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Sega CD/Mega CD Appreciation Thread of Welcome to the Next Level
- Thread starter MikeMyers
- Start date
sixteen-bit
Member
right on cue
Ban Puncher
Member
Urusei Yatsura: My Dear Friends by Game Arts is the true MVP of best animation on Mega CD. You can't even hang, Furry Fighters.
Might as well rename this thread the Brutal fmv appreciation thread.
That's more like it, lol.
Flizzzipper
Member
Absolutely not. I got close enough to beating it that I had to keep going but it took longer than I anticipated because when I did die it was way late in the game.If so I'm glad I bought both of them last year.
Congratulations, I guess. I mean, actually sticking with the game long enough to beat it is impressive, but is it really worth the time? I gave up on Midnight Raiders pretty much as soon as I got to level two and realized that once you reach that point, if you get shot once you have to restart the entire game from the beginning. That's insane game design, how in the world did it actually ship like that? Through the first level the game is amusingly bad enough to stick with, thanks to the awful acting and simple but okay gameplay, but... one hit and you restart the game is horrible.
Yeah, they should have at least let you get "wounded" once or twice during the second phase. There are a number of enemies that you have absolutely no time to hit, you pretty much have to know where they are beforehand.
Next Sega CD game I'm diving into is probably Silpheed.
Sapiens
Member
The most I've had to do is replace the automatic door belt in my wondermega. CD drive still works, luckily.
Urusei Yatsura is magnificent, but I'd say Lunar~Eternal Blue's marquee scenes are easily on-par. In addition to the Dragonship scene above, certainly
Zophar's revival and Lucia's farewell.
Gunstarheroes
Member
Silver Star's music sequence is still one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a game
It also may have given me one of my first, early crushes as a kid.
cj_iwakura
Member
I still consider the Lunar series to be the only games where each remake is worse than the version before it.
Can't say that and not show any evidence.
Can't say that and not show any evidence.
I am Christina Aguilera
Member
I should get a sub sandwich for lunch tomorrow.
Flizzzipper
Member
Played a lot of Silpheed today. It was very frustrating early on due to difficulty. It took me hours to beat level five but once I did I made it to level 10. Spamming the secondary weapon on bosses and picking correct weapons in general make it a lot more playable and enjoyable. The continue system is a good trade off for being able to take numerous hits and replenishing your shield. I don't know if I got on a roll or I've got the game more figured out. Guess I'll find out tomorrow when I attempt to complete it.
Flizzzipper
Member
I completed Silpheed today. This game is awesome! A slight change of pace from other shmups because there is little penalty for taking damage or dying, in concern to losing weapon upgrades. You pick your weapon power up before the level and it never upgrades or downgrades. There's some trial and error picking the best weapon for each level but you can adapt to some degree. There seems to be a difficulty hurdle at about level 4 or 5, even on the run I beat the game I died on one of those levels. After that it isn't extremely difficult until the last stage.
I didn't expect much from this game, it's definitely worth the small price it goes for. Another thing that struck me is that blowing up even the weakest enemies is really satisfying. I really dug this song Stage 5
I didn't expect much from this game, it's definitely worth the small price it goes for. Another thing that struck me is that blowing up even the weakest enemies is really satisfying. I really dug this song Stage 5
I love SSS too because it's different enough to be a true retelling, but yes, correct as usual, certainly on Eternal Blue---Funato herself said as much about EB remake's crappy animation. MCD cannot be beat. Why is our Lunar thread so quiet (sob)?
Admittedly I walked right into that one.
Yep, I also like Silpheed, alot. To the point I start leaning towards the other entries in the series, just because how much I enjoy playing the original game. I feel like it has a pretty steep learning curve, especially at the beginning - it really works in its own unique way, even more if you're like me, and enjoy classic, pre-bullet hell era vertical shmups only - but once you start getting the hang of it, it's engaging.
And yeah, I know I asked about it probably a page back, but those cutscenes keep blowing me away. What's the technology behind them? They can't be real time, but they look too clean and sharp, to be full motion videos.
Flizzzipper
Member
It's not only the learning curve early on, those levels are just harder with the weapons and power ups you have at the time. When I got the auto-aim I felt I could watch out for damage more. It's actually a worse strategy than getting something like the phalanx gun and going in on the offensive but that takes some practice.
Hardcoregaming 101 review mentioned about them LINK
bishopcruz
Member
Here's the Game Sack rundown of the game, I'd do straight footage but there isn't much on YouTube and this is the best I have seen. It's a GameArts joint, and looks to be an evolution of what they did with the animation for Lunar: EB. They also had to have been huge Urusei Yatsura fans, the fanservice and obscure references in this game are insane.
https://youtu.be/YuLxUAM3meA?t=38s
all full screen, and pretty impressive in following the anime look and feel. It's biggest weaknesses are the loading pauses, but for the time, it's incredible.
