Better audio/video out of a JP The Sega Master System v2.1?
Better audio/video out of a JP The Sega Master System v2.1?
As topic says. I just got one of these (hooray the Power Base Converter is now useless! But I have to get a gender adapter, damn!) and I see unused pins on the connector where the video cable plugs in. The supplied video cable is just a yellow/white RCA style connector. Any ideas?
Re: Better audio/video out of a JP The Sega Master System v2
Crossposting from Digital Press: very preliminary impressions of the system
I only have six compatible games, and of those there's (only) two I'm interested in trying out at the moment (H.E.R.O. I've seen emulated; it's improved over other versions but this is a story for later). One of those games is Aleste, also known as Power Strike, which is basically Zanac on the SMS (without the changing difficulty level, I believe), and essentially the same game as on the MSX except with a different stage order (and maybe different levels of slowdown). As a result, many of the JPN SMS's apparent improvements can be immediately observed.
I'd been thinking about playing Zoom 909 first, but I remembered that Aleste had improved sound. Hooray! The sound is pretty good - reminds me of MIDI actually.
Aleste is actually somewhat annoying to play because you need to hold down both buttons at once. I didn't unwrap the SMS sticks (the little screw-in nubs are still in a little bag tucked into a small slot in the box's styro) and instead opted for a 3-button Genesis pad. It works perfectly without any shenanigans, and if I wanted super-precise control I could likely plug in a MSX or X68000 arcade style controller with no problems. Hooray for unofficial standards!
For people with an original SMS, you remember that there's two buttons on the faceplate: RESET and PAUSE. There's no reset here; instead, there's something I always like to see: RAPID! Aleste already has built-in autofire, giving you a decent level of firepower against enemies. Soft toggle, not a two-position switch. Before I turned on the system I gave these buttons a firm push and they feel flimsy and soft enough that I was both unsure if they were two-position or if I would break them...true story. Autofire definitely helps this game, and interestingly enough it only affects the left button (the hybrid Start/A button); you can hold down button B as normal.
And I guess that leads me to why Aleste is silly; holding down button B while using weapon #2 makes you virtually invincible, able to plow into enemy formations and most bullets from the front and most of the sides. On top of that, past stage 1 the whole game seems to be constantly playing at half speed due to all the bullets and other crap onscreen. Ah well, it's still a decent enough game, although it puts me to sleep somewhat. Will have to reach the ~5M endgame highscore before I can say that with absolute conviction, however (I've only gotten 701,200, although in my first sitting with the game)!
Note on the video: There are two video options provided by Sega in the box: RF, with a somewhat bulky switch and extra wire with frayed-looking copper ends ready to be tied into something else, and an RCA-style mono cable. The mono cable only has something like 8 pins on the back, arranged in a circle, kind of like a MIDI cable. This is a common enough design for old computers. On the back of the SMS there are spots for plugging in many more pins, however, so I'm asking around to see if there aren't better options for sound and video.
I only have six compatible games, and of those there's (only) two I'm interested in trying out at the moment (H.E.R.O. I've seen emulated; it's improved over other versions but this is a story for later). One of those games is Aleste, also known as Power Strike, which is basically Zanac on the SMS (without the changing difficulty level, I believe), and essentially the same game as on the MSX except with a different stage order (and maybe different levels of slowdown). As a result, many of the JPN SMS's apparent improvements can be immediately observed.
I'd been thinking about playing Zoom 909 first, but I remembered that Aleste had improved sound. Hooray! The sound is pretty good - reminds me of MIDI actually.
Aleste is actually somewhat annoying to play because you need to hold down both buttons at once. I didn't unwrap the SMS sticks (the little screw-in nubs are still in a little bag tucked into a small slot in the box's styro) and instead opted for a 3-button Genesis pad. It works perfectly without any shenanigans, and if I wanted super-precise control I could likely plug in a MSX or X68000 arcade style controller with no problems. Hooray for unofficial standards!
For people with an original SMS, you remember that there's two buttons on the faceplate: RESET and PAUSE. There's no reset here; instead, there's something I always like to see: RAPID! Aleste already has built-in autofire, giving you a decent level of firepower against enemies. Soft toggle, not a two-position switch. Before I turned on the system I gave these buttons a firm push and they feel flimsy and soft enough that I was both unsure if they were two-position or if I would break them...true story. Autofire definitely helps this game, and interestingly enough it only affects the left button (the hybrid Start/A button); you can hold down button B as normal.
And I guess that leads me to why Aleste is silly; holding down button B while using weapon #2 makes you virtually invincible, able to plow into enemy formations and most bullets from the front and most of the sides. On top of that, past stage 1 the whole game seems to be constantly playing at half speed due to all the bullets and other crap onscreen. Ah well, it's still a decent enough game, although it puts me to sleep somewhat. Will have to reach the ~5M endgame highscore before I can say that with absolute conviction, however (I've only gotten 701,200, although in my first sitting with the game)!
Note on the video: There are two video options provided by Sega in the box: RF, with a somewhat bulky switch and extra wire with frayed-looking copper ends ready to be tied into something else, and an RCA-style mono cable. The mono cable only has something like 8 pins on the back, arranged in a circle, kind of like a MIDI cable. This is a common enough design for old computers. On the back of the SMS there are spots for plugging in many more pins, however, so I'm asking around to see if there aren't better options for sound and video.
Well, this might serve just as well. Here's a post from Digital Press in the meantime, by the one and only Chris Covell:
[QUOTE=ccovell]The soft-autofire should work for either button. You hold down the button(s) you want to turn rapid-fire on, press the rapid button on the system, and it should have rapid-fire on for each button until you do the same procedure to turn them off individually.
The DIN output on the SMS is mono-only, unfortunately, but at least it outputs RGB video, if you have the proper display device.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=ccovell]The soft-autofire should work for either button. You hold down the button(s) you want to turn rapid-fire on, press the rapid button on the system, and it should have rapid-fire on for each button until you do the same procedure to turn them off individually.
The DIN output on the SMS is mono-only, unfortunately, but at least it outputs RGB video, if you have the proper display device.[/QUOTE]
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Herr Schatten
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Aleste/Power Strike does have the changing difficulty. The game actually gets a bit harder if you use rapid fire. It's not quite as noticeable as in Zanac, though.
I never knew about that weapon #2 trick. I always used weapon #1 exclusively, because it's the only one that doesn't run out. Isn't it difficult to tackle the bases using weapon #2?
I never knew about that weapon #2 trick. I always used weapon #1 exclusively, because it's the only one that doesn't run out. Isn't it difficult to tackle the bases using weapon #2?
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Arasoi
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