Every SEGA game with the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion at a glance
Ecco the Dolphin
Ecco the Dolphin is truly bizarre. I had this game as a kid and I can honestly tell you that playing this game for a prolonged session makes you feel like you’re having a fever dream.
You play as the titular Ecco, a dolphin. You swim, strike things with your snoot, and fire sonar. You speak to other sea creatures, explore the ruins of the deep, find food and air, and, at one point, save the planet from Lovecraftian nightmare aliens that look absolutely disgusting but you caught it while it was in the middle of breeding so it’s a bit more vulnerable. You know, dolphins doing dolphin things.
I’ve beaten this game multiple times and yet, I don’t know if it’s good. I can’t tell you if I even enjoyed it. There’s something weirdly compelling about this thing but it might just be the remarkably unique nature of it.
Strider
“Genesis Does” what Nintendon’t. Including throwing a sudden Michael Jackson cameo into a commercial.
Strider (yes kid, the one from Marvel vs Capcom) is a side-scrolling adventure game in which you control Strider, a ninja with a sword that contains a ridiculous swing. Climb around enemy bases, vessels and caverns as you fight off ninjas, soldiers, bioweapons, and your occasional robotic skeletal gorilla.
Not a bad game by any means but it’s also weird that a game with so many unique features gets old quick.
M.U.S.H.A.
Apparently, I can’t find a commercial of this game despite it being one of the more famous SEGA games. It actually used to be worth a LOT to get the original cartridge until the game was more commonly emulated and showed up in other forms.
MUSHA is a gorgeous vertically “bullet-hell” type shooter. It has a gorgeous visual aesthetic that combines futuristic robotic machinery with detailing from feudal Japan. The colors are bold and vibrant, and the enemies, no matter how low tier, are well detailed.
Even if you don’t like verticle shooters, this game put COMPILE on the map and is absolutely worth a peek.