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Post by Estimated Prophet on Jul 25, 2009 9:39:38 GMT
Here we go with an arcade classic and superb two player game: Quartet. Why is a two player game named Quartet you ask?
Quartet was first released as an arcade game in 1986.
It was Sega's answer to the extremely popular Gauntlet with "four-player group action." The arcade flyer: Quartet was later repackaged for the arcade as a smaller two player version called Quartet 2 which wasn't nearly as popular. The big difference was that you could switch between charcters mid game. You could switch between fast and weak, slow and powerful or just average. But without four simultaneous players the difficulty level skyrocketed. So now that you know all about the origin and exactly what "the sound of gunfire can only mean"... on to the master system version(s). Quartet was released in 1987 for the master system in North America and Europe, shortly after the release of the system itself. It was released in Japan the same year with the much less misleading title of Double Target. Sega chose Mary and Edgar from the arcade version, leaving pretty boy Joe and the porn mustache sporting Lee on the sidelines. So if you want to play as Joe or Lee it just isn't happening unless you time travel back to the 80's or fork out some serious cash for the cabinet itself. Edgar underwent a few dubious changes in his move to the home console market. First off, Edgar's name was changed to Edger for no apparent reason. Secondly, he experienced a Michael Jacksonesque hue change. Although the Double Target box shows him in all of his arcade nubian glory the actual gameplay shows the ravages of vitiligo just like the NTSC and PAL versions. Edgar----------------Edger Really, Sega? Couldn't find it in the palette? Other than the obvious cover differences, Quartet and Double Target deviate from one another in the character graphics for Mary. In Double Target Mary sports more of a schoolgirl look with black hair and a pony tail. In Quartet she has brown, shoulder length mom hair. You gotta love cultural differences. Gameplay does not differ between the two versions however. Eastern Mary--------------Western Mary Tec Toy apparently chose to pass on this one. Although they did manage produce the only other Sega game starting with the letter Q and it's a good one, but not quite good enough to take the title for best Q game on the master system. As for the gameplay itself, it is solid. Lot's of jumping/flying and shooting. Moving fast is of the essence as enemies respawn rapidly... and there are hidden goodies in every stage which is always a bonus. While enjoyable and beatable as a one player game, the best way to play is in two player mode. It can be rough at first with one player hanging back and the other charging forward as there's only one jet pack per level, but as play continues you will get more in sync and hopefully alternate jet pack possession between levels. The cooperative gaming is ridiculously fun... even when it digresses into a all out competition for the jet pack which will happen at some point... trust me. Here's a side by side comparison of the master system and arcade versions: Not too shabby So now that you know about the awesomeness go play the best master system game starting with the letter Q. If you don't already have it you can get it for less than $20 (£12, €14, $25aus) on ebay at any given point in time... probably less. Enjoy! |
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Post by grolt on Jul 25, 2009 16:34:15 GMT
Awesome write-up, and it was great seeing those comparisons and especially the shots of the arcade cab. That picture of Lee is hilarious. Man, his mustache rules.
As for the game, I definitely concur, it's a blast and for my money the best two player game on the console. The port itself is quite notable too, it really looks comparable to the arcade and plays that way, too. I believe Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars was made on the same board, and that too was a sexy port. I'd like to know what other games were ported from that architecture.
Did you guys get to the bonus level? Fun stuff. You can get to it on the second level, I believe. It's been a few months since I've played this, but I really gave it a good go. It gets quite tough at the end, the final boss is a real beast. The ending is cool, though, and it's definitely worth sticking out. I've never fully played the game two player - I just got my girlfriend to go it for the first level, so I'm hoping this time I can force her to tag along for the rest. The only way you can actually use the level select code is in the two player mode, which is a bit of a drag.
While the rest of the music doesn't entirely hold up to such a high standard, the level one track is really one of my favorite SMS tunes. So lively!
One other tangent in this stream of consciousness response: does anyone actually have any cabs of these old SEGA arcade games that were ported to the SMS? I've been searching for Wonder Boy/Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars/Quartet for over a year now, and never a hit. I'd love to have one of those bad boys in my place, or even just to see the artwork on the front and sides (thanks again for those shots of the Quartet cab, Proph).
Awesome pick, play this game, everyone!
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Post by Stan on Jul 25, 2009 17:52:25 GMT
This is one game I only ever really turned on and that was it. I'll try it out this week and give it a whirl, it's one of the few games like this on the SMS. I always thought they should have changed the name to Duet or something. I knew about the step-down thing awhile ago, but why retain the name? It's not a game that was very well-known to begin with, at least where I came from. Gauntlet was THE four-player game.
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Post by grolt on Jul 25, 2009 18:06:08 GMT
How many kids back in the day actually knew what a "quartet" was, anyway? Keeping the title just retains whatever association there is to the arcade game itself. I dig it.
