Sega CD

[Gabriel]

The desire to play Silpheed caused me to hook up my SegaCD and give it some attention for the first time in a while. I'll probably get another game of Dark Wizard going, but I'm also trying out some of my library for that system.

 

I have a few games which I didn't own back in the day and haven't spent any time with. They were extras in replacement systems I've bought on ebay, and I had no particular interest in them. Since I think I'll probably be ranting about a few Sega CD games for a while, I figured I'd just start a Sega CD thread rather than an individual one for each game.

 

Today I tried Afterburner III. There are worse trainwrecks on the SegaCD, but this game proves that even avoiding FMV-fests wasn't a recipie for success. This game is just awful. The graphics are bland, lack any kind of detail, and the scaling is horrible.

 

I popped in my Afterburner II cart just to make sure I wasn't remembering it with rosy glasses. But after I did, it confirmed that Afterburner III for the Sega CD was just fugly. The scaling in A2 is better. The planes are better detailed. The colors are better. The ground scrolling is more populace and diverse. Even the SegaCD cutscenes look worse than the cartridge ones.

 

Afterburner III doesn't even play well. Gameplay isn't mind bogglingly awful, but it's definitely enough to make you wonder what the hell happened.

 

I opened this post saying I was going to touch on games I wasn't interested in, but that's not entirely true about Afterburner III. I had often considered buying it in the day. Yet, even when it was on clearance for $6, I never picked it up. There was just something about the back of the box which screamed to me that it was going to suck, and does it ever. It would have been a brutal disappointment even when it was new. Hell, it would have been an especially big disappointment when it was new and $40.

 

Good thing I have Afterburner II and the 32X cart.

[Rev]

lol, i never even knew sega made afterburner 3

[Gabriel]

lol, i never even knew sega made afterburner 3

 

Yep. It was one of the earliest SegaCD titles, back when the games came in cardboard cases instead of the giant jewel cases which came later.

 

Afterburner III reminds me a lot of G-Loc. It has a a couple of notable visual similarities with that game: the big box target reticule, the polygon look of the airplane as you zoom in and out of the cockpit, and it uses the exact same control stick graphic. The feel of the game is a lot more like G-Loc than Afterburner as well. Only G-Loc didn't suck as bad.

[STICH666]

The Sega CD is such an underrated console addon. I think all CD addons are.....except the Jaguar. My Sega CD gets more play than any of my other consoles in my collection. Yes all of these.

 

[+Cafeman]

Plus, Sega CD has grainy Bakker.

[STICH666]

It's has what?

[Ghost Soldier]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_T._Bakker Edited March 23, 2009 by Ghost Soldier

[STICH666]

Ah. I didn't grow up with a Genesis/CD. I had an SNES/Super Gameboy.

[nonner242]

I think the Sega CD is quite awesome...I always pop some game it it every so often and love it again...

I prefer the CDX just do to it compact size, and plus its just cooler looking!

And it looks ridiculous when I do this!

[Atariman]

I think the Sega CD is quite awesome...I always pop some game it it every so often and love it again...

I prefer the CDX just do to it compact size, and plus its just cooler looking!

And it looks ridiculous when I do this!

 

Bah, I don't consider that to be a real tower since it has the Genesis cleaner in the middle. You need to start out with the SegaCD 1, the Genesis, 32x, Game Genie, Sonic & Knuckles, then a game. (Maybe another cheat cart would work?) I'm wondering how many Game Genies you could stack on there until it would stop working?

[nonner242]

I think the Sega CD is quite awesome...I always pop some game it it every so often and love it again...

I prefer the CDX just do to it compact size, and plus its just cooler looking!

And it looks ridiculous when I do this!

 

Bah, I don't consider that to be a real tower since it has the Genesis cleaner in the middle. You need to start out with the SegaCD 1, the Genesis, 32x, Game Genie, Sonic & Knuckles, then a game. (Maybe another cheat cart would work?) I'm wondering how many Game Genies you could stack on there until it would stop working?

