[SOLVED] Sonic MegaMix doesn't work with my SegaCD. Anyone know why?

[aclbandit]

There is a FANTASTIC hack (or so I hear) of Sonic 1 released for SegaCD entitled Sonic 1 MegaMix. My friend, who introduced me to it, swears by it. She said just burn it to a CD (comes as an .iso) and play. I was stoked.

Upon burning it at 2x and popping it in, I get the SEGA screen, the disclaimer screen, then a silhouette of the Sonic Retro (ソニックレトロ） screen as it fades in, then a freeze. I find this quite odd, since my burned copy of Snatcher runs beautifully after a crazy manual linux command-line conversion and a manual .toc file creation; all of these things would tell me that one shouldn't work, yet it does, and the simple MegaMix .iso doens't. My "real" Sonic CD runs fine too.

She let me borrow her CD, which she had used on her console; hers froze at the same place on my console, but had worked fine on hers. Any clue as to how I can fix this?

I'm running a Model 2 Genesis and a Model 2 SegaCD, software version 2.00.

:help:

[MarioMania]

I thought it was only for the Genesis/Mega Drive

[aclbandit]

I thought it was only for the Genesis/Mega Drive

The old versions, yes. But the new/last release is SegaCD. They've got EU, JP, and US releases; since mine (I assume? I mean, it has no "Mega" in its name) is the US, I burned that one.

EDIT: Just tried the Japanese, and that certainly didn't work. At least the fact that my insides of my SegaCD don't look like the others I've worked on is NOT due to the fact that it thinks it's the Japanese or something.

[j_factor]

Some revisions of the Model 2 Sega CD are finicky with certain games. Mine won't play The Terminator without freezing sometime in the first level. But I've heard of other people playing The Terminator on their Model 2's with no problem. Must be a BIOS thing, or a change in parts used, or something.

[aclbandit]

Some revisions of the Model 2 Sega CD are finicky with certain games. Mine won't play The Terminator without freezing sometime in the first level. But I've heard of other people playing The Terminator on their Model 2's with no problem. Must be a BIOS thing, or a change in parts used, or something.

Damn, I was afraid of such nonsense.

But mine also has a power problem, which could be the culprit too: the cord has to be pressed up to actually power it on; I leave it against the table behind it. I'm gonna borrow my friend's SegaCD and power cord tomorrow to find out whether my problem is due to the cable or the SegaCD itself. Maybe that's also the cause of my MegaMix troubles.

I'll probably take a soldering iron to the contacts where the power connector goes in if it's not the cord, maybe repair it and get that game running at the same time.

Contained herein were my hopes and dreams for the SegaCD, all of which will likely result in the purchase of another one... dammit :(

[AB Positive]

If you're good with a soldering iron, you could just get a new BIOS and pop that in. If you don't have an EEProm burner just let me know how many pins it is and we could try a different bios.

I wonder if a model 1 bios would work in a model 2... :D

[FABombjoy]

If you don't have an EEProm burner just let me know how many pins it is and we could try a different bios.
27c1024, 40-pin DIP. If your plan is to download a BIOS and burn it, you'll need to swap the high/low bytes. There's an old Sega CD multibios thread in the tech forum where we discuss the particulars :D

[aclbandit]

27c1024, 40-pin DIP. If your plan is to download a BIOS and burn it, you'll need to swap the high/low bytes. There's an old Sega CD multibios thread in the tech forum where we discuss the particulars :D

I can solder it, given a working chip and told where pin 1 goes. I cannot, however, burn EPROM or even provide assistance of such nonsense, as I have no idea how that works.

Though it would be awesome to learn ^^

[Sabz5150]

I made myself a copy and tried it out. Works great in my model 2.

[aclbandit]

Okay, so my friend let me borrow her Sega CD (model 2, like mine) and its power cord.

I discovered two things.

1) it's not my SegaCD that is borked, but rather my power cord itself. That's at least easy (if not cheap) to replace

2) It has nothing to do with my SegaCD that MegaMix won't load-- I used HER segaCD which had run it on her Genny, and was met with the same freeze. My GENESIS is the problem. Now that's just weird!

