What did you buy today?.........

[SegaDude]

6 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Found Mad Stalker for the Mega Drive today. Massive thanks to @-^CrossBow^- for telling me this exists! If you hadn't said anything, I would either never have known or found out too late and missed it completely!

 

 

Unfortunately, this has the logo of Columbus Circle on it, so if they made the cart themselves like they did with their rerelease of Gleylancer last year, the cart is bound to be crap. That reissue of Gleylancer also does not work in the Mega Sg on the latest firmware, so I hope this does, but I can put it in my MD instead if it doesn't.

Hey Steven,
Thanks very much for showing this. I knew it was coming but I didn't know it was out already. I steered clear because of the lack of quality I've heard about the Columbus Circle Gleylancer.
I didn't know the re-release of Gleylancer doesn't work in a Mega Sg. Which is really surprising. I guess the Mega Sg isn't exactly like an original Genesis like it appeared to be... or Columbus Circle did something really funky to it.

 

I really want to support re-releases like this but I don't want any corners cut. I did order the TOAPLAN collection.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

7 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Found Mad Stalker for the Mega Drive today. Massive thanks to @-^CrossBow^- for telling me this exists! If you hadn't said anything, I would either never have known or found out too late and missed it completely!

Unfortunately, this has the logo of Columbus Circle on it, so if they made the cart themselves like they did with their rerelease of Gleylancer last year, the cart is bound to be crap. That reissue of Gleylancer also does not work in the Mega Sg on the latest firmware, so I hope this does, but I can put it in my MD instead if it doesn't.

Most welcome! I received my copy from DHL on Friday! Amazing shipping time I have to say. I pre-ordered it months ago and it only took two days from when I was notified of shipping status to it arriving from JPN! I also own 16-bit Rhythm Land from Columbus Circle and my only issue with those carts is that the PCBs are usually a tad too think as I believe they are just using flash carts that have the game flashed into them and not actual old school masked roms. But I can say that Mad Stalker's label and PCB appear to be better this time around as compared to 16-bit Rhythm Land. I didn't get Gleylancer as I ...um...already have a translated repro of it that I purchased several years ago. 

 

Having said that... I was one of the chosen for VectorBlade and I backed out. Yes I know I will come to regret that decision but the cost for the shipping to the US alone was more than half the cost of the game itself! So the entire package would have been very expensive overall and come to about $160 USD. I decided that I would wait for the re-releases that pack-rat and good deal games will eventually offer for a lesser price. Yes we won't have the limited release, but we can still get the game later physically to play. Also the .V4E rom version of the game was released for those with VecFever carts so I can go that route as well to at least play the game.

 

BTW... the music in Mad Stalker is quite amazing! It is too bad that the sound effects seem a bit muddied and also they cut off the drums on the music during game play and since there is always some sound taking place with a kick, punch, or explosion happening, the excellently sampled drums do not get their due. Good thing there is a music play selector in the options to hear the tunes uninterrupted. The game is also pretty impressive graphically overall and is very polished. It is basically a side scrolling robot beat em up but it moves quickly. Only the bosses are unique as the enemies themselves are repetitive palette swap sprites throughout. But the background environments are pretty varied and that music...ahh. It plays to the strengths of the Genesis YM chips.

 

 

[Steven Pendleton]

57 minutes ago, SegaDude said:

Hey Steven,
Thanks very much for showing this. I knew it was coming but I didn't know it was out already. I steered clear because of the lack of quality I've heard about the Columbus Circle Gleylancer.
I didn't know the re-release of Gleylancer doesn't work in a Mega Sg. Which is really surprising. I guess the Mega Sg isn't exactly like an original Genesis like it appeared to be... or Columbus Circle did something really funky to it.

 

I really want to support re-releases like this but I don't want any corners cut. I did order the TOAPLAN collection.

Gleylancer reprint used to work on the Mega Sg before the latest firmware. 7.7 broke it and now it just gives a black screen. If you go back to a previous firmware, I think it should work fine, but I don't want to have to reconfigure all of my settings and stuff so I have not tried it.

 

I reported it over on the GitHub in December, but nothing so far. The interesting thing is that it works in my real Mega Drive and my Nomad (somehow it fits... tight fit, though) and my original 1992 Gleylancer works in the Mega Sg, so I'm not sure what's up with the reprint.

