catching up again with the SEGA Genesis library

[+Cafeman]

I guess what triggered my 16bit mood was I just moved my main family room entertainment center down to my game room. It's bigger and prettier than what I had before, so I reorganized stuff. As I did it, I got to playing my Genesis again, and I realized I had all the 'best' games but I was bored with them. So I've been scooping up all kinds of games and playing them with my bassy sound system on good old 27" CRT. Here's some of the games I've been trying & looking up info about, many for the first time. Feel free to comment on some too!

 

Bimini Run -- I don't recall this game at all. It is influenced by Miami Vice - 2 guys ride a sport boat shooting other boats & copters (not kopters), avoiding sailboats & other obstacles. I kind of like it but it woulda been a ripoff back in the day - not fun enough. There are islands (don't beach your boat) and I find the 3D-ish / scaling visuals and 3D 'world' done pretty well. I like the scaling rows of parallax waves & other rather impressive 2d scaling visuals making up a 3D ocean. Unfortunately, it only takes one hit and your boat is destroyed, so then the 2 dudes jump out into the water and tread until it restarts. I found that amusing! You have to destroy island-based radio towers , there are 2 overhead maps and its a nice half hour ride, but can be frustrating.

 

Here are 2 links, one is an interview with one of the developers, Rex Bradford, which gives some behind-the-scenes info about programming the thing. You can see from the interview Rex also worked on the Atari 2600 Parker Brothers Star wars games and the Master System version of King's Quest!

 

http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Interview:Rex_Bradford

http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Talk:Interview:Rex_Bradford

[+Cafeman]

Next up is Batman, The Video Game. I fondly recall this as being one of the first Genesis games I rented, back in 1991. This game was long delayed because of Nintendo's 3rd party rules, until the courts Ok'd everything. Despite being formulaic, repetitive, and more NES than Genesis, I really enjoy this game. In the light of Adventures of Batman & Robin (Genesis), this game now seems short & kind of easy once you get the hang of it. You can play the whole thing in well under an hour. It has fun Batmobile & Batwing side-scroll shooter levels, and closely follows the events of the 1989 film - you even get to knock Jack Napier into the vat of chemicals. This one cost me $10 and I have never before seen it in the wild.

[the.golden.ax]

Played Goofy last night, was the worst $1 I've ever spent.

 

AX

[+Cafeman]

Next up is Combat Cars. I never heard of this one. Cost me $1.00.

 

This is a top-down racer and it is quite difficult. I have read comparisons to other games like Micro Machines, but I have never played MM so can't comment. Nice music just pops out of the Genesis. You can pick which character you race as, and thus which special weapon you'll have. The one with Boost seems a waste of time because boosting just makes me drive straight off a curve and stop.

 

The visuals are very nice IMHO. they don't try to push the Genesis to do what it really can't do. I kind of wish the 'camera view' was a zoomed out a bit more because those curves catch me unaware every time! Again, I've only started to play this game.

 

I did some research, this is clearly a Euro game, programmed by a company from Norway called Scangames, published by Accolade. The guys went on eventually form the Swedish company Amuze, which eventually created Headhunter for the Dreamcast/PS2.

 

Here is a link to an interview with John Kroknes, one of the 2 credited with creating Combat Cars and also Headhunter:

 

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/103366/interviews/interview-amuze-on-headhunter-redemption/

[The_Laird]

Its funny because I have been on a Megadrive collecting spree myself recently and picked up both these games myself.

 

I got Bimini Run as part of a 3 game lot for £10 and was very happy because not only did it not come out in Pal but also because according to various rarity guides its worth $60 CIB! I also enjoy it alot it has some lovely graphics and some fantastic music, I did find it hard though.

 

I havn't got very far on Batman yet, need to play it more. But there is no doubting its a slick looking game and really captures the feel of the classic film.

