I couldn’t decide between the original arcade version, Sega Rally 2 and the recent home update, so I’ve included a generic Sega Rally entry here. Yes it’s a cop-out, but it’s my countdown!

All three are perfect Sega racers – slam the accelerator, flip out the back end and drift lazily around every corner. It’s an extremely Sega way of doing things, and always evokes a timeless and sublime joy. Sega Rally 2007 mixes things up by introducing an extremely advanced track deformation system that moulds under your tyres as you drive, leaving troughs and mud pools in key places. It’s a brilliant idea and to me represents the biggest advancement in the rally genre since it began. I’m sure it’ll make its way into Codemasters’ next rally effort and everyone will go ape over it. 

Sega Rally 2 on Dreamcast is the only weak link here, its beautiful arcade origins marred by a rushed conversion and inconsistent framerate, but it’s a good stab at a meaningful single player career mode, and the ability to upload your best times online as well as carry them in your VM was a generation ahead of its time. In the arcade it was a complete revelation for me, its handbrake so tempting and satisfyingly solid when you used it to pivot and peel away from a hairpin.

I played Race Driver: Grid recently and was appalled when my attempt to powerslide around the first corner resulted in an embarrassing crash, but I was more appalled when people complained the game was “too arcadey”. No wonder Sega Rally 2007 didn’t sell, although the other day at work a couple did buy a copy for each other, which for me is every bit as good as the exchanging of rings.

Sega Racing Studio’s passing was a sad day for any Sega Rally fan – their version of the franchise was every bit as good as the original and perfectly captured the Sega Rally feel, and I can’t help but feel that theirs may have been the last entry in the series we ever see. If that’s the case, you couldn’t hope for three more enjoyable rally games that scream Sega with every powerslide and hairpin.

Probably the pinpoint space-time coordinates Tetsuya Mizuguchi went from accomplished racing game producer to avant-garde music entertainment weirdo. Space Channel 5 is a rhythm action game that doesn’t rely on a novelty controller – a novelty in itself – and with no display to help you gauge the timing it’s not as accessible as it could be. 

With enough practice you’ll get into the swing of things and soon be grooving, shooting and saving hostages with the power of dance. Michael Jackson liked it so much he put in an appearance, and Ulala became the premier 60s-styled Sega sex symbol. In fact, Ulala’s appearance was so eye-catching the lead singer from Dee-Lite (of Groove is in the Heart fame) tried to sue Sega for stealing her look. She was unsuccessful.

Full of catchy music and nice touches – the music detunes if you’re bad – Space Channel 5, and its sequel Part 2, are two of the most inventive entries in the dance genre. Dripping with style and confidence, it shows Sega’s willingness to break conventions – it could so easily have become another anodyne dance mat game, but instead it’s about character and panache, two of Ulala’s best traits.

Ulala’s recent reappearance in Sega Superstars Tennis confirms reports she’s still defending us from the Morollians, so I hope you’ll sleep a little more soundly tonight.

I can’t begin to estimate the impact Sega has made on my life. Growing up I followed them as most boys followed football – who the key players were within each development team, which games from other platforms I’d like to be transferred (usually very, very few!) and even filling my Sonic sticker album. I still consider the Sonic Team of ’96 – Naka, Ohshima, Katano, Setsumaru, Iizuka, Matsumoto, Hataya, Moriya and the rest – to be among the greatest line-ups in history. Most of them are still there of course, which is doubly awesome.

As a youngster I wrote to Sega almost as often as I update this blog. If there was a game I liked, a question I had or a design I’d thought of – I’m still waiting to hear back about "Rocky the Mountain Hare"! – I got out the pen or typewriter and let them know about it.

They always replied. Stephen Wombwell and Mark Maslowicz became familiar names (there were others I’m sure!) and they always gave good answers, and sometimes cool gifts too – Sonic 3 pinbadges, a t-shirt (that I still wear sometimes!), a Sonic and Knuckles LCD watch, signed Sonic R artwork (drawn by me!) and even my prized possession, a silver pre-production copy of Sonic Jam. Awesome!

This series of posts, then, is my latest love letter to Sega. Over time I’ll be posting my thoughts and feelings on what I believe to be the fifty greatest Sega games of all time. I’ve tried to keep multiple entries from the same series to a minimum, but naturally there’s more than one Sonic, Shining and Shinobi. Only the top twenty are in any sequential order, and some might be contentious entries, but they’re all amazing games that were either developed by Sega, Sega console exclusives or ones I primarily associate with Sega.

For all my years of Sega fandom, I still find it impossible to pin down that Sega je ne sais quoi. This project is my attempt to figure that out once and for all.