Around a year ago I posted (in sincerity) a thread on /vg/ in which I asked if there were any "Masterpieces" on the Sega Genesis. This was after a long period of playing the cream of the crop on the Super Nintendo and growing up with a Genesis it seemed like nothing compared. But one game was brought up more than anything else, and I was told there is nothing like it on the SNES. See growing up I heard the praises of this game and got it on the Wii Virtual Console and it just never clicked with me. I didn't understand a fast paced shooter where the enemies respawned endlessly but you can also not shoot anything realistically and just move to the right. So I'm really not sure what spurred me on to playing this but now that I'm much older, I can't believe that I bounced off of, what I think is the best action game of the 16 bit era. Holy shit, every single one of the 4 main worlds, and the 99 different endings is so wonderfully crafted. I couldn't believe how much I loved just blowing up everything on every single screen. The control you have over your character and the things that you can do just really don't feel possible. I felt like I was just mashing buttons at points but when I slowed down I realized I was just completely one with the character. And the myriad of dive kicks, and shooting, into a throw parry, into a slide. I was doing all of it and I knew what I was doing and it just looked incredible. I really couldn't believe how tight the whole experience is. There is no fat here every single screen is crucial but also incredibly challenging and so fucking addictive. All the bosses had their own little charm to them and the was the end game plays out I physically couldn't put the controller down. I'm probably underselling it but that genesis sound chip blaring a symphony of gun shots and driving music just kept my senses high and got me through to the end. I can't believe how much I loved every second of this game and I really can't wait to play it all though again