H/T to the Change 10 Things about the SNES thread. 10 things or less you would change about the Genesis/Mega Drive if you could. Use 1988 technology and keep the cost reasonable.
H/T to the Change 10 Things about the SNES thread. 10 things or less you would change about the Genesis/Mega Drive if you could. Use 1988 technology and keep the cost reasonable.
I like it the way it is since I can refer to it as the DeathStar and Deathstar II that was not even complete or missing parts.
I'm sure...if it wasn't complete, I don't think it would function - but hey, maybe that's just me.
As for the 10 things I would change for the Genesis...
just a larger palette (at least 4096 colors, like the stock Amiga)
I'd give it the same pallet as the TG-16
S-video hook up standard.
Blue LED instead of a red one
Thats about it really.
Going with the model 2 cable from the start, the Genesis has stereo sound so I really don't know why they stuck with the same mono cable as the Master System. Also would have liked the stereo jack to have remained in the model 2.
I just wish the darn thing had controller that I could grasp. It went threw like three revisons before finally making a better controller then the Saturn....There I said it.
I has a whole bunch of unused space inside. It should be glossy like the PS3. It gets scratched too easily. The game cases is also lacking creative art and structure for most original games.
Into the late 90's the cases still look like MS covers with the oh so cheap blue lines. Where the heck is my background characters and coloring I paid that extra 20 bucks for. It is so depression to look at
the boxart esxpecially when you think about the color control that went into it.
1. More games
2. Better games
3. Larger color palette, 4096 would have been good
4. More RAM
5. An extra channel or two of PCM audio
6. Stereo sound out of the a/v jack
7. 6-button controller from the start
8. Stayed with plastic boxes for the full lifespan
9. Scaling and rotation (hey, the Lynx had it)
10. 32x doesn't exist
1. More games - absolutelyQuote:
Originally Posted by j_factor
5. An extra channel or two of PCM audio would've been nice, but the Mega Drive / Genesis did a great job of producing some very nice synthesized music.
6. I agree
7. I agree
8. I agree
9. The Mega Drive / Genesis could do scaling and rotation via software since the CPU was fast enough, but the SNES had it built in so it was easier to utilize.
Ahaha.. that made me out loud. And I agree.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty Venture
1. Blue LED instead of a red one.
2. nothing else.
1. Blue LED. Only god damn assholes like red LEDs. I hope anyone who likes red LEDs gets cancer in the face. Only cool kidz like blu ledz. blu wud make sistem soo much bettrz lololol. Seriously though, I don't understand the fascination modders have with blue LEDs. They are too bright, but even if you get a lower wattage one, they aren't anything special. But the modding community goes apeshit over them. I think that fascination is retarded.
2. Dolby HX Pro and Dolby B NR
3. VHS HQ technology from the future
4. Yellow LED
5. Green LED
6. White LED
7. Black LED
8. Purple LED
9. Blinking LED
10. "Tint" dial
1. More palettes (like TGFX16)
2. 4096 colors instead of the not very usable Shadow-Highlite, or even better 15/16bit colors
3. a PCM chip so all games could have had clean sound
4. Working 320x240 on 60Hz machines
5. 3.5MHz Z80 in SMS mode, twice as fast in MD mode
6. White LED
7. RGB+Stereo+Svid on AV out
8. NO RF unit as stock !!!
9. Big sexy 16-bit logo on US and EU machines
10. High quality sound mixing circuits in ALL models
In a perfect world:
1). 256 colors on screen
2). Only ONE version of the console for each region (Instead of 500 of them each with minor hardware and / or BIOS differences!)
3). Full Master System backwards compatibility without need for the stupid adaptor
4). YM3812 (OPL2) sound chip instead of YM2612
5). Scaling and rotation via hardware
6). SegaCD never created / released
But primarily just 1) and 2) - 256 colors would've been divine, and having to test code on 8,000 slightly different models of the Genesis and the Megadrive is just a needless pain. Over the years I have become a fan of the YM2612 chip, even if the AdLib (OPL2) will always remain my absolute favorite.
