Sega Genesis

The Genesis was a latecomer to my video game collecion, first getting into my hands at Christmas in 1994. I had been a die-hard Nintendo fan, and was convinced that the Super NES was superior in every single way. But all of my friends were going on about Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic & Knuckles had just come out, so that Christmas I got the Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic & Knuckles. That would be the limit of my Genesis collecion for a long time, but those wouldn't be the only games I played.

Several summers in a row, my parents would get the Sega Channel from our local cable provider, and man did they lose money on me. I must have played every game that was ever offered on that system, including a bunch of games that didn't get a physical release in the U.S., like Alien Soldier. I was still really big into RPGs, and at the time I couldn't find many I liked on the Genesis, but I eventually came to appreciate games like Shining Force and Phantasy Star II. Also, platforming games were really strong on the Genesis with games like Earthworm Jim and Toejam and Earl 2.