Nowadays I almost exclusively buy the JPN versions, they're much cheaper, uncensored and work perfectly fine with my X'Eye/Megakey combo.
I even bought the JPN version of Robo Aleste for 30$ with Spinecard.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Sega Genesis/MegaDrive Appreciation Thread: Alien Storm > Golden Axe
- Thread starter IrishNinja
- Start date
Nowadays I almost exclusively buy the JPN versions, they're much cheaper, uncensored and work perfectly fine with my X'Eye/Megakey combo.
I even bought the JPN version of Robo Aleste for 30$ with Spinecard.
Armoured Priest
Member
The TG-16 version is better, but I do prefer the arrangements of the Sega-CD Lords of Thunder music.
Also, I paid $6 for my copy of the Sega CD version
And I paid 5$ for my CIB copy of Hagane... what we got x years ago has little to do with how much you'll have to pay now
LoT is about 90-100$, for that price, it's better to buy Robo Aleste
So where did you finally order the right shells from?
Sapiens
Member
I just made them out of busted games, games with torn labels, etc. Labels all come free with the boards from Stone Age Gamer and the games I sacrificed were a buck or two each.
One day those games you sacrificed will be the rarest games of all!
Just wait till people are willing to pay $300 for madden '96!(did you guys even get the madden series?)
Time to dig out the metal file.
Let's have a few moments silence for the following, who now live their lives as bare PCBs:
Mission Impossible (N64)
Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf (NES)
Tecmo Super NBA Basketball (Genesis)
Michael Andretti's Indy Car Challenge (SNES, missing a DSP chip too)
sixteen-bit
Member
pretty epic.
This is a cool project and I appreciate the dedication, but damn you can see the limitations of the technology. Curves aren't curvy and surfaces are so grainy you'd spend more time sanding them than printing them.
sixteen-bit
Member
There's a fetish for everything:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo5rnXBVIjA&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo5rnXBVIjA&feature=youtu.be
I'm surprised at no Master System/Mark III
Piston Hyundai
Member
Lords of Thunder is a decent game on the SEGA CD. It's just really easy, which I actually don't mind since I don't really play shmups at all. I played through Lords of Thunder on a single credit, then game over'd on the first stage of Robo Aleste immediately after.
D.Lo
Member
So I got this and it's awesome....
It feels a lot like a Saturn controller.
I'm tempted to buy it...
Nice pickup! I am curious about how well these work in practice.
Even modern wireless controllers have significant trade-offs.
I was, too! Even though super scaler games weren't perfect on this platform, I've really been enjoying Sega's older efforts.
Shame the sleeve is very sun faded.
As I understand it, modern wireless controllers use bluetooth or a derivative of it, which induces some lag as the input need to be encoded and decoded by the bluetooth chips. Old wireless controllers are infrared without any encoding, you're literally replacing the cable by a beam of light. But other problems arise from this, such as the need to always face the receiver else the signal is lost, you can jam the system by pointing a light at it, etc.
I have Saturn wireless controllers and have had no problem with them. I heard the Megadrive ones were more finicky though. I think it just really depends on how you use them, as long as you don't keep a light source behind you and stop people from passing between you and the TV you should be fine. The beam is wide enough that you can shake the controller without loosing contact, it's just aiming in the general direction, not precisely pointing as if it were a laser. (think TV remotes, which work in the same way)
sixteen-bit
Member
If you like Shining Force, check out FEDA. It's pretty much the SNES counterpart of SF.Genesis had Shining Force.
Genesis > SNES.
Shadow Hog
Member
To be fair, the SNES had Fire Emblem, from which Shining Force drew considerable influence.Genesis had Shining Force.
Genesis > SNES.
But in Shining Force, you could revive fallen teammates, something Fire Emblem wouldn't do until New Mystery of the Emblem (which wasn't released in the West, but the following game, Awakening, also had it), so I guess that's a win for Shining Force if permadeath is a turn-off.
Also Shining Force was in English a good decade before Fire Emblem was, so another win there.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
The art is great, but the game itself seems pretty meh (from what little I played), unfortunately. Nowhere near as good as Shining Force.
As a European who is interested in starting a humble collection of Genesis games, what's the recommended way of going about that?
