Monday, July 22, 2019

Major League

Last weekend I made it to one of my two annual summer treks out to catch a Minor League baseball game and while getting swept up in the spirit of watching a live baseball game it reminded me that is has been a couple years since I have seen a baseball film. Longtime readers here may recall it was almost an annual tradition to recap one here during baseball season. While making our way out after the game it suddenly clicked that 2019 marked the 30th anniversary of my favorite baseball film, the original Major League (trailer) from 1989. For the first time in the five and a half years after starting this blog I will have to break my rule and watch a DVD/BluRay from my collection that I have already viewed and is not in the backlog box, but trust me it is worth it and I am long overdue for another viewing!

I have a unique history with this film frachise. The sequel in 1994, Major League II was the first film I saw in the series and I specifically recall my dad taking me to it at the theaters when I was 11 and super gung-ho into baseball, baseball videogames and baseball cards! Needless to say I fell in love with the film and its diverse range of flamboyant long-shots help what would seem like the helpless Cleveland Indians make it to the World Series. My dad saw how much I loved the movie and shortly after it hit video he went to a friend I recall he told me had what seemed like an infinite supply of movies on tape. I remember he took me there once and I was too young to realize it then, but looking back he was the local go-to guy who hooked everyone up with bootleg VHS tapes filled with a few movies on them in super low quality SLP playback. My dad got this guy to make a tape that contained what would wound up being 11 year-old Dale’s four favorite movies at that time in the first two Major League films and both Wayne’s World movies. I cannot tell you how many times I watched that tape all the way through, except that it was well into the double digits.

That tape was how I originally saw the first Major League and I was blown away by how much better it was than the sequel that I already cherished. Who was this Wesley Snipes fellow who is a vastly superior Willie Mays Hayes compared to Omar Epps in the sequel? After misplacing that tape after several years, the original Major League was one of about ten VHS tapes I bought before I was able to save up to buy my first DVD player. I snatched up the bare-bones original DVD release of the film the week it came out, and bought it again several years later when it got a ‘Wild Thing Special Edition’ jam packed with extra features and a killer slipover turf cover! A couple years after that in 2009 Paramount re-released the Wild Thing edition on BluRay, but without the turf cover I adored so I made sure to save my DVD turf cover and slip it over the BluRay in my collection like any diehard Major League fan buying the movie for the fourth time on home video would!

I still love the old timey song, Randy Newman’s “Burn on” being used in the opening of the film to set up the sad state of the Cleveland Indians in 1989. The opening montage brilliantly interspersed newspaper clipping about the owner passing away and how his widowed wife, Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton) cut most of their top talent and replaced them with has-beens and long-shots in hopes of tanking the team enough to move them to Miami. Shortly after that is a great start of spring training scene introducing the dynamic cast of hopefuls such as the Mexican League wash up Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger), California Penal League pitching sensation Rick Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), surprise walk-on Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes), superstitious slugger Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert) and stock market guru Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen). They are managed by former Dunlop Tire specialist Lou Brown (James Gammon).

For a film that is a little over an hour and a half it does a bang-up job at managing to capture the feel of a whole baseball season from spring training all the way up until the post season. Like most sports movies, it has a predictable format, but the journey there is well worth the ride as we see early season struggles with this unique clash of styles not gelling whatsoever to all of a sudden the team eventually starting to click and gain momentum before having a one game playoff against their heated rival, the Yankees, to get into the ALCS in a thrilling final act of the film. Throw in a supplemental arc of Jake chasing down his old flame Lynn (Rene Russo) for some breathing room between all the heavy doses of baseball and it adds up to establishing one of the most tried and true formulas in sports films.

I love how all the on-the-field action is shot as it not only captures well choreographed baseball, but also captures the unique characteristics and mannerisms from this bombastic roster. Hayes has his vintage batting stance swivel, Taylor taunts opponents behind the plate to throw them off their game, Pedro has his rituals in order to hit homers and overcome the dreaded curveball and Vaughn has his trademark frames and “Wild Thing” walk-on song. Combine all this with unforgettable commentary from the loveably quotable Harry Doyle (former ball player and hall-of-fame announcer Bob Uecker) in the press box. On top of that is a memorable original score that kicks in at all the right moments in montages and especially in the final game with powerful beats hitting at the precise moment in Jake Taylor’s pivotal at bat to close out the game!

