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Post by Sinistral on Mar 19, 2021 11:41:12 GMT
I assume they are all unofficial, but they do give Sega an example of what they could be doing. It's certainly true that the Mega Drive/Genesis is Sega's only really successful platform, but I believe their over reliance on the same games/properties from that generation has contributed to the current financial and creative differences. The DreamCast is weird since it does have some callbacks, but I don't think it was as successful worldwide as the Master System. Things have gotten better with the re-introduction or Panzer Dragoon, Alex Kidd, Wonder Boy and Streets of Rage, but Sega have a huge history that is massively underused. As an example, Sega's Fighter's MegaMix could have been the start of an interesting franchise mashup, but it was never followed up on. Nintendo would of course step into that space with Super Smash Bros. and show just how big a crossover fighter could be. I guess what I'm saying is the over reliance on Sonic and the Mega Drive stuff becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Eventually that is all anyone will know of Sega since they have done little to show them otherwise. Yeah I know what you mean with this, they did try to put out some original content over the years, some decent, but other stuff seems to be half-arsed. I was really disappointed to play Sonic Forces on the Switch for example after how much I had enjoyed Sonic Generations. I've lost count of how many times I've purchased "Megadrive Classics Collection" on various platforms through the years, including the Megadrive Mini, but attempts to revive older franchisees have been lacking in the effort department thinking all the way back to early PS2 days. Altered Beast, Shinobi, Golden Axe Beast Rider come to mind. But even then they could pull off the occasional masterpiece like Outrun and Outrun Coast2Coast, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Headhunter etc. To be honest, there hasn't been of the new stuff that's held any attention. Maybe I'm just not as intune these days, there is so much choice out there just now. What I really wanted all along though was to be able to play arcade perfect conversions of classic games rather than Megadrive versions. Sega's arcade back-catalogue is criminally underutilised. I know there are technical challenges to providing fans with decent versions of these games, but it's a sad state of affairs when the only way to play these games properly is illegally on Retropie or Pandoras Box.
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 19, 2021 11:29:48 GMT
Lol, I'll look out for those. Yeah, none of us are made of money are we. My favourite is when you get an "expert" on FB Market place and they price everything as they see it on eBay and wonder why it doesn't sell. I know, it's pretty bad to be honest. People on facebook are turning down legitimately good offers on stuff just because they see those buy it now prices on eBay. You can't talk to them either, they just assume you're trying to rob them.
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 19, 2021 11:28:01 GMT
Problem these days are to many BIN, there is one seller in particular at the moment who uses a green background in his auctions whos prices are crazy. Hes listed a few today that I need but no chance im paying double their value. The green background is handy though because I know to avoid him lol👍 I seen his stuff too, some things I want, but he's asking for about double the value. I guess that's how prices are slowly creeping up. Only takes one desperate fool to hit the "Buy it now" button and it suddenly becomes the new prices everyone sets by default.
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 16, 2021 18:37:52 GMT
I ordered this very recently on Amazon for £16 and then asked a few people I know on Twitter about the "author", after the horse had bolted so to speak. It seems a lot of the content is evidently swiped off Wikipedia and other books or blogs so soon cancelled it. Everyone seems to have pretty good things to say about The Bittmap compendium so I thin k I'll pick that up as an alternative instead. Been watching this and looks like the drama is still unfolding 🤣. Bet you wish you hadn't asked now.
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 14, 2021 18:47:30 GMT
Hi Playgen! long time no speak, hope you are doing good these days! It's interesting you manged to get it to work with Hangon/Safari Hunt model, no such luck for me! I'm good thanks, still around but not much spare time any more! All my SMS games are in storage boxes, and haven't been played in a few years. I didn't have to do anything special. I used to buy consoles cheaply and mod them to sell back in the day. Every one with Hang on and Safari hunt built in I had would just play the Codemasters as normal. Only in 50hz though. I guess you could probably work it out from console serial numbers as to which ones are the later ones with the updated chip. That's a shame that collection is packed away Only recently took mine out of storage too, the start of lock down meant WFH became the normal. My wife lasted a whole week of working in the same room as me, before banishing me to "play room" . So I gutted out the room and now I have an office/gaming room. Kids were too old for a play-room now anyway, so we all get to benefit from the games room now. Just wish I hadn't sold off all those rare titles back in the day, got next to nothing for them either at the time, but life's priorities change with age I guess! I'm sure the collection will come back out someday, just as mine did
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 14, 2021 18:32:58 GMT
Zool is becoming increasingly rare these days and is one of those games you often see without a manual. Sadly, my copy is without manual. Not going to worry about this too much just yet though. I did pickup Assault City Light Phaser version for £13 this weekend on a newly listed BIN. No manual either though, but I'm happy just draw a picture of the light phaser on the front of another manual for now
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 14, 2021 18:30:07 GMT
I think there are a small (but increasingly large) number of people making them. This was always some people's concerns that people would start selling off reproduction games of rarer/prototype games as originals.
I know 2Minds makes their own PCBS, and are focused on releasing homebrew titles so these are a bit more professional than the these people who are who are just small-scale bootleggers that essentially soldering a EPROM into a board with a mapper chip (like afterburner or similar).
