Features
Sega CD Hidden Gems: 10 Brilliant Games That Weren’t FMV
Past the FMV pile sits a shelf of superb real games — Robo Aleste, Dark Wizard, Lords of Thunder and seven more brilliant Sega CD discs that deserve digging out.
Author: Sal Benedetto
From the Vault columnist. Grew up feeding quarters to the Ms. Pac-Man machine at his uncle's pizza place; still owns his childhood SNES and every Nintendo Power he ever begged his mother for. Writes the retrospectives and the hidden-gem hunts.
Reviews
Lunar: Eternal Blue Review: The Sequel That Outgrew Its Console
Bigger, funnier and more emotional than The Silver Star, Eternal Blue closed the Sega CD’s RPG story at its peak — the format’s swansong in the genre it defined.
Reviews
Popful Mail Review: Falcom’s Bounty Hunter, Working Designs’ Charm Offensive
Mail the bounty-hunting elf, two tag-team companions and a script with a grin on every line — Popful Mail is the Sega CD’s charm offensive, and it works.
Reviews
Silpheed Review: Polygon Spectacle at 64 Colours
Game Arts streamed pre-rendered polygon worlds off the disc and built a tight, well-armed shooter inside the spectacle — technical theatre with a real game in it.
Reviews
Final Fight CD Review: The Arcade Comes Home, Almost Intact
All three heroes, two players, the full campaign and an arranged CD soundtrack — Final Fight CD was the first home port that stopped apologising.
Reviews
Snatcher Review: Kojima’s Cyberpunk Detective Story
Hideo Kojima’s cyberpunk detective adventure reached English players only on Sega CD — atmospheric, funny, frightening, and still the finest adventure on the system.
Reviews
Lunar: The Silver Star Review: The Little RPG With the Big Heart
Game Arts and Working Designs used the CD for warmth instead of footage — voices, songs and a party you genuinely love make Lunar the little RPG with the big heart.
Reviews
Sonic CD Review: Time Travel’s Fastest Hedgehog
The Sega CD’s essential game: four eras per zone, two great soundtracks, and the debuts of Metal Sonic and Amy Rose — Sonic CD is the argument for the add-on, made in blue.
Features
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 at 25: The One Where the Series Learned to Revert
Twenty-five years ago today — October 30, 2001 — a skateboarding game landed on the PlayStation 2 and quietly finished inventing a…
Reviews
Pier Solar and the Great Architects HD (PS4) Review – A 16-Bit RPG Reborn
WaterMelon’s forum-born RPG grew into the biggest cartridge the Mega Drive ever held. The HD remake is beautiful, stubborn and huge — our full review.