5. No region lockout.Quote:
Originally Posted by TmEE
6. Two more controller ports.
7. Make LD controllers the standard and add shoulder buttons to them.
8. Scaling and rotation.
9. More RPGs.
10. More translations.
1. 4098 colours in total
2. 256 on screen
3. better quality controllers
4. no region-lockout
5. 50/60 Hz switch as standard
6. better sound-hardware
7. Master System compatibility without rip-off-adaptor
8. No, or a better CD-add-on
9. 4 controller ports
10.Call it Genesis in all regions
Why this chip?Quote:
Originally Posted by CMA Death Adder
OPL2 is not as good sounding as OPN2... I have experience with both and OPN2 definately kicks the ass of OPL2/3. With some efforts, you can get 4op OPL3 stuff sound on OPN2. 2op FM is no good compared to 4op and OPL2 couldn't do 4op sound.Quote:
Originally Posted by CMA Death Adder
What's so different between each model ? I've found all code to be working exaxtly same on all machines... cycle accurate, even same VDP artifacts (i.e when doing midframe palette changes).
Also can you imagine MD having another cartslot ? if MD carts would be same as SMS ones.... I can't imagine how MD would have functioned, definately not in very functional fashion (pretty unexpandable cart pinout of SMS, very Z80 specific).
Scaling and rotation in HW would be nice actually....
and Mega Drive is lot better name than Genesis IMO. Mega Drive, damn it sounds so good :)
Mega Drive sounds damn stupid.:mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by TmEE
I hate names with senseless words like Super, Mega, Turbo, Ultra and the likes...sounds so childish.
Sega Mega.... it rhymes so well, and sounds so good
The Megadrive effectivley does have the same colour pallete as the original OCS Amiga's. The 4096 colours on screen had to use a hardware trick known as HAM - Hold And Modify, which was only really useable on still images and still had noticeable side effects then.Quote:
Originally Posted by xbrinkx
256 colours on screen at a time would have been a more realistic target.
It really should have had hardware scaling, considering sega released all those arcade ports early on like Galaxy Force 2, Space Harrier 2 etc which suffer from not having it.
Add me as another person who can't see the reason why people go crazy over having a ultra bright Blue LED. Personally I look at the TV when playing not the console, and if I did look I'd like to see a red terminator eye looking back at me! :cool:
As for having no sms adaptor for compatability, I think that would have been a real daft move having a sms cart slot in Japan and US where sms didn't do all that well. Using an adaptor was fine, the fact Sega completely over charged for it is the real complaint. They sold it for around £35, when theres nothing really in it so it could have been £10 easily.
+1 I don't get that either. Then again I also don't get the ion blue blinkers on cars either. Or for that matter HID lightbulbs on cars. I mean, really, what, are you driving at 200 mph through a pitch black cave?Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Redifer
Revisions I would make to Genesis:
1. Sound chip more like SNES. Sorry, but I never was a fan of the Genesis sound chip, only a handful of games like Midnight Resistance, Captain America, Streets of Rage 2, and a couple Sonic songs were ever worth listening to. On the other hand, listen to TMNT IV: Turtles in Time, Mega Man X, or Sparkster on the SNES, "WOW" is the only word to describe it.
2. A memory card feature. Yeah, its sounds like a "duh" idea now, but back then the technology was there (Sega CD RAM cart anyone?) but they just didn't implement it. I think more games with save features would make the 16 bit era more enjoyable.
3. 4 controller ports...meh, why not have some super NBA JAM arcade action?
4. hardware scaling. Even if the CPU can handle it in software, programmers are always more likely to utilize stuff like that if its easy to implement.
5. A/V outs. Come on, the original NES had it for crying out loud.
6. A reset button that works. I think this was only a problem on model 2s, but it seems everyone I know that has one has a non-working reset button. Not that it really matters, but come on, gimme a break.
7. better marketing of the Sega CD and 32X, and by that I mean sell Sega CD games well below cartridge prices (since they are much cheaper to make) to justify the add on cost and then actually give the 32X a fighting chance before scrapping it (since it actually did well initially). I guess another way to put it would be to make a Neptune CD instead of a Saturn.
thats all I can really say, the Genesis was pretty damn good how it was except for the sound chip.
agreed, I always preferred Genesis. In fact, Genesis is probably my favorite console name of any system out there. Plus, Mega Drive somehow confuses me with Master System, I guess because they are both 2 word names that start with "M" and I found out about the Master System and the name Mega Drive about the same time. I never liked the name Game Gear either, it sounded like an accessory kit or something, not a game system. Nomad was a much better name, they should've called the Game Gear that and just called the Nomad Genesis P or something.Quote:
Originally Posted by 108 Stars
OK, my serious list:
1. Graphic hardware exactly like the Neo Geo, only different (more competently constructed/manufactured, non-gigantic cartridge size, hardware rotation, an actual BG layer or two, etc)
2. Sound hardware like the Neo Geo, but with more PCM, FM and PSG channels. At least 10 PCM channels with 16-bit-44.1Khz sampling, 10 FM channels (with SMS-FM compatibility) and 4 PSG channels.
