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[Rlan]

For the very first time since the Genesis! Well except for that one time on the Saturn when you could do it in Sonic Jam. And there was that other time in the Sonic Mega Collection on the Gamecube, Xbox and PS2. Basically we're talking out of our asses.

 

[Gagaman]

Have I witnessed the impossible here? The worlds only Altered Beast fan? I never thought I'd see the day. Do you want my 4 Megadrive versions that have been forced upon me over the course of building my game collection?

Clunky old Nintendo games like Ice Climbers have fans, so why not clunky old Sega games?

(and no, I'm not a fan either, but I don't hate it.)

 

[Barkley's Justice]

i would have preferred a re-made "hd" version of gunstar a la bionic commando...but this IS sega we're talking about, after all...

 

[Mar]

Clunky old Nintendo games like Ice Climbers have fans, so why not clunky old Sega games?

(and no, I'm not a fan either, but I don't hate it.)

I don't hate it either. But it was certainly a mediocre game even the day it was released in arcades. The only major thing it brought to the table was when you first powered up your Megadrive / Genesis you realise you're playing an arcade game at home.

 

[brain_stew]

I don't hate it either. But it was certainly a mediocre game even the day it was released in arcades. The only major thing it brought to the table was when you first powered up your Megadrive / Genesis you realise you're playing an arcade game at home.

Well it had its desired effect, the transformation scenes looked incredible at the time, and no one will forget the first time they heard their Mega Drive speak to them.

I had nostalgia for it, well until I went back to play it, it still has a charm though, there's some really weird character designs in that game and the co-op mode can still be fun.

The multitude of ports to other systems are pretty much universally horrible, if you were a Master System NES or C64 owner it really brought home the huge leap in power between the machines, just compare the screenshots.

Mega Drive:

Master System:

Famicom:

C64:

And for reference the arcade original:

The Mega Drive version was damn close, and though it lost the lovely scaling effects it did gain some paralax scrolling. Still, the leap from the 8 bit generation was more than clear and since that's all Altered Beast was really meant to demonstrate it was a major success.

 

[MichaelEM3]

And there was that other time in the Sonic Mega Collection on the Gamecube, Xbox and PS2.

This is true. I own it for the Gamecube.

But Sonic 3 & Knuckles with achievements? Bought! Favorite platformer of all time.

 

[Rlan]

This is true. I own it for the Gamecube.

But Sonic 3 & Knuckles with achievements? Bought! Favorite platformer of all time.

Well technically you'd assume the achievements embedded in the game would just be for Sonic & Knuckles. Sonic 3 has its separate achievements and I assume so would Sonic & Knuckles. They wouldn't be able to put in separate achievements that only occur if you bought two of the games together, and you wouldn't be able to unlock Sonic 3's achievements in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Whether you can unlock Sonic & Knuckles achievements in Sonic 3K is unknown.

Sonic 1 & 2's leaderboards were based purely off score too, so I doubt this has changed :/

 

[MichaelEM3]

Damn it, you're right!

Curse the 200 point XBLA limit!

 

[AKS]

I already own the Sonic Ultimate Genesis Collection.

Never played Gunstar Heroes, although. Is it that good?

Yes, it's fantastic! It's very short but so fun you'll play through it many times. It's one of my all time favorites.

 

[AKS]

Really awesome motherfuckers.

For real. Yakuza, Valkyria Chronicles, classics from the Genesis days, and best of all, they are supporting the former Clover crew at Platinum Games. SEGA is awesome this generation!

 

[Tek]

gimmie toejam and earl damn you!

 

[NolbertoS]

Really awesome motherfuckers.

What game is that from?

Edit: NVM..it's Bayonetta

 

[Jiguryo]

Now, when they say "reworked for high definition"...

From screenshots alone, not very promising. Either way, I've already bought Gunstar Heroes on Virtual Console (on release day, mind you)... if it were a remake, then we'd talk.

 

[gutter_trash]

I already have Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 on XBLA, might as well complete the family with the rest

 

[Arpharmd B]

Have I witnessed the impossible here? The worlds only Altered Beast fan? I never thought I'd see the day. Do you want my 4 Megadrive versions that have been forced upon me over the course of building my game collection?

I am the worlds second Altered Beast fan.

And say what you will, it still holds up. Solid play control, awesome graphics and a really fun gimmick, what else do you want from a 1980's beatumup?

 

[Rummy Bunnz]

Why is this a problem. Why does it matter that something is "pixel perfect"? I'm not going to go back and do a head to head comparison. It's not like the original games were some kind of sacred texts never to be altered. If a particular game's sound effect is slightly different or its slightly lighter or darker in color, why do you care? If it doesn't effect the gameplay and the game looks 95% the same, I don't understand why it matters.

Do you rip your mp3s at 64kbps?

I'm certainly pleased to hear that Sega likes making things exclusive which have no hope of bringing them extra revenue as a result.

I don't think Sega's to blame here, buddy. Maybe you should contact Sony and ask why they're doing their best to keep you from having the ultimate video game jukebox.

 

[TheSonicRetard]

Master System:

The SMS port of Altered Beast was actually a really good port, all things considered. And its one of my favorite games to use when showing the difference between the NES and the SMS.

 

[Aru]

Well it had its desired effect, the transformation scenes looked incredible at the time, and no one will forget the first time they heard their Mega Drive speak to them.

I had nostalgia for it, well until I went back to play it, it still has a charm though, there's some really weird character designs in that game and the co-op mode can still be fun.

The multitude of ports to other systems are pretty much universally horrible, if you were a Master System NES or C64 owner it really brought home the huge leap in power between the machines, just compare the screenshots.

