Making SEGA Genesis cartridges

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pbj:
Paradoxically, the problem was the opposite of "unable to flush the system." Anyway, I have some terrifying pictures I'll be happy to send you. There will be blood.

:lol

That experience with that SEGA PCB prompted me to check the box of sports games PCBs I've been holding onto for reasons unknown to me. I found some interesting things out.

EA PCBs assembled in Puerto Rico in 1993 - ROM pops right off. Any other PCB? ROM or PCB cracks in half before the solder will give. I spent 3 hours trying to desolder a chip and clean the holes on an EA PCB once. Oh well, live and learn. Seems to be total ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- like FIFA soccer and international tennis. Any other era the chips may as well be welded on. On the pic below you may notice a damaged trace.... there is literally a damn factory jumper wire going off the ROM leg to enable 2MB mode. I had a few with a slight variation that didn't need this jumper wire. This was clearly done by hand and the ROMs are crooked because the chip sits on top of the wire. You can also see the bottom left leg on chip U3 has been physically bent out and soldered to that capacitor. Fun times. What the hell was EA doing in Puerto Rico.... I'm sure it was a tax scheme.

Anyway, NFL Quarterback Club by Acclaim? Even easier to pop off.

Tengen boards pop off pretty easily but the solder pads are delicate and I've had to scrap off some solder mask, fold the eprom leg over, solder to the trace, etc. No big deal.

Here's a couple of examples.

pbj:
So the issue with that board was indeed the vE pin. And then the 2MB connection was pulled high to 5V. I depopulated another one of these boards to follow the traces so I wouldn’t have jumpers on the edge connector.

And now I have two copies of Last Battle….

Xiaou2:
I just found a rare Japanese Genesis game, that I became Addicted to.
A little known title called: 16 Ton.
I believe it was released on the Japanese Sega Satellite based internet server / Service.

It doesnt look that visually impressive, but the gameplay is fun as Hell.
Its somewhat similar to Teddy Boy Blues.. but its gameplay is much more fun and dynamic.

1) You can Run, Jump, and Shoot these 16 Ton Weights.
2) The weights can Crush the enemies
3) The weights have PHYSICS !!! You can make them bounce off of walls, each other, they can slide on Ice..etc.
4) The weights can fall, bounce, or slide into you.. so you have to be quite careful about them...
5) You jump on the stopped weights, to reach higher platforms.
6) After a few jumps on a stopped weight, they will start to break apart, and eventually will vanish.
7) Weights can form a protective wall against enemies
8 ) Enemies can cut through the blocks, with some effort / time
A) One particular enemy, tends to be able to Jump down from the platforms above you
B) One enemy can Fly (and can destroy any stopped weights that its blades hit)

- At the top of the screen, is a long section of Bars. This has dual functionality...

A) It will suddenly start to scroll from left to right... like a slot machine. When it stops, it will Drop a random
number of enemies at that horizontal screen location.

B) The bar will then act as a time... slowly counting down, until the next batch of Enemies to Release.
C) The bar will stop counting down, if there once you are on your last batch. You will have to then hunt down these remaining enemies, for you to win.. and progress to the next level.

- At the Bottom of your screen are:

1) Enemy - The number of enemies left alive... in the current Level
2) 16 Ton - I havent figured this meter out. I think its a limiter on how many Weights you can shoot
3) Slots - This is the number of remaining "Enemy Drops"
4) Lives - Number of Lives you have left

- I believe you have a certain number of "Continues" as I know Ive blown through all 5 men, and was able to keep going. Eventually Id run out, and Id get a permanent "Game Over", and have to start from the beginning level again. I never counted how many lives total.. as I was too busy having fun playing. I must have sunk about 2hrs into the game, without even thinking about it.

- All levels Wrap around from left to right, and top to bottom (infinitely).
- There are certain levels that have Unique blocks:

A) Ice Blocks - very slippery. Good to be able to slide weights into the enemies.
B) Destructible blocks - Weights thrown into them, can destroy them
C) Bouncing Blocks - Jumping on these will make you bounce. Weights can also bounce on them.

- The Physics are quite amazing. Not only can you do jumps that are short or long.. but you can also add your momentum to throw the weights shorter.. or further. The weights bouncing and sliding, is also great.. and you often end up Crushing yourself, while trying to crush the Enemies.

This really is a Must play. Hilarious fun, challenging, and very addictive.

Xiaou2:
I had found 16 Ton, when thinking about a list of some of the best games for the Genesis.

These are some of my top re-playable Favorites:
(In no particular order)

16 Tons

-New personal Favorite. Very Addictive Arcade Action Game.

Super Hangon:

- One of the systems fastest & more intense racing games. If you play the "Story mode", you can unlock a much
higher top speed bike. Faster than the "Arcade" mode bike, from what I recall. The story
mode bike starts out slow, and pathetic.. but eventually things get faster and more intense. Its a very intense challenge,
to be able to compete a race without crashing.. as crashes will cause you to waste your upgrade money.. on repairs.

