XPost: alt.sega.genesis   
   From: bel@whipassgaming.com   
      
   > Sega CD often gets a bad reputation with the FMV games because many of   
   > them were Digital Pictures games.   
      
   I agree. I kind of wish Sega would have curbed them a bit on their   
   releases, but I guess anything to add to the meager catalog.   
      
   > By today's standards, they were   
   > probaby ahead of their time in terms of making games with frequent   
   > cutscenes, but in many cases, the storyline and/or character acting was   
   > just not very good.   
      
   Though I do agree with you, there is just *nothing* like the old school   
   voice acting you get off any given SCD game. It's so bad that's it good.   
   I love it.   
      
      
   Ah, a list-man...you, sir, have met your match!   
      
   > Of the few FMV games I have--Sewer Shark is a move the target around and   
   > shoot enemies until the next jump point type of game, but it's loud in   
   > the voice acting (to the point where one scene has audible distortion in   
   > one of the too fast spoken lines), and it also has non-disclosed quotas   
   > so game over can occur at a cutscene checkpoint when Comissioner   
   > Stenchler decides to end the game due to failing that quota.   
      
   It's a horrible game, but 1) I love the opening intro(NOW THAT'S MY MAIN   
   MAN!) and 2) I love the guy who plays Ghost. I keep wanting to try to   
   get the intro recorded off the 3DO version as it's almost full screen   
   there, and much prettier.   
      
   > Double Switch is just too fast of a game to really watch all the scenes,   
   > because trying to watch any scene to completion misses trapping or code   
   > numbers objectives for the first part of the game. There's some story   
   > involved with all the scenes, but the main gameplay is so fast that   
   > trapping has to occur or else it will soon be game over due to the power   
   > box being shut off or being disconnected for not getting all the code   
   > numbers.   
      
   I never got around to this one...like you were saying, I'd hear about   
   how fast paced it was back in the day and it just turned me off.   
      
   > Slam City tries to be one-on-one half-court basketball but the cutaways   
   > to another acting scene (every time a point is scored and often after a   
   > missed shot!) just makes for a really annoying game (the 32X/Sega CD   
   > version is just slightly better graphics but with the same gameplay).   
      
   Never got to this one either, but I respect it just because it's a 32X   
   CD game...and we got very few of those. Wish we could have gotten *just   
   one* that wasn't an FMV-based game...just to see what they could have   
   done with the 32X, Sega CD and 600 megs of storage.   
      
   > Prize Fighter is just a memorizer of what direction and button to hit,   
   > when and where (memorize practice mode to beat the boxer in the actual   
   > match), again with annoying cutaways to an acting scene to tell a story   
   > piecewise. Unless I am missing something about this game, that really,   
   > really disappointed me for trying to be a boxing game.   
      
   I remember the commercials of this one, and we have thousands of copies   
   of it, but I've yet to actually get past the intro.   
      
   > Of the few non-FMV games I have--Robo Aleste has a great CD soundtrack   
   > even though the graphics resemble those of M.U.S.H.A. (a cartridge game)   
   > but this game has a very tough difficulty even on Easy.   
      
   It's the sequel to MUSHA, actually. It's damn good, and has a ROCKING   
   soundtrack. The key to this one is to ONLY power up the Yellow power(the   
   shields). After a while, they get to be so vicious that *nothing* can   
   get through them to you. It's definitely one to go through.   
      
   > StarBlade did capture the gameplay of the arcade version even though   
   > most of the graphics were changed to wireframe, so it does look rather   
   > ugly. PlayStation/PSOne version was supposed to be better, but by the   
   > time I got a PSOne that game was out of circulation in stores.   
      
   This is one I've always wanted to play, but never run across it.   
      
   > Silpheed is apparently pre-rendered FMV   
      
   Oh man, I don't even like to speculate...you're lucky we're in a dead   
   group...it's one of the few places where I could realistically see that   
   comment not turning in to a 159 page thread of pure arguing. ;)   
      
   > and is a very good vertically   
   > oriented shooter with very good music too--at least one track isn't on   
   > the CD which means the Genesis is doing that music.  I'm only halfway   
   > through the game.   
      
   There are a lot of SCD games that use Genesis audio, and it just sounds   
   great. I don't know if there's something special going on, or maybe it's   
   just at full bitrate or what.   
      
   > It's still better than the PS2 version, Silpheed: The   
   > Lost Planet.   
      
   I have always wondered...never heard anything though.   
      
   > Final Fight CD is excellent   
      
   Fucking-A it is! Man, I have played this thing to the point of wearing   
   out the damn disc!   
      
   > even I do also find the gameplay of Final   
   > Fight much more tedious when compared to Streets of Rage II, and looks   
   > very much like the arcade version of the game.   
      
   Yeah, it's just an incredible conversion. MASSIVE amounts of enemies on   
   the screen in "Mania" setting, unbelievably smooth animation on the   
   three lead characters and that redone soundtrack that puts the original   
   to shame. God, it's good!   
      
   > Stellar Fire is unfortunately mediocre though based on Dynamix's Stellar   
   > 7, but that CD music soundtrack by itself is quite decent synth rock   
   > music and gives some energy to an otherwise relatively slow paced game.   
   > Most annoying is the inability to go backwards and requiring rotating   
   > all the way around and accelerating forward.   
      
   Oh, I had no idea it was based off Stellar 7! We sell that game quite a   
   bit on PC(someone always wants it), but I've never tried to keep a copy   
   for myself. I may have to, the next time we run across it, just to compare.   
      
   > There's also that Sherlock Holmes game, one of these days I still need   
   > to make time to finally play that seriously and solve the cases.   
      
   There's also the little-seen "Vol.2" that came out, with new cases and   
   whatnot.   
      
   > As for the 32X, it's an okay add-on considering I bought it at a   
   > closeout price of $19.99. I might have been upset had I payed full   
   > retail price at its initial release time.   
      
   I think it's an awesome upgrade, on a few levels. I don't know that I'd   
   of paid $150 for it, but I really do wish I would have gotten one at $79   
   just to have owned it when it was still alive. I'll bet Virtua Fighter   
   would have blown my nuts off.   
      
   The great thing about the 32X is that it takes over as the video output   
   for the Genesis, so if you have a Genesis 1 unit it really cleans up the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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