Al-Azad's List of Sega CD Games that Aren't Shit

Alright, so the Sega CD isn't the greatest system in the world.  It came out in that awkward period where CDs were the newest format capable of holding 100x the space of a floppy disc.  And what did people do with this new format?  Create a ton of derivative Dragon's Lair clones.  It wasn't a glorious era, but there are a few diamonds here.

Sega CD games can be basically classified into three lists: FMV games, obscure Japanese stuff, and enhanced ports.  I won't bother listing FMV games, mainly because they suck but also because they're done better on other platforms.  There are a few noteworthy titles like Time Gal and Road Avenger but whatever, these are actual games I'm talking about.

==== The Best of the Best ====

---- Eternal Champions: Challenge of the Dark Side ----
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At the height of the Mortal Kombat craze Sega tried to capitalize on the digitized-actor-bloody-fighting game with Eternal Champions.  And it was okay.  But the sequel on Sega CD was like Mortal Kombat 2 to MK.  The fighting moves were rebalanced, better graphics, cd quality sound, and more stage kills.  And oh boy, Eternal Champions kicks the shit out of Mortal Kombat in imaginative kills.

---- Snatcher ----
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Even if you've never owned an SCD you've probably heard of Snatcher.  One of Kojima's earlier games ported to a bunch of platforms, Snatcher is the American release of Kojima's visual novel.  You see a lot of stylistic trademarks here, including Kojima's love of ridiculously long and convoluted cutscenes, and it's a great adventure game that wears its Blade Runner influence on its sleeve.  If there's one Sega CD game to own, it's this.

---- Earthworm Jim: Special Edition ----
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The definitive console version of Earthworm Jim.  The animations are more detailed, all of the levels are included plus a new one, and Tommy Tallarico's soundtrack is in glorious cd quality.  The best version of a great platformer.

---- Dark Wizard ----
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Probably the most noteworthy Sega CD exclusive that has never seen light of day on any other platform (that I know of).  Dark Wizard is a hex-based strategy game with a bit of Fire Emblem flair but a focus on magic and summoning.  It's a great game with plenty of bad 90s anime cutscenes and deserves to be in any collector's library.

---- Final Fight CD ----
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The best console version of Final Fight.  Remixed music, two-player(!), Guy is actually included, and some cut content from the SNES version is back in the game including Poison.  It's not arcade perfect but good enough.

---- Robo Aleste ----
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The last of the Aleste games and you've probably played MUSHA on Genesis.  Well this is more of the same and for a series as good as Aleste, that's not a bad thing.

---- Heart of the Alien ----
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Includes the cult classic Out of this World and an unofficial sequel that continues where the game left off.  If you haven't played this series you should; it's a classic example of wordless storytelling in video games with a unique art style and rotoscoped animation.

---- Keio Flying Squadron ----
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You're a 14-year old girl (18 in America, of course) in a sexy bunny suit who rides a dragon and destroys medieval Japanese airships or something.  A Gradius style shooter with some charm to it, Keio is one of the rarest and most expensive American releases.  The UK demo disc actually contains the whole game and you can access it via a cheat code.

---- Lords of Thunder ----
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AAAAAGH THIS GAME IS SO METAL.  Lords of Thunder is a simplistic SHMUP but the gameplay elements are solid and everything works well.  The highlight of the game is the kickass fucking rock soundtrack and fantastic graphics.

---- Lunar: The Silver Star and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue ----
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Sega CD's big name RPGs and possibly the most famous titles on the system.  The Lunar series are rather simplistic RPGs with an emphasis on terrible 90s anime storytelling and cutscenes.  They're also notoriously difficult.  The PS1 versions are pretty different, to the point where they're mostly new games, so if you want to see where the legacy started then here you go.

---- Popful Mail ----
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A platformer/RPG hybrid, Popful Mail has the 4kids anime cutscenes we've come to love of this era.  It plays a lot like the later Wonder Boy games but there's more variety in the levels and abilities available to you.  This is a great game all around and no Sega CD library is complete without it.

