SEGA announces Game gear Micro

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Originally Posted by PreZZ

I have to agree that a lot of the game gear games are crappier versions of the genesis games, gunstar heroes is amazing for an 8 bit port but i would never play it when i can play the genesis version.

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Couldn't the same be said about Arcade vs most MD ports ?

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Originally Posted by chilled

Couldn't the same be said about Arcade vs most MD ports ?

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As well as some NES, SNES and PCE games. But MD versions are worth playing for the sound alone, except the rare exception that it's terrible.

Whenever it comes up that some people only play what they believe to be a definitive or best version of a game, the common denominator is always how technically advanced the platform is, not the actual merit of individual versions.

Like when some people here said that they wouldn't touch any previous versions of SFII after SSFIIHDR was released. I believe that some admitted to not even owning a quality street fighting controller to play it.

"Crude" is also a poor measure as it is too often used to dismiss fantastic classic games that someone either never understood or because they're simply on the wrong side of an imaginary line in history, before which they insist all games aren't playable.

Some of the most rewarding and engaging games aren't super complex in what is immediately accessible or full of endless content. Too many games with a laundry list of actions available to excute or overly complex stage design are celebrated for being "deep" when the actual play experience is very shallow.

To me it seems like you aren't really a fan of classic gaming if you only play a select number of games spanning history from a list that is contantly being updated by the new "best" versions. You're just playing random games. Which is fine, but classic gaming forums shouldn't be of much interest in that case.

Which is why classic gaming forums are full of people who spend most of their time talking about current and upcoming generations or just random non-video game talk.

I see the "kusoge" popularity movement as being a bit of backlash against this idea of only playing "perfect" games or whatever.

Intentionally seek out awful games and enjoy them for what they are. It's similar to watching bad movies for fun.

You don't approach it with the mindset of "I'm going to beat this game" (because that would be torture), but instead it's an exploration of how fucked up the design of the game is.

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Originally Posted by chilled

Couldn't the same be said about Arcade vs most MD ports ?

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Pretty sure that most people will beat you up nowadays if you admit to playing a version that isn't the arcade one (unless the port is significantly improved in other ways).

Legend of Illusion and Land of Illusion aren't GG exclusives. Both are on SMS. The former is one of those odd Brazil exclusives, though the latter is a nice version of the game. While the GG versions of SoR don't hold a candle to ty he Genesis versions, they still have some of the better music on GG thanks to Yuzo Kushiro. Then again, so do both GG Shinobi games, which are both among the best games on the system.

I like playing multiple versions of games myself. Genesis has some nice arcade ports and I especially like it when they include extra content like with the port of Mercs. There are also cases like Columns and Puyo Puyo 2 where the Genesis version is very similar due to the arcade using Genesis based hardware. There's also the odd case of Thunder Force AC that is a port of Thunder Force III to the arcade.

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Originally Posted by chilled

Couldn't the same be said about Arcade vs most MD ports ?

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Most of the time, arcade conversions have been adapted for console gameplay, with a set number of lives to finish the game. Arcade games have no sense of accomplishment im many cases, its pay to play. I’ll takecontra on nes vs arcade

The problem with the early portable consoles is that a huge percentage of the games were ports, so while that was cool back in the day today there's no point when you can already play a superior version. My favorite way to play on the go is on the New 3DS, it can emulate lots of older systems and the output is still 240p.

I think it would be great if Sega would release a Game Gear style handheld, but give it the SMS versions of the games, most of which were not well known here in the US. Since it's emulation they could change the color palette, remove the sprite limit and add FM support. That would be cool to see and it would be something different than always focusing on the Genesis games.

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Originally Posted by Black_Tiger

As well as some NES, SNES and PCE games. But MD versions are worth playing for the sound alone, except the rare exception that it's terrible.

Whenever it comes up that some people only play what they believe to be a definitive or best version of a game, the common denominator is always how technically advanced the platform is, not the actual merit of individual versions.

Like when some people here said that they wouldn't touch any previous versions of SFII after SSFIIHDR was released. I believe that some admitted to not even owning a quality street fighting controller to play it.

"Crude" is also a poor measure as it is too often used to dismiss fantastic classic games that someone either never understood or because they're simply on the wrong side of an imaginary line in history, before which they insist all games aren't playable.

