How the Genesis did what Nintendidn’t from A to Z: “E”
We’re back again to where we list, from A to Z, how the Genesis did what Nintendidn’t. Essentially, these are games, features, and developers who contributed exclusive content on the SEGA Genesis which simply couldn’t be found on Nintendo.
If you missed the last installment covering the letter “D,” you can check it out here. Moving forward, I can think of no other topic for this installment which is more appropriately synched with our October “Horror Fest” content than this one, so let’s get lost in the horrible, awful terror that is…
Evil comes in many forms, and for many of today’s gamers, especially SEGA fans, it comes in no form as sinister as Electronic Arts. While Genesis owners might look back fondly on their experience with EA’s SEGA Genesis games, there is no denying that EA’s relationship with SEGA has been a prickly one. It all began when Trip Hawkins and his lot reversed engineered the Genesis hardware and held SEGA hostage in order to get a rather sweet publishing deal on the system. SEGA’s and EA’s relationship finally reached a breaking point in the late 1990’s when EA refused to develop any games for SEGA’s Dreamcast hardware unless SEGA guaranteed them exclusive rights to all sports games. Yeah. F–k EA.
Even so, the odd symbiotic relationship between EA and SEGA during the 16-bit era still yielded some damn good games, and you have to give credit where credit is due. True, EA did eventually develop the Strike series and its sports games on the Super NES, but many of EA’s most interesting 16-bit releases were console exclusives on the Genesis: General Chaos, Haunting starring Polterguy, the Road Rash series (and it’s pseudo-spinoff, Skitchin’), the Mutant League sports series, even Crüe Ball is a mighty solid pinball game (once you get over the dumb Motley Crüe license). That’s right, Nintendo dorks. You didn’t get any Mutant League or Road Rash games on your console. Neener-neener-neener.
Everyone who knows how I feel about EA is probably surprised to see that they made the tip-top of the “E” list. It was a gut-wrenching, soul-crushing decision, I can say that much. However, despite all the bad blood between SEGA and EA over the years, their uneasy partnership benefited Genesis gamers in the end.
Eventually, SEGA forgave EA (at least enough so) to collaborate with them on the new Plants Vs. Zombies arcade game, so I suppose I could find it in my heart to forgive them, too… Someday… Maybe.
“E” Honorable Mentions
El Viento
Ecco the Dolphin Series
Exile
That’s “E,” ladies and gents! In about two weeks, I’ll take a shot at the letter F. Will it be a game? A developer? Will it be “F–k EA?” The suspense is maddening, yes? Anyway, here’s the list so far:
From A to Z
Alisia Dragoon
Backwards Compatibility
Cases
Disney Games
Electronic Arts
G-???
H-???
I-???
J-???
K-???
L-???
M-???
N-???
O-???
P-???
Q-???
R-???
S-???
T-???
U-???
V-???
W-???
X-???
Y-???
Z-???