---- Shining Force CD ----
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Do you like Shining Force?  Do you want more Shining Force?  And I mean a lot more, with four scenarios total?  Well fuck, here's your big ass turn-based strategy RPG!  [b]Important:[/b] you need a backup cart to get the hidden scenario because the internal memory of the SCD isn't large enough to store all the saves.


==== Mostly Good Stuff ====

---- Sol-Feace ----
Sol-Feace?  More like Sol-Feces!  Nah, it's a really good R-Type esque shooter.  There aren't many options, and the game is quite short compared to most SHMUPs, but you can alter your weapons on the fly to fire forward and backwards and the enemy bosses are pretty great.

---- Sonic CD ----
Not a fan of this game.  Sonic has always been advertised about its speed but the early Sonic games end up becoming momentum based platformers with huge levels and multiple paths.  Well, that's all here but Sonic CD demands that you keep the speed up by adding in a gimmicky time travel mechanic that only works when you're going fast.  It ruins the feel of the earlier Sonic games and I believe this to be the turning point of the series where "GOTTA GO FAST" came before good level design and gameplay.  It's not a bad game, it's just not a great Sonic game although plenty of people love it so YMMV.

---- Panic! ----
You play as Slap the Human and Stick the Dog in a virtual world as you click on shit and do random stuff while watching weird ass cutscenes that make Wario Ware look tame.  I really can't describe this game in any way other than "click on stuff, watch stuff happen."  It's not so much a game as it is an interactive movie but it's at least visually interesting and filled with enough crazy Japanese shit to amuse you.  About as close to an FMV game without being an FMV game.

---- Flink ----
An Amiga era platformer enhanced for Sega CD.  It's strange that even the Amiga CD32 version wasn't as good.  Flink is a platformer where you combine ingredients to create spells.  It's a slower paced platformer with a focus on timing and exploration, almost like an early Rayman style.

---- Battle Frenzy ----
Who knew a good console FPS existed back in the day?  Battle Frenzy isn't a very remarkable 2.5D shooter but it has split screen (I know!) co-op and plays rather fast.

---- Battlecorps ----
First person mech shooter.  Again, it's unremarkable compared to similar PC games but it's pretty standout on consoles.  It has cheesy 90s music, terrible voice acted cutscenes, and big fucking missiles so what's not to like?

---- The Amazing Spider-Man vs. the Kingpin ----
The Genesis version suuucked but they must have assigned their A team to this version.  It has (cheesy) animated cutscenes like the Spider-Man cartoon and the gameplay is much more refined.  You have access to the entire world at once but you have to go to the right levels by following clues and you're on a timer so no dilly-dallying!  [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPMcx3JSfGw]Contains a really fucked up game over scene.[/url]

---- Android Assault ----
To quote Classic Game Room "This game basically mixes giant ninja robots with music from White Snake" and it's pretty accurate.  It's an R-Type like shooter with multiple weapons and power ups that affect your speed and such.  It's not the best SHMUP of its time but it is a good one.

---- Dungeon Explorer ----
A new game based on the TG16 series, this is basically Gauntlet with the serial numbers filed off.  It features 4-player co-op and customizable characters.  Unfortunately it's not as well balanced as the TG16 versions so play it co-op or you will have a very rough time.

---- The Space Adventure Cobra ----
It's Snatcher but not as good as Snatcher.  Based on the anime, Cobra is mature rated with nudity and extreme violence but it's just not as engaging or well scripted as Snatcher.

---- Third World War ----
One of the rare SCD exclusive titles, Third World War combines the scenario based empire building of Koei strategy games with turn based battles involving weapons of mass destruction.  The controls are the biggest pitfall but it's rare to find a game like this set in the particular time period and be as deep and playable as it is.  There are 16 scenarios with their own unique rules with two ways to win any scenario.  Plenty of replay value here, plus you can play as a militaristic world dominating Canada.  Who wouldn't want that?

