Moments that defined the Genesis era...

[ROJM]

I was going to post this at the classic discussion..
But since we are talking about a system that not only helped get Sega into the mainstream but effectivly trailblazed many of the standards that the industy uses today..as well as it being in its 25th anniversary..i thought it be fitting to post it here...
 
What was the moments during the Genesis period that defined it for you as a sega gamer? Was it Sonic's first game? Was it the ongoing battle between Nintendo and Sega? Was it the Sega scream adverts? Or was it something else?
 
Mine would be the Genesis Does adverts..or the way it was presented. You have the cheery cheerleading type singers sing Genesis does with whatever the game they were showing and the people usually sports stars smiling and doing sports stuff..and then it ends with this man's voice saying What Nintendon't! Completly out of contrast to what was shown and heard in the advert before. It's memorable for me because it was a full stop exclamation..did that guy say what i thought he said kinda thing..well at least at the time.
Second would have to be seeing the BBC six o clock news and having them talk about the Sonic2sday game and watching crowds of people queing up to buy it. Its memorable because up till then nothing like that was seen or heard of before seeing people queue up for a video game at a big game event. Sonic 2sday was no doubt the granddaddy of all the game launchs and midnight queuing that we take for granted today..
Gaming wise was two things..playing GUNSTAR HEROES for the first time and getting blown away from it, seeing the megadrive do the tricks that nobody thought it could do...
Second playing STAR WARS ARCADE on the 32x..tooo sweet...as it was my favourite arcade game at the time and it was arcade perfect on the 32x..diffulcult for me because there were too many great gaming moments for me personally on the megadrive. But those were the ones that stuck out the most..

[Nameless 24]

For me, I guess it was Sonic in general and the Disney games I was given.

I didn't game much back then but the Mega Drive blew my tiny mind.

I still play Streets of Rage 2 to this day. I don't think anything has topped it personally.

I also appreciate the D-Pad WAY more than I did years ago. It's one of the few where the dial like shape just "works". Too bad Sony or Nintendo don't use this but Microsoft do. Personally, I think SEGA made the best D-Pads (other than the Dreamcast one, but it's far better than most D-Pads).

Although arcade like action games are rarer these days, it's nice to go back to the MD just to play those games.

[MadeManG74]

I was still a young-un when I got the Mega Drive. I remember my dad buying me a Master System first, and then trading it in within a month or something for a Mega Drive.

I loved the Master System and when we went to exchange it, I was really upset because I'd come to enjoy it so much. My dad kept telling me 'trust me, the Mega Drive is the better one!', but I didn't believe him. It wasn't until we got it home and played Sonic 1, Alex Kidd (or Alex the Kid as I called him) and Altered Beast that I was convinced.

Sonic was the game that defined my childhood video-gaming. My favourite memory being staying up late with my dad as we played through the whole game. It probably wasn't that late, but to me it felt like I was staying up all night. My dad playing and me sitting on the floor watching while my mum watched from the couch. When he finally finished the game we all cheered.

I also remember the hype we all had for Sonic 2, my dad showing me a preview in a magazine (I think it was Sega Megazone, a magazine i still have some issues of, but I've been trying to find scans/archives of it for a long ass time).  We did a similar all day Sonic 2 session where my dad finished that game and declared himself the 'Sonic Master'.

If we are talking about 'Genesis Era' and not just the console itself, we used to go to the local arcade near my grandmothers place, and my dad would play Afterburner with me all the time. They had the full rotating and tilting cabinet, it was unreal. A few years ago when Afterburner Climax came out, I was playing it and told me dad
"Hey look, it's a new Afterburner! Remember this game?"
"Oh wow. Hey! Does it still have the same music?" and then he started humming the Afterburner theme (this is like, 20 years after the fact).

My dad is awesome.

[Team Andromeda]

It would be a few things


1st was the Joypad it's self - It may have only be one extra button but that ABC layout was perfect for nearly every style of 16 bit days (untill SF II)


SEGA Cyber Razor cut - Started the era of it being cool to play video games and where you saw not only super cool prime time TV advertising from SEGA  , But also countless film, music, sport and TV stars being seen playing SEGA games and wearing SEGA gear.


SEGA Sponsorship of Football and F1 - Again setting the bar long before SONY and making gaming cooler in general .


Gamewise my standout moments would be


Revenge of Shinobi - Stand out game and the 1st real game to show the Mega Drive might and totally outclass the 8 bit consoles . Seeing that moon rise, the enemies explode into bits and the super smooth scrolling were a truly stand out moments , as was seeing the water fall for the 1st time


John Madden 92 - The near perfect NFL game that for most in my school got so many in to NFL it's self and where its started to become commonplace (at least in my school and mates ) for sleep overs and countless hours lost playing it with your mates 


Joe Montana Sports Talk Football - The game that introduced commentary  it was a stand out moment (even featured on Tomorrow's world) and set the bar that all over sports games have since followed


FIFA - The 1st game I can really remember where grown ups/adults were openly talking about the title (and the famous EA chant) in public or work and the 1st time I ever saw people in the UK queuing up for a game in the shops (and I'm on about major queuing) .

[ROJM]

Razorcut was good but the Sega Pirate TV ads was utter brill especially the VIRTUA RACING one. I remember seeing that on the cinema along with the original Mortal Kombat advert...when they knew how to make awesome adverts...
In saying that, Sega Europe had the best tag line "Too be this good takes AGES.." it summed up Sega perfectly back then...

[Team Andromeda]

Razorcut was good but the Sega Pirate TV ads was utter brill especially

SEGA Pirate TV were Ads were far better, but the Cyber Razor cut ad was a stand out moment and really began the era of SEGA cool adverts and making it cool to to be seen playing SEGA games (and people think it started with SONY and Wipeout)

[ROJM]

SEGA Pirate TV were Ads were far better, but the Cyber Razor cut ad was a stand out moment and really began the era of SEGA cool adverts and making it cool to to be seen playing SEGA games (and people think it started with SONY and Wipeout)

Oh i get that point..i hated the original adverts with that guy and his ninja sidekick but the razorcut with that fat guy from Bottom was the stand out and itwent from there...than cool shades guy seemed to disappear after that. Mega CD Pirate TV ads were a bit annoying though..But looking back now with those ad campaigns and the Sega american ones there is a really good progression of the campaign either using the same actors or tag lines/idents..i really don't think Sega fully understood that they managed to get a campaign or tagline brand that was as recognizable as Pepsi and cocoa cola and Mickey D's(dull hamburger give me Wimpy's)because they basically abandoned those campaigns for real weak ones during the saturn era...

[TruthEnigma]

For me, firstly the adverts. The Cyber Razor Cut and Pirate TV ads were great. I vividly remember them going head to head with Nintendo's Rik Mayal advert. To this day my favorite tag line is "To be this good takes AGES".

Secondly, Sonic The Hedgehog and Streets of Rage 2 redefined me as a gamer and a Sega Fanboy. I remember the other kids in school with the SNES raving about Final Fight, and trumping them with SoR2. I still think SoR2 has the best gaming soundtrack I have ever heard on any system.