The top 5 games from Sega Mega Drive –

5. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master

Sega’s Shinobi series has had an uneven history, with quality not always at its best. However, it was in the third game for the Mega Drive, produced by Sega’s own Tomoyuki Ito, that the concept came into its own, and I have no doubt that this is the best pure ninja game of the 1990s. It was difficult, painfully challenging and wonderful. The controls were fantastic and the variety of environments was brilliant.

4. Mortal Kombat II

It was with the second installment that the Mortal Kombat hype really took off. Ed Boon’s digitized karate characters kicked the shit out of each other without remorse, and in addition to highly entertaining violence and great graphics, the game system was brilliant and the characters were timeless.

3. Quackshot starring Donald Duck

Aladdin, The Lion King, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, Ducktales…. There was certainly no shortage of really good Disney games in the late 1980s and early 1990s. On the contrary. In fact, most of them were really very good. Quackshot was definitely one of them. Charming, super cute for its time and steeped in character as Donald Duck sets out to save the children from Black Peter’s cunning plans.

2. Streets of anger 2

The first game in Sega’s attempt to compete with Final Fight and Double Dragon was brilliant. Perhaps the best 90’s beat ’em up ever made. If! It had not been for the sequel in which producer Akitoshi Kawano got more money to play with, expanded the basic concept, expanded the levels, added new characters, sharpened the graphics, added attacks and built an action game so good that the genre gasped in amazement.

1. Sonic the hedgehog 2

Team Sonic’s debut blue hedgehog game was, as we all know, brilliant. The beginning of something big and behind the scenes we found a scrappy little team of ambitious youngsters who, under the leadership of Yuji Naka, transformed an idea of “competing with Super Mario” and of making a “cooler” platform game into something historic. However, it was in the sequel that exactly, exactly all the little parameters came together best, it was in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that the concept really came into its own – and this is thanks to PlayStation architect and Sony boss Mark Cerny. At the time, Cerny ran his own game studio, which he co-owned with Sega, and when Sonic 2 was being developed, he suggested that Sonic Team boss Yuji Naka collaborate with the California-based Sega Technical Institute, resulting in one of the best games ever made.