---- Vay ----
One of the less talked about Working Design published games, Vay is stylistically similar to Phantasy Star than Lunar.  It's a simplistic RPG, like Lunar, but not as memorable.  Not a bad game at all but the settings and characters just don't stand out.

---- The Terminator ----
Well, it took a dozen different attempts but someone finally got The Terminator right (on consoles at least, Bethesda cut their teeth with the series on PC as an open world game).  The Terminator is a solid sidescrolling shooter with janky controls and odd difficulty spikes but it's pretty good.  Virgin Interactive seems to be the only company that handled licensed games well.  They even forked over for the theme song in all its glory and overall soundtrack rocks the house.

---- Demolition Man ----
Slow down Virgin, Jesus!  Demolition Man, based on the movie, is a super fast paced action shooter.  It almost feels like an early Bulletproof/Dead to Rights with tons of bullet diving, sliding down rails, and shooting people in the face.  There are unwatchable cutscenes from the movie but this is a solid licensed games although not the best from Virgin.


==== Enhanced Ports ====

---- Dune ----
A hybrid adventure/strategy game.  The best way I can describe it is to imagine King of Dragon Pass with Sierra style adventure game moments.  You have to build an army and harvest spice while talking to various NPCs to build your reputation and push south against the Harkonnen.  If you're a fan of Dune, this is a great adaption with a focus on world building over action like the more popular RTS game.

---- Heimdall ----
An Amiga classic ported to SCD with voice overs and enhanced sound.  If you've played isometric Amiga RPGs like Cadaver you should be familiar with the style.  Explore dungeons, solve puzzles, and fight enemies in an animated style that's similar to Quest for Glory.

---- Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco 2 ----
It's the same game you played on Genesis but with an ass kicking CD quality soundtrack.

---- Rise of the Dragon: A Blade Hunter Mystery ----
If the title didn't tip you off, this game was inspired by Blade Runner.  It's a menu based adventure game, similar to Snatcher, but has a few mediocre action scenes towards the end.  It's not entirely remarkable but there's enough here to like for adventure fans.

---- Wing Commander ----
A fully talkie version of Wing Commander, it amazes me the sound file was never released for PC.  As expected from Wing Commander, the acting is pretty superb and you didn't normally see this level of quality from an early 90s game.  It's otherwise Wing Commander, and a much better port than the SNES that plays relatively close to the Amiga CD32 version.  Biggest flaw is the remixed soundtrack, I don't know who the fuck decided to add excellent voice acting but take away the Fat Man's epic score.  That was part of Wing Commander's identity!

---- Puggsy ----
Enhanced port of a Genesis title.  Puggsy is a slow paced platformer with a focus on puzzle solving and exploration.  It has bright colorful graphics and plays like a level-based Dizzy game with interactive objects scattered throughout the world.


==== Import This Shit ====

---- Captain Tsubasa ----
Before Inazuma Eleven, there was a soccer RPG based on the manga Captain Tsubasa.  It's text heavy but I managed to beat a match without too much trouble.  An interesting relic to say the least.

---- Bakuden: Unbalance Zone ----
A weird hybrid VN/adventure game starring a fat ugly nerd who likes Sailor Moon and plays video games.  It's a very simplistic game where you choose from a list of actions and watch animations unfold.  Because there's no real difficulty this is a pretty friendly import as the humor is visual and the icons are pictures, not text.

---- Cyborg 009 ----
Based on the anime/manga, this is a fast paced side scrolling action game.  The fucking voice overs annoy the hell out of me but it's not a bad title.

---- The Ninja Warriors ----
A one-plane beat'em up, you may have played the superior SNES sequel.  The Ninja Warriors is like Shinobi, the arcade Ninja Gaiden, or Splatterhouse in its design compared to other beat'em ups.  It's very import friendly with the menu options being in English and all the dialog actually dubbed in English strangely enough.