40 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Most welcome! I received my copy from DHL on Friday! Amazing shipping time I have to say. I pre-ordered it months ago and it only took two days from when I was notified of shipping status to it arriving from JPN! I also own 16-bit Rhythm Land from Columbus Circle and my only issue with those carts is that the PCBs are usually a tad too think as I believe they are just using flash carts that have the game flashed into them and not actual old school masked roms. But I can say that Mad Stalker's label and PCB appear to be better this time around as compared to 16-bit Rhythm Land. I didn't get Gleylancer as I ...um...already have a translated repro of it that I purchased several years ago. 

 

Having said that... I was one of the chosen for VectorBlade and I backed out. Yes I know I will come to regret that decision but the cost for the shipping to the US alone was more than half the cost of the game itself! So the entire package would have been very expensive overall and come to about $160 USD. I decided that I would wait for the re-releases that pack-rat and good deal games will eventually offer for a lesser price. Yes we won't have the limited release, but we can still get the game later physically to play. Also the .V4E rom version of the game was released for those with VecFever carts so I can go that route as well to at least play the game.

 

BTW... the music in Mad Stalker is quite amazing! It is too bad that the sound effects seem a bit muddied and also they cut off the drums on the music during game play and since there is always some sound taking place with a kick, punch, or explosion happening, the excellently sampled drums do not get their due. Good thing there is a music play selector in the options to hear the tunes uninterrupted. The game is also pretty impressive graphically overall and is very polished. It is basically a side scrolling robot beat em up but it moves quickly. Only the bosses are unique as the enemies themselves are repetitive palette swap sprites throughout. But the background environments are pretty varied and that music...ahh. It plays to the strengths of the Genesis YM chips.

 

 

So basically the label and cart are identical to the Gleylancer reprint from last year. No change at all in quality, and the PCB looks identical, as well. I am hesitant to use either of them due to their supposed low quality, but since I don't have a Retrode, I don't have a way to dump Mad Stalker. If you compare the Columbus Circle carts to something like the Japanese version of Xeno Crisis, there is a huge difference in quality, even though these are all modern carts. From what I can tell, Columbus Circle is basically Japanese Hyperkin or some other equivalent company.

 

Anyway, yeah, the music in this new Mad Stalker port is really awesome. It seems to be missing a lot of graphical detail from the X68000, but the music is great. I imagine the MD might have had trouble with putting all of those extra little sprites on screen at once... or maybe they just caused a lot of sprite flicker so they decided to remove the little people and stuff from the MD release. Have not played the PC Engine version for a while, so I forget how it compares visually to that.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I own some actual JPN MD carts as well and from what I can tell, only the cartridge shell seems to be of lower quality. The PCB on 16-bit Rythym Land was a tad on the thick side and didn't have enough taper on the cart edge so it did make inserting it into my Genesis a bit scary for fear of bending the pins in too much. I also don't leave these carts sitting in my console just to prevent the contact pins from getting too loose. But the label has a nice gloss look and feel to it and I think the manual this time around looks to be a bit better than my previous purchase from them. And yes, the manual was in full color as well. Then again, so was the 16-bit Land release cart also. I'm glad to have it either way and I've played it several times. I don't know about the SG compatibility as I only play on my actual modded Genesis model 1 va2 console.

 

[Steven Pendleton]

22 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I own some actual JPN MD carts as well and from what I can tell, only the cartridge shell seems to be of lower quality. The PCB on 16-bit Rythym Land was a tad on the thick side and didn't have enough taper on the cart edge so it did make inserting it into my Genesis a bit scary for fear of bending the pins in too much. I also don't leave these carts sitting in my console just to prevent the contact pins from getting too loose. But the label has a nice gloss look and feel to it and I think the manual this time around looks to be a bit better than my previous purchase from them. And yes, the manual was in full color as well. Then again, so was the 16-bit Land release cart also. I'm glad to have it either way and I've played it several times. I don't know about the SG compatibility as I only play on my actual modded Genesis model 1 va2 console.

