Some great games mentioned already.

I would add a few, like General Chaos and Mega Bomberman. I second the love for the Mutant League games; both the football and hockey are very fun. My bro and I still tangle with the football game now and then.

I also own a few arcade ports, like Saturday Night Slammasters, Mercs, Strider, TMNT Manhattan Project and Sunset Riders.

I like Castlevania Bloodlines and Contra Hard Corps as much as their SNES countparts ... and I love the SNES versions of those franchises.

I still enjoy playing the Genesis; I think the games have held up as well as those on the SNES, but I am a pretty big retro gamer.

The last Genesis game I picked up was Sonic Spinball, not too long ago.

EDIT: Forgot to mention Ghouls 'n Ghosts, another fun game.

Mutant League FOotball

I like the retro games as well. You could have gotten a Genesis system and better games for cheaper, but I don't think you got screwed or anything.

I didn't see anyone mention Wonder Boy in Monster World.

I remember enjoying Midnight Resistance and Strider quite a bit back in the day.

I agree with others about these games: Shinobi games (especially Shadow Dancer), Sonic 3, Streets of Rage, and Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse.

Also, you could pick up a Sega Master System console for cheap and it's compitable with Genesis hookups and controllers. There are a lot of good games for the SMS.

Yeah i really want the sega master system as well. Thank you guys for posting all the recommendations. Now i just need to save up some $

I'd have to recommend staying FAR away from the 32X. That thing sucked and didn't have any decent games in the year it was in production (Doom was decent, but by the time the 32X was out, I'd already played that game to death).

Oh shit yeah, Wonder Boy is awesome. Also, if you get a SMS or powerbase converter, you have to get Wonder Boy III: the Dragons trap on the SMS which is great.

I was always a SNES guy as a kid, but there's a lot of good Genesis games to pick from.

I too used to have tons of oldschool systems hooked up, but with kids and stuff now I'm too busy and ebayed most of my oldschool stuff over the past couple of years. I rely on XBLA, Wii VC, and emulation for my oldschool needs.

If you find yourself enjoying playing on the oldschool hardware with real games, and you want portable, you can always invest in a Sega Nomad which plays Genesis games (what an awesome portable console)

My favorite Sega Genesis games:

Shining Force 1&2
Streets of Rage series

I loved Shadowrun on the SNES, I hear the Genesis version is a bit different, but the same idea.

IMO the 16-bit era was the pinnacle of gaming, especially for RPGs. If you pick up a Sega CD you can play the Lunar games for it...I've only played the Playstation remakes but I love 'em.

For multiplayer, Road Rash and some of the Mutant League games (hockey, football, etc).

That wasn't too bad of a deal. I've been playing a lot of Genesis games on the Wii virtual console and they're still a heck of a lot of fun. Like others, I think you'll like the Streets of Rage games as well as the first two Golden Axe games. Also, you should find a copy of NHL '94. That is still arguably the best hockey game ever released. The first two Road Rash games are great too.

The Genesis games are $8 each on the Wii virtual console. You can get the carts cheaper. Of course they won't look quite as good since you can't use component video and 480p.

One thing I've discovered about the sega genesis are the cases. They are the most well built cases. When i was at the flea market, one seller had super nes cases. They looked like they could easily deteriorate over time.

Yeah, the Genesis cases last forever. Except for the last year or two of releases, when they went to cheap cardboard boxes to save money, like the SNES games. I think they started making the instruction books black and white too.