@AnonUser A lot of the reasons the SMS didn't have those games was because of the corporate bullying Nintendo pulled at the time. Threatening them to blacklist publishers in the US. Fans have proven multiple times a SMS port would have been vastly superior.
It's why everyone was so sick of them by the Nintendo 64 years and their "dream team" was really the dregs of who stayed around. No one would ever have Gametek on their roster otherwise.
Mastertronic definitely deserve credit for how well the Master System did in the UK, they kept game prices competitive, like most AAA titles were £25, which was on par with Amiga/Atari ST titles, whereas Mattel's handling of the NES, they wanted astronomical prices for some games, like Fester's Quest and Star Wars were an eye watering £70.
In fact I'd say the ONLY reason the NES managed to get a foothold in the UK was entirely down to the Ninja (Hero) Turtles bundle, which Nintendo fought to veto as it wasn't one of THEIR games shipped with it.
(I'd also say them having the WWF license exclusively for a while helped too)
But the SMS was a wonderful little machine, I absolutely loved mine as a kid. Still remember getting one for Christmas with Teddy Boy and Ghost House. Then went to Woolworths with my Christmas money to buy Action Fighter!
@Fallingshadow Indeed, they lost all of Midway's games a while ago, and most of their new stuff now seems to be homebrew NES games, especially ones released by John Riggs :S
@Damo I think it's reputation has been muddied over the years as it was quite the punching bag for the "Angry Sweary Gamer" fad on YouTube in the late 2000's.
That and LJN haven't got the best reputation in the world when it comes to Marvel properties.
I must confess I've never played it, but, a lot of Gameboy titles are hard to play on original hardware as they're sooo blurry now. I absolutely loved the Sunsoft Batman game on GB, and that's hated now too bizarrely.
An interesting choice for one of your fave games, Damo. Was it one of those "That's all you're getting, you better learn to love it" type affairs as a kid?
People have been asking for a Dino Crisis reboot for the best part of 20 years...
"Sorry, did you say "Resident Evil?"" Says Capcom, "Sure, we can give you anothter ten of them".
But personally, I wouldn't mind a new Saturday Night Slam Masters, The original was great, they could make one now just from all the fighting characters that are wrestlers in the Capcom universe now. Even Frank West from Dead Rising was a Wrestler.
It's sad, but it's a franchise Sega never released in the West, despite petitioning multiple times over the years. So it just doesn't have the nostalgia pull that their other IPs have.
I once rang up Acclaim's hotline, as I was stuck on Krusty's Super Fun House on the SNES. They said they'd ring me back so they could find where I was in the game.
30 Minutes later, they were asking ME for help as I had gotten a lot further in the game than they had!
It just feels like another "that'll do" collection.
If it was an actual celebration of the Joe and Mac series, surely it would have at least included the arcade version, let alone other ports like Game Boy and Mega Drive. All it is, is two games, and a third that was stripped of its association to the franchise in the West.
And where is "Joe and Mac Returns"? It's not even the complete series.
Still, at least it's not covered in AI art, I suppose. It seems to be using the art from the SNES repro from 15-20 years ago, instead.
@roguetrooper That's an extremely thin line to tread, as soon as the press catches on to what you're doing, they'll either blacklist you at best, or completely turn on you.
I'm kinda getting vibes of the game "Constructor" from it. The remaster of that a few years ago was pretty cool, they even hired Boysey from Only Fools and Horses to be the narrator/tutorial VO.
But will Americans get the name, or will it be renamed "Car Lot Capitol" there?
Had a feeling they were keen on the project, adding features not seen before, like the sound test Etc.
Hopefully they'll consider releasing some of their unreleased stuff like Dinosaur Planet and Dream Etc.
Wish companies would release unfinished/unreleased games, state that they're buggy/incomplete. The only time I can recall this is Twisted Metal Harbor City, Starfox 2, and the SNES Rayman in the recent collection.
I've never heard that rumour before. I know it used death sounds from one of the Conan movies, that's been proven. And Sega were notorious for stealing audio and images from movies and magazines.
I was buying import games from CEX ever since they were just a single stall at Wembley Market!
I got stuff like Wardner on the Mega Drive, and Japanese copies of games like Batman and Streets of Rage. Also a US copy of Sonic 1 when it was literally just out.
Also the Harrow branch, paying £125 for a Japanese copy of Mario Kart 64 as it came with a two tone controller. and they wanted £150 for it a few weeks earlier.
