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Post by iacon45 on May 3, 2019 13:35:55 GMT -5
genesismini.sega.comOk, I admit, I live under a rock when it comes to most video game news, but when did this get announced?! I thought I was done with mini vintage consoles but looking at just the games that were announced for it thus far, it looks pretty amazing. I'm actually shocked too they were able to get TWO Disney titles for it as well.
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Post by Greatshot on May 3, 2019 17:45:03 GMT -5
Sega's been licensing (whoring) out the Genesis for ages to a company called AtGames, who've been making Genesis-mini style systems under the name Genesis Flashback for years. The emulation on them has been trash and the build quality of the units themselves not much better.
This new one (which to answer your actual question, was announced last year), which is a direct "hey us too!" response to the NES/Famicom mini, is an officially produced and the emulation is being handled by M2, who's done a PHENOMENAL job with the Sega Ages series on the 3DS and Switch. With those, not only has the emulation been spot on and the games been cleaned up, they often have an "Ages mode" in which they tweak the games to make them more suitable for modern audiences - for example the Switch port of Phantasy Star includes an automapper for the dungeons, and Ages mode QUADRUPLES the amount of experience and money you earn per battle while cutting the random encounter rate substantially (probably by about 50-75%). If this system is anything similar it will be an absolute gem.
As for the Illusion games, Disney has been surprisingly willing to let Sega keep using them. Not sure what the actual licensing agreement there is, but they've been re-released a few times, and Castle actually got a straight up remake a few years back on PSN/XBL. Little sad that Quackshot isn't rounding out the trio, but HD versions of Bloodlines (the most underrated Castlevania game), Hard Corps (THE best Contra game), Gunstar Heroes (Basically an even better Contra game), Landstalker (another criminally forgotten gem), and Streets of Rage 2 are well worth the price of admission alone.
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Post by iacon45 on May 4, 2019 12:37:08 GMT -5
I had heard those Flashback systems were garbage so that is why I have stayed away from them despite the pretty interesting game line ups. Last one I heard about even had a slot to play other Genesis cartridges. But this one, I am actually thinking about getting. Plus the fact they are giving us 40 games instead of 30 seems like a little thumb toward Ninendo.
But back to the games, they do look like they have a good line up thus far with the first two Sonics, Altered Beast, Ecco, and the Illusion Games. And you actually read my mind because I was thinking the same hoping that Quackshot might have been included. But definitely looking forward to seeing what the rest of the line up holds. I'd really like to see Kid Chameleon and Vectorman make it. The next two might be longshots because of license agreements, but I'd like to see Genesis Ghostbusters and TMNT The Hyperstone Heist. The former was one of the better vintage Ghostbusters games out there at the time and Hyperstone just because. I'd like to also see Maximum Carnage. Hopefully that one might be a bit easier since Disney has Marvel and they already have Disney games listed...
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Post by Greatshot on May 4, 2019 18:35:02 GMT -5
I'm not sure about the last released version (given how lazy they were with the emu, I doubt they ever fixed it though), but the earlier AtGames models that had the cart slot also had a fatal flaw with said option -- the system couldn't send info BACK to the cart at all, meaning any game with a save option (any of the Phantasy Stars, Shining Forces, Beyond Oasis, Landstalker, etc) were fundamentally unplayable on it. As for games, hell yes I did, Quackshot is dope! Super underrated game I don't understand why doesn't get the same love as the Illusion titles. Vectorman is a routine guest on Sega Classics compilations so I think that's possibly there, and Kid Chameleon's showed up a few times on those too, so also a maybe. Ghostbusters seems to be a pretty forgotten title, so I would be surprised if Sega paid Sony the licensing fee for it, but it is a Sega owned game so not impossible. TMNT licensing is a mess, I know Konami had to take down the TMNT games on PSN/XBL so this seems unlikely, though since Konami is clearly on board, a very long shot. Maximum Carnage was Acclaim, so on top of the licensing issues, the company is gone too.
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Post by iacon45 on May 5, 2019 12:32:07 GMT -5
Ghostbusters seems to be a pretty forgotten title, so I would be surprised if Sega paid Sony the licensing fee for it, but it is a Sega owned game so not impossible. TMNT licensing is a mess, I know Konami had to take down the TMNT games on PSN/XBL so this seems unlikely, though since Konami is clearly on board, a very long shot. Maximum Carnage was Acclaim, so on top of the licensing issues, the company is gone too. Yea, I know that licenses can get pretty insane and convoluted. I figured TMNT belonging to Nickelodeon now would hinder Hyperstsone being on the SEGA. Not sure how Nick would feel about their property sharing built in console space with competitor Disney titles or vice versa. As for Max. Carnage, I knew Acclaim had gone under but I figured ownership of their libraries got sold off but lookeing it up online doesn't seem like anyone knows who has the rights. But I figure since Disney owns Marvel and they are already allowing the Illusion Games on here, that it wouldn't be impossible. I figure the same might be said about the original Genesis Spider-Man game since that company is gone too. Not sure about the Genesis X-Men game but I wouldn't mind seeing that title either. I figure at least one Mortal Kombat might appear as well especially since the Genesis version was the more..."complete" of the 16 bit home versions with the blood code.
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Post by triumshockwave on May 5, 2019 12:47:48 GMT -5
I never got into Genesis, but I might pick this up as a nice little curated list of stuff to check out. Of course I could grab an emulator and a torrent of the entire library, but that's overwhelming.
