What have you been up to lately with your Genesis / Mega Drive?

[Steven Pendleton]

2 hours ago, Asaki said:

Yeah, I was asking why you couldn't just play the 32X CD games with the CD drive acting as a CD drive, and he said there was a bus conflict.

I thought you meant use the ROM cart + Super 32X + Mega-CD, and in that case there is also a bus conflict that prevents you from running CD games through the cart slot with the Mega-CD attached.

Edited June 15, 2022 by Steven Pendleton

[newtmonkey]

Phantasy Star II

After a three-month-long break to play and complete some SFC RPGs, I am back to this.  I mapped and explored the undersea cave, as well as the first level of the lab that leads to.

 

I have been using Rudger (hunter) and Anne (medic), but decided to switch Anne out for Amiya (hunter killer) to level her up a bit while I explore the lab.  I also went around buying the best equipment I could for Amiya (two laser slicers for weapons).  The extra firepower from her makes a huge difference in the lab, as I'm able to take enemies down a lot quicker, so they do less damage per battle.

 

I do like this game, but the RPG mechanics are a bit of a mess so far.

 

First, you have all of these actually useful Techniques (spells basically), but so few TPs and no means to regenerate them outside of town, so you really cannot rely on them for doing damage or healing, which severely limits the usefulness of characters like Huey, Kainz, and Anne.  At this point in the game, at least, I think I'm better off just buying a bunch of dimates and some trimates, rather than wasting valuable TPs on healing.

 

Second, there really isn't much to the combat.  Enemies hardly ever use special attacks, so it's just both sides wailing on each other until the battle is over.  You cannot even manually select your targets in order to focus attacks on stronger enemies. Frustratingly, the game seems to intentionally spread your attacks among multiple enemies rather than focusing on one enemy at a time; so instead of having three enemies alive in round 1, two in round 2, and then one in round 3, you often have all three enemies alive until round 3 when you finally wipe them out.  In other words, the game allows the enemies to do as much damage as possible every combat!

 

Having said all that, there's still something cool about this game.  I do like the massive, tricky dungeons; a nice change of pace after playing games with extremely simple/linear dungeons (Super Mario RPG, Mother 2).  It's also got a "cool" factor to it, thanks to the unique soundtrack and colorful 90s anime style character portraits.

[Tanooki]

I do enjoy seeing these posts, but also makes me realize that I've been bad about attentiveness in using things.  Recently I got the unlicensed Squirrel King game in the mail, it's pretty good, did a few stages on my modded Nomad.  It's basically a wannabe overly blatant to probably should have been sued over the fault sequel to rescue rangers.

 

But what got me is that awhile back (4-6wks) I got a stellar price on a copy of Splatterhouse 3 for the system locally, popped it into my mega sg, and well, it's still there, and I have no idea what the title screen looks like. 😕  Not totally sure where my motivation went, too wrapped up in a movie backlog probably but probably also an excuse too.

[Guest]

Probably not the best Genesis pinball game. But still one of my favorites. Even better on the new to me Mega SG.

[Guest]

On 6/13/2022 at 6:57 PM, -^CrossBow^- said:

've been playing quite a bit of the newly released Attack of the Petscii Robots for the Genesis/MD.

This one’s brand new to me. It looks quite interesting. I wish he had a buy loose cartridge option for like 30 bucks or so.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

11 hours ago, Zeptari1 said:

This one’s brand new to me. It looks quite interesting. I wish he had a buy loose cartridge option for like 30 bucks or so.

David never has loose options, but he does offer a ROM only option I believe as I know quite a few people have ordered just ROMs for their computers and flash cart devices. To be fair, I'm glad I have the box and manual, but the box is the same as his Computer releases of the game and there isn't an insert for the cartridge. So it is literally just placed in the box with the manual and just slides about inside. I wish an insert had at least been made. I've also had my label starting to peel on the cartridge top end already and pressed it down multiple times only for it to come peeling back up again. The cartridge is also one of the common flash cartridges with a snap together cartridge case shell with the faux screws molded on the back. I actually drilled all of that out on my cartridge, drilled and tapped the boss posts in the cartridge and have actual screws holding mine together now but yeah. So it being David's first Genesis release I can sorta understand but the quality isn't quite on par overall with some of the other newer released games I've gotten lately on this platform.

 

You also need to be aware that the first batch of the Genesis released games, have an older version of the game that has some bugs in it including one that is game breaking that can pop up from time to time. I actually encountered most of the bugs on my first couple hours of playing the game the first night I had it and reported it to the dev who hadn't had anyone else report them, but was able to confirm them and correct them. So the newer roms that are available for purchase and the include digital rom you get when buying physical versions are updated and I'm likely to play that more on my everdrive vs the actual cartridge.

 

[+neogeo1982]

On 9/13/2022 at 6:13 AM, newtmonkey said:

like this game, but the RPG mechanics are a bit of a mess so far.

Don't forget when this game came out. In North America it came during the same year as the first Nes Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior 2. 

[newtmonkey]

1 hour ago, neogeo1982 said:

Don't forget when this game came out. In North America it came during the same year as the first Nes Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior 2. 

Even though I like PSII, I would argue it is a poorer RPG than both of those games, especially when it comes to combat.  It is even arguably a step down from PSI, which itself was very simple.

