Ed Oscuro
05-07-2005, 11:57 AM
Cross-posting this from GameSpy Forums (the Gaming Section). Also, I'm pretty sure of my facts, but it wouldn't surprise me if I've got one or two things wrong (and there's plenty, as you'll see, that I should know but am unsure of...)
Yesterday I recieved five SG-1000 related items: a "card catcher" (plug it into a cartridge slot on some Sega console or other - I think the SC-3000 most likely, haven't checked the box), a little wallet of sorts for cards, and then three games, all should be from around 1985:
Sokoban, aka Boxy Boy. Very simple puzzle game where you push boxes around a maze to put them in specific places. I like takeoffs of the game that shift it to a side-view and has you using gravity and such to build bridges to get through rooms...still, this early take is a decent game.
Zoom 909 - hah, haven't actually tried out the arcade game this is a port of. I think this one got localized (as an arcade game) with the Buck Rogers name. Anyhow, you fly into the screen and dodge stuff, from what I know about it.
Hero - comes with the Activision logo. This was originally an Atari 2600 game.
Overall, the system is primitive enough that I don't think I'll try to track down many more games for it - I can think perhaps Flappy, and certainly the original Wonder Boy (this one costs a handful, though).
The games themselves are physically tiny. They're about the size of TurboGrafx-16 game cards - yes, after starting with cartridges, Sega started putting games on cards, long before NEC did - and come inside incredibly flimsy cardboard slip covers with a little plastic tray and a manual inside. The thing closes with a clasp cut right out of the cardboard! No surprise they don't tend to hold up well throughout the ages. Amazingly, all the ones I got mine look very good to nearly brand new.
For the general gamer, though, this is most interesting for looking at Sega's take at the backwards compatibility issue back in the mid 1980s. Essentially, their console hardware lineup before the Genesis looked like this:
a.) SG-1000 (Sega Game - 1000). Early little Pong-looking system, pretty bare. You could get the redesigned unit, the SG-1000II (I guess this is the one that came with an integrated card reader) somewhat later on. You could also get some sort of data unit (forget the actual name) for extra RAM and more computer-like functions. There's also an SK-1100 keyboard peripheral (helps doing the computer stuff, yes?). In fact there's even a little radar antenna looking device (Mark III Telecon Pack) that lets you broadcast the picture from your game console, without connecting any wires. Super funky.
b.) SC-3000 (rubber keys) and SC-3000H (plastic typewriter keys. A home computer that plugs into your TV, just like many other early computers (i.e. MSX). Just an offshoot of the game console line, it doesn't really do anything that the consoles didn't except have the keyboard and stuff all in one package. For years Sega would continue to have a problem of being an underdog hardware developer despite throwing out a nearly infinite number of variations on each type of hardware. Also happened with the Genesis/Mega Drive (especially in Japan). Neat little unit here, though.
c.) Mark III. For all intents and purposes, this is the Japanese Sega Master System, with some games we didn't get (early on, like Solomon's Key); it died out before ours did, though, so they didn't get games like Alex Kidd in Shinobi World. You could buy a FM sound unit for the Mark III to get...FM music! Phantasy Star made use of it.
d.) Sega Master System. Uh oh...this looks just like the US SMS, so...what's the difference? From what I've heard it has that extra FM sound module (we didn't get one). I'm not sure if this one takes the SG-1000 cards (I guess they made SMS card format games in Japan, so it should support those).
So, anyhow, you've got one system - the Mark III - supporting games for "three" "systems" (except it's really four systems, but only two formats). Confusing as hell? Yes. Somehow, I feel this didn't help Sega much in the market.
Of course, the Game Gear itself has a device that lets you play most (probably not all) SMS games on it (since the hardware is similar), and there was one in Japan as well. Mother of God...well, I'm wondering if the Card Catcher peripheral would let you play card games in the Master Gear (whatever it was called) Converter.
SEE? THIS IS HOW NOT TO DO REVERSE COMPATIBILITY.
Yesterday I recieved five SG-1000 related items: a "card catcher" (plug it into a cartridge slot on some Sega console or other - I think the SC-3000 most likely, haven't checked the box), a little wallet of sorts for cards, and then three games, all should be from around 1985:
Sokoban, aka Boxy Boy. Very simple puzzle game where you push boxes around a maze to put them in specific places. I like takeoffs of the game that shift it to a side-view and has you using gravity and such to build bridges to get through rooms...still, this early take is a decent game.
Zoom 909 - hah, haven't actually tried out the arcade game this is a port of. I think this one got localized (as an arcade game) with the Buck Rogers name. Anyhow, you fly into the screen and dodge stuff, from what I know about it.
Hero - comes with the Activision logo. This was originally an Atari 2600 game.
Overall, the system is primitive enough that I don't think I'll try to track down many more games for it - I can think perhaps Flappy, and certainly the original Wonder Boy (this one costs a handful, though).
The games themselves are physically tiny. They're about the size of TurboGrafx-16 game cards - yes, after starting with cartridges, Sega started putting games on cards, long before NEC did - and come inside incredibly flimsy cardboard slip covers with a little plastic tray and a manual inside. The thing closes with a clasp cut right out of the cardboard! No surprise they don't tend to hold up well throughout the ages. Amazingly, all the ones I got mine look very good to nearly brand new.
For the general gamer, though, this is most interesting for looking at Sega's take at the backwards compatibility issue back in the mid 1980s. Essentially, their console hardware lineup before the Genesis looked like this:
a.) SG-1000 (Sega Game - 1000). Early little Pong-looking system, pretty bare. You could get the redesigned unit, the SG-1000II (I guess this is the one that came with an integrated card reader) somewhat later on. You could also get some sort of data unit (forget the actual name) for extra RAM and more computer-like functions. There's also an SK-1100 keyboard peripheral (helps doing the computer stuff, yes?). In fact there's even a little radar antenna looking device (Mark III Telecon Pack) that lets you broadcast the picture from your game console, without connecting any wires. Super funky.
b.) SC-3000 (rubber keys) and SC-3000H (plastic typewriter keys. A home computer that plugs into your TV, just like many other early computers (i.e. MSX). Just an offshoot of the game console line, it doesn't really do anything that the consoles didn't except have the keyboard and stuff all in one package. For years Sega would continue to have a problem of being an underdog hardware developer despite throwing out a nearly infinite number of variations on each type of hardware. Also happened with the Genesis/Mega Drive (especially in Japan). Neat little unit here, though.
c.) Mark III. For all intents and purposes, this is the Japanese Sega Master System, with some games we didn't get (early on, like Solomon's Key); it died out before ours did, though, so they didn't get games like Alex Kidd in Shinobi World. You could buy a FM sound unit for the Mark III to get...FM music! Phantasy Star made use of it.
d.) Sega Master System. Uh oh...this looks just like the US SMS, so...what's the difference? From what I've heard it has that extra FM sound module (we didn't get one). I'm not sure if this one takes the SG-1000 cards (I guess they made SMS card format games in Japan, so it should support those).
So, anyhow, you've got one system - the Mark III - supporting games for "three" "systems" (except it's really four systems, but only two formats). Confusing as hell? Yes. Somehow, I feel this didn't help Sega much in the market.
Of course, the Game Gear itself has a device that lets you play most (probably not all) SMS games on it (since the hardware is similar), and there was one in Japan as well. Mother of God...well, I'm wondering if the Card Catcher peripheral would let you play card games in the Master Gear (whatever it was called) Converter.
SEE? THIS IS HOW NOT TO DO REVERSE COMPATIBILITY.