As availability of games in Sweden is, as far as I can tell, very limited, and PAL being worse on top of that, I thought about going for NTSC. But eBay for a non-American seems at a first glance to be a nonstarter with shipping costs in the 20-40 dollar range for a single game.
What do people in Europe do? Any good resources for us?
As availability of games in Sweden is, as far as I can tell, very limited, and PAL being worse on top of that, I thought about going for NTSC. But eBay for a non-American seems at a first glance to be a nonstarter with shipping costs in the 20-40 dollar range for a single game.
What do people in Europe do? Any good resources for us?
sixteen-bit
Member
D.Lo
Member
The problem I've had with IR Wireless controllers is the shape and feel. I have a Konami one for SNES and while it's pretty good, it's chunkier and not as comfortable as the regular SNES controller. And other ones are much worse.
This Sega one however is actually MORE comfortable than the standard Mega Drive/Genesis 6 button (and is of course a league ahead of the 3 button). It's slightly fatter and larger, which makes it about Saturn sized, which is great!
It works flawlessly, yes you can't have someone walk in front of you but they would pull out the controller cord if they did anyway.
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
To my understanding, there's actually a benefit to the fact that most PAL games on the system were never optimized for 50hz: if you play them on a 60hz machine, most of them will run at the correct speed. So you could in theory pick up an NTSC Genesis or NTSC Mega Drive (or add a 60hz switch into your PAL Mega Drive) and just play PAL games on it. There would be some exceptions, of course. You'd have to worry about region locking for most games made after 1992, and there would always be some optimized PAL games that wouldn't run right on an NTSC machine, but I think that most of these issues could be fixed no matter what version of the system you own if you just add a proper region and speed switch to it.
Ask around in the BST thread as well. Most sellers on eBay have inflated shipping costs.
I'm not sure if this got discussed when it released or not, but I picked up "Console Wars" last week, and have not been able to put it down! It's full of great little anecdotes and behind the scenes looks at how Sega went from next to 0 presence in North America to giving Nintendo a run for their money.
I figured, being from Sega's point of view in the early 90s, it's 100% relevant to everyone in this thread's interests.
I figured, being from Sega's point of view in the early 90s, it's 100% relevant to everyone in this thread's interests.
foobarry81
Member
(this is from a PAL collector)
As a fellow European, I tend to look at what's on offer at local variants of eBay. From my Swedish friend I vaguely remember there's some sort of Swedish Craig's List, a website where people offer their second hand stuff. Can't remember the name. That would be a good start. You might have the ability to go pick up the games if they're in your area ins stead of have them mailed to you. And on these outlets the prices tend to be more moderate than on eBay.
Secondly there are retro game conventions in my country, in the Netherlands, in Germany, ... now and then. There may be Scandinavian conventions too. In my own experience you're not going to find amazing deals there, but you can often haggle and get lower prices if you buy several games at once.
And finally you might be able to find SEGA enthusiast clubs still, or the remnants of it. Just google around a bit. Might bring you in touch with Swedish SEGA collectors who might be willing to sell you some of their spare stuff for reasonable prices. They might be happy to be able to introduce you into the world of SEGA too.
Most games are region free and non PAL-optimised. Which means if you get a Genesis or a modded PAL Megadrive, you will play your games in unadulterated 60Hz full screen, regardless of their original publication region.
Most region-locked games are just region locked: if you flick the switch after the logo you will get to play them in 60Hz. However some (few) games are PAL-optimised, which means they won't play correctly on 60Hz machines and you will need to get their Genesis counterpart. For example The story of Thor is slow with borders but has the correct music speed; if you play it at 60Hz you will get a desynchronised rolling screen. Aladdin is another example: it has borders and is slower, but the music has the correct tempo; playing it at 60Hz corrects the gameplay and the screen ratio but you will have 20% too fast music.
Most region-locked games are just region locked: if you flick the switch after the logo you will get to play them in 60Hz. However some (few) games are PAL-optimised, which means they won't play correctly on 60Hz machines and you will need to get their Genesis counterpart. For example The story of Thor is slow with borders but has the correct music speed; if you play it at 60Hz you will get a desynchronised rolling screen. Aladdin is another example: it has borders and is slower, but the music has the correct tempo; playing it at 60Hz corrects the gameplay and the screen ratio but you will have 20% too fast music.
