7. Pier Solar And The Great Architects (First Edition)
One of the most recently-released games for the Mega Drive, Pier Solar came out in cartridge form in 2010, after a drawn-out development process that began in 2004. This home-brew RPG is in the mold of the SNES Final Fantasy series, and is so big that it uses a special 64-megabit cartridge, making it the biggest ever cart for the console. A large amount of its extra size was dedicated to making it compatible with the Sega Mega CD to improve the game's sound quality. The game charts the adventure of three best friends who head out on a quest to find a magic herb to save the life of one of their fathers. Inevitably, things expand to a much bigger scale as the game progresses. Because of how expensive it is to make games on cartridges, only around 800 copies of the First Edition were ever released, with a further 800 copies of the reprint edition coming out later. The First Edition costs between $200 and $500. From the cover art to the gameplay mechanics, Pier Solar is a fascinating game because in it you can see the influence of recent trends in gaming visuals and mechanics. The fact that it was released so recently is also testament to the fact that a great games console like the Genesis never truly dies.
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
