Top 10 Best Sega Genesis Games - Retro Bird

Yeah, love Rocket Knight Adventures, Sonic 2, Castlevania: Bloodlines and Shining Force 2 too :)

I was a big fan of the Strike-series, so especially Jungle Strike would be on my list. Desert Strike: Return To The Gulf and the third installment Urban Strike were fun to play too.

Alien 3 I played a lot. Although no alien queen as a final boss (would have been cool though), the music, sound effects, graphics and solid gameplay were excellent.

Disney's: Aladdin was a beautiful and great platformer. Maybe the final boss Jafar could have been done better though.

Flashback: The Quest For Identity, Landstalker: The Treasures Of King Nole, NHL 95, Rock 'N Roll Racing, The Story Of Thor (aka Beyond Oasis), Sword Of Vermillion and ToeJam & Earl. Some of these games would also make my list.

Shining Force 2's ability to be replayed was unreal... i must of had 20 playthroughs as a kid without being completely sure about the untilmate party makeup. I remember turning Karna into a master monk for the first time before I even had the internet to know that was the most powerful character.

Great list bud

GUNMUTHAFKINGSTAR HEROES!!!!, earthworm jim… sonic… great list. I never see sonic spinball - that was a good one too

No ToeJam and Earl?

No James Bond : the Duel?

No sonic and Knuckles?

No Side pocket or Minnesota pool?

No TMNT?

No Mk?

No Aladdin?

No xmen?

No Road Rash?

No Batman ?

No Quack Shot?

my #1 is Ecco the Dolphin for sure. one of the greatest games ever made and is so unique. Bonanza Bros. is another amazing game that is extremely fun to play with someone else but also fun solo

I think I'd have to put one of the Sonic games at #1

Hey Retro Bird! On your recommendation, I recently got Rocket Knight Adventures (CIB). I’ll have to let you know what I think of it as soon as I get the chance to play it!

I would put Road Rash 2 on this list.

Beyond oasis

Id put Jungle Strike in the list as well.

Fantastic! That's pretty much my list too, only Sonic 3 & Knuckles would be first, Contra is higher, Ristar would be there too, Comix Zone and Pulseman. Wait, that's more than 10😅

My list would probably be:
Sonic 2 ( or 3 & Knuckles)
Streets of Rage 2 (or 3)
Jungle Strike (or Desert Strike)
World of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse
Aladdin
Micro Machines
Rolo to the Rescue
Cool Spot
Kid Chameleon
Rolling Thunder 2
mostly because these were the ones I played the most, never had Phantasy Star, Ninja Something or Gunstar Heroes or Rocket Knight…

FYI Spark the Electric Jester has successfully surpassed Sonic games in their own fast-paced platforming playstyle

I'd definitely add Toe Jam & Earl in top ten

Its hard to picked top tens.i liked alot of games

Thunderforce IV, Contra Hard Corps, Elemental Master, Musha Aleste, Twinkle Tale. Best games but I wish I was better at videogames to fully enjoy them. Streets of rage 3 (better gameplay) & 2, Rocket Knight, the Sonics, the Disney games, I also remember Flashback. I've never played Shining Force.

Thanks for the heads-up on Thunder Force 4 and Rocket Knight Adventures 🙂

I scratched and wiped my phone screen for WAY too long before I realized it was a reflection on YOUR screen😂

Trust me this guy means business, my toothbrush was gone this morning. Should've listened to that soundtrack! :(

Great list! I always forget about Thunder Force TBH. I would have thrown TMNT The Hyperstone Heist as well as Robocop vs. The Terminator in there.

Rolling Thunder 2 and 3 are in my top 10 Genesis games👍 Ive recently bought both games off ebay. I didnt know they existed on the Genesis back in the 90's when i loved the arcade original.

Shadow Dancer (or Shinobi 2 as we called it) always gets overlooked by the other 2 Shinobi games. I think its the best Shinobi game of the 3 Genesis releases.

I would walk 20 minutes to Blockbuster Video to hire Streets of Rage 2 for the weekend. Such a brilliant game. I have so much nostalgia for that gaming period. I loved the MegaDrive.

