The games of my formative years- The Mega Drive Era Part 1.

7 Jan, 2011

We all remember our first console. It is one of the few ‘first’ experiences that we can look back on without feeling a tremendous sense of embarassment, shame, regret or perhaps can even remember. My first system was the Sega Mega Drive, and this little 16 BIT cartridge gaming system was my stairway to heaven.

‘Yeah Mum, when this level is finished’

This was the catchphrase of my youth. The precursor to me going to school, tidying my room, coming for dinner and going to bed. That ‘one last level’ could have meant the difference between finishing a game or having to start from the beginning later on, back in the days before memory cards. Unlike many people, the Mega Drive was never originally bought for me, it was an impulse purchase by my Dad who was rather anxious to check out this ‘gaming lark’ that was spreading like wildfire amongst his friends. I could have only been about 4-5 when my Dad came bounding home from work one evening brandishing a strange box with a blue hedgehog on the front. I sat patiently in an arm chair while it was unboxed, plugged in and fired up and watched in silent awe as a blue hedgehog took down flying mutton-chops, my favourite Disney characters became interactive and fighting in the street wouldn’t get you detention or a ride home in a police car.

I turned on the machine as often as I could when my Dad wasn’t home, trying to squeeze in my precious hours with the games I came to love so much. It was that terrible, but admirably gracious moment when my Dad realised that his gaming credentials were being trumped viciously by those of his young daughter that he decided this was not for him, and so I inherited my lovely Mega Drive.

So this article is the first of a weekly mini-series I am going to be running about the games that entertained and inspired me as a child on my beloved Mega Drive system. I hope that you will see some of your own favourites from this glorious era of home gaming!

Alien 3

Back in the days before we had Lara Croft, there was Warrent Officer-come-Lieutenant First Class Ellen Ripley, the original female action hero. Anyone who knew me as a young child remembers pint-size dork with glasses and black curly hair who waddled down in her PJs before everyone went to bed to set the VHS player to record the X Files weeknights back in 1994. I was the original Sci-Fi nerd (how I never became a Trekkie is really a fortunate miracle) who to this day holds Gillian Anderson in very high esteem.
When my Dad brought home a copy of Alien 3 for the Mega Drive back upon it’s initial release I sat with him after school and watched as he directed a skinhead little ‘man’ with an arsenal that would make the Marine Corps blush, plough through this dark and creepy side scrolling adventure, saving ‘Prisoners’ and blowing away Aliens that looks like starved cats, it ticked every box for me.

Alien 3′s premise was simple, and incidentally totally unrelated to the plot of the film it was supposedly based on. You were dropped into various dark and moody environments with a time limit in which to find and save the poor coccooned prisoners and make sharp your run to the exit, peppered with blowing up some Alien ass for good measure. Failure to rescue the prisoners meant you were met with a charming montage of the said left behind prisoners screaming as ‘Chest Bursters’ made their entrance through their ribcage. Each stage had three sections, and was finished off with the classic ‘Boss’ round, or ‘Guardian’ as it was known here. The Gurdian was a huge hulking monstrosity, dripping with acid and jumped at you, best dealt with via your trusty Pulse Rifle and it’s grenade launcher feature.

This little 16 BIT chunk of gold for the time sported some wicked graphics, simplistic and engaging gameplay, and my person favourite part- the soundtrack. The introduction leading onto the main screen still makes the small hairs stand on end, these days more out of a warm feeling of nostalgia but at the time it was a hell of a way to crank up the tension. Check it out for yourself!

It wasn’t until a little while of playing that I found out that the main ‘guy’ was actually a main ‘gal’, which I thought was the best thing since sliced bread. It was my interest in this game that led to me watching ‘Aliens’ for the first time- yes I was a weird child, but it incidentally remains one of my favourite series of films of all time. I can only hope that someday I will finally get to use the phrase ‘Good! Because I blew it out of the Goddamn airlock!’ in conversation.

The Lion King

Another of my great loves even as an ‘adult’, Disney. To this very day I am still helplessly spellbound by the Disney films I grew up with, back in the days of great hand drawn animation, and the Lion King was one of my favourites. We all remember going to the cinema, being blown away by the tip-top animation, the flawless voice casting and crying when Simba finds Mufasa dead in the gorge (I still cry at this without shame). So when the video game came on the Mega Drive it was a must have and so I did odd jobs around the house in hope of finally being able to afford it, and when I reached my grand total of around £6.50, my lovely Grandmother put me out of my misery by getting me the game for my birthday, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Disney’s partnering with Virgin Interactive was a moment of gaming genius, bringing all the colourful fun that was Disney to your home system. The Lion King was your typical side scrolling adventure game, navigating your way through the lushous landscapes of the pridelands, to the dark smokey Elephant graveyard. You took control of young Simba and followed the faithful translation of the films narrative into adulthood, where you suddenly learned to give enemies a good slapping and use that ability against your good old Uncle Scar. Many songs from the film’s epic Hans Zimmer soundtrack were lovingly translated into the adorable chime of the Mega Drive music, music that is now begging to be a ringtone on your mobile phone.

This game was as fun as it was hard. Anyone who played this back in the day will remember the nightmarish second level in which you are flung around by monkeys and avoiding smashing into trees while riding on the back of a ostrich. The player in question isn’t the best, but this suitably illustrates the point, check it out!

Aladdin

Yep, another Disney game, and another classic. Aladdin was the first movie that I ever saw at the cinema, and one of the first games we got with our Mega Drive. Like ‘The Lion King’ Aladdin was a colourful and funny little 16 BIT adventure that allowed you to play a monkey weilding a sword, jump on the back of camels making them spit on enemies as a way of defeating them and of course riding the magic carpet!

Aladdin is still regarded amongst retro gamers as an absolute treat to play, and with very good reason! It was again more or less faithfully following the narrative of the movie through the streets of Agrabah to the Cave of Wonders and Saltan’s Palace. It had all the components of a classic Disney game, the characters, the music and of course the addictive 2D adventure! In the tradition of the other games featured, here’s a video, I challenge you to watch and not tap along to the music. Here we go!

So before this article becomes anymore of a monster I will leave it there, I hope you have enjoyed it and please leave your comments, or join us in the forums. Check out the second installment next week where I will wade through the rest of my collection for more of the titles that gave me the bug for gaming!