dreamcastmaster
Banned
Missile Defense bundle was sold woih the light gun and 3d glasses. Super Sysyem bundle I think it was called.
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The Sega master system appreciation thread of SegaScope 3D!
- Thread starter catmincer
- Start date
IrishNinja
Member
yeah, im thinking it shouldn't be a hard trade, was just gonna ask around locally first but i think i know...1 guy with an SMS? and he's on GAF too, haha
D Lo if it's anything trickier than removing the tabs from an SNES i'm just gonna let someone else do it m'man
Irish, just say no to drinking and modding!
IrishNinja
Member
yeah people mock, but ive always loved that style. there's a guy on sega's forums that makes Yakuza covers in that manner and i always use them, haha
...if i can't at least have fun while failing to mod something, what's the point!?
D.Lo
Member
I'm a sucker for consistency, so they're cool in that way. I similarly love black box NES, Konami'a Silver box NES line etc. it pisses me off that all of the above slowly fell apart as motifs!
Japanese Mega Drive and Mark III Gold line kept it up however! USA SNES and US/AU N64 too.
baudelinog
Member
Ehmmmmmmmm, well, that's your opinion. I think that it's one of the best 8 bit platformers. Opinion shared with a lot of mates of that era. In fact, I thought it was the consensus...
D.Lo
Member
I'd put it toward the bottom of Mark III/Master System platformers myself, let alone Famicom/NES.
Slippery/clunky controls with weird physics are the biggest issue. Twee high-pitched music (and only like 2-3 tunes total!), and ambitious scope but ho-hum level design are both below average for the system. Nice graphics quality wise, but I'm not a fan of the generic Vik Tokai art.
It was seemingly a quick outsourced answer to Super Mario 2 (USA), with four characters and a central throwing mechanic. Sega most likely saw the success of Mario 2, looked around for Famicom games with throwing in them, and asked the Kid Kool devs to whip them up a mascot platformer based on it. The same team made Decap Attack/Magical Hat on Mega Drive next next, pretty much the same gameplay as Kid Kool and this and the best version of it IMO.
Shin Johnpv
Member
I really need to do the FM audio mod to my Master System one of these days.
baudelinog
Member
Curious. I picked this game as one of my first rentals for the system, so it was 1990 and I was very young - and much better at playing videogames than now! I remember it being pretty difficult to handle at first, but VERY rewarding after you master the controls. I finished it in a weekend playing with a friend (one life each one), like Castle of Illusion, Lucky Dime Caper, Asterix... I have really fond memories of this game and I still put it in the top five platformers for the system. I remember the game being quite popular here in my town/school/neighborhood, and the reviews being very possitive back then. Have to search a little now, to find if my memories were right!
http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/pdf/psychofoxms.pdf
http://www.smspower.org/Scans/CVGCompleteGuideToSega-Magazine-Issue1?gallerypage=59
http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/review/171/psycho-fox.php
http://www.smstributes.co.uk/viewuserreview.asp?gameid=271&userreviewid=796
Maybe I should play now to renew sensations, but i'm now SO bad at playing videogames that I'm sure I will last no more than 5 seconds...
Oh! And Whirlo for the SNES!! I loved Psycho Fox and Whirlo, when people where talking about Sonic and Mario!! I always associate this two names, as not the most popular games for their systems, but some of the bests.
D.Lo
Member
In my experience, you can't put much weight on contemporary reviews. I've been reading a lot of old magazines recently, and they had pretty different ideas of what made a game good back then. Often reviewers (especially from Britain) were obsessed with 'value' and 'challenge' - so really long and really hard games were the 'best' because you would get more hours of play per dollar. Makes some sense in an 80s context, where they'd come from being used to $10 home PC games to $50 console games, but putting that above gameplay and design quality showed they didn't yet appreciate the craft of game design. Often completely broken controls almost get praised because it made the game a 'challenge' - you can see this in a couple of those review pages even - comparing it to the (basically perfect) controls of Mickey Mouse it just doesn't play as well and is frustrating, but is still a 'classic' because it 'offers a challenge'. Today we see that while Double Dragon and Contra are both hard, but only the latter is brilliant, because it's hard but fair.
One hilarious example I remember was Kirby's Adventure getting a bad score because it was too easy. I'm not the biggest fan of the game, but it is at the very least an extremely high quality well crafted game with probably the best graphics of the generation and flawless controls and performance. On the other side of the scale, simple arcade games like Pac Man and Galaga got bad scores in the later 80s because they were so simple compared to Super Mario, but looking back now, they're games you would get much more playtime from because they are tightly designed and infinitely repayable.
