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Sega Genesis/MegaDrive Appreciation Thread: Alien Storm > Golden Axe

I understand the apprehension and/or vitriol some people have toward reproduction cartridges, but I dunno, I always thought they were kickass, myself. Always wanted to pick a few up, but never have.
 
I understand the apprehension and/or vitriol some people have toward reproduction cartridges, but I dunno, I always thought they were kickass, myself. Always wanted to pick a few up, but never have.

Its mainly, i love Treasure, i want to be able to play Treasure games, and this seems the coolest way. I own other versions where they would see money (in the case of Alien Soldier), but i mean, its all second-hand nowadays for the classic stuff, so i don't see repo carts really doing damage.
 
What was the name of that game? It had a guy with a hat and two long skinny swords. He'd go through dimensional doors or whatever?

I see screenshots from it every few months, and I always remember sucking ass at the game when I borrowed it from my friend. But I can NEVER remember the name of it!
 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
What was the name of that game? It had a guy with a hat and two long skinny swords. He'd go through dimensional doors or whatever?

I see screenshots from it every few months, and I always remember sucking ass at the game when I borrowed it from my friend. But I can NEVER remember the name of it!

Chaken the Forever Man!

Fucking impossible, I tried so much when I was a kid.

Edit:
Chakan_-_The_Forever_Man_2.png
 
What was the name of that game? It had a guy with a hat and two long skinny swords. He'd go through dimensional doors or whatever?

I see screenshots from it every few months, and I always remember sucking ass at the game when I borrowed it from my friend. But I can NEVER remember the name of it!

Chakan. Man, fuck Chakan. Such a cool game. So hard it was un-fun.
 

woodypop

Member
Chakan: one of the better-known Genesis games I've never played. Is it worth checking out, or best left in the past?
 

IrishNinja

Member
damn, maybe i should stay sleeping on Chakan
also SHIT YEAH my system came inna mail today!

Yo the combat in Phantasy Star 2 is so weird.

i mean, it's turn based and i loved the animations...but i guess if i hadnt seen them and the taking damage/flash of red BAPOW BAPOW BAPOWWWW back then maybe it'dve thrown me off too

At the time maybe, but have you played both recently? The Capcom game features much tighter controls, better level design with a great flow, and arguably nicer visuals and audio.

yeah, shiny stuff plays like that but having played the SNES one recently (and i gotta replay the genny one now) i still lean heavily towards the latter, not that either's a bad game but the sega one really impressed at the time

Anybody play any of the Super Fighter Team/Watermelon "new" games? I really like what little I've played of Star Odyssey and Pier Solar. Pier Solar is very Lunar-influenced, and Star Odyssey is very reminiscent in tone to Phantasy Star 2, though it may feel a bit dated at this point (not a problem for me, since I like really old RPGs)

i'd been eying Pier Solar since i read more about it, but you've piqued my interest in Star Odyssey...
 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
Chakan: one of the better-known Genesis games I've never played. Is it worth checking out, or best left in the past?

Harder then the Shinobi games. Also just flat out impossible I think. As a kid I think one of the levels just ended in a wall and I had no idea what to do after that.
 

BosSin

Member
I just finished up cleaning the inside/outside of my old MD.
It still has some signs of wear on the outer casing (small scratches and one or two scuffs) but overall it is in decent condition.
Also I like to think of those signs of wear as 'added personality' ;)
 

IrishNinja

Member
^that's awesome, we should do 16-bit tourneys over here too. i don't know how many i could interest in a game of cyberball though, haha

the s-vid mod on this genesis looks very well done, but it oddly came with standard A/V cables...in theory, any standard s-video cable should work, yeah? its just got the port, then yellow/red/white ports, like anything else.

what sucks is ive only got one such port on my TV, so i might have to use a splitter/switchbox between this, the SNES and future Saturn. I hope this doesn't bring the quality down too much...
 
the s-vid mod on this genesis looks very well done, but it oddly came with standard A/V cables...in theory, any standard s-video cable should work, yeah? its just got the port, then yellow/red/white ports, like anything else.

what sucks is ive only got one such port on my TV, so i might have to use a splitter/switchbox between this, the SNES and future Saturn. I hope this doesn't bring the quality down too much...
Yeah, any S-Video cable will do.