Some of the most rewarding and engaging games aren't super complex in what is immediately accessible or full of endless content. Too many games with a laundry list of actions available to excute or overly complex stage design are celebrated for being "deep" when the actual play experience is very shallow.

To me it seems like you aren't really a fan of classic gaming if you only play a select number of games spanning history from a list that is contantly being updated by the new "best" versions. You're just playing random games. Which is fine, but classic gaming forums shouldn't be of much interest in that case.

Which is why classic gaming forums are full of people who spend most of their time talking about current and upcoming generations or just random non-video game talk.

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I grew up playing these games, been on here for 10 years now. And frankly when you grow up eating Chef Boyardee and then go to a restaurant and try good food, you don't really want to go back to the old stuff. Looking back on all these games I used to play as a kid with my Game Gear, they haven't stood up well. Street Fighter II is another excellent example. Who wants to play the Genesis port when its so easy to play an arcade-perfect edition of the game?

You can still be a classic gaming fan and not think that everything that was good back then is good now. What developers have realized with games like Shovel Knight, Ducktales: Remastered, Sonic Mania, Streets of Rage 4, Undertale, etc. is that you can blend the best part of the 2D games that were great with more modern technology and make a really good game. You don't need to gatekeep classic gaming to "only people who want to play 8-bit ports on the Game Gear."

There's still plenty of games on the Genesis that are worth playing in 2020, but that doesn't mean all of them are playable. But I think, just like there's a huge jump from Atari to NES in terms of playability, there's also a huge jump from the 8-bit to 16-bit era in a lot of respects. The Mario games to me are still infinitely playable, but I have never played anything on Atari that is fun, but I didn't grow up with it either. I think there's a lot of matters of taste with old games. Some are good for nostalgia, some are good across generations, some are somewhere in between those two mediums. And some games are just bad.

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Originally Posted by Baloo

I grew up playing these games, been on here for 10 years now. And frankly when you grow up eating Chef Boyardee and then go to a restaurant and try good food, you don't really want to go back to the old stuff. Looking back on all these games I used to play as a kid with my Game Gear, they haven't stood up well. Street Fighter II is another excellent example. Who wants to play the Genesis port when its so easy to play an arcade-perfect edition of the game?

You can still be a classic gaming fan and not think that everything that was good back then is good now. What developers have realized with games like Shovel Knight, Ducktales: Remastered, Sonic Mania, Streets of Rage 4, Undertale, etc. is that you can blend the best part of the 2D games that were great with more modern technology and make a really good game. You don't need to gatekeep classic gaming to "only people who want to play 8-bit ports on the Game Gear."

There's still plenty of games on the Genesis that are worth playing in 2020, but that doesn't mean all of them are playable. But I think, just like there's a huge jump from Atari to NES in terms of playability, there's also a huge jump from the 8-bit to 16-bit era in a lot of respects. The Mario games to me are still infinitely playable, but I have never played anything on Atari that is fun, but I didn't grow up with it either. I think there's a lot of matters of taste with old games. Some are good for nostalgia, some are good across generations, some are somewhere in between those two mediums. And some games are just bad.

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Couldn't agree more. Games, like everything else, have gotten better with time. We had awhile there where I felt like classic 2D gaming was neglected, but in the past decade there's been a resurgence. I can't get into the 2600 library either, it's just too primitive. I did enjoy it back in the day but today there's no point. I also find very few 5th gen games that I want to play in their original format, that era just hasn't aged well at all.

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Originally Posted by Baloo

I grew up playing these games, been on here for 10 years now. And frankly when you grow up eating Chef Boyardee and then go to a restaurant and try good food, you don't really want to go back to the old stuff. Looking back on all these games I used to play as a kid with my Game Gear, they haven't stood up well. Street Fighter II is another excellent example. Who wants to play the Genesis port when its so easy to play an arcade-perfect edition of the game?

You can still be a classic gaming fan and not think that everything that was good back then is good now. What developers have realized with games like Shovel Knight, Ducktales: Remastered, Sonic Mania, Streets of Rage 4, Undertale, etc. is that you can blend the best part of the 2D games that were great with more modern technology and make a really good game. You don't need to gatekeep classic gaming to "only people who want to play 8-bit ports on the Game Gear."

