Phantom 2040 on the Genesis is one of those weirdly ambitious '90s platformers that tried to do way more than it probably should have—and somehow pulled it off. You play as the 24th Phantom (yep, they kept count), swinging through a grimy cyberpunk city with this weird grappling hook arm thing that takes some getting used to. At first I kept faceplanting into laser grids, but once you get the rhythm down, zipping between platforms feels surprisingly smooth.

What stuck with me was how much choice they crammed in—you actually pick different mission paths that change how the story unfolds. I went full stealth on my first run, avoiding guards and hacking terminals, but my friend just brute-forced everything with grenades. The sprite work still holds up too, especially the way Phantom’s cape animates when he jumps. Just don’t expect the difficulty to go easy on you—those security drones don’t mess around.

If you dig obscure Genesis action games with branching levels and a comic book vibe, this one’s a blast from the past worth digging up.