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Post by Sarge on Feb 4, 2020 16:28:09 GMT -5
Looking at the old site, looks like the first public release was 4/3/1999, with work on the emulator having started in 1998, so I'd say it counts. Plus, Windows 98 was still very much in use, even after Windows 2000 hit, so I consider it more of a release window.
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Post by Ex on Feb 4, 2020 16:46:47 GMT -5
Looking at the old site, looks like the first public release was 4/3/1999 Fantastic, that's even better for anayo then. - I'm having a lot of fun playing that strategy title I mentioned. Might even have it beat tonight. Really enjoying this theme! I'm not sure who suggested it, but I think it was toei . So kudos to toei .
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Post by Sarge on Feb 4, 2020 17:09:23 GMT -5
I'm enjoying it myself, although I do wish I hadn't already played some of the better titles on SMS last year. I should probably start going for games that are unique to the system.
But while we're talking about games not unique for the system (in a manner of speaking), I also played Mega Man for a bit. The game mashes up various stages and bosses from NES MM4/5. Unfortunately, the smaller screen size can really mess you up. There are quite a few "leaps of faith" now, although I did just learn from a wiki that if you hold the jump button, you can use the d-pad after a few seconds to scroll the screen around and see hazards. Good to know for sure.
Also, you can only shoot two shots at a time, instead of three, which is terrible, but the charge shot does four damage, instead of three. Also, I got my head handed to me by Napalm Man; apparently bosses are more aggressive, and it also doesn't help that they can be off the screen and still fire at you, but your shots do nothing.
TL;DR: Play the NES games instead. But this could have been much worse.
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Post by Ex on Feb 4, 2020 17:16:34 GMT -5
I'm enjoying it myself, although I do wish I hadn't already played some of the better titles on SMS last year. I should probably start going for games that are unique to the system. My advice is to explore exclusives and genres besides just platformers.
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Post by toei on Feb 4, 2020 17:26:59 GMT -5
Sarge Try Zenki, with the translation patch from romhacking.net. It's a semi-non-linear platformer. It's not perfect (Chiaki is more prone to slowdowns, for one thing, so I suggest sticking to Zenki whenever you don't have to play as her), but it's very solid IMO, and it's a GG exclusive. And Coca-Cola Kid. And yeah, Win98 was the standard for a long time. I don't think I ever saw 2000 anywhere, honestly, it was 98 up until XP for me and everyone I knew.
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Post by Ex on Feb 4, 2020 18:09:42 GMT -5
Well that went by faster than expected: Head Buster is a Japanese-only Game Gear exclusive turn-based strategy title. Head Buster was developed by Winds and NCS, and published by Masaya in 1991. Chris Covell released a complete English fan translation for Head Buster in 2005. Head Buster focuses on combat between remote controlled battle robots. There's a single player and a two player mode. The theme is represented as a futuristic sport, where one combatant controls their squad of robots, versus another combatant's squad. These robots are outfitted and upgraded in a shop. The equipment spans the gamut of amored frames, offensive weaponry, shields, movement gear, all sorts of stuff. Players gain gold from winning matches, and then use that gold to buy said equipment in the shop. Combat itself takes place in a large arena that resembles a nature park. To win, a player either has to destroy all of their opponent's robots, or destroy their opponent's command core. In single player, there's a series of ten matches against AI opponents. If the player ever loses a match, they have to do a paper route to make enough money to return to the league. No really this actually happens.
The combat mechanics are menu driven between two phases; movement and attack. In movement mode the player positions their units, and the computer then does the same. In attack mode, the player uses their positioned units to attack, and then the computer does the same. Although sometimes the sequence of player VS computer will alternate unexpectedly. Through the usage of specialized computers, the player can gain bonus effects like hiding or better aiming, as secondary options in the move and attack menus. The robots move in a grid like fashion, and are limited in both movement and range of attack, depending on the type of equipment loaded onto the robot. The computer opponent will taunt the player before each new mission starts. I'll talk about the bad before the good. My only big gripe is the lack of difficulty. This ain't Front Mission 4 folks. It's pretty clear this game's target audience was grade school kids. I assume so, because the AI is very easy to exploit. I beat this game quickly, by designing a well armored and fast moving robot, with a sole long range bazooka. I just used that one robot to move as fast as possible to within firing range of the enemy's command core. Along the way, I would hide and evade, instead of attacking the enemy. When they attacked me, they could never destroy my robot - due to its heavy armor/shield and hide/evade. Finally when I got within range of the command core, I would destroy it in two bazooka shots. So it's very clear that the developers did not expect someone to use such a tactic. I think they expected the player to build up a bunch of robots, and then battle it out on the field with the AI's robots instead. Well that would certainly make the game take longer to win. But I just blitzed straight to the other side of the arena and blew up the command core. I'm guessing playing this game against an actual HUMAN opponent through system link would be a whole different story though. Unfortunately I did not have the pleasure of finding that out. Despite being a piece of cake, I still admired Head Buster. It's charming in its aesthetics, has pleasant audio, its genre is unique to its platform, the control system is simple, and the length (10 missions) is a breezy undertaking. So while I would have appreciated more complexity (like being able to check enemy attack range visually for example), I understand I wasn't this game's target audience. If I'd been an eight year old Japanese boy playing this back in 1991, I'd have felt differently about the challenge level. With that aside, I had a good time with Head Buster as a pleasant strategy snack. I'm glad I got to play it in English (big thanks to Chris Covell wherever you are now). And who knows, maybe in its day, Head Buster served to segue some kids into Front Mission or Armored Core later on. Those games will bust some heads. Ex's time to beat: ~2 hours Ex's rating: 7/10
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 4, 2020 18:17:34 GMT -5
Yeah I'm glad some of you are loving this theme and it's exciting to read. My time has been divided up a lot more lately and when I get around to games it's just been purely Vagrant Story. I imagine I'll finish it off soon and some shorter Game Gear titles will be a nice way to decompress.