And a switcher shouldn't impact video quality much at all. I got a nice 6-in-1-out one that lets me have the Genny, Saturn, SNES, N64 and PS2 all hooked up via S-Video at once. (No idea what #6 will ever end up being, but since its input is on the front of the unit while the rest are on the back, whatever it is, it won't be convenient to wire up.)

Now, a splitter, which I tried once to get S-Video out on my CRT and HDTV at once... that did introduce issues. Signal degradation (although it was still relatively sharp, at least), and the CRT was having issues with resolution changes (the Action Replay 4-in-1 screen on my Saturn couldn't be displayed on it, for instance, while the HDTV took it no problem).
 
Been lurking this thread a few days now...it's really gotten me in a 16-bit mood. I unboxed my OG model 1 Genesis specifically for some Shinobi 3, which is the one Shinobi game I never went all the way through.

Well-done, y'all. I was an SNEShead as a youth, but I could never deny the Genesis' excellent library - and that glorious FM synth.
 

IrishNinja

Member
Yeah, any S-Video cable will do.

And a switcher shouldn't impact video quality much at all. I got a nice 6-in-1-out one that lets me have the Genny, Saturn, SNES, N64 and PS2 all hooked up via S-Video at once. (No idea what #6 will ever end up being, but since its input is on the front of the unit while the rest are on the back, whatever it is, it won't be convenient to wire up.)

Now, a splitter, which I tried once to get S-Video out on my CRT and HDTV at once... that did introduce issues. Signal degradation (although it was still relatively sharp, at least), and the CRT was having issues with resolution changes (the Action Replay 4-in-1 screen on my Saturn couldn't be displayed on it, for instance, while the HDTV took it no problem).

ah, not bad at all then - looks like ill go with the switcher then. i think my old one was only AV so ill have to check ebay, glad to hear it though. thanks man.

Been lurking this thread a few days now...it's really gotten me in a 16-bit mood. I unboxed my OG model 1 Genesis specifically for some Shinobi 3, which is the one Shinobi game I never went all the way through.

Well-done, y'all. I was an SNEShead as a youth, but I could never deny the Genesis' excellent library - and that glorious FM synth.

nice! 3 amazes me to this day, it's just such a great looking game. it's been years but i wanna say i found parts of Shadow Dancer harder for me? lack of life meter & all that, but i guess it makes sense for a game that seemed like a sequel to the arcade classic. still, i remember thinking if you can finish revenge of shinobi (and not let whats-her-name die), you can do 3, good luck man!
 

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
i mean, it's turn based and i loved the animations...but i guess if i hadnt seen them and the taking damage/flash of red BAPOW BAPOW BAPOWWWW back then maybe it'dve thrown me off too
I mean like... you set a strategy for each person, and it's an individual process for each one, then you set it to fly and it just goes for some indiscriminate number of attacks. You can say which creature type to attack, but if there are multiple of the same then for some reason it spreads them out rather than focus on one at a time to eliminate enemies sooner. Then yeah you're in Tron or something. I dunno it's just weird to me.
 
ah, not bad at all then - looks like ill go with the switcher then. i think my old one was only AV so ill have to check ebay, glad to hear it though. thanks man.
Best double-check it. I know I only used the AV ports on my old 4-in-1-out switch, but was pleasantly surprised to find out it did, in fact, have S-Video ports, and I just hadn't noticed because, well, I had no reason to use them.
 

Slermy

Member
Back in the day, I eBay'd a 68010 and put it in my genesis. Even with the default oscillator, it does make a difference.

md68010.jpg

Could you elaborate on this a bit more?

One of my fave Genesis shmups:

Air_Buster.jpg


Also in the arcade and on HuCard but the Genesis version is what I played... my neighbor owned a copy. I loved the 2P simultaneous play, being a huge fan of Life Force (the game that got me into shmups). The game is pretty easy and not very long (compared to the majority of shooters around that time) but has some great music, fast action and some cool level design (like a fast-paced move through tight corridors similar to parts of Gradius 3).

Great taste. I discovered this gem a few years ago and put a lot of time into it. Something about it just "clicked" with me. I always felt the pallet had a very "Sonic 2" feel to them, bright and colorful.
 

Harlock

Member
I used a lot of swap cartridge tricks back in the 90s. The most famous was swap Altered Beast by Strider to get infinite lives. But every game had some weird effect. My MegaDrive still alive.
 

