GhaleonUnlimited

Man, someone needs to being the SATURN analog to every freaking console, starting with the DC.

The plug on the Saturn analog is mysteriously detachable so I wonder if something could be done with that.

@Badboykilla187 There are like 10,000 games for the Saturn in Japan lol. I guess it's easy to quibblr about relative terms like "successful" but it seemed to make SEGA money there, perhaps we can leave it at that.

The Saturn CPU situatipn is an infamous mess that still poses emulation / FPGA challenges today, from what I read. I think saying "it was easy to make the DC BC w/ Saturn" is tinfoil-hat territory my friend haha.

Is Doom64 well regarded now? At the time I don't remember many publications having much to say about it besides the sprites are a little odd. I played it in college but didn't give it much a chance really.

Thanks for the feature!

This would be awesome to add your own cards into this to be the franchises. An all-SEGA one would be my preference haha

Sorry to be a negative Nancy but you really can't say it's impossible for to be the best way if it can't play SEGA classics yet!

Or ebay, since JP game stores are often dumping their stuff online. I got 2 VB games in box/manual for less than $20 apiece this year. Vertical Force (as pictured here) and Teleroboxer

Social media rewards being a overblown toolbag, and since anyone can make YouTube videos and purport to be an expert, it's the last place I would look for a real history lesson in gaming.

I think we re all products of our environment too, so if you grew up with a 64 as a little kid, you probably think these games are amazing, and not many people are actual historians, meaning you educate yourself on earlier/obscure game systems/computers outside their realm of interest.

HardcoreGaming101 has long been my favorite site on the Internet because it has tons and tons and tons of easily digestible videogame history, with pretty objective writing as well as about the more popular games in history, like the Zeldas and Final Fantasies.

I thought I knew a lot about games because I was lucky enough to be taken to arcades and had a Saturn, lol, but there are waves and waves of games I'd never heard of till this site that are interesting, important, and worth leaning about.

I guess I mean mainly that I think you learn the most by seeking different-but-educated opinions if you really want a breadth of knowledge. If someone is yacking about N64 collectathons or how genius FFVII/KH's stories are, it tells you a lot their critically thinking skills and level of seriousness with the hobby

@Damo Croc was also on Saturn, don't forget

Random: I remember an episode of the Price is Right where this was a prize, and I was just so excited an arcade machine was being given away, let alone Moonwalker.

Cool interview!

@RetroGames I would venture that explaining the concept behind something is not the same as teaching the step-by-step on how to do the thing yourself.

I really enjoyed the Einstein biography "His Life and Universe" because it explained his theories in layman's terms, but that doesn't mean it equipped me to follow up on his theories with my own physics. I would need separate materials to do that and I think it's important to know the difference

If only we got more 2-D games for the 32X. Even just the addition the colors and sprite-scaling of the 32X with the speed of the Genesis processor would have yielded some really cool games?

@RetroGames I think you're getting hung up on labels here. "easy" "hard" whatever.

What matters is the process is possible, and it's documented for those inclined. The "hardest" part of things like this is knowing where to begin.

If you have ideas on how to simply anything, I think that would be really helpful for the author to hear!

Congrats on coming up with the idea and making it happen! I've always wanted to play this but have never made it past the 2nd level.

Also thank you for documenting the process especially. I think it really helps people also start the process when they have an idea like this.

I'll remember this thread if I need it for my presentation at the Strong Musejm's Videogame Hall of Fame next month. They're having a 2-day symposium and accepted my presentation about fans preserving and enhancing games through fanhacking.

I've only hacked with a disassembly so I haven't really thought about what I'm going to do. This might be great for it!

@DestructoDisk I'm not sure what country you're from, but yeah, in the USA I know many a people older than me (I'm 42) who claim to be up on history but don't seem to draw parallels with fascist 20th century leaders and politicians they openly support today. I don't really think it's helpful to call out an age group though because it gives people something to argue about instead of our actual issues and problems, IMO

@DestructoDisk there's not really any reason to attack any age groups here. You probably don't like "young people" saying XYZ about you, and you probably didn't like when the "old" generation complained about you when you were "young". Acting like your generation somehow was the only one to be right about everything both when you were young And old is... A choice you can certainly make.

@profkross This is what I thought of. People are paying out the ass for an emulator PC packaged as the Polymega, when something like this has much more intrinsic value. I hope it's successful.

@GMMXX I don't think most people know facism is these days, much less connect the name of a niche retrogame device to that SS.

Additional fun fact: Sonic! Software Planning purposely tried this multi-books-with-saves-carrying-over thing because they were already planning to do it in what would become Shining Force III! I forget where I read this now but it was from a dev interview. Maybe @sketcz knows?

@euan Thanks for the followup and insight!

I never even thought to check the manual about this and I have the EN and JP vers lol

@euan @euan Thanks for researching this to confirm!

