Mazin Saga / Mazin Wars

Here's a game I only knew about after browsing game FAQs. I was unaware that I was somewhat familiar with the Manga which Mazin Saga was based upon. In the late 70's and Early 80's, various animes were licensed with often trimmed down story lines for countries outside of Japan with re dubbed voices. One of which was broadcast on a local UHF channel in the mid 80's as Tranzor Z.  

Before that, Boston station 25 had run 2 weekly series entitled Starblazers, ( Space Battleship Yamato ), and Force Five. This was a showcase of five different shows that were shown once a week. Danguard Ace on Mondays, Starvengers on Tuesday, Space Keteers on Wednesday, Grandizer on Thursdays, and Gai King on Friday. Very few stations across the U.S. picked these series up. As far as I know, Only New England and Virginia area's ran them. Tranzor Z was an earlier series, but ran later in New England. Oddly enough, Tranzor Z and Grandizer were part of the same storyline but you'd never know it as a kid watching these after American censors and translations butchered up the story lines good and proper.

      Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter, as it was titled in Japan and the U.S. or Mazin Wars in Europe is a side scrolling beat 'em up with a 2D fighting twist. The story takes place in 1999, ( as so many games from that time period predicted the end of mankind )  where the Earth is apparently turned into a toxic wasteland by weapons used  by the Bio-Beast Force led by Kaiser Hell....Okay sure, I'll buy that.

  You fight your way rightward for five stages around the world against a very good selection of enemies, all with unique attacks and characteristics from wielding swords, throwing grenades, lasers, flame throwers to giant insects. As Mazinger you have at your disposal a sword and a variety of attacks to dispatch your mutant foes from simple sword slashes, to jumping kicks, rapid blade swings, dashes, and mid air 360 sword spins. Also at your disposal is a special move that is very effective at clearing away nearby enemies, however it drains away a portion of your life bar. 

    Power ups are far and few between. There are a large and small health restore, invincibility, 1 ups, and a jewel and gold that do nothing other than add points to your score. You can change the difficulty from 3 settings but the hardest will begin to test your patience.

      Control is responsive and hit detection is some of the best for the 16 bit machine. The graphics are well done as well with amazingly detailed sprites. The first couple of minutes in, it's obvious care was put into this title. Most licensed games are not that fortunate. Backgrounds and settings are well done and sound effects are on par with what the game is trying to put across. The only gripe one may have is the music, as for what it tries for, a drum heavy anthemic atmosphere, they sound distorted. Minor gripe at best though.

    The Beat 'em Up sections are fun, but fairly short. Each are broken up into 3 sections that nicely vary so one stage isn't the same backgrounds for the entire stage. Some sections require more running and making platform jumps but these sections aren't too difficult and help to vary up the experience. After those you have a smaller Boss battle that leads into the 2D fighting aspect of the game, the true Boss for that level. This is why there is no co op mode and this is also where the game falls apart for most people.

     The first thing you'll notice about the Boss round, is how gorgeous and fluid the sprites are. As I mentioned earlier, care was obviously put into this cart. There's not too many games on the Genesis /  Mega Drive that can boast this. It looks so good for the system, it might take your head out of the game for a few brief moments.

The fluids graphics in these sections may feel as if they've drained away at the game play as here controls become a little stiff. Your battery of moves are few compared to the scrolling stages and all enemies have a longer attack range and projectile weapons while you are only given your sword and the ability to block. These battles can become frustrating until you develop a strategy for each boss, but nothing that should make you throw the game pad across the room.

One you've completed all five stages, you then have to complete a Boss Run, facing off against all five bosses again one after another in a row until you've finally reached the end of the game. To keep some of the repetitive nature away from the Boss Run, newer backgrounds are used and is a nice touch.

Fans of Mazinger will want to check this out just for it's namesake, however fans of beat 'em ups should find Mazin Saga feeds their appetite even if it does lack any 2 player co op action. The 2D fighting action without a doubt could have used a bit more polish but it's far from being broken or the games' downfall that some other reviewers claim it to be. If this game were solely a beat 'em up or 2D fighter trying to stand on it's own, then this would be a forgettable title. Seeing that it does a competent job of combining a few elements alongside some very impressive graphics and a cool license, Mazin Saga carries more to it than an idle curiosity.

Baseball Blowout part 3

MLBPA Sports Talk Baseball / Super League '91

Continuing on with my baseball laden first few posts, I'll take a look at what many people consider a favorite for their Sega Genesis and Megadrive. 

