Why I Love: Alisia Dragoon

gamesindustry.biz:

Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on GamesIndustry.biz intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other's work. This entry was contributed by Sergei Kolobashkin, founder and Creative Director at 110 Industries, who have just launched Wanted: Dead a new hybrid slasher/shooter from the makers of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.

Let's take the nostalgia glasses off for a minute and face it - the Sega Mega Drive wasn’t that good of a platform. An occasional QuackShot, Comix Zone or Streets of Rage 2 did happen every once in a while, but the console was primarily a Sonic player.

Sega had a lineup of games in mind that represented what the console is capable of and it was primarily Sega grind fests like Ecco the Dolphin (sorry Ed, you know, I love you, man), Gunstar Heroes and Golden Axe, with a dash of Mortal Kombat II and NBA Jam at the tail end. Then you had your retro engineered Electronic Arts titles that looked pretty bad in the '90s and have only gotten only worse all these decades later.

If you look up any Genesis Top 10s or Top 15s list, you will never be able to spot Alisia Dragoon, the title in question for today's conversation. Such a shame.

Conceived by Gainax and Game Arts, Alisia Dragoon launched in February 1992 in the United States. The game features character and creature designs made by Gainax and a story written by Yoshimi Kanda, previously responsible for Wings of Honneamise and Gunbuster.

The game didn't make waves in Japan but was well received in the West. Curiously enough, in order to avoid a collective trauma in the ranks of Western gamers, the incredible artwork of the Japanese version of the game was swapped for a generic Red