sega mega drive Archives - Intensive Gaming Diary

Nostalgia With Mega Drive

Posted on September 20, 2025 by Viljami

I found a good way to feel some nostalgia with Mega Drive. I bought this game collection that has over 50 Mega Drive games. It cost me something around 20 to 30 euros. It is actually a “code-in-a-box” game this time. You can probably very easily tell if this collection is available as a digital copy. I don’t have a clue about that. I actually accidentally bought this version of this collection. Anyways this product is available also for other modern gaming devices. I have seen recently this available for Xbox Series X for 20 euros for a used and physical copy.

This seems to me like a bargain. I mean in the same package you get three Phantasy Star games, several Sonic titles and some games like Golden Axe and Streets of Rage not forgetting to mention a game like Kid Chameleon. There are so many good games in this collection. Even if you are just barely familiar with Mega Drive I can still recommend this collection for you.

If you think that you would buy each of these over 50 games separately I think many of us video game hobbyists would end up in bankruptcy. Phantasy Star II alone costs over 100 euros. The price tag for this collection would probably have four numerals. So, the point here is, they haven’t scant with this one a bit. These are definitely all good games. It would be hard to try to figure what game would be missing. Well, I did just come up with one game that’s missing and that game is Splatterhouse II. Splatterhouse III is also a good game and its not included in this collection.

The way I feel nostalgia while playing this game collections games is very clear. I did own a Mega Drive back in the first half of 1990s. Sonic The Hedgehog was the first game I played on this system. There is something so magical when I hear the music of this game. Take also for example the music of Streets of Rage II. What 16-bit game does have a better soundtrack? I think you are going to have hard time figuring that out.

What is so interesting about the audio side of the technology of Mega Drive gaming console seems to me the fact that it was actually a sound that was not CD quality. Sony achieved CD quality later but Mega Drive did this with its hardware and set the bar for Nintendo that also released a 16-bit console Super Nintendo. I think for a while Mega Drive was the leader when it comes to audio side of video games. We are talking about real history here. CD quality audio might seem as constant but you have to think hoe the technology was back then. Even PC didn’t have such a good audio quality back then. Of course Mega Drive gave some hard time for Nintendo that had to compete for several years with its 8-bit system NES.

I do recommend this Mega Drive collection for you. The price is very cheap. Also you get to see this cool virtual environment inside the menu of this collection. This is very cool feature. Some games, like for example, Phantasy Star II, that has already been mentioned in this blog post, might be games that you wouldn’t want to spend several tens of hours playing. These are retro games after all. I think if you totally hate retro games you have to consider if you really want to buy this. Modern games do have usually an overall better game design. This is because the industry has been developing several tens of years since we witnessed Mega Drive or anything like it.

Are We Lacking Excitement?

Posted on November 29, 2023 by Viljami

I barely remember the beginning of the 90s. No, I wasn’t partying hard back then. I mean that I was only a young child that didn’t have this ability to understand some things. I got the idea for this blog post as I was once again playing some Golden Axe 2 for Sega Mega Drive. It was first released in 1991.

I remember that this was one of the most popular games we had that time for Mega Drive. I definitely connect this game as a defnite Sega game. There are some games that just make me feel this way. We can mention games like Sonic and Outrun. This can tell you only how skillful these engineers and game designers were. They were not playing with their technical skills.

If we think about technology we can think about 1980s and how Commodore 64 influenced several young people to commit a huge amount of time to programming and getting into this technical field as a hobby. Some might have even made it to the industry as a professional. I can think of people like Linus Torvalds right here. Did you know that he is also from Finland? Well, he is.

While users of Mega Drive gaming system weren’t able to program or design their own games with this device there definitely was some sense of excitement towards technology, computers, games and everything else related to video games.

If you play Golden Axe 2 for a while you can notice how thoroughly the makers of this game have thought about many aspects about this game. First of all we have here some very carefully designed characters. We also have these surroundings that can make your imagination take a dive in to the wolrd this game presents. There is also a light story among with some enemy characters. All this just explains the quality of this work. This is defnitely a good game of this era.

The gameplay is very nice also. Graphics could be better. It’s a shame that we haven’t seen a new Golden Axe game for a while now. There was a game released for PS3 and/or Xbox 360 some time ago. But I think that this game looks good if you think about it being released back in 1991.

What would I add to this game if I had a change to modernize it? It lacks some character development in my opinion. I could see this game being a very nice action RPG if it would be brought to this day. If there would be experience points and some way just to develop your character. The story and surroundings are just so detailed. This game has taken some influences about some phantasy literacy and maybe even movies. So it would be a good fit for a role playing game.

Mega Drive had a deep impact to game development. Did you know that Diablo was inspired by NHL 94? Well, it was. Turn based role playing games were dominating the markets before Diablo was released. The developers at Blizzard thought that they should bring these action features to the world of role playing games. At the same time real time strategy games were beginning to become more popular.

But we should return to the main question that I set in the beginning of this blog post. Were things different back in 1991? And if so how? The biggest change there has happened is that video games are a way bigger business today. Do we have enough room here to create something unforgetable? Are we still excited about new technology and with the same time about building new phantasy stories, worlds and characters?

I think we haven’t lost all of our excitement. But if we wish to progress in this world of gaming we have to keep this matter in our minds. Money is important, I know that. But it shouldn’t take away these opportunities and all this excitement. So let me say, once again, don’t loose your dreams! Don’t loose the excitement…

Some Characteristics of Sega Mega Drive

Posted on February 19, 2022 by Viljami

The image included here displays my Sega Mega Drive Mini. I have three controllers for it. One them has six regular buttons and two of them that were originally packaged with the gaming console that have only three buttons on the right hand side of the controller. I think original game pad is better than the updated one.

Today I have a free day. So there’s no work for me today. I had some good time playing some Mortal Kombat. It seems to be one of the best games on this gaming system. Other very nice picks are Castlevania – The New Generation, Dick Tracy, Kid Chameleon and Golden Axe II. There are several titles more that are worth playing. It’s not possible to go through them all here. Maybe I write another post about it later.

It is said that Mega Drive games repeat themselves and the gameplay is rough. It is sometimes said that Mega Drive games are worse than Nintendo games of the same era. I wouldn’t say it like that. You can compare these systems, NES and Mega Drive, but to think clearly, you should consider them to be different. You might like Nintendo games more. Or you might think like I do and I think these consoles are both good in a certain way.

Sega’s games are maybe harder to play. They definitely are more violent. In some ice hockey games there is fighting and in Mortal Kombat you can see blood as you hit or kick your opponent. NES’s games are more complex and maybe a bit more better when considering gameplay. But Nintendo’s games can be called childish. In a matter of fact this is a case of sense of taste and you can’t really argue on these.

When it comes to 16-bit devices Nintendo might have better performance in SNES than Mega Drive. That’s natural as SNES was released years after Mega Drive. I think Mega Drive had good graphics. SNES maybe had a bit better ones. But it is clear that these two represent the best quality of their own time. In the 90s you found some good games that brought you maybe the best graphics that were possible to produce as 2D graphics. When the next generation consoles were released they were heading strongly towards 3D.

I have greatly enjoyed my Mega Drive Mini. It’s price tag was about 60 euros. As I mentioned in the beginning of this blog post it came with two controllers. It takes days of two to three hours of playing to really understand this console. You will find the best parts of it. And of course you will also find the limitations that this device has. Things have progressed in designing of games and of course the technology has advanced. We might even see some new games to be released for Mega Drive even today.