Teknoman

Member

Cool, yeah thats the one I saw that was about the same price. Going to go after that one after I finish some of the other action titles I already have.

I understand the apprehension and/or vitriol some people have toward reproduction cartridges, but I dunno, I always thought they were kickass, myself. Always wanted to pick a few up, but never have.

Its mainly, i love Treasure, i want to be able to play Treasure games, and this seems the coolest way. I own other versions where they would see money (in the case of Alien Soldier), but i mean, its all second-hand nowadays for the classic stuff, so i don't see repo carts really doing damage.

Definitely. Unless it's something that actually released in North America or is easily playable or obtainable in Japanese, i'm not opposed to playing a reproduction.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
I used a lot of swap cartridge tricks back in the 90s. The most famous was swap Altered Beast by Strider to get infinite lives. But every game had some weird effect. My MegaDrive still alive.
IIRC, you could enter the level select code for one of the Sonic games and then swap it out for a different game and the code would still be active, due in part to all of the mainline sequels being built off of the previous game's engine. I'm pretty sure this was more reliable than trying to enter Sonic 3's code the normal way, but it also carried the risk of wiping your save data.
 

bideogamer

Neo Member
^that's awesome, we should do 16-bit tourneys over here too. i don't know how many i could interest in a game of cyberball though, haha

the s-vid mod on this genesis looks very well done, but it oddly came with standard A/V cables...in theory, any standard s-video cable should work, yeah? its just got the port, then yellow/red/white ports, like anything else.

what sucks is ive only got one such port on my TV, so i might have to use a splitter/switchbox between this, the SNES and future Saturn. I hope this doesn't bring the quality down too much...

Dont get a passive splitter, get a powered one. A passive splitter will introduce a good bit of signal loss.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
IIRC, you could enter the level select code for one of the Sonic games and then swap it out for a different game and the code would still be active, due in part to all of the mainline sequels being built off of the previous game's engine. I'm pretty sure this was more reliable than trying to enter Sonic 3's code the normal way, but it also carried the risk of wiping your save data.

I've been trying to enter that Sonic 3 code for nearly 20 years, and I never once got it.
 

Shaneus

Member
^that's awesome, we should do 16-bit tourneys over here too. i don't know how many i could interest in a game of cyberball though, haha

the s-vid mod on this genesis looks very well done, but it oddly came with standard A/V cables...in theory, any standard s-video cable should work, yeah? its just got the port, then yellow/red/white ports, like anything else.

what sucks is ive only got one such port on my TV, so i might have to use a splitter/switchbox between this, the SNES and future Saturn. I hope this doesn't bring the quality down too much...
I'd love to do that too. You know what would fucking rock for that? Micro Machines 2 with a J-Cart. Eight players all up on this bitch. Two players per pad was a genius move on Codemasters' part and an extra two ports on the cartridge itself even moreso.

What the hell happened to the Codies we used to know, damnit?
 

smbu2000

Member
OT: Just bought a nice 6 pack of MD games (CIB) for 1,600 yen shipped. That includes good games like Thunder Force III, Gunstar Heroes and Wonder Boy V: Monster World III. TF3 usually goes for around that price by itself so it's a pretty good deal.

I already have those games on other formats; GH on VC/XBLA, MW Complete Collection on PS2, and Thunder Force Gold Pack 1 on Saturn, but it's still nice to have the original MD carts.
I just got my games today, very nice!
(The one in the upper middle row is Puyo Puyo.)
 

IrishNinja

Member
Best double-check it. I know I only used the AV ports on my old 4-in-1-out switch, but was pleasantly surprised to find out it did, in fact, have S-Video ports, and I just hadn't noticed because, well, I had no reason to use them.

i did just this, and you're right - my old-ass pelican (...) switchbox had s-video! spent $6 for some cords online, should be ready to by next week

I used a lot of swap cartridge tricks back in the 90s. The most famous was swap Altered Beast by Strider to get infinite lives. But every game had some weird effect. My MegaDrive still alive.

i always saw these & wanted to try them, but i was quietly terrified of it since gamepro or whoever always prefaced that section with "THESE ACTIONS CAN HARM YOUR SYSTEM"..looking back, those things were built like tanks, so it's funny i was so worried

Dont get a passive splitter, get a powered one. A passive splitter will introduce a good bit of signal loss.

yeah, i'm gonna plug directly in, then try said switch box and see what it looks like. ive never seen a powered one, though

I'd love to do that too. You know what would fucking rock for that? Micro Machines 2 with a J-Cart. Eight players all up on this bitch. Two players per pad was a genius move on Codemasters' part and an extra two ports on the cartridge itself even moreso.

