I Miss the Sega GT Series. Part 2
When I finally got my hands on an Xbox one of the first games I bought was Sega GT 2002. Although Sega GT wasn’t perfect, I still have fond memories of all the time I spent playing it on the Dreamcast. I figured Sega GT 2002 could only be better since it’s on the Xbox, right? Well, I can’t say it’s a masterpiece but nor can I say it’s trash, it’s just different. I’m not sure where the development team was going with this one, but Sega GT 2002 feels hit or miss in many of its attempted aspects.
This time around the player is presented with Official races and Event races. Official Races are a prerequisite to unlock a license test, so yes licenses are still a thing, except they’ve become even more odd. In Sega GT you had a list of time trials to choose from, but only needed to complete one to acquire the license. In Sega GT 2002 you’re given a set amount of races that will unlock a single license time trial. During this license time trial you can do all the crazy wall banging and off track skidding you want, but this time there is a judgement bar on the right-hand side of the screen that will slowly reduce with each infraction. So while you can drive like a complete maniac, it’s ill advised to do so as once the meter is empty your attempt is disqualified. Even though these are a bit more restrictive than Sega GT, it’s far more lenient than Gran Turismo while still teaching us to watch out for small missteps. This is the way license tests should be done.
Event races are your basic races for money and prizes. The roster for event races isn’t very large, but most of them change up what track they’re at, giving the illusion of there being more content than there actually is. One thing that does excite me about event races is drag racing, something that even Gran Turismo couldn’t do. In terms of racing, in general, my only frustration is the fact that there is a damage meter on the right-hand side for all normal races that ticks down the amount of money you earn as prize money. You would think as long as you race a clean race you should be fine, right? Wrong! The AI in this game aren’t programmed to acknowledge your existence, causing them to crash into you and ruin your chance at a full payout in any given race. So you may run a very clean race, but you will rarely, if ever, come out unscathed at the end of a race thanks to the AI.
One thing that Sega GT 2002 tries to push, and if you ask me pushes it too hard, is the idea that the player is an amateur racer. The main menu screen, where you’ll spend all your off time between races, shows your car in your garage. A modest domicile with a modest garage, but once you step foot inside the garage, where you keep a bountiful amount of hidden cars apparently, you can decorate and show off all your race won trophies. To go a step further some vehicles can’t be sold at dealer ships, they have to be placed outside on your lawn with a For Sale sign in front of them. You can ask whatever price you want, but that doesn’t mean you’ll ever get it.
Despite the amateur racer ideology, the AI that refuses to acknowledge you exist and the sometimes frustrating lack of variety of event races to compete in, Sega GT 2002 isn’t all bad. This time around the car models and the textures look really good. The vehicles handle as to be expected from a simulation game of the early 2000s. The game seems fairly well balanced in terms of progress. I love to grind races over and over and earn money to buy better cars and upgrade them before I actually take them on the track to compete, but the game doesn’t force the player to do that. I’m really impressed with the drag racing too! I know drag racing isn’t that impressive compared to circuit racing to most people, but the fact it’s here, it’s done well and it’s actually pretty fun is impressive.
To paraphrase what I said at the very beginning: Sega GT 2002 isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s not trash either, it’s just different. That’s the best way I can put it. The Xbox was filled with great racing games such as the Project Gotham series, Forza Motorsports, the Midnight Club series, the Rallisport series, the list could go on and on, but Sega GT 2002 held its own. I don’t like the frustrating AI. I don’t like the lack of variety being swapped out for the race track changing when I exit and re-enter the Event races menu. I don’t like the forced amateur racer aspect that feels tacked on at the last minute, but you know what? I do genuinely like Sega GT 2002. It brought some of what Sega GT had to offer to the Xbox and while I feel it failed at trying to do its own thing, I think it’s still a good enough game to play through. After playing this game for a few hours to write this editorial I found myself hooked all over again. If that’s not a good enough endorsement for this game, I don’t know what else I could say. There is a Sega GT Online, but I’ve never been able to find a copy. From what I understand it’s a bit beefier version of 2002 with a more online focused style.
