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

[BrianC]

Seriously why did they change the cover to something so much worse?

I wonder the same thing for a good chunk of 80s and early 90s games, especially early SMS games.

[stryc9]

I can understand why they changed some covers from the J originals, like Arrow Flash, or even Alisia Dragoon, but changes to stuff like the Shinobi games, Splatter House 2 and the Street Fighter 2 ports seem to defy explanation.

That's not to say that the US never had better cover art than their Japanese counterparts. Off the top of my head:

SOR 1
Castlevania Bloodlines
TMNT Tournament Fighters
Comix Zone
Thunder Force II
Herzog Zwei
Vapor Trail

Not a lot, but there would have to be more. Subjective I guess, but in these cases the US versions look better IMO.
And I'll be honest, I will be picking up a US Vapor Trail despite the fact most of my collection is NTSCJ. The others I already have.

[BIL]

Bloodlines' boxart is by no means terrible (that would be Target Earth or El Viento), but having both on the shelf I definitely prefer Vampire Killer's. I like the more vivid oil painting look, but style aside it's more elegantly composed and it reflects the game's character designs, setting and premise perfectly, where the US one is a bit jumbled and very vague. The blue dude who I guess represents the third Giant Armour miniboss looks like he could give one helluva good reacharound. >_>





The blood red with black text spine is striking too (and complements The Hard Corps!)

[drauch]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to disagree as well. US boxart just doesn't compare. Vampire Killer, Thunder Force, Streets of Rage: all look better to me. But yeah, like you said, subjective. Bare Knuckle just looks grittier, because fighting bare knuckle on the streets against hordes of gangs is indeed gritty, but the US cover does capture the kind of "urban" films of the 80s and early 90s, so it works. I'll take Blaze's artwork in any form, any day.

[BrianC]

Captain Silver SMS is a real oddity in box art. I actually prefer the US art over the EU/JP art. For some odd reason, the main character is wearing a turban in the JP/EU art, despite not wearing one in game. Normally this type of misrepresentation of in game artwork is expected of US box art for JP designed games, but not of JP artwork. Too bad the US version of Captain Silver was butchered compared to other versions due to being severely cut down to fit in a smaller memory size.

Box scans for US, EU, and JP Captain Silver

While I wouldn't call the US Alisia Dragoon art a good representation of the in game art, I find it a guilty pleasure.

[soprano1]

Captain Silver SMS is a real oddity in box art. I actually prefer the US art over the EU/JP art. For some odd reason, the main character is wearing a turban in the art, despite not wearing one in game. Normally this type of misrepresentation of in game artwork is expected of US box art for JP designed games, but not of JP artwork. Too bad the US version of Captain Silver was butchered compared to other versions due to being severely cut down to fit in a smaller memory size.

Box scans for US, EU, and JP Captain Silver

I wonder if the box designer of the JP/EU release drew the black guy's pose on purpose, the perspective makes it look like he has a huge dong hanging.

[EmperorIng]

Vampire Killer: "Lol who's that girl with the butter knife taped on to his ax?"

Bloodlines: Manly man getting ready for HIGH OCTANE, HIGH CONCEPT, HEAVY METAL ENTERTAINMENT. You can't contain the excitement, everyone and everything is screaming at the top of their lungs, and what they are probably screaming is "BLAST PROCESSING!"

[BIL]

The French bishie is there for the same reason Maria is in Rondo, to defuse a potential vampire-killing macho man singularity! Plus, hawt cleavage lady > angry transvestite! Meanwhile...

Bloodlines reacharound zombie: "Nice cravat manly man, got some frilly panties to match?"

edit: oh god - the zombie's reaching for the balls, and the whip is tickling his. Undoubtedly a harbinger of the series' remarkably fruity art direction in latter years.

[stryc9]

OK, on closer inspection I reckon they're about even. I don't own Bloodlines, only VK, so images I've seen have been smaller than the one BIL posted. The Bloodlines one looked better when I couldn't see all the detail, it isn't great close up I admit.

Still not in love with the VK cover either though.