 

For me the MD is by far the best machine for shoot 'em ups and beat 'em ups and this is what I have been concentrating on recently. Although I also love driving games so recently picked up quite a few of those too.

[+Cafeman]

For $2.50 I picked up Greendog, the Beached Surfer Dude! (Exclamation point not mine)

 

Back when this was listed in the Genesis catalog, it couldn't have turned me off more. But playing it today, its a nice complement to stuff like Cool Spot, with its nice beach & water / caribbean/ calypso musical themes. It's been stated that SEGA hoped Greendog would become a mascot; but Sonic took that role of course.

 

Still, the game is definitely a nice experience and nice reminder of what was typical for a 1990's 16-bit platformer, with large well-animated sprites and rather crazy yet cheesy ideas. Somebody should hack this game and make Greendog into "Spicoli" from Fast Times at ridgemont high.

 

I like how Greendog uses a gyrocopter to get to Grenada and other islands. I've only played through 3 of the six islands, but first impressions were pretty good, surprisingly. Funny how things are more enjoyable at $2.50 than they are at $49.99! Anyway, sometimes a little dog (which is named Fetch) comes out. He'll grab the health items dropped by enemies and eat them before you do! Sometimes there is bone that is dropped. If you grab the bone first, Fetch will attack enemies for you. He is drawn quite adorably.

 

Here is a very cool blog/review of the game, with the writer's own art included. He mentions that SEGA held an intern contest to design these new mascots - if true, I had never read that before.

 

http://eyzmaster.blogspot.com/2010/08/vgr-greendog.html

[the.golden.ax]

For $2.50 I picked up Greendog, the Beached Surfer Dude! (Exclamation point not mine)

 

Back when this was listed in the Genesis catalog, it couldn't have turned me off more. But playing it today, its a nice complement to stuff like Cool Spot, with its nice beach & water / caribbean/ calypso musical themes. It's been stated that SEGA hoped Greendog would become a mascot; but Sonic took that role of course.

 

Still, the game is definitely a nice experience and nice reminder of what was typical for a 1990's 16-bit platformer, with large well-animated sprites and rather crazy yet cheesy ideas. Somebody should hack this game and make Greendog into "Spicoli" from Fast Times at ridgemont high.

 

I like how Greendog uses a gyrocopter to get to Grenada and other islands. I've only played through 3 of the six islands, but first impressions were pretty good, surprisingly. Funny how things are more enjoyable at $2.50 than they are at $49.99! Anyway, sometimes a little dog (which is named Fetch) comes out. He'll grab the health items dropped by enemies and eat them before you do! Sometimes there is bone that is dropped. If you grab the bone first, Fetch will attack enemies for you. He is drawn quite adorably.

 

Here is a very cool blog/review of the game, with the writer's own art included. He mentions that SEGA held an intern contest to design these new mascots - if true, I had never read that before.

 

http://eyzmaster.blogspot.com/2010/08/vgr-greendog.html

 

I used to play the crap out of that in Sears on their kiosk back in the day. I've always thought highly of it, but never owned it before last year.

 

AX

[+Cafeman]

Another $1.00 find that was gold to me -- EA's Skitchin'. This is the first I've seen it since the days it was on the shelves and the first time I ever got to play it.

 

Being a big fan of Genesis Road Rash I and II, and also the PSX port of the 3DO version, I kept a lookout for the similar Skitchin. You are on roller blades, hang onto the back of vehicles, elbow & kick other skitchers, try to come in first place. The game has been nicely polished in various ways - when you do a trick, three judges pop up at bottom-screen and rate your trick 1-thru-10. Funny. You have to keep earning money and upgrading your gear - blades, elbow pads, etc.

 

The engine is from Genesis Road Rash, but the game is reportedly programmed by a different team, this time from the EA Canada. With fewer side-track objects yet plenty of graphical details, I found the game boasts a noticeably smoother frame rate than RR games. At least, most of the time it does. I've read it has 5 frames per second - I disagree, its got to be higher than that. It took me exactly 4 tries before I figured out the rules and gameplay and came in 1st place. I'm still not good at tricks , which you do after hitting a jump, but later on I'll google the game and learn some techniques.