 

I have done that before too, I'll look for a pic. I just sold my M1-SCD so that wont be happening anymore. I wouldnt try more than 2 Genies, it might short something..lol. Anyhow thats all I can stack before it falls. I whoulda used knuckles but it didnt give it the height I wanted. Also I just think it looks funnier all on the CDX than a old genny.

[Atariman]

I think the Sega CD is quite awesome...I always pop some game it it every so often and love it again...

I prefer the CDX just do to it compact size, and plus its just cooler looking!

And it looks ridiculous when I do this!

 

Bah, I don't consider that to be a real tower since it has the Genesis cleaner in the middle. You need to start out with the SegaCD 1, the Genesis, 32x, Game Genie, Sonic & Knuckles, then a game. (Maybe another cheat cart would work?) I'm wondering how many Game Genies you could stack on there until it would stop working?

 

I have done that before too, I'll look for a pic. I just sold my M1-SCD so that wont be happening anymore. I wouldnt try more than 2 Genies, it might short something..lol. Anyhow thats all I can stack before it falls. I whoulda used knuckles but it didnt give it the height I wanted. Also I just think it looks funnier all on the CDX than a old genny.

 

Yeah, I think I can go along with that it looks hilarious on the CDX - looks like the thing is going to get squashed

[nonner242]

I think the Sega CD is quite awesome...I always pop some game it it every so often and love it again...

I prefer the CDX just do to it compact size, and plus its just cooler looking!

And it looks ridiculous when I do this!

 

Bah, I don't consider that to be a real tower since it has the Genesis cleaner in the middle. You need to start out with the SegaCD 1, the Genesis, 32x, Game Genie, Sonic & Knuckles, then a game. (Maybe another cheat cart would work?) I'm wondering how many Game Genies you could stack on there until it would stop working?

 

I have done that before too, I'll look for a pic. I just sold my M1-SCD so that wont be happening anymore. I wouldnt try more than 2 Genies, it might short something..lol. Anyhow thats all I can stack before it falls. I whoulda used knuckles but it didnt give it the height I wanted. Also I just think it looks funnier all on the CDX than a old genny.

 

Yeah, I think I can go along with that it looks hilarious on the CDX - looks like the thing is going to get squashed

 

Best of all it still portable....sorta

[Nukey Shay]

Bah, I don't consider that to be a real tower since it has the Genesis cleaner in the middle. You need to start out with the SegaCD 1, the Genesis, 32x, Game Genie, Sonic & Knuckles, then a game. (Maybe another cheat cart would work?) I'm wondering how many Game Genies you could stack on there until it would stop working?

IIRC two Genesis Game Genies together doesn't work, because they use the same interrupt...so one set of codes are lost once start is pressed (i.e. one of them basically becomes a pass-through cart). It works on the NES, tho...to double the number of codes you can enter. I used to come up with some conveluted codes that only work if you have more than 3 active lines

 

Game Genie + Action Replay would probably work, since they address different sections of memory.

 

But yeah, the tower shown would not work. Cleaning cart in the middle and a second (irrelivant) Game Genie in the mix.

[STICH666]

[Atariman]

What's that on the top? The Sega Channel box? (I had forgotten about that)

[nonner242]

 

Thats what mine looked like...lol

[2600Lives]

I love my SCD. Snatcher, Rise of the Dragon, Sonic CD, Earthworm Jim, great games all. I also have a soft spot for those terrible FMV games, and Loadstar gets some play in mine from time to time.

[Lincoln]

I think the Sega CD is quite awesome...I always pop some game it it every so often and love it again...

I prefer the CDX just do to it compact size, and plus its just cooler looking!

And it looks ridiculous when I do this!

 

needs a j-cart on top, for extra controllers

Edited March 24, 2009 by Lincoln

[Gabriel]

Over the past few days, I've been playing Road Rash on the SegaCD.

