Little things you wish Sega had done differently

Mega CD discs use the ISO 9660 file system; their contents can be viewed and browsed by basically any computer with an optical drive, so from a technical standpoint, including a plain text manual (.txt) on the disc for viewing or printing would have been feasible so long as there was space on the disc. However, actually having a computer with a CD-ROM drive wouldn't have been guaranteed during that timeframe (they only really became standard equipment on home computers right around 1991-2), so I'm not sure it would have actually been worthwhile.

 

I wish Sega had released the 8-bit version of Sonic 2 after the 16-bit version.

Tails' first appearance should have been the latter.

For digital manuals? .txt files

 

Wasn't there some sort of patient which meant the likes of SEGA or 3DO couldn't use the standard jewel cases in Pal land?
I still say the Mega CD/3DO Pal cases were the best game cases ever made to this day. Looked great and was so easy to stack vertically or horizontally with no issues, unlike the jewel case where if you only had a couple of games you couldn't stack them horizontally without falling over

 

The cutting edge might have had CD-ROM drives at the tail end of 1992, but I wouldn't have said it was a standard component until... idk 1994?

The Mega-CD was developed in a world before you had "the PC that did everything". It was inconcievable that you'd ever put a Mega-CD disc in anything other than a Mega-CD, so you're lucky to even have txt files. Although as I did mention somewhere, there was talk of a "special cartridge" that let you see the file system on a Mega-CD... though obviously that never made it to market.



Probably worth pointing out that even late 90s PC games weren't guaranteed to have have digital manuals (and even then, we're talking Windows help, as opposed to pretty PDFs). Mostly because this stuff takes effort to make, and also there's literally no point because there's a physical version, which is going to explain things like "put the disc in the CD drive" for those who had never used CD-ROMs before (aka most people in the 90s).

(and Sega Retro is always going to want the physical scans )

 

I guess they could have used EBXA format like Wonder Library could. It would be restricted to basic black and white drawings (see here for an example), but a lot of manuals were like that anyway.

 

I think it was on the Cave YouTube channel that I 1st heard about it or it was a similar channel, but then you had CD32 games in the standard Jewel case.
I don't think a manual on a Mega CD disc would have been a good idea myself. In 1993 a PC was out of most consoles gamers reach as they were so expensive and the Mega Drive/CD poor colour pallet and screen res wouldn't have made a good view to read the digital manuals off your Mega CD directly via the Mega CD. On the Saturn or PS it would have made much more sense, I loved how the VDP2 was used for the manuals in Sonic Jam and you could zoom in and out of them


I get your point about these days finding games and manuals in good con. The trouble was many of us were in our teenage or younger years when playing these games and you did't care or look after stuff at those ages. I did like the Pal Mega-CD cases mind as they were so much easier to store and stand and you could place a 2nd disc in the case, which I used for Mega CD demo's CD or to place a 2nd game in a game I used regularly like having Batman Returns disc in my Sensible Soccer Pal case too

 

Now that I've finding myself in NASCAR fan circles and watching NASCAR races on weekly basis (#41 Hornet throwback livery when, Stewart-Haas Racing?), I thought some in the NASCAR gaming community would probably think Sega shouldn't be greedy with Daytona International Speedway name license for Daytona USA as it forced both Papyrus and EA to omit that track until 2000. In fact, making one for Papyrus' NASCAR games was a taboo subject (Papyrus and track management apparently C&D'd people doing so) until 2000 Daytona 500, when a souvenir program CD-ROM containing special versions of NASCAR Racing 3 (and NASCAR Legends, with period correct version of Daytona for that) featuring that track were given out, although Papyrus insisted the tracks in the demo would not work in regular installations of either game, at least out of the box. (There was a specially built version of Daytona for the first NASCAR Racing designed for the track's museum that's now called Daytona 500 Experience, but that version doesn't seem to ever leak out.)

