Yesterday, I offered up the 10th through 7th best 1HN (First-Hand Nostalgia) Sega Genesis characters based on my personal experience with Genesis games. As I stated in that post, I only included characters or in-game depictions from games that I have played, so a lot of classic characters didn't make the list, like Earthworm Jim, Knuckles, and others. Let's continue the list from number six:
6) Barry Sanders (Madden 93). You could probably include any Barry Sanders from any Madden or non-Madden football game on this list because Barry Sanders always had superhuman speed and quickness, but I must include the Barry Sanders from Madden 93 for one personal reason. If you select the Pro-Form formation when you are cycling through offensive plays, and then pick (and the name of the play escapes me) a play in which the right H-Back (Barry Sanders, in this case) goes into motion to his right, streaks up 10 yards or so and then goes to the post, you would be running one of my favorite all-time plays. With good hands and awesome speed, I could pass to Barry Sanders almost every time and gain major yards. Oh, and pitching right from Pro-Form was effective with Sanders, too. Anyway, Madden 93 was an outstanding entry in the Madden library, and Barry Sanders was a money player.
5) Frank Showtone (PGA European Tour Golf). Already, you can see that EA Sports games figure prominently on my list; that's because I was a huge EA Sports guy, which I've stated ad nauseum. Anyway, I was such a big EA Sports fan that I even bought PGA European Tour Golf, which is actually a solid golf game for the Genesis. Now, there were many great European golfers in that game, like Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, and Colin Montgomery, so why do I mention Frank Showtone? And... what the hay, who on Earth is Frank Showtone?! If you can't find him on the Internet, it's because he was created by my friend Ed, who was one with whom I had many of my Genesis adventures. To make a very long (but interesting) story short, Ed was on a "Frank Showtone" kick, like he was some lounge singer or something, and he decided to use that name for his in-game avatar. As it turned out, Frank Showtone took on a life of his own, won a few tournaments, and the legend grew. Of course, Frank Showtone has a new distinction: he's the only user-created character on this list. The legend continues!
4) John Madden (various). John Madden was not a playable character, but an in-game non-player character that, much like his real-life counterpart, added color commentary to any Madden football game. Quotes like "Boom!" and "He'll remember that number" would be repeated at least three or four times in a course of a twenty-minute game. The amazing thing was that (also like his real-life counterpart) John Madden's voice NEVER got old. After a while, hearing his sometimes ill-timed quips took on a surreal, humorous quality and often punctuated playful trash-talking. Ed was especially adept at goading me by pointing and laughing at me right after one of his defenders laid the boom on my running back for a loss. BOOM!
3) Brett Hull (NHL 95). When I first started playing the NHL franchise of EA Sports games in 1993, I became a fan of the St. Louis Blues. Why? Well, for the lamest reason possible: I liked the color blue. As I played NHL 94 more, I became not only a bigger fan of the Blues and of ice hockey in general, but also of Brett Hull, who was the sharp-shooting right-winger. In NHL 94, he was excellent, but when I graduated to NHL 95, Brett Hull was absolutely spectacular because one-timers were especially effective in NHL 95. To get the most out of Hull, I used to put him at center on my top line, Brendan Shanahan on the right wing, and Tony Amonte (who I had to acquire from the Blackhawks) on the left wing. With that line, Hull would score three to four goals per game with alarming regularity, and the strategy was simple: streak up one side of the ice with Amonte or Shanahan with the puck, and then with Brett Hull trailing, pass the puck across to him and tap C to shoot just before he received it. The one-timer animation was triggered, and Hull would top-shelf the puck into the net. NHL 95 was THE high point for Hull on the Genesis because EA Sports did something to NHL 96 to weaken the effectiveness of the one-timer. This is why I cite Brett Hull from NHL 95 as my third-best Genesis "character" ever.
Keep an eye out for number two in the next post!
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