10 (MORE) Retro Games To Add To Your Hacked Sega Mini (If You're Also An Old Millennial With Similar Gaming Tastes As Me) | PART 7
Just like with the previous lists of ‘10 games to add to your hacked Sega Mini’, PART 7 does not attempt to claim that these are the best retro titles ever. Instead, these are the games that, to me, still feel appealing to actually spend time playing all these years/decades later, especially given all the more modern ways one can distract themselves in the modern world. But, unlike the previous lists that dealt exclusively with 8-bit and 16-bit games, this time around I’ll be upping the hardware capabilities, as I recently went back to the hack to add a USB stick + consoles like the PS1 and GBA and N64 and other non-3-letter acronym’d options to my Sega Mini.
So, with that in mind, here’s another list of 10 games that I think are definitely worth adding to your hacked Sega Mini… if you happen to also be spending some of these covid quarantine days in a similar retro video game rabbit hole & have similar elder millennial tastes as me:
#1 - Metal Gear Solid (PLAYSTATION 1)
Metal Gear Solid on the PS1 is one of the best video games EVER. I realize that newer games on newer systems have probably taken the feeling of feeling like you’re a character inside an action movie to even much higher heights, but back in the late 90s when this game first came out, it was a mind-blowing step up from what the 16-bit era had offered for storylines and gameplay. I think one of the things that was so great about MGS is you had to sneak around rather than just button-mash shoot everything that came onscreen (and the baddies were even smart enough to notice your footprints in the snow!) — over 20 years later (fuck, can’t believe it’s over 20 years later) and the look & feel & gameplay still really hold up.
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#2 -
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 (PLAYSTATION 1)
Much like how Metal Gear Solid was synonymous with top shelf PS1 titles, the Tony Hawk series is another gold standard from that era of video gaming. You can’t really go wrong with any of the Tony Hawk games for the Playstation, but if you’re only selecting one—and for the sake of this list, I’m only selecting one—then I’d say you gotta go with number 2. Why? Well, the gameplay still holds up, as does the soundtrack + this is the one that I played all the time back in the day, so it also comes with a nice helping of nostalgia for me (even if I’m not anywhere close to being as good at landing tricks as I remember being).
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#3 - WarioLand 4
(GAME BOY ADVANCE)
I never had an original Game Boy back in the day or one of those Advanced ones that came out later (the only handheld I had was a Game Gear), so I never was all that aware of Nintendo switching over from doing Mario based platform games to Wario based platform games. And Wario 1-3 on the Game Boy / Game Boy Color are all nice little 8-bit platformers (and worth adding to your Mini because the file sizes are so small anyways), but the series really takes a step-up with the fourth instalment on the more powerful Game Boy Advance. The graphics on WarioLand 4 scale up pretty good when connected to the big screen and the gameplay is much better than the previous Wario’s — definitely worth adding near the top shelf of your Mini’s collection.
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#4 -
The Terminator (SEGA CD)
For the most part, my experience with tracking down and putting Sega CD games onto my Sega Mini was a feeling of “that doesn’t seem worth the effort or storage space used” (I mean, all those blocky full motion video scenes on most Sega CD games have not aged too great, especially considering the PS1 and all its capabilities were right around the corner), but I was delightfully surprised by how good The Terminator game was. In a way, it’s your standard kind of 2-D run & gun, but there’s some nice music and nice graphics. And, unlike a lot of Sega CD games that weren’t in the horrible Night Trap style, they didn’t just repackage something that already existed on the Sega Genesis here with some slightly better sound. As far as I know, this version of Terminator only exists on the Sega CD, so that makes it worth tracking down and making room for it on your Sega Mini.
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#5 - Crash Bandicoot
(PLAYSTATION 1)
If the PS1 had an undisputed mascot like Mario or Sonic were for the Nintendo and Sega, it would probably have to be Crash Bandicoot. He definitely had the kind of ‘tude one looks for in a 90s video game mascot. I haven’t played the Bandicoot series enough to know if Crash 1 is better than Crash 2 or Crash Warped, so technically I have all 3 added to my Sega Mini (once you’ve incorporated a USB stick into your hack, you don’t need to be picky), but I am putting the first Crash game into my Top Shelf folder because that’s the one that I keep finding myself coming back to play. At first it seems like the game is a bit too easy, but it gets trickier pretty quick and like all old games that are still fun to play today as a harder-to-impress aging millennial, Crash handles really well and is the right mix of fun and challenging.