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
I heard that Alien Soldier is another one of those sort-of-PAL-optimized games and is one reason why the JP version still commands obscene prices.
sixteen-bit
Member
Why does the PAL one command obscene prices tho? Scarcity?
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Last I looked the PAL version was half as much but I haven't checked in a while.
D.Lo
Member
Yes the Mega Drive is right up there with the PS1 for 'Game on this system most likely to have no PAL conversion done at all' factor for PAL releases (PS2 not far behind). Really weird that those systems dominated PAL regions while simultaneously treating them the worst of any systems in history.
But for us today, this is great, because they can be played on 60Hz hardware perfectly! You can get the better PAL box art and play the game correctly in the same package!
Thanks for the replies. I know of a couple of Swedish auction sites, but even the biggest one is way, way smaller than eBay, and prices are always higher. I won't be able to just go there, search for a game and get it. It's going to be a years long project of checking the site a couple of times a week and be prepared to spend more once the good games do appear, since there's a bunch of desperate people doing the same.
It's good to know that my gaming experience won't necessarily be any worse, though.
And I didn't know some considered the PAL boxes to be better looking. Despite owning a Mega Drive when I was younger, I don't have all that much nostalgia for the system itself or the boxes the games came in (they have nothing on the Master System), and I think the red design of the Genesis boxes is great. There are some really striking collections in this thread!
It's good to know that my gaming experience won't necessarily be any worse, though.
And I didn't know some considered the PAL boxes to be better looking. Despite owning a Mega Drive when I was younger, I don't have all that much nostalgia for the system itself or the boxes the games came in (they have nothing on the Master System), and I think the red design of the Genesis boxes is great. There are some really striking collections in this thread!
Anybody wanna help me out with some images? I need good images for the collection app I use. I need high res non-cover artwork or XRGB captures (preferably with scanlines) for the following:
-Dynamite Headdy
-Wonder Boy in Monster World
-Vectorman
-Super Smash TV
-Super Monaco
-Super Hang-On
-Sonic Classics
-Genesis 6-Pak
-Road Rash
-Road Rash 3
-Pitfall
-Outrun 2019
-NBA Jam TE
-Dynamite Headdy
-Wonder Boy in Monster World
-Vectorman
-Super Smash TV
-Super Monaco
-Super Hang-On
-Sonic Classics
-Genesis 6-Pak
-Road Rash
-Road Rash 3
-Pitfall
-Outrun 2019
-NBA Jam TE
Friend of Sonic
Member
I too picked it up last week-- I had about 12 hours worth of flights and layovers and what not for my vacation and obliterated the book. Some people deride it for the dialogue driven way it is written, but I loved it for that personally. I have a new respect for the SoA in the early 90s. I knew they were cunning, but, really, they were brilliant.
I would get a consolized MVS if that came out
You should get a consolized MVS anyway.
Bar81
Member
Not impossible, just financially not feasible.
I recently finished this, couldn't put it down but it seemed to focus so much on '91 and '92, but not really show the whole downfall of Sega during the 32X/Saturn era much at all. The dialogue was also quite hammy but whatevs.
IrishNinja
Member
true on both counts, but then i figure i (used to) have eidolon's inn/sega base for the downfall, and it's a lengthier period. god knows id love a book on that too though, hammy dialogue or not!
A little late on the response but I wanted to chime in with my own experience using these.
They've been just fantastic! They're comfortable (hybrid between beefy 3-button but with 6-button layout) and the "playing angle" is quite large. Unless you're really close to the receiver, or you play WILDLY you shouldn't have any issues.
I like these so much that I bought an extra receiver & pad (and RetroUSB cable) to use the controller with my Amazon FireTV.
Gunstarheroes
Member
So, remember how i was going on about Wild Woody's soundtrack earlier in the thread. Well i'm doing a video on the game and the good parts of it, and i actually got an interview with the composer of the game. Awesome dude to talk to. Also, i really wish the controls in that game weren't broken as hell, i think the game would be so much better if they weren't
.
.
D.Lo
Member
Yes that's been my experience too. It's a better feeling controller than there regular 6-button pad (which is too small), or the 3 button behemoth.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
I have those IR pads too and they're great!!
I'm really excited to see this, I'm just dying to know what went through the minds of the development team (or what drugs they were taking) to create a game like that.
Also, how badass is the Robo Aleste intro??