Nostalgia is also a helluva drug. Castlevania Adventure on Game Boy is a childhood favourite of mine, I mastered the controls and can one life it. It's 'fair' if you learn all the glitches. But the controls are really somewhat broken, it really is not a fair game, and almost everyone who first played it more than five years after release hates it because of these real issues. You see it quite a lot from a British/EU perspective too. Almost nobody in the rest of the world is interested in checking out Spectrum games from the 80s, because in general they look so clunky. Yet they're 'unmissable classics' in Britain.
baudelinog
Member
I get your point, and I agree that the controls are not... well, I would not use the word 'fair', but maybe 'accessible' or 'comfortable'. And, probably, if I were playing the game today my opinion could be similar to yours. But I like to think that the sensations and the charm of that first era of gaming (MY first era, not THE first era) were right back then - I mean, if I felt in love with Psycho Fox, it was because it hit the nail on the head, at least for me (well, and for some more).
I remember starting the game and saying "Well, one more", and "What the hell??" when I was unable to overcome the first platforms. "It feels like a clunky Mario!!". But then, 20 or 200 lifes after that, it just 'clicked'. And what a satisfying feeling, after that! I still remember the sensation I got: flowing. It was like flowing. Flowing through platforms, flowing through levels. "Now it feels like a clunky Sonic!!" - well, Sonic didn't even exist.
Also, I remember the level design being really good: challenging but fair, and rewarding. But maybe is my memory.
About the Spectrum, I think it's an European thing, not just a British thing. I'm from Spain, and here there still is some Spectrum scene and a lot of love. Amazingly, or not, the MSX gets even more love.
D.Lo
Member
I've heard of the EU MSX love. Poster foobarry81 is a big MSX champion on GAF.
In Australia/New Zealand the SC3000 was actually relatively popular as 'our' version of the MSX (it has almost identical hardware). The Master System actually had a base to build on here because of that previous Sega 'console'.
In Australia/New Zealand the SC3000 was actually relatively popular as 'our' version of the MSX (it has almost identical hardware). The Master System actually had a base to build on here because of that previous Sega 'console'.
baudelinog
Member
It's curious cause back in the 80's, here in Spain, there were few people with the MSX - everyone having a Spectrum or a CPC, and some a C64. I just knew one person with a MSX. And nowadays, it seems that the MSX was the most popular one!
Understandable, given the retro love and the pros and cons of each machine.
I have beaten the game - and still find it mediocre.
Red Liquorice
Member
Psycho Fox is all nostalgia as far as I'm concerned. It's one of my all time favourite games, but it always played like ass. Even at the time I hated the slip-n-slide controls, I just loved the graphics, the charm, the characters etc.
I will say I think maybe I played it "wrong" - I wanted to explore and find everything almost like Mario 2 or Wonderboy 2 but maybe it was better played like a proto-Sonic and just wizz through each level at top speed?
I will say I think maybe I played it "wrong" - I wanted to explore and find everything almost like Mario 2 or Wonderboy 2 but maybe it was better played like a proto-Sonic and just wizz through each level at top speed?
baudelinog
Member
Exactly: it was a clunky-Sonic before Sonic exists.
IrishNinja
Member
looking back...it's a damn shame we lost SMS support out here so early.
Ghouls & Ghosts and other genesis ports really took on a cool life of their own, but my shops were done with SMS even before Sonic dropped. we never had a chance at Dragon's Crystal, Mater of Darkness and a lots of other gems...nevermind Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, easily one of the best games in that series.
Golden Axe Warrior was literally the last game i saw at my local TRU, and i bought it for less than $20 when they were dumping it. years later, i'd rebuy a loose PAL copy for $40 and finally finish it.
Ghouls & Ghosts and other genesis ports really took on a cool life of their own, but my shops were done with SMS even before Sonic dropped. we never had a chance at Dragon's Crystal, Mater of Darkness and a lots of other gems...nevermind Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, easily one of the best games in that series.
Golden Axe Warrior was literally the last game i saw at my local TRU, and i bought it for less than $20 when they were dumping it. years later, i'd rebuy a loose PAL copy for $40 and finally finish it.
D.Lo
Member
I really love Master System Ghouls and Ghosts. It's its own thing, whereas the Mega Drive game is a worse version of the arcade game.
It was basically a budget system that lived alongside the Mega Drive and NES (and later SNES) in Europe/Australia, and the games are definitely budget games. In that sense it is more like the later period Game Boy, a side market that didn't get the big name blockbusters, but some gems. Of course the Game Boy had more since it had top Nintendo teams working on it with games like Wario 2 and Zelda.
It was basically a budget system that lived alongside the Mega Drive and NES (and later SNES) in Europe/Australia, and the games are definitely budget games. In that sense it is more like the later period Game Boy, a side market that didn't get the big name blockbusters, but some gems. Of course the Game Boy had more since it had top Nintendo teams working on it with games like Wario 2 and Zelda.
So Kid Kool is the real Sonic predecessor? It was first and plays identically.
IrishNinja
Member
agreed on being its own thing, but man, ya'll are too hard on what at the time were really good ports
Yeah, it was a pretty good port for what it was.
