The Genesis: Purveyor
of fine Epic Games
I hit my gaming pride around the age of 11, right when the
Sega/Nintendo 16-bit wars really kicked in hard. It was a dark age when
fanboyism was at it's height, and schoolyard brawls could occur between
two fellow geeks based on their company allegiance. I felt this harder
than most, when everybody and their brother (literally) had a Super
Nintendo. They'd make fun of my Genesis for it's lack of color palette
(true), slower hardware (somewhat true as well), but mainly for it's
lack of cool RPGs. This last point couldn't be farther from the truth,
however when all you saw was advertising for Square or Enix's newest
effort, it was hard to argue against. Admittedly I didn't even play a
Genesis RPG until very late into it's run, when I got the game Shining
in the Darkness. I had never even heard of it, but became irrevocably
hooked upon the little dungeon crawler with anime-style characters.
However, even today in hindsight, most people remember the
Genesis as the “Sports” system, or the best way to play Sonic games.
Without a doubt, when one thinks of 16-bit RPGs, you quickly think of
the Super Nintendo. It's hard to argue the Final Fantasy series, Chrono
Trigger, Earthbound and others. But, the fact remains that many RPG/Epic
style games graced the Genesis. Today I'm going to go in-depth on four
titles, showing the range of games you could get on the Genesis, as well
as list off similar titles for each genre. They may not have gotten the
respect or prestige of their SNES counterparts, but in every way they're
just as good, or if you're a Sega fanboy, better.
Turn Based RPG: Phantasy Star IV
 Phantasy Star is a venerable series that lives on through
today with it's online iterations, but one of the best entries from the
line is Phantasy Star IV, a classic turn based RPG. Set in a futuristic
setting, the player follows the adventures of Alys and Chaz who seek out
the source of a sudden outburst of monster activity on their home
planet. Comparable to the Squaresoft classic Final Fantasy III, this
game features an innovative battle system (using the Macro style,
described later), a solid plot with a huge twist halfway through the
game (sound familiar?), and a good cast of playable characters that help
round out the storyline and occasionally inject much needed comic
relief.
However, it's the battle system featuring Macroing that
really sets this game apart. You can set up macros, basically mapping
out your battle plan for an entire round against an enemy. This may not
sound all that interesting but the trick is placing certain characters
with certain spells/attacks together at the right time. If you make the
correct combinations, you create super attacks much more powerful than
what each separate attack would do on it's own. For example, a character
with the spell “Zan” and another with the character “Wat” can combine in
a macro to create “Blizzard”. There are many, many combinations which
help ease the grind of leveling by exploring different macros at the
same time.
TIME TO KILL: This game can easily sink 40 hours of your life, and is one
of those rare titles that is good at pulling at the ol' heartstrings as
well. If you're a series purist however, play through Phantasy Star one
through three first. Four makes references to the previous three but by
no means is that knowledge required.
Other titles that fall in this category:
-
Shining in the Darkness
-
Phantasy Star II
-
Phantasy Star III
-
Traysia
Strategy-RPG: Shining Force
 When I heard that there was a sequel (sort of) to Shining
in the Darkness, I sought it out immediately to absorb and destroy.
Unfortunately my fourteen year old mind couldn't quite comprehend this
odd fighting system, moving people around like board game pieces and
then being able to choose their attack, while having to face hordes of
monsters. It didn't quite click with me back then, which is sad because
Shining Force (and it's sequel) are two of the best examples of the
Strategy-RPG genre. Only later on in my life did I come around to
realize just how good these games are.
As the beautifully drawn introduction tells, a thousand
years previous an evil entity called the Dark Dragon laid waste to the
world of Rune. Using the Power of Light, the Ancients sealed the Dark
Dragon to another dimension but not before he swore to return and bring
destruction anew. In present day the Hero finds himself thrust into
battle to defend his town as the newly rising country of Runefaust tries
to conquer the world.
