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

Leynos

Member
Having switches on the console allows for a little more flexibility. JP Gunstar Heroes has the English ROM on the cartridge but is only compatible in JP and PAL modes (not US). If you start the console in PAL mode but switch it to US after boot then you get English in proper 60hz.

Hmm, good to know. My Genesis is modded to play games from any region (along with over-clocking, and S-video out,) and I might go this route.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
I did two patches for PSIV. One where I ripped M2's bugfixes from the Virtual Console version and one where I just ramped up the difficulty.
 

stewy

Member
Hey all...

I'm looking for a little help. I currently capture footage for Generation 16 via the Kega Fusion emulator, based mostly on the in-emulator video capture feature. I think the quality has been quite good thus far.

However, I know there are emulation issues, especially regarding sound. I have a new setup I want to use that will feature everything running on actual hardware (CDX, to be specific). I'm going to run some tests today. I need a few examples of Genesis games where sound is noticeably poorly emulated.

Hoping to upload some comparison vids in the next few days.

Thanks.
 

lazygecko

Member
Is it still really that bad? I reckon most of the inaccuracies would come from using 44.1khz playback for games that used 22khz. The aliasing from the 22khz would then manifest in the entire modulation chain of certain sounds and fundamentally change their timbre. The FM hihats in Streets of Rage are a typical example of this.
 

Mercutio

Member
So I managed to get a copy of Hyperstone Heist for a really good deal a few days ago. Anything sub $50 for a good copy of that game without label damage seems amazing.

I really, really like this game. It seems a little faster, and that dash button is just the best thing in the entire world. I remember liking it as a kid when I rented it briefly, but the gameplay improvements (and turtle color options) almost make up for the lack of levels.
 

Mzo

Member
Seriously, kids must've been mad as hell at that game because they all seem to have battle damage on their labels.
 

Mercutio

Member
Seriously, kids must've been mad as hell at that game because they all seem to have battle damage on their labels.

More than ANY other game. It came in a damned Genesis box, it shouldn't be that bad!

I also got a copy of Ghouls and Ghosts this weekend, which I'd been meaning to get for ages. Thing is BEAT UP. The label is just wrecked. Does anyone here have a good source for replacements?
 

Timu

Member
Seriously, kids must've been mad as hell at that game because they all seem to have battle damage on their labels.
Well, the game is pretty hard, definitely on Hard, though I somehow managed to do it on that difficulty without using a single continue, which shocked me BTW.
 

IrishNinja

Member
Phantasy Star 2 always sounds terrible in emulation to me.

some of the SHMUPs do to, i wanna say TJ&E 1 was another that'd make me sad. early emus in the day, one of the tell-tale things i'd notice was that on real hardware, Sonic would collect rings back & forth in stereo as he got them, and i wanna say early versions of Genocyst or whatever wouldn't do that, always found it jarring.
 

lazygecko

Member
some of the SHMUPs do to, i wanna say TJ&E 1 was another that'd make me sad. early emus in the day, one of the tell-tale things i'd notice was that on real hardware, Sonic would collect rings back & forth in stereo as he got them, and i wanna say early versions of Genocyst or whatever wouldn't do that, always found it jarring.

Behold
 

stewy

Member
So I've captured a bit of footage running a Genesis through a Framemeister and recording with an Hauppauge PVR Rocket. The audio is quite low (though apparently that's fixable). The only thing I don't like at the moment is the captured footage seems to "hitch" regularly. It looks like it's recording at 56fps.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
So I managed to get a copy of Hyperstone Heist for a really good deal a few days ago. Anything sub $50 for a good copy of that game without label damage seems amazing.

I really, really like this game. It seems a little faster, and that dash button is just the best thing in the entire world. I remember liking it as a kid when I rented it briefly, but the gameplay improvements (and turtle color options) almost make up for the lack of levels.

I think Turtles in Time is probably the better game overall but I like the way Hyperstone Heist plays more. You get noticeably more frames of animation and the dash button is awesome. Its just a smoother play experience.
 

lazygecko

Member
Pyron's color hack of Hyperstone Heist. Funny how it reveals details completely omitted in the original palette like the glare around the skyscraper lights on the title screen.

