Son Of General Retro Discussion

Pyongyang · 23-03-2012 2:02pm

Seriously? I thought someone had been at the console and super bodged it. Were Mega Drive consoles really that shoddy on the inside? I thought the LED would have been tidied up too. Just bending the legs seemed a bit odd to me.

Ah well, it all looks absolutely smashing now so happy days.

Do those switches do that thing where it changes the language in games too?

Myrddin · 23-03-2012 2:05pm

Pyongyang wrote: »

Seriously? I thought someone had been at the console and super bodged it. Were Mega Drive consoles really that shoddy on the inside? I thought the LED would have been tidied up too. Just bending the legs seemed a bit odd to me.

Ah well, it all looks absolutely smashing now so happy days.

It's just the manufacturing process, you know the ring where it would say 'High Definition Graphics'? Well that's one example, that ring is fit into the console & then melted slightly on the inside so it no longer fits back out again.

Do those switches do that thing where it changes the language in games too?

Yep, the language one which is the one towards the rear will activate JAP language in games that support it. SoR becomes Bare Knuckle etc etc

o1s1n · 23-03-2012 2:09pm

Pyongyang wrote: »

Do those switches do that thing where it changes the language in games too?

It's a bit of a myth that it changes the language. Some games were coded for dual regions. They have Japanese and English titles in them. (So the Streets of Rage start screen becomes Bare Knuckle, The Revenge of Shinobi/Super Shinobi etc) - you won't be accessing Japanese bulk text in games or anything like that.

Unfortunately there are only a few which have this feature too. You should look at that switch as more of a novelty than anything useful. The real meat of the mod is the 60hz switch. Absolute godsend so it is.

Pyongyang · 23-03-2012 2:16pm

So Darius II doesn't become 'The Fish Game That's Better Than Retr0gamer's Favourite Salmonhamburger' then?

o1s1n · 23-03-2012 2:29pm

Kid Icarus Uprising AR cards available on the Nintendo shop, 2 packs for only 250 points.

Not available in shops. May be a future collectable

I just bought 6 packs. Needed to spend those points on something.

Optimus Prime · 23-03-2012 2:57pm

I had 250 points so got a pack myself. I have nearly 5000 points on another account i setup. might try get that Super Mario Bros statue.

johnny_ultimate · 23-03-2012 3:31pm

Yeah had 250 spare (after the great Wii Points massacre of '09) so picked up a pack, despite its confusing postcode system. Really should register my other points.

Picked up the game too. Actually getting a bit irked by Nintendo's recent fondness for awkwardly sized cardboard boxes :pac:

Mr.Saturn · 23-03-2012 3:43pm

I finally got to try out that arcade on Goodge Street Johnny Ultimate recommended a while back. It was brilliant, just an experience all to itself. Unemulatable by home-consoling, really. It's easy to see why the genre waned as a business model, mind. Most cabs could be played off one coin for ages.

I'm going back soon, needless to add. Thanks again for the heads up.

johnny_ultimate · 23-03-2012 3:48pm

Pyongyang recommended it to me, so just paying it forward

Glad you enjoyed it, that Darius Burst cab is a beaut.

CiDeRmAn · 23-03-2012 5:04pm

I have 4550 ninty points and I'm holding out for the Game&Watch they have there, although the Nintendo Laptop Bag looks tres nice as well.

Atavan-Halen · 23-03-2012 7:20pm

I'm trying to gather enough for the game and watch collection on the ds. Not easy when they keep expiring my points :mad:

ghostchant · 23-03-2012 7:34pm

Got the game and watch:ball reissue a few months ago, have just shy of 3000 points still and considering holding out for the game and watch ds collection. Both collections can be gotten in Japan fairly cheap though, and are relatively easy to find...those kid Icarus cards do look tempting.

Pyongyang · 23-03-2012 8:36pm

http://www.retrothing.com/2012/03/super-morrissey-bros-1.html

Optimus Prime · 23-03-2012 11:07pm

ghostchant wrote: »

Got the game and watch:ball reissue a few months ago, have just shy of 3000 points still and considering holding out for the game and watch ds collection. Both collections can be gotten in Japan fairly cheap though, and are relatively easy to find...those kid Icarus cards do look tempting.

I dont know if i should go for the game and watch ball or the mario statue, I have the gold zelda statue. I had it on a shelf for a while, but i packed it up last week, so im not sure about more statues.

Pyongyang · 23-03-2012 11:21pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Pyongyang recommended it to me, so just paying it forward Glad you enjoyed it, that Darius Burst cab is a beaut.

I was hoping to finally get to play it as I'm away on business next week. Alas I'm skipping London and I'll be in Jersey instead for a few days. Was hoping to stop in to play it.

Ah well it will have to wait until July. I'll be playing it on this next week instead. Here's my unboxing video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA8eSzzsawA

ghostchant · 24-03-2012 1:46am

keithgeo wrote: »

I dont know if i should go for the game and watch ball or the mario statue, I have the gold zelda statue. I had it on a shelf for a while, but i packed it up last week, so im not sure about more statues.

My original plan was to get the mario statue and had the points for it, but when the game and watch came out I couldn't resist. I just figured that if I saw the statue in a shop I'd probably leave it, while I'd jump at the game and watch.

CiDeRmAn · 24-03-2012 9:59am

It's insane, just looking at the Castle of Shikigami II wiki page and was wondering if there was a Shikigami prequel, to merit the "II".
Now this is the original cover art...

not bad, no doubt of the games origin, the games characters nice and prominent.

Now for the prequel, Shikigami no Shiro,

Again, nice cover....

Anyone care to guess what this looked like in the US and Europe?

Mobile Light Force 2!

Completely unrelated to the game inside the cover art is disastrous, well at least it's art is original, if poor....

