are there any sega genesis games that are able to system link?

[swlovinist]

I was talking with a good friend yesterday, and he swore that there was a game on the Sega Genesis that could be system linked via 2nd Controller port or via Model 1 ext port. Does anyone know of any games that had this ability programmed into them? I am not talking about anything to do with the Modem cart. I cant think of any game that utilized this feature.

[Gameguy]

Zero Tolerance had this feature, it hooked up two consoles through the 2nd controller port. I'm pretty sure it was the only game to do this.

[swlovinist]

Zero Tolerance had this feature, it hooked up two consoles through the 2nd controller port. I'm pretty sure it was the only game to do this.

I do believe that is the game. My buddy was wanting to come up to my house and see this game linked up. Does is take a special cable to link the systems together? Is there a website or link to more info about this? I would love to be able show this feature. Any further info would be most welcome.

[Gameguy]

You do need a special cable that plugs into both controller ports. You'll also need 2 copies of the game and both consoles hooked up to separate TVs, which might be a pain to do. I wish you good luck with it because it would be cool to see all hooked up.

There's more info at the bottom of this page;
http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=85&title=Genesis%20Accessory%20&%20Peripheral%20Guide

[SPAZ-12]

That's pretty cool, I had no idea that the Genesis could do that!

I guess that this means that the Genesis can send and receive data through its controller ports? Was this common with controller ports around that time? I though that the basic scheme for a controller port was a +V, ground, and several signal lines?

Either way, has anyone done this, and is it worth tracking down a couple of copies of the game to try it out? I have two Genesii, and I could probably whip together the cable pretty quickly. It's probably in a crossover cable sort of configuration, else each system would need to be assigned an ID by the players.

[todesengel]

http://www.technopop.net/ homepage for the company that made Zero Tolerance. They have a schematic on how to make the link cable for the game along with the ROM of the unreleased sequel Beyond Zero Tolerance.

[Pantechnicon]

Couldn't you just accomplish this link with something like a garden variety DB9 controller extension cable? It doesn't look that complex.

[SPAZ-12]

Couldn't you just accomplish this link with something like a garden variety DB9 controller extension cable? It doesn't look that complex.

Just look at the link above. You would need to rewire a normal extension cable, because the link cable has two of the wires swapped.

The link above also says that the cable is incompatible with the Nomad, why would that be?

[Steve W]

I don't suppose anybody's come up with a way to put the Beyond Zero Tolerance ROM image onto a bootable CD so it can be played on the Sega CD? I'd much rather play it on the real hardware than in emulation.

[Gameguy]

The link above also says that the cable is incompatible with the Nomad, why would that be?
That's weird, the link I provided says it is compatible with the Nomad. I guess someone will have to try it out to see if it works.


I don't suppose anybody's come up with a way to put the Beyond Zero Tolerance ROM image onto a bootable CD so it can be played on the Sega CD? I'd much rather play it on the real hardware than in emulation.
You can get a Genesis flash cart to play it on actual hardware, I would think it would work then. I don't have a flash cart to try it out myself.

[PSony]

You can buy an aftermarket cable on Tototek's website.

[swlovinist]

You can buy an aftermarket cable on Tototek's website.

I did just that and will be sharing the experience with others. Thank you for sharing

[tubeway]

You can buy an aftermarket cable on Tototek's website.

Argh, really? And here I've been holding onto two of the mail-order cables from Accolade, thinking they were like super awesome rarity goodness that nobody else produced. But then, they are just generic cables with no branding or anything. Just in a cardboard mailer with the Accolade logo.

[jb143]

That's weird, the link I provided says it is compatible with the Nomad. I guess someone will have to try it out to see if it works.


That is weird that they say the opposite things. I'm not sure why it wouldn't work on a Nomad though, especially since a 6 button controller will work on it.




I guess that this means that the Genesis can send and receive data through its controller ports? Was this common with controller ports around that time? I though that the basic scheme for a controller port was a +V, ground, and several signal lines?

