Man, fuck that shit.
I'd take the three main GnG games over Capcom's reheated copy-paste shit that you see in the Mega Man franchise ad nauseam.
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SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive Mini |OT| To be this good takes M2, to be this good takes SEGA
- Thread starter Lant_War
- Start date
Man, fuck that shit.
I'd take the three main GnG games over Capcom's reheated copy-paste shit that you see in the Mega Man franchise ad nauseam.
MM9 is the best game that that entire franchise has ever seen (spin-off series included), and MM11 is super solid. Hard disagree.
MM9 is my favorite MM by a country mile and still the gold-standard of revival platformer/action games but I STILL prefer the arcade Ghouls N Ghosts over pretty much every MM game 1 - 8.
OP
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Yeah, they're great games to play in Halloween too. Never understood the complaints about the controls as the game is balanced around them quite well.
I love this thing but being from the UK playing Spinball etc. at full NTSC speed feels "right but wrong" to me hahaha. Like I understand why that game in particular always felt a little janky now but it's not how I remember it! Wish I could toggle PAL speed for the nostalgia factor.
and the three original GnG games are so different from one another too.
"Spinball isn't sluggish enough. Just fuck my shit up, fam."
Correct... well, almost.
G'nG is the quintessential quarter devourer. I wouldn't be surprised if some people's first experience withe the games literally mirrored the Waterworld arcade scene from the Simpsons.
I mean, I kinda understand the appeal but the first two games are borderline impossible as they are and keeping the "you have to do it again with the most impractical weapon ever, lololol" twist really shouldn't have been kept beyond the first game. Yet Capcom's been rewarded again and again for this shit from critics and gamers alike.
It feels so fast to me now! I was actually laughing at how quick some of the jingles go now compared to what I remember.
But then proper Green Hill Zone still fucks with my head to this day so I've been thoroughly broken here.
The double input lag on the menu is pretty annoying!
Other than that though I really like it, lots of nostalgia. Want it hacked so i can load up S3&K
Other than that though I really like it, lots of nostalgia. Want it hacked so i can load up S3&K
Haven't poked my head in here. 85MB of extra space is pretty significant. On its own that's easily able to fit like 20 additional games or more, but I'm sure that a fair bit of that space would have to be taken up with retroarch stuff too, so it would be an overestimate.
Yeah once you get past the title screen Sonic & Knuckles has nothing to offer that isn't better provided by locking-on Sonic 3, unless you need to get into Mushroom Hill Zone, like, right the fuck now. That said I do think Mushroom Hill is a better first stage for Knuckles because of how it directly tutorializes you into using his various abilities from his intro spot, and there's nothing like that in Angel Island zone really.
Having the initial workings of a Sega CD emulator doesn't surprise me too much, given that M2 and Sega have openly hinted at wanting to do a Sega CD focused mini-console if this one does well. It would not surprise me to find that they have already done a little bit of work to enable it, especially given that a fairly significant amount of code could be re-used for it if the emulator was being made carefully enough.
Yeah once you get past the title screen Sonic & Knuckles has nothing to offer that isn't better provided by locking-on Sonic 3, unless you need to get into Mushroom Hill Zone, like, right the fuck now. That said I do think Mushroom Hill is a better first stage for Knuckles because of how it directly tutorializes you into using his various abilities from his intro spot, and there's nothing like that in Angel Island zone really.
Having the initial workings of a Sega CD emulator doesn't surprise me too much, given that M2 and Sega have openly hinted at wanting to do a Sega CD focused mini-console if this one does well. It would not surprise me to find that they have already done a little bit of work to enable it, especially given that a fairly significant amount of code could be re-used for it if the emulator was being made carefully enough.
Man, it was surreal playing Alisia Dragoon after 20-something years!
It was one of my favourite games when I was a teen, and I still remembered some secret entrances...
Thank you so much Sega and M2 for letting me enjoy my favourite console of all time again! :D
It was one of my favourite games when I was a teen, and I still remembered some secret entrances...
Thank you so much Sega and M2 for letting me enjoy my favourite console of all time again! :D
It's really disappointing they didn't fix that before production. The lag doesn't make the games unplayable but it really shouldn't be there at a perceptible level.
