Blast Proc

Retro

Games from the cartridge and disc eras, with what they did first and how they hold up.

Retro covers games from the cartridge and disc eras, one game per page: who made it, when it came out in each region, how it plays, and where it can be played now. Every date is sourced, and where the sources disagree, as Japanese, American and European dates often do, the page prints the disagreement instead of quietly picking one.

There are sixteen so far, and twelve of them are SEGA games, because this site is named after a SEGA slogan. Start with Sonic the Hedgehog, the game that slogan was built to sell, and follow the series through Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, whose lock-on cartridge is a story of its own. The other Mega Drive and Genesis pages run from Streets of Rage 2 and Treasure's debut Gunstar Heroes to Phantasy Star IV, Shining Force, Ecco the Dolphin, ToeJam & Earl, Comix Zone and Ristar, with Panzer Dragoon Saga from the Saturn. Beyond SEGA there are Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, Doom and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Each game also gets a row in the site's games dataset. Next in the retro queue are Contra: Hard Corps and Rocket Knight Adventures, then Vectorman, with Super Mario World, Final Fantasy VI and other games from the Super NES and PlayStation years further down the list. The story of the hardware these games ran on is in Hardware and History.

  1. Ristar (1995): the SEGA star who grabs instead of jumping

    SEGA's early-1995 Mega Drive platformer, whose hero grabs and headbutts instead of stomping: dates by region, two stories, the reviews, where to play.

    SEGA, 1995. Mega Drive/Genesis

  2. ToeJam & Earl (1991): the random levels its sequel gave up

    SEGA's 1991 Genesis game, pitched as a game like Rogue for two players: dates by region, how its random levels work, why the sequel dropped them, where to play.

    Johnson Voorsanger Productions, 1991. Mega Drive/Genesis

  3. Ecco the Dolphin (1992): why Japan got an easier version

    SEGA's 1992 dolphin game: dates by region, how air, sonar and passwords work, what changed for the easier 1993 Japanese release, and where to play it now.

    Novotrade International, December 1992. Mega Drive/Genesis

  4. Comix Zone (1995): the comic-book game SEGA patented

    SEGA's 1995 comic-panel brawler: dates by region with every disagreement printed, the four US patents behind it, how health works, and where it is sold now.

    Sega Technical Institute, July 1995. Mega Drive/Genesis

  5. Shining Force (1992): the tactics game that never ends in defeat

    SEGA's 1992 Mega Drive tactics RPG: dates and prices by region, a disputed Japanese day, how its battles work, and why losing a fight only costs gold.

    Climax Entertainment and Sonic Co., 20 March 1992. Mega Drive/Genesis

  6. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (1994): what the lock-on cartridge changed

    Two 1994 cartridges that plug into each other: dates by region, what lock-on actually did, the save file, the elemental shields, and Knuckles as a route.

    Sonic Team, 2 February 1994. Mega Drive/Genesis

  7. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992): what it changed

    The Genesis sequel that added the spin dash, Tails and a split-screen race: dates by region with sources, who built it, and what it costs to play now.

    Sega Technical Institute / Sonic Team, 21 November 1992. Mega Drive/Genesis

  8. Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998): the Saturn RPG and why it is hard to play

    Team Andromeda's four-disc Saturn RPG: dates by region with the disagreements shown, the battle system from the manual, and what is on record about re-releases.

    Team Andromeda (SEGA), 29 January 1998. Sega Saturn

  9. Super Metroid (1994): what it is and why it matters

    The Super NES game that became a genre's template: its makers, its dates in Japan, North America and Europe, how its map and items work, and what to know first.

    Nintendo R&D1, 19 March 1994. Super NES/Super Famicom

  10. Streets of Rage 2 (1992): what it is and why it matters

    The Genesis beat-em-up people still recommend: its makers, its dates by region, its four fighters, and why the sequel overtook the original, with sources.

    SEGA, 20 December 1992. Mega Drive/Genesis

  11. Sonic the Hedgehog (1991): what it is and why it matters

    Who made the Genesis pack-in, when it shipped in each region, how its six zones are built, and what a first-time player should expect, all sourced.

    Sonic Team (Sega), 21 June 1991. Mega Drive/Genesis

  12. Phantasy Star IV (1993): what it is and why it matters

    Sega's last traditional Phantasy Star RPG: the credited staff, release dates by region with one left open, the macro and combination systems, and how to play it now.

    SEGA, 17 December 1993. Mega Drive/Genesis

  13. Gunstar Heroes (1993): what it is and why it matters

    Treasure's first game: who founded the studio, when it shipped by region, how the four-weapon combination system works, and what it did on the Genesis hardware.

    Treasure, 9 September 1993. Mega Drive/Genesis

  14. Doom (1993): what it is and why it matters

    The shareware release of December 10, 1993, the id Software team, what the engine could and could not do, the ports that followed, and what to know before playing.

    id Software, 10 December 1993. MS-DOS PC

  15. Chrono Trigger (1995): what it is and why it matters

    The Square RPG that put a time machine in the party: who made it, the Japan and North America dates, the ports up to Steam, how battles work, and what to know first.

    Squaresoft, 11 March 1995. Super NES/Super Famicom

  16. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997): what it changed

    The PlayStation game that made Castlevania an explorable castle with levels and equipment: makers, dates in three regions, the Saturn port, current re-releases.

    Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, 20 March 1997. PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Xbox 360, PSP, PlayStation 4, iOS, Android