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

[Rob]

I'm a bit sorry if I introduced it like "best thing ever".

Oh, all I needed was an excuse to cry out. I feel so alone in not liking it. It's like a world where everyone loves Vectorman.

[Mortificator]

It's always weird looking at one of the Batman games where you can't punch people. Not that punching goes fist in face with quality... the SNES Batman & Robin let you punch half the time and had great A/V, but the design was shit.

Also, I don't know why nobody told me the Gen version of Hellfire is substantially different from the arcade version in a bunch of ways that make it interesting. The system has failed me yet again.

I have to question the logic of switching an instant respawn game to checkpoints (see also: PCE Salamander), but Hellfire does have nice touches on the Genesis. Zero Wing is still a little better.

[BIL]

It's just the 2P / overseas version of Hellfire that has instant respawns. The original singleplayer PCB was always a checkpointer. There's a great interview over here at Gamengai about that, amongst other Toaplan stuff.

Tatsuya Uemura: "The shooting game I envisioned is over when you don't return to a checkpoint after a miss because you are no longer creating a pattern."

I'd be interested to know how much of MD Hellfire was Masaya vs Toaplan themselves. It's a fantastic MD shooter to have either way, along with Same! Same! SammyDavisJR! and Zero Wing. All very cheap carts too, even mint+complete, and vastly more essential than some of the costly MD shooters like Steel Empire and Battle Mania 2. Zero Wing's MD manual is a riot, somebody was having a good time doodling up those pudgy, rainbow-hued interstellar metal murder machines.

[Ed Oscuro]

MD: "Welcome Batman, let me show you my latest creation." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR_X6GunOlQ

What was this? Blocked

This video contains content from MC for Warner Bros., Warner Chappell and UMPG Publishing, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

[BIL]

Jack Nicholson mincing around like a jackoff in Flugelheim Museum. The inspiration for the MD game's third stage of the same name, in which Batman must negotiate yawning bottomless chasms peppered by floating platforms, crushing chandeliers that'd make Akumajou Dracula's architects green with envy (they go back up and fall again, all day!) and hulking axe-murderers on loan from the FC Ninja Gaidens. It's a funny old museum! At the end you can enjoy a cutscene where Batman using his BATHOOK to escape from Joker (in his jackoff form) with KIM BASINGER in tow, presumably to get mad pussy. I mean do a boring shooter stage.

[louisg]

Only a PRO Review could truly dispel the myth.

Forgot my password long ago. :[

That first MD Batman game is definitely mediocre, but I give it an edge for having more going on in the levels (variety-wise, not just explosion count) than Batman & Robin's 1-2 enemy formations looped for 5-15 minutes. The way the game is spoken of makes it sound like a "blistering" top tier action game to place next to something like Contra: Hard Corps, but there is so much popcorn enemy repetition that can just be stormed through with a fully powered weapon. That unbearably long token shmup stage could sink the game on its own. I'd take any of the hated MD shooters (XDR, Curse) over that.

YES. Oh man, when I say what I think of B&R, people look at me like I'm insane. But it really is one of those games with stage design that's like, "We just got the engine working and we ship in a month.". I mean, it's a mad impressive game technically, but where's the level design? It's totally a programmer game.

And that shooter stage. Holy crap. It's a cool fake 3d effect, but I don't want to stare at it for 20 minutes!

[Ed Oscuro]

Jack Nicholson mincing around like a jackoff in Flugelheim Museum.

Oh, those scenes, lol.

Yeah I highly enjoyed seeing Joker spraypainting dicks on the mona lisa while hanging from chandeliers and surfing folded warhols. Truly an inspirational moment.

YES. Oh man, when I say what I think of B&R, people look at me like I'm insane. But it really is one of those games with stage design that's like, "We just got the engine working and we ship in a month.". I mean, it's a mad impressive game technically, but where's the level design? It's totally a programmer game.

