Sega systems finally getting their props on e-bay?

BelPowerslave wrote:
> Man, Psycho Fox so good! I just wish it didn't make use of the "pause"
> button so much(playing it on the PBC is a bitch).

While I had long moved on to the Genesis (I was an early adopter), when
I circled back for Psycho Fox when I built my collection, it struck me
as Sega's answer to Super Mario 3.

I loved my SMS (I was one of two people I knew that had one), but I was
quick to discard it for Genesis.
 >> Stay informed about: Sega systems finally getting their props on e-bay? 

>>marble madness wasn't released in the states, was it?
>
> I believe it was...but this goes to what I was saying about it being
> hard to find SMS stuff here in the US. About the only places I ever saw
> SMS stuff was a Toys R Us.

Nope. The "confusing three" are Strider, Spiderman, and Sonic 1, which
were all released in the US with international packaging.

The rest of the late-release SMS titles (Aerial Assault, Buster Douglas,
ESWAT, etc.) were all released with localized packaging in the US.
 >> Stay informed about: Sega systems finally getting their props on e-bay? 

Pez D Spencer wrote:
>>> spellcaster blew dog. y's should only
>>> be played on the turbo-cd system.
>> Spellcaster is the original of Mystic Defender, and both games are
>> not only unique but have extremely well done graphics, sound and music.
>
> it's too bad that the actual game element in spellcaster was executed
> so poorly.

Game element? Do you mean the gameplay? The action levels play
fine, I don't have any problem with them, even in emulation. The
detective sections in the towns don't seem overly complex either. I'm
not saying it's a blow your socks off AAA game to put Mario to shame or
anything, but it's a uniquely designed genre blender with great graphics
and good music.

> i had mystic defender, but never really got into it. yes, it was a
> pretty game with interesting use of color.

It's easily one of the best Genesis games, way better than the original
also (though without the detective bits).

>> Turbo CDs didn't exist until 1990 came along and were $400 even then,
>> there is no comparison since Y's came out first in 1988-89 in the
>> States, at a fraction of the cost.
>
> it's a good thing we have the option to play both versions now. that
> being true, the turbo-cd version was not only superior but very
> significantly longer.

Well yeah, today we have more options, and because of the Turbo CD
and importability technically superior versions of NES games (Lifeforce,
Gradius, Double Dragon II, etc.), SMS games (Afterburner, Space Harrier,
R-Type, Vigilante, Wonderboy III, etc.) and even Genesis games (most of
the NEO GEO stuff that supports the Arcade card) can be found in at
least unique, if not better, form. That's not fair to the systems, or
historically accurate. It's just like saying that because we have MAME
all of the games ported to consoles back in the day are negated.

--
Scott

http://www.gamepilgrimage.com
 >> Stay informed about: Sega systems finally getting their props on e-bay? 

Pez D Spencer wrote:
>> Nope. The "confusing three" are Strider, Spiderman, and Sonic 1, which
>> were all released in the US with international packaging.
>
> well, that's another version of strider that i have yet to play!

I wouldn't hold it up as any pinnacle of 8-bit arcade ports, but at
least it resembles the arcade game.

> that was one of the shortest games on the nes. i think it was beatable
> from go in two hours on the first try.

I found the NES game very difficult the first time through, though once
I knew where everything was I could blow through it very quickly.

> luckily, i finally had the chance to play the arcade card
> version...that is a difficult game! the flicker is so bad that i
> suspect it was just the unreleased sgfx version shoehorned onto the
> pce. a perfect illustration of how much better the sgfx was in
> manipulating multiple sprites on screen.

I haven't been able to play it much, for some reason Magic Engine causes
the music and graphics to distort horribly, and I have yet to find a
reason to slap down $80+ to some scalper online.

> i picked up the mega-drive version when it was released 'cause nintendo
> still had a stranglehold on the american market and i figured that
> capcom game would never be released stateside.
>

The Megadrive version is more polished than the US version, if I recall
it has the familiar "ha" sound when he swings his sword, verses the
simple "ching" of the US version.

