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Post by Stan on Nov 25, 2006 20:54:24 GMT
I was posting this in the mod section, but I figured, what the hell, we're a community, so let's do this together. I want to put together a list here of questions I'll be posing for the inner Sega mastermind I'm interviewing soon. Ask anything, but remember it must pertain to the NTSC market. As far as I know, they know little about other markets. They did work on Alf and translations and such, but know nothing about Smurfs 2 or anything like that. Post questions and we'll make a list here. I'll start with the list we currently have and let you guys have at it.
1. Where are you from and what first got you into video games? 2. What led you to Sega? 3. What was your first job at Sega? 4. What would you consider to be your greatest achievement while working for Sega? 5. Did you take any part in advertising? 6. Which games that you helped program were you particularly pround of? Disappointed with? 7. Most SMS fans consider Alf to be a general failure. Since you had first hand experience in the creation of this game, could you shed some light on its history? Was it a port of the IBM version? Were you faced with time constraints? 8. Which games did you produce? 9. Fans know of a few US releases that were mentioned (some even displayed in catalogs), but never released. The two most frequently mentioned are Woody Pop and Pat Riley Basketball. The latter exists in prototype form, but no one has yet found anything pertaining to the former. What do you know about these titles? Pat Riley, for example, appears to be nearly complete and much better than Great Basketball but was never finished. Why? Are there any other titles that were considered for release in America and perhaps were even partially programmed? Were there any games slated for production that may have had storylines completed or write-ups, but yet were never taken further? 10. I'd be interested to hear what kind of print runs games generalyl had - in a thread at SMS Power, the Monopoly programmer said that the first run of carts (with the Mono Poly label) was 50,000 copies - was this typical? What games had the highest/lowest print-runs? How many different runs did a typical game go through?
11. Does he have any idea how many of the "US" versions of Sonic were released?
12. Probably a long-shot, but it might be worth asking if he knows anything about Mah-Jong - why was this the only game that seems to have been made specifically for an Asian audience? Were others planned? Was it sold just in Hong Kong, or anywhere else?
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Post by Kenneth on Nov 25, 2006 21:16:53 GMT
What were the relations between sega us and sega japan meanwhile ? Was sega US free to do whatever they wanted (as the master system was dead in japan), or did they have to do what the big bosses in japan said ?
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krooper13
Sonic the Hedgehog
Had it all and sold it, stupid economics.
Posts: 3,058
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Post by krooper13 on Nov 25, 2006 23:48:45 GMT
It might be worth asking about Smurfs 2, but only on the exceptional offchance he can shed some light.
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Post by rupert on Nov 26, 2006 11:36:06 GMT
1) Was the Sports Pad controller and it's associated games embarrising for all concerned? 2) Were there any other games in the Pipeline for use with the Sports Pad? 3) What was the estiamted production run of James Buster Douglas Boxing? 4) Was there much corraspandance between yourselves and Tec Toy or did they just get on with doing there own thing?
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Post by playgeneration on Nov 26, 2006 11:44:30 GMT
Does he know of any games that were in development but not released? - possible prototypes
Accessories that didnt come out - such as the planned Floppy disk drive
What were his favorite sms games, does he still have some?
Does he have any unique items? - any photos would be cool
Ask him who else worked at Sega at the time, and if he is still in contact with them - could lead to other people to find out information from
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Post by Policenaut on Nov 27, 2006 3:47:51 GMT
Just few titles are exclusive to the US market, why SoA didn't look for European titles that were great hits and bring them to US market? I know that some titles might not have appeal in US, like Ottifants but several others like Robocop, Ayrton Senna's Monaco GP2 and way lot others would have been great titles for the NSTC market.
Were you working at SoA during the 8-bit to 16-bit transition? If yes, how was the atmosphere during that period?
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Post by psychofox on Nov 28, 2006 10:52:58 GMT
Could ask him what the best selling game of all time on the SMS was?;
Ana worst selling game?
Be interesting if he had any figures for this too
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Post by playgeneration on Nov 28, 2006 10:55:46 GMT
Isnt Sonic 2 the best selling sms game?, im sure ive read that somewhere
And wouldnt worst selling be Smurfs2
Since this guy worked at Sega of America, im doubting he will know of any sms stuff after 91/92 whenever it died there
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Post by psychofox on Nov 28, 2006 11:35:39 GMT
Not in America!
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Post by playgeneration on Nov 28, 2006 11:44:10 GMT
Not the best selling sms game of all time then, just the best selling in America . Ive got no idea what that might be, After Burner perhaps, and worst selling probably Buster Douglas
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Post by psychofox on Nov 28, 2006 11:57:49 GMT
As all questions related only to the NTSC market then best selling game of all time is still correct I think you're right about After Burner, or perhaps Out Run, NTSC copies of that seem to appear everywhere too.....
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Post by Stan on Nov 29, 2006 2:50:25 GMT
Sure, why not ask him that, it would be interesting to see if he knows and the answer may be surprising.
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Post by Stan on Dec 13, 2006 15:07:33 GMT
Okay, folks, I've asked my questions just right now and I'll probably get a response in a few days or a week or so. I think I've covered everything possible, but if you think of anything else let me know. Here are the questions I asked:
1. Where are you from and do you have any memories from your youth concerning video games?
2. Where did you go to college and did you study anything in reference to video games? If not, what did you study?
3. How did you first get connected with Sega?
4. What got you your first job with Sega? What did you do (I know you kind of mentioned this before, but give me as much as you want so I have it in one email)?
