Sega's Shinobi series has had an uneven history, with quality not always being at its best. However, it was in the third game for the Mega Drive, produced by Sega's own Tomoyuki Ito that the concept came into its own and there is no doubt in my mind that this is the best pure ninja game of the 90s. It was difficult, agonisingly challenging, and gorgeous. The controls were superb and the variety of environments was brilliant.
It was with the second instalment that the Mortal Kombat hype really took off. Ed Boon's digitised karate characters kicked the shit out of each other with no remorse, and in addition to highly entertaining violence and great graphics, the game system was brilliant and the characters were timeless.
Aladdin, The Lion King, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, Ducktales... There was certainly no shortage of really good Disney games in the late 80s and early 90s. Quite the contrary. In fact, most of them were really, really good. Quackshot was definitely one of them. Charming, super cute for its time, and drenched in character, as Donald Duck set out to rescue the kids from Black Peter's devious plans.
The first game in Sega's attempt to compete with Final Fight and Double Dragon was brilliant. Perhaps the best 90s beat 'em up ever made. If! It hadn't been for the sequel where producer Akitoshi Kawano was given more money to play with, expanded the basic concept, the levels, added new characters, sharpened the graphics, added attacks and built an action game so good that the genre gasped in astonishment.
Team Sonic's debut game about the blue hedgehog was, as we all know, brilliant. The start of something big and behind the scenes we found a scrappy little team of ambitious youngsters who, under Yuji Naka's leadership, turned an idea of 'competing with Super Mario' and of making a 'cooler' platformer, into something historic. However, it was in the sequel that exactly, exactly all the little parameters came together best, it was in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that the concept really came into its own - and this much is thanks to PlayStation architect and Sony boss Mark Cerny. At the time, Cerny was running his own game studio, which he co-owned with Sega, and when Sonic 2 was being developed, he suggested that Sonic Team boss Yuji Naka collaborate with the California-based Sega Technical Institute, resulting in one of the best games ever made.