There's still plenty of games on the Genesis that are worth playing in 2020, but that doesn't mean all of them are playable. But I think, just like there's a huge jump from Atari to NES in terms of playability, there's also a huge jump from the 8-bit to 16-bit era in a lot of respects. The Mario games to me are still infinitely playable, but I have never played anything on Atari that is fun, but I didn't grow up with it either. I think there's a lot of matters of taste with old games. Some are good for nostalgia, some are good across generations, some are somewhere in between those two mediums. And some games are just bad.

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I grew up in the Atari VCS era and I can admit that alot of it is just really bad. That being said, games like Warlords, Missile Command, Pitfall, Breakout and Asterioids can provide a pretty decent gaming experience.

Maybe it'd be worth pointing out that the Atari 2600 generation ended with a market crash…

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Originally Posted by gamevet

I grew up in the Atari VCS era and I can admit that alot of it is just really bad. That being said, games like Warlords, Missile Command, Pitfall, Breakout and Asterioids can provide a pretty decent gaming experience.

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Yeah man, 4-player Warlords is a blast, and not something that has really been expanded or improved upon. It also might be the earliest example of a home game that received a port to the arcades. The 2600 homebrew scene is also quite active and has been consistently producing games once thought impossible. It's a remarkable console, really.

But for everyone saying that 2600 or whatever is too primitive to be enjoyable, just know that your time will come when, bafflingly, some new generation of gamers will come along claiming that what you currently think is great and perhaps even groundbreaking/foundational to the future evolution of gaming itself, is unplayable. And all you can do is shake your head about it because you know that they are the ones who are missing out. It's not really for everyone to understand the entire continuum, but you'll notice that among the actual creators and developers, it is a common thread. They recognize why [insert whatever, pre- your personal cutoff date] is fun and playable and important, just as a novelist understands why an 'unreadable, outdated' book like Don Quixote is important in the present.

I began on Atari 2600 but can never go back to it. 8-bit is as far as I can go and even then it can be difficult. 16-bit era has held up rather well and we see so many indie games emulating that era in look and gameplay. 2600 is like the Silent Film era at this point.

I can agree with the silent film parallels in some ways... that's a useful analogy. Although on the other hand, storytelling advanced, matured and diversified much more rapidly in film than it has in video games. But regarding eras in video games, it doesn't work to refer to them by bit values because the 2600 was an 8-bit console and the Intellivision was the first 16-bit console in 1979! It was really largely a marketing gimmick that Sega took advantage of in promoting their 16-bit console and 32X, followed by Atari's (supposedly) 64-bit Jaguar. It only partially tells the story of what a console is capable of.

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Originally Posted by Centrale

Yeah man, 4-player Warlords is a blast, and not something that has really been expanded or improved upon. It also might be the earliest example of a home game that received a port to the arcades. The 2600 homebrew scene is also quite active and has been consistently producing games once thought impossible. It's a remarkable console, really.

But for everyone saying that 2600 or whatever is too primitive to be enjoyable, just know that your time will come when, bafflingly, some new generation of gamers will come along claiming that what you currently think is great and perhaps even groundbreaking/foundational to the future evolution of gaming itself, is unplayable. And all you can do is shake your head about it because you know that they are the ones who are missing out. It's not really for everyone to understand the entire continuum, but you'll notice that among the actual creators and developers, it is a common thread. They recognize why [insert whatever, pre- your personal cutoff date] is fun and playable and important, just as a novelist understands why an 'unreadable, outdated' book like Don Quixote is important in the present.

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For me that's already happened. My first console was the NES. I still like the graphics and sound today, judging by the number of retro-inspired titles that have come out in recent years I'm not the only one. Unfortunately many of the design choices have not aged as well. Today if I want to play Metroid I'll take the GBA version with the map, save rooms and lower difficulty even though I prefer the look of the original. Other times I'll use cheats to make the games easier, like for Wizards & Warriors II I'll freeze the RAM address of the life counter to 3 so I can always continue (like in the original) otherwise it means writing down and entering a long password each time. Games, like everything else, have gotten better with time. But I still appreciate the 2600 for being the first successful home console and having an incredible variety of games considering the limitations.

https://i.imgur.com/orA6Qit.jpg

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Originally Posted by Leynos

https://i.imgur.com/orA6Qit.jpg

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Wow it's so close in size to the VMU.

