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<p>List of the Best Games for the Sega Genesis. These are not all the games, but they are the best as voted on by gamers. Sega Genesis was the second console released in the United States by the Sega Corporation. It was meant as a rival for the popular Super Nintendo and offered 16 bit entertainment. The Genesis had multiple successes throughout it's life span, but the most popular would have to be Sonic the Hedgehog, which was the Mario of Sega. This is not to say that other games like Altered Beast, NBA Jam and of course, Mortal Kombat, were not huge games as well. (Every gamer can tell you that Mortal Kombat on the Genesis was a much better version if only for the fact that the characters bleed instead of sweated.)</p>Since this is the greatest games for the Sega Genesis, vote up your favorites and add your own if they aren't on the list.

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Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is an 8-bit side-scrolling platform video game developed by Aspect and released by Sega for their Master System and Game Gear formats. The Master System version was released in Europe on October 16, 1992, and in Brazil around the same time. The Game Gear version was released in Europe on October 29, 1992, North America on November 17, 1992 and in Japan on November 21, 1992.
Being released before the 16-bit version for the Mega Drive, the 8-bit editions of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 represented the debut of character Miles "Tails" Prower, who became a recurring character in the series.
The Master System version was released for the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console on November 18, 2008 in Japan, in North America on December 8, 2008 and in the PAL regions on December 26, 2008.

Streets of Rage 2

Streets of Rage 2, released in Japan as Bare Knuckle II: The Requiem of the Deadly Battle and in Europe as Streets of Rage II, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game released by Sega in 1992 for the Mega Drive / Genesis console. The game is also playable in the game Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. It is the second game in the Streets of Rage series, a sequel to Streets of Rage and followed by Streets of Rage 3.
The game introduced two new characters: Max Thunder and Eddie "Skate" Hunter, brother of Adam Hunter from the original game. It was critically acclaimed upon release and has since been listed among the best games of all time.

Castlevania: Bloodlines

Castlevania: Bloodlines is a platform game developed and published by Konami for the Sega Genesis in 1994. It is the only Castlevania video game released on the Mega Drive/Genesis. Its Japanese title is Vampire Killer. This version featured a considerable amount of violence, with the American port containing a surprising amount of blood and gore for a game of its "GA" rating. The European and Australian titles were censored and both titled Castlevania: The New Generation.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis console. The game was released in North America, Europe and Australia on June 23, 1991 and in Japan on July 26 of that year. It stars Sonic the Hedgehog in a quest to defeat Dr. Robotnik, an evil scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and stolen the magical Chaos Emeralds. Sonic the Hedgehog '​s gameplay involves collecting rings as a form of health and a simple control scheme, with jumping and attacking controlled by one button.
The game's development began in 1990, when Sega ordered its AM8 development team to create a game featuring a mascot for the company. After considering a number of suggestions, the developers decided on a blue hedgehog with spikes along his head and spine and renamed themselves "Sonic Team" to match their character. Sonic the Hedgehog, designed for fast gameplay, was influenced by the games of Shigeru Miyamoto. It uses a novel technique that allows Sonic's sprite to roll along curved scenery, which originated in a tech demo created by Yuji Naka. The game's soundtrack was composed by Masato Nakamura.

Streets of Rage

Streets of Rage is a side-scrolling beat 'em up released by Sega in 1991 for the Sega Genesis. It is the first installment of the Bare Knuckle/Streets of Rage series which was followed by Streets of Rage 2 and Streets of Rage 3. The game was also converted over to Sega's Game Gear, Sega CD and Master System. In 2007, the game was released for the Wii's Virtual Console in North America and Europe, and in 2009 it was released for the iOS via the App Store. The game was again made available as part of Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection in 2009 on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

Disney's Aladdin

Disney's Aladdin is a platform video game developed by Virgin Interactive based on the 1992 motion picture of the same name. The game was released for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in November 1993 and was later ported to the Amiga computer and MS-DOS which featured module music and sampeld sound effects. NES and the Game Boy received a reworked port. It is one of several video games based on this film, including one game that was released in the same month by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic & Knuckles is a 1994 platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Released on October 18, 1994, it was the fourth installment in the main Sonic the Hedgehog series. The game is a direct sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and follows both Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna in their respective quests to save Angel Island; Sonic tries to prevent Dr. Robotnik from re-launching his orbital weapon, the Death Egg, while Knuckles scuffles with Robotnik's minion, EggRobo.
Sonic & Knuckles utilizes "lock-on technology" that allows the game to access data from both Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 so that elements of both Sonic & Knuckles and the locked-on game are combined. During the development of Sonic 3, it and Sonic & Knuckles were intended to be a single story within the same cartridge. However, due to time constraints and the fact that a large memory capacity cartridge would have been expensive, Sega split the game into two separate installments.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist, released in Europe as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist and in Japan as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Return of the Shredder is a side-scrolling beat 'em up based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, and was also the first TMNT game released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.

Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was released on February 2, 1994. The game is a direct sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog 2: in it, Dr. Robotnik's ship, the Death Egg, crash-lands on a floating island, and Sonic and Tails follow him there. There, the duo must once more retrieve the Chaos Emeralds to stop Death Egg from relaunching, while also making rounds with the Emeralds' guardian, Knuckles the Echidna.
Development of the game began shortly after the release of its predecessor in 1992; it was originally intended to be a top-down, isometric game, similar to what would eventually become Sonic 3D Blast. However, this concept was abandoned early into development as the team did not want to change the Sonic formula too radically for a sequel. The game is closely tied to its direct sequel Sonic & Knuckles, as the two titles were originally developed as a single game until time constraints and cartridge costs forced them to be split into two interlocking parts. Some re-releases have packaged the two together as Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Mortal Kombat II

Mortal Kombat II is a competitive fighting game originally produced by Midway Games for the arcades in 1993. It was later ported to multiple home systems, including the PC, Amiga, Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and various PlayStation consoles.
Mortal Kombat II was the second game in the Mortal Kombat series, improving the gameplay and expanding the mythos of the original Mortal Kombat, notably introducing more varied Fatality finishing moves and several iconic characters, such as Kitana, Mileena, Kung Lao, and the series' recurring villain, Shao Kahn. The game's plot continues from the first game, featuring the next Mortal Kombat tournament set in the otherdimensional realm of Outworld, with the Outworld and Earthrealm representatives fighting each other on their way to challenge the evil emperor Shao Kahn.
The game was an unprecedented commercial success and was acclaimed by most critics, receiving many annual awards and having been featured in various top lists in the years and decades to come, but also perpetuating a major video game controversy due to the continuously over-the-top violent content of the series.

NBA Jam

NBA Jam is a basketball arcade game published and developed by Midway in 1993. It is the first entry in the NBA Jam series. The main designer and programmer for this game was Mark Turmell. Midway had previously released such sports games as Arch Rivals in 1989, High Impact in 1990, and Super High Impact in 1991. The gameplay of NBA Jam is based on Arch Rivals, another 2-on-2 basketball video game. However, it was the release of NBA Jam that brought mainstream success to the genre.
The game became exceptionally popular, and generated a significant amount of money for arcades after its release, creating revenue of $1 billion in quarters. In early 1994, the Amusement & Music Operators Association reported that NBA Jam had become the highest-earning arcade game of all time.
The release of NBA Jam gave rise to a new genre of sports games which were based around fast, action-packed gameplay and exaggerated realism, a formula which Midway would also later apply to the sports of football, and hockey.

Golden Axe II

Golden Axe II is a side-scrolling beat 'em up released for the Sega Mega Drive. It was released on December 26, 1991. It is the home console sequel to the popular game Golden Axe, marking the second game in the series, though the arcade did see a sequel of its own called Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder a few years later. Golden Axe II was only released on the Mega Drive, while the original was released on many other platforms. The game later appeared in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and as an iPhone port on iTunes.

Earthworm Jim

Earthworm Jim is a 1994 run and gun platforming video game developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Playmates Interactive Entertainment, featuring an earthworm named Jim in a robotic suit who battles evil. Created by Doug TenNapel and designed by David Perry, the game was released for the Sega Genesis in 1994, and subsequently ported to a number of other video game consoles.
The game was noted for its fluid, cartoon-like animation and 'off-the-wall' humour. It was well received by critics, and received a sequel, Earthworm Jim 2, in 1995. Fifteen years later, Gameloft developed a high definition remake for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, titled Earthworm Jim HD, in 2010.

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, released in Japan as The Super Shinobi II, is an action game developed and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis console that was released in 1993. It is the direct sequel to the previous The Revenge of Shinobi. The game was originally intended to be released in 1992, and to be very different from the final version of the game in terms of levels and storyline.
Shinobi III was included on the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It was also released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in 2007, for the PC on the download service Steam in 2010, on the iPhone in 2011 and for the Nintendo 3DS eShop in 2013.

Super Street Fighter II

Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers is a head-to-head fighting game produced by Capcom originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1993. It is the fourth game in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games, following Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting. In addition to refining and balancing the existing character roster from the previous installments, Super Street Fighter II also introduced four new characters. It was also the first game to be developed on Capcom '​s CP System II hardware, which permitted more sophisticated graphics and audio over the original CP System hardware, used by the previous versions of Street Fighter II.
Super Street Fighter II was followed by Super Street Fighter II Turbo, a fifth version of Street Fighter II released during the following year 1994, which further refined the balance between characters and introduced additional new features.