I agree. And whenever people say the original Ghosts 'n Goblins sucked, I wonder when they first played it. In the mid '80s, there was nothing quite like it. It felt like a landmark game for scrolling action platformers. Playing it years later isn't going to have the same effect.
It's funny how opinions on these games vary so much. I was thinking how well Ghouls has aged when playing it on the Mini.
Even at NTSC, Spinball still runs with a lot of slowdown - the only way to really bring it to full speed (almost unplayably fast) is overclocking the CPU:
The only classic console to release a firmware upgrade has been the C64 mini. The upgrade allowed to sideload games not included in the console through USB. They clearly didn't give a fuck about piracy. I doubt Sega, Nintendo, or Sony would do the same.
Sega Retro have a nice summary of pad variations.
Ha! :D I got mine in 92 for Sonic 2 also, but my MD was a HK edition with different pad details to the UK. :) The HK edition was PAL compatible but wasn't region locked :)
I did hack mine and it is still shitty. Have you tried to actually finishing games on it? I play games I did not have a chance to back then on those mini consoles and the ps classic is awful for that. I attempted to finish Brave fencer musashi, Vanark, and 3 or 4 other games and they all crash along the way while launching just fine. They worst part is my save files are all gone including both native and save states.
It's fine for multiplayer games but this thing is unreliable for long games so forget about jrpgs. The only game I managed to complete on it was Klonoa and I still had several crashes but my saves remained for some random reason.Maybe those issues will be fixed later with emulator updates but as of now the ps classic is garbage. So NO it was not worth 30$. Cheap garbage is still garbage. It just looks good on the shelf.
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I haven't had any crashes, yours are probably because of the USB Drive.
I've finished close to a dozen games on the PS Mini, and haven't had much of an issue. Were you using the stock emulator via Bleemsync or Retroarch? The latter has far fewer compatibility issues. Have you adjusted the clock speed at all?
I tried several usb and same issue. They work fine on my snes mini
I used Bleemsync.
Yeah, the stock emulator on Bleemsync is garbage. Settings can be tweaked in quite a few cases to increase compatibility but some games just don't run well at all on it. There's a better version of the emulator available as a RetroArch core and it's pretty much the best method of playing PS1 games on the console.
Received the updated USB pads in the mail today. I got these partially for Switch compatibility, and I'm pleased to discover that their Switch button mapping is somewhat configurable. By default, the D-pad acts as the left stick, but you can input some button combinations to make it function as the D-buttons or right stick instead. There's also another code that flips the mapping for A/B and X/Y, which is useful because the button order on Sega controllers reads left-to-right, while Nintendo's reads right-to-left.
(If anyone is looking for cheap 6-button controllers for the Mini, let me know, 'cause I'm going to be offloading my old ones soon.)
(If anyone is looking for cheap 6-button controllers for the Mini, let me know, 'cause I'm going to be offloading my old ones soon.)
Wait.
Is the reason the A and B buttons on the NES controller read from right to left because Nintendo is a Japanese company and Japanese text is read right to left?
That's a good theory, but keep in mind SEGA is also a Japanese company as well and even on the Megadrive the buttons on their controllers are left to right. The Master System control pad used numbers 1 and 2. The 1 button also acting as the start button. Although in fairness the Mark III (Japanese name for the Master System) controller ports are also reversed and right to left order. (Player 1 is on the right and player 2 is to the left)
Interesting enough the NEC Turbo Duo / TG16 Controller uses numbers too, and it's in left-to-right like the Nintendo controllers.
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I had never thought about that before but it does make sense. Modern Japanese is no longer read right to left though, unless were talking about Japanese that's vertically written.
Sega is originally an American company so I guess that's why they went in actual ABC order.
Ghouls N' Ghosts was amongst Capcom's most popular series back in the day; Ghosts N' Goblins on NES was actually their best selling single game of the entire 8bit and 16bit era, outside of Street Fighter 2. Super Ghouls N' Ghosts is also not far behind, beaten only by Mega Man 2, Mega Man X and Final Fight.
It was basically the Dark Souls of its day. (except it's far better and far more fun than that series!) It's comically hard, in a fun way, where the games almost mock you along the way. It's great! And for my money, it's the single best series Capcom has ever produced.