You're now imagining a Game Gear-styled VMU, and wishing you had access to the alternate reality they were sold in.

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Originally Posted by Raijin Z

You're now imagining a Game Gear-styled VMU, and wishing you had access to the alternate reality they were sold in.

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Yeah they totally should have done that. If there's ever a Dreamcast Classic that would be cool to see.

The Micro is finally reaching consumers and sure enough the screen quality is not only infinitely better than Game Gear, but also looks better than GBA.



https://youtu.be/MnSnEpiNRMo

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Originally Posted by Black_Tiger

The Micro is finally reaching consumers and sure enough the screen quality is not only infinitely better than Game Gear, but also looks better than GBA.



https://youtu.be/MnSnEpiNRMo

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The GBA screen was nothing special, Nintendo's first "good" LCD was on the DS. But yeah that looks surprisingly playable for its size.

Wonder what that internal button does?

1 year bump, but little over 1 year following release, the softmod to add more games has finally been made public, I can also tell it was a difficult and tedious process. Check it out (not mine): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IusK_jYYwoE

According to author:
- New total of 42 games. (6 games X 7 slots)
- Boot into each slot and use it.
- It is impossible to restore the original game gear micro state.

This is pretty awesome. Prices on the GG micro are a bit lower in Japan right now as well so I might consider picking one up now.

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Originally Posted by xelement5x

This is pretty awesome. Prices on the GG micro are a bit lower in Japan right now as well so I might consider picking one up now.

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That's right, 50$ CAD-ish? Black is worth a bit more it seems. The irony is that given more time when people will notice the mod, it will probably help SEGA sell the rest of their limited stock LOL.

EDIT: Author removed his download link. As for myself, I did tested the softmod and it works great.

It seems there is another softmod online, to have all 5 version of GG Micro at the same time, and best of all, you can revert to the original state.

Unfortunately it's impossible fo find the modified dump.

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Originally Posted by Virtua Hunter

It seems there is another softmod online, to have all 5 version of GG Micro at the same time, and best of all, you can revert to the original state.

Unfortunately it's impossible fo find the modified dump.

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Correct, I assume you refer to this: https://retrofixer.it/en/softmod-game-gear-micro/

This mod is actually better as it offer 6 games on boot * 7 slots - When you boot the Micro, you hold Button 1 / 2 / START / DPAD-Up-Down-Left-Right and doing so will select a slot, giving you up to 42 games. I've tried it and it works great! I cannot imagine developpers making it any better at this point much (the ressources being all hardcoded). One guy commented it's definitely possible to revert to the original state as well, provided you have a backup (I do, but I didn't tried reverting, no need to anyway, would be downgrading hehe). And it's also translated in English! :)

As to why he removed his download link, no idea, wonder if he was concerned about getting sued by SEGA / M2 or stuff, at least when the hack would have became more public knowledge?

I cutomized the colors on mine and added boot instructions.

Attachment 16174

Attachment 16175

exactly, that's the one.

I was looking for this mod in particular, since I'm only interested to play only official Micro games on the device.
Still searching but no results :(

He removed his mod (the one I have), but as far as I can see, the team is still working on improving it, maybe he removed it because it was still "unfinished": https://discord.com/channels/3649273...08084763885578

EDIT: A newer version of the softmod is in development: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sunpDY968vY

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Originally Posted by Augen히힛마스터

Previously distributed GGM CFW had a problem with copyrighted material and was discontinued.

We have secured that part and improved the previous problems such as frequent errors and slow booting.

The distribution method this time has been changed to a structure that takes data of the target GGM and works from disassembling, patching, and assembling in the GUI.

And here are the improvements of GGM CFW:

change
1.Correction of parts that may cause copyright issues
-Change to take the app and assets.bin from the original firmware and proceed with disassembly, modification, and patching
2.Same booting speed as the original firmware by improving the boot method
3. Solved the problem of slot breaking due to some game and image transmission problems due to capacity problems

added
1. Support existing firmware backup/restore
2. Easy to manage by saving the slot under a different name(implementing... actually annoying)
3. Review capacity problems in the GUI and stop when problems occur

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EDIT November 19th 2021:

The newer version has now been released to the public: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FJvevOt_wc