About this Site - Sep 2025 Update

Hey gamers. I first published this blog in July 2024. That initial release included my thoughts about every game that was released in North America during the 16-bit era. 

At the time I was underway with the second, and final, phase of this project - to play and review every 16-bit title playable by an English speaker, regardless of region. As of right now, that goal has been reached.

What lies before you is a heap of reviews for every game I could play on the following consoles:

• Super Nintendo/Super Famicom (1205 total)
• North America (715)
• Japan (450)
• Europe/PAL (39) 
• Sega Genesis/Mega Drive (849)
• North America (704)
• Japan (94)
• Europe/PAL (51)
• Sega CD/Mega Drive CD (158)
• North America (141)
• Japan (12)
• Europe/PAL (5)
• TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine (255)
• North America (94)
• Japan (161)
• TurboGrafx-16 CD/PC Engine CD (163)
• North America (44)
• Japan (119)

Add it all up and you've got a rather pleasing grand total of 2,626 fourth-generation titles. 

The reviews are full of typos and incomplete sentences, but I don't care. The notes are simply gravy on top of the scores assigned to each game.

Some Background

Project Scope - This page explains the scope of the project, including a breakdown of all noteworthy games that were included or excluded. 

Methodology - Here's an explanation about the methodology I employed when reviewing and grading each game and how I assigned each game an overall score.

Who Am I? - In case you want to know more about the author.

Sortable Lists

You can explore the reviews in three different ways: by scrolling down on this page (not recommended), via the labels in the right nav, or by viewing the three pages linked below. Each page includes a table where you can sort or filter the list of games by Title, Score, Publisher, and Year.

All SNES/Super Famicom Games
All Genesis/Mega Drive Games
All Sega CD/Mega Drive CD Games
All TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine Games
All TurboGrafx-16 CD/PC Engine CD Games

Please enjoy one man's fully formed opinion of the fourth-generation of video game console libraries.

Theme Park for MD CD PAL

Image: MobyGames

Theme Park

My kids play this in Roblox

Genre: strategy - rts

Publisher: Domark

Year: 1995

System: MD CD PAL

Gameplay Score: 3

Gameplay Notes:

Controls work well despite using a controller. Camera pans when your cursor approaches edge of screen. Placing attractions and whatnot is imprecise due to the isometric perspective but it's manageable. Everything moves fast and frantic. It's like a fast moving SimCity. Build attractions, connect them with walkways and queues, and monitor key indicators which show how successful your design is. Fun One point off for the annoying Loading screens and bloat that comes with it being a CD game.

Level Design Score: 3

Level Design Notes:

I quickly reached a point where I was watching rather than building. I didn't get past the first level but I imagine there are lots of scenarios to deal with. I could see it getting old tho. Not sure how to keep this fresh and engaging. The thought of starting over doesn't sound appealing. I would probably rather tweak the same place

Theme Score: 5

Theme Notes:

Adorable aesthetic User generated content was a novel idea back in the 90s. Love the idea

Art Style Score: 4

Art Style Notes:

Again adorable. Sprites run around and everything animates. Lovely use of color.

Audio Score: 2

Audio Notes:

Music is cute but unbearably repetitive. I muted it after a couple of minutes

Overall Score: 62

Review ID: 12704

Syndicate for MD CD PAL

Image: MobyGames

Syndicate

Cyberpunk 20XX

Genre: strategy - rts

Publisher: Domark

Year: 1995

System: MD CD PAL

Gameplay Score: 2

Gameplay Notes:

It's unique anyway. Take jobs and bring your team of four Matrix Agent wannabes out to shoot targets and civilians. Plays a bit like GTA mixed with Risk. Lots of in between level management of stats, weapons, taxation of areas conquered. Isometric view

Level Design Score: 3

Level Design Notes:

The levels have varying objectives like kill all baddies or rescue a hostage. Seems like the primary speak. Objectives are hard to understand. Just wander around until the level ends.

Theme Score: 4

Theme Notes:

Cool cyberpunk setting

Art Style Score: 3

Art Style Notes:

NES quality sprites. Living environment with lots of NPCs wandering. The world feels alive

Audio Score: 4

Audio Notes:

Nice atmospheric music and satisfying sounds like gunshots and screams. Vast improvement over the cartridge versions.

Overall Score: 53

Review ID: 12703

Smurfs for MD CD PAL

Image: MobyGames

Smurfs

The most pointless CD port

Genre: action - platform

Publisher: Infogrames

Year: 1994

System: MD CD PAL

Gameplay Score: 2

Gameplay Notes:

No change from the cartridge version. Plays much better than the SNES version, which I played first. Still bad, but more playable. All the Westerm hallmarks. Slow movement, horrible hitboxes, inconsistent means of attacking enemies. I'm fact only a couple of enemies can be killed by bopping. Most can't be dealt with at all. Also a 40% draw distance.