Time flies as I cannot believe it has already been 30 years since the first film in the franchise just as I am still shocked MLB allowed an R-rated movie featuring its brand to make its way out into the public. Major League is filled with the players drinking and smoking in the clubhouse (and press box), dropping nonstop F-bombs and all other kinds of colorful language throughout. In the commentary David Ward stated he did this to originally capture the spirit of the players in the clubhouse, and regretted it after the fact when he was confronted by many people saying they wanted to take their kids to see it, but did not because of the language. I am guessing that is why the sequels dialed it down to a PG-13 rating. David Ward is joined by producer Chris Chesser on the commentary and the two are primarily subdued as they state after a few lulls that they were taken in again by watching the movie for the first time in many years. Lulls aside, the duo have a fair amount of production facts to share from Milwaukee being a great host city primarily filming in to having to reshoot the ending after the original failed in test screenings.

The original twist ending is part of the rest of the fair amount of extras. There are three main behind-the-scenes features that make up most of the bonuses. Just a Bit Outside is a must-see 12 minute extra interviewing Bob Uecker on his evergreen quotes and how he landed the role. Major League Look at Major League is a 14 minute bonus interviewing MLB players on what the film meant to them and their favorite moments and lines and reflecting on how spot-on some of the movie is in actual baseball. Finally, My Kinda Team is the featured bonus clocking in at 23 minutes of cast and crew interviews nearly 20 years after the film released and reflecting on training for the film and many other fascinating anecdotes from the production. All three are recommended viewing for any Major League enthusiasts.

30 years later and Major League holds up splendidly! It and Field of Dreams came out within a year of each other and are likely the catalysts for many other fondly remembered baseball films that hit over the next several years like The Sandlot, Rookie of the Year, Little Big League, A League of Their Own, The Scout and naturally, Major League II. All these years later and Major League remains one of my all-time favorites and I can only give it the highest of recommendations!

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
The Accountant
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Infinity War
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed
Deck the Halls
Die Hard
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Dirty Work
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Indiana Jones 1-4
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Marine 3-6
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Then, Now, Forever: The Evolution of WWE’s Women’s Division

If you have been keeping up with WWE the past few years you would have noticed its bigger emphasis on women’s wrestling since the 2015 ‘Diva Revolution’ (which then got re-branded the ‘Women’s Evolution’ in 2016) than in any other period throughout its history. Since 2015 there have now been more active women on the roster, more active women’s rivalries, women closing out several PPVs including the biggest one of the year for the first time ever with 2019’s Wrestlemania and the first ever installments of Hell in a Cell, Royal Rumble, Iron Man, Money in the Bank match-ups and an entire PPV in 2018 featuring all-women talent. Last year WWE finally got around for the first time in many years releasing an entire home video focusing entirely on women to honor the accomplishments of its lady grapplers throughout the years with 2018’s Then, Now, Forever: The Evolution of WWE’s Women’s Division (trailer).

It is a shame WWE has gone so long without an entirely devoted home video to its women wrestlers. WWE use to do a yearly swimsuit/beach retreat video in the early part of the century, but they quickly dissolved that after a few years and the only female athlete I recall to get the marquee documentary/match collection home video release was Lita only a couple years into her run which is unfathomable when you think about all the top women from WWE over the years and the countless home video releases. WWE attempts to make up for their wrongdoings with this three disc DVD featuring nine hours of mini-documentaries highlighting 22 women wrestlers throughout the decades and a match from each woman that gets the spotlight. To be fair though, the past few years WWE has been putting more of their documentary and interviews/specials on their streaming service, WWE Network, over home video exclusives the past few years and on WWE Network there has been many documentaries and specials dedicated to past and present women wrestlers.

It is a bit generous to label the two-to-three minute features as ‘mini-docs’ and are more abbreviated interviews with the ladies. With only two-to-three minutes of interview time it is understandable why some of the women interviewed do not attempt to try and go over their entire career and instead either make some quick generic statements about their legacy in women’s wrestling or instead focus on one big moment in their career. When they do the latter, it makes more of a impact like how Molly Holly talks about how big a deal it was to get shaved bald at Wrestlemania XX and Natalya reflecting on her opportunity to steal the show with Charlotte Flair at the first NXT TakeOver.

