of the sega labeled games where developed by 3rd parties under sega branding. Maybe another idea for another video is to make a top 10 of them? Or a top 10 of inhouse games?
And maybe its out of the channels scope. But another idea, where are all those talented devs under treasure, konami, capcom, sega and many others such as dave perry etc.. right now.
Sad that Data East didn't make the list :(
Data East had a number of classics but I think these guys beat them out.
@@SegaLordX DataEast did the Robocop games, which I though were pretty bad ass, correct?
Very solid list, I think that you picked every major Publisher. As someone who experienced SEGA in France, it was pretty huge when we got Dragon Ball Z from Bandai here. I don't think they released anything else in France though. SEGA edited themselves a ton of excellent games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, Sub-Terrania and Mega Bomberman.
Seeing Robocop blast apart his foes to Lion King music... awakens strange and amusing thoughts in me. "Dead or alive... this is your kingdom, Simba."
So much nostalgia growing up with a genesis was amazing 👏
I think EA and Konami were probably, the most important third party publishers for the Sega Genesis.
I'd probably have had Vic Tokai on this list, even if a couple are Sega published titles. Socket, Trouble Shooter, Whip Rush, Decap Attack, and Columns 3 are some of my favorites, and the music in those titles shows a mastery of the hardware few others reached.
New Horizons is one of my most played Genesis games.
The fact that Warsong is the first Langrisser game and (AFAIK) Noriyuki Iwadare's first significant composition is enough in and of itself 😊
Takara would've been worth a mention: They ported some memorable Neo Geo fighting games to the Genesis, like Fatal Fury 1 and 2, King of Monsters 1 and 2 and Samurai Shodown.
I think their Neo-Geo ports are pretty decent. Sure wish we'd have gotten Fatal Fury Special on something with more horsepower than the Game Gear, though!
The rom hack to remove the timer in Alien 3 is worth applying.
Electronic Arts was the most important 3rd party company of the 16-bit generation by a mile.
Sega was incredibly fortunate that they favored Genesis instead of Snes.
The only other honorable mention in the same light as Treasure should have been Blue Sky Software. They were a legit AAA 2nd party for Sega of America.
Blue Sky was to Sega as Rare to Nintendo?
@polycube868 Pretty much. Rare did publish a handful of games for Genesis in late 92 through 1993. Then they became a full on Nintendo 2nd party.
BlueSky didn't have any games released on Snes. Funnily enough as well as their games did in the Western market BlueSky didn't have one single Genesis game release for the Japanese Mega Drive.
That's why I said "Sega of America" 2nd party. I love what BlueSky did on Genesis. The World Series Baseball series, NFL 93 & 94 Starring Joe Montana, College Football National Championship. These games alone are grail level.
Then the non sports. Jurassic Park and JP Rampage Edition, Ren & Stimpy, Shadowrun, Vectorman 1&2 plus more.
@dcboys4195 yes they did, Rare had Championship Pro AM and a Genesis port of Battletoads, actually got the former in my collection, much better than the NES version.
@polycube868 Both the Genesis Battletoads and Battletoads Double Dragon are my favorite versions of those games.
I actually had Battletoads on Nes and Genesis growing up. Once we got the Genesis version, we retired the Nes version. I know some people do prefer the original Nes verison, though.
Interesting list, wasn't expecting to see Koei there! In Europe we've missed it completely, as well as most of Technosoft's and Telenet's output. On the other hand we had Psygnosis, Codemasters and Core Design, although you've mentioned the latter. I love Core's work on 16bit Sega, their inputs especially on the Sega (Mega) CD were amazing! Cheers!
Core Design would probably be #1 on a Sega CD top 10. They really knew how to utilize its unique hardware.
@@zanegandini5350 I know right!!??
Love Koei! Collected most of their NES titles.
The title music for Aerobiz Supersonic is so catchy.
I've hade P.T.O. for the SNES for thirty years. Have it for the Genesis too, only not as long and not as well played. Good to hear Koei's products mentioned here. Their games are for a specific audience and I don't see many reviews of them compared to others.
I'd consider Data East, not just for quality ports but because they made great use of Hitoshi Sakimoto and his Terpsichorean music driver. The soundtracks to Midnight Resistance and Crude Buster knocked spots off the arcade ones. But there was a lot of Data East arcade content that they *should* have ported over but never did - Sly Spy and Tumblepop spring to mind - and Captain America sounded and played the part, but should have had a bigger cart size for much better graphics.
I loved the Genesis era of EA and Konami, those games were amazing!
EA has to be #1 right?