Mega Drive:

Master System:

Famicom:

C64:

And for reference the arcade original:

The Mega Drive version was damn close, and though it lost the lovely scaling effects it did gain some paralax scrolling. Still, the leap from the 8 bit generation was more than clear and since that's all Altered Beast was really meant to demonstrate it was a major success.

I didn't know there were so many versions of the game I only played the MD and Arcade versions and heard about the SMS one.

The NES and C64 versions are just awful. We can barely recognize the game ! :/

 

[camineet]

Sure it is. But eh, I'm not sure it's a port of the Arcade version.
It seems that it's a port of the Megadrive one instead (I'm not sure, I didn't read everything).

No way, that's the System 16 Arcade version, not the Megadrive/Genesis version. All it takes is one look at the visuals to tell (sprite detail, color, etc).

I didn't know there were so many versions of the game I only played the MD and Arcade versions and heard about the SMS one.

The NES and C64 versions are just awful. We can barely recognize the game ! :/

That's not all, there were other versions too

PC-Engine (aka TurboGrafx-16)

Commodore Amiga

Atari ST (looks like a port of the C64 version)

IBM PC (DOS)

MSX

Amstrad CPC

The only decent one of that bunch is the PC-Engine version. In some ways it looks better than the Megadrive/Genesis version and somewhat closer to the arcade because the developer tried the best they could to make it look as close to the arcade as possible, unlike Sega's own version for the MD/Gen. The PCE ver is better in colors, sprite size & detail, closer to original arcade artwork, the special effects like software scaling which is not as smooth as arcade but at least it's there unlike the MD/Gen ver. In other ways the PCE version looks worse than the MD/Gen version (background detail, lack of parallax scrolling, and of course in audio) because of the limitations of the PCE hardware in certain areas.

Watch this vid of the PCE ver in action to see what I mean
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-hDuG_w5b4

 

[TheSonicRetard]

The problem with both the PCE and SMS versions is that you have to press both buttons to jump. That's so completely annoying, especially when they had the select button on the PCE pad.

 

[Kydd BlaZe]

Hmmm, I wonder if it would be possible to do an XBLA port of Sonic Adventure.

I'd really love to see that.

 

[camineet]

The Mega Drive version was damn close, and though it lost the lovely scaling effects it did gain some paralax scrolling. Still, the leap from the 8 bit generation was more than clear and since that's all Altered Beast was really meant to demonstrate it was a major success.

The Mega Drive / Genesis version was really only close to the arcade in comparison to the other console & computer/PC versions.

Technically, just between the MD/Gen and Arcade versions, they're not that close, there are major differences between them in graphics and gameplay. Given that the arcade rom is around 2 megabytes and the MD/Gen rom is one quarter of that, I'd expect major differences

Altered Beast (Arcade and Genesis) was the first game where I learned to compare the arcade to the home versions, it was the first time that I even knew there was such a thing as a difference between arcade and home.

I got to play the Master System version first, before the arcade and before the Genesis, so I never understood how far that was from the arcade until I saw the arcade.

 

[GarthVaderUK]

More Downloadable Sega Classics Coming June 10

Six of the seven downloadable and enhanced classic old-school titles Sega is bringing to the Xbox 360 will arrive on June 10, the company announced today, with the PlayStation 3 re-release of Gunstar Heroes due out the next day, on June 11.

Arriving under the "SEGA Vintage Collection 2" banner, each game will be sold separately at an as-yet-unknown price point, and has been updated to support high definition visuals, online leaderboards, and, if applicable, online play.

While Gunstar Heroes will hit both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, it appears as if the rest of the titles--Altered Beast, Shinobi, Comix Zone, Phantasy Star 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3--are currently exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade, with the final release, Sonic & Knuckles, likewise arriving as an XBLA exclusive later this summer.

Gunstar Heroes - June 10 (XBLA), June 11 (PSN) / Online Play
"The classic side scrolling shooter from the SEGA Genesis returns to captivate fans new and old with its non-stop action and cooperative play."

Altered Beast (XBLA) - June 10 / Online Play
"'Rise from your Grave' as the original Genesis launch game is reborn and comes to a new generation of gamers. Battle hordes of undead warriors and monsters as you return to battle in order to save Zeus' daughter Athena."

Shinobi (arcade) (XBLA) - June 10 / No Online
"Battle your way through the 'Ring of Five' as you save hostages with your ninja abilities."

Comix Zone (XBLA) - June 10 / No Online
"The game features an innovative art style that transports players directly into the panels of a comic as they fight their way to save a world from destruction as Sketch Turner. Everything from the speech bubble text, level design, and the revolutionary graphics scream COMIX!"

Phantasy Star 2 (XBLA) - June 10 / No Online
"SEGA's classic RPG which expanded on the success of the first with its epic storyline and battle system."

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (XBLA) - June 10 / Online Play
"The game that introduced Knuckles the Echidna comes to a new generation of gamers as Sonic explores Angel Island and discovers the true power of the Master Emerald. Speed through each level at lightning speeds as either Sonic or Tails as you foil Dr. Eggman's in his new Death Egg station."

Sonic and Knuckles (XBLA) - Late Summer 2009 / Online Play
"Picking up where Sonic the Hedgehog 3 left off, players can now play as Knuckles for the first time. In addition, if players already have Sonic the Hedgehog 3 or Sonic 2 in their library, they will be able to access the lock-on bonus content for each game for the very first time since the days of the SEGA GENESIS! This allows for gamers to play Sonic 2 & 3 as Knuckles!"

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58854