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Sega Genesis/MegaDrive Appreciation Thread: Alien Storm > Golden Axe

S

sixteen-bit

Member
BocoDragon said:
I've decided I need Alien Soldier in my life.. But one trip to eBay killed that idea real quick.

I've gotten spoiled by real Genesis hardware + XRGB mini... But how is the Wii VC at capturing that real Genesis feel? Is it close enough?
Click to expand...

I think M2 did the Genesis emulation on Wii VC, so that's a good thing.

Was there any specific reason Alien Soldier didn't get a cart release in North America? It wasn't particularly a late release, as the last North American Genesis titles came out in 1997, 2 years after this.
 
G

gryz

Banned
BocoDragon said:
I've decided I need Alien Soldier in my life.. But one trip to eBay killed that idea real quick.

I've gotten spoiled by real Genesis hardware + XRGB mini... But how is the Wii VC at capturing that real Genesis feel? Is it close enough?
Click to expand...

gunstar heroes is the only genesis VC game I have and the sound seems a bit off
 
D

Dave Long

Banned
BocoDragon said:
I've decided I need Alien Soldier in my life.. But one trip to eBay killed that idea real quick.

I've gotten spoiled by real Genesis hardware + XRGB mini... But how is the Wii VC at capturing that real Genesis feel? Is it close enough?
Click to expand...
I have some Genesis stuff on Wii VC and on Steam. You can get Alien Soldier either place. I think it's going to be good enough for you on both platforms as buying the original will set you back enough that it's probably not worth it. The Steam version seems spot on to me.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
sixteen-bit said:
I think M2 did the Genesis emulation on Wii VC, so that's a good thing.

Was there any specific reason Alien Soldier didn't get a cart release in North America? It wasn't particularly a late release, as the last North American Genesis titles came out in 1997, 2 years after this.
Click to expand...
Yeah M2 has me hopeful.

For most consoles I'd say there wasn't a lot of method to the madness of why some games came over and others didn't... But for Genesis it apparently is quite odd for a game to have made it to PAL and not US. The console generally did well in US.

So few people would have gotten the memo about Treasure back in the day, though.

gryz said:
gunstar heroes is the only genesis VC game I have and the sound seems a bit off
Click to expand...

That's unfortunate. As someone who has been playing Gunstar on real hardware recently, with a big stereo, it has an alien quality to it that is so awesome.

There's something about Genesis audio that is so hard to get right. It can get pretty close, but there's a lot of character in the original sound chip, and if you have a model 1 it's also going through a bass-adding Walkman-style headphone amp which adds a lot.


Dave Long said:
I have some Genesis stuff on Wii VC and on Steam. You can get Alien Soldier either place. I think it's going to be good enough for you on both platforms as buying the original will set you back enough that it's probably not worth it. The Steam version seems spot on to me.
Click to expand...
Yeah I suppose beggars can't be choosers.. I'm not gonna spend hundreds on a cart, so it's basically "pick your emulated poison".
 
G

gryz

Banned
BocoDragon said:
That's unfortunate. As someone who has been playing Gunstar on real hardware recently, with a big stereo, it has an alien quality to it that is so awesome.

There's something about Genesis audio that is so hard to get right. It can get pretty close, but there's a lot of character in the original sound chip, and if you have a model 1 it's also going through a bass-adding Walkman-style headphone amp which adds a lot.
Click to expand...

yeah I've got my model 1 VA6 genesis and model 1 megadrive hooked up to audio monitors and it's glorious
 
S

Slermy

Member
BocoDragon said:
I've decided I need Alien Soldier in my life.. But one trip to eBay killed that idea real quick.

I've gotten spoiled by real Genesis hardware + XRGB mini... But how is the Wii VC at capturing that real Genesis feel? Is it close enough?
Click to expand...

I did a comparison with Sonic 2 between the XBLA, VC, and actual Genesis (Model 2, for those wondering) version all on the same TV using a switchbox.

The XBLA one is the weakest of the bunch (Sonic 3 & Knuckles seemed improved though).

Virtual Console was near spot on, I was very impressed with the audio.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
BocoDragon said:
I've decided I need Alien Soldier in my life.. But one trip to eBay killed that idea real quick.

I've gotten spoiled by real Genesis hardware + XRGB mini... But how is the Wii VC at capturing that real Genesis feel? Is it close enough?
Click to expand...