I stand by the rest of my list (I think). In the case of SOR vs BK art, what bothered me was the faces on the characters on BK - everything else is awesome, particularly the dynamic brawl going on at the bottom. The SOR one Axels face looks better, and closer to the one in-game IMO. Yes I am that fussy about faces in art, it's the first thing you're drawn to The rest of it is sufficiently dynamic enough to convey the image of the game.

I'm pretty sure we're all going to agree on BK2 owning SOR2 though, no competition. I never liked the SOR2 art and thought it looked rubbish at the time. Compare that to the BK2 cover, which has both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Van Damme in all their glory

Edit: @Drauch: Man, you like the the Japanese Thunder Force better? It looks much more like the actual ship, but the US one got lazers firing everywhich way, taking shit out

[Ed Oscuro]

In the Bloodlines art, Johnny boy is wondering "WHO KNOCKED ALL THE MONSTERS OFF THE SHELF THIS TIME?!"

I wonder who painted that and who did (for example) Castlevania III / Super CV IV (NTSC/U), which are very nice artworks.
re: Cap'n Silver, I think there's a few other bits of (rather bad) box art coming out of Sega Japan like that one. Really it's a crapshoot as to who got the worse art.

[BIL]

I do appreciate the use of motion lines on the JP Captain Silver box. The tinderbox scene of impending carnage is given all the more suspense by the men's impassioned, bilateral performing of the international wanking gesture.

[Ed Oscuro]

Speaking of gormless assholes, GameFAQs makes searching for sokoban too difficult. Excuse me, "soukoban" in all but IOS (and similar) contexts.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure the same artist was responsible for this:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/sg1000/916324-s ... s/box-8573
Totally cocks up the character (what a surprise!), but the architectural perspective + cheese-gobbler make up for it.

[Bloodreign]

The US Bloodlines boxart has a ghoul with a bunch of arms and blades in each hand, I don't remember any enemies looking like that in game.

[BrianC]

One of the stranger box art changes was for The US SD Valis, which used box art from a PC Engine game that also used SD characters. Starship Hector NES did something similar, using the guy on the Japanese Famicom Star Soldier box on the US Starship Hector box.

[BIL]

The US Bloodlines boxart has a ghoul with a bunch of arms and blades in each hand, I don't remember any enemies looking like that in game.

I think that's supposed to be Gear Steamer.

[Bloodreign]

The US Bloodlines boxart has a ghoul with a bunch of arms and blades in each hand, I don't remember any enemies looking like that in game.

I think that's supposed to be Gear Steamer.

He won't be steaming any gears, not with that many arms, or maybe he CAN steam a bunch of them at once sheesh.

[IrishNinja]

Bloodlines is such a classic, Dracula X (SNES) got ranked on in the day but this one felt absolutely slept on, always glad to see it get love.

[DMC]

What side-scrolling Run 'n' Gun games do you recommend?

So far my favourite is Alien Soldier, which takes a few hours to get into as it is a bit more complex/unconventional than your average Run'n'Gun - but it really picks up once you learn to master the controls. It also has the most diverse selection of bosses and they demand unique strategies so it is really fun experimenting with this game. I am going to revisit Mega Probotector/Contra HC soon as I didn't give it a fair chance back then. Gunstar Heroes is a creative piece but it is also quite imbalanced and I don't appreciate the cartoon cute platformer aesthetics in a RnG game. Ranger-X/Ex-ranza I didn't feel at all last time, but maybe should give it a second choice? I remember it as too slow-paced. What else have I missed?

[IrishNinja]

there's some great ones, but seriously, both Rolling Thunder 2 & 3 are fantastic! great graphics & sound, lotta fun too.

[zinger]

Nothing comes close to Alien Soldier in terms of pace and complexity. Contra has much better presentation in my opinion though. These two are the best high-paced side-view action titles on the system (considering The Super Shinobi and Dai Makaimura don't really belong to the same genre). You've missed the Chelnov port though, which is incredible. I agree about Ex Ranza and GH. I found the Rolling Thunder titles rather depressing compared to the original arcade games.

[BIL]

What side-scrolling Run 'n' Gun games do you recommend?