Some of the more controversial women of WWE’s past are either not highlighted at all in interview form or only featured in matches against other spotlighted women. The legendary Fabulous Moolah’s controversial allegations of her past surfacing in recent years results in no archived interviews featuring her which is kind of a shocker considering the icon status her and Mae Young got whenever WWE brought them out for a legends segment from the late 90s to the late 00s. Moolah is featured in a couple matches however. Once against Wendi Richter in an unearthed MSG house show bout and in a 10-women Survivor Series rules match with a bunch of classic talent I always heard about, but rarely seen in action such as Rockin’ Robin, Velvet McIntyre, the Glamour Girls and the Jumping Bomb Angels.

A lot of the famous names from the ‘Attitude Era’ and ‘Diva-Search Era’ stars that earned a rep for WWE featuring them more as showpieces instead of being remembered for their in-ring talents do not get the mini-doc treatment such as Sunny, Chyna, Sable, Debra, Terri, Eve, Christy Hemme, Ashley Massaro and Kelly Kelly. I was also surprised that a few legit in-ring talents got snubbed from the mini-doc treatment like Asuka, Jacquelyn and Jazz for some reason. A couple of these names make cameos in the 2018 Women’s Royal Rumble match and Chyna’s total squash over Ivory at Wrestlemania X-7 is featured, but for the most part these women are absent from the interviews. Of the 22 ‘spotlights’ only four of them are from the pre-Attitude-era consisting of Mae Young, Wendi Richter, Sherri Martel and Madusa/Alundra Blayze. I was delighted to see a lot of talent from the underrated 2001-2006 women’s division era get showcased and interviewed like Trish, Lita, Molly Holly, Ivory and Victoria. The expected breakout stars from the ‘Women’s Evolution’ era are all spotlighted with all the ‘Four Horsewomen’ and their successors like Alexa Bliss and Ronda Rousey. I am kind of cringing over Carmella’s inclusion in the spotlights since her Money in the Bank assist wins and later championship reign with help from one Mr. Ellsworth was the only dark cloud over the ‘Women’s Evolution’ from the past four years.

Of the 22 matches featured in the collection, all but several are worthy inclusions. A part of me would like to see another collection of standout women matches from 1985-95 because I cannot recall too many before and the four featured here are surprisingly good. Do not miss out on the aforementioned 1987 Survivor Series match and especially do not skip over the 1995 RAW match of Alundra Blayze/Bull Nakano. They pull off all kinds of insane spots that had me reeled in for the entire match while another part of me was shocked WWE put this type of match on TV in 1995.

WWE included a lot of first time ever match-ups with the women in this collection. Some of them are awesome like the first ever women’s Royal Rumble in 2018 and the first ever women’s Elimination Chamber match that same year. Others are underwhelming/disappointing considering the talent involved like the first women’s Cage Match with Lita and Victoria and the first women’s Hell in a Cell match with Sasha and Charlotte that has one of the most lackluster table spots of all time. NXT got the ball rolling with the ‘Women’s Evolution’ and I was thrilled to see a few NXT matches in here with standouts like Paige/Emma, Natalya/Charlotte and my personal all-time favorite women’s match featuring Sasha/Bayley in a Iron Man match back when we loved both of them and it seemed impossible that the two would later somehow seem capable of engaging in the worst rivalry of 2018. Luckily, better horsewomen matches are included like Lynch, Charlotte & Sasha tearing it up in their stellar triple threat at WrestleMania 32.

This collection wraps up with Ronda Rousey’s debut WWE match from WrestleMania 34 in her surprise show-stealing mixed tag with Kurt Angle against Stephanie & Triple H last year. It serves as a great teaser at the year of Ronda in WWE where she put the ‘Women’s Evolution’ into overdrive with her absolutely stunning first year in the business. This is a mostly gratifying collection of matches from WWE’s history of women’s wrestling and while they could have done a better job with a little more depth in the spotlights like they did with their True Giants home video release, this is still a pretty solid overall compilation at most of the best talent and memorable matches that WWE’s women have delivered. Easy recommendation for Then, Now, Forever: The Evolution of WWE’s Women’s Division.

July 25, 2019 Update: - A little over a week after posting this I noticed on Amazon out of nowhere a new DVD dropped chronicling Lita & Trish's storied rivalry. I had no idea this was coming and timed this entry nicely with Trish & Lita: Best Friends Better Enemies (trailer) releasing a week after I originally posted this entry! I ordered it right when I noticed its listing just a day or two after its releasing so make sure come back here down the line for my thoughts! Good on WWE for dedicating another home video for some of the best women to grace its ring!