Thats one you might want to repro. Though honestly i'd want to own the actual mega drive cart too...
 
ss_lemonade

ss_lemonade

Member


Visited the Art of Video Games exhibit earlier at the EMP museum, downtown Seattle. The exhibit room itself wasn't that big but it was still awesome seeing all that videogame stuff in there
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
shit yes, PS IV on display because it's a goddamn classic and still about the best finale a sequential JRPG series has ever seen. that warms my heart~
 
S

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
sixteen-bit said:
Was there any specific reason Alien Soldier didn't get a cart release in North America?
Click to expand...
I know it was a Sega Channel Exclusive in the US, but I doubt that was the reason. Wasn't the kind of high-profile game that could sell anyone on the service.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I bought Alien Soldier on VC... But I've had problems. The sound is ok - it's note-accurate, but lacks the punch of original hardware. If you have a model 1 Genesis, the sound chip usually sounds like its on vinyl... 80 pop track, etc.

Also apparently the Wii VC has a particularly "dark" color, compared to the original hardware? Lame. It outputs in 240p like an original console, but I've had to crank up brightness a lot on my XRGB mini upscaler.... This wasn't the perfect experience I expected when I payed $10 for a rom :/

Get OG hardware, son. But that $200 cart.... :(
 
T

Teknoman

Member
BocoDragon said:
I bought Alien Soldier on VC... But I've had problems. The sound is ok - it's note-accurate, but lacks the punch of original hardware. If you have a model 1 Genesis, the sound chip usually sounds like its on vinyl... 80 pop track, etc.

Also apparently the Wii VC has a particularly "dark" color, compared to the original hardware? Lame. It outputs in 240p like an original console, but I've had to crank up brightness a lot on my XRGB mini upscaler.... This wasn't the perfect experience I expected when I payed $10 for a rom :/

Get OG hardware, son. But that $200 cart.... :(
Click to expand...

Still say its ok to be lenient on this one, since technically a hard copy never hit North America:

http://segaage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=43&threadid=44526

Of course its kinda sorta dropped in price since then:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000147KEY/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Personally i'm thinking about just saving up credit card points from day to day usual stuff to buy it lol.

EDIT: Finally got my SCART Genesis cables. Now to find some component cables that I know we have somewhere around the house...and get this going. Hopefully I wont have to adjust any colors off the bat...but I guess it wont be a big deal if so.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
...


iAe2XhE74Zoa6.gif



Its...so beautiful. No color adjustments needed. Boco was right...RGB is one hell of a drug.
 
S

sibarraz

Banned
Opinions on alex kidd in enchanted castle work? so far the game is really meh but I want to see if i finish it

I think that there was a trick to always the non bosses janken duels, which involved a combination of gestures (with the bosses if you press start and leave you win)
 
smbu2000

smbu2000

Member
I finally have it in my hands! The Super Shinobi II (aka Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master). The price wasn't too bad and I really wanted it, so I picked it up! Looking forward to playing it for the first time as I only played Revenge of Shinobi back in the day.
Landstalker and Altered Beast(blurred in the background() were both really cheap.

P1010640_a_zps07188340.jpg
Click to expand...
 
ss_lemonade

ss_lemonade

Member
smbu2000 said:
I finally have it in my hands! The Super Shinobi II (aka Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master). The price wasn't too bad and I really wanted it, so I picked it up! Looking forward to playing it for the first time as I only played Revenge of Shinobi back in the day.
Landstalker and Altered Beast(blurred in the background() were both really cheap.
Click to expand...
Best shinobi imo
 
G

gryz

Banned
Slermy said:
I did a comparison with Sonic 2 between the XBLA, VC, and actual Genesis (Model 2, for those wondering) version all on the same TV using a switchbox.

The XBLA one is the weakest of the bunch (Sonic 3 & Knuckles seemed improved though).

Virtual Console was near spot on, I was very impressed with the audio.
Click to expand...

model 2 has the worst audio though

IrishNinja said:
shit yes, PS IV on display because it's a goddamn classic and still about the best finale a sequential JRPG series has ever seen. that warms my heart~
Click to expand...

shit I guess I'm going to go check this out tomorrow.
 
D

Dereck

Member
gryz said:
I'm going to Tokyo next week... what Sega abominations should I keep my eye out for?

right now I'm leaning towards this monstrosity, doesn't get much more 90s than Aiwa boombox + Sega Genesis:


or maybe the genesis PC made by IBM:
Click to expand...
Oh my god is this real life
 
B

Black Door

Banned
sixteen-bit said:
Was there any specific reason Alien Soldier didn't get a cart release in North America?
Click to expand...

Aside from it being exclusive to the Sega Channel, it launched in 1995, about three months before the Playstation came out in the US, and people were too enamored by the new tech to pay attention to it
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
gryz said:
this was the most ridiculous one I could find:


Pioneer Laser Disc player with MegaDrive and PC Engine modules
Click to expand...

I remember seeing an article for this thing in Computer and Video Games way back in the day and it was priced at $900 dollars USD for the machine itself and the modules were like $300-400 dollars. The price seemed so absurd, given that a console like the Genesis was priced at 149.99 at the time, or $200.00 for the SNES.
 