I Miss the Sega GT Series! Part 1
I’m not sure I could ever put into words just how much of a game changer Gran Turismo truly was in the world of auto racing video games. Sure there were the Ridge Racers, the Need for Speeds and the Test Drives, but it was Gran Turismo’s influence that echoed throughout the industry. Many games changed their formula to try and emulate it, while other games where just outright clones. In 1999 Sony released Gran Turismo 2 to assert their dominance and assure their games stayed on top of the imitations.
In February of 2000 Sega released their attempt to overthrow the juggernaut and named it Sega GT. With the Dreamcast floundering, the racing simulator market wasn’t completely wide open, but Sega GT came as close to replicated the Gran Turismo formula as it got for the console. Well, I guess you could use BLEEM!, but that’s a completely different discussion for another day. Sega GT was an ambitious game that takes a lot of cues from Gran Turismo, but adds a lot of Sega’s personality as well.
Sega GT starts off feeling very similar to Gran Turismo, as the player is required to undertake license tests. Yes, the old license tests are here, but I feel Sega made this aspect of the game far less of a headache than Gran Turismo. To even buy a car you are required to acquire licenses, meaning cars themselves are locked by different licenses. The great thing is you really only need to complete one license test to acquire the license. Not only that but the license tests in Sega GT are nothing like Gran Turismo, as they are simply a single time trial lap around a track with a certain car. Hit a wall, or gone off track? No problem! It will only slow you down, not kill the whole run. So far we’re off to an amazing start, if you ask me.
From there it’s pretty much the Gran Turismo formula. The player can race within the requirements for each given series of races, upgrade their cars and buy new ones with the prize money they’ve won. However, Sega GT has one aspect that really blew me away when I read about it. Right on the back of the case it says: “Build original cars from scratch — over 2 million combinations are possible!” Yes, you can build your own car(s) from scratch. On my original play through, some 18 years ago, I never delved too deeply into this aspect as things needed to be unlocked, if I remember correctly. What I do remember for sure was having an absolute blast building my own cars from what options I did have unlocked. Nostalgia may be failing me here and making it seem far better than it actually was, but regardless just the fact this option was included is amazing.
In many ways I think Sega GT was a great game, but I also feel it could have been better. The graphics are still pretty good and I would dare say they feel more like an Xbox era game. The car models were smooth but some of the textures were dull and lifeless. Handling was pretty good and upgrading the cars actually did make a noticeable difference. That might seem silly to say but there are some Gran Turismo clones out there where upgrades seem merely cosmetic, or just to give the player a reason to spend money. For me personally Sega GT was among the most adequate Gran Turismo clones, and I must not have been alone as Sega would renew the series for the Microsoft Xbox in Sega GT 2002 and Sega GT Online.
Sega Game Gear Replacement Battery Covers
The avid video game hunters among us who have found a Sega Game Gear at a garage sale or thrift store will know that more often than not the battery covers will be missing. I have been fortunate enough to find a few Sega Game Gears in the wild myself, but of the four I’ve found only one of them had its original battery covers. Missing battery covers not only make the console look incomplete, it also makes the console feel weird in the hands. The battery covers are placed with an ergonomic design so a missing battery cover leaves a gaping hole on the back of the console. This also exposes the edges where the cover should go, which can sometimes be sharp and uncomfortable to hold for even short periods of time.
I think we’re living in a fascinating time where companies are now flooding the market with all kinds of retro gaming related items that can be quite useful. The markets are filled with replacement parts to help make your portable consoles look and feel complete again, or even make it look better than it ever had. I recently found an online seller offering replacement Game Gear battery covers. But how do these unbranded battery covers compare to the originals and are they worth picking up?
Once the replacement battery covers arrived I pulled out my Game Gears and gave them a test. The left sides always clicked into place perfectly, but the right sides simply wouldn’t click down without help. While trying to adjust the clip on one of the right sides I nearly breaking it off, which tells me these aftermarket ones are made of much softer plastic, so keep that in mind. Once I helped the right one lock down in place everything seems perfectly fine. They fit well, they’re comfortable and they look pretty much like the original covers. If there was one criticism to say, other than being made of softer plastic, is the color is ever so slightly different, but not by much.