So I can't remember the process since it was 1995 - - is it basically as long as you beat story 2, whenever you reset OR turn off the system, either way book 3 will be accessible? Since folks said they couldn't access it, I'm wondering if there is anything special you had to do to see book 3 without the cart.

I know folks mentioned from their recollection they could not access Book 3 so I'm curious as to what that obstacle might have been. It'd be good to document this process here in case RAM carts are like all dead long in the future lol

Is it worth someone testing with via emu w a PAL version in case that ver has an issue with the process too?

Fear Effect is still just $30, what's a Limited Run edition gonna cost?

And if you really want to play Bubsy you can't track down a cart?

Lol I got Fighting Force loose 2 years ago for $3 or $5

I really appreciate nice re-releases of super - expensive Genesis games and such. I don't really understand buying (licensed) repros when a real copy is cheaper. But I'm not their customer so whatevers

It's RIDICULOUS and insane how much most HDMI mods / retroscaler products costs.

People really deserve entry-level/simple solutions instead of just $150+ options, so hopefully we ll get more of this kind of thing.

@Blast16 On an original CD/cartridge preferably!

@Damo I am not doubting other people have had issues with this, and I understand thinking this is a "when I first played Zelda I swear I could choose between the sword and boomerang", but yeah, I'm ten thousand percent sure we played it without a RAM cart.

Someonr on reddit said that Wikipedia said that without a RAM cart your STATS do not carry over for your characters in Ch 3, and I know that was true for us.

Someone also said SFCD like secret saves something to internal. A SFCD save doesn't literally take up all internal though it's close.

Also maybe possible that the game remembers that you beat both chapters right after you beat Ch 2, but forgets if you turn off the system? This is just a total guess, I have no idea.

I remember being pissed we had to use characters we didn't really like for Ch 3 because our char levels didn't save.

So yeah, I don't doubt what other people are saying from their experience, but videogames are my life and especially renting the system and us playing through it an entire weekend, I wouldn't ever forget this, haha. And I'm 100% sure we didn't get a RAM cart with the rental.

Again, I was playing on a USA (Model 2) setup, unsure if there is a bug/glitch on certain regions /systems /etc

I would love to have this mystery solved lol but not sure what other info I could provide. Puzzling

@Spider-Kev Oh, I saw, and I was trying to alleviate your worries about opening up a console. You really have to try to mess it up or do something insane like leave the iron on a chip to kill your console.

It's just a very helpful thing for retrogames to comfortable with because inevitably there are mods you'll be curious about or maintenance you ll need to perform.

Fans to Capcom:
"You got... paid? "

I love SFTM so much I made an audio CD of it so we can listen to it on the long drive to tournaments lol

Thanks, that sounds interesting!

It's like a regular Mega Drive cart in that I'd have to tear the back label to unscrew it so I'd rather not unless I had to work on the cart, sorry. ;p

The PCB is a little thicker than a normal one though interestingly. Thicker than my Retrobit Gleylancer (the only two reissues/repros I own haha)

LRG though, it would take something really amazing for me to buy anything from them ;p I don't care for their business model, the choice of games, or what the extras are for what they make to each their own though.

I don't care who though but SOMEone needs to reissue more Mega Drive games. Twinkle Tale and Battle Mania 2 prices are insane

This isn't true. At all.

Lol I was just telling Kurt at HG101 about this for our Shining feature (upcoming SEGA book!) because he had added this to the feature.

You can access the 3rd story without a RAM cart on hardware.

I'm 100% sure because my mom let us rent it and a SEGA CD over summer, and my friends and I had to beg her for an extra night because chapter 3 came up after we beat it.

You just start the new chapter and have to delete your previous one.

I mean if you own a SEGA CD you absolutely should have a RAM cart, but the developers didn't lock non-cart owners out of chapter 3.

Edit: I guess I can't speak for the JP or EUR versions, but certainly in the USA version, and I strongly doubt they d be different.

I hope you guys retract this story or add an addendum ;/ one of the many things I hate about the Internet is someone says something when they don't know what they're talking about and years later people think it's a fact.

@bobrocks95 I'd have to open up my Panorama Cotton. If I do I'll post back here. But it seems like a quality release on the surface at least, from the box to manual to cart label, and the tea cup is really nice.

What's 8-bit Music Power?

@Spider-Kev You have to TRY to break something irreplaceably when you're doing basic soldering, like leave the iron tip on the motherboard and go have lunch, lol

If something basic breaks you're going to have to do that anyway.

I thought my first SEGA CD died, so I got another. About 15 years later, after I started soldering, I opened it up and literally just the fuse broke, which takes about 2 min to replace! Some happens with SNESes.

My first solder job was doing an NESRGB. I had no idea what I was doing and certainly didn't do a perfect job, but it works great and my clumsiness and redoing things didn't harm the console in any way.