--
Scott

http://www.gamepilgrimage.com
 >> Stay informed about: Sega systems finally getting their props on e-bay? 

BelPowerslave wrote:

> Yeah, Sonic 1 on SMS is very cool, I liked the way they handled it as
> well. Is it the same as the GG version, or are they both different?

They say there are some minor differences, mostly due to GG screen
format. Checkout:
http://www.theghz.com/sonic/son1_gg/son1_gg.html#compare

I never played the game on GG myself, not even on an emulator. I was
just to fond of my Master System and *that* Sonic.

- R.
 >> Stay informed about: Sega systems finally getting their props on e-bay? 

Scott H wrote:
> Pez D Spencer wrote:
>>>> spellcaster blew dog. y's should only
>>>> be played on the turbo-cd system.
>>> Spellcaster is the original of Mystic Defender, and both games are
>>> not only unique but have extremely well done graphics, sound and music.
>>
>> it's too bad that the actual game element in spellcaster was executed
>> so poorly.
>
> Game element? Do you mean the gameplay? The action levels play
> fine, I don't have any problem with them, even in emulation. The
> detective sections in the towns don't seem overly complex either. I'm
> not saying it's a blow your socks off AAA game to put Mario to shame or
> anything, but it's a uniquely designed genre blender with great graphics
> and good music.
>
>> i had mystic defender, but never really got into it. yes, it was a
>> pretty game with interesting use of color.
>
> It's easily one of the best Genesis games, way better than the original
> also (though without the detective bits).
>
>>> Turbo CDs didn't exist until 1990 came along and were $400 even then,
>>> there is no comparison since Y's came out first in 1988-89 in the
>>> States, at a fraction of the cost.
>>
>> it's a good thing we have the option to play both versions now. that
>> being true, the turbo-cd version was not only superior but very
>> significantly longer.
>
> Well yeah, today we have more options, and because of the Turbo CD
> and importability technically superior versions of NES games (Lifeforce,
> Gradius, Double Dragon II, etc.), SMS games (Afterburner, Space Harrier,
> R-Type, Vigilante, Wonderboy III, etc.) and even Genesis games (most of
> the NEO GEO stuff that supports the Arcade card) can be found in at
> least unique, if not better, form. That's not fair to the systems, or
> historically accurate. It's just like saying that because we have MAME
> all of the games ported to consoles back in the day are negated.
>

thanks scott! back in the day i really got into rpgs because of miracle
warriors and was scrounging for more. when y's was released it was
wonderful. it was akin to zelda, harder, more mature, prettier, and with
a deeper storyline. since i was young and could not just get y's from
import or some computer version that was compatible with my machine
(things were different back then -- finding good pc games was a lot
harder and potentially riskier if you were doing trading among friends)
it was great to have y's on sms.

i remember when tg-16 first came out, i remember when turbo cd came out,
and i remember when y's books 1 & 2 came out. but back then there was no
way i could blow that much money on games so easily. that $400+ could
have bought me, like, 5-10 games, which would have also held trade value
among friends, too. in hindsight y's on the sms was probably the weakest
version of y's to come out, but at the time it was great, and in my eyes
blew zelda away. it's very true that you have to consider context when
thinking about things in the past.

i'd like to add that there were several quieter family games for sms.

shanghai: which i just never encountered anywhere else before (and i did
my share of playing friends amigas, macs, pcs, and other consoles). part
of me thinks that the game lingered around a bit and finally caught
enough adults' attention to blow up into the ubiquitous phenom today. i
can't tell you how much that entertained adults and kids idly watching
me play; then ended up pointing out matches and really getting into it.

parlor games: the world bingo is still somewhat mystifying to me to this
day. but the darts and billiards were fun, fun, fun. at the time it was
the only console billiard game i could find to offer targeting on the
cue ball. this was useful in doing neat spin tricks. darts was fun too,
but it required more finesse and gaming knowledge to really shine. sure,
it was later surpassed, but it was a very solid game.

casino games: a poker sim that wasn't stupid video poker. does anyone
have any idea how *rare* that was back when this came out? different
personality types, with facial expressions, betting and raising, it was
far more interesting than just about anything poker related back then.
the blackjack was nice, too. baccarat was good to realize how lame of a
game it was. the slots were cute. but that game's poker and pinball was
really a shining pair.

then there were great wacky games like Penguin Land, Rescue Mission,
etc. i love my sms!
 >> Stay informed about: Sega systems finally getting their props on e-bay? 

