From: bel@whipassgaming.com   
      
   > It's a Sega Sorta Christmas! Every year we try to make on-topic content at   
   > rec.games.video.sega outnumber the advertising and the textbook piracy   
   > posts by talking about the way Sega influences our holiday gift-giving and   
   > leisure activities. How Sega was your Christmas in 2014?   
      
   Yeah, that dickhead with the textbooks wears me out to no end. I don't   
   get how he can continue to do it without someone, somewhere going after   
   him. Then again, I haven't seen one of his bullshit posts in a   
   while...maybe he's gone.   
      
   > As has been my habit for a few years now, I make a point of buying a   
   > truckload of cheap Sega Saturn games from one of the notable retro dealers   
   > on the Internet. This year the venerable Goat Store won me over with their   
   > revamped web site and I ended up picking up a pile of redundant Saturn   
   > games for a song, including JPN-region versions of Virtua Fighter 2, Last   
   > Bronx, Sega Rally and Daytona. Obviously I already own US-region versions   
   > of those games, but VF2 in particular is supposed to be notable for a few   
   > tweaks.   
      
   I know about the tweaks in Sega Rally(the Netlink version is based off   
   the Japanese version), but I hadn't heard anything on VF2, LB or   
   Daytona(unless we're talking about CCE, of which I own...and love).   
      
   > I also picked up some JPN-exclusive gems like Aqua World (another   
   > aquarium sim) and Quo Vadis (a terrible SRPG whose sequel I happened to   
   > have already picked up last year.) Notable in this year's haul is Jikuu   
   > Tantei Dracula Detective, an FMV adventure not unlike Mansion of Hidden   
   > Souls. It comes on two disks, the first of which is a two-hour intro   
   > segment that's completely non-interactive. I wish so much that more Saturn   
   > games were localized. My collection of 200+ games constitutes maybe one   
   > eighth of the total library across all regions.   
      
   Even if some of those games got a minimal translation job, I think it'd   
   of made a big difference for the Saturn in the US. The biggest blunder,   
   imo, had to be Grandia. You've got a system like the Saturn that "can't   
   do 3D", and yet Grandia's world is fully 3D with sprite   
   characters...completely showing up the PSX and FF7. Now all people   
   really know about Grandia is that watered-down version the PSX.   
      
   I need to see if any group out there has done a fan translation for   
   Grandia on the Saturn....I could just burn a copy and play it my modded   
   unit. That'd be nice. The most I've ever experience with it is the   
   "Grandia Prelude" disc...which is still pretty hip, but all in Japanese.   
      
   > I used to play VF2 a lot, and it's only recently that I've rediscovered my   
   > love for the game. As a result I was inspired to have VF2 with me on the   
   > road and went hunting for the old Sega Expert series of PC releases from   
   > the mid-nineties, which were mostly Saturn ports meant to run (very   
   > poorly) on Windows 95.   
      
   Yeah, I remember that series...sadly, it's tough to get any of them   
   running via Windows nowadays(unless something has changed).   
      
   > I discovered that there's also a later PC port of   
   > Daytona that includes the odd "To The Max" variant that only appeared in a   
   > few arcades, as well as a track exclusive to the Windows port.   
      
   Hmmmm, that is interesting. Now, is the PC port of Daytona based on the   
   original Saturn version, or CCE?   
      
   > So I've now   
   > picked up a few extra Sega PC disks to go with my copies of Panzer Dragoon   
   > and Last Bronx. This includes Sega Rally, Sega Touring Car, Sonic R, and a   
   > bunch of the the later PC ports like Crazy Taxi and Sega Rally Revo.   
      
   One thing I did find interesting is that a lot of the Genesis ports in   
   the Sega PC line had completely redone soundtracks. If you get a chance,   
   try out Garfield...I like the Genesis version's soundtrack and the PC   
   version is pretty good as well.   
      
   > Essentially the gaming laptop is becoming one giant portable Saturn and/or   
   > Dreamcast as the occasion warrants, although the performance of everything   
   > that's not a fighting game leaves a bit to be desired.   
      
   I've still yet to attempt Saturn or DC emulation. I've got a modded   
   Saturn that can play CD-Rs(got it a few years back), and the DC has no   
   issue with CD-Rs, so I guess I just never found any use for it.   
      
   > It's also been time to expand the Sega CD collection again. The list   
   > shrank a little bit at the beginning of the millennium, partly for   
   > practical reasons and partly because the collector bug hadn't really bit   
   > me yet. So I've spent a little time buying terrible games that I once   
   > traded away for peanuts. Chief among these has been the Frankestein/   
   > Dracula two pack, a pair of Sony Imagesoft games adapted from the DeNiro   
   > and Hopkins movies respectively. They're terrible games by any measure,   
   > but Frankenstein has a little camp value for its method of resolving   
   > combat via a fighting game engine not unlike the worst Street Fighter   
   > clones.   
      
   I've not tried Frankenstein, but I did find the FMV backgrounds of   
   Dracula to be pretty hip. The rest of the game is awful(I love how you   
   slowly make your way through the levels, basically just trying to avoid   
   enemies), so I agree with you there.   
      
   Have you played Dracula on the Genesis? Much different and actually   
   alright. Not sure about Frankenstein, but it may be very different as well.   
      
   > Finally, the local game store shopping resulted in some plugged gaps in   
   > Sega's earliest third-party days. Specifically, I picked up a nice copy of   
   > the Playstation 2 port of Crazy Taxi, the original release with the   
   > strategy guide packed in. Also in the pile was the Gamecube game Amazing   
   > Island, which I have yet to play but that I hear good things about.   
      
   My girlfriend has a Wii and I keep meaning to attempt this whole "Billy   
   Hatcher" thing via the GC disc. Have you ever tried that one? I looks   
   alright, but past his stages on the Sonic racing games, I've not seen a   
   whole lot of it. I keep meaning to try PSO Ep3, though I know it's   
   completely different than the others.   
      
   > So how Sega was your Christmas this year? I'm interested to hear, and so   
   > are the other three guys who read the group.   
      
   That's about right. Do you ever take a look at Alt.Sega.Genesis? Some of   
   the craziest stuff seems to pop up there, like people responding to   
   posts from years and years ago, etc.   
      
   > -KKC, who also has Flight Simulator X to install at some point today.   
      
   You'll not impress me until you tell me you're installing one of those   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)