Golden Axe

Golden Axe is a side-scrolling, beat 'em up, hack and slash arcade video game released in 1989 by Sega for the System 16-B arcade hardware. It is the first game in the Golden Axe series.
Makoto Uchida was the primary developer of the game and also was responsible for the creation of Altered Beast. The game was ported to the Mega Drive/Genesis and Master System, among others.

The Revenge of Shinobi

The Revenge of Shinobi, published in Japan as The Super Shinobi, is a video game developed and published by Sega in 1989. It was the first Shinobi game developed for the Genesis/Mega Drive, and was later released on the coin-operated version of that console, the Mega-Tech.
Alongside Shadow Dancer, the game is a sequel to Shinobi, and features a soundtrack by video game music composer Yuzo Koshiro. The game was included in the compilations: Mega Games 2, Mega Drive 6 Pak, Sega Classics Arcade Collection, and Sega Smash Pack. It was re-released for the Wii Virtual Console in 2009 and on both the PlayStation 3 via PlayStation Network and Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade download services in 2012.

NBA Jam Tournament Edition

Road Rash II

Road Rash II is the second game in a series of motorcycle-racing video games by Electronic Arts. It was released in 1993 for the Sega Mega Drive. It is based heavily on the engine and sprites of the first game. Road Rash II introduced several new features to the series, including bikes with nitrous oxide injection and varied weapons. Many fans consider Road Rash II to be the best installment in the series.

Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat is an arcade fighting game developed and published by Midway Games in 1992 as the first title in the Mortal Kombat series. It was subsequently released by Acclaim Entertainment for nearly every home video game platform of the time.
The game introduced many key aspects of the Mortal Kombat series, including the unique five-button control scheme and gory finishing moves. The game focuses on the journey of the monk Liu Kang to save Earth from the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung, ending with their confrontation in the tournament known as Mortal Kombat.
Mortal Kombat became a best-selling game and remains one of the most popular fighting games in the genre's history, spawning numerous sequels and spin-offs over the following years and decades, beginning with Mortal Kombat II in 1993, and together with the first sequel was the subject of a successful film adaptation in 1995. It also sparked much controversy for its depiction of extreme violence and gore using realistic digitized graphics, resulting in the introduction of age-specific content descriptor ratings for video games.

Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage

Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game for the Super NES and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, developed by Software Creations and published by LJN in 1994. The game, based on a sprawling comic book story arc of the same name, features numerous heroes, including Spider-Man, Venom, and their allies from the Marvel Comics fictional universe like Captain America, Black Cat, Iron Fist, Cloak and Dagger, Deathlok, Morbius and Firestar, all teaming up to battle an onslaught of villains led by Carnage, including Shriek, Doppelganger, Demogoblin and Carrion.
Both the Genesis/Mega Drive and Super NES versions come in a red cartridge. They were later released in the normal cartridge colors.
The game was followed up by a sequel called Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety.
Universal Studios Orlando used Maximum Carnage as the theme for a haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights in 2002.

NHL '94

NHL '94 is an ice hockey game by EA Sports for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo and Sega CD, as well as the first release for the PC, simply titled "NHL Hockey", without the "94" in the title. The game is officially licenced from the National Hockey League and the NHL Players' Association. Being the third game in the NHL series media franchise, it was released in October 1993. NHL '94 is included as #47 on IGN's Top 100 Games of All-Time and is named All-Time Greatest Sports Video Game by Boston.com. It was also ranked second by ESPN on its all-time sports video games rankings.

Contra: Hard Corps

Contra: Hard Corps is a side-scrolling run and gun-style shoot-'em-up video game released by Konami for the Sega Genesis in North America and South Korea in 1994. It was also released for the Mega Drive as Contra: The Hard Corps in Japan and as Probotector in Europe and Australia . It was the first game in the Contra series released for a Sega platform and serves as a departure from preceding games in the series in many ways.
Set five years after the events of Contra III: The Alien Wars, a terrorist group led by the renegade Colonel Bahamut have stolen an alien cell recovered from the war and now intends to use it to produce weapons. Instead of the traditional Contra heroes of Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, a new task force known as the Hard Corps are sent to deal with the situation. The game features a branching storyline with multiple possible endings.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a run and gun video game developed by LucasArts and originally published by Konami for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis consoles in 1993.
One or two players take control of protagonists Zeke and Julie in order to rescue the titular neighbors from monsters often seen in horror movies. Aiding them in this task are a variety of weapons and power-ups that can be used to battle the numerous enemies in each level. Various elements and aspects of horror movies are referenced in the game with some of its more violent content being censored in various territories such as Europe and Australia, where it is known only as Zombies.
While not a great commercial success, the game was well received for its graphical style, humor and deep gameplay. It spawned a sequel, Ghoul Patrol, released in 1994. In 2009, Zombies Ate My Neighbors was re-released for the Virtual Console to positive reviews.

List of the Best Games for the Sega Genesis. These are not all the games, but they are the best as voted on by gamers. Sega Genesis was the second console ...