Level Design Score: 1

Level Design Notes:

Plays to all of the gameplay's deficiencies. Precision platforming is required everywhere. Perfect jumps are required to cross gaps, climb a tree in stage two, ride birds in stage three, and avoid enemy attacks. Very difficulty as a result. Puddles don't kill you like they did in the SNES version. Instead it makes you slip, which makes more sense.

Theme Score: 3

Theme Notes:

Smurfs. Tiny bit of nostalgia but not cool enough to care. Play as a generic Smurf

Art Style Score: 3

Art Style Notes:

Nice sprites. Flat backgrounds but decent artwork. Darker colors but better performance.

Audio Score: 3

Audio Notes:

Overall Score: 40

Review ID: 12702

Marko for MD CD PAL

Image: MobyGames

Marko

The other Soccer Kid

Genre: action - platform

Publisher: Domark

Year: 1994

System: MD CD PAL

Gameplay Score: 1

Gameplay Notes:

These soccer themed games will be the death of me. Who thought this would be compelling? Possibly the slowest movement speed in a 16 bit platformer. You can run but there are too many enemies and hazards to use this much. Not to be confused with The Adventures of Kid Kleets, which was developed by a completely different team.

Level Design Score: 1

Level Design Notes:

I can't beat the first level. It's your standard licensed platformer with slow movement, terrible hit detection, no i-frames, cheap hits, etc., etc.

Theme Score: 1

Theme Notes:

Soccer kid

Art Style Score: 2

Art Style Notes:

What a weird mixed bag. The sprites look amazing, although the charactes models aren't very interesting. The backgrounds, on the other hand, look like they're pulled from an Atari 5200 title. This weird contrast between sprites, platforms, and background is jarring. It's like you're concurrently looking at three different games.

Audio Score: 2

Audio Notes:

Overall Score: 24

Review ID: 12701

Bloodshot for MD CD PAL

Image: MobyGames

Bloodshot

Impressive (but not good) Doom clone

Genre: shooter - fps

Publisher: Domark

Year: 1994

System: MD CD PAL

Gameplay Score: 3

Gameplay Notes:

It's a Doom clone if ever there was such a thing. Movement is decent including the ability to strafe which is nice. Unfortunately, strafing requires you to hold down the A button which is awkward since B is shooting so it's hard to strafe and fire at the same time. You collect weapons in the first level. There were four or five but they have very limited ammo so they're gone almost as soon as you've equipped them. The frame rate as you might expect is significantly better than the Mega Drive version, making this a much better experience.

Level Design Score: 2

Level Design Notes:

Extremely linear level design. Open the door. Kill enemies. Go to the next door. After beating the boss at the end of level, you have to run all the way back to the beginning. They give you a map which helps quite a bit.

Theme Score: 2

Theme Notes:

No idea what the story is on this one. It's just you and a corridor filled with aliens and robots.

Art Style Score: 5

Art Style Notes:

Impressive artwork. Looks far better than the Mega Drive version to boot. The screen takes up most of the available real estate. Framerate drops when there are two or more enemies, but nowhere near as bad as the cartridge version.

Audio Score: 4

Audio Notes:

VAST improvement over the chirpy 8-bit sounds in the Mega Drive version. The music is good but forgettable and sound effects are great.

Overall Score: 60

Review ID: 12700

Sengoku Denshou for MD CD

Image: MobyGames

Sengoku Denshou

One of the most ok NeoGeo ports

Genre: action - beat em up

Publisher: Sammy

Year: 1993

System: MD CD

Gameplay Score: 3

Gameplay Notes:

Slow movement, but generous hit detection. There are a handful of enemy types. Limited moves in your normal form, but the gimmick of the game is a set of transformations which are randomly dropped by enemies. You can get a sword, turn into a dog with a screw attack, a samurai with a projectile, and a ninja who backflips instead of walking. And that's just in the first level. These powerups timeout after about 30 seconds. Enemies hit like a truck, so it's critical to keep them at bay. Unlike the SFC version there are no health pickups.

Level Design Score: 3

Level Design Notes:

Whole bunch of short segments. You get beamed up Star Trek-style between each segment. The levels take you all over the place - from a standard city street to rooftops to a sci-fi setting to a cherry blossom forest in the clouds. Enemies come in waves of 3 or 4 and surround you but not too bad.

Theme Score: 2

Theme Notes:

Double Dragon meets Legend of the Mystical Ninja Kind of all over the place to be honest.

Art Style Score: 3

Art Style Notes:

Large sprites with decent animation. The character models are great and the backgrounds are lively. I only wish there were more effects or environmental elements, but what's hear looks good. Still, nowhere close to a Final Fight in terms of graphics.

Audio Score: 2

Audio Notes:

Bad music. Boring japanese flute music, or groovy tunes that feel completely out of place. Quiet sound effects. Nothing special.

Overall Score: 57

Review ID: 12511