Past Wrestling Blogs

Best of WCW Clash of Champions
Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3
Biggest Knuckleheads
Bobby The Brain Heenan
Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes
DDP: Positively Living
Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials
ECW Unreleased: Vol 1
ECW Unreleased: Vol 2
ECW Unreleased: Vol 3
Eric Bishoff: Wrestlings Most Controversial Figure
Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story
For All Mankind
Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection
Impact Wresting Presents: Best of Hulk Hogan
Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story
The Kliq Rules
Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman
Legends of Mid South Wrestling
Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story
Memphis Heat
NXT: From Secret to Sensation
NXT Greatest Matches Vol 1
OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History
OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History
Owen: Hart of Gold
RoH Supercard of Honor 2010-Present
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Scott Hall: Living on a Razors Edge
Sting: Into the Light
Straight Outta Dudley-ville: Legacy of the Dudley Boyz
Straight to the Top: Money in the Bank Anthology
Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder
TLC 2017
TNA Lockdown 2005-2016
Top 50 Superstars of All Time
Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season
True Giants
Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns
Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe
War Games: WCWs Most Notorious Matches
Warrior Week on WWE Network
Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition
Wrestlemania 28-Present
The Wrestler (2008)
Wrestling Road Diaries Too
Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money
Wrestlings Greatest Factions
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016
WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016
WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2017

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

30 Years of Genesis: Going 30 Years Playing No More Than 30 Minutes of Sonic


This summer marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of the Sega Genesis in North America. I had such a nostalgia trip reliving my memories of the GameBoy while crafting my recent GameBoy 30th Anniversary piece, that it only seemed fitting that Sega’s iconic 16-bit platform gets the same honors of recounting my memories with it. If you are looking for a more authoritative historical piece on it I recommend either Phoenix IV or Console Wars. The former is a strictly informative recounting of the history of the system while the latter is an entertaining retelling done in the form of a novel after days of interviews with everyone involved. The following are my own personal experiences of playing the Genesis over the past three decades.

I remember first encountering the Genesis while spending either Thanksgiving or Christmas 1991 over at my older sister and brother-in-law’s house. I was only eight at the time, and remember being perplexed at the black gaming box and the thought that there could somehow be other systems than the good ‘ol NES. I did not subscribe to any gaming magazines at this point and I think I was still about a year away from experiencing Sega’s deluge of combative commercials against the SNES. During that holiday season of ’91 I recalled playing the first Streets of Rage on the Genesis with my little brother nonstop the couple days we were there. I remember being blown away by how superior it was graphically to what I experienced with other NES brawlers before like Double Dragon. We only got up to the stage where we faced off against the dueling karate sisters who kept whooping us and neither my brother nor I had the skills at the time to get past.

The next year or two the only times I recall playing the Genesis were at my sister’s for the holidays or the occasional store kiosk. I remember my brother-in-law picked up other games we played regularly like ToeJam & Earl, Buster Douglas Boxing, Toxic Crusaders and PGA Tour Golf. I dug all of them, especially ToeJam & Earl where I had no idea what was happening half the time with its unorthodox level structure and item pick-ups, but loving the co-op gameplay, stylish graphics and its funky beats at the time. Brief memories of store kiosk play from the early 90s consisted of being horrible at the original Sonic the Hedgehog because it was too fast for my childhood noggin’ to comprehend. I also recall being confused at early editions of Madden Football at store kiosks because when I would press buttons to hike the ball ‘Audible’ would appear on screen and then eight or nine-year old Dale had no idea what that meant compared to easier pick up and play NES pigskin games I was conditioned to.

Until Christmas of 1995 I probably played no more than about 10 Genesis games all together. I was more aware of the system by that time thanks to reading magazines more regularly at that point and hearing from classmates who had the system, but until that point I was pretty loyal to my NES still (I did not get a SNES until late ’96). For the Christmas season of ’95 my best friend at the time who coincidentally lived three blocks away from me, Rich, received a Genesis and that was when I got a lot more hands-on time with its extensive library of titles. Rich and I shared a lot of similar game interests which at that time was a ton of sports games, fighters and action/brawlers.