5. Did you take any part in advertising?
6. Did you help with programming? How much part did you play in the release of games (if any)?
7. Which games were you particularily fond with working on? Which were you disappointed with and why?
8. Since I know you helped with Alf, I need to ask this. Most SMS fans consider Alf to be a poor title overall. Since you had first hand experience in the creation of this game, could you shed some light on its history? Was it a port of the IBM version? Were you faced with time constraints?
9. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement while working with Sega?
10. What was your worst experience working with Sega?
11. How did you feel about Tonka's attempt at marketing the SMS in the United States, which many fans consider to be one of the key factors in its downfall there?
12. Did Sega of America have any major problems with Nintendo? How did the company cope with the literal monopoly held by the NES in the states?
13. Did you have any contact with Nintendo at any point during the Master System's run in the US? What about?
14. Whenever the SMS was beginning to lose its fanbase in the US, how did you feel? How long did you work for Sega after they ended their system on the NTSC market and moved on to the Genesis?
15. Did you work with the Genesis at all?
16. Fans know of a few games slated for release or that appeared in magazines in the US, but which were never released? These include Woody Pop and Pat Riley Basketball (the latter which exists in nearly complete prototype form). Do you know anything about them or their history?
17. Do you know of any other games that were intended to be released or perhaps were even worked on some but never saw actual production or even programming?
18. Did you have any ideas or worked on any games that were later canceled?
19. Are there any foreign titles that were considered for release but were also canceled? Some fans wonder about this since there were a number of incredible games released in Europe that never saw the light of day in the US (such as Asterix).
20. Many fans wonder about the decision to release many of the great sports titles since all of them were not the best of games. Only three are really consider worth the effort to play, including Great Volleyball, so many fans wonder why Sega decided to release these games in America instead of going the route they did with titles like Joe Montana Football and James Buster Douglas Boxing. Why wasn't more of an effort put into releasing games like this and why was the great series decided on?
21. Speaking of the greats, many fans wonder why Great Golf (NTSC) was released here when the Japanese version was clearly superior, though the former is one of the best three great games. Do you know anything about this?
22. Do you know anything about the mispelling of Monopoly on a number of Monopoly cartridges? Some say Mono Poly, and others say Monopoly. Do you happen to know the print run of either of these?
23. What was the best selling title for the SMS in the US and the worst selling title?
24. Which game saw the most production and which game saw the least production (many fans assume its James Buster Douglas Knock-Out Boxing)?
25. Why did Sega decided, near the end, to release games like Spider-Man and Sonic the Hedgehog for the SMS in import format? Do you know how many of these three titles (Sonic the Hedgehog, Spider-Man and Strider) were released in the US? Were there any others?
26. What were the relations between Sega in the US and Sega of Japan? Was Sega of America free to work on its own for the most part?
27. What was the general opinino of the Sega Sports Pad? Many fans consider it to be a useless controller, which is evident from the lack of titles, all of which are nearly impossible to play using it. Do you know anything about this periphreal and its history in the US?
28. Were any other games being considered to use this pad? Many fans wonder why something like Woody Pop, which would have worked perfectly for it, were not considered.
29. Did Sega of America ever have any contact with TecToy, the powerhouse that made the SMS a household name in Brazil?
30. Do you know of any accessories (controllers, system add-ons, etc.) that were being considered for release but never saw the light of day or may have been released in prototype format?
31. What was your favorite game of all time?
32. Do you have any unique items relating to your work at Sega or any rare items never released?
33. Who were some of the major figures you worked with during your stay at Sega of America?
34. Did you ever have any contact with Sega of Europe?
35. Was there any attempt by Sega of America to file a lawsuit against Nintendo for their notorious business practices during the 8-Bit era?
36. Many fans wonder about the Psycho Fox connection to Kid Kool for the NES. Why are these games so similar?
37. Though this is probabaly a long-shot, do you know anything about Smurfs 2 (Smurfs Travel the World) or Mah-Jong, two of the most difficult to find SMS releases? The first was apparently only released in the Czech Republic and the other only in Hong Kong. Why did Sega, if you know, release only a single game on the Hong Kong market?
38. What was your fondest memory working at Sega?
39. When did you finally leave Sega and explain what you currently do?
40. Any plans of working with video games in the future?
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Post by anagrama on Dec 13, 2006 15:45:52 GMT
Sounds good man Couple of comments though: 8. Since I know you helped with Alf, I need to ask this. Most SMS fans consider Alf to be a poor title overall. Since you had first hand experience in the creation of this game, could you shed some light on its history? Was it a port of the IBM version? Were you faced with time constraints? There's a pretty informative thread at SMS Power ( here) where Kevin Seghetti (Alf's programmer) gave the low-down on this one. This is covered in the same SMS Power thread as above - apparently there were 50,000 copies of the original Mono Poly run, which also include a hidden credits screen that Sega insisted was removed from later runs. That one's pretty simple - they're both developed by Vic Tokai Thanks to all the recently-surfaced copies, we've now got pretty good circumstantial evidence that Smurfs 2 saw some limited distribution in at least France & Italy aswell as the Czech Republic, and possibly Spain too.
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Post by Stan on Dec 13, 2006 19:02:44 GMT
I want to see what he verifies. Also, I'd like to get his opinion about Alf as well.
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