Fun fact: Super Ghouls n' Ghosts was the first game that Tatsuya Minami was lead designer on, the man who would go on to help found and ultimately head Platinum Games! It was also the game that got the single longest development cycle of any Capcom game in the 8 and 16bit era (2 years), when Minami was drafted in to help rescue the project. It really, really shows! It's probably their best game of their entire 8 & 16bit eras. It would also go on to be a big source of inspiration for Clover/Platinum's future titles, particularily with how they handle set piece and difficulty level design.
What I wouldn't give to see the series return with a proper new entry by Platinum Games...
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I just saw this and this person claims otherwise: https://twitter.com/GRSonic/status/1180413622008332289
Just to be clear, you did test on a EU Mini, right?
Oh wow! I missed that completely!
I just re-tested it on my friend's EU MD Mini and it's true! You do indeed get the US versions of Castlevania Bloodlines and Contra Hard Corps! Only when set to Korean though, not Japanese or Chinese (You get the Japanese versions in those cases).
I clearly overlooked it, sorry! That's great news for EU MD Mini owners! :D
So I discovered something that sucks: On the 6 button pad, the A+Start button combination doesn't work.
So any cheat that requires that combo (like Sonic 1 level select), doesn't work.
It does work on the 3 button pad, though.
I tried this on the Retro-Bit controller. Anyone with the original Sega pad care to try it?
So any cheat that requires that combo (like Sonic 1 level select), doesn't work.
It does work on the 3 button pad, though.
I tried this on the Retro-Bit controller. Anyone with the original Sega pad care to try it?
Just tried the Sonic 1 level select code. Works just fine with the official 6 button controller that comes with the Asian MD Mini.
Alright, thanks! I was sure they had to be on there somewhere, leaving them off entirely would have been too amateur a mistake to make.
Tried Road Rash for the first time and it's surprisingly fun and controls way better than I expected.
I vaguely remember DuckTales NES being on the Platinum list a few years back above GnG, at 1.67m units sold. I thought they might have just gotten rid of Disney titles on the list in the last few years, but that isn't the case either, since the Ducktales remake shows up at the tail end of the most updated list. Wonder what happened there.
Seems to have been an oversight on Retro-Bit's part:
Also can confirm that the official 6B that comes with the JP Mega Mini works fine.
I assume the non-Switch compatible older batches of the USB pad released a few months ago should therefore have no trouble inputting the code.
I have both at the moment. I could check later tonight, although I'm 99% sure that the answer is yes.
(I'm still interested in selling those older pads for cheap btw. *cough*)
Hmmm... I just checked with the 6-button retro-bit controller and I can't get the level select to come up, but it does with my Japanese 6-button pad.
Oh! I'll try my older non-Switch 8-button controller in just a second and edit it in, wait one. (edit: yes, the pre-switch compatible 8-button controllers work fine when doing the level select code)
OP
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Thoughts about some games I've been playing:
- Gunstar Heroes: Holy fuck this is amazing. Cuphead definitely took a lot of inspiration from it, great game.
- Shinobi 3. Had only played Revenge, but this is pretty cool as well. Still wish we had gotten that one though.
- Virtua Fighter 2: As bad as always. Truly a baffling inclusion when Ristar isn't in.
- Contra Hard Corps: I still don't think this series is fair, but definitely super fun. Very lenient with checkpoints as well, probably my favorite Contra after 4.
- Darius: I can appreciate them making essentially a new game... but this isn't very good. Wish they had included Sagaia as well
- Castlevania Bloodlines: Now this, this is great. Haven't played Rondo, but this is probably the best Classicvania of them all.
- Gunstar Heroes: Holy fuck this is amazing. Cuphead definitely took a lot of inspiration from it, great game.
- Shinobi 3. Had only played Revenge, but this is pretty cool as well. Still wish we had gotten that one though.
- Virtua Fighter 2: As bad as always. Truly a baffling inclusion when Ristar isn't in.
- Contra Hard Corps: I still don't think this series is fair, but definitely super fun. Very lenient with checkpoints as well, probably my favorite Contra after 4.