For the next several months I was over at Rich’s for countless sleepovers and going nuts with fighters like Mortal Kombat II and Evander Holyfield’s Real Deal Boxing. Real Deal Boxing blew away Buster Douglas Boxing with more authentic boxing gameplay and an insanely thorough career mode where we would take a created boxer and move him up the ranks as champion until his skills gradually weakened with age to force his retirement. We absolutely ate up the sports games at that time. We played what seemed like an infinite amount of Madden NFL ‘97. A much wiser 13-year old Dale was no longer befuddled by the intricacies of Madden and we had so much fun with it. We would create many players to deck out our teams and keep running blitzes to try and injure the players because there was an intense bone-breaking injury sound effect that we ate up. It was like the equivalent of Favreau and Vaughn going nuts in Swingers when they made Gretzky bleed in NHLPA ‘93.

Mutant League Football was another favorite of ours that made that injury sound effect in Madden child’s play. EA also made MLF and it was the equivalent of NFL Blitz at the time with larger-than-life mutants and animals literally killing each other on the field with over-the-top hits. It was possible to force a team to retire due to killing off too many of its players which was always our desired objective! If you have not played its spiritual successor follow-up, Mutant Football League on PS4/XB1 I give it the highest of recommendations because it perfectly capture the sensation of the Genesis game while bringing it up to contemporary standards.

We also played a lot of EA’s violent driving game, Road Rash II. Being able to race motorcycles and knock out your competition with chains and nightclubs while trying to evade the cops seemed revolutionary when playing it for the first time! We later discovered EA’s take of Road Rash on rollerblades in the awesome rollerblade stunt/racing game Skitchin! Fun fact about Skitchin’ is that the competitors you race against have gnarly nicknames like ‘Thrasher’ and ‘Jackal’ and thus in ’96 was the origin of how I came up with what wound up as my online handle but at the time was my radical Skitchin’ username, ‘Gruel’ to blend in with the rest of the pack and have stuck with it all these years later!

After spending several months devouring a good dozen or so Genesis games with Rich, it did not compare to the summer of ’96 when Rich signed up for the Sega Channel! I remember it launched in 1994 and seeing commercials for it at the time where it seemed too good to be true where for about $15/month would net the user a Genesis cartridge that would connect to a cable line and get the Genesis online streaming access to a rotating 40-50 Genesis games a month. That is right, decades before services like OnLive and Playstation Now, the Genesis did streaming gaming back in ’94 and it worked like a charm! Check out this pristine archival footage of the menus to see how it all worked. Sega Channel essentially was what Xbox Game Pass is today, and I am surprised to hear how little it is discussed when people reminisce about the Genesis.

We discovered so many new games this way and for that entire summer I was over at Rich’s about three to four days a week binging on Sega Channel games until Rich’s dad got on my case because I was over so often. I remember discovering new sports games on there like the innocuously titled Super Volleyball that we became somehow addicted to and the surprisingly awesome Tiny Toons ACME All-Stars that had its own killer spin on arcade basketball and soccer that it played like NBA Jam but filled with crazy Tiny Toons power-up attacks. Sega Channel is what additionally exposed me to co-op games like General Chaos, the Streets of Rage sequels and Gain Ground and classic single player games like Shadowrun, Comix Zone and Vectorman that Rich and I took turns trying to keep progressing through. Sega Channel also was my first exposure to the classic Bomberman franchise with many nail-biting rounds played of Mega Bomberman!

It came as no surprise to me when I finally bought a Genesis a few years later in 1999 that the first games I hunted down for it were those same games I first discovered on the Sega Channel! In April of 1999 shortly after I turned 16 I got my first after-school job and after a few paychecks I went to Wal-Mart to determine what should be one of the first games to buy on my own! This was around the time when Majesco re-released the third, mini-sized Genesis model at a discount price of around $30. I was legit stunned at that price for a brand new system, even if it was for a ten-year old platform at that time I could not help but instantly snatched it up!

