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

[null1024]

Phantasy Star 4's visuals need composite [or a filter that simulates it]. Actually, most Genesis games do, since they expect the colors to blend horizontally to give the appearance of a higher color palette. Otherwise, they look kind of grainy.

That, is one of the most horrifying and wrong things I have ever read about the MD/Genesis.
Have you ever experienced it with genuine RGB connectivity on a RGB-compatible crt tv ?

Well, crisp RGB does look quite nice, but loads of things on the MD really expect color bleeding. PSIV's art definitely expects at least some bleed [look at the pixel patterns of its gradients]. I would certainly agree that RGB is much nicer and would be the ideal output [revoking my previous statement a bit, replace "need" with "expect"].

[BIL]

I went ahead and ordered some Taito MD stuff. Darius II and Volfied. I also ordered Final Mission (Japanese version of SCAT with some major differences) for Famicom. So far the only Taito game I have on Genesis/MD is Rainbow Islands, so I decided to change that.

Even were I not a Natsume action gaming lover, Final Mission is my single most essential game to own in original format. Never mind that the box (both sides) is a beaut - it's no longer called friggin' "SCAT."

Definitely give Space Invaders 90 (MD) a look if you haven't, it's quite lovely if you dig the ol' scoot n' shoot. Incredibly catchy soundtrack using Noriyuki Iwadare's Cube driver, too. As soon as the enemy lines materialised in perfect sync to the hammering backbeat I was hooked.

[BrianC]

Yeah, I definitely plan to pick up Space Invaders '90/91 up too. Space Invaders definitely wins the award for most successful updates.

[Xyga]

Phantasy Star 4's visuals need composite [or a filter that simulates it]. Actually, most Genesis games do, since they expect the colors to blend horizontally to give the appearance of a higher color palette. Otherwise, they look kind of grainy.

That, is one of the most horrifying and wrong things I have ever read about the MD/Genesis.
Have you ever experienced it with genuine RGB connectivity on a RGB-compatible crt tv ?

Well, crisp RGB does look quite nice, but loads of things on the MD really expect color bleeding. PSIV's art definitely expects at least some bleed [look at the pixel patterns of its gradients]. I would certainly agree that RGB is much nicer and would be the ideal output [revoking my previous statement a bit, replace "need" with "expect"].

I couldn't tell every 'location' where artists were willing to exploit a weak signal from the MD or just did their best with its limited color palette, but an RGB-compatible crt isn't razor-sharp to begin.
Poor gradients that are very obvious on a flat panel become less of a problem on an rgb tv, especially thanks to the variable glow intensity and therefore shape of the phosphors -> that, for sure was definitely exploited by graphists of this era. At least in Japan where pixel art was all the rage when the western side was more into fine animation.

[BrianC]

One thing I find funny with Space Invaders 90/91 is how it has a weapon called H. Bomb, with the H. standing for homing rather than hydrogen. So it's a simple homing weapon, not the screen clearing monster you would expect.

[BryanM]

Box really was metal as fuck. There is no way on earth that was a mistake; the nerd in charge of R&D created a pile of colors and sounds that were metal and put them into the box. Everything that was in the non-metal pile went directly into the trash bin.

That's how every new Sonic game is an instant failure in god's eyes. "Needs more metal."

[BIL]

One thing I find funny with Space Invaders 90/91 is how it has a weapon called H. Bomb, with the H. standing for homing rather than hydrogen. So it's a simple homing weapon, not the screen clearing monster you would expect.

It does that a lot, haha - "S.Crusher" sounds like some kind of one shot/sec cluster-annihilating rocket, but it's just a clone shadow. Brought to you by the letter "S" for "shadow! Oh Taito.

[railslave]

My measley little collection (black cases phantasy star 2, thunderforce2)

Ive tried my best to get games i never had as i kid, sick of going around in circles.

Stuff im realy after phantasy star 4, grindstormer, verytex , i can but dream!

[BIL]

As cool as many of the more exotic hori shooters on the platform are, if I had to keep just one it'd be HELLFIRE (for vert SAME! SAME! SAME!). Macho workhorse shooting. Meat and potaters. Metal as fuck. Not quite as "tetanus shot advised" metal as Dragon's Fury though.



Just look at that FFS.