There's also a similar pattern about the Ayrton Senna license used in SMGP2 - he didn't appear in F1 Super Lap or F1 Beyond the Limit even with that (the English version of that game does have a portrait for him for use in top lap records viewer, placed very late as it was not present in the Japanese version, however; both versions have name strings for him even) and other games featuring the 1992 season (Final Lap R and the English version of F1 Pole Position, a localization of Human Grand Prix, being exceptions) somehow still having Senna provided he is depicted to be inside the cockpit. I mean, why not integrate both FOCA/FIA and the Senna likeness license? (On that topic, you could extend to why Daytona International Speedway wasn't in Sega/EA Sports collab title NASCAR Arcade.)

 

I always thought Ayrton Senna was left out of F1: BTL as a mark of respect because his death was so close to the game's release.

 

Japanese release date of April 23, 1994 may check out, but there's also the F1 Super Lap thing I brought up (plus I think a pre-release screenshot published before April 1994 might have a write-in McLaren driver name set).

EDIT: And if it's for that reason, they would have put up tributes for him in-game - NASCAR Thunder 2002 has one for Dale Earnhardt at startup for instance.

 

I remember reading that one of the reasons F1: BTY was delayed 'again' was because of the death of Senna, so I think that had a big impact on the game.

 

It's probably really simple - Ayrton Senna's people would have wanted him to "licensed" separately. So you're paying for two licenses instead of just one (see also: Michael Jordan and the NBA).

I would guess the FIA would be lobbying against Sega doing that because they wanted complete control, and/or to discourage other drivers from pulling similar stunts. That and on the Mega-CD you can barely distinguish between pixel Prost and pixel Senna, so it's not worth the effort.

I'd have to check the timing on this but that might just be as a mark of respect for the sport. "Play the game based on the season where people died!". "Re-create the accident on your Mega-CD!"

Vaguely interesting but after Senna's death there was effort to make some of the circuits more "safe". Were these changes reflected in video games in 1994/1995?

 

For the "discourage other drivers from pulling similar stunts" part, tell Jacques Villeneuve (between 1996 to 1998) that. (Oddly enough some 1998 season games released as late as 2000 still did not have Villeneuve explicitly named - probably he was only part of the 1999 season contract?)

Human Grand Prix IV on the SNES had one of the custom driver faces supposed to be vaguely Senna (in addition to an implied Senna tribute in the ending). And Satoru Nakajima F-1 Hero '94 (as a secret driver swap) and Super F1 Circus 3 had Ratzenberger in it too.

Grand Prix 2 was based on the 1994 season despite the release slipping to 1995/1996, but did not feature the one-off, post-Senna track changes for that season, afaik. Of course F1 games for 1995 onward had to feature the updated Tamburello.

 

The game was delayed a few times and the track changes didn't make in the game. I think the one delay was done out of respect and I would guess that SEGA had a Senna mission or two planned to be in the 1993 mode, that needed to be removed.

 

Even though it would've murdered the Mega Drive's chance at being manufactured more easily (the 80's chip shortage), I wish the Mega Drive had the additional 64KB of RAM in the console's board instead of being a vestigial anomaly. There would've been some interesting things made with the extra room. A man can dream though... A man can dream...



Additionally I think there should've been encouraged support for the expansion port on the back of the original Mega Drive. While I can understand the modem's usage not panning out as well as expected, more games could've used the third port as a third controller port even with the use of a female-to-male adaptor. Instead either you had the ports bolted onto the cartridge, or you had to use two differing multi-port devices on your Mega Drive: said two had differing standards! All of that could've been avoided if the expansion port was just used with a arguably more cheap adaptor...

 

The Brazilian and Australian GP challenges in F1BTL's 1993 Mode are implicitly Senna missions since you drive the No. 8 McLaren.

 

I bet given how famous he was SEGA would have big plans for Senna in the 1993 mode. Which I also have to say was an amazing mode and well ahead of its time. F1 BTL is a console racing sim pushing the boat & really ahead of its time for a console racing sim
My only major issue with the game was I wished the hand when selecting telemetry data had a scaling effect on it, like the Batman