Azel wrote:
> Scott H wrote:
>
> thanks scott! back in the day i really got into rpgs because of miracle
> warriors and was scrounging for more. when y's was released it was
> wonderful. it was akin to zelda, harder, more mature, prettier, and with
> a deeper storyline. since i was young and could not just get y's from
> import or some computer version that was compatible with my machine
> (things were different back then -- finding good pc games was a lot
> harder and potentially riskier if you were doing trading among friends)
> it was great to have y's on sms.

The PCs I had access to just didn't have these games, and I definitely
don't see a problem with Ys on the SMS, it's a good game.

> i remember when tg-16 first came out, i remember when turbo cd came out,
> and i remember when y's books 1 & 2 came out. but back then there was no
> way i could blow that much money on games so easily. that $400+ could
> have bought me, like, 5-10 games, which would have also held trade value
> among friends, too. in hindsight y's on the sms was probably the weakest
> version of y's to come out, but at the time it was great, and in my eyes
> blew zelda away. it's very true that you have to consider context when
> thinking about things in the past.

Right, I spent all of my child laboring money on games and there's no
way I could have afforded the thing.

> i'd like to add that there were several quieter family games for sms.

> shanghai: which i just never encountered anywhere else before (and i did
> my share of playing friends amigas, macs, pcs, and other consoles). part
> of me thinks that the game lingered around a bit and finally caught
> enough adults' attention to blow up into the ubiquitous phenom today. i
> can't tell you how much that entertained adults and kids idly watching
> me play; then ended up pointing out matches and really getting into it.

Isn't this a Mahjong simulator? I think that game's been around in
China and Japan for centuries...

> parlor games: the world bingo is still somewhat mystifying to me to this
> day. but the darts and billiards were fun, fun, fun. at the time it was
> the only console billiard game i could find to offer targeting on the
> cue ball. this was useful in doing neat spin tricks. darts was fun too,
> but it required more finesse and gaming knowledge to really shine. sure,
> it was later surpassed, but it was a very solid game.

> casino games: a poker sim that wasn't stupid video poker. does anyone
> have any idea how *rare* that was back when this came out? different
> personality types, with facial expressions, betting and raising, it was
> far more interesting than just about anything poker related back then.
> the blackjack was nice, too. baccarat was good to realize how lame of a
> game it was. the slots were cute. but that game's poker and pinball was
> really a shining pair.

Wow, I haven't even played either of these, they sound extremely
detailed for what their title implies. I'm going to have to check them out!

> then there were great wacky games like Penguin Land, Rescue Mission,
> etc. i love my sms!

No kidding. Although, to be honest, as a kid I did have plenty of NES
envy, and unfortunately rated my SMS games against the popularity of
exemplary NES software. I know now that it's an irrational pursuit to
compare my personal tastes to popularity, but back then it was like this
ever looming shadow over my lone SMS in San Antonio.

--
Scott

http://www.gamepilgrimage.com
 >> Stay informed about: Sega systems finally getting their props on e-bay? 

