Sega, as a publisher and a developer, is one of the most important video game companies of all time. From the arcade scene to the console market, they have touched every aspect of gaming culture for decades. No matter how old players are, they have either watched or played a Sega property before.
They’ve run the gamut on their cultural impact from rival to Nintendo to nuts, another game maker. With games like Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Space Channel 5, and Phantasy Star Online, Sega cemented itself in gaming history forever. Let’s rank those games and others, taking into account how well they hold up and how their overall quality is.
The Typing Of The Dead
Resident Keystroke
The House of the Dead series is still fun to play, especially in an arcade setting, but there’s just something more alluring and magical about The Typing of the Dead. Instead of blasting zombies in levels that are on-rails, players have to type out words.
It’s a borderland educational game, but no school had this in the classroom due to the violence, that’s for sure. The Typing of the Dead is well worth remembering in Sega’s catalog because it showcases how experimental and weird it is as a company.
Space Channel 5
Undercover Reporters
Sega has a long history with music rhythm games, and among them all, Space Channel 5 sticks out. Sent to investigate an alien uprising, reporter Ulala manages to crack the case. The levels are on-rails and feature players dancing to the rhythm, along with blasting aliens.
With good crowd work, players can rescue more civilians and get a larger posse in each level. With infectious music and some genuine surprises, Space Channel 5 is an earworm of a video game.
Streets of Rage 2
Brawl With A Purpose
Some franchises go on forever, but Streets of Rage is one that existed purely on the Sega Genesis for three games, and then Sega was done for decades. Among them all, Streets of Rage 2 still feels like the best overall experience.
Players can choose one of four characters when playing alone, but of course, there was two-player co-op back in the day, too. It’s a relatively short game that can be finished in an afternoon, but removed from that, the pixel art is still colorful, and the beat ‘em up gameplay is solid.
Shining The Holy Ark
Before Camelot Jumped Ship
Shining The Holy Ark is one of many Shining games that Sega produced, and this one was a first-person dungeon-crawler. What sets it apart, beyond that, is that Camelot Software Planning developed it, which most may know from Mario’s sports spin-offs or Golden Sun.
Players can form a party, go into dungeons, and fight monsters in turn-based battles. Golden Sun fans will especially get a lot out of Shining The Holy Ark today, and while the gameplay isn’t anything extraordinary, the sprite work and overall design make it highly playable today.
Shenmue
Ahead Of Its Time
Shenmue was an essential Dreamcast game that was way beyond what other action games were doing in 1999. The game was set in a more open world within a city that expanded over time, which cannot compare to the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 now, but it was still pretty amazing for a Dreamcast game.
It was also a story-forward action game filled with quirky characters and a mystery that players got invested in. It was the promising start to what fans hoped would become a long-running series, and while the lofty goals of Sega were not met, Shenmue is still a very important game for them.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