I think Data East should have been included in the list. They released a lot of memorable games for the Genesis: Darwin 4081 (1990),
Vapor Trail: Hyper Offence Formation (1991),
Midnight Resistance (1991),
Atomic Runner (1992),
Side Pocket (1992),
Two Crude Dudes (1992),
Captain America and the Avengers (1992),
Dashin' Desperadoes (1993),
High Seas Havoc (1994),
Joe & Mac (1994),
Mega Turrican (1994),
OutRunners (1994),
Minnesota Fats: Pool Legend (1995), and
Virtua Fighter 2 (1996). It's a shsme that the abusive contrat with Nintendo made them cancel DragonNinja for the Genesis...
Wouldn’t it be interesting if Sega would release an “Arcade mini” loaded with arcade games especially never released on consoles similar to the Genesis 1 & 2 mini?! That’d be awesome
Sega Lord X with another great topic of discussion
I totally concur with the two top spots.
Techo Soft was a beast. Amazing Games.
This line up kicks ass
Holy shit. I didnt realize they used Sonny Chiba for the start screen on Revenge of Shinobi.
We’ve never heard of 80% of these games.
I had guessed you'd put Konami at number 1, but when we got to it and you hadn't named EA yet, I knew what was coming next.
Technosoft, EA and SEGA doing their own stuff were the standouts for me at the time.
End of the day though not many publishers/devs intentionally did the console wrong on anything I reckon.
I was very biased against western developed games in favor of Capcom/Konami/Square/Nintendo/SNK/Sega etc...but there was a run there on the Genesis where Virgin made me stand back and clap with some of the things they were doing. Their games were so visually stunning for the era.
Most people dislike Koei games I think. They are an aquiered taste...
16 bit graphics games aren’t dead yet if you love 16 bit that much go play streets of rage 4 it’s playable on the Sega Genesis if they wanted to add it to that console shredders revenge is 16 bit and all those Sega games that’s 16 bit instead of arcade graphics are all available on Sega Genesis that publishers ignore don’t know why publishers are still making the games 16 bit graphics
Idea for video, as a follow-up to retro Sega on XBOX 360/XBOX One, retro Sega on PlayStation 3...there's actually several Sega titles on the PlayStation store on PS3 including Sonic Adventures 1 and 2 and Sonic CD, Nights into Dreams and Daytona USA to name a few.
i definitely wish data east and taito were included. atomic runner, two crude dudes, space invaders 91, and sagaia are all great games
3:50 not Japan, it's China. Romance of Three Kingdom took place in China, its based on popular novel that had same name. Nobunaga's Ambition sister series from Koei takes place in Japan. Both series are flagship titles of Koei and still continues to this day.
I used to think it would be a difficult decision to choose between Capcom or Konami, but as I've gotten older I have to choose Konami. I suck at MegaMan games, I never played Street fighter much, but Castlevania, TMNT, looney toons and sunset riders are some of my favorite games to go back to.
3:47 *China
Great list! Konami is my #1
I'm always surprised when I realize that Aero the Acrobat isn't from Acclaim. Just kinda feels like the kind of product they'd put out, ya know?
EDIT: It was developed by Iguana, no wonder.
Acclaim and Sunsoft had a working relationship in the 1990s. Fortunately, the former didn't buy out the latter, like they had done with so many other developers.
Also, I think Aero the Acro-Bat was created by Dave Siller, the original Sushi-X from EGM.
Aklaim being on the list did surprise me, especially since you love to rag on them (and it’s justified too), but I won’t deny they had plenty of good games too. Heck even much later on their burnout games were quite good.
Acclaim could turn out some really bad stuff. When they nailed it, though, it could be a real winner.
For me the megadrive was the pinicle of gaming
I will add Treasure because of Gunstar heroes, Alien Soldier, Dynamite Headdy and Yu Yu Hakusho.
Thanks bud!
Bruh, the Three Kingdoms were in China, not Japan 🤣
Did I really say Japan? lol
edit - yup, sure did....
Dude so many blisters for WWF Royal Rumble
Nintendo had most 3rd parties locked down again, but Konami had a fair amount of support for Genesis.
Hmmmm..... Vic Tokai, Treasure...
I explained Treasure. Vic Tokai games shown for honorable mention.
Burning Force! Love that one
Interesting facts!
Luv this channel
Nice list. Where would you place Bluesky Software?
If I removed my qualification of not being directly associated with Sega itself, they'd be top 15 material. Their sports games, Vectorman, Jurassic Park, and Starflight would earn them that.