Sega may have left the console development business, but that does not mean that I have forgotten the days when I would pick up my giant spaceship controller on my Dreamcast, or spring around with Sonic on Genesis. For you see, I was a Sega backer. In the great race between Nintendo and Sega, I backed the wrong horse. I threw down my money on Sega to win, and well, we all know how that turned out. Still, I like to look back and remember how good everything was before Sony stepped in with the PlayStation and crushed my hopes and dreams.
Say what you will about Sega, they had some quality pieces of hardware with some great games from first and third-party developers. Sadly, they just could not win the battle, and they were forced to move into only making games, and let’s be honest, Sega games have been pretty bad of late. It makes me sad to know there is a younger generation of gamers with no idea how awesome Sega was. These are some of the games that make me miss the Sega days of yore.
Sonic the Hedgehog
In a world dominated by a fat, slow plumber, one mascot went his own way. Lumbering around in search of a lost princess would not suffice for the punk hedgehog. Nope, Sonic did things his own way, and it was incredibly fun and refreshing. There is nothing wrong with the traditional platformer where it is all about precision and accuracy, but there is something to be said for the high-speed antics of Sonic. Sonic was a major reason I put my eggs in Sega’s basket.
Streets of Rage
When I was a boy, this was the epitome of everything cool. Perhaps I should not have played a game this violent at a young age, but that’s neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that Streets of Rage was awesome, and it pushed the limit of the kinds of violence you could expect from a video game. Not only did it push the limits in terms of violence, it was actually a lot of fun to play.
It was recently released on iOS, so if you have never played it, you should go back and check it out.
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Panzer Dragoon Saga broke away from the rail-based shooters that the series was known for, and it did it shockingly well. To this day, it is one of my favorite RPGs. I will admit I did not have the highest expectations for it, but it turned out to be something special.
Of course, like everything on the Saturn, it did not sell well, which should have been a sign for me to sell my Sega stocks (I was like 12, so I mean that figuratively) and move on, but I refused, I was going to ride that sinking ship like a desperate captain.
Phantasy Star Online
This was the first console-based MMORPG. We are now over ten years later, and I still cannot think of a console MMO that did it as well as Phantasy Star Online. Of course, it is not nearly as good as many of the MMORPGs on computers today, but when you factor in that it was on a console in a time when people did not have broadband Internet readily available, it was truly something special.
Even though it was not the best game ever made, they deserve a lot of credit for being so far ahead of their time.
SoulCalibur
SoulCalibur on Dreamcast is widely regarded as one of the best games ever made, regardless of platform. It is a rare instance of a game being ported over from the arcades and actually being a substantial improvement over the original. When this game came out, it gave me that last glimmer of hope that maybe we could still win this battle. Sure, the Saturn was not great but this launch title was something special, and the Dreamcast was going to win. Then, the PlayStation 2 launched . . .
Conclusion
I was certainly a Sega fanboy when I was a child. I will admit that and embrace it with open arms. Sure, we lost the war, but we won some big battles along the way. Nowadays, I am not choosing sides. I have grown up to realize that picking a side is not the way to go. We should all just get along. Actually, that is not true at all; I just do not choose sides because I do not want to pick the wrong one again!
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