If you read my GameBoy special from several weeks back you will recall my lamenting over its lackluster wrestling games compared to the superior ones on the 16-bit platforms. On Genesis, Rich and I played way too much Royal Rumble on the system. Other wrestling games I picked up for the Genesis over the years was the inferior predecessor to Royal Rumble in Super Wrestlemania. While I had a blast with Rumble way back when, it regrettably does not hold up well all these years later with its over-reliance on a button mashing grapple meter that obliterated thumbs that I have no idea how I tolerated at the time. Saturday Night Slam Masters was a unique wrestling game from Capcom. It is essentially Street Fighter II in a wrestling ring, complete with victory taunts, Mike Haggar from Final Fight in its roster and even has a few wrestling moves sprinkled in! I loved how they had over-the-top laser light entrances and larger-than-life character sprites at the time, and I recall enjoying the Genesis version more than the SNES. There was nothing else like it since, and on occasion I will still throw it in every couple of years. I continue to hope one day Capcom will release its sequel, Ring of Destruction in a random collection of arcade games because it never got a home port all these years later.


Sports games ruled on the Genesis! Pictured from clockwise at top left is Holyfield's Real Deal Boxing, NHLPA '93, Super Volleyball and Tiny Toon ACME All-Stars

I mentioned some of my favorite sports games for the system above, but it really needs to be emphasized how big sports games were on the Genesis. Both Sega and EA pumped out a seemingly endless line of sports titles for the system. I remember getting into silly speculation with Rich over how much extra memory that yellow tab on the EA carts allowed EA games to play better. For hoops titles I got my NBA Jam and Live fix on SNES, but on the ‘ol Genny my go-to basketball games were the oft-forgotten NCAA skinned version of Jam in College Hoops. I occasionally also threw in the hand-me-down street ball version of NBA Jam in Barkley Shut up Jam. I loved Madden, but Sega’s Joe Montana line of gridiron games were just a notch or two below too. For baseball, Sega’s World Series Baseball titles were in a league of its own when it came to gameplay and presentation with its larger-than-life hitter/batter perspective. For hockey EA’s NHL line was/is legendary! About four or five years ago my friend Derek gave me a ring to come over for some impromptu random gaming and he never played much Genesis before so when he got over I had the Genesis hooked up and laid out all my games for it and of that night we had the most fun playing a few rounds of NHL ‘94. At that point it was a 20-21 year old game and it still held up as one of the best hockey games of all time.

For brawlers I loved the Streets of Rage games, but I think it is my secret shame that I have yet to complete a single one. That must one day change! I did love the exclusive Genesis TMNT game, Hyperstone Heist! It was right up there with Turtles in Time and every couple of years my friend Matt and I make it a ritual to plow through that game. After many attempts we also conquered the Genesis port of the awesome arcade brawler, The Punisher! It does not have as friendly of a continue system as Hyperstone Heist so Matt and I had to learn to play a little more conservatively and not rely on mindless button mashing. It felt gratifying to have all that hard work pay off and beat The Punisher….until we got a copout ending screen of text saying ‘Now play like the Punisher and try hard difficulty.’ We did not, but I wound up looking up the ending several years later and at least Capcom made it worth your while because it had a far more intricate ending than many other brawlers at the time. The one Genesis brawler that always had our number was Captain America and the Avengers. It is a lot of fun to play, but it does not allow that many credits and by setting ourselves up with the max lives and continues that game was still a beast, and even playing conservatively and having so many attempts we only managed to make it to the final boss, The Red Skull, only once.

Let us fast track to about a little under 10 years ago when a co-worker approached me about being interested in buying his Genesis/Sega CD/32X along with a couple dozen games. He was saving up to pay off his upcoming wedding and he gave me a list of everything he had along with prices for everything he wanted going by what he saw off eBay auctions. I did some price researching of my own and made him an offer of around $250-ish for the ‘tower of power’ and about 20 games combined for all three systems. Looking back I accidentally lucked out with that offer because it was only a couple years later when 8/16-bit prices on the used market took a huge jump. I never had a must-have desire for a Sega CD or 32X, but there were always a couple of games I wanted to play on them that I eventually hunted down. I liked the versions of WWF RAW, Doom, Virtua Racer and especially Virtual Fighter the most out of my dozen 32X games. I recall as a then 10 and 11 year old being disgusted by early polygonal console games like Star Fox and Virtua Racer and was more on board with FMV games being the future, but remember being a little taken aback by Virtua Fighter indicating that there may be something to these 3D polygons. The 32X version is a surprisingly faithful version to its arcade counterpart.