Also going to chime in on the Sega-CD Lunars being the best versions, even though SSS was a more fleshed out game, I think it really missed the tone of the original, and the story was simply not as good.
IrishNinja
Member
^you're also the one who pointed out to me the difference in music quality! man, the PSX ones just sound lifeless in comparison, on certain tracks
bishopcruz
Member
Yup, I still need to give the Saturn version of SSS a listen, because the PSX one took some amazing new compositions and turned them to crap. The sound font or whatever they used for that game was painful. The advantage it had was that at least they were mostly new songs, so it didn't stand out as much. Eternal Blue was at least competent, but still the Sega CD versions, even though they had the bit rate of something being played through a potato sound far better. They stand out more as a result of being easier to compare.
Iwadare may have never topped the EB soundtrack, but most people know the PSX versions that sound like ass.
The final dungeon music went from this:
Footsteps of a Decisive Battle - Sega CD
to this:
Footsteps of a Decisive Battle - PSX
and that's one of the BETTER conversions.
(Just for fun I give you the official soundtrack version.
Soundtrack Version
As I said, Lunar SSSC especially butchered the tunes that it brought over from Eternal Blue.
I mean the Dragon Theme went from this:
Dragon ~ Holy Spirit - Mega CD (This MIGHT be the Lunatic Festa version, it's hard to tell for me. But they're the same mix, just at 44kHz and 16 bit)
to this:
Dragon ~ Holy Spirit - PSX
but nothing was hurt as badly as the Battle #2 from Eternal Blue. It went from this:
Fierce Fighting (Battle #2) - Sega CD
to this:
Boss Battle - PSX
it's just an unfair comparison.
Flizzzipper
Member
I was determined to finally figure out Slam City with Scottie Pippen today...and I did! I bought the game in 1999 and probably hand't touched it since. Played the 32x/cd version, noticeably better fmv. It's actually pretty damn easy and mildly entertaining once you know what you're doing. I beat Scottie Pippen on my first try so I got that going for me.
Unfortunately Eye of the Beholder and Heimdall (I think) are the only ones that identify as inexpensive.
The Orz
Member
It warms my heart to see Urusei Yatsura receive love. Dear My Friends is really a cool game, especially if you're a fan of the series. The soundtrack in particular is quite nice, featuring original opening and ending themes.
I always wondered why Game Arts gave Lum blue hair, though. :/
PumpkinSpice
Banned
Bought a Sega CD.
It was the last system on my list. So I'm officially done buying new systems.
For a RAM cart, any opinions on the DB Electronics' Ultra Backup RAM vs getting a Mega Everdrive w/ CD RAM cart function? I'd wait until black friday so that would bring down the MEX5 price a bit, but I already have an Everdrive MD so I'm kinda set for most of the flash cart functions.
It was the last system on my list. So I'm officially done buying new systems.
For a RAM cart, any opinions on the DB Electronics' Ultra Backup RAM vs getting a Mega Everdrive w/ CD RAM cart function? I'd wait until black friday so that would bring down the MEX5 price a bit, but I already have an Everdrive MD so I'm kinda set for most of the flash cart functions.
IrishNinja
Member
i love the balls off my mega ED but if you've already got the other one...yeahhhhh
Oh boy, I love the cheesy, anime cutscenes in Devastator. Sure they're choppy and grainy, but the effort that was put in the storytelling still impresses me. And yeah, the game itself isn't half bad either. Not a classic, but far from being a 3/10, as I remember it scored on some Italian magazine back then.
bishopcruz
Member
Probably had to do with the color palate. Of course the only correct color for Lum's hair is prismatic, but the anime could never pull it off, so it became green.
The PlayStation version was hell bent on using it's internal hardware which was not up to the task.
As for Iwadare. he mainly does Phoenix Wright and Langrisser these days.
sixteen-bit
Member
RetroCore's latest episode is a Mega CD blowout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXz7J-7-FdI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXz7J-7-FdI
Flizzzipper
Member
Was playing through Mortal Kombat this evening. The loading when Shang Tsung switches forms to other fighters is pretty bad. I thought my disc was scratched but watched youtube video to confirm. Nope.
IrishNinja
Member
this was always my biggest complaint in the day - magazines talked about how the music was in the wrong levels/etc but man, that Shang Tsung in-match loading was horseshit!
cj_iwakura
Member
'Langrisser'.
cj_iwakura
Member
Wow, that looks great. The cut-in avatars are straight out of Popful Mail, too.
Flizzzipper
Member
They actually brought up Shang Tsung morph in PS1 MK3 on the bombcast this week so I guess it wan't just a Sega CD problem.
Yeah, transforming characters on PS1 Power Instinct 2 freeze the action for a second as well.
A Black Falcon
Member
Devastator's a fun little game, yeah. I like it. It is short, but it's good while it lasts.
My contributions for this thread this week are an EGM Wonder Dog preview and Shining Force CD Fact-File!
Shining Force CD looks so good, need to find time to play it finally. Is Wonder Dog decent?