- Darius: I can appreciate them making essentially a new game... but this isn't very good. Wish they had included Sagaia as well
- Castlevania Bloodlines: Now this, this is great. Haven't played Rondo, but this is probably the best Classicvania of them all.
Just tried the 8-button Retro-Bit Genesis controller, and A + Start didn't work in the level select code. If it works with the Saturn controller, then I suppose I'll be getting that one. What a weird thing, though.
Cuphead seems to have taken some inspiration from Contra: Hard Corps, as well.
Is it one of the newer ones you have? I bought mine, uh... back in March before they were compatible with Switch.
I was able to do the level select code with it fine.
I did buy one of the newer ones. It's the blue one.
I guess that's the "thing" then. Since the 6-button USB controllers that I have that don't work with this code only came out sometime last month (edit: 'scuse me... 30th of August) and are compatible with the Switch.
My old Saturn pad works with this code too. I bought it back in May though, but it doesn't seem like they updated it to work with switch (on amazon, they're all advertised as "old versions").
I mean, workaround is pretty simple if you don't want to buy another controller. Just do the code with an included 3-button and save a state there, then load that save-state up with the 6 (or 8 in your case) button controller when you actually want to play it.
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That's not a bad idea, though I generally play with the three-button controller, anyway.
Some quick impressions about the games I've tried (Jp version).
- Darius: A pretty good port that looks very close to the PC-Engine one. Unfortunately I own the later so I would have preferred Darius II instead.
- Tetris: Something feels off here. I don't see myself playing this version often. More of a curiosity than anything.
- Space Harrier II: I realize once again I do not like at all Space Harrier and all those pseudo 3D shooting games Sega loved to make back in the day. Probably an important game with a lot of fans but a waste of a slot in my humble opinion.
- Dai Makaimura (Ghouls 'n Ghosts): A solid port of a great game, helmed by Yuji Naka (and that would influence Sonic). I wonder how it compares to the Super Grafx port.
- Golden Axe: Never liked this one and it's not going to change now.
- Assault Suit Leynos: I really want to like it as a fan of Valken, but I just don't get it. Will need to spend more time with it.
- Thunder Force III: Yep, it's great, best shmup on the MD (cause I can 1CC it unlike IV...)
- Colums/Puyo Puyo 2: Look like they could be fun but I'm not too much into puzzle games.
- Musha Aleste: The ship is a bit too big for my liking and I'm not very fond of the power-up system used in the Aleste series, but it's still very good from what I've played.
- Super Fantasy Zone: It's Fantasy Zone alright. Will definitely put some time into it later.
- Shining Force: I haven't tried it on the Mini yet but I played it for the first time last year. Honestly, I'm not too fond of it. I'm not that great at simulation games and yet it was a breeze without anything of note level design wise, as far as I remember. I was far more impressed by the first Langrisser I discovered also one or two years ago. I would have preferred the sequel since I haven't played it yet, and I imagine it improves quite a bit over this one.
- Alisia Dragoon: It requires a bit of getting used to the controls but after that it's actually a lot of fun.
- Landstalker: Love what I've played. Can't wait to put more time into it.
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Never played it before despite having it on both the Saturn and the 3DS, but I'm sold after the first 2 stages.
- World of Illusion: Fun if not challenging. Reminds me of Castle of Illusion (duh) which is a good thing.
- Slap Fight: Toa Plan + Gradius power-up system? Nice.
- Road Rash II: Wasn't expecting anything but it's surprisingly fun.
- Gunstar Heroes: Okay this one is great. I can see why it's so popular.
- Party Quiz Mega Q: Again, surprisingly fun. I like how it plays like if you were a contestant in some TV game. On the other hand, it ends up very hard with those outdated questions about now obscure celebrities or drama from 20 years ago.
- Vampire Killer (Bloodlines): Still one of the best Castlevania.
- Tantoaru: Probably a lot of fun with some friends but I made the mistake of buying the package with a single controller.
- Monster World IV: Not my favorite Wonder Boy/Monster World, but it plays great and is absolutely beautiful.
- Lord Monarch: Er... I think I'll read the manual before trying again.
