General Questions and Information Thread was More requests/B-Club, PSIV, and some game ID for now :/
#781
Posted 17 January 2019 - 10:04 AM

Found some nifty arcade PCB pics that if aren't on the Wiki, should be!
#782
Posted 17 January 2019 - 04:07 PM

Yes they should.
Although we could do with some arcade experts, because I can't quickly identify exactly what regions/versions/board revisions these things are. Ditto for most PCBs come to think of it.
Slightly related - a while back I stumbled across a big list of Sega chips and uploaded loads of photographs. The idea being that every Sega microchip gets a page, because we can get hoards of data sheets and programming manuals and it would be the greatest Sega technical resource on the internet.
The problem is that it needs someone who actually understands this stuff. And that person is not me.
Although we could do with some arcade experts, because I can't quickly identify exactly what regions/versions/board revisions these things are. Ditto for most PCBs come to think of it.
Slightly related - a while back I stumbled across a big list of Sega chips and uploaded loads of photographs. The idea being that every Sega microchip gets a page, because we can get hoards of data sheets and programming manuals and it would be the greatest Sega technical resource on the internet.
The problem is that it needs someone who actually understands this stuff. And that person is not me.
#783
Posted 19 January 2019 - 02:13 PM

At the bottom of the TODO page is a short list of "pages to split".
It exists, because while finding screenshots for comparison page, I've realised we've been erroneously grouping games together, believing they're the same thing tailored for different platforms. For example, it turns out that there are three unique Taz-Mania games for the Mega Drive, Master System and Game Gear, respectively - I assumed the 8-bit versions would just be the Mega Drive game watered down, but apparently not - they're totally different. And nobody pointed that out.
Are there others we should know of? Many are accounted for, but there's only so many half-baked licensed platformers I can stomach at any one time.
It exists, because while finding screenshots for comparison page, I've realised we've been erroneously grouping games together, believing they're the same thing tailored for different platforms. For example, it turns out that there are three unique Taz-Mania games for the Mega Drive, Master System and Game Gear, respectively - I assumed the 8-bit versions would just be the Mega Drive game watered down, but apparently not - they're totally different. And nobody pointed that out.
Are there others we should know of? Many are accounted for, but there's only so many half-baked licensed platformers I can stomach at any one time.
#784
Posted 20 January 2019 - 02:51 PM

The artist for the covers of Atari's home versions of Pengo is Hiro Kimura.
https://books.google...20pengo&f=false
I'm pretty sure he did their Frogger art as well, but the google books preview doesn't yield anything on it, nor any of the other Sega-related Atari conversions. I really should invest in the damn book at some point.
https://books.google...20pengo&f=false
I'm pretty sure he did their Frogger art as well, but the google books preview doesn't yield anything on it, nor any of the other Sega-related Atari conversions. I really should invest in the damn book at some point.
#785
Posted 21 January 2019 - 04:46 PM

Since Doom 2 on PC/DOS was distributed by Sega Ozisoft in Australia in 1994 (along with various other PC/DOS titles), does that mean Doom 2 for PC/DOS should get a Sega Retro page, complete with scans of the Big Box? I don't think so, but was just wondering.
#786
Posted 21 January 2019 - 05:07 PM

I think it's too much of a stretch - (Sega) Ozisoft distributed tons of things and we have to draw the line somewhere.
But if we ever do "IBM Retro"...
But if we ever do "IBM Retro"...
#787
Posted 23 January 2019 - 03:16 PM

Hi
I found some mostly hidden things on Sega Retro and made them... "less hidden":
SMPS
Category:Game technical information
There was a big list of SMPS music pointers. I just copied and pasted what was there into dedicated "technical information" pages, which means this information is now grouped with the games themselves, rather than rotting in a non-main namespace in a part of the wiki nobody ever visits.
My understanding though is that these lists pre-date Sega Retro and therefore probably suck and/or are wrong. According to the old page, the Sonic Retro community knows this subject very well, so allow me to pass it on.
p.s. we are interested in all technical things, not just audio.
I found some mostly hidden things on Sega Retro and made them... "less hidden":
SMPS
Category:Game technical information
There was a big list of SMPS music pointers. I just copied and pasted what was there into dedicated "technical information" pages, which means this information is now grouped with the games themselves, rather than rotting in a non-main namespace in a part of the wiki nobody ever visits.
My understanding though is that these lists pre-date Sega Retro and therefore probably suck and/or are wrong. According to the old page, the Sonic Retro community knows this subject very well, so allow me to pass it on.
p.s. we are interested in all technical things, not just audio.
This post has been edited by Black Squirrel: 23 January 2019 - 03:16 PM
#788
Posted 28 January 2019 - 08:20 AM

Is matroska video format ok? it doesn't show up with a thumbnail, but it does still play when you click on it.
https://retrocdn.net...Dec-1994_v2.mp4
btw, found a better and more complete video of episode 32, which now features a three-way review of The Story of Thor, for those following The Zone saga at home.
https://retrocdn.net...Dec-1994_v2.mp4
btw, found a better and more complete video of episode 32, which now features a three-way review of The Story of Thor, for those following The Zone saga at home.
#790
Posted 28 January 2019 - 04:58 PM