@happycodingzx Aah, that's great to know! Would explain why Piko wanted to rename the character all of a sudden!
I know he's pretty open to selling rights too, if you ever wanted it for completionist's sake! Eli offered me the IP rights to a game I did the anime/manga art on many many years ago as payment for another job.
If there's anything I can do to help out too, give us a shout!
Sega Touring Cars was such a disappointment, Then again Sega didn't exactly do a good job explaining how to play the game properly. Took me years to discover you accelerate/brake with the gear shift more than anything else.
Regardless they'd have been better off porting Indy 500 or something in hindsight.
Oh, if you set the clock to Christmas Day 1997, the game completely changes to an online contest time trial game!
Well, let's hope it's not an AI generated sesspit like the planned Robocod/James Pond sequel is going to be.
But, Does Stewert own many of Gremlin's original IP's now? Piko Interactive snapped up a ton of them a few years ago. They even own Impossamole (Eli even got me involved to re-design/retcon Monty Mole out of Impossamole, so he could make sequels), so they don't even own the full franchiese.
It was that over the top early '90s rubberized American style of animation that the first Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon also suffered from. (also the Bubsy pilot)
If they had possibly comissioned the series through an anime studio, like TMNT, ThunderCats & Batman TAE Etc. were, it would have had a more grounded, serious feel to it.
But DIC pitched a few other NES games, and art has been leaked over the years, including CastleVania and Metroid (with a male Samus)
They even wanted to do a show based on California Games, so could that have been more like Hanna Barbera's Laff-a-Lympics?
Comments 584
Re: "If I Didn't Have These Powerful Tools, I Wouldn't Do It at All" - The Oliver Twins Explain Why They're Dizzy About GenAI
Ah, wow, I completely forgot about Firo and Klawd, I always found that fascinating too!
Always had an interest in British developers creating these new characters/mascots during the PS1 era. Love to do a topic on that myself one day.
Re: "I Was Told That We Should Cancel The Entire Franchise" - Sonic Boss Takashi Iizuka On His "Fight" With Sega Over The Blue Blur's Future
@Jawessome Sega Japan are literally the phrase "cutting your nose off to spite your own face"!
Re: The Master System's Popularity In The UK Is Still Surprising Some People
@AnonUser A lot of the reasons the SMS didn't have those games was because of the corporate bullying Nintendo pulled at the time. Threatening them to blacklist publishers in the US. Fans have proven multiple times a SMS port would have been vastly superior.
It's why everyone was so sick of them by the Nintendo 64 years and their "dream team" was really the dregs of who stayed around. No one would ever have Gametek on their roster otherwise.
Re: The Master System's Popularity In The UK Is Still Surprising Some People
Mastertronic definitely deserve credit for how well the Master System did in the UK, they kept game prices competitive, like most AAA titles were £25, which was on par with Amiga/Atari ST titles, whereas Mattel's handling of the NES, they wanted astronomical prices for some games, like Fester's Quest and Star Wars were an eye watering £70.
In fact I'd say the ONLY reason the NES managed to get a foothold in the UK was entirely down to the Ninja (Hero) Turtles bundle, which Nintendo fought to veto as it wasn't one of THEIR games shipped with it.
(I'd also say them having the WWF license exclusively for a while helped too)
But the SMS was a wonderful little machine, I absolutely loved mine as a kid. Still remember getting one for Christmas with Teddy Boy and Ghost House. Then went to Woolworths with my Christmas money to buy Action Fighter!
Re: System 3 Explains Why Evercade Is Getting The Last Ninja Before PlayStation And Xbox - And Why The Antstream Deal Has Gone Sour
@Fallingshadow Indeed, they lost all of Midway's games a while ago, and most of their new stuff now seems to be homebrew NES games, especially ones released by John Riggs :S
Re: Balloon Bomber (Not The Kirby Villain) Drifts Sloooowly Onto The Arcade Archives This Week
@Teksette Shame they always charge such inflated prices for them, though >.>
Re: After Years Of Hard Work, One Of The Most Ambitious Super Mario Kart SNES Hacks Of All Time Finally Has A Release Date
I'd still love someone to make a actual game of that 101 drivers Battle Royale Super Mario Kart video someone made years ago...
https://youtu.be/iJJHQaQB45U?si=BkM9sqD6HOY6dHdp&t=6
Re: System 3 Explains Why Evercade Is Getting The Last Ninja Before PlayStation And Xbox - And Why The Antstream Deal Has Gone Sour
I still play Antstream, always check every week to see what new games have gone up.