The difference will always be in the amount of care given to making a quality product. I don't yet see SMS becoming like the Megadrive (look on aliexpress and you'll see hundreds of copies of games for sale) but with todays price hikes, SMS might become profitable for large scale bootleggers in the future.
There are some homebrew games I would love to get physical copies of, and in the case of 2minds, the cost is justified. I don't want to encourage these eBay sellers on the other hand.
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 14, 2021 18:20:43 GMT
The only models that work started production in late 89, from what I can tell that 90 on every pal model had the updated vdp (5246) Vdp 5246 is also used on model 2s So, the grail item is a model 1 that plays these games. There are only 3 bios versions that are any use: 2.4 which is hang on and safari hunt (and includes snail maze) 3.4 which is hang on but no safari hunt Alex Kidd version So we talked about production date and this can be found to a point in the serial number, the board is a VA3 which is thought to have entered production circa September 89 The second number of the serial number needs to be 0 for 1990, 1 for 1991 or if you like gambling 9 for 89 Hope this sheds some light on what will work and what will not. I had seen that thread at SMSpower from years ago, but didn't know if it was the same since he seemed to be talking about running them as roms on an everdrive. So sounds like the serial will determine what systems can/can't play the Codemaster's titles. Just wondering if this has been reliably confirmed that anything from 1990 or beyond can play these games? I never was aware there was a difference in the graphics chips until this point. It's also interesting Phil has a Missile defence system that plays these games, just seem to be a lot of conflicting information on the subject.
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 13, 2021 12:24:08 GMT
I just tried a couple of Codemasters games into my 50hz sms1 with hang on/safari hunt built in and they work fine including the unreleased roms. I guess by 1993 most people would be be buying new games for their SMS2's and retailers wouldn't have had that many returns... Hi Phil, can you check the model number from below the system please? Be interesting to see if the model number is the same as my (not working) Hangon/Safari Hunt system.
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 13, 2021 1:13:48 GMT
LOL, yep, I wouldn't have kept that either!
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 13, 2021 0:52:19 GMT
The code masters games use a slightly higher resolution pal mode. This wasn't part of the original graphics chip. The games won't play properly in NTSC/60HZ. There are Model 1 consoles with the later graphics chip in them, I found models with Hang on and Safari Hunt built in would work fine. Hi Playgen! long time no speak, hope you are doing good these days! It's interesting you manged to get it to work with Hangon/Safari Hunt model, no such luck for me!
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 13, 2021 0:24:42 GMT
Hey Phil, it just goes to show every day is school day.
I just find this so bizarre to be honest, I'm sure I played Micro Machines before on SMS1 and also on my Megadrive 1 with MS convertor, but I couldn't have. I started with a 1988 "Dixons Exclusive" system that had no game built in, but came with Hang on/Safari hunt combo cartridge. Later I had a MD1 and SMS convertor. I do think I used to play on an old SMS 1 with Alex Kidd built in, so that may explain things.
I'm now thinking this must have been quite a mistake for Codemasters, there must have been repercussions with sales and a large number of customer returns. I know Dizzy and Cosmic Spacehead came out in 1993, but to make this mistake again a year later with Micromachines is bizarre. It may go some way to explain the apparent scarcity of these CodeMaster's titles. I realise the SMS 2 install base was probably much larger at this time, but there was still plenty of SMS1s floating around at this point.
Here's my list of what's has and hasn't worked. Maybe we can grow this list for future reference.
1988 SMS 1 with Hangon/Safari Hunt built in. Model 3005-5-A (PAL-I)
- Not working after Codemasters Splash screen in Cosmic Spacehead or Micro Machines. Dizzy shows a pink screen with garbled characters from insertion.
1986 SMS 1 with no preinstalled game. Model 3010 (NTSC) - Not working after Codemasters Splash screen in Cosmic Spacehead or Micro Machines. Dizzy shows a pink screen with garbled characters from power on.
1988 SMS 1 with Missile Defense 3D built-in. Model 3005-05-C (PAL-I)
- Not working after Codemasters Splash screen in Cosmic Spacehead or Micro Machines. Dizzy shows a pink screen with garbled characters from power on.
Megadrive 1 Model 1600-05 with SMS convertor Model 1620 (PAL-I)
- Not working at all, blank screen when powered on. High Pitched humming sound heard.
Megadrive 2 Model MK-1631-50 with SMS Convertor 2 Model MK-1621-50 (PAL-I)
- Not working at all, blank screen when powered on.
SMS II with Sonic built-in. Model 3006-05A (PAL-I)
- Working with Cosmic Spacehead, Micro Machines and Fantastic Dizzy
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 12, 2021 17:12:58 GMT
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 12, 2021 17:10:51 GMT
Updating my wee list that's getting scored off nicely
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Post by Sinistral on Mar 12, 2021 17:09:09 GMT
Looks like It's now listed on eBay. These seem to be uncommon in the UK, but more common in the rest of Europe. It's a nice set, but to be honest, I don't dig the Model 2.
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