Sports Talk Baseball was Segas' follow up to Tommy Lasorda Baseball, and Super League '91 was the follow up to Super League. Both initial offerings were the same game except for teams and language.

This second go around sees what is basically the same game but with many more differences than usual titles separated by country that has a multi-country release.

Sports Talk Baseball was the first home console baseball game to have running commentary. This was revolutionary back in 1992 and even after 20 years, it's still not that bad. Sure age has not been kind to the commentary, but it's very clear, and usually right on the money with the action on the field. Sometimes if you did too much too fast the announcer would lag behind due tot he fact that the game had to finish every line it had begun, but for the most part, not really a big deal.

Super League was released a year earlier in Japan, and did not have any commentary aside from calling Balls, Strikes, Outs, and field position of a ball in play. Not as much of a draw, however it did come out a year earlier. The sports talk must have taken much longer to get into the game. Aside from that however, there are other differences that are quite noticeable.

For starters, the batter sprites have been changed. Sports Talk batters look bulkier while the Super League batters are thinner. There is more variation in batting stances in Sports Talk as well. Pitcher and fielders are exactly the same. My only gripe with Sports Talk is some of the color choices for teams. I know 1992 was 2 decades ago but I don't remember the Cubs wearing purple. This however was common then among sports games of the time.

Sonic cameo at White Sky Dome

Both games feature the same three stadiums.

White Sky Dome is your standard artificial turf indoor venue

Blue Moon Stadium is an outdoor field played at night

And finally Red Sun Stadium features real grass and played at daytime.

None are anything special, but the detail of the outfield and beyond seen after a homerun is done very nicely.

Left: Sports Talk Baseball / Right: Super League '91

 The only other major difference is the music. Sports Talk has standard American Baseball tunes,..."Take Me Out to the Ballgame" for example, while Super League has more varied music that sounds like you're at a college game.

Neither game is better or worse than the other since they play exactly the same. Batter sprites, music and love or hate of the play by play commentary are the deciding factors but both offer the exact same game play experience. Steals, sacrifices, squeezes, jumping and diving catches,... it's all here and done extremely well. The computer is very aggressive on the base paths, sometimes to it's detriment but it does keep you alert.

Gameplay is what you'd expect. Players perform as their attributes dictate. Attempting to steal a base with a middle of the line up slugger is a horrible idea and even though it can happen, don't bet the farm on your lead off hitter winning the game with a 3 run walk off.

Batting is time based, and pitching is the standard button with D pad combination for movement and speed.

Edgar Martinez can't run, but he sure can hit.

Batters and pitchers are assessed by a clever graph next to their names on the roster screen. Four categories from hitting, running, fielding, and arm are displayed with a diamond like chart that stretches further outwards towards and attribute the better the player is in that category. Pitchers tire and need to be replaced, but there's no need to warm them up, just slide them right in.

Notable of course is the save feature that keeps track of your season win and loss records without using a password. There are no season stats saved however, and you can only save your season once you've played a complete series against a team on your schedule. If you have to play four games against Oakland, you have to play all of them in order to save your progress. This oddly enough isn't a big deal as games go by fairly briskly than some other baseball titles. I've commonly played a 3 game series in about an hour.

Overall, Sports Talk Baseball and Super League are an enjoyable 16 bit baseball experience that take the logical next step from their predecessors. Expanding at least visually an already winning formula. 

Either game is recession proof priced online for around $10.00 complete.

Baseball Blowout Part 2

     At the time of this writing, Opening day will officially begin at 6:AM Eastern time as the Seattle Mariners play the Oakland A's. Not much time to get in all the games I want to cover, but in the spirit of the season kicking off in the land of the rising sun, let's examine some baseball games from our eastern friends.

Kyuukai Douchuuki

Sorry, I have no idea how to pronounce it or even what it means, however...

This game was a port of an arcade game in japan. I can understand why Sega of America didn't release this stateside. It's got that oh so very cute look and sound to that is prevalent in Japanese titles.

Everything is in Japanese but the game play is the universal standard fare for a baseball title doing nothing that an 8 bit game can't perform. That said it's got some things going for it. For starters, it has representations of all Japanese and American pro teams. So a selection of 38 teams is pretty hefty and a nice touch. What really shines is the selections of ballparks. Two are based on Japanese stadiums, a third is obviously Yankee Stadium but the real fun are the last three.
 

The fourth is played on in the Arctic. The change of view is a pleasant surprise, but what is really fun is that the game physics are skewed just a bit. Fielders chasing down batted balls tend to slide a little before stopping and balls that hit the field scoot across the ice very quickly.