Scott H wrote:
> Azel wrote:
>> Scott H wrote:
>>
>> thanks scott! back in the day i really got into rpgs because of
>> miracle warriors and was scrounging for more. when y's was released it
>> was wonderful. it was akin to zelda, harder, more mature, prettier,
>> and with a deeper storyline. since i was young and could not just get
>> y's from import or some computer version that was compatible with my
>> machine (things were different back then -- finding good pc games was
>> a lot harder and potentially riskier if you were doing trading among
>> friends)
>> it was great to have y's on sms.
>
> The PCs I had access to just didn't have these games, and I definitely
> don't see a problem with Ys on the SMS, it's a good game.
>
>> i remember when tg-16 first came out, i remember when turbo cd came
>> out, and i remember when y's books 1 & 2 came out. but back then there
>> was no way i could blow that much money on games so easily. that $400+
>> could have bought me, like, 5-10 games, which would have also held
>> trade value among friends, too. in hindsight y's on the sms was
>> probably the weakest version of y's to come out, but at the time it
>> was great, and in my eyes blew zelda away. it's very true that you
>> have to consider context when thinking about things in the past.
>
> Right, I spent all of my child laboring money on games and there's no
> way I could have afforded the thing.
>
>> i'd like to add that there were several quieter family games for sms.
>
>> shanghai: which i just never encountered anywhere else before (and i
>> did my share of playing friends amigas, macs, pcs, and other
>> consoles). part of me thinks that the game lingered around a bit and
>> finally caught enough adults' attention to blow up into the ubiquitous
>> phenom today. i can't tell you how much that entertained adults and
>> kids idly watching me play; then ended up pointing out matches and
>> really getting into it.
>
> Isn't this a Mahjong simulator? I think that game's been around in
> China and Japan for centuries...

it's the phenom solitaire game using mah jongg tiles. it isn't the
traditional mah jongg game, which is rather akin to gin rummy, except
with 13 cards and lots of special hands. there's been other versions of
this solitaire game, such as Taipei by/on MS on Windows 3.11, but
Shanghai seems to have been the first to come to america and quickly
became the standard to follow. it just blew up at one point, esp. with
Shanghai 2 (on snes and genny) and Shanghai 3 (on the Saturn and PSX.
Saturn is an excellent version, btw).

the only original Shanghai 1 version i've ever found was sms, though it
probably hit another personal computer in some obscure release i never
came across. i was playing this back when pc standards were around 386,
just going to 486, lived next door to silicon valley where pc expos and
cons were plentiful, so it's pretty safe to say that
there's strong chance that sms was the first to bring the game to
america and helped usher the phenom somewhere around sms' end life,
(where Shanghai was, like, tinsel hanging from every Kay Bee toy store
for dirt cheap in a 30 mile radius from me). but who really knows how
fads take hold.


>
>> parlor games: the world bingo is still somewhat mystifying to me to
>> this day. but the darts and billiards were fun, fun, fun. at the time
>> it was the only console billiard game i could find to offer targeting
>> on the cue ball. this was useful in doing neat spin tricks. darts was
>> fun too, but it required more finesse and gaming knowledge to really
>> shine. sure, it was later surpassed, but it was a very solid game.
>
>> casino games: a poker sim that wasn't stupid video poker. does anyone
>> have any idea how *rare* that was back when this came out? different
>> personality types, with facial expressions, betting and raising, it
>> was far more interesting than just about anything poker related back
>> then. the blackjack was nice, too. baccarat was good to realize how
>> lame of a game it was. the slots were cute. but that game's poker and
>> pinball was really a shining pair.
>
> Wow, I haven't even played either of these, they sound extremely
> detailed for what their title implies. I'm going to have to check them
> out!
>
>> then there were great wacky games like Penguin Land, Rescue Mission,
>> etc. i love my sms!
>
> No kidding. Although, to be honest, as a kid I did have plenty of NES
> envy, and unfortunately rated my SMS games against the popularity of
> exemplary NES software. I know now that it's an irrational pursuit to
> compare my personal tastes to popularity, but back then it was like this
> ever looming shadow over my lone SMS in San Antonio.
>

sms was crucial to my formative best friendships throughout grade
school. it was i and 2 other kids who had sms, so we ended up in some
"video game outsiders" clique. granted we had fun with our other
friends' nes, and we did admit that some of the games were quite good.
but we were quite happy in our lil' fanboy world. think "Stand By Me"
with the catalyst being sms. naturally, there's a lot of happy
memories attached to it. sorry to hear you didn't have that happy
outsiders clique growing up! san antonio was unfortunately too far from
our lil bay area sega social safety net.
 >> Stay informed about: Sega systems finally getting their props on e-bay? 