[null1024]

Dragon's Fury on the Genesis is gorgeous in its bonus stages. And I think the MD palette makes it look even more metal than on the PCE, haha.

and that soundtrack is masterful

[stryc9]

Darwin 4081 is underrated IMO. Infuriating, but underrated all the same. The shot types are many and varied in this one, and you can evolve the ships firepower to terrifying proportions. But here's the thing - it's timed. As the seconds tick away you will devolve to the last shot type you held, and if you don't keep picking up the necessary icons you will end up with a pea shooter. Getting hit will devolve you lower than what you start as, to a little Solvalu-looking ship).

There is one of those swastika bosses in this game too. Probably one of the reasons it was left in Japan, as well as the fact that the MD/Genesis got about two thousand shooters in 1990, and graphically, as close as this port looks to the arcade it would have been overlooked in favour of some of the prettier shmups released at the time. The graphics are doing there own thing though and are still unique IMO, much less generic than what I've seen of Verytex, for example. I would put them on the level of Dangerous Seed for now.

The hitbox of course changes shape as you power up and when you first start playing you will be cursing as point blanking an enemy the wrong way will see you reduced to a pea shooter again and again. But after a couple of hours you'll have this thing on a leash, trust me.

[BIL]

That reminds me, Darwin and Vapor Trail are on my to try list. I might revisit Dangerous Seed too, I found it a bit easy but I don't think I bothered to up the difficulty at all. Was liking its no-nonsense stripped down feel a lot more than the last Namco shooter I played, Phelios... had a lovely copy of that one but decided to sell it on. Engine and overall handling are great, and when it occasionally gets serious it's excellent (opening dogfight in the clouds, high-speed section in stage 3). But the bulk of it is just glacial. I think the final straw was it not only lacking any difficulty settings whatsoever, but instead having an "enemy/story database" with screen upon screen of charmless Engrish. Get ourra mah face!

I liked its resemblances to Dragon Spirit/Saber, but since I have actual arcade ports of both on PS1, that ultimately worked against it. My general rule with pre-PS1/SS arcade ports is, either a) provide a decent likeness of the source game (SameSame, Hard=instant sniper tank fury) or b) do something interesting (Slap Fight MD, Black Label heaven). Both can be good too (Hellfire = neat system tweaks, same balls-hard hori action).

[EmperorIng]

I'm surprised there's some love for Hellfire. I'd think more people would be for the PCE-CD version and the arcade. I can't get into its marathon levels very much, myself.

[BIL]

Hellfire S has always had a middling rep, afaik... supposedly easier and technically inferior (no parallax). Never really looked into it, being so happy with the MD cart. I like how Toaplan added a bit of leeway via the extra powerups, without otherwise loosening up the difficulty any. System tweaks > cheezecaek!

[railslave]

I'm surprised there's some love for Hellfire. I'd think more people would be for the PCE-CD version and the arcade. I can't get into its marathon levels very much, myself.

I love hellfire MD , its iconic, the stuff of MD console box art.

It was the darling of the uk megadrive games press at the time, so images such as this got burned into me as a young kid.



Its also surprisingly risky for a shmup, and creative.

A game where your own bullets are the biggest hell youl encounter .

I read a old review recently, criticizing the game for being too easy , even dropping its review score because of that .... , ah the halcyon days of PCP

[BIL]

I remember Hellfire beating down TFIII, Sol Feace and some other shooter in Mega Tech's four-way STG showdown, haha. Some of the old UK game mags were great... I'd occasionally get a few from visiting relatives, and was always impressed by their import coverage. That same issue had a killer Splatterhouse Part 3 review even though the game never saw European release.

[drauch]

Me upon learning that Dragon's Fury was Devil's Crush. Never knew. Remember seeing that when it came out and never looked into it. What a fool I was!

I've mainly just played the PCE Hellfire-S myself, and yeah, admittedly it was all for the anime babez. This and the action platformer thread keep me going. Education!

[charlie chong]

I remember Hellfire beating down TFIII, Sol Feace and some other shooter in Mega Tech's four-way STG showdown, haha. Some of the old UK game mags were great... I'd occasionally get a few from visiting relatives, and was always impressed by their import coverage. That same issue had a killer Splatterhouse Part 3 review even though the game never saw European release.

imports were all the rage in uk at the time.. even local videoshops carried jpn md games(along with the convertors required to play) i can remember renting hellfire,rainbow islands,steel empire among others.

[Jonst]

^ indeed they did! I really miss those days...

