The folks at Sega were no strangers to offbeat games. A look at some of their earliest examples on the Sega Master System like Alex Kidd, Space Harrier, and Fantasy Zone reveal that the arcade game developing powerhouse of years past had a knack for creating games that were based on familiar gameplay elements, but adding their own twist to the genre. That tradition carried over to the Genesis console with games like Alien Storm and Sonic the Hedgehog hitting the scene in the early 90′s. It was during this period year that Kid Chameleon was released for the Genesis. It turned out to be a game that wasn’t your run-of-the-mill platformer.

While it did borrow trademark elements of Super Mario Brothers (smashing bricks, discovering “secret” blocks), the game still had one unique aspect that separated it from the vast number of similar games available at the time. It was enough to strike a chord with my older brother back then after he had come home from spending a weekend over his friend’s house. He excitedly began telling me about this neat Genesis game featuring a boy who was sure to end up having some sort of multiple personality disorder by the time his adventures came to a finish.
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Kung Fu is the home console port an arcade game by Irem know as Kung Fu Master, which was loosely based on Bruce Lee’s “Game of Death” movie. Most noteworthy about the game was its genre-defining gameplay. Believe it or not, Kung Fu gave birth to the beat ‘em up genre. So essentially, if you’ve played more refined games like Double Dragon, Final Fight, Battletoads, or Streets of Rage, then you’ve actually played Irem’s original creation in one way or another.
Kung Fu introduced the idea of taking on multiple enemies at once, culminating into a fight with a boss character at the end of each level. It’s been years since that fateful day when I laid my eyes upon this game, but all that nostalgia comes flooding back when I put in that grey cartridge and choose “1 Player – Game A”.
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“The Hobbit” was written, many people have been enthralled with the idea of warriors, with various traits and personalities, doing battle with some powerful force of malice in a medieval setting. As the years rolled by, strategy board games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, gained much popularity with kids (and many more adults) that were willing to devote their time to understand the game.

For the most part though, playing such games almost automatically gave you the “geeky kid” label as well. However, that all changed in the 80′s, when home consoles and arcades became the driving force of why we got out of bed in the morning. Sega eventually caught on to the idea and released Golden Axe in the arcades back in 1989. With its bright graphics, simple controls, and 2-player co-op action, Golden Axe became a big hit with avid gamers looking for a good challenge. Sega saw fit to make it part of their initial wave of games to be available soon after the launch of the Sega Genesis. Years later, Golden Axe had been made available on the Virtual Console, ready to fulfill your medieval side-scrolling brawler needs.
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1994 was an interesting year for 16-bit gamers. It was a time of great releases like Super Metroid, Earthworm Jim, and Final Fantasy III. Sadly, like all time periods in gaming history, there were also a good number of games that were produced on the right console but at the wrong time. Stunt Race FX on the Super Nintendo would fall into the category of the latter. It was the first and [for a while] only racing game on the system to feature a fully realized polygonal environment. And as the game’s name indicates, it utilized the special SuperFX hardware used in only a few games besides Star Fox.  Even so, Stunt Race FX proved to be a game that gave you the bang for your buck, provided that anyone would notice it among the more prominent greats out there.

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In every historical era, there always came a time for change and innovations that would eventually affect a major aspect of life. German engineer Karl Benz designed the first combustible flat engine. The British created the first mass-produced toothbrush. And the Japanese invented the platformer genre in video games, putting a new spin on how we can go about saving the day. In 1981, the now-legendary Shigeru Miyamoto was a mere young staff artist for Nintendo. But after being assigned the task of creating an arcade game that would capture the attention of the American audience, he proved to be a perfect fit for the job. The finished product starred a portly carpenter, a damsel in distress, and a stressed out monkey who had an infinite supply of barrels and wasn’t afraid to use them. As you all know by now, I’m talking ‘bout Donkey Kong (DK).

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