Out of the lot you’ve listed, Desert Strike by far. I echo what others have said re: EA Hockey (or better, NHL ‘94), Madden, Road Rash, FIFA, NBA Live etc. I get you wanted to avoid sports titles, but aside from Road Rash and Desert Strike, most of EA’s best output was its sports series. I have a soft spot for Centurian, mind, which is somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine.
Out of the lot you’ve listed, Desert Strike by far. I echo what others have said re: EA Hockey (or better, NHL ‘94), Madden, Road Rash, FIFA, NBA Live etc. I get you wanted to avoid sports titles, but aside from Road Rash and Desert Strike, most of EA’s best output was its sports series. I have a soft spot for Centurian, mind, which is somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine.
I looked at EAs Mega Drive catalogue and thought it would be more interesting to discuss games away from the usual suspects: EA Hockey, Madden, PGA, FIFA, Road Rash etc...
But it's obvious that when it comes to EA - it's all about the sports games. I can appreciate that because I also really enjoyed Hockey, Madden, PGA, Road Rash etc...
It's definitely interesting to note that really good games like General Chaos and Rolo to the Rescue haven't got a mention so far.
I now have an overwhelming desire to play EA Hockey.
I am stomping on that list like a flaming carpet remnant sandwich full of contagious lepers and they're burning alive/undead inside the carpet.
It's not that bad. I'd say most of them are good to very good games. The only games I truly don't like on that list are Fatal Rewind, The Immortal, and Shaq Fu.
I always wanted to like The Immortal, but it's the most annoying game ever. Fatal Rewind is a weak Amiga game bunged on the MD. Shaq Fu is a terrible fighter.
I think something that needs to be remembered with the inclusion/exclusion of the EA sports titles is that in the MD’s early days, especially in the various game series first run out on the system, we hadn’t seen them presented so well before. That alone makes them a bit more special than the yearly knock outs we see today.
we hadn’t seen them presented so well before. That alone makes them a bit more special than the yearly knock outs we see today.
I know that the Madden games were incredibly popular in America -- and seen as the best American football games ever made at the time. And EA polished them a lot with each iteration. It's the same with PGA and EA Hockey.
So the EA Sports games were vitally important to the success of the Mega Drive -- people all over the world thought Madden, Hockey, PGA, FIFA etc... were the pinnacle sports titles. EA managed to blend addictive gameplay with high quality presentation.
As much as I've listed 12 non-sports games in this thread, it's obvious that EA's success was largely down to its sports range. This thread really shows how a lot of people have fond memories of the EA Sports catalogue. Something like Rolo to the Rescue - however much I like it - hasn't received any recognition.
I'll do an EA sports and racing thread at some point.
Not sure why I'm posting here. Probably because I'm n a bad mood but IMO all EA games on the Mega Drive sucked. Yes, I'm including Desert Strike in that. Only Road Rash amused me, slightly.
Not sure why I'm posting here. Probably because I'm n a bad mood but IMO all EA games on the Mega Drive sucked. Yes, I'm including Desert Strike in that. Only Road Rash amused me, slightly.
Well, to be honest, I wouldn't miss any EA games too much. But I do think games like the Strike & Road Rash series are good quality. When it comes to the sports titles, I think the Madden and hockey games were really playable -- especially hockey.
So, if I could only have 30 Mega Drive games, I probably wouldn't include any EA games. I'd likely go for loads of top quality shooters and action games. But maybe I would bung an EA golf and hockey game into the mix, for when people pop round for some multiplayer retro fun.
Out of the 12 games featured, my favourite is Rolo to the Rescue. It's a nice looking, fun platformer.
I never get or got the EA hate... EA almost singlehandedly made the Mega Drive (and also 3DO) for me.
I couldn't careless if they were sports games and yearly sequels Madden 92, Hockey 94 was the best 2 player sports games on any of the 16 bit systems and PGA Golf III is still the best golf game ever made. But for me the best EA game (and also one of the best games ever made period) was Star Flight.... A totally amazing SC-FI epic that was so far ahead of its time and was so fabulously ported to the MD. Sad that even many MD fans never played or even know about this overlooked epic game
Speaking of EA, My best mate father, still remissness and talks about how one of his favourite memories... was me and his son, playing EA Hockey on Christmas day/morning on the Mega Drive. While he was sat there, drinking and enjoying watching the rivalry been shown by us pair ,on EA Hockey, while his wife was making us all mince pies.
I never get or got the EA hate... EA almost singlehandedly made the Mega Drive (and also 3DO) for me.
I think it's because it's a very corporate business that has a rep for taking advantage of developers. And the endless iterations of its games feels like money grabbing and cheap. So there are clear reasons why people feel some negativity towards EA.
Despite that, EA has delivered loads of good to great games over the years. Its EA Sports games are largely responsible for the success of the Genesis. The broad range of Mega Drive games in the UK also helped the machine appeal to all ages.
I remember Starflight got good reviews, but it wasn't something that appealed to me. Looks like Star Control 2 on the 3DO.
Also, you're also right about EA and the 3DO. Games like Madden, FIFA, Need for Speed, and Road Rash really showed off the 3DO tech. 3DO Road Rash is still one of my favourite arcade-style racers. It's just a shame that EA didn't get a chance to make sequels that pushed the 3DO further because the machine was dead in the water by 1995.
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