And that shooter stage. Holy crap. It's a cool fake 3d effect, but I don't want to stare at it for 20 minutes!

The main things that I enjoyed about B&R are the intro cutscene, and the incredibly long (some are 6-8 minutes or longer!) early music tracks by Jesper Kyd (of Hitman fame).

I tried playing it once, and just couldn't get into it very much. It didn't have a hook and yeah, I do faintly recall that it had that repetitive feeling.

Really a shame given what they had proven the system capable of doing, but it's not as if your bog standard 2D game was exactly deficient, either.

[BrianC]

Zero Wing's MD manual is a riot, somebody was having a good time doodling up those pudgy, rainbow-hued interstellar metal murder machines.

The EU or JP Manual? I'm curious if the EU manual is full of Engrish like the game.

I haven't played the much of the first Genesis Batman, but it seems to have incredible music going for it, at least.

[BIL]

The EU or JP Manual? I'm curious if the EU manual is full of Engrish like the game.

JP. If you think the first miniboss appears to be chomping on a stogie in-game, you have to see him puffing away on a blunt in the manual. The very back also has an amusing two-page illustration of the entire Toaplan crew circa 1991 (including the Out Zone guys!) escaping an exploding building, with all the various ships hightailing it outta there too. Unlike the chubby Wardner kid who's shitting himself in terror, the Out Zone team look suspiciously smug about it, suggesting they perhaps had something to do with the unfortunate conflagaration? ^_~

I haven't played the much of the first Genesis Batman, but it seems to have incredible music going for it, at least.

It does - just like FC Batman and Raf World. Sunsoft knew their 8/16-bit VGM. Had they got the Terminator license for the latter as planned this would have been the most apropos Terminator VGM ever. Feel the despair, feel the rage, storm the wire of the camps and smash those metal motherfuckers into junk! Well, you wouldn't be able to say "metal motherfuckers" on the NES. You'd have to say "metal bozos" or something. Regardless, some remarkably smouldering, plaintive stuff.

[RGC]

Speaking of which, has anyone put up with more than the first two stages of The Terminator MD, and if so does it become any less agonising?

[EmperorIng]

Honestly, the only level I really feel is agonizing is the first level of Terminator, because of the sheer amount of cheap enemy spawns and instant death.

Don't get me wrong - it's a horribly designed level, great Matt Furniss music aside.

After than, if you just rely on the strategy of crouching and shooting every single thing you see, you can make it through pretty well. As long as you know that you can only pass over Arnold when he's blinking on the ground for a few seconds, and he takes a LOT of bullets to go down.

I've actually beaten it twice, and 90% of my deaths come from stage 1's cheapness.

Unfortunately, the game shows clear signs of being rushed, what with all the unused music tracks in the sound test, and the fact that there's like, 4 levels total in the game (Future - LA - Police Station - Factory).

[BIL]

Sega CD Terminator had some pretty quality music too. This one really nails the first movie's desperate tone (the police station BGM, on the other hand, fouls the bed with a deluge of corn-ridden shit. oh well). Not really interested in any of the 16-bit Sega Terminator games (had my fill with the rather similar to SCD Terminator "Robocop versus," fun but definitely sloppy-feeling).

[EmperorIng]

The best way I've heard it is that the Sega CD Terminator OST is "Tommy Tallarico patting himself on the back" the entire time. Which works about half the time (the first stage bgm is great!).

Furniss' work fits the atmosphere much more.

Furniss did some good work in the Terminator 2: The Arcade Game port.

Which I think is a slightly better game. But I'm biased because I loved playing the arcade game back in the days.

[greg]

If you like Musha Aleste, you should look into the MCD arrange version; Dennin Aleste. Holy crap is that game loooooooooooong. Also, if super-scaler racers are your thing, look into Heavenly Symphony.

