The last great, succesful 16-bit game?

[Bardman]

I was thinking about the twilight years(94-96) of the 16-bit era, and my thoughts focused on Donkey Kong Country, and how it had the gaming press in awe back in 94. Remember how people went crazy about it - saying it wasn't possible on the SNES, and that it must be an Ultra64 title? ... People were stunned by the game's rendered visuals.



There were two sequels to the game, but the original was a huge thing when it came out, and the others were by nature.. not so mind-blowing.



Then it got me thinking: "What was the last great, succesful 16-bit title?" ... My mind then wandered to memories of Yoshi's Island, and how it was also greeted with a lot of excitement from platformer fans. Also, people were really impressed with what the 16-bit machine was still capable of, even if it did have a bit of help from the SFX2.



Then you have Sonic & Knuckles, another platformer, but for the Mega Drive. A game that really pushed the host hardware and impressed people.

All three titles were 16-bit swan songs, that lots of people loved. There were many other games released at the end of the 16-bit era( 94-96 ) ... but those three really standout as big hits.

Maybe I've forgotten about some other titles??? ... Which game would you say was the last great, succesful 16-bit release?

[JazzFunk]

Weeeell, speaking from a Megadrive perspective, both Red Zone and The Adventures Of Batman And Robin were great *looking* games, very impressive *looking* but good to average in terms of gameplay. I'd say the MD version of Virtua Racing, even though it used a chip, it was just a really great conversion (for the MD) of a very technologically advanced coin-op and unlike Stunt Race FX on the SNES, was actually a pretty elegant 3D game to play, unlike that...

But, in terms of everything 16-bit, I'd say the various conversions of StreetFighter 2 exemplify the absolute ultimate in terms of programming perfection.

[the_hawk]

Jurassic Park: The Lost World was released on the Mega Drive in 1997, long after most of us had moved on to Saturns & Playstations.

[Sir Hilary Bray]

Donkey Kong Country is underrated umongst Retro gamers

[Fred83]

I would pick vectorman 1 and 2 as another MD last great game..

[Matt_B]

I'd think that the last great 16-bit game would have to be a Neo Geo one. They were still being made as recently as 2003 (Samurai Showdown V, KOV 2003, Metal Slug 5, etc.) although it was only being propped up by sequelmania at that point.

[rossi46]

Toy Story on the Megadrive was arguably the machine's last great title. It was amazing to look at and made my import saturn look like not such a great investment at the time.

[paranoid marvin]

SWOS '96-97 on the miggy

[pottyboy]

Micro Machines 96 on the MD was such a fantastic little racer, so I reckon it was that. However, it's not the latest MD game I own as that honour goes to Sonic 3D, although that wasn't so great.

Didn't FIFA Road To World Cup 98 get a release on the MD?

[Megamixer]

Ristar and Comix Zone came pretty late in the MD's life and were pretty impressive.

Also, don't forget Street Fighter Alpha 2 on the SNES which looked far better than the various SFII conversions. Really pushed the SNES at the end of its life.

[Roo]

Didn't FIFA Road To World Cup 98 get a release on the MD?

Correct, and it wasn't half bad either. 'Great' would be stretching it though...

My vote for the last great 16-bit game would be Donkey Kong Country 3. I feel it's the best in the series by miles. Unsure about how successful it was, to be fair.

[Fred83]

On a nostalgia trip here,i got an psx when these games where being released.

[OldSkoolCoolFool]

Also, don't forget Street Fighter Alpha 2 on the SNES which looked far better than the various SFII conversions. Really pushed the SNES at the end of its life.

loved it but felt it was let down slightly by the pause before each fight and (irrc) some occasional slowdown. These were only small niggles though and otherwise it was great but I thought the other SNES SF games were more perfect games as they didn't suffer these problems.

[Fred83]

Snes just kept giving!,had ports of doom even!.

[retrogarden]

Shout for Donkey Kong Country 3, and SFAII here.

Did the Snes also get UMK3? Without Sheeva but with Rain & Noob Saibot (MKT characters)?