Yellow tabs on Genesis carts

[tpugmire]

I've done some searching, but I can't seem to find out what the yellow tabs on the larger Genesis carts mean. I don't own any of them so I can't do a hands-on inspection. I noticed a copy of Desert Strike with one on it at Play N Trade yesterday, but my copy doesn't have it. Am I missing out on something cool?

[DefaultGen]

.....

[goldenegg]

You are definitely missing out on something cool. The yellow tab is the secret of blast processing. Your copy of Desert Strike probably runs slower and with few colors since it's missing.

:onfire:

Honestly, those tabs are just standard on most EA releases. They do nothing but look cool.

[otoko]

They also sever a minor purpose as well. They help keep the cart together. It can be a real pain when your trying to get one of those apart for the first time.

[tpugmire]

Cool, good to know. Thanks guys!

[Robocop2]

Great thread, I always wondered this myself

[phreakindee]

I remember hearing rumors a while back that they were for extra memory and/or for getting around the lockout protection of the Genesis. Who knows though.

[Steve W]

Trip Hawkins (head of EA at the time) said it was to make the cartridges stand out, so you know it's an Electronic Arts game. It's just cosmetic.

[Arkhan]

i always thought it was to tell you which games sucked for the sega!

:dance:

[Steve W]

i always thought it was to tell you which games sucked for the sega!

:dance:

For me nowadays, it means "sports games - just ignore them".

[Greg2600]

Trip Hawkins (head of EA at the time) said it was to make the cartridges stand out, so you know it's an Electronic Arts game. It's just cosmetic.
Isn't everything EA does cosmetic? LOL

[TonyTheTiger]

You people have no appreciation for Genesis era sports titles. :angry:

[Graham Mitchell]

The real reason they look different is that, not unlike tengen and accolade, ea refused to pay the sega licensing fee to become an "official sega licensee". As such they opted to manufacture their own cartridges. After the whole genesis lockout fiasco,ea did come on board as an official licensee, but were still allowed to manufacture their own genny carts. Iirc, ea carts were designed for both the us genesis and the european mega drive, so any later ea cart is compatible with both machines. How the whole pal thing plays into this is a different story, but its kind of some nifty trivia.

[Steve W]

You people have no appreciation for Genesis era sports titles. :angry:

Nope, not a bit. Because I can appreciate a game that has more depth than "me git ball, me run with ball, me score!" I'm not into games that are aimed at the knuckle-dragging set.

And don't take offense at that, it's just that I'm tired of finding sports games in thrifts that have been there for three years but still sit there at 99¢. Genesis sports games in thrift stores and flea markets are like a plague.

[Arkhan]

the best sports games for genesis werent even EA ones.

Sports Talk Baseball, Evander Holyfield boxing, Joe Montana '94!

the only one EA didnt suck at was mutant league football.

[Ro_TST]

EA had some of the best titles for the Genesis. No, not the sports games... well, a couple.

Mutant League Football and Hockey are the only 16-bit sports games anyone should own. If you've never played them, do yourself a favor and check'em out.

EA also ported Leander from the Commodore Amiga to the Genesis, renaming it Galahad for some reason. Fantastic action platformer though. They had a habit of porting a lot of Amiga titles which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Genesis hardware was based on the Amiga's anyway. Shadow of the Beast is another great game they ported (originally made by Psygnosis).

Let's not forget the original Road Rash trilogy or General Chaos either.

[Vlcice]

Much as I appreciate Shadow of the Beast, not sure I'd pick the botched Genesis version as a good example. It runs 20% too fast because it was designed over in PAL land and they didn't compensate at all for the different timing. Apparently they fixed it for the Japanese version, but most people didn't play that.

[BetaWolf47]

For me nowadays, it means "sports games - just ignore them".

There are WAY more than sports games made by EA for Genesis. It wasn't like the EA of today. Take a look at these great non-sports games! (http://www.gamefaqs.com/search/index.html?platform=10&game=&contrib=0&genre=0&region=1&date=0&developer=&publisher=Electronic+Arts&dist=0&sort=0&link=0&res=0&title=0&adv=1) EA was actually one of Genesis's best developers.

[Steve W]

EA also ported Leander from the Commodore Amiga to the Genesis, renaming it Galahad for some reason. Fantastic action platformer though. They had a habit of porting a lot of Amiga titles which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Genesis hardware was based on the Amiga's anyway. Shadow of the Beast is another great game they ported (originally made by Psygnosis).
I've been looking for a copy of Galahad in my usual places (Movie Trading Company stores, a local chain with heaps of used Genny carts) but have come up empty-handed. I loved Leander on the Amiga, although to be truthful I loved it more for its music and intro than the actual gameplay. I wanted to see if the music was ported as badly as the Shadow of the Beast music. They turned what I would have to characterize as the best music suite of any Amiga game into an ear-raping, fingernails-on-chalkboards Genesis downgrade. Even Shadow of the Beast II on the Sega CD has lousy music, and you'd expect that to be Redbook audio.


