Megadrive Essentails

[Kieran76]

Cheers for the suggestions, some games I have never heard of there. I have just put a bid in on Ebay for Alisia Dragoon and Ristar.

[Kotatsu Neko]

For me, my top must have MD games would be:

Vampire Killer
Gunstar Heroes
Contra Hard Corps
Ristar
Bare Knuckle 2
Sonic 1
Sonic 2
Thunderforce 4
Alisia Dragoon
Splatterhouse 2

[Molloy]

I'll just keep it to the absolute musts:

Sonic 2
Super Shinobi 1
Hellfire
Gunstar Heroes
Strider

Is it just me or is Alisa Dragoon like the hardest platform/shooter game ever made? There's a sort of hi-tech crashed spaceship level where all the floors are on slopes and the boss at the end is a complete mother****er. I used die on him every single time. I eventually beat him by using and emulator and saving every 2 seconds. He just doesn't have any pattern that I can work out.

[Yod@]

I'd add Ghouls'n'Ghosts and Gaiares to those already mentioned.

[Ratso]

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse!

[Solidus_snake]

Magical Hat Flying Turbo Adventure !!

Yakumo

I've got this and haven't even played it yet. Suppose I should give it a go

[Kotatsu Neko]

I've got this and haven't even played it yet. Suppose I should give it a go

The cover art is better than the game.

Try Ristar, Tiny Toons, Dynamite Heady, or Castle of Illusion for real platforming love on the MD.

[FighterOne]

Hellfire
Gunstar Heroes
Mercs
Ghouls and Ghosts
QuackShot
Strider
Streets of rage 1 and 2
Rainbow Islands
Snow Bros
2 Crude Dudes
Toki
Mystic Defender
Dizzy
Robokid
wiz and liz
Road Rash 2
GhostBusters
HellFire
Toejam and Earl 1 and 2
Truxton

[Yakumo]

I've got this and haven't even played it yet. Suppose I should give it a go

You should play it, it's a very good platformer that still looks good even now !! I've just added Magical Hat to my site as well

Yakumo

[Baseley09]

'Crack Down', classic top down arcade action.

Word on that, pimp in 2 player co-op. Great jap version art too.

[Tirian]

I've got this and haven't even played it yet. Suppose I should give it a go

It's the same game as "Decap Attack" but with different sprites. It's not bad, but as others have pointed out, it is by no means among the best of the MD platformers.

Dynamite Headdy is a must on this count - an absolute gem! Castle of Illusion is good too - and I also loved World of Illusion. Rolo To the Rescue is a great puzzle-platformer, whose external layer of cute-ness might distract you from the fact that underneath it is a superb - and not especially easy - game. And, in fact, most of the Disney tie-in games were pretty decent ... I am thinking especially of the Lion King, and Aladdin here. Fantasia & Pinnochio are a bit lame. And I never found any of the Donald Duck games to be up to much either. And, of course, Toejam and Earl - although, contrary to most, I thought the second game (Panic on Funaktron) was MUCH better!

Platformers aside ... Micro Machines Military is a cracking good game, and no MD collection should be without it. Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier are great blasts. I could never get enough of Flicky either - what a perfect game!

On the RPG front, I highly recommend Phantasy Star IV and Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday.

Tirian

[antonizer]

Seems no one has mentioned Ex-Ranza (JAP)/Ranger X (US, PAL).



Side scrolling run & gun/platformer by the little known developers Gau Entertainment. You control a giant mech (and its vehicle if you've got a 6-button pad) and it features a quite innovative control system which lets you fly around or walk and shoot in the opposite direction. It takes about a stage or two getting used to it, but once you get the hang of it it feels very intuitive. It's also stunning in the graphics department.

I'd also recommend Dynamite Headdy, Ristar, Contra Hard Corps (JAP, US)/Probotector, but people already have.

[Big Seany]

Light Crusader
Mega Bomberman - best BM evar apart from Saturn
Forgotten Worlds
Crying/Biohazard Battle
Gauntlet IV
Dragon's Fury / Dragon's Revenge (i.e Devil Crash, etc)
the superb Wonderboy In Monster World

...and my personal fave, mentioned before though - Shadow Dancer.