 

Yeah, the labels are nice on the Columbus Circle carts. I have not looked at the Mad Stalker manual yet, but I think the Gleylancer manual might have been off, like they just scanned the old manual and didn't do it well or something. Kind of too lazy to compare and I don't particularly like messing around with my original Gleylancer for obvious reasons.

 

I've been thinking about getting a Retrode anyway, so I'd like to just dump both 2019 Gleylancer (this was my first time playing the game, so this is the one I'm used to. No Sega screen = you can play the game faster!) and Mad Stalker and put them on my MegaSD, especially so I can play Mad Stalker on my Nomad.

[Shawn]

[adamchevy]

[joeatari1]

 

Fun time this weekend!

[Jorbus]

I work in the electronics dept. Of a used bookstore, and I was fortunate enough to buy a Fairchild VES in box (the box was trashed unfortunatly) and a little suitcase with about a dozen carts, all complete in-box, for under $100. I had to re-solder a connection on the video-out but other than that the console and controllers work great! Even had an extra controller that is probably broken. But I didn't think much of the carts until I started doing some research here and imagine my delight when I realized this was among them!

 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Jorbus
Typo

[Asaki]

19 hours ago, Shawn said:

Green Ghost™

Oh, is that what his name is now?? It's even trademarked

[Steven Pendleton]

13 Sentinels NA version showed up today. I REALLY need to start playing more games in Japanese instead of importing the NA versions like a year after Japanese launch.

 

[4300]

Ordered a replacement screen and shell for my GBA SP and it came today.  Pretty amazing improvement...

[TrekMD]

That is awesome.  I was just looking at getting screen replacement for my GBA and GBA SP.  I really hate how the screen looks  That upgrade looks awesome.  I would just need to have someone install these for me, though.

[+sramirez2008]

4 hours ago, 4300 said:

Ordered a replacement screen and shell for my GBA SP and it came today.  Pretty amazing improvement...

Wow...talk about night and day. What a difference. Nice shell too?

[4300]

[NE146]

17 hours ago, 4300 said:

Ordered a replacement screen and shell for my GBA SP and it came today.  Pretty amazing improvement...

 

So how's that shell? 

 

I've ordered replacement shells for my GBC & original GBA and have always been disappointed because they just seem so thin and brittle in comparison to the originals, to the point I ended up never using them. If that one is any good.. where'd you get it?

 

[4300]

52 minutes ago, NE146 said:

So how's that shell? 

 

I've ordered replacement shells for my GBC & original GBA and have always been disappointed because they just seem so thin and brittle in comparison to the originals, to the point I ended up never using them. If that one is any good.. where'd you get it?

 

Not quite as good as the original,  but decent. Everything fit together fine and the plastic doesn't seem cheap. It did need some trimming/ cleaning on the smaller parts. Ordered off of aliexpress

[SegaDude]

21 hours ago, 4300 said:

Ordered a replacement screen and shell for my GBA SP and it came today.  Pretty amazing improvement...

The screen does look amazing. Bright and colorful.

Do you need to use a replacement shell too? Or can you put the new screen in the stock GBA?

[4300]

4 hours ago, SegaDude said:

The screen does look amazing. Bright and colorful.

Do you need to use a replacement shell too? Or can you put the new screen in the stock GBA?

There's a little trimming necessary if you want to reuse the original shell. 

[+sramirez2008]

GoSub 7800...for the Atari 7800.

[Tony587327635498]

[CaptainCanadian]

Today I bought an XBOX and 9 games CIB for $40, what a deal. I got it to work set it all up and unfortunately the DVD drive does not work... then I started to smell something putrid, like a mix of dirty diapers and smoke. Well I looked at the back of the Xbox and low and behold there was a cockroach BBQ party going on inside the fan case..

 

What a deal.  

[Atari_Bill]

Mail call from this week... 

 

Blueprint board game still sealed.  These Flip r Cade games are a bear to find. This one in particular. 

Intellivision Sears lot that I got for super cheap   Picked up to snag the very HTF Backgammon  

 

Colecovision Meteoric Shower.  Repro, but a tough to find repro.  Also a CBS Super Action Football I’ve been wanting for a while and a Sears branded M Network catalog since I love Sears!

[4300]

[joeatari1]

7 minutes ago, 4300 said:

 

OOOOOOH!  AAAAAAAAH!  Very nice.