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Sega Genesis/MegaDrive Appreciation Thread: Alien Storm > Golden Axe

alf717

Member
Wait 'til you see RGB

Yea I know this is what everyone is gunning for these days. But it seems expensive to do here in the US. I can't find a PVM anywhere on Craigslist in my area. I guess I could do SCART to YUV but I read it isn't the same as RGB.

Has anyone tried the CCAM or the Mega AMP mod? The model 1 I have is the one without the extension port but it isn't the one with bad audio either. I'm curious if any of these mods are worth doing if the Genesis you own has the good audio chips.
 

televator

Member
Don't need a pvm for RGB to YUV and YUV is still superior to s-vid.

I might do the mega amp mod. After I stop being a wuss and spend cash on flash carts.

Starting with the genesis, I might replace its caps; add an oc switch; and do the amp mod.
 

beercr8te

Banned
The megadrive/genesis was my first console, I have many fond memories playing it. Streets of rage 2 and the desert/urban/jungle strike games being my favourites. Sonic was my first game, it came with the system, my mind was blown at the graphics and speed they moved at!
 

IrishNinja

Member
i really havent put much time into looking into the amp mod, is it really worth it/what's it do specifically?

OC switch would be a neat option to have, i'm personally interested in a region switch for my non-TMSS unit (thanks again Televators!) one day.
 

Teknoman

Member
I thought this was just an issue with Sonic Mega Collection, but I see its part of the actual cartridge.

When playing Sonic 3 bonus stages, if you run into a large set of spheres, sometimes the game will pause (not slow down, but pause) for a second or two before giving you control again. The music doesnt stop or anything, its just all movement stops. The problem is that this pause eventually gets worse and worse the more spheres you grab in succession, until the pause lasts up to 4-5 seconds.

Im not sure if its just on certain special stage setups or what, but it makes things much harder than they need to be, unless you just get lucky.
 

IrishNinja

Member
wait, for real? i recall a momentary pause but certainly not 4-5 seconds long, and i always get all the emeralds in those...hell i used to play the minigame of em hidden in S&K + sonic 1
 

Mzo

Member
I've played a lot of Sonic 3 (and recently, too) and I don't remember anything like this...

What's going on?

edit: OK, I get it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9vtRenFRNE

When you collect all the blue spheres around the perimeter, the inner spheres turn into rings. I've never run through getting every single orb one by one. That's pretty funny, though.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
I've played a lot of Sonic 3 (and recently, too) and I don't remember anything like this...

What's going on?

edit: OK, I get it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9vtRenFRNE

When you collect all the blue spheres around the perimeter, the inner spheres turn into rings. I've never run through getting every single orb one by one. That's pretty funny, though.

I guess it's slowing down because it's trying to figure out the perimeter for a potential square? And zigzagging around makes it really complicated?
 

IrishNinja

Member
I've played a lot of Sonic 3 (and recently, too) and I don't remember anything like this...

What's going on?

edit: OK, I get it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9vtRenFRNE

When you collect all the blue spheres around the perimeter, the inner spheres turn into rings. I've never run through getting every single orb one by one. That's pretty funny, though.

I guess it's slowing down because it's trying to figure out the perimeter for a potential square? And zigzagging around makes it really complicated?

ahahaha, never seen this! it's like the game is telling you WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, i mean even if you play it right the level speeds up incrementally every time you turn
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
I think I played like 5000 stages of Blue Spheres back in the day but never thought to try that, lol.

Anyway, I just spent an hour successfully extracting the official Monster World IV English ROM from my Wii.

mw4a.png

mw4b.png

mw4c.png

Yusss.

Thinking of requesting a reproduction cartridge for it. I know you can get them for the old romhacks but I dunno if anyone ever bothered to make one for the official version. Would be dope to play that on original hardware.
 

televator

Member
i really havent put much time into looking into the amp mod, is it really worth it/what's it do specifically?