There are WAY more than sports games made by EA for Genesis. It wasn't like the EA of today. Take a look at these great non-sports games! (http://www.gamefaqs.com/search/index.html?platform=10&game=&contrib=0&genre=0&region=1&date=0&developer=&publisher=Electronic+Arts&dist=0&sort=0&link=0&res=0&title=0&adv=1) EA was actually one of Genesis's best developers.
Too bad it's incredibly hard to find anything non-sports related put out by EA anymore. Honestly, around this area (especially in the aforementioned Movie Trading Company stores), when it comes to EA games sports titles tend to outnumber non-sports games around 30 to 1. The non-sports titles I'll come across are usually Road Rash, maybe a James Pond game, and more rarely something really good. I used to be a Commodore Amiga player, so I'd love to find some more of their Amiga ports, but it's just not happening around here. It's just Madden carts as far as the eye can see. :(

[retro junkie]

And the screws that hold EA carts are normal phillp heads. I have several games that are on that list. I don't own any sports titles by EA. Two that I keep out and play often are Battle Squadron and Lotus Turbo Challenge.

[MissingNo_1231]

For me nowadays, it means "sports games - just ignore them".

while this is true for the most part, it's not 100%.

I've got a genesis game called King's Bounty, it has the yellow tab, and it's not half bad. It's a strategy game I sort of enjoy, and it's got a rockin' soundtrack.

[Zap!]

http://www.zaponline.org/forums/images/smilies/ttiwwp.gif

[DigitalSpace]

EA also released two pinball games on the Genesis that are worth checking out: Virtual Pinball (which allows you to create your own tables) and Crue Ball (with digitized Motley Crue riffs!).

General Chaos is worth a look as well.


I noticed a copy of Desert Strike with one on it at Play N Trade yesterday, but my copy doesn't have it.

Your copy is a re-release - late in the Genesis' lifespan, Desert Strike was one of the EA titles re-released on a standard Genesis cart, along with F-22 Interceptor and Road Rash. Some Accolade games were re-released on standard Genesis carts as well (Combat Cars being the only one I can recall at the moment).

By the way, Acclaim, Konami, and Capcom also manufactured their own Genesis carts, but the only differences between their carts and standard Genesis carts is that they replaced the Sega logo on the back with their own logo.

[BetaWolf47]

And the screws that hold EA carts are normal phillp heads.
News to me. My Shadow of the Beast copy has a weird kind of screw!
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=141095

[Demon_Attack82]

When I was a kid I thought that the save battery was underneath the yellow tab on the EA carts

[BetaWolf47]

When I was a kid I thought that the save battery was underneath the yellow tab on the EA carts

You knew what a save battery was when you were a kid?

[Demon_Attack82]

You knew what a save battery was when you were a kid?

Uh, didn't you read the manual/game magazines?

[Steve W]

Uh, didn't you read the manual/game magazines?
Real men don't read manuals! ROFL

Honestly, the game manual is for me the absolutely last resort. I like and appreciate it when a game is "easy to learn, difficult to master".

[Ruudos]

i always thought it was to tell you which games sucked for the sega!

:dance:

How about "Blades of Vengeance". I got this game yesterday and checked Gamefaqs. 3 reviews, 3 perfect scores.

[Arkhan]

blades of vengeance is OK i guess. I forgot I even had that game. :)

[kedawa]

The Genesis hardware was based on the Amiga's anyway.
This just isn't true at all. They might share the same CPU, but that really doesn't mean much. The Motorola 68000 series of processor was used in dozens of different computers, consoles, and arcade systems.

Much as I appreciate Shadow of the Beast, not sure I'd pick the botched Genesis version as a good example. It runs 20% too fast because it was designed over in PAL land and they didn't compensate at all for the different timing. Apparently they fixed it for the Japanese version, but most people didn't play that.
Seriously? I never noticed it being especially fast. I certainly don't miss the absurd difficulty of the Amiga version.

Even Shadow of the Beast II on the Sega CD has lousy music, and you'd expect that to be Redbook audio.
That game does use redbook audio, and I think it sounds pretty good, but not as good as the original. The nonsensical CG and goofy voice-acting is what had me baffled.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Don't forget Onslaught! Another good "infernal yellow-tabber". :D

[Graham Mitchell]

Don't forget Onslaught! Another good "infernal yellow-tabber". :D

Wasn't onslaught published by accolade?

To add to the shadow of the beast discussion: all genesis ports of any sotb game kind of suck. Its too bad because the amiga games are absolute masterpieces. I think a big part of the problem with that is mostly because ea genesis games had absolutely terrible sound and music most of the time. Sotb 1 and 2, as well as starflight have some of the worst audio on the genesis (except for the ships computer in starflight, which is great.) If they could have fixed that issue, those games would have been much better-received. I know the fm chip didn't give them much to work with, but look at what yuzo koshiro was able to do with it.

[Icarus Moonsight]

You're very right there, my bad. My copy is in my "EA" box with the rest of the tall/odd carts. Might actually be the only non-EA game in there, besides Sonic & Knuckles.

[retro junkie]

News to me. My Shadow of the Beast copy has a weird kind of screw!
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=141095

I find that interesting. Which raises a question in my mind. Did EA use two different types of screws on their carts?
http://file.walagata.com/w/redmoon/screws.gif
This is a pic of my Lotus Turbo Challenge cart. Apparently they did.

[Game Freak]

Another great EA game is The Haunting Starring Poulterguy. Why has noone mentioned it yet?

And yeah, i disassembled one of the carts, its just a little plastic piece that holds the cart together a little more than some people want it to ._. no lockout or anything