Yes, that was one of the first games I got for the MCD a year or so ago. The NA version removed the voiceovers, so interestingly enough, when I re-burned the game to play on my Genesis Sega CD, the voices were silent. I burned it again to make sure there wasn't a problem, but it looks at the region code to decide whether to play the voices. Since I have so many MCD games, I've gone ahead and bought a Megadrive 2+ MCD at a local used merchandise shop.

I started playing the gme Switch, and it is pretty wild. I think I read on segagagadomain.com that the game must draw inspiration from Monty Python, and it does. You just go from one scenario after another, pressing buttons and switches that will usually do something silly, or advance you to the next scenario. One scenario has your character standing in a field, and pressing the wrong button will bring a huge foot down onto him! Another time is when you're looking at the Mona Lisa, and a tiny little mountain climber appears from her cleavage and proceeds to climb on top of her head. My 4 year old kid loves watching me play this game. Her favorite is the hair dryer, when you press the switch and suddenly long hair flies out and lands on the guy's head.

I just received Devil Hunter Yoko for the MD last night!

It is very much like Valis. If you're a Valis fan, you're used to playing a platformer that lacks stellar gameplay but still love it just the same. This game seems to deliver more of the same, especially with the "pretty girls with swords" department. I'll need to read the manual, but continually pressing the attack button will create a shield ring, and depressing it will release the ring as a boomerang projectile. You can aim it diagonally too. While the PCE got two DH Yoko games that were menu-based graphic/text adventures, the MD got this nice platformer.

I also just scored Arrow Flash CIB from the same seller.


On my list of MD games to get are Gynoug, Granada, Curse, Volfied, and Doraemon. The Sailor Moon game fetches a high price, although it's basically the same as the SFC version, but it's one player only and some of the stages have been reduced somehow. For MCD, I want to get Night Striker, Sol Feace (I kinda like it, so shut up), and Bari Arm (Android Assault).


You know, if somebody were to make a t-shirt out of the Masaya logo, I'd buy it!

[BIL]

You know, if somebody were to make a t-shirt out of the Masaya logo, I'd buy it!

It's a great logo - always makes me think of the Ridge Racer series' stylish fictional racing team decals.



One of my favourite game covers ever.

[undamned]

On my list of MD games to get are Gynoug, Granada, Curse, Volfied, and Doraemon.

Volfied! Qix neatness, incoming!
-ud

[Jonathan Ingram]

The way the game is spoken of makes it sound like a "blistering" top tier action game to place next to something like Contra: Hard Corps, but there is so much popcorn enemy repetition that can just be stormed through with a fully powered weapon.

AB&R is one of the most difficult games ever. Simply getting through it is harder than 1CC`ing most Cave shmups, but you`re making it sound like it`s no big deal. Having a fully powered weapon won`t help you a bit if you haven`t already sunk a sick amount of time into this game and know exactly where the next wave of enemies is going to come from, when to jump and when to shoot. Die once and your weapon gets degraded which further reduces your chances of survival, especially during the later stages where it becomes nigh impossible to get by without a fully upgraded weapon.

AB&R doesn`t deserve a place next to C:HC, because it`s a better game by a long shot. In my humble opinion, of course. The only two Genny games I`d place above it are Sub-Terrania and Red Zone, incidentally also scored by Jesper Kyd.

[CIT]

On my list of MD games to get are Gynoug, Granada, Curse, Volfied, and Doraemon. The Sailor Moon game fetches a high price, although it's basically the same as the SFC version, but it's one player only and some of the stages have been reduced somehow. For MCD, I want to get Night Striker, Sol Feace (I kinda like it, so shut up), and Bari Arm (Android Assault).

Little known fact: Volfied also came out for PS1 as part of the simple series, "Simple 1500 Series Vol.80 - The Jintori ~Volfied 1500~" and it's a really nice port that I recommend. I thought the sound in the MD version was pretty grating.

Also get the Saturn (best port) or PS1 (dirt cheap) versions of Night Striker, they're way more enjoyable than the MCD port.

