When it comes down to retro gaming in relation to the Sega Genesis the RPG was one that was no quite as popular on this 16-bit as it was to its competition known as the Super NES. During the early 90’s both Nintendo and Sega were very competitive with one another and its a known fact that RPG titles such as Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Earthbound were big during that time period. However, the Sega Genesis also had its share of 16 bit RPG classics such as Phantasy Star II along with Shining Force II. In terms of graphics both games looked very impressive. There were fans of the first Phantasy Star game which came out 1987 that were surprised by the fact that Phantasy Star II had diverted from the first person perspective in relation to monster battles while Sega decided to replace it with third person. Also, the third person perspective in relation to monster battles made Phantasy Star standout even more from other RPG’s like Final Fantasy I-III which were released for the NES between 1987-1990.

As far as Shining Force II was concerned it was also very unique tactical turn based RPG considering the fact that battles took place when players moved their characters around on square grids. The animation for the battles in Shining Force were also among the best that anyone would see in a RPG game back in the early 90’s. Both Phantasy Star II along with Shining Force II were among the best RPG titles to have ever appeared on the Sega Genesis. In terms of which game was more popular is questionable since they both seemed like they were on the same level. But some would probably give the edge to Phantasy Star II over Shining Force II since the Phantasy series was more popular in general.