Edited September 14, 2022 by newtmonkey

[Tanooki]

Where would you rate Sword of Vermilion?  I got that one recently and working to make time for it, even got Sega's own full mini book printed guide too.  I see enough people gush about it, then for a time under the radar, then gushed about again.  I haven't dug into it, not really sure if it's a RPG, action, mixed genre or what, looks interesting from flipping some images but I haven't sat down to read up or watch some clips.  What I have seen though vs what I have gone well into PS2 with, PS2 is grossly overrated and likely is the better title over that.

[newtmonkey]

I only played Sword of Vermillion for 30 minutes or so, but really disliked it other than the excellent soundtrack.  It's an action RPG but the combat felt very clunky, and exploration is first-person and step-based (but with traditional JRPG overhead towns).  It seemed like they just randomly threw a bunch of stuff together without thinking, to be honest.

[+neogeo1982]

17 hours ago, Tanooki said:

mixed genre or

Towns and story are overhead, overworld and dungeons are first person maze like PS1 dungeons, normal combat is a clunky beat em up style, and bosses are a side combat.

 

There is a cool plot twist halfway through with a temporarily cheap magic spell that lets you power level at that spot. But no matter if you exploit it or not you will reach max level 31 by quest end and have the best gear. Its not incredibly long and fun for at least 1 play though. 

[+neogeo1982]

18 hours ago, Tanooki said:

full mini book

Good as a guide if stuck but I remember there are several errors in the North American one if you follow it too closely.

[Tanooki]

Interesting, so it really is multi-genre, felt like it from what I skimmed so far.  I guess it works, largely, so that's good.

[Bloodreign]

Recently picked up Pac-Mania for my Genesis, as well as Hook for it, and SNES. Still trying to reach 200+ games for the console (183, made the 200 mark for the SNES recently), picking up what I like to play for the thing, and is priced fairly. I plan to pick up Burning Force and Zombies Ate My Neighbors early next year for it (to compliment my SNES version for ZAMN), probably the last Konami game for the Genesis that I need/want (not counting a PAL variant of a Nigel Mansell game), and adding another Namco game to the collection.

[Guest]

Picked up King Salmon yesterday based on videogamecritic and visitors positive reviews.

https://videogamecritic.com/genkl.htm?s=3#rev1267
Was hoping to get a more arcade type game compared to the snoozefest TNN Outdoors Bass Tournament ‘96 . I was disappointed after 30 minutes of playing,  I had to search the net to find a PDF of the manual to figure out how to play. I haven’t given up totally, I’ll keep at it. 

[+remowilliams]

Unleashing the power inside The Little Genesis That Could 😄

 

[newtmonkey]

@remowilliams

I love the form factor of the Genesis 3!  Is that the triple bypass board?

[+remowilliams]

11 minutes ago, newtmonkey said:

I love the form factor of the Genesis 3!  Is that the triple bypass board?

Yes it is the triple bypass.  I primarily have it here to restore the beautiful stereo sound as well as audio in mixing so the MegaSD can do its CD audio and all 🙂

[newtmonkey]

@remowilliams

That's great! Nice clean work, too, based on your photo.  I considered getting a board for my MD2, but I just use a standard composite cable on that, and the sound quality is decent (for a MD2).  Maybe someday!

[+remowilliams]

Scratch another one off the incomprehensibly long backlog 😄  That voiced ending really surprised me.

 

 

[Bloodreign]

Nothing recently, but do have Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Burning Force bought off Ebay, should be in the mailbox by tomorrow, and can play them after football Sunday. Will have 185 Genesis/MD games after this.

Edited December 10, 2022 by Bloodreign

[zylon]

got my trusty G3 and handful of carts still, just replaced rf cable. Been debating on getting a G2, as I had originally, but this replacement 3 has been going around 25yrs for me.

I'd bought a G2 in 92-93 with my yardwork money, and my brothers kept playing it on the floor. Within few years, color died, then sound, finally nothing, and power button was always flaky. You had to stab at it just right to get it to stay on, lol. The "remo williams" move.

[zylon]

On 9/15/2022 at 9:27 AM, Tanooki said:

Interesting, so it really is multi-genre, felt like it from what I skimmed so far.  I guess it works, largely, so that's good.

I played through SOV few years ago. To me, it seemed closer to Commodore adventure games of the early 80's, with a dose of Hydlide mixed in.

[Asaki]

I got frustrated at Mario 64 and was playing the Road Rash Improvement hack last night, and will probably play some more in a minute.
I do have my Genesis 1 overclocked, and I noticed it got a little warm last night...I'm slightly concerned about that.

I've never noticed it to get warm before, but I've also never checked.

 

Last week, I was playing the Sega CD Road Rash Improvement on the Wii. I figured that game wasn't using much of the CD hardware at all, because the hack runs so much smoother, and it's not even being overclocked.

We need a hack for Skitchin' now

[Tanooki]

I got it off a member here, but I started poking at Chiki Chiki Boys and it's hard, but fair, a good arcade platformer from Capcom kind of out of their normal stuff but works quite well.  A bit aggressive with the enemy respawns though, have to adapt to that.  The audio is oddly good for this hardware, visuals in detail color are higher than usual to, gameplay is capcom on point...it's nice.  Also found a copy of strider locally cheap in excellent shape so I'll have to pull that cart and play it shortly but I'm kind of involved in another more demanding game now (not sega.)