[greg]

Also get the Saturn (best port) or PS1 (dirt cheap) versions of Night Striker, they're way more enjoyable than the MCD port.

The MCD port is actually preferable to the flawed PS1 port. I recently passed on the PS1 port for only like 300 yen because I'd rather get the Saturn or MCD versions. The MCD version is nice for its arranged soundtrack, while the Saturn is the best arcade port. Check out a cool video comparing all three games here: LINK.

Hey, does anybody know much about Psy-O-Blade? Apparently the MD port isn't as rich as the PC-88 version since it's scaled down, but it looks cool. There isn't much video about this available on YouTube. Maybe I should try searching Niko Douga. Well, that can wait. It's time for bed.

[null1024]

The way the game is spoken of makes it sound like a "blistering" top tier action game to place next to something like Contra: Hard Corps, but there is so much popcorn enemy repetition that can just be stormed through with a fully powered weapon.

AB&R doesn`t deserve a place next to C:HC, because it`s a better game by a long shot. In my humble opinion, of course. The only two Genny games I`d place above it are Sub-Terrania and Red Zone, incidentally also scored by Jesper Kyd.

I do love me some AB&R. It's very pretty , very brutal [made me almost certain the Red Zone people worked on this], but there is a lot of repetition in patterns, and sometimes, despite being brutal, drags on. Difficulty isn't synonymous with quality, although I am not implying the game is bad. I just can't say it's up there with C:HC or Alien Soldier. Great, but not amazing [although it is easily the prettiest Genesis game I've seen].
I am a bit bothered by the amount of dislike for it in this thread, but eh.

Jesper Kyd manages to take FM patches that, in the hands of a lazy western Genesis composer, would sound really assy [think of bad Genesis games in general, and you'll hear music with similar instruments], but gives them new life with excellent melodies and a general understanding how to work with the sound. It's amazing, and AB&R has one of the best soundtracks on the system.

@greg:
Saturn version of Night Striker looks better than the arcade, damn. I should check it out, once my Saturn gets fixed [had a buddy try to mod it, it doesn't spin up at all, he's going to fix it, but he has been busy with life [as have I, so I haven't bothered to press him on it]].

What's so wrong with the PS1 version that makes even the choppy and pixelated Sega CD version more preferable? Passing up on a copy for only 300 yen must mean something very wrong is up with it.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Is making a game hard particulary difficult or unusual?
There are two MD games I find bewildering rather than downright bad: Chameleon Kid and Alisia Dragoon. The former (at least emulated) has got some pretty significant input lag for such a plain-looking game. If the graphics don't make up for response delay (like they arguably do in Alien Soldier and Ristar), then why said lag is there to boot?
Alisia Dragoon, on the other hand, responds faster... graphically. Responsive animation, laggy movement, gameplay-wise (or so it feels).
When all is said and done, I want responsive - I play Rocket Knight Adventures, Chelnov, Eliminate Down... I want flashy-looking at the cost of response times - Gate of Thunder and Seirei Senshi Spriggan are where it's at (and nothing on MD as far as I can tell really).
...o-kay, Granada and Final Zone aren't too bad, but both are better off played on X68k emulator.
P.S. Oh yes, Crying: Aseimei Sensou/Bio-Hazard Battle is THE laggier MD game worth playing.

[BIL]

Alisia Dragoon has the same annoying but workable control quirk as Raf World (FC). The character has noticeable dead time when turning around, meaning if a bullet flies at you (and there are many flying aimed bullets in both games), your evasive options are jump or duck.

Regarding Alien Soldier, by "response delay" do you mean Birdguy's Mario-esque startup when going from a standstill to running and vice versa? At least on real hardware that game's control response is razor sharp. As it has to be.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Truth be told, while I played Alien Soldier emulated only (be it on PS2 or PC), it didn't seem too laggy for my liking. It was step-frame test that told me it's 2 frames instead of just 1, but nothing sensual. It's Chameleon Kid that feels off to me.
(I do have problems with Alien Soldier, but can't blame input lag for these.)
And yeah, there was something I disliked about Raf World mechanics, but can't quite put my finger on it right now.