Boom!
They didn't even try to make new art, ,just re-purposed this muck from this release...
Hmm, I wonder what that game is like...
Well, you probably know it better as....
PA.05901.001.jpg

Madness, isn't it!
Oh, they butchered Gunbird, taking out cinemas, renaming game characters with the localisation teams names, awful hack job.
At least with Shikigami no Shiro everything is in there, just the cover and the like is dreadful.

Atavan-Halen · 24-03-2012 12:08pm

Thus verifying why I prefer to buy NTSC-J where I can.

CiDeRmAn · 24-03-2012 1:00pm

Oh, in my boredom this morning I picked up Shikigami no Shiro for 13 euro, posted, from our German masters, courtesy of ebay.
Loads of shooters on my play list at the moment!

Played Deus Ex return of the thingy or whatever it's called and I'm finding it boring tbh...

johnny_ultimate · 24-03-2012 4:35pm

Quite impressed by Kid Icarus, but it requires some serious 'hand-claw' action! Maybe that stand isn't useless after all *shakes off cramp*

o1s1n · 24-03-2012 5:22pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

It's insane, just looking at the Castle of Shikigami II wiki page and was wondering if there was a Shikigami prequel, to merit the "II".
Now this is the original cover.

WTF? That's an insanely bad rebrand! Possibly the worst I've ever seen.

Just bought them both on ebay for really cheap. Have to compare the two of these in person.

CiDeRmAn · 24-03-2012 6:37pm

I seem to be taking over the cheaper end of the great PS2 shooter market, leave the expensive posh stuff to Pyongyang and Steve SI, or rather they let their butler do it for them!
I wonder if the courier is allowed bring the games to the front door or do they hand it in at the gate lodge....

CiDeRmAn · 24-03-2012 6:41pm

o1s1n wrote: »

WTF? That's an insanely bad rebrand! Possibly the worst I've ever seen.

Just bought them both on ebay for really cheap. Have to compare the two of these in person.

What did you buy?
The two Mobile Light Force games?

I mean, this brings up a point, how often have we passed by great games simply because some lemon in a marketing dept. was too busy looking at porn to bother making decent box art?
Do they get these games in a batch and rush them out, not knowing what they are selling, hoping to capture that all important Shrek Kart Racing/Army Men Combat Ironing budget section of the games market?
Interestingly, the various Psikyo titles, coming in to me from France, often have Prix Mini on the front, which means budget title, which is nice....

o1s1n · 24-03-2012 8:17pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

What did you buy?
The two Mobile Light Force games?

Yep!

It has to be the worst localization ever. I mean not only did they totally **** with the game and art and use the same stupid cover TWICE (I've seen games use snip from other covers, but not the whole artwork like this)..they commited an even worse crime by trying to lump two different (and well known) japanese shmups together.

And to finish it all off, we're talking ps1/ps2 generation. An era when 'weird games from Japan' weren't really being butchered as much as the previous gen and were being released properly.

Just..why?! Makes no sense. None.

Doge · 24-03-2012 8:36pm

I've been using the RGB scart cable on the Mega Drive a few days now (non-consecutive days), and its only until I played Super Hang On today, when I realized a HUGE difference in the colour!

I can't get over how more vibrant it is compared to RF which looks a bit dull.

Super Hang On uses a lot of solid colours so when playing the game its almost like looking at a colour palette at times, and I think this is what made it far more noticeable!

I only noticed a subtle difference before now, well, I never really did an A-B comparison i suppose.

I could almost taste those colours they look so damn good though!

There's some very nice backgrounds in the game, I think it really makes some good use of varying colour per stage, its definitely a top game to get on a Mega Games cartridge imo!

I absolutely love and always loved the simplicity and fun gameplay!

o1s1n · 24-03-2012 8:42pm

If you're only noticing a small difference over RF, you must have it in the wrong scart socket.

Is there any dot crawl?

Like this -

If there is then you're not seeing RGB but composite. Composite is still awful.

Doge · 24-03-2012 8:50pm

o1s1n wrote: »

If you're only noticing a small difference over RF, you must have it in the wrong scart socket.

Is there any dot crawl?

Like this -

If there is then you're not seeing RGB but composite. Composite is still awful.

Its in Scart 1 of the Trinitron which is the only Scart socket that takes RGB, and the channel/input is set to RGB too.

TBH I was playing it casually from a distance since I made the changeover, and the first thing I noticed was nicer colour. Super hang on really brought that home though!

I probably had forgotten how bad the dot crawl /distortion was with RF, so took that for granted, but yeah it's really sharp and clear also!

I'm just totally tripping out on the colour and it actually distracted me from noticing the other improvements!

It's certainly giving the MD a new lease of life!

Doge · 24-03-2012 9:09pm

Actually one stange thing I have noticed since I've done the 60Hz Mod,
is that there's fierce slowdown in Sonic 1!
And not just when you hit spikes either.

I think it mainly happens when I jump.

The music plays faster like it should at 60hz, and the game initially plays faster, but after about 10-15 seconds it slows down like hell.

It's the only game I've noticed that does this.

I'm playing it with the everdrive MD btw.

I think theres 2 ROMs for the game on my memory card, I'm wondering now if I loaded a proto ROM by accident or something!

Must do moar investigating!

Myrddin · 24-03-2012 10:57pm

I've seen that happen before, usually resetting the console sorts it. Make sure the region switch is getting a good contact & the 50Hz circuit is properly broken.

Pyongyang · 24-03-2012 11:07pm

EnterNow wrote: »

I've seen that happen before, usually resetting the console sorts it. Make sure the region switch is getting a good contact & the 50Hz circuit is properly broken.

Yeah EnterNow, make sure my Asian Mega Drive region and hz mods are getting a good contact and the circuit is properly broken!

Son Of General Retro Discussion

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