I need to dive into my SegaCD games more one of these months. I hunted down all the must own titles for it like the Working Design RPGs, Shining Force CD, enhanced versions of Amazing Spider-Man and Batman Returns and Snatcher which I hope to one day knock off my gaming bucket list. Regrettably now my only SegaCD games I invested a decent amount of time into are WWF Rage in the Cage (essentially Super Wrestlemania but with some FMVs and a bigger roster), Slam City with Scottie Pippen (a abysmal FMV-based street hoops title) and the underrated SegaCD exclusive brawler, Prime. I am a huge Ultraverse comic nut and I ate up Prime on SegaCD since it was the only game released featuring characters from that comic book line before Marvel acquired them and cancelled all their books within a couple years (yes, I am still bitter over it). It is only one player, but Matt and I spent a few attempts taking turns at beating levels until we finally vanquished it. We even had an attempt thwarted when Prime was loading the final boss battle when a flipping blackout halted our progress! As memorable as that moment is I will instead forever associate Prime with its unrivaled and unforgettable opening theme music (seriously….give it a listen!).

I need to give a shoutout to the official handheld Genesis, aka the Nomad! My brother surprised the hell out of me one year with it for a birthday present. My favorite Nomad memory is my brother getting hyped for getting his own version of Genesis Shadowrun and I told him I would come over and bring my Nomad and my version while he played on his television and we could both start off our own new game and exchange tips and hints in a friendly rivalry type of way. I think my brother must have gotten the Genesis version of Shadowrun mixed up with the completely differently designed SNES version because he tried to run around aimlessly and gun down everything which is not how you want to play the Genesis version. We were planning that day out for weeks and I remember being stunned after about 15 minutes when I was starting to sink my teeth back into Shadowrun’s cyberpunk action-RPG brand of awesome when my brother out of nowhere went ‘screw this, let’s play something else!’

As I wind down I want to give many thanks to Sega for keeping the Genesis relevant throughout this century with its gratuitous re-releases of physical and digital collections. I have no idea why, but I keep on buying them for the convenience of having them for the latest system. It started with the Sega Smash Pack on DreamCast seeming like a killer value in 2001 for 12 games for $40. Then a few years later on PS2 I snatched up Sega Genesis Collection which seemed like an even better value with just over 30 games for $30! Then in the 360/PS3 era along came Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection which offered 40 games for $30!! Sega also sold a lot of the games ala carte via each console’s digital storefronts. Then last year we got Sega Genesis Classics on Xbox One/PS4 with 50 games for $30!!! The last several years Sega also has been licensing out to At Games to release their own pre-programmed Genesis mini console with dozens of pre-installed games. I held off on getting those after hearing how awful its emulation and shoddy production quality is, but after hearing how Sega finally decided to manufacture their own Genesis Mini themselves this fall and handed off the emulation duties to the acclaimed emulation studio M2, I could not pre-order fast enough! I have no idea why I keep deep diving down this well, but hats off to Sega for keeping me coming back again and again!

Similarly with my GameBoy flashback piece, I had an unorthodox experience with the Genesis. I was not a hardcore Sonic or Phantasy Star player like the average Genesis owner. If you ask me any day of the week my answer to what my favorite Genesis game is, it could be either The Punisher, Madden NFL ‘97, Shadowrun, Hyperstone Heist, NHL ‘94 or Skitchin’. That is another thing that made the Genesis great was its mammoth library of diverse titles so there was no doubt something for everyone! With that I will put the kibosh on this look back of my favorite moments with the Genesis as I anxiously await for my pre-order of the Genesis Mini to arrive in a few months!

Want more Genesis Love from me in Audio and quasi-video form?

I was looking through my hard drive archives and a decade ago while I was still doing my videogame podcast, On Tap, we did a special 20th anniversary special on the Genesis where my co-hosts and I reminisce about the Genesis. I went ahead and uploaded it on YouTube so if you want even more Genesis takes then click here to give it a listen!

Also recorded throughout 2009 from the On Tap archives was installments from our history of comic book videogames series. In this next episode I uploaded to YouTube is the second part of series where we breakdown every single comic book licensed game on the SNES and Genesis! My co-host Matt and I did thorough research for this episode and played almost nearly every single comic book game from this era in preparation for the episode to give the most up to date research and to see if these games (of which a vast majority are beat-em-ups) still hold up. Click here to give it a listen!

My Other Gaming Flashbacks

GameBoy 30th Anniversary