Azel wrote:
> Scott H wrote: (and then promptly lost the thread in the shuffle)
> >> shanghai: which i just never encountered anywhere else before (and i
> >> did my share of playing friends amigas, macs, pcs, and other
> >> consoles). part of me thinks that the game lingered around a bit and
> >> finally caught enough adults' attention to blow up into the ubiquitous
> >> phenom today. i can't tell you how much that entertained adults and
> >> kids idly watching me play; then ended up pointing out matches and
> >> really getting into it.
> >
> > Isn't this a Mahjong simulator? I think that game's been around in
> > China and Japan for centuries...
>
> it's the phenom solitaire game using mah jongg tiles. it isn't the
> traditional mah jongg game, which is rather akin to gin rummy, except
> with 13 cards and lots of special hands. there's been other versions of
> this solitaire game, such as Taipei by/on MS on Windows 3.11, but
> Shanghai seems to have been the first to come to america and quickly
> became the standard to follow. it just blew up at one point, esp. with
> Shanghai 2 (on snes and genny) and Shanghai 3 (on the Saturn and PSX.
> Saturn is an excellent version, btw).

Hmm, and I've never even played it. I was given an import HuCard of
some Mahjong game when I got my DUO R, I wonder if the games are
similar...

> the only original Shanghai 1 version i've ever found was sms, though it
> probably hit another personal computer in some obscure release i never
> came across. i was playing this back when pc standards were around 386,
> just going to 486, lived next door to silicon valley where pc expos and
> cons were plentiful, so it's pretty safe to say that
> there's strong chance that sms was the first to bring the game to
> america and helped usher the phenom somewhere around sms' end life,
> (where Shanghai was, like, tinsel hanging from every Kay Bee toy store
> for dirt cheap in a 30 mile radius from me). but who really knows how
> fads take hold.

Oh, I always saw a copy of it and Taboo for the NES at my local ToysRus
in SanAntonio back in the day. I suppose that might have been the same
copies ordered originally, I know that they had Phantasy Star, Miracle
Warriors and Space Harrier 3D and those must have just sat there at $70
a piece. Makes me wish I could find those precise copies in a
warehouse and buy them up, just to make ammends.

> >> then there were great wacky games like Penguin Land, Rescue Mission,
> >> etc. i love my sms!
> >
> > No kidding. Although, to be honest, as a kid I did have plenty of NES
> > envy, and unfortunately rated my SMS games against the popularity of
> > exemplary NES software. I know now that it's an irrational pursuit to
> > compare my personal tastes to popularity, but back then it was like this
> > ever looming shadow over my lone SMS in San Antonio.
> >
>
> sms was crucial to my formative best friendships throughout grade
> school. it was i and 2 other kids who had sms, so we ended up in some
> "video game outsiders" clique. granted we had fun with our other
> friends' nes, and we did admit that some of the games were quite good.
> but we were quite happy in our lil' fanboy world. think "Stand By Me"
> with the catalyst being sms. naturally, there's a lot of happy
> memories attached to it. sorry to hear you didn't have that happy
> outsiders clique growing up! san antonio was unfortunately too far from
> our lil bay area sega social safety net.

I'm beginning to suspect that the 20 some odd million Genesis
owners in the US were pretty much exclusive to Urban California and
maybe Chicago, and everywhere else was exclusively Nintendo until it
went over to Sony. I saw a handfull of Genesis consoles in San Antonio
after '93, and one guy had a Sega CD, but it just never looked like
Nintendo did with the NES or SNES there, it was just an every house
kind of thing for Nintendo there. The only time I saw Sega approach
that kind of popularity was in '99, when I saw a Dreamcast in
practically every college apartment in College Station for that
Christmas. That was only for that one Christmas though, and I turned
to Usenet exclusively for reasonable non-NFL 2K/Soul Calibur discussion
on the system and its games.

-
Scott
 >> Stay informed about: Sega systems finally getting their props on e-bay?