EbtjJi3.png
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Pyron's color hack of Hyperstone Heist. Funny how it reveals details completely omitted in the original palette like the glare around the skyscraper lights on the title screen.

That yellow sky is disgusting, though.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Didn't Hyperstone Heist have an in-game toggle between two color options in the first place? Or am I thinking of a different TMNT game?
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Didn't Hyperstone Heist have an in-game toggle between two color options in the first place? Or am I thinking of a different TMNT game?

For the turtles. You could toggle between all the turtles either being the same or different shades of green. I believe they were labeled "anime" and "comic"?
 

Xbudz

Member
Pyron's color hack of Hyperstone Heist. Funny how it reveals details completely omitted in the original palette like the glare around the skyscraper lights on the title screen.

I'm impressed. Is there a website that curates these hacks? I'd love to know what the best ones are.
 
B-qozGjXIAAwC40.png:orig

I feel like I'm breaking some unwritten rule by doing this

Actually, coming to Shining Force CD immediately after Fire Emblem Awakening is pretty weird. Instead of having clearly-defined Ally/Enemy/Neutral turns, the first of which lets me choose the order of character movement and action, both allies and enemies are seemingly-randomly-sorted - presumably actually sorted by a speed stat or something, but I haven't quite worked that one out. Was sort of expecting the archer to be more effective against the flying enemies in the first stage, so was surprised to see his damage was relatively negligible. I keep expecting counter-attacks to happen on both sides after an attack is launched, but that wasn't happening. Also half-expected neighboring units to team up, but since that was explicitly a new feature in Awakening I'm not sure why I'd expect that to happen. It's all a bit off-putting!

Which, y'know, is all the more weird when you figure I'd played Shining Force [1] first, albeit never saw it through to completion like I did with Awakening. You'd think I'd have remembered all these differences.
 
Frankly I've never liked the way it looks in any frame. It's garish. I really don't understand why it was made.

Agreed. That yellow sky is eye gouging and I don't really care for most of the changes. I really prefer the muted look and earthier tones in the original palette. Though there are a few shots that I do kind of like better in the re-colouring.
 
wait, halverson got funding again? huh...might have to check that out

and Shadow Hog got me wanting to finish up Shining Force CD & 2 now, damn

The next time i have like, a long weekend, CD is going to be the game i tackle. Playing through Shining Force 1 for the first time last year was so good.

Also, i'm now an official contributor for Segabits, which is pretty cool, just did a video for them on why Sonic 3D Blast doesn't suck at all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZobdON2bbo

I played it again for the video, and i think i actually like it more now then i did when i was a kid.
 
I actually remember an old issue of GameFan magazine mistakenly calling Sonic 3D Blast "Sonic RPG" . As for the game, it was OK and I actually did like playing through the Genesis version back in the day. I agree that it isn't as terrible as what people make made it out to be, as it was a pretty competent isometric platformer. But at the same time, the slower pace and lack of concise platforming did make it very un-Sonic like.

But the Soundtrack for the Genesis version of the game really is the best part of it, I also like that they went through the trouble of creating an alternate music track for every second level.

I notice that you also brought up Sonic R as well, I really seem to be indifferent on that one when it comes to the soundtrack. I hated the sugar coated vocals, but that is just me. I think I have my Saturn disc still somewhere for the game, even though I don't have my Saturn anymore.
 
I actually remember an old issue of GameFan magazine mistakenly calling Sonic 3D Blast "Sonic RPG" . As for the game, it was OK and I actually did like playing through the Genesis version back in the day. I agree that it isn't as terrible as what people make made it out to be, as it was a pretty competent isometric platformer. But at the same time, the slower pace and lack of concise platforming did make it very un-Sonic like.

But the Soundtrack for the Genesis version of the game really is the best part of it, I also like that they went through the trouble of creating an alternate music track for every second level.

I notice that you also brought up Sonic R as well, I really seem to be indifferent on that one when it comes to the soundtrack. I hated the sugar coated vocals, but that is just me. I think I have my Saturn disc still somewhere for the game, even though I don't have my Saturn anymore.

I mostly brought it up just to tie the development stuff together, but eh, i like pop stuff, so the music gels with me. Totally get that its taste thing though, and it certainly isn't good racing music.

