My Top 25 Sega CD Games That Are Still Fun Playing All These Years Later
As I mentioned in my other top/fave retro video games lists, 2020 was the year I got back into playing retro video games from my youth. This was heavily influenced by me ordering a Sega Mini to hook up to the tv I won at a Super Bowl party right before the world went on a lockdown quarantine, but the thing that really kicked the new hobby up a notch was realizing that that Sega Mini could be hacked to add any old retro video game from any old retro video game console. And once one goes down that online retro video gaming rabbit hole, one eventually realizes that one could have been playing any old retro video game right on one’s old iMac the whole time. I guess that’s why they say hindsight is 2020.
More recently, I’ve been noticing that my most visited website pages, month after month, were my blog posts about retro video gaming (even though I am very clearly a ‘not a music blog, not not a music blog’), and most of those visits were coming from Google’rs. So, since I also did a lot of searching for “best Sega CD games” or “most underrated Sega CD games” or “Sega CD games that are still worth playing today” or “hidden gem Sega CD games” once I was done googling the same “how to hack a sega mini” queries that have been directing people to my blahg quite consistently, I figured I should put together some console specific lists too… because SEO, innit?
Please keep in mind that this list is not really in a ranked order and it is definitely not an attempt at creating a “greatest Sega CD games ever” list (so prepare to adjust your “how could you not include ___?!” outrage appropriately). This is just a list of games that I still find personally enjoyable playing as an elder millennial in the 2020s & the ones that I find myself reaching for most often + it should be noted that I don’t really care much for fighting games or turn based strategy RPG games or ‘point and click’ games (no matter how ‘critically acclaimed’ they are on the Youtubes & Reddits) AND, in the case of the Sega CD, I also don’t fancy those FMV games (which really have not aged well + I also don’t have any built-in nostalgia for the Sega CD, as I never owned one back in the day).
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AND NOW THAT WE’VE GOT ALL THE EXPLAINERS & DISCLAIMERS OUT OF THE WAY… HERE’S MY LIST OF 25 Sega CD GAMES THAT ARE STILL FUN TO PLAY TODAY (if you have similar gaming tastes):
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Ok, that’s it for my personal ‘Top 25 Sega CD Games That Are Still Fun To Play Now’ list — I know that there are some classic titles that seem crazy not to have included, but, again, this is not meant to be a ‘Top 25 All-Time Best Ever’ list and it’s also not meant to be your list (so apologies that Snatcher, an obviously well-made game, is just not a style of play that I can get into… same with the highly regarded turn-based RPGs on the Sega CD). Besides, reading another list that just confirms what’s on every other ‘best of’ list is a bit boring and pointless, especially if you’re looking for titles that might not always be top of mind (and especially when you consider how all this stuff is individually subjective & doesn’t really matter beyond the enjoyment that comes from thinking/talking about your own experience & finding temporary moments of connection/agreement/discovery with others).
So, on that note, here’s my other lists of retro video games that are still fun playing today if you happen to be looking for more than just Sega CD games to add to your own collection:
And please feel warmly encouraged to hit up the comments below if there’s any games that I left off that would definitely be on your ‘Fave 25 Sega CD games’ list (as I’ve been known to make tweaks to my lists when a new old game starts making a stronger case for more of my limited attention span) ↓
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JEREMY / @HI54LOFI
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