 

Not much else to say, but I will be playing this all week and seeing if it sustains the fun.

[CGQuarterly]

Bimini Run is a pretty neat game, but I agree with your comment that it would have been a ripoff if you paid full price for it back in the day. A lot of games that I enjoy would fall into that category, though.

 

You were wise to pick up Batman. It's an uncommon game and is really good, so you have to grab it when you see it.

 

Chris

[+Cafeman]

Tonight I played Batman. Beat it on normal, then beat it on hard. It doesn't take long. I was using 7 lives in Options however (you can pick 3 or 5 lives - but why?).

 

There are a few infinite loops to stock up on lives (up to 9 max) or batarangs if you look for them. For the batarangs, if you go up a certain tower and at the top is a batarang power-up, grab it, then jump back down a level and then come up again, the power-up has reappeared! There are several places you can exploit this. Batarangs are invaluable against the bosses and certainly make life easier in normal level play too. And there is a great place mid-game, if you fall off some platforms to your death, on your way down you'll see 3 batman head icons - lives! When the game respawns you at the top, just jump straight off and angle your fall to nab all 3 1-ups on your way down again. Keep doing until you max out at 9 lives.

 

Batman The Video Game is extremely generous in respawning you after you've died so that you mostly don't have to replay an entire level or sections. Even when you continue, it continues you from certain checkpoints. Batman Returns (Which I popped into my Genesis for a bit too tonight) puts you back at the beginning of each level when you continue.

 

some other games I've picked up recently include Madden 94 and Madden 95. I remembered Madden as being a bit more fun & impressive; something about it seems rudimentary now, with its passing windows and lack of moves for running backs. Madden 95 overhauled all the graphics - I'm not sure I ever played this before now. The players are larger, there are no more passing windows either, and the voices are less grainy (pretty much crystal clear).

 

I also picked up both Taz games. Taz-mania, and Taz Goes to Mars. Cartoon-quality visuals and spot-on sound FX for Taz's tornado whirling, but you have to memorize the levels to succeed, and I haven't yet. There are some fairly annoying sounds and sections in each it seems, but I'm forgiving and still enjoying playing around with both.

[+Cafeman]

Its funny because I have been on a Megadrive collecting spree myself recently and picked up both these games myself.

 

I got Bimini Run as part of a 3 game lot for £10 and was very happy because not only did it not come out in Pal but also because according to various rarity guides its worth $60 CIB! I also enjoy it alot it has some lovely graphics and some fantastic music, I did find it hard though.

 

 

That is quite a coincidence!

 

I played some more Bimini Run and I got farther. Its cool zipping around the sea island-to-island trying to knock out towers and radio towers. In on part you have to chase another boat before it gets too far away. Bimini Run does seem too difficult at first, but like all tough games, once you learn a technique or pattern you can blow through it easier it seems. I like the visuals - pretty well done for Genesis.

[+Cafeman]

Played Virtua Racing for a while. Despite the neat technology in the cart allowing the 16-bit Genesis to compute 3D polygons, I never cared for this version much because of the slow frame rate, low resoltion and the lack of colors. It takes a while to get used to it & to know how to approach curves correctly. Its hard to see incoming cars sometimes, they blend in a bit too much. I had the 32X version back then - much better. But I still had fun , could not come in 1st place on any race, so the challenge is definitely there. The narrow section in the middle of the medium track is tough not to wipe out and lose ground.

 

Played Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. I have always liked this game! I played it through and beat it, got to see Pitfall Harry (sr) in all his blocky glory again at the game's ending. The game didn't seem as long as it used to. I think I beat the whole thing in an hour - had to continue a couple times. The last boss is twice as tough as any of the others, especially if you waste your bombs and die, because from then on you only got your sling & rocks. Any fans of this game? This is really the only Pitfall sequel (after the orig first two) that I like.