I also ordered a pair for my Majecso Game Gear. Since Majesco made their Game Gears out of super thin and brittle plastic everything popped into place perfectly, I’m assuming cheap plastics just go better together. Also since the console is a much deeper black than the dark gray of the original Sega version these covers stick out significantly more than they do on the original. Regardless they fit perfect and that’s really all I was wanting from them.
From the outside it’s difficult to tell the aftermarket ones from the originals, again there is just an ever so slight color difference that many might miss. On the inside is where you can clearly tell the difference. The original battery covers will have numbers stamped on the inside, while the aftermarket covers will only have L and R for left and right.
If you want battery covers to make your Sega Game Gear look and feel complete again, these are completely serviceable. If you plan to use batteries and take your Game Gear around with you from place to place then I doubt these replacement covers would last for very long being opened and closed repeatedly. The ones I bought were inexpensive and plentiful, so you could just order a ton of them and do as you please. In my honest opinion I’m happy with them because all I needed was the console to look and feel complete while I used it with the wall adapter. That suits my needs perfectly, so if you’re like me these battery covers are exactly what you need.
Championship Pro-AM for the Sega Genesis
If you were a fan of RC Pro-AM for the NES and wanted to see how amazing it would be on the Super Nintendo, well you were completely out of luck. There is a Super R.C. Pro-AM, but don’t be fooled because it’s just a Gameboy version. However, there was a 16-bit version of the game for the Sega Genesis.
That’s right, Rare Ltd. and Tradewest, both of which are well known for their NES titles, teamed up (again) to bring the classic over to the Sega Genesis. Why only the Sega Genesis and not the Super Nintendo as well? Your guess is as good as any, but regardless that’s all in the past.
Your goal in Championship Pro-AM is to control your tiny radio controlled vehicle and finish no lower than third place in each race to continue advancing. Along the way you’ll need to collection parts upgrades, as well as letters to spell out the word Champion, while avoiding track hazards and staying ahead of the competition. If you do happen to place lower than third you’ll be given a total of three continues, but once those are used up it’s game over for good. Also, if you need to use a continue, you’ll not only retain your upgrades and letters from the previously lost race, but you’ll be able to collection additional ones once you restart the race.
Collecting tires, gears and motors helps your RC car handle better as well as makes it go faster. It’s important to collect these whenever possible as the competition gradually gets better, regardless of whether you’ve collected the upgrades or not. Collecting letters (one per track unless you use a continue) spells out the word Champion, much like RC Pro-AM spells out Nintendo. Once all the letters are collected your radio controlled vehicle will be upgraded, as will the competition’s, and your parts upgrades will be reset to none. Both upgrades and letters are strewn about the tracks and usually tend to be in fairly easily obtainable places, very rarely will you have to go out of your way to drive over one and pick it up.
Another thing the player can collect are weapons, which are activated by using the horn button. You’ll be given the choice of two weapons: rockets or bombs. Rockets can be fired directly at the competition or blind fired, in hopes to hit competition which may be off the screen. Bombs will be released with a short time delay, unless the competition makes direct contact with the bomb. Weapons affect the competition only for a short time, but if used thoughtfully it can give you a good lead. If you run out of ammo collecting stars on the track will replenish your stock, but as soon as ammo runs out hitting the fire button will simply activate the horn again, denoting you’re out of ammo.
If you thought racing an RC car around a track was going to be a cakewalk, think again. Not only does the competition get increasingly difficult, but the track is your enemy too. Anything from rain clouds and water puddles slowing you down to oil slicks that will send your car spinning out of control. There are even elevating walls that will pop up in front of you and cause you to crash like a Crash Test Dummie. All hope is not yet lost, as you will sometimes find a roll cage on the track, temporarily making your vehicle impervious to damage. Sadly this too goes for the competition and renders them impervious too, even to your rockets and bombs.
Learning to race each track is essential. Learning to drift the corners, collect the upgrades and letters, and avoiding all the hazards are all important. In terms of difficulty Championship Pro-AM isn’t much more difficult than good old RC Pro-AM, if at all. Other than holding a different controller, the obvious graphics and sound changes, it feels pretty much the exact same. They even kept the trophy room between races, but added shelves and made it look more organized. RC Pro-AM is a nostalgic blast from the past and always will be, but it would have been great to see Championship Pro-AM for the Super Nintendo. Regardless of why it’s only on the Sega Genesis it’s still very much a fun game to play.