- The Hybrid Front: A Daisenryaku-like simulation game in an SF dystopic world supervised by one of the father of the genre in Japan. While significantly different, I can't help but think of Front Mission with this one (it helps than FM2's Jun Suemi is also the illustrator). One of, if not the game I was the most pleased to see announced for the Mini, and I'm not disappointed from the very little I've played. But as with Lord Monarch, it deserves a bigger time investment than what I gave it to be properly judged.
- Contra the Hardcore (Hard Cops): Not big into Contra but I think it may be the best one I've played until now.
- Rockman Megaworld (Megaman Wily Wars): I appreciate the effort and that it's 3 games in one, but it doesn't feel like the Megaman I know. I will stick with the Classic Collection.
- Game no Kanzume: Hit or miss, as expected, but some games are decently entertaining.
- Darius: A pretty good port that looks very close to the PC-Engine one. Unfortunately I own the later so I would have preferred Darius II instead.
- Tetris: Something feels off here. I don't see myself playing this version often. More of a curiosity than anything.
- Space Harrier II: I realize once again I do not like at all Space Harrier and all those pseudo 3D shooting games Sega loved to make back in the day. Probably an important game with a lot of fans but a waste of a slot in my humble opinion.
- Dai Makaimura (Ghouls 'n Ghosts): A solid port of a great game, helmed by Yuji Naka (and that would influence Sonic). I wonder how it compares to the Super Grafx port.
- Golden Axe: Never liked this one and it's not going to change now.
- Assault Suit Leynos: I really want to like it as a fan of Valken, but I just don't get it. Will need to spend more time with it.
- Thunder Force III: Yep, it's great, best shmup on the MD (cause I can 1CC it unlike IV...)
- Colums/Puyo Puyo 2: Look like they could be fun but I'm not too much into puzzle games.
- Musha Aleste: The ship is a bit too big for my liking and I'm not very fond of the power-up system used in the Aleste series, but it's still very good from what I've played.
- Super Fantasy Zone: It's Fantasy Zone alright. Will definitely put some time into it later.
- Shining Force: I haven't tried it on the Mini yet but I played it for the first time last year. Honestly, I'm not too fond of it. I'm not that great at simulation games and yet it was a breeze without anything of note level design wise, as far as I remember. I was far more impressed by the first Langrisser I discovered also one or two years ago. I would have preferred the sequel since I haven't played it yet, and I imagine it improves quite a bit over this one.
- Alisia Dragoon: It requires a bit of getting used to the controls but after that it's actually a lot of fun.
- Landstalker: Love what I've played. Can't wait to put more time into it.
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Never played it before despite having it on both the Saturn and the 3DS, but I'm sold after the first 2 stages.
- World of Illusion: Fun if not challenging. Reminds me of Castle of Illusion (duh) which is a good thing.
- Slap Fight: Toa Plan + Gradius power-up system? Nice.
- Road Rash II: Wasn't expecting anything but it's surprisingly fun.
- Gunstar Heroes: Okay this one is great. I can see why it's so popular.
- Party Quiz Mega Q: Again, surprisingly fun. I like how it plays like if you were a contestant in some TV game. On the other hand, it ends up very hard with those outdated questions about now obscure celebrities or drama from 20 years ago.
- Vampire Killer (Bloodlines): Still one of the best Castlevania.
- Tantoaru: Probably a lot of fun with some friends but I made the mistake of buying the package with a single controller.
- Monster World IV: Not my favorite Wonder Boy/Monster World, but it plays great and is absolutely beautiful.
- Lord Monarch: Er... I think I'll read the manual before trying again.
- The Hybrid Front: A Daisenryaku-like simulation game in an SF dystopic world supervised by one of the father of the genre in Japan. While significantly different, I can't help but think of Front Mission with this one (it helps than FM2's Jun Suemi is also the illustrator). One of, if not the game I was the most pleased to see announced for the Mini, and I'm not disappointed from the very little I've played. But as with Lord Monarch, it deserves a bigger time investment than what I gave it to be properly judged.
- Contra the Hardcore (Hard Cops): Not big into Contra but I think it may be the best one I've played until now.
- Rockman Megaworld (Megaman Wily Wars): I appreciate the effort and that it's 3 games in one, but it doesn't feel like the Megaman I know. I will stick with the Classic Collection.
- Game no Kanzume: Hit or miss, as expected, but some games are decently entertaining.