 

Finally, I played Adventures of Batman & Robin. I've played it lots but it has been many years. Still, my skills were kind of still there. I got to the final boss in the bat-glider shooting level but died, didn't feel like continuing because you start over (at the boss which is pretty fair) with level-1 shooting power again, which makes it near impossible to beat. I used to think this game was too difficult but my sons showed it can be beaten if you play it right - they played 2-player over the weekened and beat it (again), in fact. Great visuals and music/sounds on this one, one of the top Genesis games right here but you better eat your wheaties. the thing about the game's difficulty though - you get plenty of opportunities to get more health and to power-up your weaponry, but you have to be skilled enough to grab these. Once you power-up, you can use combo's of up-close melee hits (powerful) and powered-up shots for distant enemies and stay alive for quite a while, continually grabbing health hearts as they appear.

[MagitekAngel]

Funny, I'm starting to shift my attention to genesis games as well. Now that I have a rock solid model 1 console, I can play without griping about an awful video signal.

[+Cafeman]

Funny, I'm starting to shift my attention to genesis games as well. Now that I have a rock solid model 1 console, I can play without griping about an awful video signal.

 

I'm using a Sega Genesis 2. Are the model 1's supposed to be better video? (mine looks fine to me - composite connection of course.

[The_Laird]

Funny, I'm starting to shift my attention to genesis games as well. Now that I have a rock solid model 1 console, I can play without griping about an awful video signal.

 

I'm using a Sega Genesis 2. Are the model 1's supposed to be better video? (mine looks fine to me - composite connection of course.

 

Well dunno about the Genesis but I have a Megadrive 1 and it has a far better picture and sound than my Megadrive 2 which I sold when I got a good deal on the MD1 + MCD1 I have now.

[+Cafeman]

My thread sunk!

 

Played some more Genesis over this weekend:

 

Aladdin. I'm pretty sure that rock-star programmer David Perry was responsible for this game, and that its profits caused him to create his own company (Shiny Entertainment) with others. The animation style of this game is super-animated and smooth, and I'm pretty sure I recognize some sound FX from Earthworm Jim also in this game.

 

I never gave Aladdin much time and tonight I remembered why - it can get frustrating! The screen can scroll left/right rather erratically and cause you to get hit or fall off a platform. The one level - escape from the lava cave - was SUPER FRUSTRATING, I lost like 10 lives and had to continue until I got a feel for when to do the leaps of faith. Actually I don't find this game all that fun, and I really didn't like the movie either so perhaps thats why.

 

I also see similarities with Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure which has nearly identical "bricks come out/ go back into the wall" timed platformer stages as the one in Aladdin. I'm talking very very similar in look, execution, and feel - only the colors and motif are different. I prefer Pitfall TMA to this.

[the.golden.ax]

Aladdin is a Gem amongst the Sega Library, one of my very favorites. (Along with EWJ!) Just bought a store banner on ePay.

 

AX

[+Cafeman]

I also has a go at the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Its been a long time since I played this game and tried to beat it with all emeralds, on the original hardware.

 

I beat it but with 5 of the 6 emeralds. I was having trouble with one of the bonus stages and couldn't get that emerald after 3 tries. Plus I didn't have enough rings at end-of-level in the underwater levels which have all kinds of cheap hits.

 

That Scrap Brain level was tougher than I remembered too.

 

But this is still easily one of the best Genesis titles to me. I had a blast playing it. I remembered all of the secret paths in the 2nd world which lead Sonic behind the walls to 1-up's and ring monitors.

[+Cafeman]

I also tried a couple more rounds of Adventures of Batman and Robin. This game is so hard. It has cool art and FX and once you understand how to play to win, the first several levels aren't all that tough unless you start messing up and can't keep your weapon powered up.