DIY Sega Genesis and Master System AV Cables: Redo!
A few years back I made a vain attempt at making Sega Genesis and SMS AV cables. Although they did work, they didn’t last long because the connectors I used were harvested from MIDI cables and never properly adhered back to the plug. A few good uses later and both sets of cables were rendered dysfunctional or completely useless.
As I hinted at, in the original article, 5 pin DIN connectors are often sold online, and after a short search on Amazon I found a pack of 6 for less than $4 shipped. It took a while to arrive but finally it’s time to make yet another attempt at creating these AV cables.
First thing to note is you get what you pay for. These connectors aren’t of the greatest quality; the part holding the 5 pins melts slightly under even normal soldering conditions and the pins can move forward or backwards slightly. The metal parts and connector seems sturdy enough but the plastic shroud is soft plastic with absolutely no grip whatsoever, which is why I will strongly advise using the strain relief provided on the metal part.
These connectors easily disassemble into four parts, allowing for quick and easy soldering while also making the finished product far more secure than the harvested connectors I haphazardly used originally. At first I wasn’t entirely sure how well these would go together, but after the first one they started going together quite well. Something else to note is that I’m just now making them, so I can’t speak on terms of how long these things will last, but assuming you’ve properly soldered all the joints, used good quality AV cables and only hook your console up and leave it in place, these should last for a long time.
Genesis AV Cable Pinout
With the color coded pinout above you should be able to make your own Sega Master System or Genesis model 1 AV cables. Even with my soldering skills being average I managed to put together two sets fairly quickly. I would highly suggest using AV cables with a shielded video cable though. Only one of my sets of AV donor cables had the shielded video side and it makes a big difference.
You can make them as long or as short as you need. Sadly, to my knowledge, there is no way to get stereo sound from the back output of the Genesis model 1, but if you want to make video only cables and use a 3.5mm to stereo cable in the headphone port on the front of the Genesis model 1, that is differently possible with these plugs as well.
And here is the finished product
DIY Sega AV Cable
When it comes to hooking my consoles to my TV, I’ve always preferred the simplicity of a good, old RF adapter. Sure they’re not the best, but they get the job done; audio and video sent from the console to your TV, that’s all I really need! But as consoles started removing the RF option in favor of the proprietary AV cables, I was forced to hunt down AV cables through my many trips to thrift stores.
Nintendo RF adapters are usually found in bounties, and the Nintendo AV cables, used for the SNES, N64 and Gamecube, aren’t too far behind, as they’re used across more than one console. But when it comes to cables that are almost impossible to find, Sega reigns supreme! I do own a few various RF adapter for my Sega consoles but I could never track down a single set of AV cables that work for the Master System or Genesis model 1.
I could easily buy a set online for $5 or so, but I’m a person who prefers to go the cheap route, because that saves me cash that could go toward buying move video games. So instead I decided to pickup a few things from the local thrift stores and attempt to make my own Sega AV cables. The ingredients are simple, and any thrift store should have these supplies fairly cheap, although there may be an easier way than I’m doing this.
To start you will need a male DIN 5 end, either from an old computer cable or a ready to solder kit readily available online from various stores. Secondly you’ll need a working set of mono AV cables, it doesn’t matter what color the ends are, but make sure you understand which is audio and which is video. You will also need a soldering iron, solder, hot glue (optional), and a little bit of skill and patients.
If you’ve bought a ready to solder kit you can skip this part. I prefer to do things the hard way, so I had to take the rubber shroud off the DIN 5 and hollow it out to allow access to all the places I would need to solder. Also to allow me to slip it onto the AV cables before I soldered everything together.
Once the rubber shroud was hollowed out, I slipped it over the AV cables so I could easily slip it back over the end, after everything was soldered together. Now you will see the end of each plug sticking out of the back of the DIN 5 connection. Here is the correct pinout for the Sega AV cables:
Once you’re confident you know what goes where, strip down both of the AV cable wires and tin them with solder, to make things much easier. Make sure to wrap and tin the spare copper wire together, this will be the ground wire. After that add a little solder to each of the three pin ends you’re going to need to solder everything to.
