Mega Drive
The challenger with an attitude.
A history worth playing.
From television games to connected worlds
The cover story 1987–1996
The16-bitwars.
When gaming became a battlefield.
Sega challenged Nintendo with Sonic. NEC backed CDs. SNK brought its arcade hardware home. The contest looked different in every market.
Read the 16-bit chapterThe hardwareTwo sides of the story
Mega Drive / GenesisSega / Japan, 1988
↗
Super Nintendo1990 debut / US model shown
↗01 / Inside this edition26 hardware profiles 175 essential games Regional histories
Find your place in history
Explore all eras ↗02 / Hardware
The console archive The home-console contenders.
Super Nintendo
Nintendo’s worlds grow wider.
PC Engine
The other side of the console wars.
Neo Geo AES
Arcade hardware comes home.
NES / Famicom
Small controls, worlds that kept growing.
Master System
Arcade ambition, with time for an adventure.
Saturn
Arcade timing, room for experiments.
PlayStation
A disc could hold several kinds of world.
Nintendo 64
Movement starts under the thumb.
Dreamcast
An arcade machine with a telephone connection.
PlayStation 2
Games and films share the disc tray.
GameCube
Small discs, four controller sockets.
Xbox
Storage and a network port come as standard.
Game Boy Advance
A new cartridge, with room for the old library.
Nintendo DS
The lower screen becomes a control.
PSP
A widescreen and a disc drive in your hands.
Odyssey
The game reaches beyond the screen.
Home Pong
Two players, one built-in game.
Channel F
A different program in the same machine.
Atari 2600
The library changes around the machine.
Intellivision
The controller carries the instructions.
ColecoVision
Arcade licences and room for expansion.
03 / The playing guide
All essential games Four games to begin with.
Cartridge photograph1992 / Mega Drive
Streets of Rage 2
Crowd control and club music make a persuasive case for spending an evening on the sofa with a second player.
Must play
1992 game logo1992 / Mega Drive
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic finds his rhythm in a sequel built around branching routes, the Spin Dash and a companion who never quite keeps up.
Must play
Cartridge photograph1990 / Super Nintendo
Super Mario World
Yoshi and the cape give Mario new ways to investigate a map full of suspicious dead ends.
Must play
Box front1991 / Super Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
New equipment keeps sending Link back to old places, where a familiar obstacle has become a way forward.
Must playGame logos and cartridge photographs are credited in the image register. Private LaunchBox artwork is credited on each game feature; entries without images use typographic records.
From the editors
A place to start.
Many ways to play.
Choosing the gamesWhat earns a place
What earns a place
in the collection.
Each selection earns its place through its design, influence, or role in the console’s library. We cover different genres and discuss how each game plays today. Most collections contain ten games; the early-console lists start smaller and explain their scope.
How we choose the essentials