The ARCADE ACTION BATTLEGAME of PARAMILITARY PANDEMONIUM!

I’d like to feature an absolute gem from my childhood here for the Sega Genesis: General Chaos. This game holds a very special place in my heart and is THE game that pops into my head when I think back on 90’s. I’ve never played another game quite like this one. The game can be played single player, 1v1, or co-op which is likely why I’ve fostered such fond memories of the game.

In General Chaos you play as a squad of soldiers controlled by General Chaos in blue and are matched up against an opposing squad controlled by General Havoc in red. Before each match you select your preferred squad before entering the battlefield that you choose on the world map.

If you choose a traditional squad of 5 soldiers you control the squad by cycling through them, giving them orders to move to specified locations, and firing. If you choose a squad of 2 soldiers labeled “commandos” you get to navigate the battlefield with the d-pad. I prefer the movement scheme of the commandos but sometimes you can’t pass up on a larger squad, especially if you’ve been receiving a beat down.

The gameplay is a semi-top down view where you control units in real time battle. The battles are a quick frenzy and live up to the game’s title “Chaos.” If you lose the battle you secede the area on the map to your enemy, and you’ll need to regain the lost ground by redoing the battle.

The strategy doesn’t get too deep, but you utilize environmental barriers such as rivers and sandbags to gain advantageous positioning over your opponent. Keep your Bazooka out of range of the enemy, get your machine gunner up close, get your grenadier behind enemy lines and blow em away. There’s not better feeling that eliminating your opponent through a well planned strategy, or a frantic session of button mashing.

If your characters bump heads with the enemy you get thrown into a quick melee battle mini game that you need to punch and kick your way out of.

General Chaos is goofy fun, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. You can pick it up and play it for 5 minutes, or you can play it for hours without it getting old. For that reason among many others, I felt that it was a great candidate for highlighting as a hidden gem. Thanks for reading!