Rocket Knight Adventures

- This game is very Polished. It controls and plays smooth. The graphics are cool. The Music and SFX are Fantastic.
And the kinds of interactions and graphical effects are varied and unique. The game starts out seeming "Easy", but
ohh boy.. does it ever ramp up in difficulty. Its one of the very few games that I was unable to defeat.. (I was close)

The Revenge of Shinobi

- My favorite Shinobi game, after the Arcade Original. The guy moves a bit slow for my taste, but the challenge is
decent... and the tunes and overall Feel, is quite Epic.

Zany Golf

- Im a Sucker for a good Mini Golf game.. and this one, is one of the most unique and fun versions, that Ive ever
come across. Everything from working Pinball Flippers, to Lasers, Fans that push the ball, and many other
interesting and unique features and functions. Its a very challenging game to fully beat. Always fun for a replay.

Thunderforce II

- Hands down, my Favorite shooter of all time. I prefer this over all of the others in the Series. Why? This version has
FAR superior music (best VG music Ive ever heard), much more detailed hi-res graphics, and the powerup system is much
better than the later versions. Its also FAR more challenging than TF3.. yet far less rage inducing than TF4.

Some people do not care for the Top View stages. They are a little awkward, but they give some nice variation to the game.
The main issue with them, is in getting Lost, while trying to find each base.

The other issue I originally had.. was due to not reading the manual. You see, every other weapon you collect.. shoots in the air...
but, in order to hit the targets on the ground, you need to use your "Bombs". The bombs are Automatically dropped.. but they
visually look like they are just standard air based weapons. As such, you have to realize that in order to hit these ground targets..
you have to get quite Close in range, for your bombs to be able to reach them. You can see where they are landing, by looking
at the small circles that form.

You can skip most of these stages at the Main Title screen, by activating the hidden menu. At title screen, press A+B+C+Start Button.
From there, you can adjust the difficulty level, and starting level. Beware.. as if you chose to lower the difficulty.. the game wont
allow you to complete the entire game (It will stop you, a few levels before that point). This really forces you to develop your skills.

The best thing about it, is that its difficulty level is very Fair. It will allow you to crash... and still keep traveling forwards.. unlike some
brutal shooters, that put you very far backwards into a level. Furthermore, even with your Default weapon, you will have more than
enough firepower to fight the enemies. Unlike shooters like R-Type... where if you are killed deep into the game, its almost easier to
reset the entire game... rather than trying to fight with your basic underpowered Pea-Shooter of a weapon.

This game took me about a year of Off and On play, but I eventually defeated it. I was quite young at that time, so my skills were
probably nowhere near what they are these days. That said, TF2 is one of those games that if you have not played it in years... its
probably going to kick your a**, until get used to it again. This is one of the few shooters that I re-play over and over again.

When I defeated it, it was from starting on the 5th level, I believe. That in itself was a real challenge. However, one day I want
to try to defeat it from stage 1.

There is a somewhat superior version of TF2, on the Japanese x68000 PC. It has more layers of parallax scrolling. More details.
More levels in total. Clearer voices. And more. Its interesting, that the Genesis version tweaked on the bosses to make it
MUCH harder than the x68000 version. In fact, it was that tweaked boss, that caused me so much difficulty in reaching the final stage.
I sort of had to cheat, by rapidly toggling the start button.. acting as a Pause.. to simulate slow-motion. Even that, was still a real
challenge and miracle, to pull off. That said, it was worth every second of pain. Its just a fantastic experience, in total.

Target Earth

- This is another very EPIC game. Maybe not as perfectly balanced as TF2.. as its a bit slower in pace.. but it has so many unique
things within its gameplay. Many of the stage missions, have different objectives. In one mission, you had to help defend the main
ship.. while waiting for as many of your friends to board it, to escape the planet. However... I found out the hard way.. that if you
do not board within the said time limit (they warned me), then they will actually close the hatch, and leave you stranded! Then you
get the "Game OVER" screen.. no matter how many lives / continues that you had! I was gobsmacked! Had to laugh at myself,
as they did warn me.

The game has a unique system of aim control.. but its jumping has a small Delay to it, that takes some time to get used to.
This is semi-realistic, because anything that Heavy.. isnt going to be quick nor easy to "Jump" into the air. As such, you eventually
get used to pre-planning your jumps a hair early... or at least, expect a little delay after you press jump.

The game is BRUTALLY hard. I think it took me several hours of play to figure out how to defeat the first level. One of the
keys, is trying to run past enemies, rather than trying to fight them all. If you keep from getting too many hits, eventually your
health bar will auto re-fill itself. Sometimes you can "Rest" to recoop your energy.. but there are missions in which you do
not have any extra time to waste.

At the end of each stage, there is the Opportunity to Earn extra weapons. This depends on how well you performed in the mission
that you just completed. For example.. if you rescued 98% of the crew on that one stage, you might earn 2 weapons, rather than 1
or none. It becomes fun trying to get as much of a bonus as possible, to be able to get the best possible weapons, as early as
possible.

