Can anyone comment on Flicky for Sega Memorial Vol 1? (Saturn)

[courtesi1]

I discovered Flicky at a local arcade called the Galloping Ghost*. It turns out that I like the game very very much. Probably my favorite classic game.

The SG1K and Genesis got ports of it but from what the reviews tell me they did a half ass job with them. I didn't expect the SG1K to be awesome but the Genesis should have more than enough processing power to handle something like Flicky.

Sega also released Flicky in the Sega Memorial Pack Vol 1 for the Saturn.

Does anyone know how the Saturn version turned out? From what I can tell it should be emulated and be spotless. Any and all feedback would be appreciated.

* Galloping Ghost is a arcade in Brookfield, IL. They have 250 arcade games as of this week. Probably the largest arcade in the tri-state area.

[Atarileaf]

I can't speak of the reviews but I think the Genesis version is very close to the arcade game. Extremely fun game. I just bought a copy of ebay recently after discovering it on one of those Genesis plug and plays. Never heard of it before that.

[8bitgamer]

I'm a huge fan of Flicky as well. I ranked it my sixth favorite Genesis game in an article I wrote for J2 Games:

6. Flicky

A charming, challenging, highly underrated game, Flicky is a marvelous port of Sega’s relatively obscure arcade game of the same name. The simple, but addictive action has players guiding a bluebird as he runs and jumps on a series of platforms, gathering up small yellow birds (called “chirps”) and delivering them to an exit door. Working quickly nets more points, as does taking a string of several chirps to the exit. Tigar cats and Iggy lizards make life difficult for Flicky, but he’s far from powerless as he can throw apples and other items at his adversaries. Old-school and proud of it, Flicky has excellent gameplay, smooth difficulty progression, and cuteness to spare.

(sorry, never played the Saturn version)

[courtesi1]

Wow. You guys make it sound like it's pretty decent. Every review I've read of it seemed like Sega butchered it. Honestly, the Genesis should have more than enough power for an exact port. There is no reason why anything should be missing / downgraded.

I could understand for something like Samurai Shodown - but not Flicky.

If I have to give a top 5 list it would be near the top!

[8bitgamer]

Wow. You guys make it sound like it's pretty decent. Every review I've read of it seemed like Sega butchered it. Honestly, the Genesis should have more than enough power for an exact port. There is no reason why anything should be missing / downgraded.

I could understand for something like Samurai Shodown - but not Flicky.

If I have to give a top 5 list it would be near the top!

The game looks good, plays smoothly, and is loads of fun. Can't ask for much more.

[kedawa]

It was a very small game in terms of ROM size.
The Genesis is capable of much more, but not with a 128Kbyte ROM.

[Leo_A]

Wow. You guys make it sound like it's pretty decent. Every review I've read of it seemed like Sega butchered it. Honestly, the Genesis should have more than enough power for an exact port. There is no reason why anything should be missing / downgraded.

I'm a fan of the game and thought the Genesis port was nicely done. Are you sure the reviews were critcizing it because it wasn't close enough to the arcade original (A fairly uncommon arcade game that not many people ever played), or just because it's Flicky? Flicky is somewhat of an acquired taste that many Genesis owners didn't care for back then or today because it was a arcade game from an earlier era that they just weren't interested in. But I've never seen any complaints about it being a poor port of the arcade original.

I'm not sure if Flicky is a port or emulated on Sega Memorial Volume I (Both volumes had some nice early Sega games), but it's well done and seems identical to the arcade game running under emulation. I suspect it's a port though since those collections contain some earlier, unemulatable games such as Monaco GP that they had to freshly program anyways. With such a small lineup for both volumes, I suspect they might've just ported the remaining games rather than emulate them.

Nice to see that the game has some other fans. Every time a Sega compilation includes it, everyone seems to treat it as filler that no one would ever want to play. But it's one of my favorite arcade games on the platform and reminds me a bit in several ways of Mappy, another underrated arcade classic.

[courtesi1]

I'm a fan of the game and thought the Genesis port was nicely done. Are you sure the reviews were critcizing it because it wasn't close enough to the arcade original (A fairly uncommon arcade game that not many people ever played), or just because it's Flicky? Flicky is somewhat of an acquired taste that many Genesis owners didn't care for back then or today because it was a arcade game from an earlier era that they just weren't interested in. But I've never seen any complaints about it being a poor port of the arcade original.

From what I read it was because the game was not exactly like the arcade. I don't think I could forgive this. Take the SNES Williams Arcade Classics - on that cartridge are 5 games ported using the original assembly code from the original arcade games - everything ported including all the original bugs/bonuses/etc.

Either laziness, programmer who thought "good enough", or an unrealistic time table - or a combination of the three - there just was no reason why the hardware couldn't handle it.

I don't expect the Genesis to emulate it but show me some love!


