More Sega Channel prototypes dumped.

I've got no issues sharing images of what I have. I do have images on my IG of some newer stuff and the museum display. Of course, I would like to get some better quality images of what is there. And eventually take that sweet ass background home with me

 

Pardon me if this ends up being off topic.

Its been a long time since I posted here but I may have uncovered some useful information. I've been trying to recreate 8-Bit Flashback's Demo #4 Rom everdrive hack using a healthy supply of trace logs and poking hex addresses via game genie. Why you ask? Because I'm infatuated with all things Sega Channel.

I found the line of code used to boot the rom back to the title screen after your selected game has "loaded".

Hex Offset Command JUMP to
00:2D80 4E F9 JMP ($00FF0104)

By modifying 002D82 - 00:2D84 to jump to a different offset in the rom, I have managed to get the demo rom to go to a black screen upon 100% with no other errors in the rom.

I guess the next order of business is to get the rom to boot literally anything else. I imagine It would require the use of an assembler.

 

I think this is the first documented image of Chessmaster on Genesis/Sega Channel.

 

That magazine was printed on November 1, 1996 and in that article they partially reveal some of the games scheduled for that month... I'll add them to the wiki...

 

Waterworld was released as a Test Drive at least, unclear if the full game released in the following months like Ocean's other Sega Channel exclusive The Flintstones as 1996 schedule coverage is poor.

 

As seen on the discord channel!

Garfield: Caught in the Act The Lost Levels first attempted playthrough

 

HOLY FUCK!!!... is it the real deal?! ... is it available?!... Where?!

 

Apparently it will get released at some point.

 

HOLY SHIT!

 

I'm on tenterhooks... I won't be able to sleep tonight... ...

 

Holy fuck, if these ROMs get released, perhaps this content can be hacked back into the full game!

 

This is incredible. Holy shit.

 

Amazing, I only just learned about this a bit ago. This is the first prototype I genuinely tried "hunting" back in the day, I had made a website detailing everything about it and even got to know the lead programmer to an extent through email correspondence, plus contact with several others who worked on it. Sadly no one had kept any prototypes of it, so I always assumed if it ever gets found it will likely be through another one of those Sega Channel discs. Assuming VGHF gives the release their typical treatment with a well researched article, it definitely will be neat hearing how they even came upon this.

I don't even want to look at the video, I'll be patient I don't know how far out the planned release is, but knowing how things somewhat move slowly, I hope they don't get pestered too much lol It's bound to happen...

 

I can't believe this is finally getting released. I've been talking about this game online for decades now, I actually beat this on Sega Channel before I beat the real release. I like The Lost Levels better than the final release, I feel like it begins with more interesting levels than the final version. I'm so excited to finally play this again almost 30 years later.

 

Frank Cifaldi revealed that the Video Game History Foundation has it:
https://twitter.com/frankcifaldi/status/1841515238228951418

"Putting this in the corner at our exhibit at Portland Retro Gaming Expo without any fanfare or signage was fun for me, I like sprinkling in some magic and spontaneity into our weird little world. Yeah this has been found and yeah we'll have more to share when the project is done."

 

Paging @ICEknight

 

Looking through the 1995 Famitsu set that Gaming Alexandria recently scanned;



Here's a news article about the first original Sega Channel titles Nyuushi Chokuzen Check Nanmon Kimon Kiki Kaikai and Planet Message Quiz getting released in May 1995. I thought that the only Japanese Sega Channel title that we were missing a dump for was LaSalle Ishii no Quiz! Kyoiku Iinkai, but according to the Google translation the questions were changed every four months (not sure if that refers to both or just Nyuushi Chokuzen). According to this most Japanese schools have three semesters, so maybe that's why they chose a four month period, presuming the Google translation is right.

So, like Riddle Wired on Sega Game Toshokan it's possible that the three titles mentioned above may have been episodic and we only have dumps for one episode of Nyuushi Chokuzen and Planet Message Quiz.



This article talks about Sega Channel getting a refresh in June 1995, with a new information service starting in July with non-gaming content such as local news, traffic information etc. Here's a Google translation of the menu for that;



Seems a bit like teletext, but as Kanji required a big rom teletext was expensive to add in Japan, with only 20 TV models available by 1995. I wouldn't be surprised if this was essentially just re-broadcasting part of some teletext service for users without a teletext TV.

 

Ah, it's great that Garfield: The Lost Levels is finally found. The game is unique because Garfield's look changes in each level. It was reflected on a T-Shirt.

Number of images is probably related to the book which partially inspired the game – Garfield: His 9 Lives.

I found some pictures related to development of Caught In The Act on my hard drive:

Sketches and notes.

Early title screen?

Original sources / sites disappear sometimes, so I save stuff which is interesting to me. At least it won't be lost if a site closes. Or be a rarity which appears out of the blue after decades, like The Lost Levels...

 

Does anyone know if there have been any new discoveries about he transmission of the Sega Channel or the monthly image discs? Long story short I had purchased a lot of old PC stuff years ago and ended up putting it in storage for even longer, recently I went to clean it out and I came across a disc that I hung onto, I thought it was cool so that one didn't hit the dumpster.

 

Hey, assuming you're the same person who dumped this two days ago on RetroCD (https://retrocdn.net/File:DOM0816_zipped_image_file.zip) I just wanted to say thank you for preserving this broadcast disc, and making sure it's not lost to time or bitrot.