Today we got the awesome announcement that four classic Mega Drive games are coming to the Nintendo Switch Online service for the April update.
Something that seems to be a common theme with these kinds of updates is that people wish there were more! And as we know, this is 100% because of licensing.
There just aren’t many (if any) games that Nintendo has rights to just throw on the service. Certainly not ones that Nintendo didn’t create themselves.
Nintendo has to reach out to the publishers and get new deals to include games on their online game library.
So this process will always be slower than we’d like, and not as many games as we’d like. But at least we do have some pretty incredible games being added.
April’s new lineup includes four pretty awesome games. One, especially, will be quite a surprise.
So let’s take a look, eh?
Table of Contents
1. Flicky
There’s always gonna be one in the bunch that ain’t all that exciting. For me, Flicky is gonna be that game.
This is a simple arcade style game where you are mama bird flying around trying to save all the baby birds.
It’s one of those early 80s titles that tried to do what Mario Bros. (not “Super” Mario Bros), Pacman, or Donkey Kong did.
Not every 80s game will be a best arcade games, but Flicky is an interesting one if you’d just like to try a game you maybe never heard of.
Don’t worry, it gets a lot better from here.
2. Kid Chameleon
Now we’re talking. This is a game we absolutely know and love.
Kid Chameleon was included on the Sega Mega Drive Mini, so you know it’s a game that’s considered one of the most important for the Mega Drive.
This game was released on 1992 and was absolutely jam packed with action.
There are 103 total levels in this wild ride, and surprisingly… no way to save your progress!
So thankfully the new Nintendo Switch Online service will help with that issue, since they have save states available to you.
You’ll certainly wanna’ give this game a try and get all the way to the end. Because that final boss is nothing short of insanity.
This is a must play for Sega fans, and thankfully we now have it on the Switch Online.
Good choice, Nintendo!
3. Pulseman
If you thought that this game looked like Sonic The Hedgehog on psychedelic drugs, you wouldn’t be entirely wrong.
This game feels a lot like what you’d get if you mixed Sonic with Mega Man. And those are some ingredients for a great game, if you ask us.
And there’s a small game studio responsible for this title that may come as a bit of a surprise to you.
The developer of Pulseman was… wait for it… Game Freak.
Yes, the same Game Freak that developed the Pokemon franchise.
Game Freak is actually responsible for some pretty incredible titles outside of the Pokemon universe, and it’s worth taking a look at their whole catalogue.
I wrote about one of their coolest games Drill Dozer in our article about the most underrated Game Boy games. And I still believe that’s one of the best games ever to come to the GBA.
Pulseman is yet another incredible title from Game Freak that deserves your attention.
And now, a lot of people will get the chance to give it a go. Maybe for the first time.
4. Street Fighter II’: Special Champion Edition
Now this was one that really surprised us.
Surely, if Nintendo was gonna put Street Fighter II on the Switch Online service, we’d bet it would be for the SNES.
But nope. It is the Sega Mega Drive version that we actually got. Who woulda’ thunk it?
Also, you might think that the inclusion of the dash symbol (‘) was an accident in our title. But that’s actually a stylized choice that Capcom made with this iteration of SF2.
Because in Japan, this was released as “Street Fighter II Dash”.
Street Fighter II Dash was the very first update made to the original Street Fighter II arcade game.
And it was the first to include the final four grand masters as playable characters. That’s M. Bison, Balrog, Vega and Sagat. Some of the coolest characters in the game, surely you’d agree!
While Street Fighter II Turbo is the most well known update to SF2 and the most beloved, it was the Special Champion Edition that set the stage.
So it’s pretty cool to see this obscure and maybe forgotten iteration get some love!
Coincidentally, we just wrote an article about a new line of Street Fighter keyboards coming from Higround. So even more Street Fighter II love in the universe.
And a universe that celebrates Street Fighter II is the kind of universe we want to live in.