Also nice that they focus on British games too.
Re: "I Was Told That We Should Cancel The Entire Franchise" - Sonic Boss Takashi Iizuka On His "Fight" With Sega Over The Blue Blur's Future
@Jawessome Sega Japan have always had a jealous streak whenever it came to success without their intervention in the west.
but its still infuriating they cancelled the sequel to sonic mania.
Re: 'I Feel Very Strongly About AI Use In Most Cases' - English Patch Released For Obscure Saturn Cyberpunk RPG Cyber Doll
Wow, the character designs are by Yasushi Nirasawa, I worked with him years ago when he was collaborating with Tony Luke and Dominator.
Re: The Making Of: Rare's Amazing Spider-Man - "I Hadn't Seen Or Heard Of A Game Boy Before"
@Damo I think it's reputation has been muddied over the years as it was quite the punching bag for the "Angry Sweary Gamer" fad on YouTube in the late 2000's.
That and LJN haven't got the best reputation in the world when it comes to Marvel properties.
I must confess I've never played it, but, a lot of Gameboy titles are hard to play on original hardware as they're sooo blurry now. I absolutely loved the Sunsoft Batman game on GB, and that's hated now too bizarrely.
Re: "I Was Told That We Should Cancel The Entire Franchise" - Sonic Boss Takashi Iizuka On His "Fight" With Sega Over The Blue Blur's Future
Sega should consider re-releasing Sonic 1 and 2 again a few more hundred times.
But seriously, they should let Chris Whitehead take lead of Sonic titles, he's the only one with a bloody clue.
Re: The Making Of: Rare's Amazing Spider-Man - "I Hadn't Seen Or Heard Of A Game Boy Before"
An interesting choice for one of your fave games, Damo. Was it one of those "That's all you're getting, you better learn to love it" type affairs as a kid?
Re: It May Be 2026, But Here's A Brand New Original Shoot 'Em Up For Your Sega Master System
Always impressed how good these Master System homebrew games look, they wouldn't look out of place on a Mega Drive even.
Re: Following Onimusha, Capcom Is Looking At 'Re-Activating' Dormant Franchises - What Would You Like To See Return?
People have been asking for a Dino Crisis reboot for the best part of 20 years...
"Sorry, did you say "Resident Evil?"" Says Capcom, "Sure, we can give you anothter ten of them".
But personally, I wouldn't mind a new Saturday Night Slam Masters, The original was great, they could make one now just from all the fighting characters that are wrestlers in the Capcom universe now. Even Frank West from Dead Rising was a Wrestler.
Re: It's Important That You Buy Your Cat This $60 Metal Gear Solid Cardboard Box Right Away
@Soupbones Thats a bargain, Nintendo charges $120 for theirs!
Re: "We Are Truly Sorry That Things Must End This Way" - Sega's Rent-A-Hero Revival Is Ending Mere Months After Launch
It's sad, but it's a franchise Sega never released in the West, despite petitioning multiple times over the years. So it just doesn't have the nostalgia pull that their other IPs have.
Re: Konami Wai Wai World Craft 'Concept' Trailer Spotlights Some of The Game Maker's Gadgets
Will this just devolve into endless "Kaizu" levels where you need to essentially glitch yoour way through levels, like with Super Mario Maker?
Re: "Ant & Dec Annoyed The Absolute S**t Out Of Me" - The Complete History Of The Nintendo UK Hotline
I once rang up Acclaim's hotline, as I was stuck on Krusty's Super Fun House on the SNES. They said they'd ring me back so they could find where I was in the game.
30 Minutes later, they were asking ME for help as I had gotten a lot further in the game than they had!
Re: "Utterly Disappointing" - Early Reactions To Cave's Latest Bullet Hell Revival Aren't Exactly Positive
@Ruka You could check out keygen sites, they often have working codes for delisted games on Steam.
It's how I got my copies of Superfrog and that Rock N' Roll Racing knock off that Blizzard DMCA'd out of existence.
Re: Joe & Mac Retro Collection Brings Three "Stone Age" SNES Games To Modern Consoles This October
It just feels like another "that'll do" collection.