What the hell happened to the Codies we used to know, damnit?

it's funny, because mark from classic game room clearly still adores them, heh

and damn @ your suggestion, micro machines 1 is on my list to get back, right next to super off-road..didn't even know there was a 2, much less playing like that, huh
 

Harlock

Member
Another thing I remember are the pirate cartridges. They were much heavier than normal, because used worst chips.

And I played Phantasy Star 1 renting the game and this (was expensive):

300px-SegaMegaAdaptor.jpg
 
i always saw these & wanted to try them, but i was quietly terrified of it since gamepro or whoever always prefaced that section with "THESE ACTIONS CAN HARM YOUR SYSTEM"..looking back, those things were built like tanks, so it's funny i was so worried

Heh, that Altered Beast to Strider one let me beat that game forthe first time as a kid. Tha game was kinda hellish at the time.
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
Could you elaborate on this a bit more?

Not an expert, but AFAIK the reason is the extra 2MHZ on that chip. It's supposed to get rid of the slowdown some genesis games are prone to sometimes when there's too much shit happening.

It also breaks compatibility with a few games tho, so you are gonna need a second unmodded genny for those.
 

IrishNinja

Member
Heh, that Altered Beast to Strider one let me beat that game forthe first time as a kid. Tha game was kinda hellish at the time.

i hear that a lot, i used to beat it so many times that i forget when it was difficult & i didn't have it memorized to hell and back...then again i also used rapid fire which was no doubt a big piece of the equation

what did the pullout trick do for you though, invincibility or wha?

hay bish

Oh, you have a lot to learn:

I suspect I might actually have one somewhere.

...see i wanna go to your house with a few controllers after seeing that, that's some general chaos shit right there man
 
i hear that a lot, i used to beat it so many times that i forget when it was difficult & i didn't have it memorized to hell and back...then again i also used rapid fire which was no doubt a big piece of the equation

what did the pullout trick do for you though, invincibility or wha?

hay bish

Unlimited lives I believe. I'm pretty sure it wasn't invincibility because I remember dying a LOT. This was the Japanese version, so I don't know if the pullout trick acted differently or not.

I know there was a pullout trick for Ghouls and Ghosts that gave you invincibility, but that just felt wrong. I beat the game once that way and felt dirty afterwards.
 
My best megadrive memories are playing toejam and earl with a close friend of mine, we completed set mode in one sitting but never finished random mode most of the time, you get some real unfair spots in random mode on the higher floors. Also sonic 2 split screen was the shit, I still love it to this day but only a few friends used to play it with me, and all they would do is race to the end and complain that they lost overall in results.

Another thing I remember are the pirate cartridges. They were much heavier than normal, because used worst chips.

And I played Phantasy Star 1 renting the game and this (was expensive):

300px-SegaMegaAdaptor.jpg

I always wanted this adapter, my SMS went to a young cousin but there was always some SMS games I still wanted to play, shame when you are 8 or so your parents refuse to shell out £99 or whatever for such a thing :p

Oh, you have a lot to learn:
9dlI87el.png


I suspect I might actually have one somewhere.

Most annoying things ever, your friend would by mistake tug his cord and the game would crash or reset :lol
 

smbu2000

Member
Even though most games never used it, having a multi-tap for 4 players is awesome. Some gems out there that support it
Yeah, just make sure you have one of the later ones that supports all the games.
My brother and I had one of the first EA multi-taps that only supported EA games. I think the early standard adapter supported everything except EA games.

Later they released a version that supported EA games as well as regular games, I believe.
 
Dont get a passive splitter, get a powered one. A passive splitter will introduce a good bit of signal loss.
Er, I'm the one who tried the splitter, not IrishNinja (he's just getting a switch, which shouldn't introduce any notable signal loss). And, well, I'm wary of getting anything powered, because even if it works better, that means one less plug available to use. I'm completely out of available plugs, anyway; I've already had a couple of plugs formerly occupied by game consoles have to be vacated to make room for non-video-game equipment.