[EmperorIng]

Alien Soldier would have been a better game if there were more buttons to perform all the functions and moves the game wants you to do. Fitting everything on a d-pad and 3 buttons just makes half the game (for me anyhow, playing on the VC, lol) fighting the controls as opposed to all the bosses.

Now, Dynamite Headdy is the Genesis Treasure game worth playing, in my opinion. Very solid all-around, even if the shmup stage is a bit wonky (too loose to control honestly).

[BrianC]

Little known fact: Volfied also came out for PS1 as part of the simple series, "Simple 1500 Series Vol.80 - The Jintori ~Volfied 1500~" and it's a really nice port that I recommend. I thought the sound in the MD version was pretty grating.

The PS1 version of Volfied also had a US budget release under the name "Qix Neo". Are there any differences in the US Genesis Ultimate Qix version of Volfied from the original JP version?

[BIL]

More fun with Alisia Dragoon's controls - when executing a medium jump, she will randomly land in an immobilising crouch. From a small jump this never happens. From a maximum height jump... this also never happens.

Still, very good sidescroller, put over the top by its interesting weapon + familiars and strong atmosphere. Will probably try to get the Hard clear over the weekend, now that I've spent a couple hours getting back to where I was (stage 6 of 7). Total memoriser on Hard, but the execution is consistently interesting. You really have to make creative use of the familiars. Favourite thing at the moment is to tag-team the Bird and Lizard. Birdie softens up hard targets with a bomb, Lizard finishes them off with his weak but accurate and quick shots, and I GTFO behind cover to avoid the suicide bullets.

[Rob]

There are two MD games I find bewildering rather than downright bad: Chameleon Kid and Alisia Dragoon. The former (at least emulated) has got some pretty significant input lag for such a plain-looking game.

Kid Chameleon is a system top 5'er for me. Give it a little chance, at least.

[Drum]

Alisia Dragoon is a megadrive saint. Any perceived flaws must be there for a reason. Also, stage 3 has rad music.

[BIL]

For serious though... the controls are obviously geared towards cautious progression, smart use of the familiars, and exploiting of the homing weapon, as opposed to ignoring the game's systems and tearing through guns blazing (works sloppily on Normal, practically won't pass the very first area on Hard). Problem is the game would still do all that just fine without the annoying disabling of all input on turning and the random medium jump stall, making them seem like weird oversights at best. They're not a big deal to work around, though. If they were I'd have cashed in my copy posthaste.

[greg]

Battle Mania just sold for only 4,300 yen on YAJ last night. I bid on it only a little. I was tempted to bid up to 5,000 yen, but I decided to hold off because I already have the NA Genesis version and wasn't dying too much to get the J version. Still, I'm glad to see that this didn't get too expensive.

The NA version removed the voiceovers, so interestingly enough, when I re-burned the game to play on my Genesis Sega CD, the voices were silent. I burned it again to make sure there wasn't a problem, but it looks at the region code to decide whether to play the voices. Since I have so many MCD games, I've gone ahead and bought a Megadrive 2+ MCD at a local used merchandise shop.

OK, I'm going to reply to myself here. I thought that after I burned Dennin Aleste and changed the region code to get the game to play on my Genesis, it just wouldn't play the voice samples. But I just tried out Dennin Aleste on my Japanese Megadrive, and it still won't play the voice samples. When I go into the options menu, I can make it play the voice samples, but when I play the game, it won't play. The pilot says at the beginning of level 1 (in Japanese), "Aleste, show me your power!" I just looked at a clip on YouTube and that one plays the voices. Mine doesn't. What's going on? Is my game flawed?