 

The SegaCD iteration of Road Rash is an odd duck. It's a port of a title made for the 3DO (and the same title was later ported to the PS1). The main difference being that it doesn't look anywhere near as good. The game was followed shortly thereafter with Road Rash III, making the SegaCD game a sort of red-headed stepchild of the Road Rash franchise.

 

Road Rash CD looks very pixelated. Scaling is just barely good enough with objects noticably jumping in size. Animation is limited. The soundtrack was excellent for the time (and I didn't even like that kind of music), but the sound effects are weak sauce. All of these qualities were true when the game was new, as well. In fact, I already had the excellent 3DO version, so why would I want to downgrade? If you didn't have a 3DO, this game didn't seem to be a good deal compared to Road Rash III.

 

But this is one of those games where time is kind. Today the game looks like puke, but it still plays just as well as it's more celebrated relatives. There's still the thrill of racing down the highway at full tilt, dodging chain wielding mainiacs, and kicking people off the road.

 

One odd thing is the new pixelated digitized riders blend in very well with the pixelated FMV between races. The various videos are all from the 3DO version and are various forms of redneck humor. Ordinarily they'd attract attention with how bad they look, but since the whole game looks kinda naff, then it's just par for the course.

 

I'll stick with my PS1 or 3DO version of this game, but the SegaCD port isn't all that bad. If it had come out earlier in the SegaCD's lifetime instead of at the tail end and hadn't gone for such pixelated looking riders, it would probably be regarded as one of the best games for the system. I'm happy I discovered the forlorn disc sitting at the bottom of the box of the last Model 2 I got.

[STICH666]

Over the past few days, I've been playing Road Rash on the SegaCD.

 

The SegaCD iteration of Road Rash is an odd duck. It's a port of a title made for the 3DO (and the same title was later ported to the PS1). The main difference being that it doesn't look anywhere near as good. The game was followed shortly thereafter with Road Rash III, making the SegaCD game a sort of red-headed stepchild of the Road Rash franchise.

 

Road Rash CD looks very pixelated. Scaling is just barely good enough with objects noticably jumping in size. Animation is limited. The soundtrack was excellent for the time (and I didn't even like that kind of music), but the sound effects are weak sauce. All of these qualities were true when the game was new, as well. In fact, I already had the excellent 3DO version, so why would I want to downgrade? If you didn't have a 3DO, this game didn't seem to be a good deal compared to Road Rash III.

 

But this is one of those games where time is kind. Today the game looks like puke, but it still plays just as well as it's more celebrated relatives. There's still the thrill of racing down the highway at full tilt, dodging chain wielding mainiacs, and kicking people off the road.

 

One odd thing is the new pixelated digitized riders blend in very well with the pixelated FMV between races. The various videos are all from the 3DO version and are various forms of redneck humor. Ordinarily they'd attract attention with how bad they look, but since the whole game looks kinda naff, then it's just par for the course.

 

I'll stick with my PS1 or 3DO version of this game, but the SegaCD port isn't all that bad. If it had come out earlier in the SegaCD's lifetime instead of at the tail end and hadn't gone for such pixelated looking riders, it would probably be regarded as one of the best games for the system. I'm happy I discovered the forlorn disc sitting at the bottom of the box of the last Model 2 I got.

I love that port the most. It has the best controller for that game. I Don't know if you've ever played the Saturn version but it's a steaming pile of shit. Sure it looks great but WTF there's no in-game music.

[+Cafeman]

BUMP.

 

I picked up some new Sega CD games from The Exchange the other week, and recently found time to play some.

 

Earthworm Jim CD -- I used to own this one, plus I own the Genny cart, so I remember it well. I like the extra stages they've added. I played the whole way to the "Much-Harder-Than-the-Rest-of-the-game" level Buttville, where I kept dying and decided to move on to another game.

