The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Thread (NEW)!!!

[Pretas]

I had forgotten about the US cover of Shadow Dancer MD. It appears to be a teenaged mall ninja vigilante in a cheap Halloween costume attempting to apprehend a mugger.

[BIL]

I had a loose secondhand Shadow Dancer Genesis cart as a kid, bought by my dad from one of his highschool students, and I always suspected it was some kind of official bootleg.

[Heavy Viper]

Amusingly, the cover artwork is actually signed by the artist.

[BIL]

Ah, the illustrious Steve Jones. I wonder if that's Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols fame? Maybe he was between record labels and had to put food on the table.

[Specineff]

For some reason it looks like Musashi is wearing Stormtrooper armor, minus the arm parts.

[BrianC]

I find it funny how the shadow of Musashi looks female and seems to be out of proportion.

[BIL]

I wonder if Steve ever actually saw footage/photos of the game, or if someone just described it to him down the phone / via smoke signals? He meticulously got everything wrong.



=



I wish he could've tried his hand at the third MD game's overseas cover.



Or hell, any game imaginable really. His Shadow Dancer cover is so bad it's God. It'd be fascinating to hear from him today assuming the ninjas didn't get him.

[blackoak]

Translated a funny little Alien Soldier interview here: http://shmuplations.com/aliensoldier

There's an Ecco the Dolphin interview there too, though I doubt its tepid (hehe) action will be too interesting to people here. It's a cool look at Sega's attitude toward localization though, as presented through one of it's more prolific localizers.

Haha, that Shadow Dancer cover. It doesn't quite make me want to be a ninja, but I do have the urge to crack open my Cezanne print collections...

[trap15]

Damn blackoak, that Alien Soldier interview is intense. What a guy

[EmperorIng]

I like how the back of the Shadow Dancer cover refers to Joe's righteous quest of vengeance against Union Lizard for killing his dear old friend, Kato... Which is never mentioned in-game at all.

[BIL]

And his NEW CAUSE would make the game... The Revenge of Shinobi II: Revenge Harder. They could've at least given him something more original to do. Like breaking up a porno pirating ring before they can sabotage the launch of his best friend Kato's new flick GHETTO BOOTY

It's not Joe either, it's his son Hayate and FAITHFUL HOUND Yamato.

I sometimes wonder how much of Bad Localisation Back In The Day was simple lack of information, and how much was conscious effort to XTREME things up a little. Marion has nothing to do with FC Double Dragon III's story. On NES she's not only been kidnapped for the third time running, she's the last boss and you beat the living shit out of her. Contra, Super Contra and Contra Spirits are a trilogy taking place in the mid 27th century. The NES versions of the first two moved them to the 1980s so the third game had to star JIMBO AND SULLY, the descendants of "MAD DOG AND SCORPION." This also meant the ending timeline photos had to be scrubbed of their dates. Then there's Super Castlevania IV, although that's a pretty clear case of surrogate "DUN CONFUSE MEH PLZ" on Konami's part.

oh wellz. Steve wherever you are your cover reverbrates throughout nerdcore eternally.

Alien Soldier is like my baby… no, strike that, it is my baby. And she’s very cute. It was a difficult birth. In the end we had to perform a dangerous C-section on the mother. So she’s a premature birth…

SET THE 68000 WOMB ON FIRE

The feelings in that interview. ;-;7

[GSK]

blackoak, I think I've said this every time you update, but I was totally gonna send you that meisaku series at some point There's a Revenge of Shinobi interview in particular that really interests me, I'm just flat broke and at the mercy of the gov't right now so I haven't mentioned it, particularly as it's really long, even without the readers' comments section at the end. I was gonna try work something out with Sega USA's community manager, actually, but I straight-up forgot until I saw your update... I really should get moving on that.

A couple of those interviews have been translated elsewhere, by the way: the Gain Ground interview, the Gunstar interview, maybe the Monster World interview, but I can't remember what's online and what's not.

EDIT: oh, and GSLA is officially dead but some guy mirrored the whole thing, I dunno if you've updated your links.

[null1024]

SET THE 68000 WOMB ON FIRE

that is the most terrifying phrase ever
Also, that interview is so great. That's one game I'm really surprised to hear that it was almost made entirely be one person.

Yeah, the effect looks lame but they seem to control alright? I never noticed any wobble or drift beyond the funky "hip sway" ship left/right animation.

I absolutely love the Axelay vert scroll effect. It's stupid, and silly, but it's got charm out the ass. Its so "MODE 7 BITCH" that I can't help but like it [although, the effect mightn't even need to use any Mode 7's hardware scaling, could just be an ordinary raster effect]. There's no actual inertia, the animation makes it look a bit like it.