If it was an actual celebration of the Joe and Mac series, surely it would have at least included the arcade version, let alone other ports like Game Boy and Mega Drive. All it is, is two games, and a third that was stripped of its association to the franchise in the West.
And where is "Joe and Mac Returns"? It's not even the complete series.
Still, at least it's not covered in AI art, I suppose. It seems to be using the art from the SNES repro from 15-20 years ago, instead.
Re: Joe & Mac Retro Collection Brings Three "Stone Age" SNES Games To Modern Consoles This October
@PKDuckman You can also play them if you own an Xbox, PC or PlayStation, they're all available to play on AntStream.
Re: Peter Cullen, The Voice Of Optimus Prime And Mario, Has Died Aged 85
@Agent_P I like her music, I was going to be named after one of her songs had I been born a girl!
Re: "I Hope They Choke On An AI-Generated Fishbone" - James Pond Creator On System 3's "Soulless" Legacy Collection
@Uncle_Franklin Badum Tisch!
Re: Peter Cullen, The Voice Of Optimus Prime And Mario, Has Died Aged 85
What an absolutely miserable week for well-loved celebs passing on this week
Re: "I Hope They Choke On An AI-Generated Fishbone" - James Pond Creator On System 3's "Soulless" Legacy Collection
@foursider I've chatted with him briefly over the years, yeah, he's a lovely guy IRL.
He's also the creator of Medievil, so quite the talented chap!
Re: "I Hope They Choke On An AI-Generated Fishbone" - James Pond Creator On System 3's "Soulless" Legacy Collection
"James Pond art lacks Sole says Creator"
You missed a great pun title opportunity there Damo
Re: "It Feels Like I've Left Something Behind For Her, Forever" - The Untold Secret Behind The Creator Of A ZX Spectrum Classic
Elite never consulted the creator of Roller Coaster, nor paid him any royalties when flipping the game to Dragon's Lair???
That doesn't sound like something Elite would normally do.
Oh wait... https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2937&page=6
Re: Alien Breed Is Getting A 35th Anniversary Collection, And Its Publisher Couldn't Be More Apt
will it also include the original cheat codes?
Re: "It's Been A Huge Part Of My Life" - The Retro Hour's Ravi Abbott Is Stepping Away After More Than Ten Years
Aw, that's a shame, Ravi's a lovely fella too!
Re: "One Of The Biggest Announcements We've Ever Made" - Atari Says Something "Big" Is Coming
@roguetrooper That's an extremely thin line to tread, as soon as the press catches on to what you're doing, they'll either blacklist you at best, or completely turn on you.
Re: "Who Are They Kidding?" - System 3 Insists No GenAI Was Used In James Pond Legacy, But Fans Aren't Convinced
@roguetrooper I did a video years ago on Cale's promises for the Putty Squad re-release. (here's the shorts version)
https://youtube.com/shorts/V354t9WqzK0
Re: '90s-Inspired Sim 'Car Park Capital' Asks Players To "Pave Paradise & Put Up A Parking Lot" This October
I'm kinda getting vibes of the game "Constructor" from it. The remaster of that a few years ago was pretty cool, they even hired Boysey from Only Fools and Horses to be the narrator/tutorial VO.
But will Americans get the name, or will it be renamed "Car Lot Capitol" there?
Re: Rare Was "Enthusiastic And Passionate" When It Came To Bringing Banjo-Kazooie To Evercade, Says Blaze CEO
@KGRAMR Oh, I forgot about those.
Re: "The Best News Of The Year" - Panzer Dragoon Is Being Unofficially Ported To Dreamcast
@1040STF I wasn't aware of that? Was it the blurring of some textures for the 3DFX cards?
Re: Rare Was "Enthusiastic And Passionate" When It Came To Bringing Banjo-Kazooie To Evercade, Says Blaze CEO
Had a feeling they were keen on the project, adding features not seen before, like the sound test Etc.
Hopefully they'll consider releasing some of their unreleased stuff like Dinosaur Planet and Dream Etc.
Wish companies would release unfinished/unreleased games, state that they're buggy/incomplete. The only time I can recall this is Twisted Metal Harbor City, Starfox 2, and the SNES Rayman in the recent collection.
Re: An Obscure Irem Beat 'Em Up Is Getting A Revival Later This Year, Courtesy Of City Connection
Have you ever considered doing a retrospective on Ninja Baseball Bat Man? It's got an absolutely fascinating history!