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Post by iacon45 on May 16, 2019 18:33:10 GMT -5
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Post by Greatshot on May 17, 2019 1:31:45 GMT -5
I like this machine more and more. Some real nice stuff on here, but a couple whiffs. Wonderboy is a criminally underrated series. The Dragon's Trap (3) is possibly the least known/least appreciated gem of the 8-bit era. SF2:CE is pretty obligatory, maybe hasn't aged great but was one of the first big salvos against the SNES. Ghouls 'N Ghosts is a wonderful (though brutally hard) game, and a VERY good arcade port. Beyond Oasis is another forgotten gem, great game, cool spin on the Zelda formula. Golden Axe is a favorite of mine but the Genesis port is.... eh, it's not great. It does a pretty good job of LOOKING like the Arcade game, but the actual gameplay suffers a bit and the added stages are a joke. It's a launch title and it shows. GA2 is a much better game, honestly. Alex Kidd isn't a bad game. It's not a great game either. Fun though. Sega's pre-Sonic Mario counterpart. Have a soft spot for this title as it's one of the very first games I ever bought with my own money. Phantasy Star 4: The End of the Millennium: My love of Phantasy Star is well documented, and this is one of the best JRPGs of the 16-bit era. I also quite literally owe this game my life. (Aside: I blame my 30th anniversary replay of the original series for the fact I've dusted off PSO again ). Sonic Spinball: Pretty much ditto Alex Kidd. Not great, not bad, kinda fun. Worth a play or two. Was a time when even spinoffs of Sonic weren't hot garbage and actually had some redeeming value). Vectorman: Great game. Mega Man: The Wily Wars: This one is awesome from a historical footnote perspective. It'll be the first time the game is available to the west officially outside of the Sega Channel. Unfortunately, despite the fact it's a lot prettier than the NES versions of the games, something is... off about how it plays. I've never been able to quite put my finger on it, but the physics feel weird compared to the NES Megaman games. Also the music is surprisingly disappointing.
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Post by iacon45 on Jun 4, 2019 16:29:42 GMT -5
www.gamespot.com/amp-articles/final-sega-genesis-mega-drive-mini-games-revealed-/1100-6467343/Final batch of titles for Genesis Mini: Glad to see Kid Chameleon make the roster. Also didn't know Tetris had a Genesis port. Virtua Fighter I remember on the 32X but not #2 on Genesis.Brings final total of games to 42. Also announced were "Tower of Power" add ons to the mini including a SEGA CD, plug in 32X, and Sonic cartridge. However said attatchments are cosmetic only.
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Post by Greatshot on Jun 4, 2019 16:58:28 GMT -5
Kid Chameleon is a game enjoying a second life renaissance over the last few years with its recurring inclusion in classics compilations, all of which fix the original games huge flaw, the lack of a save system (Sega cut the budget for the battery at the last minute and shipped the game before they could implement a password system, according to urban legend). It's not "classic Mario" great, but it is a very good platformer. Tetris is Tetris. If it can play Tetris, there's a port of Tetris for it. This is an electronics absolute. I'm sure someone has a fridge playing Tetris somewhere. The Genesis version of Virtua Fighter is neither Virtua, nor much of a fighter. I dunno why Sega keeps bringing this back. The Genny couldn't push polys without a ton of help (IE the chipset in the port of Virta Racing), and this game is sprite based. And has a lot of cut material and is rather slow. Not a great game. The rest though... Darius makes me VERY curious. The news is reporting this as a brand new port - and it's true that the MD never got a port of the original Darius, but it DID get a port of Darius II (retitled Sagaia in the US*), which is what I'm suspecting this to really be. Either way, the Darius games are cult faves of mine, so I'm exited by it. Alisia Dragoon is another forgotten gem. Happy to see it get some love. Road Rash is a fun game. Looking forward to playing this again. Eternal Champions is a better game than than VFII Genesis, though it's a damn shame they didn't opt for the Sega CD version, which is so much better. Columns is alright. Dynamite Headdy is another Treasure treasure. It's not Gunstar perfection, but it's still very good. Strider: Awesome game, and an amazing, juuust shy of arcade perfect port (the sound suffers, and some of the enemies are noticeably different colors, but beyond that it's pretty close). Its 8MB cart size was gigantic at the time and was one of the first real shots across the bow at the NES. Deserves to be here as a historical footnote, but the gameplay is solid. Light Crusader is a game I wanted to love more than I did. Could never make any headway in this game back in the day, and NO walkthru ever addressed the place I got stuck, repeatedly. I've long suspected I actually have a bad ROM on my original cartridge and a flag isn't triggering correctly or something. Looking forward to giving it another shot. The Tower of Power made me straight up LOL. Glad to see Sega with a sense of humor about the disastrous times/decisions that sunk them as an industry competitor. If that comes to the US I just might pick it up. *as a bit of side trivia, Taito also did a port of Sagaia/Darius II for the Master System. It might be the most technically perfect 8-bit game ever made and shows what the SMS could have been with A+ talent programing for it instead of the also-ran the system was. How they squeezed such a nearly slowdown free, damn close facsimile of the arcade game through such puny hardware is astonishing. Seriously, it may actually be better than the Genesis version in some aspects.
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