Summer has arrived and so too has a certain blue hedgehog. Finally!
June 1991’s importance can not be overstated. With the release of one game, Sega’s fortunes changed almost overnight.
By 1992, Sega transitioned from the newcomer always trailing behind Nintendo, to the young upstart showing Kyoto’s finest how it’s done.
Let us celebrate this epochal time by doing what we do best: discuss a bunch of old games.
ARCUS ODYSSEY – 06/14/91
Action/RPGs rarely come to the Mega Drive, so let’s hope Arcus Odyssey is worth celebrating. Since Odyssey is the one and only game in the Arcus series to arrive outside of Japan, I’m going to guess the game never found its audience, regardless of its quality.
ADVANCED DAISENRYAKU: DEUTSCH DENGEKI SAKUSEN – 06/17/91
Super Daisenryaku didn’t have an English translation, and as such, I didn’t get very far with it. Thank goodness, then, that a generous soul named Nebelwurfer HQ took the time to translate all dialogue and briefings within Advanced Daisenryaku. Perhaps Germany can be brought down from a Mega Drive after all.
FACTORY PANIC – 06/21/91
The Game Gear can’t stop, won’t stop with the puzzle games, and I am here for it. Hopefully Factory Panic slaps as hard as Slider and Shikinjou.
HALLEY WARS – 06/21/91
With Halley Wars, the Game Gear finally gets a vertical shoot-em-up to call its own. Can Sega’s portable Master System handle shooters as well as they handle puzzle games? We’re one war away from finding out.
BLUE ALMANAC – 06/22/91
Blue Almanac is a great name for a JRPG, but it also sounds like some cool lost anime from 1987 about a salary man who floats around Tokyo talking to ethereal yōkai about his lackluster existence.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG – 06/23/91
At long last, we have arrived. Sonic the Hedgehog is here. After this, Sega as a company would never be the same again.
ALIEN STORM – 06/28/91
Like Bonanza Bros (and, er, Sonic the Hedgehog), Alien Storm is one of those games you’ll find on every Genesis collection. From what I recall, it’s a beat-em-up/shooter hybrid that revels in disgusting alien deaths. Piles of green bile and ooze are prevalent because it’s 1991 and that’s what the Nickelodeon generation wanted to see.
FASTEST 1 – 06/28/91
Wouldn’t it be horrible if “F1” actually stood for “Fastest One” instead of Formula One? I agree.
MARVEL LAND – 06/28/91
No, Marvel Land isn’t based on Marvel characters, nor is it based on some prophetic insight about a botched Disney/Marvel theme park. Instead, it’s an adorable Namco action game that looks like it belongs more on a Nintendo console than a Sega one.
SAINT SWORD – 06/28/91
So I checked the Catholic Saint Registry and my suspicions were confirmed: there is no St. Sword. Hopefully Saint Sword is badass and holy enough to justify such a bold-faced lie.
WRESTLE WAR – 06/28/91
1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a wrestle war. Which presumably includes some pyrotechnics, flailing limbs, and egregious medical bills. Can I get a hell yea?
HARDBALL! – 06/1991
Hardball! dares put an exclamation point in its title. Are you supposed to just shout “Hardball!” at your friends every time you want to play? That would either get really old or infinitely more awesome, depending on the strength of your yell.
ONSLAUGHT – 06/1991
Onslaught only works on Model 1 Genesis consoles, which is usually a sign that the game isn’t worth playing. See also: Budokan: The Martial Spirit and Ishido: The Way of Stones.
PYRAMID MAGIC SPECIAL – 06/1991
More Pyramid Magic. Supposedly, this version is just the original game with slightly altered levels. If so, I call foul on the egregious and unnecessary use of the word “Special.”
STAR CONTROL – 06/1991
Star Control is a Genesis port of the landmark Amiga space combat sim. Not only did developers Toys for Bob shove the entire game on a 12 megabit Genesis cart (the first of its kind), they also added six new scenarios specifically for the Genesis version. Sounds ambitious! Hope it doesn’t run like butt.
STREET SMART – 06/1991
Even if Street Smart turns out to be an underrated beat-em-up that should sit next to Final Fight as one of the GOATs, the US cover is a destroyer of worlds. Just awful.