Re: "The Best News Of The Year" - Panzer Dragoon Is Being Unofficially Ported To Dreamcast
Interesting they've using the Saturn version, rather than the PC release, as that fixed a lot of issues with the textures Etc.
But, it's already looking better than that "remake". eugh.
Re: "The Unmistakable Stench Of Bullsh*t" - No, Golden Axe Doesn't Feature Screams From Death Row Inmates
I've never heard that rumour before. I know it used death sounds from one of the Conan movies, that's been proven. And Sega were notorious for stealing audio and images from movies and magazines.
Re: CeX Is Revisiting Its 'Retro-Only' Store Concept And Returning To The World Of Imports, According To New Rumour
I was buying import games from CEX ever since they were just a single stall at Wembley Market!
I got stuff like Wardner on the Mega Drive, and Japanese copies of games like Batman and Streets of Rage. Also a US copy of Sonic 1 when it was literally just out.
Also the Harrow branch, paying £125 for a Japanese copy of Mario Kart 64 as it came with a two tone controller. and they wanted £150 for it a few weeks earlier.
Re: The Making Of: Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves - "Costner Was Uncomfortable With Having His Face In A Violent Game"
@PKDuckman Quite a few celebs have managed to nerf pretty decent licensed games.
Re: The Making Of: Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves - "Costner Was Uncomfortable With Having His Face In A Violent Game"
Costner should have been more concerned about putting his face on a game that's absolutely sh1te.
Re: Random: "What In The Name Of Copyright Infringement Is This Madness?" - Intellivision Amico Box Showcasing Nintendo Art Surfaces Online
How could they be this dumb? Unless it's some kind of 4th level marketing tactic for free press.
Re: Third Time's A Charm As Data East's RoboCop Comes To Genesis / Mega Drive
I wondered what happened to this.
Also, the Master System port of the TMNT arcade game, where's that gone?
Re: "We Didn't Want To Simply Revisit The Past For Nostalgia's Sake" - Gremlin Graphics Is Being Revived As A Heritage Label
@happycodingzx Aah, that's great to know! Would explain why Piko wanted to rename the character all of a sudden!
I know he's pretty open to selling rights too, if you ever wanted it for completionist's sake! Eli offered me the IP rights to a game I did the anime/manga art on many many years ago as payment for another job.
If there's anything I can do to help out too, give us a shout!
Re: "I Thought It Was A Slam Dunk" - How The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Led To A Failed Battletoads TV Pilot
@shiningpikablu252 adventures, SatAM was pretty good.
Re: Sega Touring Car Championship Has Been Hiding This Sega Rally Easter Egg For Almost 30 Years
Sega Touring Cars was such a disappointment, Then again Sega didn't exactly do a good job explaining how to play the game properly. Took me years to discover you accelerate/brake with the gear shift more than anything else.
Regardless they'd have been better off porting Indy 500 or something in hindsight.
Oh, if you set the clock to Christmas Day 1997, the game completely changes to an online contest time trial game!
Re: "We Didn't Want To Simply Revisit The Past For Nostalgia's Sake" - Gremlin Graphics Is Being Revived As A Heritage Label
Well, let's hope it's not an AI generated sesspit like the planned Robocod/James Pond sequel is going to be.
But, Does Stewert own many of Gremlin's original IP's now? Piko Interactive snapped up a ton of them a few years ago. They even own Impossamole (Eli even got me involved to re-design/retcon Monty Mole out of Impossamole, so he could make sequels), so they don't even own the full franchiese.
Re: "We Didn't Want To Simply Revisit The Past For Nostalgia's Sake" - Gremlin Graphics Is Being Revived As A Heritage Label
@slider1983 Ninjabread Man was meant to be Zool 3.
Re: "I Thought It Was A Slam Dunk" - How The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Led To A Failed Battletoads TV Pilot
It was that over the top early '90s rubberized American style of animation that the first Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon also suffered from. (also the Bubsy pilot)
If they had possibly comissioned the series through an anime studio, like TMNT, ThunderCats & Batman TAE Etc. were, it would have had a more grounded, serious feel to it.
But DIC pitched a few other NES games, and art has been leaked over the years, including CastleVania and Metroid (with a male Samus)
They even wanted to do a show based on California Games, so could that have been more like Hanna Barbera's Laff-a-Lympics?