Both are knocked down a rung by a few too many useless bosses/setpieces. I suspect Nakazato might've been only part of Team SFX's brilliance. When his latter two sidescrollers are on form they easily match III's highlights, but its rollicking pace and perfect balance of free running to setpieces isn't there.

I wish Hard Corps had just been one long highlight reel of its best bits instead of breaking them up. According to blackoak's recent translation they wanted to encourage replay... I always prefer a perfectly tailored set path.

At the time, making the game seem more replayable gave it value. It could do with a VIOLENCE DIRECTORS CUT path that had the highlights of the game in a row, yeah.
As for setpieces, I'm a complete sucker for how HC is mostly composed of them, so I'm going to disagree there.
probably why I like Shadow Dancer so much, the entire game is a constant stream of wonderful setpieces, go here, this shit happens, YOU BETTER NOT FUCK UP YOU BITCH, and then you do it perfectly and you're all like "I'm Joe/Hayate about to let my dog HAVE HIS WAY WITH YOUUUUU!"

man, when I found that Shadow Dancer had a stage practice mode [perfect for when I'm pulling out my PSP and want REAL NINJA ACTION RIGHT NOW since I don't have that much time to play], that was amazing -- set that shit to the third difficulty, pick a stage and let her rip
Although, I wish I could pick which room of the Union Lizard base to do -- I really want to go against the ninja room like, constantly.

oh well, 4-2 mostly sates my desire, and the darkness really accentuates that damn stage, it's so cool
damnit BIL, you're rubbing off onto me

[Ruldra]

There's an Ecco the Dolphin interview there too, though I doubt its tepid (hehe) action will be too interesting to people here. It's a cool look at Sega's attitude toward localization though, as presented through one of it's more prolific localizers.

I took a peek at the interview wondering if the guy said anything about adjusting the game's difficulty. He does mention that but nothing really specific.

I think it's complete BS that the game doesn't give you a password when you reach the final boss. If you die there you're sent back to the Welcome to the Machine level, which is a horrible, long, unforgiving level that will take you many attempts to beat. Only to reach the final boss, die because you're still learning the patterns and being sent there again. Beating the US version was almost impossible because of that.

Of course, on the JP version you just respawn at the final boss if you die there.

[GSK]

Doesn't the JP version warp you to a new "stomach" stage if you die to the boss? Maybe that only happens if you get eaten, I forget.

Hasegawa participated in the interview for the 3D Classics port, too:

http://blogs.sega.com/2013/12/10/sega-3 ... eloper-m2/

I like how the M2 guy was all "if we'd known the JP version was so different we never would have agreed to this".

[BIL]

Doesn't the JP version warp you to a new "stomach" stage if you die to the boss? Maybe that only happens if you get eaten, I forget.

^ yup. Confused the hell out of me! I picked up both MD games for peanuts, NOS. Was surprised at how toned down they were - I prefer it tbh. Usually I like (sensibly) tougher regional variants but I enjoy these games for their uneasy atmosphere foremost, not interested in becoming the 1337 virtual dolphin handler.

The JP version also has different and abominably bad music in the Open Ocean stages. edit: link removed, apparently it was so bad Youtube deleted it.

[BrianC]

The JP version also has different and abominably bad music in the Open Ocean stages. edit: link removed, apparently it was so bad Youtube deleted it.

I watched a video of it on youtube. ugh. It's so bad, it makes me wonder if it was intentionally changed or if was caused by a glitch. The SEGA CD version also has different music, but it seems to have been chnaged for the better.

[EmperorIng]

I don't like Ecco all that much, but I have to disagree. The original soundtrack has such a British prog-rock vibe that the duller CD soundtrack just can't compare, even if they have nice CD-quality samples.

Medusa Bay
Medusa Bay CD

Welcome to the Machine
Welcome to the Machine CD

Original sounds a lot more brooding and surreal, which fits Ecco. The CD music sounds fine, but is fairly filmic and generic.

[stryc9]

I'm not sure why I took so long to get EX Ranzer, the game is badass. Some of the linescroll effects are truly mind blowing.

Mega Turrican is another I was interested in acquiring for a good while. It looks absolutely gorgeous in RGB and the soundtrack is fantastic IMO. The level design has more in common with Japanese console stuff and is generally top notch, although there is quite a few hidden areas to uncover like the massive part in stage 1. It would be interesting to go for a 100% diamond collection run since the stage timer keeps counting down even if you lose a life, luckily there are 1 UPs secreted around the stages in parts that encourage taking a few risks so you can easily stock up.

I 1CCed on default settings, almost took out Hard last night but the final stage wore my lives down with a couple of tricky sections. Hard mode bumps up enemy damage so is probably more suited to some of the beast players here, my only criticism is that the bosses are just too easy regardless of difficulty.

