This list of the top SEGA CD games should definitely catch your attention if your first idea when you wake up in the morning is to climb back into bed with your favorite retro game. I want you to travel back to a time when cartridge gaming was at its height and something amazing called “the compact disc” was making waves in the tech industry. Forget about the present world of online multiplayer royales and 4K televisions.
It was a period when trainers were called sneakers, hedgehogs couldn’t be seen without youngsters questioning why they weren’t blue, and gamers started to question why the Beatles were singing about Dr. Robotnik’s nephew and some strange walrus. Just in case anyone who isn’t as much of a nerd as I am doesn’t know, that’s “I am the Eggman.”
The SEGA CD had some excellent games that may have propelled the corporation to even greater heights, in spite of the conflicting reviews and tumultuous history that surrounded this device. There were also some strangely attractive ones.
Contents
Texas: Ground Zero
This list of the best Sega CD games is introduced by the disappointing Ground Zero: Texas. It must be included because it is an FMV title. However, the story is kind of a disaster in more ways than one. Aliens are stealing bodies and starting their war preparations. You’ve been given the assignment to send a camera equipped with firearms to save your community from humanoid drones.
Okay, so as you move down this list, you’ll start to notice a lot more FMV content. This is one of the worst instances of it because it actually involves real actors in real life behaving poorly in a computer game. In essence, you switch between various cameras in an interactive MYST adaptation of an alien invasion before participating in a shootout that feels the same as the previous one and the one before that.
You have to know what you’re getting into, and this serves as a warning buffer for what you’re going to learn below… Honestly, if there were more games for this thing, I wouldn’t even be talking about GZT.
Riders on the back of a dragon that resembles a flappy bird are sent on a quest to find a mysterious object with Rami, a young woman dressed as a bunny. But wait a minute, Remi. Dr. Pon, the evil doctor (actually, he doesn’t sound threatening at all), is doing everything in his power to stop you.
I suppose that this qualifies as a kid’s shooting game technically. It is cartoonish, colorful, and in no way repulsive to the eyes or the brain. And let’s face it, everyone adores dragons, especially if they get to be piloted through seven levels of wing mayhem!
Vay
In this list of the top Sega CD games, Vay comes in at number 28, giving Sega’s misguided add-on fantasy vibes a la Tolkien. Thus, we are taking the role of Prince Sandor of Lorath. Not only have his parents been murdered, but his wife, Lady Elin, has also vanished. Dodging gunfire from extraterrestrial weapons, battle the Danek, and contend with their alien robots.
Okay, so from a gameplay perspective it does resemble a simplified version of Links Awakening, but be forgiving. God forbid, it’s almost 30 years old! Naturally, since it’s a JRPG, anticipate chance encounters and turn-based combat à la Viridian Forest. Choose a class, gather coins, improve your characters, and have a blast doing it!
Sol-Face
Next up, side-scrolling R-Type shooting on the Sega CD is brought by Sol-Feace, or Sol-Deace if you’re an American gamer. Although there are only 6 levels to complete, they are incredibly thrilling. Without me even going into specifics, you can already tell they’re going to be crazy because of names like Sirius, Pluto Base, and Arimathea.
Players acquire powerups as they progress through the game, increasing firepower and acquiring bigger explosives, etc., just like R-Type. Although moving your cannons about the ship to fire from particular angles or distances may be the game’s best feature. The coolest line I’ve ever written describes you as being essentially a laser-powered Swiss Army killing machine in space.
NHL 94
This ranking of the top Sega CD games ever places NHL ’94 at number 26. It’s virtual ice hockey, so there’s no risk of injury. just the way I like it. If your partner doesn’t rage quit and flings a controller at your head, it might feel something similar.
The NHL season at the time is represented in this game, which was developed by EA, the industry leader in sports video games. Since they really obtained the necessary licenses in 1993, it is also the first time that has ever occurred. This is as realistic as it gets without putting on your skates, with real-life maneuvers, amazing shots, and the option to play as any player, even the goaltender. Well, not quite. Fighting has been omitted from this edition, but once you’ve finished playing, there’s no reason why you can’t hold your own altercations in the backyard.
Reminiscing
A game that I like to refer to as “a Sci-Fi geeky heaven” is ranked number 24 on our list of the top Sega CD games. Okay, so it might appear a little dated now, but back in the day, critics were in awe of this game’s cinematic elements. It still holds the record for the most successful French video game ever and has hand-drawn backgrounds.
That’s true, these levels are entirely original since someone drew them from scratch and rotoscoped them. Furthermore, it doesn’t get more retro than that! Flashback’s gameplay has a bit of a “Prince of Persia” meets “Beyond Oasis” vibe to it. Utilize never-ending firepower to progress through seven expertly designed stages. This is the kind of game that everyone who is frightened of dying in games like.
Heart Of The Alien
Heart of the Alien is one of those games that plays wonderfully but has a bare-bones aesthetic. Even though I am aware that you shouldn’t ever judge a book by its cover, the still below might not be fully overwhelming. You can still anticipate fantastic gameplay throughout Another World (or Out Of This World), a sequel to another Sega Classic
Heart of the Alien picks up where the last game left off in terms of the action. You are struck and knocked out after landing among the ruins of your alien friend’s village. That’s correct, in this game, you take the role of Buddy (not to be confused with Will Ferrell’s character from “Elf”), the alien friend you mentioned.
Buddy must progress through the game while liberating the oppressed residents of his hamlet while wielding an energy whip that Simon Belmont would be extremely envious of. The nicest part of the whole package is that the original game is also included. There you have it, two for the price of one!
Slipheed
This 2.5D shooter, which makes the most of pre-rendered backgrounds and the Sega CD’s super-powerful extra 5 Mhz compared to the Genesis, is truly a genre-defining masterpiece. Okay, I may have been poking a little fun there, but let’s move on. You can probably predict the concept for this game before I even describe it to you. Space crime, planets being attacked by bad villains, and you, the hero, trying your hardest to save the day.
Slipheed still manages to get my heart pounding despite having 11 stages to complete and some very thrilling space battles for a game from over 30 years ago. Try it out and let us know what you think!
Eternal Blue: Lunar
By now, if you haven’t heard of the Lunar series, it’s likely that you’ve been living in a time machine or have recently awakened from a night of cryogenic sleep. Although it is really set a full century after the events of the original game, Lunar: Eternal Blue is the second installment in the series.
