Admittedly we weren't very wealthy, so we couldn't always afford the best or most up to date toys or devices on the market. When we were kids my parents bought my brother and me the Sega Genesis and we were bowled over and ecstatic. That is until we found out how expensive the games were. In either case, most of what we played on the Genesis was based around buying them used, borrowing them from our cousins, or renting them from the local video store (Batman Returns), but we did have a very small collection.

Bubsy
My dad was sweet enough to get this brand new for me for my birthday and I loved it back then. I don’t think it’s as awful as a lot of people consider it, but it certainly isn’t very good. The controls are slippery, the one hit deaths are unfair, and the gameplay is painfully repetitive. That said I loved the game when my dad got it for me, and I must have played this thing for hours. I still can’t beat the stage bosses, as I used to have my brother beat them for me.

Clayfighter
We got this later in the Genesis’ period as a used game and I loved it back then. Now? Not so much. I actually think it stinks, but back then the mix of claymation, and whimsical characters was a nice break from the blood and carnage of Mortal Kombat. In either case, we played and feuded over this for hours. My favorite was the Snowman.

George Foreman’s KO Boxing
My dad bought this new for me and my brother and he never really studied the games he bought. He’d just buy what he thought we’d have fun with. God love him, he was nice enough to buy this for us, but man this game was awful. The gameplay was tedious and dull, the colors were flat and ugly, and the combat was more annoying than exciting. But hey, it was a nice gesture.

E SWAT
This was yet another used game for my birthday from my dad that I quite enjoyed. I still kind of like “E Swat” to this day. It’s a fun shooter and platformer that becomes a high tech Metroid kind of shooter with its hero donning an armored weaponized suit for his increasingly deadly foes. I could never quite make it past the laboratory level, but I always had a good time with it.

Killer Instinct
My brother got this for his birthday, but we played this together most of the time and feuded over beating one another. Kids and fighting games don’t mix. In either case, we loved this game then and we love it now. The soundtrack kicks major keister, the character designs are a ton of fun and I love the way you can pull off major combos with the announcer rewarding you by screaming at you at the top of his lungs. I loved the soundtrack CD, too, and listened to it pretty much all the time.

Sonic the Hedgehog
This came with the Sega Genesis and my brother and I spent hours trying to make it to the very end. My brother did eventually make it to the end of the game, but I always gave up way too easily and I got bored very quickly. In either case, this game is a classic and I love the character of Sonic. I still do. We later discovered the code to skip levels and

Two Crude Dudes
Another used game from my dad, “Two Crude Dudes” was an okay beat em up that I always kind of found absolutely weird. Set during the apocalypse, two slow moving tough guys fight off a plethora of mutants, baddies, and monsters with their abilities to punch, kick, and throw massive objects. They also power up with the help of vending machines that spit out cans of energizing soda. Overall, a fun game if you have nothing else to do.