No Genesis A+ Games?

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TheEagleXIII
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Re: No Genesis A+ Games?

Postby TheEagleXIII » September 13th, 2020, 8:16 pm

NHL 94 has a whole community that's still very much keeping the game alive - there's so many team/roster mods out there. It's not just current seasonal updates either. Some of the more dedicated modders have recreated every single season from 1951 to 2020 - with the exception of 2000-2009 which I believe is currently still a WIP. There's NCAA mods based on the most recent season, recent and retro Winter Olympics and IIHF tournaments, Street Hockey, the Swiss league. Someone even made a mod based on the 3 Mighty Ducks movies! They schedule yearly tournaments too. It's legacy is pretty incredible.

I feel at least one of the Sonic games deserves an A+ too. I've seen many arguments made for each of the games being the best, but for me it's Sonic 3 + Knuckles. I know it was released as two separate games, but I feel it should be reviewed as one collective piece as it was originally intended to be.

jon
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Re: No Genesis A+ Games?

Postby jon » September 15th, 2020, 9:58 pm

I don't think NHL '94 has a season mode. I loved playing it but it is a little thin on modes. I'm not sure if there's the whole playoffs or just 1 playoff series. I played the computer version of NHL '94 called NHL Hockey, which was released in late 1993. That computer game I believe had slightly different gameplay, I think NHL '94 was better. But the computer version had a full season mode and all rounds of playoffs. There was the option to have more than 1 team as a franchise. You could have friends with different franchises. If those options were in NHL '94, it would've been pretty amazing. It's an amazing game already.

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Retro STrife
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Re: No Genesis A+ Games?

Postby Retro STrife » September 17th, 2020, 4:32 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:This thread really caught my attention. The Genesis is arguably (argue with myself?) my favorite console of all time.


More than the Atari 2600? I would have guessed the 2600, with it starting your interest in games, and kicking off your retro gaming habit.. not to mention inspiring this site. Interesting!

VideoGameCritic wrote:Even though there were many fine titles mentioned here in this thread, I don't think reach the flawless level of A+.


I could be wrong, but I had never interpreted an A+ from you to mean "flawless". You always say you grade against other games on the system. For example, an A on the Jaguar is not equal to an A on the Genesis. (And by the way, that rating system is perfect when you review for 50 different systems like you do.) So to me, I usually think of an A+ as meaning "this is as good as it gets on this system". And adding an A+ game or two on the Genesis would just be your choice for cream of the crop on the system. I could be interpreting the ratings wrong (let us know if I am!), but that's how I always viewed it.

VideoGameCritic wrote:I think there's a feasible explanation. Maybe the quality of games for the system is so consistently high it's hard to stand out?


To play devil's advocate: If that were the reason, the same might be true for other systems, like say the SNES or PS2. I love the Genesis, but I think it's hard to say its library is higher quality than the SNES. And even if it was, that's arguably more reason to add an A+ game. Really, it's only in the last 5 or 10 years that retro gamers have started to appreciate the Genesis. It was very cheap and easy to collect for for a long time, because retro interest in the games was pretty limited.

VideoGameCritic wrote:But with winter upon us I think I may need to reassess whether NHL 94 deserves an A+.


Yeah, I think that'd be a fair choice right there. The Genesis version of NHL 94 is pretty much always the top-voted among retro gamers for best hockey game ever. It's probably the only hockey game that still has legions of rabid online followers and still has in-person tournaments to this day. And for good reason. Sounds deserving of an A+.

By the way - just to add some ideas, in your list of VGC's Top 50 Console Games, you listed several Genesis games including: Sonic 2 (#4); NHL '94 (#10); the first Streets of Rage (#18); NBA Jam: TE (#19), and Road Rash (#31). With Sonic 2 as your #4 all-time best game, it seems like it deserves an A+ bump too. I'd put Road Rash at A+ too, but that's just me..

jon
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Re: No Genesis A+ Games?

Postby jon » September 17th, 2020, 5:17 pm

I just remembered that the Neo Geo doesn’t have an A+ game either. I can understand that. It still has a lot of A’s like for the Metal Slug games. I don’t necessarily think that’s an issue. It’s sort of the same type of games too both systems although I prefer the Neo Geo. Final Fantasy 7 has an A+ so it’s not necessarily something that’s a big issue no A+ games in my opinion. If we’re going to be real nitpicky, I’m not sure NHL ‘94 is an A+. It’s really missing full season and full playoff mode.

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Re: No Genesis A+ Games?