Factor 5 really knew how to set the 68000 heart on fire, too bad they did the sequel for SNES only. Speaking of which, I was surprised to see the Giger Alien stage was the final level on Super Turrican, and I've also read something about a serious music glitch as well.

Pity, because Super Turrican was on my to get list for when I finally bite the bullet and invest in a Japanese system. OT I know, but how serious is the glitch, anyone know?

[Bar81]

I'm not sure why I took so long to get EX Ranzer, the game is badass. Some of the linescroll effects are truly mind blowing.

Mega Turrican is another I was interested in acquiring for a good while. It looks absolutely gorgeous in RGB and the soundtrack is fantastic IMO. The level design has more in common with Japanese console stuff and is generally top notch, although there is quite a few hidden areas to uncover like the massive part in stage 1. It would be interesting to go for a 100% diamond collection run since the stage timer keeps counting down even if you lose a life, luckily there are 1 UPs secreted around the stages in parts that encourage taking a few risks so you can easily stock up.

I 1CCed on default settings, almost took out Hard last night but the final stage wore my lives down with a couple of tricky sections. Hard mode bumps up enemy damage so is probably more suited to some of the beast players here, my only criticism is that the bosses are just too easy regardless of difficulty.

Factor 5 really knew how to set the 68000 heart on fire, too bad they did the sequel for SNES only. Speaking of which, I was surprised to see the Giger Alien stage was the final level on Super Turrican, and I've also read something about a serious music glitch as well.

Pity, because Super Turrican was on my to get list for when I finally bite the bullet and invest in a Japanese system. OT I know, but how serious is the glitch, anyone know?

LOL, it's either Ranger-X or Ex Ranza.

Don't expect either of the SNES "Turrican" games to be a patch on Mega Turrican.

[EmperorIng]

I haven't given a lot of time into Mega Turrican, but I am not sure if I like the Euro-style run-n-gun. Feels a bit ponderously-paced, despite some great graphics and bosses. However, I am open to anyone singing its praises though!

[GSK]

Mega Turrican is somewhat of a midpoint between the early Euro-style design and the SNES games which are much more linear.

I don't really like any of them but Mega Turrican is the one to play.

[Ed Oscuro]

I like how the back of the Shadow Dancer cover refers to Joe's righteous quest of vengeance against Union Lizard for killing his dear old friend, Kato... Which is never mentioned in-game at all.

Maybe they outsourced the entire thing to a team who thought they were doing a Green Lantern reboot?
(secret)
Have to admit I wouldn't mind seeing a Bruce Lee-themed game done by the classic Shinobi team. "But first, we have to make a worthwhile game about this useless blue bag of darning needles"

[BrianC]

I like how the back of the Shadow Dancer cover refers to Joe's righteous quest of vengeance against Union Lizard for killing his dear old friend, Kato... Which is never mentioned in-game at all.

Maybe they outsourced the entire thing to a team who thought they were doing a Green Lantern reboot?

No, that would be if Joe Musashi found a mysterious ring from a ninja named Abin Sur and encountered a group called Union Lizard who is lead by a man who went crazy when he gained the ability to read minds.

[Ed Oscuro]

Ha, fuck me, I meant to write something other than Green Lantern. Thankfully I kept it (secret) well!

But I like that scenario too!

[Heavy Viper]

Speaking of Turrican, I recently played through a big chunk of Universal Soldier. It's pretty much a Turrican game (Turrican II), just with some movie branding and bosses/settings vaguely related to the movie chucked in. I thought it was surprisingly good! Music ain't half-bad, either! Stage 4 in particular has some wonderful BGM that chimes in when you go underwater. Looks like the soundtrack hasn't hit YouTube yet, sadly... (Or so I thought! The YM2612 mellows out the songs from Turrican II quite a bit, and it seems to suit this one very well...)

Stage 4

EDIT: Ah. Never mind the "pretty much a Turrican." It's Turrican II: http://universalsoldier.wikia.com/wiki/ ... video_game

[Captain]

Universal soldier is a great clone of Turrican 2, with some added levels and shumup levels removed.

The replaced boss graphics are hilarious though. But as I said, the game is worth playing.

Let us not forget Turrican 3. Its like Mega Turrican with SLIGHTLY bigger areas and a bigger screen size (I mean, more stuff is on the screen). This makes it better, even though the music and graphics are worse.

[BIL]

I've never played a Turrican but II gets my approval solely for its game clear jingle being named "YEEAAH DONE IT."

[Bar81]

Let us not forget Turrican 3. Its like Mega Turrican with SLIGHTLY bigger areas and a bigger screen size (I mean, more stuff is on the screen). This makes it better, even though the music and graphics are worse.

Considering it's a port of Mega Turrican, one would hope that they're alike, LOL.

[Captain]

I'm praising its superiority to Mega Turrican.

Unless you like graphics, if you do,GET OUTTA HERE SCUM.