Nintendo Switch Online has added four more games to its Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive outside of North America) library via a new update. The latest wave of titles to be added to the service are Flicky, Kid Chameleon, Pulseman, and Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition.
First up is the 1991 Genesis port of the Sega arcade game Flicky. Taking on the role of a small blue bird (which you may recognise fleeing from a busted robot in Sonic), players have to guide a group of stranded baby chicks called Chirps to the exit of what looks like a hotel, while avoiding a horde of hungry feral cats. Think Tweety Pie meets Pac-Man and you’re not far off.
Next is platformer Kid Chameleon. Programmed by Mark Cerney (yes, that Mark Cerny), players take on the role of Casey, the titular ‘Kid Cameleon’ who uses different magical masks to gain new abilities as he attempts to save his friends from a rogue AI that has taken over an arcade game. Just like Tron, but in the ’90s. This game is very much the ’90s in platformer form.
Pokémon fans should definitely spend some time with Pulseman, not because it has anything to do with the series, but because it was the last game developed by Game Freak before they become that studio that makes the famous game with a yellow mouse in it! This action platformer is not only one of the best games on the Genesis, it’s also incredibly rare, as it was only ever released physically in Japan, and the English version was only ever briefly available in North America through the Sega Channel online game service.
Finally, a game that needs no introduction, because you probably already own it several hundred times already. Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition. A mix of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition and Street Fighter II: Turbo, it was the first Street Fighter game released on a Sega console, and a release Sega deemed so important that they created the 6-button Genesis controller specifically for it. This would explain why it remains the best pad for playing fighting games ever made (in this writer’s opinion).
Although it’s missing the four additional fighters added to Super Street Fighter 2, you can still play as the boss characters (Bison, Vega, Sagat, and Balrog), and change the game’s speed.
All four titles are available to play now for those of you that paid up for the Switch Online Expansion Pass. That lets you play a selection of Genesis, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy Advance games, on top of the libraries of NES, SNES and Game Boy titles available with the standard Switch Online membership.
