NBA Showdown '94 is one of those early '90s basketball games that just feels right on the Genesis. The pixelated players move smoother than you'd expect, and there's something satisfying about the way the ball bounces—not too floaty, not too stiff. You pick your team (I always went with the Suns because, well, Barkley), and within seconds you're already in the thick of it—fast breaks, alley-oops, and those satisfying swishes when you nail a three-pointer.

It's not as flashy as later NBA Jam, but the fundamentals are solid. The AI actually puts up a decent fight on higher difficulties, and the controls are simple enough that you can pull off crossovers and blocks without memorizing a bunch of combos. The crowd noise and announcer bits are hilariously low-fi, but that just adds to the charm. If you've got a Genesis collecting dust, this one's still a blast to fire up for a quick game.