PS2 Sega Ages

[sideshow]

The fact that Sega puts the effort in making higher resolution, 16:9, and other enhancements makes it worthwhile instead of just playing it via PC emulation.

[Ethrin]

Yay, you're really going through these fast! Could I possibly just reference your segment on the Phantasy Star 1 remake for when I get to the classic PS games?

[Haz]

Sega Ages, huh?

I remember playin' Fantasy Zone on the Collection, the remake of Hokuto no Ken for the SMS (which is an awesome remake) and I got the Monster World collection, which is the shit.

I love Wonder Boy in Monster World.

[Discoalucard]

Alright, the article's been updated, and actually broken down into several different pages this time. Still missing a handful of games, as well as the MP3s, but now it's much closer to completion.

[The bag of sand]

I wish those Phantasy Star games came out in the West. Also any one think that they will make a Shining Force Sega Ages? I think that would be awesome, even though they remade the first one for GBA.

[sideshow]

What ever happened to the Alex Kid or Bare Knuckle(AKA Streets of Rage) Sega Ages? I thought those were gonna happen but they never came about. Especially a Streets of Rage update or remake. Those would sell like hot cakes.

[Allie]

thebagofsand said:

I wish those Phantasy Star games came out in the West. Also any one think that they will make a Shining Force Sega Ages? I think that would be awesome, even though they remade the first one for GBA.

I believe they were going to at some point, but then the company that had the rights to the localizations went under, or something along those lines...

[mushu]

Very good article!
It's surprising how few of these have a US release at all....I'm sure a lot of PSO fans would like to see the re-release of Phantasy Star 1+2 on PS2.

[recap]

I miss some important facts in the article, to be honest:

- The series didn't exactly started as a Sega product, actually. Sega and D3 Publisher co-founded a brand-new publishing company to handle it, with the name of "3D Ages". Hence, 3D Ages was the company which published the first 18? volumes (till Dragon force, I believe), and not Sega.

- Due to its poor results and fans' voice, Sega decided to close the company, and handle the series by themselves from that volume, under a totally new premise - being faithful to the original games, with straight ports or, in some cases, updated versions or remakes which truly preserved the original concept.

- It doesn't mean that Sega or 3D Ages developed the games. For the first volumes 3D Ages hired some other companies, like Sims. Made sense since Sims had been developing lots of arcade ports for Sega since the Mega Drive days, like Out Run for that system, just to name one. A shame this was never a quality group, though.

- So Sega looked for other devs for the second batch. M2 would be in charge of most of the recent Sega Ages 2500 games, as well as the Mega Drive emulation for the Virtual Console, with really amazing results. Unlike most groups developing official ports/emulations, M2 does really care about accuracy and final presentation, and the support for true low resolution and simulated scanlines is a good example.

- There's a mistake in the article related to this, by the way: "(...) including the option for resolution changes (480i, 480p or 240i)" should be "240p". "240i" is nothing.

- Also: "Doki Doki Penguin Land (which got a Sega Master System port under the plain old name Penguin Land and is probably the most recognizable title on this disc.)" is wrong. Doki Doki Penguin Land was never an arcade game. It's a Mark III game which got an updated version for Mega Drive's on-line service, but nothing else.

- The actual name for the Space Harrier compilation is "Space Harrier II ~Space Harrier Complete Collection~". Notice the number "II" is there not just because it's the second Space Harrier in the Sega Ages 2500 series, but also as a hint to "Space Harrier II" included in the compilation.

- Sega indeed got the licence for Tetris more than once. Atari got it for the Western arcade markets and Sega/Taito did it for the Japanese one. There's even a NAOMI Tetris from Sega, which, if I'm not wrong, was published in Western countries.

- Oh, and while we're on it, I can't disagree more with this line:

"Golden Axe is only remembered as a classic for the same reason people dug Altered Beast - it was fun to watch huge sprites beat each other up. The actual game, however, just doesn't hold up."