Besides Alien Soldier and Hard Corps, Chelnov (Atomic Runner in US/EU) is excellent - autoscrolling run and gun with a heavy focus on agile jumping and aerial maneuvering. I think it might actually be considered on-topic in Shmups Chat, along with DECO's later Wolf Fang/Rohga... but either way, very STGish drive and intensity.

Ex-Ranza/Ranger X I thoroughly recommend, but like Alien Soldier there's an initial control learning curve, and it also hits you with a fairly disorienting maze in stage 2 that'll make it seem a lot slower-paced than it usually is. It does get back to open warfare soon enough though. It becomes very fast-moving and rip-roaringly destructive with a little familiarity, and the upper difficulty tiers are actually really damned hard.

Rolling Thunder 2 is quality, seconding. You'll already know this if you're familiar with the series, but it really is a slower-paced game than bullet sprayers like Contra/Metal Slug et al with its emphasis on deftly maneuvering around cover while picking off baddies with ammo-conserving accuracy.

[DMC]

Oh, yeah, I will definitely give Chelnov a real try, have previously disregarded it for some reason. Soundtrack seems cool, at the very least.
My eyes are on RT2&3 too even if they might be slow.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

[zinger]

BIL: I remember not being able to pass the skyscraper stage in Ex Ranza on hard mode due to what I and many others seemed to assume was a bug? There just weren't enough platforms for you to land on so that you could recharge your jets? It's been like ten years now so I don't remember that well. Have you been able to clear it on hard?

[BIL]

IIRC you need to use the game's super jump to clear that bit (jump diagonally up from a crouch). I think that's the only place you actually have to use it to proceed, might be wrong though.

[zinger]

Oh okay, guess I never realized there was such a move!

[BIL]

I think I first noticed it while messing around in stage 1, seeing if I could chase those striker jets - dug the resemblance to the alternate jump inputs that started appearing in Capcom/SNK fighters around the same time.

I like how there's lots of interesting little mechanical quirks to spot, just like the team's earlier Granada. I had no idea the Ranza will automatically kick any midsized enemy right in the face until a similar playaround session! I knew I was bumping into them, but noticing the dedicated kick animation and realising it's a legit means of attack cracked me up. So cool! You can also slam into them with the bike for the same stun effect.



Also, completely off the topic of sidescrolling, but as a devotee of the running and shooting I have to mention Senjou no Okami II aka Mercs. The arcade mode is a decent enough port, but the exclusive original mode is really great. Plays like a military-themed coinop action RPG, intense as hell on Hard. Easily worth getting the cart for even if you have the perfect arcade port on Capcom Generation 4.

Shameful plug! (video quality goes to shit in stage 3, it's supposed to be an awesome blinding snow effect!)

[GSK]

Not new news, but this stuff has been getting a little buzz today:

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread ... icom-Treco

Pre-release info/scans on an unreleased Aicom game called VASUM (JP) / Dando (US), very much in the same vein as Legendary Axe/Astyanax.

[GSK]

Not new news, but this stuff has been getting a little buzz today:

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread ... icom-Treco

Pre-release info/scans on an unreleased Aicom game called VASUM (JP) / Dando (US), very much in the same vein as Legendary Axe/Astyanax.

Mystery solved!

https://twitter.com/sizokmr/status/454855655128449024

The game was in development prior to the Sammy acquisition, but was cancelled when director Tokuhiro Takemori (Legendary Axe/Astyanax) left the company during development. Oh well.

[BIL]

Interesting Sega 16 thread, I didn't realise Treco was Sammy's MD publishing house.

The Legendary Axe, Astyanax and VASUM dudes' walking animations all have such bad posture. You'll get nasty lumbar pains skulking about like that!

[Captain]

IIRC you need to use the game's super jump to clear that bit (jump diagonally up from a crouch). I think that's the only place you actually have to use it to proceed, might be wrong though.

no, you can do it with a normal jump, there is a tiny floating platform in the air somewhere that you can stand on to recharge and quickly take off again.

edit: speaking of great games with wacky lurning curves, theres that Batman platformer/run n gun/brawler/omg what game that is harder than Bill Rizer's erection.