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Post by Estimated Prophet on Aug 1, 2009 8:29:17 GMT
Awesome write-up, and it was great seeing those comparisons and especially the shots of the arcade cab. That picture of Lee is hilarious. Man, his mustache rules. Yeah, the omission of Lee is a crime. Did you guys get to the bonus level? Fun stuff. I vaguely remember that from my childhood. How is it accessed? I always thought they should have changed the name to Duet or something. I knew about the step-down thing awhile ago, but why retain the name? It's not a game that was very well-known to begin with, at least where I came from. Gauntlet was THE four-player game. Well, the Japanese covered that angle with "Double Target." Like Grolt said, they retained the title because it was a fairly successful arcade game. After it's release (a year after Gauntlet) it was in almost every arcade that had Gauntlet. So while you (and, it would seem, just about everybody else) were busy playing Gauntlet, there was most likely a Quartet cab sitting in a dark corner of the very same arcade begging you to partake in the Sega goodness. One other tangent in this stream of consciousness response: does anyone actually have any cabs of these old SEGA arcade games that were ported to the SMS? I've been searching for Wonder Boy/Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars/Quartet for over a year now, and never a hit. I'd love to have one of those bad boys in my place, or even just to see the artwork on the front and sides (thanks again for those shots of the Quartet cab, Proph). Contrary to my previous statement that Quartet was widely distributed (it really was), it is borderline impossible to find the full cab in great condition without heading off to very specific message boards and crossing your fingers. As for Alex and Wonderboy, the boards show up at least twice a year but I have never seen a dedicated cab. |
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Post by maxtakeshi on Aug 3, 2009 23:36:29 GMT
Has anybody else noticed that there is a small section of the music from level one that sounds identical to a section from Sonic's theme tune from Sonic Adventure? Quartet video - Check out the part of the tune at 1:23 onwards... Sonic Adventure - Chorus that begins at 1:22. I always thought it sounded familiar. Recycling from the past. |
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Post by grolt on Aug 4, 2009 3:31:59 GMT
I vaguely remember that from my childhood. How is it accessed? There are actually two bonus levels. I found out about them through this site, naturally. There's a good thread here documenting both: click |
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Post by brianvgplayer on Aug 6, 2009 21:02:47 GMT
I just got this game from blue rose video games to help fill the 2p void (I also ordered Bubble Bobble from ebay, which should arrive soon). I haven't played much yet, but I like it so far. Good music too.
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Post by grolt on Aug 7, 2009 6:09:46 GMT
I just got this game from blue rose video games to help fill the 2p void (I also ordered Bubble Bobble from ebay, which should arrive soon). I haven't played much yet, but I like it so far. Good music too. The opening theme rocks all else, I wish the rest of the game music could compare. Still, it's a good musical experience, for sure, and for one of the early games on the system it definitely stands out. |
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Post by Stan on Aug 9, 2009 21:10:10 GMT
Tonight I'm going to finally sit down to play this baby after saying I was before. Really looking forward to it since I never actually gave it more than a few minutes go. My friend is coming over, so I'm going to try to convince him to play it with me. Would be good to try this thing out with two.
Edit: I have to say thus far I'm quite dissapointed in this game. I think it's a very weak effort. Again with the reverse button arrangement, but we got used to that quick enough. The lack of power-ups makes it seem very dry, and the constant respawning of enemies with no way to stop it can get plain annoying at certain times. For example, really got tired of those eye things in the second level that you can hit unless they're open, but as soon as they open they shoot you and to get a shot in you have to get hit as well. You have to take at least one out to get the second star.
The enemies are very blah to me. Some of them look cool, but most have that Maze Hunter 3D 'something-or-rather-blob-thing' look to them. Not much thought in their design, though the bosses are a tad better. The co-op feature is cool for the most part, though I have to say there were a number of times when one of us would be jumping a pit and would drag back a bit longer, causing the other to hit and fall in the pit. Annoying, but not hard to get used to.
The challenge seems a bit much, but not for good reasons, and what Proph said is right. There's so much moving most of the time that you can't really do much more than move and taking the time to kill enemies and collect points for your life ends up making you lose more than you collect, so that bit's a tad pointless. I like the life bar idea, but the fact that you start the next level with the SAME amount as the last one is lame. Especially the first time we played. My friend was down to about 135 or something and as soon as the next level started he just died. STUPID. Good idea, but they should have tweaked it a bit. We played for about an hour or so and got tired of it. What's the deal with the freaking second level? We found the key and the damn door refused to open. What the hell's with that faeces?
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Post by radcow on Aug 15, 2009 16:02:56 GMT
dont want to say anything to bad other wise I'll start sounding like the angrey video gaming nerd
but what the hell this game sucks ass if I had brought this with my birthday money when I was a kid I would been pissed off and properly broken it on purpose just so I could get a refund.I will say no more LOL
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Post by radcow on Aug 15, 2009 16:04:03 GMT
the review of the game kicked ass so much detail
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Post by Estimated Prophet on Sept 6, 2009 4:48:28 GMT
So that's it? It's just Grolt and myself who like Quartet?
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Post by schlingel on Sept 6, 2009 12:15:37 GMT
Quartet is also one of my favourite games and i always wanted to chose it as my game in the sms game club  , because i believe that it is a very underated game. I think that it is one of the best sms games. It has a great music, good controls, nice graphics and an awesome gameplay overall and even some nice bonus levels (never knew that they existed untill now)! |
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Post by Stan on Sept 6, 2009 14:44:36 GMT
I don't care about these shite secrets and such. Don't see what the draw to this game is, the gameplay is poorly balanced, the controls are a bit shaky in my opinion, the respawning of enemies if freaking annoying most of the time and your characters don't move fast enough. We tried it yet again and said screw it. Nothing beats Gauntlet for two-player action.
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, because i believe that it is a very underated game.