 

Dune -- you know, I never "got" Dune. Didn't read any of the novels, and didn't watch the film -- seemed too boring to me. So the story was all new to me. Its a strategy/graphic adventure w/point & click interface. Lots of very good voice work in this one! The graphics vary depending on what you are doing - some of the maps are too low-res and low-color, yet there are some really cool FX of you flying over the sand dunes! The game starts with footage of the beautiful and young Virginia Marsden in FMV! You play Paul on the Dune planet; I've flown the ornithopter over many dunes, picked up a few allies in their little camps, they are mining spice for me, and I've talked with Paul's father and mother. I probably won't play this till the end.

 

Also played games I've owned for a while -- Sonic CD (still great quality game!) and the homebrew/hack Sonic Megamix, which is pretty cool too. We downloaded it and burned it onto a CD a while back - its a megamix of all the other Sonic games hacked into Sonic CD's engine it seems.

[Gabriel]

Also played games I've owned for a while -- Sonic CD (still great quality game!)

 

To me, this was a great game in it's day, but time has ravaged it the worst of any of the 16 bit era Sonic games.

 

Back then, Sonic CD was up there with Silpheed and Dark Wizard. I played it, and played it, and played it some more. The Stardust Speedway levels were my favorite ones to play, and I did endless time trials on those, constantly shaving my time down in races with Metal Sonic. Then something horrible happened, my backup RAM died at the same time as my backup RAM cart.

 

I set about to re-unlocking everything, but the game just wasn't fun anymore. All the flaws of the game started jumping out at me: the jerky scrolling, the pixelization, the muffled sounds, etc. And Wacky Workbench is a total buzzkill. The whole time travel idea nowadays reminds me of MMORPG grinding busywork.

 

I don't think I ever did figure out the purpose of the future levels. You had to go into the past to make a good present, but the future levels were just sort of there with no rationale. They weren't even good bonus areas.

[+Cafeman]

Well, Wacky Workbench has always driven me nuts too. Especially trying to naviagate it AND get to the past.

 

Sonic CD is more sandboxey, to me, than the Genesis games. If you enjoy exploring ever nook and cranny of a level, you'll find lots to enjoy. There are places where you can destroy tons of lightbulb things; you get no reward for it, other than a few points. But there is something fun in destroying them all. There are all kinds of small mechanics in the game that are special to me - racing Metal Sonic; turning into little-wee Sonic; the background/foreground tricks; the unique bonus rounds; finding a Past and successfully triggering it; finding Metal Sonic in the past, as well as the Death Egg. In the 3rd stage - the robotnik stage of level 1 - did you know there are exactly 100 rings? I always try to get them (and earn a bonus life) before hitting the boss area.

 

The thing about the Future levels - you never need go to the future. But after destroying the death egg and making a good future, some may find it nice to visit the "good future" - there are no enemies, everything is bright & happy, etc etc.

[Gabriel]

You know what's still cool about Sonic CD? That opening animation. That rocks.

 

That animation is almost painful to watch now. It isn't painful because of the pixelization or the limited colors or the tiny viewing area. It's painful because it illustrates how much Sonic has changed and how far he has fallen.

 

In the cartoon he's the lone free spirit. He's the explorer. And he's bad ass. He's like a superhero. He seeks out obstacles and overcomes them merely because they're there. This was Sonic at his peak. This was the Sonic that we fell in love with in Sonic 1 and 2. None of this is told to us. It's wordlessly conveyed in the opening movie (and in the game). Sonic shows by doing not by telling.

 

Sonic wasn't "cool and edgy" like Poochie. Sonic genuinely had the qualities. They weren't Informed Attributes such as with so many other mascots of the era. Sonic just had this aura about him.

 

This was the last title where Sonic had that aura. This is the last title where the people making the games understood the difference between a real attribute and an informed attribute. From Sonic 3 onward, the games simply didn't have any of the qualities that made Sonic great.