The Genesis has a "Select" line to send data to the controller that's used for reading a 6 button controller. From the diagram it looks like the select line and the Start button are crossed. Pretty interesting, I've never heard of any game doing this before and now I'm intrigued as well.

[skaar]

Virtua Racing? Yes no?

[CYRiX]

I guess that this means that the Genesis can send and receive data through its controller ports? Was this common with controller ports around that time? I though that the basic scheme for a controller port was a +V, ground, and several signal lines?


All controllers can send and receive data, so this isn't that revolutionary if you think about it.

[kaedesdisciple]

Slightly OT, but Zero Tolerance is an absolutely awesome game. Definitely one of my Genesis favorites. Would LOVE to see this multi-player setup done, so pics if you can do it please!

[jb143]

All controllers can send and receive data, so this isn't that revolutionary if you think about it.

I don't know about "all". Most early controllers are completely passive. And since Genesis controllers work like the early passive ones (and are even compatable with them) then it wouldn't take too much of a leap to (wrongly)assume that they would be as well. It was just the fact the Sega was thinking ahead to add the select line to the controller port that makes this (and 6 button controllers) possible.

[swlovinist]

Slightly OT, but Zero Tolerance is an absolutely awesome game. Definitely one of my Genesis favorites. Would LOVE to see this multi-player setup done, so pics if you can do it please!

I plan on doing a short video, mistakes and all :). I am glad this topic sparked some curiosity.

[A Black Falcon]

The unreleased but pretty far along Beyond Zero Tolerance (Zero Tolerance 2) supports the cable as well. Though a rom is out there and in fact both Zero Tolerance games have been released as freeware by their original developers, you'd need flashcarts and such to use it on an actual system of course.

[Carey85]

Slightly OT, but Zero Tolerance is an absolutely awesome game. Definitely one of my Genesis favorites. Would LOVE to see this multi-player setup done, so pics if you can do it please!

Zero Tolerance is the game that introduced me to FPS gaming, and is still one of my favorite Genesis games of all time. I sent away for the link cable from Accolade when I was 10 and used it a few times playing ZT with my childhood friends circa 1995. The game has not aged well, and god knows whatever happened to the link adapter I had. I suppose I'll eventually make one for myself.

[kaedesdisciple]

Zero Tolerance is the game that introduced me to FPS gaming, and is still one of my favorite Genesis games of all time. I sent away for the link cable from Accolade when I was 10 and used it a few times playing ZT with my childhood friends circa 1995. The game has not aged well, and god knows whatever happened to the link adapter I had. I suppose I'll eventually make one for myself.

I can't imagine that it has aged all that well. The game turned out well considering the hardware and the amount of space needed for each level (some of those levels were HUGE), but I was already used to playing Doom/Doom II by the time I had started playing ZT so the graphics weren't even up to FPS par then. I remember thinking the wall-shooting effects were pretty slick, though. I took the then slight limitations in stride and enjoyed the game anyway. I don't know if I could say the same if I were to break the game out today. Maybe it's best I leave that one to nostalgia as far as playing it is concerned.

I still look forward to hearing/seeing more about this system-linking capability!

[Baloo]

http://sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=428&title=Sega%20Gear:%20Zero%20Tolerance%20Link%20Cab le

Sebastian Sponsel wrote a nice article on Sega-16 about the whole Zero Tolerance cable and how to make it. Just went up today, and I'm sure some of you will get a good read out of it.

[Goodwill Hunter]

The link above also says that the cable is incompatible with the Nomad, why would that be?

I knew that I had done this back in the day, so I just went upstairs and recreated the past...

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/1981/zt1.jpg

The link cable goes in controller port 2 on both systems, the screen where you choose two players is shown.

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/7967/zt2s.jpg

Here are the two players facing each other...even if you choose different characters, the on-screen images are the same. I loved this game as well, and was amazed at everything they fit onto a standard Genesis cart. My favorite part was getting a bunch of the creepy-crawlies chasing you, and then spinning around and frying all of them with the flamethrower....Great game.

Rich