The 16-bit capable Sega Genesis was one of the most successful and coolest fourth-generation consoles. It was first released in 1988 and would eventually become the biggest rival of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It did so well and had such a desirable public image that at the time it was considered cooler than the Nintendo consoles. Yes, the cool kids had Sega Genesis' and the rest of us had Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems or Fam⭕icoms. At this time, Nintend🔴o had already captured the market with their legendary Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis had to claw its way into the market. Released just before the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Genesis proved to be quite a worthy rival in the end. It outsold the Super Nintendo Entertainment System for some years, but eventually fell close behind it for a worthy second place in overall sales.

Even if you didn't own the Sega Genesis personally, you almost certainly had exposure to it since one of your friends probably did own it. If they did, you undoubtedly went to visit them with some ulterior motives. Not just to say hello, but to play on the am♔azing new console they had. They had an amazing library of games too since there were so many awesome Sega Genesis titles, or at least that’s what we thought at the time. At the time, the games available for the Sega Genesis blew everyone away and titles like "best game ever" and the like were handed out pretty easily. Thinking back now with some perspective, not to say those games were necessarily bad, but many of them were actually a bit overrated considering the hype involved. Let's take a look at 20 of those overrated Sega Gen𓄧esis games.

20 NBA Jam

Released by Midway in 1993, the highly popular basketball game would end up creating a new sub-genre and even influence sports culture in the process. A first for sports games, the game featured a quicker, more intense and in a sense overdramatic version of basketball. Many famous basketball sayings used today like "Boomshakalaka🍷!," although not originating from the game, were popularized by the game♋. Most fans and critics got caught up in the hype of the game, but some critics were at least more discerning. Even though the game was ground breaking at the time, in retrospect the game is a lot like the sub-genre it started: overly hyped-up.

19 Ms. Pac-Man ജ ꦅ

Pac-Man is one of the most famous and well known video games of all time. Released in 1980, it would become one of the most popular and highest earning games, and still is one of the most recognizable gaming icons. The game was originally overlooked, but later surprised everyone with its success. Given its success you could argue that even the original Pac-Man was overrated, but let's give it the benefit of the doubt, especially since it had an underrated start. However, we won't be so kind to Ms. Pac-Man, sorry ladies. It was released in 1981 and is basically a slightly improved version of Pac-Man. The games are just too similar to justify the game's high ratings. The Sega Genesis version at least attempted to be more different than the original game, but it was still way too similar. Only one Pac-Man game should be included in most famous games lists and that game should be the original Pac-Man.

18 ﷽ Disney's Aladdin

Based on the Disney movie, Disney's Aladdin was released in 1993. The game is a platformer with the player controlling Aladdin. Aladdin has to traverse levels based on the original story and has to jump over obstacles, climb and also fight enemies. He can attack enemies by throwing apples at them, which amazingly kills them, or with his sword. The game has a hum𓃲orous tone and wasn't awful, but is seriꦺously overrated with terms like "best" and "all time" being used way too loosely for our liking. Was it really the best Sega Genesis game of that year? We doubt it. Was it really one of the best Sega Genesis games of all time? We doubt it. Was it a perfect game deserving 5 out of 5 stars? You could have guessed it, we doubt it once again.

17 ♚ Mortal Kombat 3

Mortal Kombat 3, released in 1995, is arguably one of the best fighting games ever made for Sega Genesis. It is only narrowly bettered by its arch-rival the legendary Street Fighter II. The third release is without a doubt a great fighting game, but does it improve that much on Mortal Kombat II to justify the hype, awards, sales and high rankings? Probably not. The game introduced new weak characters and even more violence and gore, as if Mortal Kombat II wasn't violent enough. It also added really silly finishing moves called Animalities, which allowed the winning player to finish their opponent off by turning into an animal, insect or even dinosaur and feasting on the loser's dead corpse. Pretty crazy stuff, but not all that surprising coming from the Mortal Kombat series, which is known f🐲or using senseless violencඣe to boost sales.

16 Jurassic P♊ark

Directed by Steven Spielberg, Jurassic Park (the movie) was released in 1993 and soon after the game of the same name followed. We have probably all watched the brilliantly directed movie and it comes as no surprise that it was critically acclaimed, winning an amazing number of awards. The game itself was also very well received with generally good reviews or at least initially. Given a few years to get some perspective and revisiting the game, the sentiment changed quite a bit, even up to the point where some critics wished that the game had been buried in New Mexico along with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

15 Castlevania: Bloodlines ✱ 𒆙

Castlevania: Bloodlines is a platform game released in 1994 by Konami. The player takes control of a vampire slayer in the midst of the First World War time period, given the task of stopping the resurrection of Dracula, the most well-known vampire of them all. The player must travel through various levels set in famous European cities, facing all kind of evil creatures from the underworld and various enemy bosses. The game had some interesting features like being able to choose different characters and this also influenced some portions of the game. The game was an instant sensation and some critics rated Castlevania: Bloodlines as one of the best Sega Genesis games of all time, of course it might just be that they ꧙overrated the game altogether.

14 Mꦆighty Morphin Power Range🍒rs

While some of the other Mighty Morphin Power Rangers games for other consoles are action games, the Sega Genesis version is strictly a fighting game. The game is based on the television series and was released on 1994. The game has two different modes, one to fight against CPU controlled monsters along the storyline and one to fight against other players. What's nice about the game is the ability to choose any of the Rangers and that fights are also in two parts, first as the Rangers themselves and then as huge robots following the television series. Apart from being based on the television series, it isn’t a great fighting game and those who have been spoilt with Mortal Kombat 3 or Super Street Fighter II will be disappointed.

13 3ജ Ninjas Kick Back 𒅌

Based on the movie, 3 Ninjas Kick Back is a platform game released in 1994. The game allows the player to choose from Rocky, Colt or even Tum-Tum, the three brothers who feature in the movie. Each brother has a different weapon and there is also a two-player cooperative mode which is nice. The brothers must continue the search for a missing dagger which was stolen by Koga and along the way face obstacles, enemies and bosses. This is pretty standard stuff for a platform game, but 3 Ninjas Kick Back is unfortun𝕴ately not very well executed with nothing special apart from the link to the movie. Though it received some solid reviews, it really wasn't up to par wit൩h other platformers from this time period.

12 𝓡 Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball ෴

We have already looked at how Sega tried to drag out their success with the Sonic the Hedgehog series for way too long on the Sega Genesis. With Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball, although it was another game in which Sonic featured, it was at least a new and interesting idea. The game was originally released in 1993 by Sega and was generally well received. In the game, Sonic acts as a pinball (or spinball) in a huge pinball world if you will. The idea is quite original, but without the connection to Sonic the Hedgehog, if you 🦹were looking at it from a purely pinball perspective, it is a pretty mediocre attempt at a pinball game.

11 ✱ Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition

First off, to be clear, Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition is not a bad game, not at all. In fact, it is excellent. It is by far one of the best fighting games and games in general that were made for the Sega Genesis. It was released in 1992 and improves on the previous versions with major refinements and additional characters. The game was such a success that it ended up earning more than $2 billion, with some critics even giving it a perfect score. However, some went way too far, saying that it is the best beat-'em-up game of all time and that is the best game ever. Comparing it to Mortal Kombat puts the hype into perspective, as it is an awesome gaꦕme, but there are other games out there that are jus𒐪t as impressive.