Also, as a random aside i've been meaning to ask, i got a super cheap CIB copy of Galahad, and it actually looks pretty good. Is it any good, or is it another shitty EA PC port hack-job?
 
I prefer the 16 bit S3DB soundtrack to the Richard Jaques Saturn one.
I prefer the Richard Jacques one to the 16-bit one.

By, like, a lot.

I mean, the tracks Tetsuyuki Maeda did (eg: Rusty Ruins, Diamond Dust, Volcano Valley) tend to be ace, but the ones Jun Senoue did often are kinda flat (eg: Spring Stadium, Special Stages) with some exceptions (Green Grove 1 and Panic Puppet 1 are genuinely pretty good; probably why they came back for Sonic Adventure). And even then, I prefer some of Jacques' work to Maeda's (Rusty Ruins Saturn, for instance, is one of my favorite pairs of tracks in the entire series, bar none).

If anything, the Saturn soundtrack doesn't get enough love, seeing as when Sonic 3D is trotted out on later platforms, it is always, without fail, the Genesis version.
 
I prefer the Richard Jacques one to the 16-bit one.

By, like, a lot.

I mean, the tracks Tetsuyuki Maeda did (eg: Rusty Ruins, Diamond Dust, Volcano Valley) tend to be ace, but the ones Jun Senoue did often are kinda flat (eg: Spring Stadium, Special Stages) with some exceptions (Green Grove 1 and Panic Puppet 1 are genuinely pretty good; probably why they came back for Sonic Adventure). And even then, I prefer some of Jacques' work to Maeda's (Rusty Ruins Saturn, for instance, is one of my favorite pairs of tracks in the entire series, bar none).

If anything, the Saturn soundtrack doesn't get enough love, seeing as when Sonic 3D is trotted out on later platforms, it is always, without fail, the Genesis version.

My issue with the Saturn compositions wasn't so much that they wern't as good as the Genesis ones, but that the Genesis ones just fit the game better.

Also the Saturn bonus stage is so fucking good. I'd play that as a separate thing itself.
 
My issue with the Saturn compositions wasn't so much that they wern't as good as the Genesis ones, but that the Genesis ones just fit the game better.
See, I can't even agree with this much. I think the piano/Gregorian choir mix fits a castle stage like Rusty Ruins much better than the jazzy tune the Genesis version got. Diamond Dust is suitably wintry. Spring Stadium nails the casino vibe (at least for Act 1; I don't like Act 2's circus motif as much, although I do like it overall and it's still miles better than the bland music used in the Genesis version for that stage). Gene Gadget and Panic Puppet are darn good techno pieces (always kinda wondered why Sonic 3D has two tech stages back-to-back, though). Volcano Valley's blaring strings and brass is even pretty fitting for a hellish volcanic wasteland, although it's probably one case where I'd give the nod to the Genesis version.
 

IrishNinja

Member
Also, i'm now an official contributor for Segabits, which is pretty cool, just did a video for them on why Sonic 3D Blast doesn't suck at all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZobdON2bbo

I played it again for the video, and i think i actually like it more now then i did when i was a kid.

ah, congrats on that man! great site.

Plus, those special stages in the Saturn version are the GOAT.

yeah i enjoy the OST on both versions (and really dig the sugary shit on Sonic R's, haha) but this part is an absolute highlight
 

AmyS

Member
Thank you for these. These old Usenet posts are AMAZING!

When it comes to Outrun, there's an extra condition! Not only do you have to get to the stages in under 2 mins, but it has to be a perfect run too. Even a slight side swipe against another car will stop the easter eggs from cropping up. I got all 3 this morning, but the recording was dreadful :(

No problem!

Look what I found in EGM #28 - Nov. 1991:

hdzCtDm.jpg
 

brett2

Member
Gunstar - nice Sonic 3D Blast video I enjoyed it.

I must be in the minority but I liked Sonic R a lot. The graphics were very good for Saturn and I thought the levels were fun with the branching paths and secrets. I think a lot of people hated it because Sonic was hard to control and if they just tried playing with Tails it made the game a lot easier and enjoyable. Part of my love for it was also total desperation to play anything Sonic in true 3D after seeing Mario 64.
 
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