[BrianC]

I miss seeing random imports (mostly GB) at music stores at K-Mart. I saw a EU Space Harrier II in a music store. I didn't pick it up at the time since I didn't know it worked on US systems back then. Not that it mattered too much since it's the exact same game as the US one anyway.

[Ed Oscuro]

I've mainly just played the PCE Hellfire-S myself, and yeah, admittedly it was all for the anime babez.

Down that path leads sadness and disillusion.

[railslave]

Me upon learning that Dragon's Fury was Devil's Crush. Never knew. Remember seeing that when it came out and never looked into it. What a fool I was!

I've mainly just played the PCE Hellfire-S myself, and yeah, admittedly it was all for the anime babez. This and the action platformer thread keep me going. Education!

Im so close to defecting... that wasn't a massive system here...i feel ....dirty

[drauch]

I've mainly just played the PCE Hellfire-S myself, and yeah, admittedly it was all for the anime babez.

Down that path leads sadness and disillusion.

It's really all I know any more.

[BrianC]

It looks like Darius II also uses the Cube sound driver. From what I heard of it, it has some sweet music. I can't wait to hear it on the HDG Genesis. I recently played a bit of Sunset Riders on the Genesis. Despite being a cut down port, I like it quite a bit. Levels aren't as close to arcade as the SNES levels and it has less voice, but it's definitely more intense, even on defaults.

[railslave]

Levels aren't as close to arcade as the SNES levels and it has less voice, but it's definitely more intense, even on defaults.

I put my neck out an say it sounds better, its stunning in FM. A real standout ost.

[BrianC]

I put my neck out an say it sounds better, its stunning in FM. A real standout ost.

Yeah, the music is very good on Genesis. I was referring to the speech samples. Many are intact for SNES, but they are mostly missing from Genesis. The little speech left, "Thank you nice boys", doesn't sound bad, though. I was actually surprised that much of the speech was intact for SNES since other games like Turtles in Time are missing quite a bit of it.

[null1024]

You know, I've been playing Outrun 2019 and I'm wondering why it has the bad rap it does. It's fun, it looks great [the art is eh, but from a technical perspective the overlapping roads, the glass road sections, the segmented roads in the sky, etc, look great -- framerate is a bit eh, but this game gets a pass because of the cool effects and large amount of stuff on screen sometimes [four or five cars, roadside scenery, and overlapping roads all at once!]], and the music is pretty decent [maybe could have some better patches, but they aren't as nearly bad as say, Sonic Spinball's]. Well, the in-game music is okay, all of the menu music is ass.

Track design is tricky at times [had to do some rather hard braking to not die], and the fact that apparently bridges won't have safety rails in 5 years makes those sections a bit harder. The cutest thing is how the lampposts that would normally fuck your shit up in any other game of this kind tend to save you from falling into the drink, since you bounce off of them rather harmlessly.

And hell, you can jump off the high road onto the low road! When I found that out, I went !

Also, Stage 1 makes you feel like badass near the end, going over the bridge at night with the gigantic city in the distance, living the cyberpunk dream. Take a left at the second fork IIRC for maximum coolness.

[stryc9]

Just 1CC'd Dangerous Seed, which is an excellent game with particularly awesome music. Seriously, I was blown away how good it sounds. I take back what I said before too, this has better graphics than Darwin 4081 across the board.

Great fun on Hard, and there is a secret code after you beat the game to access a secret mode where the enemy bullets are all huge! It's U,D,L,L,R,R,U,D at the demo screen.

Superior to something like MUSHA owing to the tighter pacing (and tighter bullet spreads), despite also being quite easy.

Also picked up a Japanese repro of Viewpoint (the game never came to that region). The cover art is like the Neo version, and not that stupid eye with the ugly red spine of the official Genesis release. The quality is awesome, came with manual too.

It's a great translation of the original in many ways, but unfortunately the game only runs at full speed about 30% of the time. It looks like they tried to preserve the original patterns as much as possible, and the machine chokes and stutters from one set piece to the next. Still, the music has some nice FM renditions of the Neo version, and the huge bosses are still here, along with a lot of the animation. Another candidate for an overclocked machine I reckon.

[BIL]

Yes - Dangerous Seed has awesome, awesome music. Glad to see someone else cite it. A few of my picks.

[stryc9]

Yes - Dangerous Seed has awesome, awesome music. Glad to see someone else cite it. A few of my picks.

These are some of mine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0cfpaqrE5c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fimdVetw ... 92514285CE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuXwGdDM ... 92514285CE