The fifth is played near pyramids and the sandy field plays opposite of the the ice stadium. Fielders are sluggish as they're running on sand and the baseballs respond to the field like a golf ball in a sand trap. An infield hit won't go past the pitcher's mound very often and a fly ball stops dead where it lands.

The sixth and final field is on a ship in the middle of the ocean. The physics are normal but the detail of hitting a home run into the ocean and having a group of whales pop up either celebrating or complaining is simply another in a series of nice touches. 

The player sprites are disappointing but that's the only real issue I have with it. The music is upbeat and wacky and fits the game like the glove. 

As usual, pitchers tire and need to be replaced during the game. They tire very quickly but there are plenty of arms in the bullpen. Also batters tend to tire as well. I found that interesting and it does add another element of strategy.

Both are represented by blue bars that decrease.

      As far as defense goes, a fielder can jump or dive. It feels clunky and loose at first, but after a few games it's no problem settling in. The fielders move very slowly, and without some sort of outfield radar, if you don't get a jump on the ball right off the bat, ( so to say ), lots of balls are going to find the outfield wall. Still, this is just a matter of getting used to.

     Batting of course is again, simple timing and pitching is standard. Up for a fast ball, Down for a change up or fork ball and left and right curves.

You can play an exhibition game, Two player or jump into a World Tour where you select a team and play a series of games versus different teams in different stadiums. I haven't gotten to the end of it so I can't say how long this option actually is.

 Options are sparse. Play with or without errors,

number of innings per game, and how many runs a team can be up by to end the game early via the "Mercy rule".

There is also a sound test.

 This is a unique game, a nice change of pace from the more serious offerings but perhaps not for everyone due to what could be considered a very kiddy image. I think it's great fun. It's also a very affordable title online. A complete copy can be found for around $10.00.

Japan Mega Drive Collection part 1

     One thing that stood out more than a white hood at a Black Panther meeting, ( Okay, that was a bit much but a point needed to be illustrated ), was the difference between Sega of America, and Sega of Japan during the run of their respective 16 bit consoles. Art, Art, ART!

     Art is of course a personal preference, and no one is correct or incorrect. It's an abstract. But one thing I believe anyone can agree on, is that full color instruction manuals is the preference to over 90% of human beings with an intact brain.

     If you're only familiar with American releases, then before 1993, nearly all Sega Genesis games came with a plastic clam shell case, which included a color covered instruction booklet. Once opened, your introduction to the game was a fun, yet grayscale adventure.

     Here are some games released in the U.S. that also saw a Japanese issue. You tell me.

Burning Force

Mazin Saga

Sonic 2

Arrow Flash

 

After Burner II

          I'm not sure how much Sega of America saved per unit by cutting back on color manuals, but not enough to hook up their fans with the best product they could offer. Sure, it's all about the game, but a nice touch is a nice touch.

Baseball Blowout

     With opening day 2012 just about a week away, What better time to run down the library of games featuring my favorite sport, Baseball! The Mega Drive / Genesis certainty did not fall short with offerings, ranging from spectacular to "The Hell was that"? The biggest difference were games that were only released to certain regions. Some are understandable while why others didn't see a worldwide release is confusing. Obviously there are quite a few titles, so in the interest of keeping this post as tight as possible, some titles will not be gone into at any length at the discretion of the author. Let's play ball!

     One can either begin discussion of baseball games for the 16 bit Sega with really only one of two options. The best or the last. For the chronologically obsessed, I'll give you a moment of relief as I give some quick impressions of Tommy Lasorda Baseball, or as it was known in Japan and Europe, Super League.

     Super League was a 1987 arcade game developed by Sega that was ported to their 16 bit home console as a launch title in the United States in 1989. The perspective was almost the same as The Master System version of Reggie Jackson Baseball / American Baseball with the obvious visual and audio upgrades, yet still just still not up to snuff with it's arcade counterpart.

Super League 1987 arcade

Super League / Tommy Lasorda Baseball for MD / Genesis 1989

American Baseball / Reggie Jackson Baseball for the Master System 1988

     The gameplay mechanic went largely unchanged. Neither had official licenses so you were left with cities, or misspelled team names and a roster of imaginary players. The players did vary in attributes from your quick lead off slap hitting base stealers, to your middle of the line up sluggish sluggers. Today this seems bush league, but that's what you got back the very late 1980's.  Simple game play as any 8 bit system offered.  When pitching, pressing up on the D pad threw a change up, ( a.k.a. a slow ball ) or sometimes a sinker. Down on the D pad was a fast ball, and left to right threw respective curve balls.