OC switch would be a neat option to have, i'm personally interested in a region switch for my non-TMSS unit (thanks again Televators!) one day.

You're welcome! Region and Hz differences confuse me so I try not to stress about that. :p I figure it won't much matter with an everdrive anyway... IDK

The amp mod is a little scarce on details right now, but from what info there is it sounds like there is improved audio in at least some capacity. Even if it may not clean up the audio hiss like I would hope.

I hope someone out there does the mod and does a detailed vid on it.
 

Slermy

Member
I think I played like 5000 stages of Blue Spheres back in the day but never thought to try that, lol.

Anyway, I just spent an hour successfully extracting the official Monster World IV English ROM from my Wii.



Yusss.

Thinking of requesting a reproduction cartridge for it. I know you can get them for the old romhacks but I dunno if anyone ever bothered to make one for the official version. Would be dope to play that on original hardware.

Wow, that's incredible! I didn't even know you could do that.
 

Teknoman

Member
lol and here I never knew thats why the spheres changed into rings. So what, it's always best to just collect the spheres around the outside of a large group?
 

emb

Member
I never knew why that happened either. I always just tried to go one row at a time, and make tight turns like I was playing Snake or something. I never did well enough with it to get the intense slowdown though.
 
lol and here I never knew thats why the spheres changed into rings. So what, it's always best to just collect the spheres around the outside of a large group?
Yes. In fact, if you get all the rings in the stage, including those that are possible to get from converting large batches of blue spheres like that, you get a Perfect Bonus. I think that's usually worth a continue or 1Up in Sonic 3 & Knuckles proper, but in Blue Sphere it tells you the difficulty of the stage* and launches you ten stages forward, or if you're playing Blue Sphere with a game that isn't Sonic [1], gives you the password for it, so you can access it in the Sonic [1] version.

(*This is purely based on how many blue spheres there were, not how difficult it actually was to get them. There are stages with fewer spheres and lower difficulty ratings that have devilishly evil layouts, while there are stages with higher spheres and higher difficulty ratings that are pathetically easy, like the one in the video illustrating the slowdown problem.)
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
lol and here I never knew thats why the spheres changed into rings. So what, it's always best to just collect the spheres around the outside of a large group?

Yeah stick to the edges. Doesn't really matter what shape its in either. Doesn't have to be a square. Then collect the rings. You want to leave any groups that can't leave rings until the last group. Otherwise you might pop them into rings but can't collect and get the perfect ring bonus as the stage ends when you get the last sphere.
 

Teknoman

Member
Yes. In fact, if you get all the rings in the stage, including those that are possible to get from converting large batches of blue spheres like that, you get a Perfect Bonus. I think that's usually worth a continue or 1Up in Sonic 3 & Knuckles proper, but in Blue Sphere it tells you the difficulty of the stage* and launches you ten stages forward, or if you're playing Blue Sphere with a game that isn't Sonic [1], gives you the password for it, so you can access it in the Sonic [1] version.

(*This is purely based on how many blue spheres there were, not how difficult it actually was to get them. There are stages with fewer spheres and lower difficulty ratings that have devilishly evil layouts, while there are stages with higher spheres and higher difficulty ratings that are pathetically easy, like the one in the video illustrating the slowdown problem.)

Yeah stick to the edges. Doesn't really matter what shape its in either. Doesn't have to be a square. Then collect the rings. You want to leave any groups that can't leave rings until the last group. Otherwise you might pop them into rings but can't collect and get the perfect ring bonus as the stage ends when you get the last sphere.

You can even use currently existing red spheres to be part of your outline.

Mind blown.

I always thought it was some random bonus... I've been playing the bonus stages wrong for all these years.
 