Definetly a must cover topic. Great job R.B.

The Genesis was actually meant to compete with the NES not the SNES. The SNES didn't come out until over a year after the Genesis came out. And if you think about it, other than graphics, the Genesis had more in common with the NES than the SNES. The Genesis felt like an NES with better graphics than a true next gen (at the time) console like the SNES was. Like NES games, Genesis games were relatively short that lacked save features and had the whole "bring the arcade into your home" vibe that the NES had; it didn't seem like a true home console that moved away from "bringing the arcade into your home" like the SNES was.

What's actually the better version of Streets of Rage 2: arcade or Genesis?

1. PSIV
2. Streets of Rage 2
3. Landstalker
4. Rocket Knight
5. Shining Force 2
6. Contra Hard Corps
7. Castlevania Bloodlines
8. Shinobi 3
9. Sonic 2
10. Target Earth

And big shout out to that game that I absolutely hated the first time I tried it but have since come to love it so much it almost made this list:
FATAL LABRYINTH!
It wasn't very good when it came out and has aged poorly, and I was really annoyed to be saddled with it in the Sonic Ps3 collection when they could have chosen a dozen other games. But then, during covid, I gave every game in the collection another shot and became absolutely hooked. Once I realized it was an early rogue-like with randomly created dungeons, I kinda fell in love with it as a game I can just plug and play anywhere anytime. So what if I don't beat it everytime, it's Fatal Labryinth for a reason.

Streets of Rage 2 was and is my number one Genesis game

Alot of these are good picks but Ristar tops the list for me

Since you love RKA, did you know there is a sequel?

What number is road rash in general

great list!

my top 5
5- Earthworm Jim
4- Sonic 1
3- Sonic 2
2- Rocket Knight Adventures
1- Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Am ok with the list, instead of shining force I would put Batman and Robin as my number 1.

I know im late to the party here, but road rash is easily my favorite Genesis game. The music was bad ass, and the concept was too. It is still my go to.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Super Street Fighter 2, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Sonic 2, Nba Jam Te, Tecmo Super Bowl, Castlevania Bloodlines, Tmnt Hyperstone Heist, Xmen, and Xmen 2; random order.

They could seriously revive some of these icons and try to make them into something. They're just sitting on the shelf.

Just wanna throw TMNT Hyperstone heist , Toejam & Earl and Shadowrun up here.

I wish I had RKA(Rocket Knight Adventures)

Best top 10 for the Genesis

Sonic 2, rocket knight adventures, gunstar heroes, streets of rage 2, ghouls 'n ghosts, mortal kombat and lightening force iv were top games for me.

I finally got my model 1 genesis hooked up via retrovision component cables to a JVC D-series CRT with a pair of analogue speakers, and Rocket Knight Adventures--it took a long time to get everything optimized (not to mention finding a model 1 with a working stereo jack) but it was definitely worth it. These games just feel and look so much better on a tube tv.

10) Shining in the Dark
9) Sonic 3 & Knuckles
8) Thunder Force IV
7) Bio Hazzard Battle
6) Alien Storm
5) Caligari, if we can count 32X games. If we can't then Golden Axe 2
4) Gain Ground, although it does move a bit slow
3) Comix Zone
2) Earthworm Jim (although I had the SNES version as a kid)
And my favorite Genesis game: Bonanza Bros.


I'm just kidding (although I do actually like that game), it's actually Streets of Rage, specifically 3 as SoR3 is what introduced me to the Genesis hardware itself. Played Genesis/Sega games loads of times, but Streets of Rage 3 was the first time I played a real Sega system, which has to mean something, right?

The nso sega Nintendo controller is awesome 🍌💛

All of these but two can be played on the Genesis Mini.

Ecco the Dolphin was my favorite by far.

I was a SNES kid, so I never really knew what the Genesis had to offer except for Sonic. I've been going through the Switch online Genesis emulator, and most if not all of these are included! Also, a game I was really impressed by was Alisia Dragoon. I'm tempted to get an original Genesis now so I can experience these on my CRT!