     On defense you could move infielders and outfielders left or right, as well as back or forward depending on your needs before pitching the ball.  Once a batted ball was in play, the outfield view was switched to a directly overhead view. You tracked a fly ball via a shadow or tried your luck at lining up an infielder in a batted balls path. This aspect has mixed reactions depending on which review you may read. I don't care for it myself, but it's not broken by any means. It does what it's supposed to without issue. It's a matter of taste or simply acquaintance .

     When on offense, hitting was entirely time based. No nine tiered batting systems here. See the ball, hit the ball. There's something to be said for simplicity. You can hit and run, straight out steal, and even lay down a sacrifice bunt. The basics on both side of the ball are intact and make for an enjoyable experience. You can even play an entire season granted you don't mind writing down a lengthy password after each contest. Either that or you can just play on an emulator and utilize the save state.As for stat tracking,...well, it's non existent. Break out the notebook and keep your own scorecards.

    Options include how easy or difficult you want the computer team to play. If you wanted a game to be pitcher friendly or hitter friendly. Errors or no errors, and the wind from off to hard. You can also edit line ups before a game and pinch hit during.

     Visually it's moderate at best. Everything is clear and represents what it's supposed to well. Unfortunatley there's only one ballpark to play in. This is a drag as even the master system version had what I could remember was at least 3 palette swaps even if it was just for the outfield wall,....but the field? Seriously, a yellow field? Fire the grounds crew. They haven't learned how to water grass.

     Lastly, sound. It's there for better or worse. The voices are well done and don't sound scratchy. They range from standard "Strike" and "Out" calls, to the field position when a batted ball is hit. The music is generic. Nothing too annoying, but nothing you want stuck in your head even on a good day.

     As usual, Sports games are best played with a buddy due to the fact that once you've played half a dozen games against the computer, you'll likely never lose a game again. Thus taking any and all fun right out of it.

In an odd side note. The commercial for the game in The U.S., has Tommy Lasorda touting the game as he sat and played, and at one point he says he's "Gotta start Ozz,". This was a bit deceptive as to a consumer, it made it apparent he was talking about hall of fame short stop Ozzie Smith. This game has no actual players. It simply was to show that line ups could be adjusted.

     Segas' first shot at a baseball game for their home system certainly wasn't a home run, but it was a solid triple. If you have fond memories of it, it can be had very cheaply online. If you're curious, ( as I was ), You could spend five dollars in a lot worse ways.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to a 360

     This is a spare time blog about the 16 bit Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. Just some observations about my favorite home console of all time. I have modern systems but I can't help but to borderline obsess over this particular console. Before I get into observations, praise, and disappointments over this system, I guess it would be smart to at least give a baseline as to how and why I'm compelled to write a blog over such a thing. So, here we go.

     Video games were always a peripheral growing up in the 80's. Sure, you didn't have to wander too far to find a new or classic game arcade cabinet enticing you to rid yourself of those coins in your pockets anywhere from pizza parlors, bowling alleys and laundromats. They were everywhere and that was a good thing. Karate Champ, Tempest, and Rolling Thunder got the lion's share of my quarters, while games like Zoo Keeper got zilch as the game ( or perhaps just this particular cabinet ), had a glitch where by unplugging it, then plugging it back in would give you a credit.  Once in awhile I'd go to the larger arcades with friends to try out the newest offerings and marvel at the newest cabinet designs such as Afterburner and S.T.U.N. Runner.All in all, great fun, but with no real disposable income at a young age, I was relegated to my Atari 2600 which really didn't do much for me. If you were 14 years old or younger in 1982 i think the government issued one to the household.

     So when the N.E.S. was released, I passed up on even asking my parents for one. The graphics at the time were impressive for a home console, so much so that the first run of games released for the system, ( A.K.A. the Black Box series), were given box art showcasing the pixelated graphics. You have to take it from someone who was a kid back then, those blocky sprites were looking pretty damn good in the mid 1980's. 

    I also remember seeing commercials around the same time for a console called the Sega Master System.

What the Hell is a Master System? I never knew anyone who had one. Besides, I only recognized a handful of games and if I wanted to play video games, I could literally go to any friends house and somewhere a N.E.S. would be plugged into a television set somewhere. Oh well, I was in 9th grade by '87 and hormones and music dominated my every waking moment. Mario was great and all, but he was no match to pretending to enjoy some awful hair band concert ( I'm looking at you Cinderella. ),with a girl I had planned would be goodly enough to let me reach 3rd base. Hooray!