I'm going to clean the contacts with my special goo, but otherwise, suggestions are welcome, since I'm now TOTALLY lost.

[aclbandit]

After cleaning the contacts, I was still met with failure.

however, I suddenly remembered that I had a Model 1 Genesis in the closet with no cables, hookups, etc.

So I used the 2nd sega CD power cable as the power, an NES RF modulator for video, and powered it up.

It was ugly, and I don't have the extension piece for the segaCD, but it worked! I could even use the "save" mode that my friend's (and, indeed, my EMULATOR) froze on. Weird.

So I guess I'm in the market for a Genesis Model 2 that will actually play this game, lol.

[Push Upstairs]

I just tried it and got it to work on my Model 1 Genesis+Model 2 SCD.

I see they use some Mega Man music for the options screen...

[aclbandit]

I just tried it and got it to work on my Model 1 Genesis+Model 2 SCD.

I see they use some Mega Man music for the options screen...

Yeah, the issue seems to lie in my Genesis, and nothing more and nothing less. I'm gonna flea market this weekend, I guess...

[Push Upstairs]

I should point out that it worked even though my Genesis system is region modded.

Which my SCD never gives me any issues as long as it is set to US, but anyone reading this can rule out "region mod" as having an effect on the playability of the game.

I downloaded the US version BTW.

[InsaneDavid]

Works fine on the old X'Eye as well - er, as fine as the game runs anywhere.


I see they use some Mega Man music for the options screen...

The previous build used the options music from Virtua Racing, which I much rather prefered.

[aclbandit]

Yeah, the issue seems to lie in my Genesis, and nothing more and nothing less. I'm gonna flea market this weekend, I guess...

Flea market trip complete, new Genny model 2 retrieved, and Megamix spinnin' and playin'. What a weird Genesis.

I'm using the same SegaCD that didn't work on my old one. Too bad the "new" one has a bad reset switch, but a replacement is on the way.

Another sad note is that my SegaCD is now making noises like the CDs are scraping the drive floor. >.<:

[aclbandit]

Another sad note is that my SegaCD is now making noises like the CDs are scraping the drive floor. >.<:

This unrelated issue was fixed by adding some black tape as padding under the CD spinning/laser portion, which for some weird reason uses squishy rubber to hold it up. Except it squishes just a little too far after so many years. However, it's been rescued, so I'm gonna mark this as "solved."

Thanks a bunch.

[Az]

This is an amazing game, if this post hadn't existed I would have never heard of it.

Thanks!

[aclbandit]

This is an amazing game, if this post hadn't existed I would have never heard of it.

Thanks!

No problem. I had a friend who introduced me to it. I was told it was a great ROM hack, so I had planned to check it out. But when she informed me that it was crafted for SegaCD as an .iso, I realized I could burn it and play on the real hardware; after that point, I was sold on trying it. I'm glad I did-- it's super-wicked, 'cept for the pansy of a final boss.

[thom_m]

Even though I am a member of the Sonic Retro forums, I wasn't aware of the CD version of Megamix. This is the first time I ever felt the need to buy a Sega CD...

[aclbandit]

Even though I am a member of the Sonic Retro forums, I wasn't aware of the CD version of Megamix. This is the first time I ever felt the need to buy a Sega CD...

Well, if nothing else, Kojima's Snatcher is on SegaCD (don't own a copy myself, but am currently wanting it for a sensible price, lol), as well as Sonic CD, which is a decent-ish game.

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and also Sonic MegaMix, as you know.

[c0ldb33r]

Is Sonic Megamix worth playing btw? I might download it, but I don't want to wear out my CDX laser using a burned cd-rom.

[aclbandit]

Is Sonic Megamix worth playing btw? I might download it, but I don't want to wear out my CDX laser using a burned cd-rom.

I would say it's worth playing, yeah. It has some flaws (i.e., some bugs; also, the final boss is a pansy), but even if you only use it to switch modes and play through Sonic 1 with spindash, it's worth it.

In addition, it has Shadow (gasp! a decent game with shadow in it?) and his instant-go-fast-button, as well as the homing attack thing that can be used in either A)MegaMix mode or B)original Sonic 1 mode.

Finally, some of the level designs are really fantastic (others... meh).