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#6 - Spyro the Dragon
(PLAYSTATION 1)
Spyro can almost feel a bit too easy at times and maybe better suited for a younger audience… but sometimes it’s nice to just play a game that looks and feels really great and is just relaxing and enjoyable and not very stressful to spend time in. And Spyro The Dragon looks and feels really great and is relaxing and enjoyable and not very stressful to spend time in. That’s probably why they made a few sequels — sequels that also look and feel great and are worth adding to your hacked Sega Mini if you’ve got room for more than one (and assuming you’ve incorporated a USB stick into your hack in order to play PS1 games, you’ve probably got room). But I’m gonna try working my way through the first one first, so that’s the one that makes it into my Top Shelf folder.
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#7 - Banjo-Kazooie
(NINTENDO 64)
When it comes to Nintendo 64 games, playing them on a hacked Sega Mini is not gonna give you the best experience. A lot of games don’t work, and even those that do often have some issues (especially in the cut scenes). On top of that, the N64 controller is kind of its own thing and doesn’t really map well to other controller layouts, which can make some of the controls a bit awkward. All that being said, you can get some N64 games to work pretty good on a hacked Sega Mini and Banjo-Kazooie has got a lot of character and quality gameplay to get stuck in to.
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#8 - Prince of Persia (GAME BOY ADVANCE)
Prince of Persia has some pretty smooth controls, which makes it nice to play, even if sometimes you’re not always sure what you need to do or where you are supposed to go. But I guess that is one of the challenges of video games, and this is one of the better looking GBA games once you upscale things from the tiny handheld screen to the big tv (ie. a lot of Game Boy Advance games sometimes manage to end up looking worse than a Nintendo or Genesis game, or at least more ‘faded’ even though they’re theoretically working with more bits — not that I really understand what any of the technical stuff behind how video games look/work). Anyways, it’s a good game that plays well, which makes you want to spend the time trying to figure out where exactly you’re supposed to go.
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#9 - Skullmonkeys
(PLAYSTATION 1)
It’s a shame that there weren’t more PS1 games that did what Skullmonkeys did — which is lean into the idea of making a visually/audibly more advanced 2-D platformer than was previously possible on 16-bit hardward, rather than getting caught up in the new polygon characters / 3-D level layouts that you’ll find way more of on the PS1. Because this game looks really great with it’s stop-motion / claymation graphics and the soundtrack is really fantastic — and the song that plays when you make it to a bonus level, with its “don’t worry this is just a bonus room, there’s no bad guys in here, so take your time” lyrics, really wins you over and makes you want to keep playing to see what other kinds of creative touches have been done with the game.
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#10 - Medal of Honor
(PLAYSTATION 1)
Both Medal of Honor and Medal of Honor Underground are great 1st-person shooters on the PS1, so consider me recommending the first title in the series as a recommendation for both (but I’m currently working on shooting my way thru Nazis in the first game, so that’s why it makes the Top Shelf folder). Call me old fashioned, but there’s just some thing nice about sneaking around Nazi-occupied France and taking out the one kind of baddie from history that we can all agree upon were definitely the baddies (well, most of us can agree upon that).
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Ok, that’s it for this edition of 10 games that I would recommend making sure you add to your hacked Sega Mini if you’re an old millennial with similar gaming tastes as me (and if you missed it / are interested, here’s my updated guide on how to your Sega Mini with Hakchi, which includes info on incorporating a USB stick for storage and adding PS1 games).
If you want more than the 10 recommendations above, you can check out my other lists of 10 games…
…and then you can let me know whether you think my overall collection of ‘games to add to your hacked Sega Mini’ is totally rubbish or kinda decent, or which games you cannot believe I have not included yet (my plan is to stop making these lists after I get to 95 recommended games in my HI54 TOP SHELF folder on my Sega Mini home screen, so there’s still a few slots open / undecided).
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* For legal reasons, I suppose I should add that this post is entirely a work of fiction and I would never actually hack my Sega Mini with games I did not acquire in whatever the proper legal manner is for acquiring old 90s games in 2020 — in fact I would never even hack my Sega Mini, period, because hacking is bad, kids. "Follow the rules and always do things the way you were told to do them" — that's my motto. SEGA!