Ramune

Member
The Japanese Sonic 3 manual did a MUCH better job detailing the special stages & the "dreaded" Carnival Night barrels compared to the Western equivalents.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
The Japanese Sonic 3 manual did a MUCH better job detailing the special stages & the "dreaded" Carnival Night barrels compared to the Western equivalents.
I don't think it did. It includes example diagrams for the special stages but the English manual at least makes a mention of walking around the edge of a cluster to make rings as well. There's nothing about the barrels in either manual.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I think I played like 5000 stages of Blue Spheres back in the day but never thought to try that, lol.

Anyway, I just spent an hour successfully extracting the official Monster World IV English ROM from my Wii.



Yusss.

Thinking of requesting a reproduction cartridge for it. I know you can get them for the old romhacks but I dunno if anyone ever bothered to make one for the official version. Would be dope to play that on original hardware.

Ohhhh!!! I love this. I'm doing this. I have it on Wii but I once I get a Genesis flash cart I would definitely prefer it on original hardware. Seems "fair use" as hell ;)
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Ohhhh!!! I love this. I'm doing this. I have it on Wii but I once I get a Genesis flash cart I would definitely prefer it on original hardware. Seems "fair use" as hell ;)
The VC ROM has a bad checksum. That doesn't matter on emulators but you'll need to fix that (which isn't hard to do) if you want to run it straight from a Genesis. Not sure if it matters on flash carts or not.
 
The fuck. Anyone know why a Popful Mail is currently being bidded up at $250 when just a few months ago it was selling for $100 regularly? At first I thought it was a difference of currency/location thing, but checked the recently sold listings and there are other around $200 too.
 
The fuck. Anyone know why a Popful Mail is currently being bidded up at $250 when just a few months ago it was selling for $100 regularly? At first I thought it was a difference of currency/location thing, but checked the recently sold listings and there are other around $200 too.
Perhaps some prominent youtube personality said it was a hidden gem.
 
The fuck. Anyone know why a Popful Mail is currently being bidded up at $250 when just a few months ago it was selling for $100 regularly? At first I thought it was a difference of currency/location thing, but checked the recently sold listings and there are other around $200 too.

Man, did i grab mine at the right time then. No idea though
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
The fuck. Anyone know why a Popful Mail is currently being bidded up at $250 when just a few months ago it was selling for $100 regularly? At first I thought it was a difference of currency/location thing, but checked the recently sold listings and there are other around $200 too.

Price Charting shows only one recent listing at $200. Maybe you just have two crazy people in a bid war?
 
Price Charting shows only one recent listing at $200. Maybe you just have two crazy people in a bid war?

Yeah had it sorted wrong and just saw the upward path to $200 with it going from $150 up to it. Still with it about to go for over $200 and a recent one sold at $200 I expect the normal listing price to rise to that area now. Or hope people show some restrain to get it down to a normal price.
 

Gunsmithx

Member
on one hand that pretty impressive dedication, on the other I do agree with Mzo, I just don't know how you don't collect with some sort of quality filter, so many games are just going to sit on the self and never be played. But to each his own I guess, I just wish it didn't make it so hard to get the game I want lol.
 
on one hand that pretty impressive dedication, on the other I do agree with Mzo, I just don't know how you don't collect with some sort of quality filter, so many games are just going to sit on the self and never be played. But to each his own I guess, I just wish it didn't make it so hard to get the game I want lol.

I actually do make an effort to play and beat as many of my games as possible, and i'd say if i wasn't collecting, certainly a lot of shooters like Lords of Thunder and Gairies, Trampoline Terror, hell even popular games like Shining Force would have never been played by myself. It re-ignited my passion for gaming, weirdly enough, even the shit games. Plus, i do reviews, so they all will get used at some point. I think its just really a question of "Will it make ya happy"
 

IrishNinja

Member
...i don't get you guys
he looks like a nice fellow with a lovely family & a lotta games id like to play, keen boxes up top too
 

Mzo

Member
The classic pulp comics pose is cool, probably more Star Wars-inspired than anything else. I can dig it.