 

I made it to the end of the Mad Hatter, farther than ever before. I found there are several opportunities to find 1-ups as you go. One place in particular is the Joker levels (in a warehouse as you track down Harley). If you can shoot all the toy helicopters quickly enough, you'll be rewarded with a power-up / 1-up each time!

 

I still feel that the flying-over-city part is too long. If you have full powered red shots, and a few reserve lives, it isn't *too* hard (but it is tedious) until the 2nd-to-the-last boss - the huge multi-screen spanning airship.

 

Oh, and I learned that it is EASY to defeat the big Cheshire Cat - stand under its nose and jump up and kick, getting 3 hits every time. Don't even bother trying to shoot batarangs at it, jump-kicks are way more effective.

[+Cafeman]

Aladdin is a Gem amongst the Sega Library, one of my very favorites. (Along with EWJ!) Just bought a store banner on ePay.

 

AX

 

Can you beat it?

[the.golden.ax]

Aladdin is a Gem amongst the Sega Library, one of my very favorites. (Along with EWJ!) Just bought a store banner on ePay.

 

AX

 

Can you beat it?

 

I did back in the day. These days, I almost bet not. It's funny how rusty you get after a few decades.

 

The past two weeks I've played nothing but Kaboom and Tetris for the most part (when I didn't hijack the kids controller a few times while they were playing Toejam & Earl 1).

 

AX

[+Cafeman]

I'm still in the 16-bit SEGA mood! I almost couldn't wait to get home from work tonight and fire up the Genny because I was determined to attack Revenge of Shinobi. Actually I have it on the Sega CD 4-in-1 arcade compilation but its the same game with better sound FX and of course the usual changes to Batman/Godzilla.

 

I played 3 times through my lives/continues, restarting each time after I ran out. I finally ran out of lives on a train fighting electricity. I beat the Terminator/Hulk but couldn't get past the electric red-bubble-head train. This is one game that I played wayyy back in the early 90's and never much more, because of its slow pace and difficulty. I do like it, but I prefer Shinobi III which is much faster and newer.

 

I also stopped using my Sega Genesis 2 and hooked up my Sega Genesis model 1 on top my Sega CD model 1. The video has to be RF, but I can't see any deterioration at all from the Genny 2's composite. I hook the Sega CD sound outputs directly to my sound system and use the Genesis headphone volume control with a 1/8" mixing cable. This is how I always used to do it. Well anyway - the sound is SO MUCH BETTER than using the Genesis 2 with its "stereo" cable. Why doesnt' my Genny 2 with the 'Stereo cable' actually output the games in STEREO? It seems to output in mono x 2 - when I play Sonic for example, the ring pickup sounds do not alternate left-right w/Genny 2 setup, but with the Genny 1/Sega CD1 it is in beautiful stereo like I remember.

[+Cafeman]

Still playing that Genesis! As I try some of these C-grade games for the first time, I am trying to have patience and really giving each game a number of tries. This way you can get into the gameplay and find the fun that isn't always evident on the first gaming session. I think some of these games I rented years ago but never really had the patience back then to play through them. This weekend I played:

 

Jungle Book. Its clear it uses the same 'engine' as Aladdin and Earthworm Jim. I never really played this the whole way through until now (Shao Khan killed my last life though). It is collecty, and has some unimpressive sound (some of the sound FX sound directly lifted off the Atari 2600), but with the usual great animation. The bosses will take your life away quickly until you memorize their patterns and stop getting hit so much. Without a manual, it took me a while to realize that you press A to change up which ammo Mowgli throws - double bananas or boomerangs takes out that big snake a lot faster than single unlimited bananas. It also took me a while to figure out to enter the huts and press up to warp to another hut on the tree map. You can't make progress in the big tree without doing this. I LOL'd when an unfamiliar voice blurted out "It's Baloo the bear!" at one point, then was never heard again. (sample from the orig cartoon??) The orangatang boss King Louie was murdering me until I figured out how to properly dodge his banana missiles without losing life - then he became simple to defeat. Interestingly, the Jungle Book cart is hard to fit into my Genesis 1 and even harder sometimes to remove, although at a glance it looks identical to the other standard SEGA cart shells. ???

