Starflight.  I could tell it would be epic just from its name. This was really the first game I bought for the Mega Drive that made me realize how powerful it could be. It might’ve been because it was so nonlinear, but it was probably the huge amount of customization. The player controlled what class of shields their ship had, which planets to reccomend for colonization, even the names of each of their crew members. Who wouldn’t want to send out a command to their favorite doctor Harold to stop healing Sebastian, the communications director, who was at the same time trying to interpret some garbled threat from an alien across the screen. “Rbuurlgr go forth ubrlrglbu”!

The story was food enough, and at worst didn’t ruin the game. Oh, but the glorius soundtrack! It couldn’t have possibly added any more to the experience! I remember sitting for a few minutes the first time I paused just to listen to the pause screen music! Perhaps it only appeared so grand to me because it was my first space RPG at the time, but I’d be shocked if it wasn’t fondly remembered by a few sci-fi fans today.