[Shellshock]

:oWow . Reading about all these faults in the article makes me happy at least Recap has his facts straight. How come no Sega fan knew these things??

And this is just unacceptable : "Golden Axe is only remembered as a classic for the same reason people dug Altered Beast - it was fun to watch huge sprites beat each other up. The actual game, however, just doesn't hold up."
Altered Beast was popular because of its big sprites, awesome enemy and stage designs, huge bosses and the fact that you could transform into numerous cool monsters. The controls were so unresponsive and the difficulty so high that only those with lots of patience could enjoy it, let alone finish it on just one quarter.
Golden Axe, on the other hand, is a completely different story. The controls WERE responsive, and the difficulty was on the low side (since you could "dance" up and down on the screen without ever being hit), so finishing it on one quarter was very common. Mounting beasts, collecting potions and beating up the little midget thiefs was LOTS of fun, as anyone who frequented 80's arcades would know.

P.S.: I'm a bilingual fan of your site Recap. Good stuff.

[recap]

Forgot to mention, though I believe it's quite evident now - the "3D Ages" name came after inverting the names of the two companies involved, of course. It's not because the remakes had 3D graphics or something.

sh3llsh0ck said:

P.S.: I'm a bilingual fan of your site Recap. Good stuff.

Ah... thanks very much. I'm checking yours now for the first time, I'm afraid...!

[Discoalucard]

The opening is still a (not terribly well written) work in progress. I had heard about the collaboration with D3 way back when the line was announced, before I really knew what D3 was, and needed to fact check all of that. You've confirmed most of what I thought. I'd assumed most of them were outsourced to different companies like the other D3 games, although I didn't knew Sims was involved (or still around, for that matter.) You don't happen to know who did what, do you?

As for Doki Doki Penguin Land, what version is the same on the Sega Memorial Collection then? It's definitely different from the Master System version, and it's finally supported in one of the more recent versions of MAME. It's not exactly advanced but it's a step up from the SG-1000, which is the only other platform I can think of.

I stand by my Golden Axe line though. I'm a huge Sega fan in general, but both of those games were more about BIG THINGS GO SMASH then them actually being decent games or anything.

[mushu]

So Golden Axe was more in the line of the D&D arcade games, with less depth on a non-arcade system?

[recap]

admin said:

The opening is still a (not terribly well written) work in progress. I had heard about the collaboration with D3 way back when the line was announced, before I really knew what D3 was, and needed to fact check all of that. You've confirmed most of what I thought. I'd assumed most of them were outsourced to different companies like the other D3 games, although I didn't knew Sims was involved (or still around, for that matter.) You don't happen to know who did what, do you?.

Some quick research and this is what Sims made: Columns, Golden Axe, Fantasy Zone, Hokuto no Ken, After Burner and Out Run, probably others not listed, too:

www.sims.co.jp/outline.html

As for Doki Doki Penguin Land, what version is the same on the Sega Memorial Collection then? It's definitely different from the Master System version, and it's finally supported in one of the more recent versions of MAME. It's not exactly advanced but it's a step up from the SG-1000, which is the only other platform I can think of.

Though I have PS2 Sega Memorial it's still unopened, go figure... There's indeed a version for the arcades, it seems, but it's a port of the SG-1000 game..

I stand by my Golden Axe line though. I'm a huge Sega fan in general, but both of those games were more about BIG THINGS GO SMASH then them actually being decent games or anything.

But you're wrong, honestly. Both, Juuouki and Golden Axe are some of the best pieces of arcade gaming from those years, graphic-wise. The sprite design is a true lesson there. I'll agree they're don't have especially brilliant mechanics, though better than they seem to be at first. They made Sega earn money for some reason; bad games with beautiful graphics usually don't succeed as arcade games, whatever the year we're talking about.

[Haz]

Small fact you forgot to address: Alen Soldier was released in America on the Sega Channel, and Europe on cartridge.