Postby VideoGameCritic » September 17th, 2020, 8:00 pm

jon wrote:I just remembered that the Neo Geo doesn’t have an A+ game either. I can understand that. It still has a lot of A’s like for the Metal Slug games. I don’t necessarily think that’s an issue. It’s sort of the same type of games too both systems although I prefer the Neo Geo. Final Fantasy 7 has an A+ so it’s not necessarily something that’s a big issue no A+ games in my opinion. If we’re going to be real nitpicky, I’m not sure NHL ‘94 is an A+. It’s really missing full season and full playoff mode.


Jon -
You bring up an excellent point about the lack of season mode. I would have never even thought about that, since I never would have attempted it. It also makes me look at NHL 95 in a new light.

jon
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Re: No Genesis A+ Games?

Postby jon » September 18th, 2020, 4:36 pm

Also, NHL ‘94 has no fighting which it’s predecessor did. That’s a huge part of the game. Back in the 90’s there were a lot of fights, maybe almost every game. Most teams if not all had an enforcer, who’d be the one getting in the most fights. And then generally be really tough guys. The season mode and all rounds of playoffs was a big deal back then for the computer version of NHL ‘94, NHL Hockey. Apparently NHL Hockey’s sequel, NHL ‘95 on the computer is considered a significant improvement because I think the gameplay was better. NHL Hockey was released on the computer in late ‘93 I think at the same time as NHL ‘94 but it had the season and playoffs. The gameplay was also I think not as good as ‘94 although still excellent and I played it a lot and enjoyed the season mode which included all playoff rounds. I think the computer version of NHL ‘95 the gameplay was better. I’m not sure how NHL ‘95 for the Genesis plays in comparison.

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Re: No Genesis A+ Games?

Postby VideoGameCritic » September 18th, 2020, 8:21 pm

I have mixed feelings about the fighting (or lack of). I love the concept, but in the NHL games they were usually kind of boring - both guys trading punches until one fell over. I vaguely recall the loser bleeding in one of those games, which is always a nice bonus.

TheEagleXIII
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Re: No Genesis A+ Games?

Postby TheEagleXIII » September 19th, 2020, 11:08 am

The lack of a season mode does hurt 94 - but the gameplay was never matched or surpassed. Although I still do enjoy the 96-98 engine and the ability to play seasons, I wouldn't put them above it. 94 also has a 'weight bug' where the smaller/weaker players will win any body checks against the big enforcers of the day. But I'd still say it's deserving of an A+ despite this.

I used to think I'd hate the lack of fighting - but it's more of a distraction and I found it gets boring. Don't get me wrong, I loved the fighting as a kid, but the game flows so much better without it and it never really added anything except maybe taking away a star player.

EDIT:
And don't get me started on the B.S. Fight Instigator penalties from NHLPA '93. 99 times out of 100 they're against me, and they always pick a player that was nowhere near the action to instigate anything. I think it was a controversial rule in the league back in the day too, but for slightly different reasons.

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Re: No Genesis A+ Games?

Postby jon » September 19th, 2020, 9:11 pm

I agree NHL ‘94 could be an A+. But it does have things it lacks albeit very tiny. Tennis for the Gameboy got an A. I can understand because it lacks the option to play shorter matches. It takes about a little over 7 minutes without losing a point and it took me months to get to that point where it happens somewhat regularly. Beating a Game Boy sports game shouldn’t take a little over 7 minutes.

I basically don’t enjoy sports games anymore except Tennis games. But I did growing up. And when I think of A+ I think of a game like Front Page Sports Baseball ‘98. That game still has leagues going on and I think the Football games do too. I know NHL ‘94 has some kind of following with maybe leagues even but those Front Page Sports games I’m talking about take that to the extreme.

When I was young with the help of my brother I was playing sports games with dynasty modes in 1993. And they were acclaimed games. The football game had options to make plays, change player name, jersey number, attributes, team name, stadium surface and name and more. And those games are still by its fans as the best football and baseball career modes ever.

When I think of A+ I think of Model 2 games like Virtua Fighter 2 or maybe Daytona. If NHL ‘94 is viewed as an arcade type game instead of a simulation then I could see that as an A+. My favorite system by far is Neo Geo and that doesn’t have an A+ game. I don’t disagree. It’s got a lot of A’s and games like Metal Slug are definitely great.

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Re: No Genesis A+ Games?

Postby jon » January 10th, 2021, 12:01 pm

After reading the NHL ‘94 thread it really got me to wondering what an A+ sports game is. It’s really interesting as there are so many games that are great. I think the difference between an A+ and A could be interesting the reasons why.


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