 

Chuck Rock. I'm trying to find the appeal - it is well programmed but seems like a prettier 8-bit game, not 16-bit game designs. I like how Chuck says Unga Bunga at the start of the stage. And it has some interesting gameplay of carrying and dropping rocks,thats even how you beat the triceratops boss. The worst aspect of this game is that the music is so loud, you cant adjust the sound FX/music mix and even when you pause the music keeps playing. Annoyed me. Did anyone really find Chuck Rock and CHuck 2 games all that great?

 

MUSHA - an old favorite of mine and maybe my all-time favorite Genesis game, the best of the best shooters for Genesis! It took me a few tries to get to what I think is the final boss, but I couldn't beat that section. Still had tons of fun! You are really at a disadvantage when you need to continue, with your piddly fire power, but it is possible to make a comeback. I can't decide which is my favorite color of special to use, and I am not good at avoiding an unwanted powerup color so I often inadvertantly switch special weapons all the time within a level. I love this and its sequel Robo Aleste on Sega CD! I like the faces on the ships you shoot, and the japanese mechs swinging balls--n-chains coming out of the clouds and lightning.

 

Ranger-X - this game (along with Subterrania) wins an award for worst control decisions, to me. You have a flying mech and a land rover down below. I find it needlessly complex figuring out when to join the 2 craft or use one vs the other. I just want to fly through the levels and shoot stuff. I seem to remember Gamefan raving about this game for some reason. Why?

 

Amazing Tennis (David Crane) - I wasn't expecting much of a 16-bit tennis game. It is pretty impressive for the day and is kinda fun, but (a) I prefer newer 3D Dreamcast Virtua Tennis and (b) I find it hard to gauge distance when you are way in the background. Didn't play it that much but was cool to finally try this out.

 

Stargate (based on the film) - I never played this before, and was amazed at the quality of animation and the background parallax that will make you do a double-take! Your main guy runs, ducks, climbs, and shoots with a fluidity that would do Flashback's Conrad Hart proud! Gameplay is "find X number of crates, now find X elders, now find X marines...". In other words, what I expected for a 16-bit 2D movie-based run-n-gun platformer. I'm a mild fan of the flick. I think Saturn's Powerslave is a better "Egyptian based aliens" game by far!

Edited March 13, 2011 by Cafeman

[the.golden.ax]

Wow, I always thought Stargate was a crappy puzzle like Game Gear had. Going to have to try that now.

 

AX

[Blues_Bloody]

 

 

Ranger-X - this game (along with Subterrania) wins an award for worst control decisions, to me. You have a flying mech and a land rover down below. I find it needlessly complex figuring out when to join the 2 craft or use one vs the other. I just want to fly through the levels and shoot stuff. I seem to remember Gamefan raving about this game for some reason. Why?

 

 

 

Because it's an amazing game that you didn't take the time to learn the controls for. Granted there is a learning curve to the control scheme, but once you get use to the controls it's like second nature. I don't see what's "needlessly complex" in joining the two mechs when to do that, all you have to do is hop ontop of the bike and press down. Did you read the instructions/faq before playing? I'd say mess around on the first level (there is no time limit) to get use to controls before you finish the level. The second level is a more slower paced platformer level where the dual mech gameplay really starts to shine. Also are you using a 6 button pad or a 3 button? The game was basicly designed for the 6 button pad and makes things waaay easier to control.

 

Ranger x is one of the true gems for the Genesis and you'd be doing yourself a disservice to write it off as a bad game because you didn't understand the control scheme. However, The game play has alot more depth than just "fly through the levels and shoot stuff" so it might not be your cup of tea anyway.