Midnight Resistance
Midnight Resistance — frequently asked questions
- What platforms is Midnight Resistance on?
- Midnight Resistance was released on Arcade, Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Atari ST/STE, Amiga, Amstrad CPC.
- When did Midnight Resistance release?
- Midnight Resistance was first released on December 31, 1989.
About Midnight Resistance
Midnight Resistance is a side-scrolling action shooting game produced by Data East for the arcades in 1989. The game was ported by Data East to the Sega Mega Drive in 1990 and by Ocean Software to various home computer platforms during the same year. The game is set in a dystopian future where the player controls a member of a resistance movement who goes on a mission to rescue his kidnapped family from a mad scientist.
Summary via IGDB.
Game details
- Developer
- Data East
- Publisher
- Ocean Software
- Game modes
- Single player, Co-operative
- Themes
- Science fiction
Details via IGDB.
Reception
Every version compared
Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release
| Platform | Year | Loose | Complete | Sealed | Period reviews | Fake risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sega Genesis | 1991 | $30 | $108 | $400 | 85% | Low |
Also released on: Arcade · Commodore C64/128/MAX · ZX Spectrum · Sega Mega Drive/Genesis · Atari ST/STE · Amiga · Amstrad CPC. We haven’t priced or authenticated those versions yet.
Collector value & authenticity
Sega Genesis · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-29
Other releases and variants
| Release | Loose | Complete | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese release | $55 | $109 | $196 |
How often it sells
- Loose: about once a week
- Complete: about once a week
- Sealed: about once a year
Prices marked “few sales” rest on about one recorded sale a year, so treat them as a rough guide: the next copy could sell well above or below. Expect to wait for one to come up.
Sales frequency from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, as of 2026-10-29.
Price over time
- Loose
- Complete
A loose copy sold for about $2.81 in Oct 2007, $19.95 five years ago, and $30 as of Oct 2026.
Show as table
| Month | Loose | Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2008 | $2.94 | — |
| Jan 2009 | $2.99 | — |
| Jan 2010 | $4.00 | — |
| Jan 2011 | $4.99 | — |
| Jan 2012 | $4.47 | — |
| Jan 2013 | $3.28 | — |
| Jan 2014 | $9.99 | $17.95 |
| Jan 2015 | $11.05 | $25 |
| Jan 2016 | $10.50 | $30 |
| Jan 2017 | $15.47 | $40 |
| Jan 2018 | $18.45 | $38 |
| Jan 2019 | $19.99 | $45 |
| Jan 2020 | $18.62 | $52 |
| Jan 2021 | $21 | $57 |
| Jan 2022 | $22 | $84 |
| Jan 2023 | $35 | $108 |
| Jan 2024 | $31 | $78 |
| Jan 2025 | $25 | $65 |
| Jan 2026 | $28 | $83 |
| Oct 2026 | $30 | $108 |
Monthly price estimates from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, sampled quarterly, through Oct 2026.
Release record
| Territory | Date | Product number | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | June 1991 | — | 010086011296 |
| Japan | 29 March 1991 | T-13043 | 4961082500016 |
- Region
- JP+NA
- Released
- 1991
- Authenticity
- Low
A faithful run-and-gun port that plays solo on the Genesis, and one of the dearer US carts.
Midnight Resistance is the Genesis port of Data East's arcade run-and-gun, worked on by Data East with ISCO and Opera House. It came out in Japan on 29 March 1991 and in North America in June 1991, where Sega published it. Its play resembles Contra, but unlike the arcade game the Genesis version is not a two-player simultaneous game. Its hero is Johnny Ford, a member of an operative group that shuts down drug cartels in South America.
Mean Machines Sega called it a very faithful coin-op conversion with the looks, sounds and levels of the original. The challenge was lacking on the lowest setting, it said, but on hard you should have a great time.
What the press said at the time
| MegaTech Issue 28 | April 1994 | 85% |
“Midnight Resistance is a winner, which serves up some great features that make it unique among Genesis games.”
“If this was your coin-op fave, then you won’t be disappointed, but otherwise you’ll get bored quickly. … It really should have just stayed in the arcades.”
“Lots of add-on weapons and bad guys to use them on. You have a good level of control over your bloke”
How the Sega Genesis version differs
The Genesis version has a different story from the arcade game, starring Johnny Ford, an operative whose family is kidnapped by King Crimson.
The arcade game allows two simultaneous players, but the Genesis version is the exception.
Also on other platforms
Arcade · ZX Spectrum · Amstrad CPC · Commodore 64 · Amiga · Atari ST
| Commodore 64 | Special FX |
| ZX Spectrum | Special FX |
| Amiga | Special FX |
| Atari ST | Special FX |
- ZX Spectrum. The ZX Spectrum port scored 90% in Sinclair User and 93% in CRASH, and made CRASH's list of the 100 best Spectrum games at number 10.
- Arcade. In the arcade version, two nameless brothers set out to rescue their family from an entity known as King Crimson.
Before you buy
Among US carts it sits above the middle. The Japanese cart usually costs noticeably more than the US one loose, but about the same complete, and its cartridge has a different shape that does not fit a Western console without an adapter or removing two plastic tabs in its slot.
Midnight Resistance screenshots
Watch on YouTube
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