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CheatCC Rewind: Let’s Get Weird with Sega Genesis

CheatCC Rewind: Let’s Get Weird with Sega Genesis

Modding games is great. It lets us see titles in an entirely new way and enjoy experiences different than the creators originally envisioned. Especially when people hack classic games to alter the experience, because you tend to mostly think of modding when it comes to newer games. The Steam Workshop is pretty great too, because it makes modding easy. You head to the Workshop for a game you have on Steam, click a subscribe button, and you’re set. Whenever it’s updated, you get that update. You don’t have to worry about a third party installer or whether you’re doing something wrong. It just works. Which is why the Sega Genesis & Mega Drive Classics’ Steam Workshop is amazing.

For people who haven’t been obsessively keeping up with the news or watching Steam, Sega updated its classic packs and single games on the distributor. If someone owns at least one classic title, they now also have the Sega Genesis & Mega Drive Classics emulator. It’s a hub that offers Steam Workshop support, so people can click a button on a particular game to enjoy a modified or hacked version of it. The results are astonishing, as people can upload their work that changes the game.

There are modifications that make the games easier. Examples include the “Chill” editions of Comix Zone , Gunstar Heroes , and Streets of Rage 2 . These take notoriously difficult games and adjust them, slightly, so players have the option to make them easier. It’s a simple exploit for everyone to enjoy.

Some of the Steam Workshop Sega Genesis & Mega Drive Classics uploads fix the games. Phantasy Star II is an RPG with quite a few quirks. An improvement mod fixes problems like an equipment issue, corrects script typos, and fixes some AI issues. Phantasy Star IV has always had a problem with level 99 stats for characters and the Megid spell. That was fixed in the Wii U Virtual Console release, and the mod uploaded to Steam applies that to the PC port of the game.

My personal favorites are the modified games that restore the localized versions of titles to their Japanese counterparts. Did you know Decap Attack had an entirely different lead character and premise in Japan? It was called Magical Hat no Buttobi Turbo! Daibouken and starred characters from the Magical Hat anime. A mod restores that original game . Another turns Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine back into Puyo Puyo .  There’s even the Ecco the Dolphin Japanese version, with all of its fixes .

CheatCC Rewind: Let’s Get Weird with Sega Genesis

Then, there’s the weirdness. That’s what some people may appreciate most of all. People put Crazy Bus into the Sega Genesis & Mega Drive Classics. (It uses Sonic the Hedgehog as a base.) Perhaps the best is one titled , “ Streets of Rage 2 Except It Makes That Weird Tim Allen Noise When People Die.” Odd and unexpected mods are great fun.

The Steam Workshop support for Sega Genesis & Mega Drive Classics is the best thing. We’re getting so many cool, new experiences. Sure, there are some questionable uploads and way too many mods that alter the main character of Sonic the Hedgehog . But still. Over 160 files have been added in less than a week. It’s an incredible resource for fixes, tweaks, and weirdness we never knew existed for games we’ve loved for years. Who needs modded modern games when we have this?

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