Not like I need to split anymore, anyway, since the CRT was one of the things I chose to unplug.

EDIT: Actually, IrishNinja did mention getting a splitter. Still, I don't think one is necessary in his case; he wants to put multiple outputs into one input.
 

Dave Long

Banned
Aladdin on Genesis, like other Shiny games, has some simple-ass movement that makes me feel like I'm throwing a sprite around on a screen. If I'm remembering right, SNES Aladdin has a player character with some, you know, states that govern movement. I remember the stages being pretty sloppy in the Shiny game, too.
That Shiny movement was so tight, though. That's what makes it so good. Dave Perry used to talk about that back then, how the controller should feel like a direct extension of you so if you fucked up and died that you knew it was on you, the player. The game wasn't messing with you.

I have played both games and really, the Genesis one is a lot better. It captures the spirit of the film far better and the animation is superb. The SNES one felt like Capcom grabbed their template for 16-bit platforming and slapped Aladdin onto it.
 
Yeah, just make sure you have one of the later ones that supports all the games.
My brother and I had one of the first EA multi-taps that only supported EA games. I think the early standard adapter supported everything except EA games.

Later they released a version that supported EA games as well as regular games, I believe.

Yeah, i have the official sega Multi-Tap, so i've had no issues. Though, the only games i have that use it are Tiny Toon ACME All-Stars (which still is pretty fun today), Yu Yu Hakusho, and Lost Vikings.
 
Also sonic 2 split screen was the shit, I still love it to this day but only a few friends used to play it with me, and all they would do is race to the end and complain that they lost overall in results.

Totally agree. Back in college, my roomie and I would have more hotly contested games of 2 player Sonic than NHL at times. Just an amazing idea for a two player platformer.
 

woodypop

Member
Yeah, i have the official sega Multi-Tap, so i've had no issues. Though, the only games i have that use it are Tiny Toon ACME All-Stars (which still is pretty fun today), Yu Yu Hakusho, and Lost Vikings.
I've got both the EA and SEGA multi-taps, but I think the only games I have that take advantage of them are ACME All-Stars, Gauntlet IV, Lost Vikings, and General Chaos. Never had a chance to use them, though.
 

BosSin

Member
Aladdin on Genesis, like other Shiny games, has some simple-ass movement that makes me feel like I'm throwing a sprite around on a screen. If I'm remembering right, SNES Aladdin has a player character with some, you know, states that govern movement. I remember the stages being pretty sloppy in the Shiny game, too.

I did a quick double-take on Aladdin SNES and have come to the realisation that the movement is too sluggish and there is a lot more fumbling around with poles and stuff.

The MD version is definitely tighter and the faster pace is complementary to the level design.
One Annoyance I had with it though was running into enemies that appeared right in front of me while going through a level
 
I got my SCART cable in last night... the YUV converter showed up earlier last week.. got everything hooked up and wooooooww... so great :D I'm loving not having jailbars show up on the screen and the colors just popping out at you. I think I'm going to go order the SNES and Saturn cables ASAP.
 

Dave Long

Banned
Pretty sure there are some three button SEGA branded wireless ones. Nothing six button, though. Wireless wasn't the greatest back then. It was very niche as an accessory. I sold all this stuff at Electronics Boutique at the time and we had dusty wireless controllers for a long time.

Wings of Wor is great. It's a JPN game called Gynoug in disguise. Beware of penile enemies.
 
Genesis Aladdin is prettier and faster, but I do think the Capcom SNES version was better, despite being a bit more ordinary in conception.
 
Anyone else ever seen official Sega wireless controllers?

Also is Wings of Wor any good?

AFAIK the only wireless Genesis controllers Sega put out used the line-of-sight IR ones. Which suck. They're not modern wireless; they're sort of like a TV remote in terms of tech where you have to keep a clear angle to the receiver and not move around too much. Not worth it.

Wings of Wor is a cool little shooter with some neat graphics and music. Not sure if it's really a must-have, though.
 

Quackula

Member
AFAIK the only wireless Genesis controllers Sega put out used the line-of-sight IR ones. Which suck. They're not modern wireless; they're sort of like a TV remote in terms of tech where you have to keep a clear angle to the receiver and not move around too much. Not worth it.

To be fair, those controllers are probably the best IR wireless controllers ever made.
 
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