Sega Holidays 2007

Last year we had a thread in the group with the subject 'Sega sorta
Christmas' and I thought it'd be nice to revisit that theme. And to
improve the signal-to-noise ratio around here with all the MI-5 stuff
being posted everywhere...

Every year for the holidays I travel out west and visit Gamers, which is
apparently the mother of all used game stores. Locally owned with about a
dozen branches all through Nebraska and Iowa, they always seem to have the
stuff I go in looking for. This year I was looking to fill some gaps in
the 32x, Sega CD and Saturn collections.

Picked up a complete copy of Silpheed. This was the very first Sega CD
game I ever bought, but I never did have a manual and a case for it until
now. Also, it doesn't hurt that the copy I got doesn't have the game
ending scratch that makes my CDX reboot halfway through level three. I
should mention that the game is pretty well-coded, in that when it detects
a hardware fault of this type it sends you back to the title screen with
an extra continue. Good thinking, Game Arts.

I also picked up copies of the original Mortal Kombat and Pitfall: The
Mayan Adventure just to satisfy the collector's urge. I also grabbed a
copy of Dragon's Lair, which I sold many years ago for reasons passing
understanding. I didn't pay more than three bucks for any of these games,
which is surprising given that the Sega CD stuff is starting to grow in
popularity again.

On the Saturn front, I plugged a few holes in my collection without even
trying. Crusader: No Remorse fell into my lap; this is a horrible little
isometric third-person shooter that Origin slapped together out of the
Ultima VII engind. It's remarkable only for being more playable than the
Playstation version. I also grabbed a copy of Thunderstrike 2, a charming
little helicopter sim that's been screaming my name all year. I also
grabbed a half-dozen Crystal Dynamics shooters, mostly stuff ported from
the 3DO. One of these has a young Claudia Christian screaming orders at
you in the FMV segments. Cool stuff.

And because I'm a glutton for punishment, I grabbed some one-dollar 32x
games as well. NFL Quarterback Club '95 was hardly worth the effort, but
apparently NBA Jam TE has some collector's value with the box and manual.
Hooking up the 32x (and forgetting that it doesn't do stereo sound)
prompted me to pull out the rest of the library and spend a nice evening
with Star Wars Arcade and Virtua Fighter, which are a lot more fun than I
remember them being.

So. In the American spirit of applying improper adjective modification,
how Sega was your holiday?

-KKC, who needs to find a lawyer and figure out this abandonware thing.
--
-- Universal survival rule #109 - Chicken nuggets must be served -- kendrick
in a quantity that is also a prime number. Failure to do so will -- @io.com
result in a geometric disturbance conducive to the resurrection of Cthulhu.
Disregard this rule if the meat in the nuggets is not actually chicken.

In article <flh6k1$1d1$1@aioe.org>,
BelPowerslave <bel DeleteThis @whipassgaming.com> wrote:
>
>> I also picked up copies of the original Mortal Kombat and Pitfall: The
>> Mayan Adventure just to satisfy the collector's urge.
>
>MK CD(aka MK "Complete") makes me sick to my stomach. As if the travesty
>that was MK1 on the Genesis wasn't enough, the jerknuts at Probe decide
>to only add in the animation that should have been there in the first
>place, then left it at that. Oh yeah, I guess they put in a redbook

You know, I thought there was something different about the game. I was
never a big Mortal Kombat fan (SF all the way, baby) so I never knew the
difference. Even though it was a pretty glaring omission in the
collection, I don't see myself playing this a lot.

>> On the Saturn front, I plugged a few holes in my collection without even
>> trying. Crusader: No Remorse fell into my lap; this is a horrible little
>> isometric third-person shooter that Origin slapped together out of the
>> Ultima VII engind. It's remarkable only for being more playable than the
>> Playstation version.
>
>I've shed myself of buying bad Saturn titles just to have them. To me,
>it's ok to do this on the Genesis every now and then, but I just can't
>bear to beef up any other library with games I'll almost never play.
>It's gotten to a point where if I end up with a stinker I either return
>it, or just trade it in somewhere(or ebay it).

The Saturn was the first game system I bought with my own money, so it's
sort of special to me that way. That, and the import games are flying out
of Japan cheaply and in high quantities. I'll buy dog food if it has the
Saturn log on it.

>> I also
>> grabbed a half-dozen Crystal Dynamics shooters, mostly stuff ported from
>> the 3DO. One of these has a young Claudia Christian screaming orders at
>> you in the FMV segments. Cool stuff.
>
>I know the one you're talking about. I had a buddy who had one of those
>on the PSX, every time that chick would show up he'd casually look over
>at me and go "Every time I see this chick screaming at me on the screen,
>all I can think about is the wonderful head she must give".

There's an FMV game on the 3DO called Daedalus Encounter that has Tia
Carrere in it. The stupid premise is that you're a severed head in a box,
and that you can see what's going on around you but you can only interact
in limited ways. I think that was the game that finally clued people in to
how dead the FMV genre was on the long run. Anyway, Tia Carrere.

-KKC, who can't get motivated to go to the good, local game shop on the
bad side of town.
--
-- Universal survival rule #109 - Chicken nuggets must be served -- kendrick
in a quantity that is also a prime number. Failure to do so will -- @io.com
result in a geometric disturbance conducive to the resurrection of Cthulhu.
Disregard this rule if the meat in the nuggets is not actually chicken.