I just don't like the thought of collecting games. They're not baseball cards, or comics, or beanie babies or whatever. They're not complete sitting on someone's wall. They need to be played. They need your interaction to be complete. I like video games a hell of a lot and I have a hell of a lot of games, but I can tell you what makes each of them special. Who made it, why I like it, why it's important, the thing it did that was new and worked/didn't work, why it's fun, why it's on my shelf.

All I hear these days from the vast majority of the people flocking to the hobby I've been a part of for nearly 30 years is collecting. Collection, collecting, my collection, collect, collection, add it to my collection, need this in my collection. Collecting. Every Youtube personality that buys up giant game lots and doesn't recognize half of what they're getting, every person that can barely play and will never beat the NES games they line their walls with, every fly-by-night collector that uses internet community forums to quickly build up a collection and then sells it off at a profit on eBay, every person like the Game Chasers who only know or care about dollar amounts, every person with little to no understanding of what makes a game good but can't resist sharing their worthless opinion with the world...

It makes me wary of people who collect. I just play games, man. They're fun.
 
The classic pulp comics pose is cool, probably more Star Wars-inspired than anything else. I can dig it.

I just don't like the thought of collecting games. They're not baseball cards, or comics, or beanie babies or whatever. They're not complete sitting on someone's wall. They need to be played. They need your interaction to be complete. I like video games a hell of a lot and I have a hell of a lot of games, but I can tell you what makes each of them special. Who made it, why I like it, why it's important, the thing it did that was new and worked/didn't work, why it's fun, why it's on my shelf.

All I hear these days from the vast majority of the people flocking to the hobby I've been a part of for nearly 30 years is collecting. Collection, collecting, my collection, collect, collection, add it to my collection, need this in my collection. Collecting. Every Youtube personality that buys up giant game lots and doesn't recognize half of what they're getting, every person that can barely play and will never beat the NES games they line their walls with, every fly-by-night collector that uses internet community forums to quickly build up a collection and then sells it off at a profit on eBay, every person like the Game Chasers who only know or care about dollar amounts, every person with little to no understanding of what makes a game good but can't resist sharing their worthless opinion with the world...

It makes me wary of people who collect. I just play games, man. They're fun.


So much sense in this post. I may have a large set of games, but I bought all of them for a specific reason and not because I wanted shelves and shelves worth of games. I like having people come into my room and pick a game off of the shelf and sitting down to PLAY it. I like the conversation it brings. I also like bringing my harder to find things up to the store I work at to show to people, not to brag, but to educate. The surprise and excitement I see in people who are seeing uncommon games and systems is rewarding enough, not something to stroke my ego and show off.
 

IrishNinja

Member
yeah, i dig what Mzo's saying there too. it's why i hesitate to use the word cause when you really get into some of the hardcore communities you see the sort've stigma attached - the mania of having full runs on whatever system, the constant desire to leave games unopened, and worst of all (my opinion) the private collectors who don't want betas & such released to the public for fear of being "devalued" - again as a big comic fan i saw what this rampant speculation did to the medium in the early to mid 90's and it wasn't pretty, nor has the form ever fully healed.

I consider my shit a library, a classic game room & love having people borrow, play or otherwise experience new stuff just like i do. i overspent this last year or two and have way more than i need at the moment, so i'm largely pulling out with the rare exception of finding garage sale/swap shop etcs with that late 90's/early 2000's pricing that made sense in my head (common SNES carts were $5-10 tops, most of my beloved genesis ones usually less), because beyond being broke i don't like feeling like i'm encouraging this bubble.

TL;DR i dig what dude there has going but equally see & acknowledge Mzo's concerns, shit's a problem.
 
I consider my shit a library, a classic game room & love having people borrow, play or otherwise experience new stuff just like i do.

My man!

My games I've built up over the years from when the systems were new and I played them, I still have the same Master System and many of the copies of the games I actually saved up and brought in the store.

I'm not a looking for the whole set and some of the most expensive games are just no good anyway.
 
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