Nice to see that the game has some other fans. Every time a Sega compilation includes it, everyone seems to treat it as filler that no one would ever want to play. But it's one of my favorite arcade games on the platform and reminds me a bit in several ways to Mappy, another underrated arcade classic.

The funny thing is the first time I played it, Mappy was the first game I thought of; but I like it much more. To me Flicky feels a lot more loose. The movement in Mappy feels too restrictive.

Flicky also feels more "fair." If a cat gets you it's your own damn fault for being greedy!

I'm not sure how to tell if the Saturn version is emulated but the youtube videos make it look like it is.

[Atarileaf]

Funny, I thought of Mappy when I first played it too and its probably one of the reasons I like Flicky.

I don't think the Genesis version is EXACTLY the same. The music or sound might be different. Just go onto youtube and find videos of the arcade and genesis version and compare them. I think they're pretty damn close.

BTW, when I do get my copy in the mail, I'll do a video review. Watch for it :)

[allyourblood]

I bought Flicky for my Genesis not long after it was released. It was one of those childhood purchases that were so often based on two big factors: how cool the box art and screenshots look, and how much money I had in my velcro wallet. Flicky was not an expensive game, and it looked pretty fun, so I grabbed it. Decapattack was another of these spur-of-the-moment purchases; both games were a lot of fun, and didn't cost much.

The only bummer about Flicky is one shared by a lot of arcade ports: it's a short game without a lot of depth. But, like most good arcade games, what's there is a lot of fun.

That said, I've never played the Saturn port, but I'd also be interested in finding out which conversion is the best.

[Jeff-20]

I discovered Flicky at a local arcade called the Galloping Ghost*. It turns out that I like the game very very much. Probably my favorite classic game.

The SG1K and Genesis got ports of it but from what the reviews tell me they did a half ass job with them. I didn't expect the SG1K to be awesome but the Genesis should have more than enough processing power to handle something like Flicky.

Sega also released Flicky in the Sega Memorial Pack Vol 1 for the Saturn.

Does anyone know how the Saturn version turned out? From what I can tell it should be emulated and be spotless. Any and all feedback would be appreciated.

* Galloping Ghost is a arcade in Brookfield, IL. They have 250 arcade games as of this week. Probably the largest arcade in the tri-state area.

I have the Genesis port, SG-1000 port (via SMS) and the Saturn port. AND I made a special (first) trip to this arcade today based on your post (it's only 30 minutes from me). So I can give you my impressions of all four.

First, I should say I love that arcade, but many of their machines are showing age. The owners seem to have a hard time finding working CRTs, and many of the machines are running on flat LCD screens :( I bring this up to say that the Flicky machine was not in very good condition, so my observations are based on a poor machine. I actually didn't enjoy playing it because the picture was too distorted.

I prefer the Genesis version out of the three. The Saturn port is a little more crisp visually, but I think I've become use to the more responsive controls of the Genesis. The arcade game seemed a little slower to me. Of course, the Sg-1000 version is crap. So in order of preference: Genesis, Saturn, Arcade, SG1000. I think the Saturn port is worth buying, but it's not much of an improvement.

[courtesi1]

I have the Genesis port, SG-1000 port (via SMS) and the Saturn port. AND I made a special (first) trip to this arcade today based on your post (it's only 30 minutes from me). So I can give you my impressions of all four.

First, I should say I love that arcade, but many of their machines are showing age. The owners seem to have a hard time finding working CRTs, and many of the machines are running on flat LCD screens :( I bring this up to say that the Flicky machine was not in very good condition, so my observations are based on a poor machine. I actually didn't enjoy playing it because the picture was too distorted.

I prefer the Genesis version out of the three. The Saturn port is a little more crisp visually, but I think I've become use to the more responsive controls of the Genesis. The arcade game seemed a little slower to me. Of course, the Sg-1000 version is crap. So in order of preference: Genesis, Saturn, Arcade, SG1000. I think the Saturn port is worth buying, but it's not much of an improvement.

I was just at the arcade Sunday and Flicky seemed to run fine for me :(. I'm not sure what you mean by the Genesis having more responsible controls - to me the genesis/saturn pads are about the same. maybe if the saturn ver is emulated it has lower FPS. Who knows. I will give the Genesis port an honest go however.

I agree though that GG is getting more LCD's, but they are swapping in CRT's when they can. Perhaps I am being overly generous but it's been at least 20 years since I've been in an arcade that's anything like GG's; so I'm giving them a LOT of slack.

The only other arcade I know of in Illinois like this is one in Gurnee Mills; but I haven't been there for at least 4 years - I don't know if they are still running or if they turned into another "ticket" farm.

[Gameboy415]

I'm sure you'd prefer to play the game on a classic console, but just in case you weren't aware: Flicky is unlockable in "Sonic Mega Collection" on Gamecube/PS2/XBOX (I believe it's the Genesis version though).