I remembered that I never got around to Sonic Chaos when we did the SMS month either, when Ex beat Triple Trouble, which sounds even better! Both look awesome to me though and I want to play them. I find it really interesting how the SMS and GG have a lot of shared ports and the versions often don't look very different. I'm guessing the hardware tech was relatively the same between the two?
I also skimmed through a lot of footage of the Ristar game, which looks insanely impressive. I see a lot of same areas but shrunk down with some new twists, different takes on bosses, it looks like a very cool redux. Watching videos of this game and Triple Trouble, I'm no Game Boy expert, but I don't think Nintendo's machine could have handled stuff like this.
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Post by toei on Feb 4, 2020 19:21:22 GMT -5
As I understand it, the Game Gear is essentially a Master System with more colors. There was even a Master System adapter for it. Most of the games that appeared for both systems are a result of the SMS's popularity in Europe and Brazil; a lot of those were conceived for the GG, then ported to the SMS only in these markets. In many cases the SMS version is still better because the view doesn't have to be as zoomed-in. And yeah, the GG is definitely more powerful than the plain GB.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 4, 2020 19:45:23 GMT -5
Hah, the legends of the SMS in Brazil always cracks me up a little for some reason. Seems like the Genesis/Mega Drive did better in the West too than in Japan? I'm guessing Sega found more success at home with their arcades and the Saturn finally. It's always interesting to me how the territories differ, I was just hearing today how Sony has Europe on lockdown themselves. MS is US only, lol.
And yeah Ex, Head Buster looks like something I would have obsessed over as a young child.
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Post by Ex on Feb 4, 2020 21:44:46 GMT -5
I remembered that I never got around to Sonic Chaos when we did the SMS month either, when Ex beat Triple Trouble, which sounds even better! Both look awesome to me though There is a GG port of Sonic Chaos too (but play it on SMS). IIRC you enjoyed some of the 8-bit Sonic games, so you should get a kick out of Sonic Chaos and Triple Trouble. toei touched it on it some, but yeah, here's the spill: "As was tradition with Sega consoles at the time, the handheld Sega Game Gear is backwards compatible with the Master System and can run Master System carts through an adapter. The most noticeable hardware difference is the VDP's color palette allows selecting 32 out of 4,096 possible colors (12-bit). The Master System VDP has the same number of active colors, but can only select out of 64 colors (6-bit). Due to the higher color depth, the Game Gear has twice as much color RAM, and it doesn't use the same format as the Master System. As such, if you attempt to run a Game Gear game on a Master System, it will run, but the colors will be incorrect.
The Game Gear's display is also lower resolution than the Master System: 160x144 compared to 256x192. For Game Gear games, the 160x144 is a window within the 256x192 SMS display. When using the Master Gear adapter, the 256x192 SMS display is shrunken to fit, which can result in image artifacting.
Finally, the Game Gear has a Start button, and it also has an extra register for PSG stereo. The Start button is technically a separate register, not part of the controller, which prevents Game Gear games from being run on Master System without modifications. " ( segaretro.org/Sega_Master_System/Hardware_comparison ) I enjoy that the Game Gear has a start button and can output stereo. The lower resolution isn't ideal for playing SMS ports. That's why I try to stick to Game Gear exclusives. Genesis/Mega Drive did better in the West too than in Japan? IIRC yes, SFC sold more than Mega Drive did in Japan. I think the Genesis slightly outsold SNES in USA (at least in the south!). But I'm too lazy to look up the facts right now. Sony locked in Europe early thanks to high quality exclusive football (soccer) games starting with the PS1. When you've got the best football (soccer) games, Europe's gonna love ya. Most of the games that appeared for both systems are a result of the SMS's popularity in Europe and Brazil For Xeogred 's knowledge; SEGA got big in South America because Nintendo didn't court that region. So SEGA filled the gap and made a killing down there.
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