TIME TO KILL: While most consider the sequel to this game to be superior
(myself included), it still takes nothing away from what is one of the
earliest examples of a great Strategy-RPG. Also, I get a bit of a
nostalgic rise out of the game's main villain, who was also well known
from Shining in the Darkness. There isn't as much play in the class
system in this game, and it does suffer from a pretty linear storyline
but somehow it still shines (heh) on as a classic game for the Genesis.
Get ready to lose around 40-60 hours on this title, but with a bit of
rush you can get prepped for Shining Force II in around 30.
Other games in this genre:
-
Shining Force II
-
Master of Monsters
-
Warsong
Action-RPG: Landstalker
 Oh brother, I am going to get SO much anger for this
statement:
“And now, the best action RPG I've ever played, which I
consider even better than any Legend of Zelda title.”
Landstalker, made by Climax studios (who also made the
Shining games as well), is the prime example of an action RPG. While
some people take a little while getting used to the ¾-down view, think
Solistice on the NES, this game is full of replayability. This game
boasts an excellent plot that keeps you moving at just the right pace,
great character development, difficult puzzles and great enemy AI. If
only it got the same legacy that Zelda did, sadly Landstalker got one
mostly-forgotten sequel on the Saturn, and a vague side-title on the
Dreamcast which was horrific.
You control Nigel, a bounty hunter who is after the
legendary treasures of King Noll. During one adventure you end up
conspicuously running into a nymph named Friday who is being chased by
less-than-honorable bounty hunters who are on the same path. After
giving them the slip, you and Friday set out to figure out the huge
land-wide mystery regarding King Noll's treasure, while helping people
and villages from certain doom along the way.
 It's hard to describe the gameplay, mainly because it all
works so smoothly. Landstalker uses what's called the ¾ view, where the
illusion of three dimensions is given by having the viewpoint point
downwards and at an angle. Therefore when you want to move west in the
game, you have to move down-left, not left. Once you get used to that
(which doesn't take long), everything become second nature. The controls
are basic: you have a slash button, magic button, and a jump button. The
enemies can be hard to deal with and predict but not to the level of
frustration. Puzzles take full advantage of the viewpoint without
confusing the player, and the interface is the height of simplicity. The
game does very well in not tripping over itself with having to go to
your inventory in the middle of a screen full of monsters, something
that always bothered me with Legend of Zelda.
TIME TO KILL: Even if you don't have a Genesis but you're a fan of
Action-RPGs, get a cheap genny and this game. You can thank me later. I
generally get about 30 hours out of this game, but I have played through
it a great deal and know the solution to most puzzles. First timers who
stumble on the mind-benders may need upwards of 50.
Other games in this genre:
-
Crusader of Centy
-
Sword of Vermillion
-
Beyond Oasis
Not an RPG but... : Starflight
 It's not really an RPG, I guess I would call it a Space
Colonization simulator. But like RPGs, this game will take up many many
MANY hours of your life and you'll enjoy every second.
The storyline comes at you in combination of a short story
included at the beginning of the (very thick) manual and a series of
memos you receive at your home spaceport. The crux of the story involves
both finding planets for the human race to colonize so that they might
survive, and figure out how exactly a copy of the prototype ship that
you're about to pilot for the first time was found in a wreck with black
box recordings... made by you. There's no time travel in the game, so
this is a highly confusing point early on in the game.
You start off by hiring staff to take the reigns over
navigation, science officer, engineer, doctor, and communications. Also,
equipping your ship with basic items and fuel is required before leaving
the starport on your first flight. Many things can be done and there's
no linear path to take, start out by flying about and finding suitable
colony planets, or look for other races to talk to for information. Even
better if you're a capitalist (like me), find a mineral rich planet and
mine it to hell so that you can sell your loot back at starport for more
cash.
TIME TO KILL: The game, while not linear,
definitely has an end point as
time goes by and you get more information regarding the other version of
your ship. Starflight is full of unique gameplay, intriguing mysteries,
and an array of interesting alien races to speak with. Piecing together
the mystery can take a very long time, especially when you're mining
your brains out to pimp your ride. However, with skill you can
technically beat the game in under an hour. Realistically? You're
looking at about 25-40 depending on how fast you catch on.
Other games like Starflight:
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