I was afraid of soldering, and eventually I didn't have anyone around to ask to fix basic buttons and things, so I bit the bullet and taught myself. If you're nervous there are a million youtubes but it's seriously easier than

@Andee Basic soldering is barely a skill. It's nothing to fear. I was afraid of it for like 20 years until I just decided to learn one day to do a NESRGB on my own. If you can play videogames or roast a marshmallow you can easily solder.

If you're into retrogames it can be borderline essential to fix random stuff that happens inevitably: broken buttons, the SNES / SEGA CD fuse dying, not to mention capacitor replacement.

You don't need expensive equipment either! A $10 soldering iron will be everything you need to get started (and if recommend a Radioshack $35 desoldering iron, if you get into it).

The only challenging soldering IMO is working on a CPU-style chips with lots of tiny legs, which for doing most retro stuff you will never need to mess with

@-wc- I wonder if this supports playing imports? If so you can get a JP Saturn even on ebay really cheap! Saturn def will always be my fav system, and there's so many weird awesome JP games to discover now matter how deep I think I've gone into the library

Eff ODEs like that like $250. The monetization of the retrogame hobby right now is ridiculous. Support cheap, open-source, awesome projects!

@KingMike Is it Penguin Adventure? Sitting on my shelf w the logo, 1986

@KitsuneNight Some of the games it turns out are better than anything I heard about when it was new. The stuff I saw covered like Demotion Man was laughable to finally play, but then it has Immercenary, Slayer, and really cool stuff I never heard of.

JP 3DO games are usually not too expensive so I've been getting a few.

@KingMike whaaaaat? I never noticed this! Must verify now lol

@Sketcz I hated when I played MGS3 Subsistence, and the Konami logo was now gone since MGS3

@Sketcz I killed my original 3DO trying the 240p mod (FU RetroRGB, no solder that requires messing with a CPU is "easy"), so I was amazed to learn that a JP model had it already, and I love it too! How awesome would it have been if Playstation 2's had that

@KitsuneNight ah geez you're lucky. My current 3DO can't play burns almost at all.

@Nahhhtendo I mean everything is relative depending on your lifestyle and income. When I'm giving people advice on how to enjoy retrogaming in 2024 I start with the least expensive solution that meets their needs, and you can always go from there. I just don't like to assume, and what's "disposable" income is different for everyone.

@Nahhhtendo Yeah for you, sure, it def made sense.

You said you didn't understand other people having difficulty justifying the cost. So I explained how a person not with a retrogame collection to sell would maybe see the value proportion

@Psykomatik Real hardware will always be better, plus you have the satisfaction of actually owning what you're playing, legally.

I've used emulators, FPGA, and my own hardware/software and outside of subtle differences (usually with sound) they're all pretty similar.

For me it's emotional. I have zero attachment to a digital game, but knowing that I have ownership with a cart/CD, the original manual, OG controller, and experiencing it on a CRT the way they were designed to be, those are all part of what I love about experiencing videogames.

A lot has been made over FPGA but I'm 99% sure most people would not notice the difference. I ve been to gaming events where so-called gamers are running emulators and consoles through laggy LCDs and they can't even tell it looks horrible and is borderline unplayable.

And look at how popular Arcade1UP "cabs" are which look like trash.

So good emulation is plenty good enough for most people.

The coolest thing I like about a Mister is the variety of CRT filters! I like to show my kids games (which I own on cart/CD) on the family TV , and the CRT filters are really impressive.

@Nahhhtendo Most people don't have 5 grand to drop on their hobby... $600 is not an impulse purchase for lot of people. Esp when you can emulate for almost free on a device you probably already own, and most people really can't tell the difference between emu and FPGA.

Lol that's like saying "Why is so hard for people to afford a home? I just downsized my mansion and bought a condo."

And ad to the fact it's a device that isn't plug and play - you have to learn how to set it up and kind of know what you're doing with it.

All in all it's an extremely niche product compared to like a Nintendo or SEGA mini, for a very specific consumer.

Reality cool piece!

@smoreon oh true lol

Cool feature! My grandpa took me to Powerfest... I sucked at Rad Racer but it was an incredible experience for every kid who was there to not only compete but also see rows and rows and rows of Nintendo games, many of which weren't out yet!

Still effing nonsense.

It's so much harder for my wife, who didn't grow up playing videogames, to use a Playstation controller because there's no logical order to the buttons unlike with letters. And my kids (5 and 2) have to look down at the controller every time they press a button.

And by leaving no space for the diagonals, the Dpad is great for cardinal directions but ***** for Street Fighter motions.

I know obviously people are used to it by now but the decisions behind the original pad were totally arbitrary, and besides the grip shape, which is great, it was designed to be different, not better or more intuitive.

Some great system 18 games... That'll be awesome to have them all