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Does anyone fancy the Sega SG-1000?...


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On 1/10/2021 at 8:04 AM, CatPix said:

I've read several times that this machine was exported to Europe, and aside from one or two testimonies (but none as direct owner, more akin to "I remember seeing it in magazines") never found any proof, not as single ad or anything.

The SC-3000 was released in Europe and the SG-1000 and SC-3000 were released in Australia. 

Since Australia is PAL territory, this probably led to the confusion.

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On 1/25/2021 at 6:44 AM, CatPix said:

We can add that in 1983 Sega released the SC-3000, which is an upgraded SG 1000 with a keyboard, more RAM and an upgraded video chip, making it a mini-computer. (and the basis for the future Master System)

It's not unlikely that, as with other systems of the era, Sega might have planned to have an ecosystem of console, computer (and arcade?) based on the same chips.

 

 

 

The SC-3000 does not have an upgraded video chip, it's identical to the SG-1000 aka TMS9918A ( https://segaretro.org/TMS9918 ), it does have more RAM (2K instead of 1KB https://segaretro.org/SC-3000 ) and the keyboard.
I had one when I was a kid before I returned it for a C64. It requires a cart even for BASIC ... can't remember which one it came in the box (there's a few variants)

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2 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

I believe it received the only home port of Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns

How confusing! I just learned there are two separate branches of Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns.

 

First we have the typical one (1984) available on Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Apple II, ColecoVision, C64, MSX, PC, TRS-80 CoCO, ZX Spectrum and modern systems like Windows and Xbox 360.

 

Then we have an arcade version (1985) which as you say only exists in a home version on the SG-1000. Per Mobygames, the arcade version has a different level layout breaking the game into four distinct sections. It includes some gameplay from the original Pitfall! game, and instead of losing some of your score, you lose lives when you get hit by all enemies. There are mine carts that can be ridden and a final boss. The timer starts at 3 minutes and time can be added by collecting treasures. I understand that SEGA obtained the rights from Activision and apparently made a number of changes to the game to make it more arcade worthy, but by that time all the western home versions already were out so probably little market demand (not to mention potential confusion) to re-port the arcade game as The Lost Caverns Arcade Edition, in particular if few customers had come across the arcade game.

 

Furthermore and unrelated to SG-1000, I just learned there is a Super Pitfall! (1986) for the NES, PC-88 and TRS-80 CoCo 3 (?!?), not ported to either Atari nor Commodore system which surprises me. It kind of appears like a licensed game though. There is also a Japanese game, Atlantis no Nazo for Famicom (plus modern ports for various Nintendo systems) that supposedly was planned to get released in the US as Super Pitfall II but it got cancelled. It seems less related to Activision's games though so it probably would have been a cash-in if it was released for NES under that name.

 

Edited by carlsson
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On 1/25/2021 at 1:43 PM, jgkspsx said:

I really like Girl's Garden, the first game by Yuji Naka of Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS, and Burning Rangers fame:

 

 

Having not played the Coleco version of Zaxxon, I don't know if that plays better, but the SG-1000 has really catchy music despite choppier scrolling. It's my favorite console port that I've played.

 

 

 

The library is slim, but it has some real gems. This is a pretty good overview:

 

 

I need to check out the SG-1000 sometime.  I have had them on various compilation builds, but I just haven't gotten around to exploring the library.  I need to change that sometime soon for sure.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Btw, I just realized that Team Pixelboy has converted the SG-1000 version of Pitfall II to ColecoVision, which makes it a little bit more reachable to play on realistic hardware. The same probably can be said about a number of SG-1000 games, appearing on very similar systems.

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13 hours ago, carlsson said:

Btw, I just realized that Team Pixelboy has converted the SG-1000 version of Pitfall II to ColecoVision, which makes it a little bit more reachable to play on realistic hardware. The same probably can be said about a number of SG-1000 games, appearing on very similar systems.

At that point if you have it play it on the MegaSg which emulates SG-1000 with the TMS9918 palette (you can switch that dynamically in the video setting, "extra" menu option).

Disclaimer I have not tried Pitfall II but I did try SG-1000 Girl's Garden and also Sega Galaga loaded up straight from a MegaED x7 (it should work the same if not better loading it directly from the MegaSg Jailbreak FW) and the palette makes a big difference.

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Yeah. Another solution might be sg2msx if you happen to own a MSX(2) computer with DOS etc. I have successfully played a handful SG-1000 games on my VG-8235 using that tool. Sometimes the sound misbehaves due to the translation from SN76489 to AY-3-891x and some games don't run at all but so far more games worked that didn't.

 

(Sure, I've got a SC-3000 as well, but no multicart or other soft loading solution so I'm limited to whichever actual carts I own for that one)

Edited by carlsson
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Once I realized I could play SG-1000 games on BOTH my Game Gear and my Mega SG, I’ve been checking out a wider variety of the games than the ones I have physically. Some really enjoyable stuff.

 

if the Colecovision and SG-1000 are so close, would it be relatively doable to port Colecovision games to the SG-1000?

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