Mega Drive: Ancient Beauty (Sega Megadrive)

Member Name: dobson89

Product:	Sega Megadrive
Date:	29/08/05 (191 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 100's of games, quick to load, fairly portable, cheap games

Disadvantages: graphics dated now, add-ons hard to find

Though it doesn't look much nowadays, the Sega Mega Drive, or Genesis in the USA, defined a generation. Rarely could you find a Sega-free household throughout the early 90's, unless they had turned to the console's biggest rival, Nintendo's SNES.

I was at a perfect age when the Mega Drive was in full flow. Being only 7 or 8, I could revel for hours in punch-em-ups and fighting games which required no real thought, just decent co-ordination skills. I feel this is one of the main reasons the Mega Drive achieved such success; the games' controls were incredibly simple, making the Mega Drive a "pick up and play" console. This was perfect for kids like me, who only needed to bash a few buttons to feel incredible excitement and enjoyment.

The array of games for the Mega Drive are, quite literally, astounding. Sega had a game for almost every type of genre, from RPGs to sports games. In fact, many future hits including Castlevania, Street Racer, Road Rash and Fifa could all be found on a Mega Drive. Also, accessories which made the Playstation a favourite, such as a multi-tap and a light gun, had already been introduced by Sega years before. Sadly, these accessories didn't take off on the Mega Drive, making the items very hard to come by.

And now we move to the ultimate mascot for any gaming console: the spiky blue hedgehog known to billions as Sonic. In response to Nintendo's Mario, Sega launched a competition for the best drawn mascot for their franchise, and one lucky Japanese artist's concept of a fighting blue hedgehog was chosen. Everybody instantly seemed to love Sonic, which in turn boosted Mega Drive sales.

I am now almost 16, and though I own a ps2 and a PC, I honestly find mindless button-bashing much more enjoyable. What's more, for the price of one ps2 game you could possibly have a Mega Drive and 10 or 20 Mega Drive games, which can be picked up on online auctions or at car boot sales.

Overall, the Mega Drive is almost a perfect console; no tricky buttons, no daft camera angles, catchy music and thrilling gameplay. I own one, and have persuaded my friends to do the same and buy one. I would recommend that you do, too.

Summary: The Mega Drive, is quite simply, one of the greatest consoles ever.