Wires stripped, tinned and ready to be soldered to the pins!
If you’re not sure which wire is which, and you have a multimeter, I suggest you check which wire is which before you solder them down, to avoid mixing them up. If you do manage to mix them up its not the end of the world, you can either resolder them or you can just paint the cables or ends to note which one is which.
After you’ve soldered everything together you should see something that looks like this.
I personally like to use a dose of hot glue after I’ve soldered everything and let it set, I believe this helps avoid connections shorting out on each other. Also I use a good bit of hot glue to stick the rubber shroud back in place.
The end result is a working, albeit mono, set of AV cables that work with both the Sega Master System and the Genesis model 1. Again, this isn’t the cheapest method, but I simply couldn’t find any AV cables at my local thrift stores. Being a DIY person I figured I would rather setup a project and get the gratification of building something myself, rather than the stress of waiting a month for AV cables to arrive from China.
Sega Genesis Model 3 — by Majesco?
By 1998 the Sega Saturn was fading away, leaving Sony and Nintendo to rule the market. By the end of that year the Dreamcast was out in Japan and hitting big, but what would Sega offer the North American market to tide us over? The answer to that question is absolutely nothing, but they did allow someone else to give us the Sega Genesis 3!
Boldly calling itself a Sega, how cute.
Even though the Sega Genesis 3 says Sega right on the console it was actually made by Majesco, under license from Sega. The console itself is very basic, inside and out, but does function as a basic Sega Genesis. When I say it functions as a basic Genesis I mean that it will play most games, but it does have a list of things that it can’t do and games it won’t play. Most notably the Genesis 3 is missing any port to hook it up to a Sega CD, so that’s out. The Genesis 3 also, from what I understand, has a stripped down and rearranged motherboard, although I’m told they used the same chips, making it incompatible with the 32x add-on and even Virtua Racing. I have read, however, there may be a quite substantial mod to make the Genesis 3 compatible with the 32x and Virtua Racing, but still not the Sega CD.
Not a terrible design, actually.
Although it is much smaller and lighter than any of its first party brothers, the Genesis model 3 only slightly feels like a third party console. Every controller I’ve tried with the console works properly and every game I’ve tossed in has fired up without any issues, just the same as they did in my model 1 and 2, with the exception of Virtua Racing. But another cost cutting feature is the lack of a power LED, instead there is an orange sticker under the power switch. I’ve never been one who needs an LED to tell me my console is still on, which seems to be a popular, and if you ask me redundant, modification to all consoles without one.
AV and Power inputs
I purchased my Genesis 3 with no hookups so I had to improvise; the Genesis model 3 will work off the same AV/RF adapter(MK-1632) as the Genesis model 2, as well as the MK-2103 power supply. My only issues with this were that the power supply often slips out of the console and the system seems to get warm over extended periods of play, so far with no ill effects. Another small gripe is the death grip that it puts on the cartridges once inserted. If the system wasn’t so small it wouldn’t be an issue, but I do find having to pick up the whole console to remove a game half it’s size a bit of an annoyance.
EA cartridges are almost the same size as the console.
I’ve been told the Genesis 3 will play the majority of Mega Drive games, but since the only Mega Drive game I own is PAL I’m still unsure if this is true or not. During testing the system went to the initial license screen and then just went black, after a few more tries the system just offered me a totally black screen, no more licensing text. I now assume they were referring to Japanese Mega Drive games, which I would love so I could possibly expand my library without having to mod my other Genesis consoles.
In today’s gaming market I feel that the Genesis 3 is missing too many functions (ie: 32x, Game Genie and a few games) to really compete with how cheap the official Sega Genesis consoles can be found, perhaps that was the view back in 1998 as well. From time to time I do enjoy pulling out the Genesis 3 and using it, just to give it a good jolt of power. As a functional console I think the Genesis 3 is ok, but it surely won’t take precedence over my model 1 or 2, unless I need it to play Mega Drive games.
Since the Genesis 3 is harder to find than the model 1 and 2 its more of a fun little conversational piece. But Majesco didn’t stop there, no, Majesco also secured the rights to make their own Sega Game Gear! Maybe I will have to sit down and give it a thorough testing and comparison next, we’ll soon find out!