     By 1990 I had noticed a new console popping up in friend's houses. The Sega Genesis. The console itself was jaw dropping to look at. A headphone jack? Really? You can hook this up to a stereo? Wow! Those graphics are bad ass. So, I'm at Adam's, and he has 2 games. Altered Beast and Super Hang On. Put in Super Hang On and kept crashing over and over. Not over control problems or unfamiliarity with the game itself, but because I kept being drawn to the backgrounds. They looked so good I was just checking them out. Yes pausing the game would have been a smarter choice and I did figure that out 30 minutes later. I want one! 

     However I didn't get one. I had a disposable income by now working, but between high school, the job, and going out in general, I was never home. Games were all over $50.00 and it was a risk to just blindly buy a game. Yes, you could rent a game, but aside from that, unless you knew someone who had the game, or read a review in a magazine, that was all you had to go on. If a game was a real challenge, renting for 2 to 3 days was fine if you were just flaking out, but to give it a go for an hour or 2 here and there you'd never get into any real depth unless it was a puzzle or sports title. Two genres I wasn't interested in at all. So pass on another generation of system. I'm going to be graduating in '91, I guess video games just never really grabbed me. 

     What changed all these lackluster feelings I had about video games was after I finished Air Force Basic Training in late 1992. I went to my Tech school and another Airman I was roomed with has a Sega Game Gear. What drew me in was the fact that it was portable, ( well, within limits that is ). I didn't need a television, in fact, you could make the system itself the television ( albeit a tiny one ), the games were slightly cheaper and it just looked amazing with it's back lit screen. 

     On an Air Force base in the middle of nowhere, I now had free time with nothing to do. I bought 3 games with the system itself, as well as the A.C. adapter, TV Tuner and the screen magnifier known as the Super Wide Gear. I forget the exact amount but it was over $500.00. 

     I hadn't even noticed the games were 8 bit at first. Sonic looked like he did on the Genesis. The baseball title Clutch Hitter was fun, and Halley Wars was more than a competent shooter. The more I looked and spent attention to what was out there, I saw a good share of titles being released on both the Game Gear and Genesis. I knew the Genesis was the better of the two by far, but I made a sizable investment and was at best playing casually.

     Two games made me trade in my beloved Game Gear just over a year later.
 Mortal Kombat and World Series Baseball. I had no interest in sports, much less sports games, however I was was strangely addicted to Baseball titles on the Game Gear so much so it got me interested in following my hometown Boston Red Sox.This game tracked stats for an entire season and the in the batters box was shockingly realistic and you had to warm up pitchers instead of just subbing them in on the fly. That game itself was enough of a system seller for me, never mind that Mortal Kombat looked just as realistic ( fatalities aside ), with the actual digitized characters and all the look of a 1970's Kung Fu movie. The games didn't look cartoon-ish and that's what really drew me in. 

     It was 1994 and I was finally buying a Genesis? Talk about being late to the game. However the systems were much cheaper now and the new Electronics Boutique at the local mall had walls covered with used games that could be had at half or less of their original price points. Rumblings of newer, mind blowing CD based systems were rumored and I was curious, however the clerk at E.B. had warned me it was smart to wait a year to see which systems would catch on. Not a good sales move from a sales person, but at least he was honest.

     The next generation systems had arrived. I bought a Saturn in summer of '96 and was well... disappointed. Maybe I didn't buy the right games? I thought the 3D graphics looked like garbage. Yeah, polygons were very impressive but it never looked finished to my eyes. The 2D games were much better, but even games like my beloved World Series Baseball took away it's in the box view. The crowd in the ball parks was just a flat mish mash of colors. It played great, but looked sloppy. I traded that system in for a Playstation and found it to be a bit better. Once I got my hands on titles such as Medal of Honor, and Einhander I felt that the 16 era had gone and onwards to the newer level of video gaming. 

     By 1998, I brought out my Genesis to take to my Girlfriend's apartment and for whatever reason, it didn't power on. Bummer. That weekend I went back to E.B., and saw two items that were priced at $50.00 each. A Sega Genesis model 3, and a system I had seen back in '95 and forgot about, the Sega Nomad. Christmas was indeed early. Now that I think of it, E.B. had about a dozen Nomads being sold. What a return a $600 investment would have paid off now. 

    Funny thing. After I reacquainted myself with my Sega Genesis, I've never put it away again since. Even after buying a Playstation 2, my interest in games for it slowly stalled. Not that they were bad games, In fact my favorite genre is First Person Shooters, MLB The Show is the best Baseball game to date, but I keep going back to my 16 bit buddy.