"Whoa... color!" - the official Game Gear thread!

[Tanooki]

1 hour ago, neogeo1982 said:

Thanks Tanooki for mentioning this. I just found the NES translated repros of this to order. That's exactly what I was looking for.

Really?  Does it need translation?  I forgot it existed until recently, and then this popped up the other day.

 

 

This guy is a real treasure.  Total committment.  A rarity like Jeremy Parish, every single day 1-completion there have been drops of the FC games in order of release in Japan and he puts 1hr on average into playing, then the time needed to record, splice and dice, then upload this stuff.  It's researched too, not some cheap clip feed and comment only, usual with a good bit of information, history, old images and guide bits, etc.  You get a real feel if it's for you or not.  If you're curious about it, take a peek as it's only 7min long minute intro-outtro fluffs.

[+neogeo1982]

Translated Last Bible on cart and Samurai Showdown came today. Even translated the magic, stats, and items names are unfamiliar to me. A fun romp of trial and error so far though. Same with the demon catching. 

 

[Tanooki]

Last Bible which also had the GBC re-release as Revelations the Demon Slayer on GBC around 99/00 is a fantastic game.  SS was solidly done on GG as well, a good win.

[+neogeo1982]

On 10/20/2023 at 5:39 PM, Tanooki said:

SS was solidly done on GG as well, a good win.

Absolutely so. I popped in Primal Rage and Mortal Kombat to compare and quickly shut each off and promptly went back to SS for 2 hours.

[+neogeo1982]

This week's GG wins. Really just wanted Bust-A-Move but Ristar has my attention more it seems. And Robo Cop 3 was a throw in that I should have declined, just terrible.

 

[+jgkspsx]

Ristar is awesome. The sad thing is that Robocop 3 is kind of middle of the pack as far as action movie tie in games go. Last Action Hero, now there's a bad game.

[Tanooki]

Yeah no doubt on that, Takara like on Gameboy with their chibi style Neo Geo fighters, nailed it with both SS and Fatal Fury.

 

The 3 games above, that's a big win with Ristar, and bust-a-move is a total classic.

[+neogeo1982]

New GG wins this week. Also Deep Duck Trouble which I played a lot of. Star Wars is super fun but difficult. Also a nice RetroSix case that's not giant like the official Sega case.

 

[+jgkspsx]

Those are all solid games. Sinister Six is widely hated but it was my first Game Gear game besides Sonic so it has a special place in my heart. I really like STTNG except for Geordie's minigame. I cannot get it right. Aerial Assault starts out boring but stick with it and it becomes really rewarding.

[M-S]

I don't know if anyone mentioned it, but there's a new mod that allows games to be played with FM soundtrack. 

The main uses for it are for playing Master System/Mark III games that have FM sound with the adapter, but there are also some Game Gear ports in which the developers forgot to remove the soundtrack, I think Sega Retro must have a list of it, there are also 2 music cartridges developed specially for it. The mod can also be used by homebrew developers for future games.

[SlidellMan]

There's just something about the Master System's FM sound that made certain games even better. Now, with a mod that allows it on the Game Gear, it adds a whole new level to homebrew developers to try out.

[Tanooki]

Ooooh aerial assault.  I think that maybe one game (along with the 2 streets of rage demakes) I'd break my no US games ebay way of things.  I miss that game so much, just so well done.  Deep Duck is a nice one as is the port of Ms Pac Man, the others...ehhhh.

[M-S]

3 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

There's just something about the Master System's FM sound that made certain games even better. Now, with a mod that allows it on the Game Gear, it adds a whole new level to homebrew developers to try out.

Yes, I know Atari2600land and another member are making MS/GG games, one of the reasons why I posted it here is in case they would be interested in adding FM music. The installation looks to be quite simple and I assume most current players already had to modify their systems because of a defective screen or leaking capacitors, although it would still be a quite niche product.

It seems like the boards are handmade and only sold in Japan for now, they use an original YM2413 sound chip, the only uses for it are for the MSX and FM units for Sega 8-bit consoles, so they are easier to get compared to other OPL chips, but some people are moving into UM3567 clone. A more permanent solution would be to move into the YMF825, which Yamaha still sells.

[+neogeo1982]

My English patched Last Bible Special came today! Just in time for days off 😁

 

[Tanooki]

1 hour ago, neogeo1982 said:

My English patched Last Bible Special came today! Just in time for days off 😁

 

Is this the one the GBC didn't get?  It looks nice, fair use of color like GBC got but more poppy given the color use intended for a stock GG shines better.

[+neogeo1982]

21 hours ago, Tanooki said:

the GBC didn't get

Correct. It very much plays like Wizardry or a Might&Magic. No overworld, just a map showing location of the current dungeon. First person, frame by frame not actual 3D movements. Menus, spells, items, battles similar to the first game. Pretty cool. No need for graph paper either. A beginner spell displays a dungeon map that auto maps for you, a nice touch.

 

[Tanooki]

Ahh yeah now I'm seeing it, does remind me a lot of Megami Tensei 1+2 on the Famicom I've seen clips of, never played it due to time, too lazy to translation patch.   I hate those types, but if it gives you a strong map that goes a long way as I'm not going to get out graphing paper for any game outside of a set of dice and a dungeon master.

[+neogeo1982]

Today's Game Gear wins in my mailbox! After being consumed by Samurai Shodown I couldn't resist getting Fatal Fury. And Puzzle Popils was an import I didn't have to order overseas to get.

 

[+jgkspsx]

Popils is a fantastic game.

 

I have a lot of duplicate Game Gear games I could send your way. I owe you a bunch!

[roots.genoa]

I loved Popils but it was too hard for me. I spent more time with the level editor creating action-oriented levels rather than puzzles I wouldn't be able to figure out. 😅

[Tanooki]

When I had my last GG collection Popils was in it, but like genoa said, both a great game but a poor one, because of the difficulty of the puzzle side.  The editor was quite fun as you could break up the pain making some nice actiony type stuff to mess around with.  It's a good game, but the puzzle logic was not very friendly at times.

[+jgkspsx]

Popils is harder than Catrap but not as hard as Witch n Wiz. I think I finished it...

[Tanooki]

Oooh nice Catrap!  That one is one that largely falls under the radar.  I tend to dislike those types of puzzles, but I had the CIB Japanese version Pitman back around 1995 until a decade later, and some months ago I stumbled across it again in the summer, dude had no idea what he had and was hey $5, and me thinking...well that's not nearly $40...score!

 

I respect that one, because as wonky as it is trying to figure it out, it's never punishing and comes with a glimpse of the future of softball stunts modern games have to make new/poor gamers feel better -- a rewind button.  You blow it, no kill yourself button, no reset button, just hold B or whatever and it goes in reverse so you can learn from it in the most unobtrusive way possible that makes the game stay inviting.

[+neogeo1982]

On 11/10/2023 at 9:52 PM, jgkspsx said:

Popils is harder than Catrap but not as hard as Witch n Wiz. I think I finished it...

I agree with you there. Once I figured out how to turn off the mirrored levels I could finally play past the first 6 screens. 

[+neogeo1982]

Today's mail box surprise I almost forgot about, it shipped late and then got lost in the mail for almost 2 weeks. Super Return of the Jedi. I had Empire and Jedi on the SNES long ago. So this is a real treat. The characters are missing their specials in this version. It's still really cool to play this on a Game Gear.