D.Lo
Member
Well yeah it was good for the time. But now it's worthless. I have the arcade version on Saturn and PS.
The MS game remains the 'best' version of what it is, since it's its own thing. An 8-bit remix so to speak.
D.Lo
Member
There are also examples like Contra where the 8-bit console version ends up the vastly superior and more memorable game. I daresay the NES versions of Double Dragon 2 and 3 as well. Punch Out too.
ResidentDante
Member
I just found out Thunder Blade on the SMS is a top down game, nothing super out of the ordinary, but a fine game!
Super Thunder Blade on the MD on the other hand has a terribly cut back set of animations in it's third person view compared to the arcade and really suffers for it imo. Gameplay feels really sluggish.
Super Thunder Blade on the MD on the other hand has a terribly cut back set of animations in it's third person view compared to the arcade and really suffers for it imo. Gameplay feels really sluggish.
Double Dragon 3 on NES is quite better than the Arcade and Sega Genesis versions, the Sega Genesis version is absolutely terrible!!!
The SMS version also has the 3rd person view stages. I remember being pretty impressed by it at the time, but I haven't played it in 20+ years.
The Genesis version was a launch game and I think it suffers from the small cartridge size. Not really a good port at all.
IrishNinja
Member
Finished Golvellius today and found the game amazing.
The MS was my first Sega console, but I got it when Sonic was already around, so I did not play most of the older games.
Great console, great memories.
I played a lot the decent MK2 port too back then. Loved it
congrats man! easily in my top 5 for the system, damn shame we never saw that sequel.
cireza
Member
Going to play Golden Axe Warrior now. Never finished this one either, but it left a pretty good impression back then.
I also love Sonic 1 and 2 on MS. I find them better games than the MD ones.
I am currently replaying a lot of MS and GG games.
RoryDropkick
Member
So I'm not sure what direction to take. I have a Mark III, a Master System and a Mega Drive. Should I go try to find the FM Sound Unit, buy the FM kit for the Master System, or buy a Power Base FM and go that route? I'm thinking the FM Sound Unit is probably the lowest of the 3 choices given price.
IrishNinja
Member
yeah, it's also a cool looking option i think, haha.
the site with FM boards i was looking at for my SMS down the road had em for $50, but sold out. between now & then i wanna switch my model for an older one anyway, so at least ive got time!
the site with FM boards i was looking at for my SMS down the road had em for $50, but sold out. between now & then i wanna switch my model for an older one anyway, so at least ive got time!
D.Lo
Member
FM unit is almost certainly the most expensive. They go for $100+. Not to mention while the Mark III is IMO the best looking you need a special amplified RGB cable with FM break-in to have both RGB and FM music.
Power Base mini is obviously the easiest, and probably the cheapest overall. It's a bit ugly unless you make a case for it with a Mega Drive cart shell and a dremel.
An FM board upgrade is the cheapest if you install yourself. It's only two wires so that's probably the best option for anyone who can solder.
IrishNinja
Member
soldering aside, don't you still have to make a hole for the switch? ive seen some ugly work there, and not sure if i'd do better
You don't really need the switch.
Shin Johnpv
Member
Where do people suggest getting the FM board from if you're going to mod a US Master System?
IrishNinja
Member
RoryDropkick
Member
Just checked out his guide, and it didnt seem to hard. However, since the process is different for consoles of different regions, would the mod work fine on a 60hz modded pal-machine, or would that not make a difference?
D.Lo
Member
No difference, will work fine on a 60Hz PAL modded machine.
PHOENIXZERO
Member
I wish I kept the one I had along with my NES.
baudelinog
Member
Didn't know that game, played right now a little to see. Just two minutes, but yeah, it looks and plays quite similar! The vertical scroll is awful, and given the importance of the "left-right/top-down" in the design of the maps and in the gameplay itself (at least in Psycho Fox) I'd say Psycho Fox plays way better. But yes, it's clearly the predecessor!
D.Lo
Member
The Famicom Mini and NES Mini releases have made me regret not buying one of these when they appeared. Though they were very expensive...
http://www.lcv.ne.jp/~mgs1987/sega/gg10.html
They were 20000 Yen.
http://www.lcv.ne.jp/~mgs1987/sega/gg10.html
They were 20000 Yen.
ResidentDante
Member
The Famicom Mini and NES Mini releases have made me regret not buying one of these when they appeared. Though they were very expensive...
http://www.lcv.ne.jp/~mgs1987/sega/gg10.html
They were 20000 Yen.
Seen these mentioned before, they are really cool. How was the video out on them?
ResidentDante
Member
Haha! Damn, only two.
Awesome to know, thanks!
The Famicom Mini and NES Mini releases have made me regret not buying one of these when they appeared. Though they were very expensive...
http://www.lcv.ne.jp/~mgs1987/sega/gg10.html
They were 20000 Yen.
God damn, I want one of those!