The soundtrack is a little limited in the number of tracks.. but they are fantastic tracks. One of them sounds like a crazy futuristic
Electrified Jazzy Guitar solo... and its to die for.

There is an actual story that gets told to you, as you progress. Its not some deep RPG thing.. and its not some long disruptive
amount of text to read. Its just enough to be interesting.. and eventually "Shocking" when its revealed to you, what "happened",
and Why.

One great thing about this game, is some of the depth of Realisms in it. For example... if you launch an Explosive shell into the air,
and then charge into the resulting Explosion.. you WILL take massive damages from it.

The delay in the jumping is also one of those details of Realism. It helps to really pull you into this world / game.
There are other things... such as using the Atmosphere (burning them up as you Juke them) as means of killing the enemies.

The graphics are very cool looking, and are quite detailed. Things only get more and more impressive, in the final stages.

There is also an EPIC mini-movie, that eventually plays... if you do not press anything at the title screen.
It tells a little bit of the story, with some very cool battle animations.

Recently, some company made a modern re-make of this game... however.. IMO, its complete Trash, compared to the original.
It was clearly made up people whom are not actual Artists.. as there are many glaring visual issues, such as very bad looking
explosions and effects.

Ghouls and Ghosts

- What can I say. This is a game that anyone can pick up and re-play, over and over again. Its just a very fun and addictive
game. And while you can play the arcade game on mame.. the Genesis version holds it own, quite well enough, to satisfy.

Strider

- While this game is a little lacking in terms of depth of gameplay... it was one of the few games that had a sort of epic mission
feel to it. Seeing the character running down the steep snowy mountain.. its captures the spirit of emotion so perfectly... and
burns it into your very soul, forever. The game is very Interactive.. in ways that many games are not. Its not so much of a
re-play game... as it is a kind of special feat, of a very polished Genesis game experience.

Castle of Illusions

- Another very polished game. Starts out seemingly childish.. but then becomes quite deceptively challenging. This is one
that had some very beautiful and creative visuals... and a great matching soundtrack + sfx to boot. Just getting to see
the sparkling spider web stage, or roaming in the Candy-Land... is just an amazing experience to behold. Few side-scollers
are anywhere near as pretty, and unique, as this one was.

Batman (Sunsoft)

- Its been a very long time since Ive played this one, so my memory is fuzzy... but from what I recall... I really enjoyed this
one. It played well, and really set the mood. The only bad part about it, was it was too darn short.

Zhuo Gui Da Shi (Ghost Hunter)

- This is a fun little Pang Clone, that has a Monster Theme to it. Its quite challenging and addictive.
It might not be super unique, but its fun to fire up and blast through as many levels as you can.

Personally, after playing the EPIC original "Phantasy Star" on the Sega Master System... I HATED Phantasy Star 3.
In comparison, it was very boring. I was also extremely disappointed, that they removed the 3d Dungeons. If anything
I expected that there would be even greater 3d detailed dungeons. Instead, we got these dumb, ugly, overhead puzzles.

The original Phantasy Star outshined PS3 in every single way. Especially in the Creativity of the Story. You also
connected far more emotionally, to the Characters. While mapping those Dungeons out by hand was a pain.. it was
also such a memorable experience. A real mystery, and psychotic + stressful level Challenge. Especially since you
were not able to SAVE your game, when in any Dungeon. I swear I recall being stuck in a Dungeon for like +5hrs...
and unfortunately, not being able to survive.

They dont seem to make games like that anymore. These days, they are way too easy, and treat you like you have
a mental handicap.. telling you exactly what buttons to press, and when to press them. I cant Stand that BS.

Anyways... I looked at the list of growing Megadrive roms, and realized that there are so many that Id never seen before.
Lots of interesting Prototypes that have been popping into Mame. Going to have to check some of them out. Figured Id share
one of my recent findings, and favs.

pbj:
Very good suggestions, Xiaou2. I wasn't familiar with Ghost Hunter or 16 Tons. I think I'll have to make a copy of Ghost Hunter. May need to revisit Batman.

I'm a big fan of Target Earth. An almost cinematic game. Only copy I saw back in the day was the one I owned. The music is incredible put through some decent speakers. I just cheat and do the invincibility trick but it's still a fun ride.

I do have a homemade Revenge of Shinobi 1.0 with Sonny Chiba, Godzilla, Batman, Spider-Man, etc.

Thunderforce 3 I actually own legit. Someone was selling two loose PCBs on Ebay and I got them for $10 shipped. I was reasonably sure they were Altered Beast and Thunderforce 3 and turned out to be right. Who in the world strips a Thunderforce 3 for its shell? Probably worth $20 with my repro label. Only other "seller didn't know what he had" story is finding an Ultimate Qix in the bottom of a box of sports games.

I'm not convinced this is ever coming out, and I'm of the opinion that the original port doesn't really need updating, but there is a guy working on an enhanced Ghouls N Ghosts:

https://www.youtube.com/@amaru1818

And check out Tanzer and Xenocrisis if you haven't already.

:cheers:

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