S

sixteen-bit

Member
Black Door said:
Aside from it being exclusive to the Sega Channel, it launched in 1995, about three months before the Playstation came out in the US, and people were too enamored by the new tech to pay attention to it
Click to expand...

That seems like a really weak excuse. It came out in Europe, and North American Genesis games continued being released into 1997, including exclusives like Vectorman 2.
 
A Black Falcon

A Black Falcon

Member
sixteen-bit said:
That seems like a really weak excuse. It came out in Europe, and North American Genesis games continued being released into 1997, including exclusives like Vectorman 2.
Click to expand...
Sega apparently wanted some games to be Sega Channel exclusive. You know, to make people want to get one. That's the best guess for why Alien Soldier, Mega Man: The Wily Wars, Golden Axe III, and several more games all released on the Sega Channel only in North America...
 
S

sixteen-bit

Member
Wondermega would have been perfect if it did RGB. Oh well, you can always mod.


Such a luxurious system though. That motorized disc lid is something else.
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
traded loose/spare copies of SMW, yoshi's island & SF II Turbo for boxed Quackshot, Robocop vs Terminator & a loose ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron today, feels good man

my auction for Sword of Vermillion, Shining in the Darkness & original Valis should be here tomorrow, MUSHA reprint & complete Super Fantasy Zone (found it for < $20 shipped!) on their way. now i pay off this debt and slowly pick up shitty sports games on the cheap to replenish cases..

sibarraz said:
Opinions on alex kidd in enchanted castle work? so far the game is really meh but I want to see if i finish it

I think that there was a trick to always the non bosses janken duels, which involved a combination of gestures (with the bosses if you press start and leave you win)
Click to expand...

it doesnt really pick up as it goes, if that's what you're wondering. if i wasnt such an Alex Kidd fan in the day (despite Miracle World shitting on my life for years) id prolly notve been all into it, but its literally the only proper sequel to that game, all the other entries were so varied.

that said, i'll totally take it off your hands on the cheap if you end up hating it like so many others!

frostyxc said:
Technocop

If you are a mute, or having trouble speaking, the game will even say the title on your behalf. And then eviscerate you. Be safe!
Click to expand...

man i thought this looked cool in the day but so many sources said it was shit...its like a buck or two on ebay, still curious

gryz said:
I'm going to Tokyo next week... what Sega abominations should I keep my eye out for?

right now I'm leaning towards this monstrosity, doesn't get much more 90s than Aiwa boombox + Sega Genesis:
Click to expand...

this is so 90's it hurts. i love it.

gryz said:
this was the most ridiculous one I could find:

Pioneer Laser Disc player with MegaDrive and PC Engine modules
Click to expand...

i said goddamn, id be all over that thing
 
B

BobbyRobby

Member
got a boxed copy of Trouble Shooter for $18 shipped. It's in pretty rough shape with a big blockbuster sticker on the cart, but not bad considering the cheapest copy on amazon is $35

trouble_shooter.gif


586564_59160_front.jpg


fun game. the story sequences are ridiculous.
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
local collector who responded to my offer on craigslist, was looking for some carts to give to a friend finally getting into SNES stuff....met up at a starbucks by my house, nice guy. "Sorry man i can't part with Shadowrun" its okay guy, i didn't even want robocop vs terminator till i saw that case, hot damn!

wish i knew more places to trade, ive got other carts left (not many, but some modern games too). and yeah that trouble shooter one...i know i saw ads in Game Players in the day, i wanna say? still looks like something i should play sometime.
 
Z

zmet

Member
BobbyRobby said:
got a boxed copy of Trouble Shooter for $18 shipped. It's in pretty rough shape with a big blockbuster sticker on the cart, but not bad considering the cheapest copy on amazon is $35

trouble_shooter.gif


586564_59160_front.jpg


fun game. the story sequences are ridiculous.
Click to expand...
The sequel is better and much more expensive. If you've got the cash, definitely seek it out. You won't be sorry.
 
S

Samuray

Member
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but does anyone have any idea where I could find an affordable copy of a Japanese "Bare Knuckle 3"? I've been looking for a long time but those BiN prices on eBay are just ridiculous, and I haven't had any luck seeing one anywhere else.
I'm located in Europe so I am not asking about local stores. But maybe some nifty Japanse online retailer I haven't heard of yet, or something like that?
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Samuray said:
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but does anyone have any idea where I could find an affordable copy of a Japanese "Bare Knuckle 3"? I've been looking for a long time but those BiN prices on eBay are just ridiculous, and I haven't had any luck seeing one anywhere else.
I'm located in Europe so I am not asking about local stores. But maybe some nifty Japanse online retailer I haven't heard of yet, or something like that?
Click to expand...

I've only seen it for around 50-60 bucks US...
 
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