#791
Posted 01 February 2019 - 04:30 PM

Wiki propaganda of the day:
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos/Bugs
Bugs sub-pages. Because documenting every bug in every Sega-related video game (with screenshots!) is a completely doable.
Look if this was Pokémon Yellow you'd be all over it.
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos/Bugs
Bugs sub-pages. Because documenting every bug in every Sega-related video game (with screenshots!) is a completely doable.
Look if this was Pokémon Yellow you'd be all over it.
#792
Posted 02 February 2019 - 04:55 PM

Anybody got the film Blue Thunder on Blu Ray?
There's a page on Hardcore Gaming 101 called "Tracing the Influence". It's quite wonderful:
http://www.hardcoreg...ing/tracing.htm
I feel like replicating the Sega-related bits. Because I'm clearly unwell.

Thunder Blade is notorious for stealing content from that movie, but this 320x200 screenshot (complete with added text) is the best comparison image I can find. I want a super clean high resolution version so we can compare it against this 7 colour, 320x224 title screen. Because this is what normal people do at weekends.
I already have the legs covered.
This goes for any similar related content in the world of Sega - all must be documented.
There's a page on Hardcore Gaming 101 called "Tracing the Influence". It's quite wonderful:
http://www.hardcoreg...ing/tracing.htm
I feel like replicating the Sega-related bits. Because I'm clearly unwell.


Thunder Blade is notorious for stealing content from that movie, but this 320x200 screenshot (complete with added text) is the best comparison image I can find. I want a super clean high resolution version so we can compare it against this 7 colour, 320x224 title screen. Because this is what normal people do at weekends.
I already have the legs covered.
This goes for any similar related content in the world of Sega - all must be documented.
#793
Posted 02 February 2019 - 05:54 PM

I can't remember watching that movie... but the Blue Thunder TV series (a spin-off) was very popular in Portugal back then... and people who watched the show back then associated it with Thunder Blade... "Wow... it's exactly like the Blue Thunder...so cool and such"...

#794
Posted 05 February 2019 - 03:51 PM

Accidentally discovered that we were missing a few Taiwanese magazines from that set I posted all those months ago:

https://retrocdn.net...nn%C7%8Eo_scans
"Jīng Xùn Diànnǎo" (精訊電腦) was published during the late 1980s. Or the late 70s in the Minguo calendar, because Taiwan.
Realistically these are going to sit in storage on Retro CDN until someone learns traditional Chinese, but it's it's midly interesting to flick through as unlike the others we've archived, this one seems more geared towards the Taiwanese people (as opposed to just blindly translating Japanese magazines). IBM PC dominance seems to have come rather early in Taiwan, and the Apple II range seems to have had more of an impact. No Commodore, no MSX, and just a sprinkling of video game consoles, but the Master System and PC Engine seem to push the Famicom out of the headlines by 1988, so that's a thing.

https://retrocdn.net...nn%C7%8Eo_scans
"Jīng Xùn Diànnǎo" (精訊電腦) was published during the late 1980s. Or the late 70s in the Minguo calendar, because Taiwan.
Realistically these are going to sit in storage on Retro CDN until someone learns traditional Chinese, but it's it's midly interesting to flick through as unlike the others we've archived, this one seems more geared towards the Taiwanese people (as opposed to just blindly translating Japanese magazines). IBM PC dominance seems to have come rather early in Taiwan, and the Apple II range seems to have had more of an impact. No Commodore, no MSX, and just a sprinkling of video game consoles, but the Master System and PC Engine seem to push the Famicom out of the headlines by 1988, so that's a thing.
#795
Posted 18 February 2019 - 03:02 PM

Hey look, probably the best Feel screenshots on the net:
Ristar/Development
(note how they're exactly the same shots as Ristar Cluster was documenting years and years ago, because (surprisingly) only two magazines have been found to feature this prototype so far).
This is a sort-of open-ended question/call to arms - what is the best way to present this sort of content? Part of me thinks there should be comparisons with the final game, but that's not going to work well with content that was completely scrapped, nor is it a particularly fruitful task when prototypes are near final. In Sonic 1, for example, a good chunk of the prototype shots just have RING instead of RINGS - I can't tell if lining up Kega Fusion is worth the bother.
p.s. add, improve, etc.
Ristar/Development
(note how they're exactly the same shots as Ristar Cluster was documenting years and years ago, because (surprisingly) only two magazines have been found to feature this prototype so far).
This is a sort-of open-ended question/call to arms - what is the best way to present this sort of content? Part of me thinks there should be comparisons with the final game, but that's not going to work well with content that was completely scrapped, nor is it a particularly fruitful task when prototypes are near final. In Sonic 1, for example, a good chunk of the prototype shots just have RING instead of RINGS - I can't tell if lining up Kega Fusion is worth the bother.
p.s. add, improve, etc.