3. 8 megabytes (not bits) of work RAM
4. 2 megabytes of video RAM
5. 1 megabyte of sound RAM
6. Smallest game size = 1 megabyte.
7. Stereo audio out on rear, composite and s-video out on rear. RGB out still available.
8. Channels 3, 4 AND 5 selectable for RF.
9. Sega CD would not need extra hardware since the Genesis had scaling and rotation built in. Just a CD player with some extra RAM. It would have cost very little.
10. 6 button controller from the start with two shoulder buttons instead of one MODE button.
having the PSG built in the 2612
5 PCM channels with 256kb ram
larger color palette.
12.5 mHz 68k so it makes a better main station for segacd
8 Meg of main RAM, this sounds more like a super computer than a console for that time! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Joe Redifer
Memory was stupid expensive back then, plus with carts to pull data off theres no need for that much RAM anyway.
Joe, the idea was doing a list that might have been realistic for late 1988; had Sega made the hardware like that, the MD would not have survived as long as 1990 on the market.^^
S-video is not realistic for 1988.
Also, the Neo Geo was supported for a faaaar longer time than the Genesis.
But 11 megabytes of RAM is totally unrealistic, the console would have launched at well over $1000. Surely you jest?Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Redifer
The Neo Geo only lasted as long as it did because the same games were sold in arcades. Plus the games were still several hundred £ even at the end, and they only made small numbers of home versions.
Anyway we all know what the Megadrive really needed - Knight Rider lights on the front!
The last licensed game was released in 2002 in Japan. So they were pretty much equal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Redifer
Very interesting thread, many fair ideas.
I'm wondering how much more some of these extra components would have cost?
With all these suggestions implemented would any of you (or indeed your parents) have spent say $500 on a console in 1989/90 (that's around $850 in today's money)?
Or could we have even seen some sort of super console retailing for the same sort of money as an amiga?
Why don't you just say, System 16 arcade board in a console form :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Redifer
1: bump the color specs all round
2: allow sampled sounds to play through any sound channel at once
3: SMS cart play without an adaptor & Start button becomes "Pause"
4: substitute fm instrument sounds for optional fm sound in SMS games
5: fully region free, carts and CDs
6: quality composite, stereo & S-Video out without special cables
7: cheap CD-ROM available or all-in-one system at launch
8: fully compatible (SMS and all) Nomad that can connect to a CD-ROM
9: Game Gear cart playing, even if it rerquires an adaptor
10: full color transpancies of any layer or individual sprites
Since everyone is revising theirs...
(Rev. 1.1)
1) Larger blue LED.
2) A small text LCD that scrolls "bue ledz rule all other color ledz suxors lolz!11!11!!1"
(Realistic list)
1) 4bit palette.
2) Single 12bit DAC with a small amount of ram(something like 512bytes) with a range of playback rates up to 30khz.
Those are simple and realistic upgrades. The sound DAC is very simple and effective, and adding the 4bit(4096) palette support was basically already there. Increase the color palette and the small amount colors on screen doesn't matter so much. Either that, or give sprites its own 4 palettes.
I don't know what sega were thinking, this is much better!
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.ja...megadrive7.png
What is with the four 3.5 mm jacks in the front left under the volume control? Are they headphone jacks? Why four? Splitters are easy to acquire if you really want to hook up four headphones to one Genesis.Quote:
Originally Posted by playgen
Tmee, can you do this for us!!!????????Quote:
Originally Posted by playgen
4 head phone jacks for 4 players, if people don't want to buy a seperate sms adaptor they wont want to buy audio splitters either!Quote:
Originally Posted by Psy
They also double up as 4 ports for sms 3-D glasses! :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:
My goodness this incredible piece of art should be on display in the louvre, would it ever be possible to create this behemoth, I would be willing to fund and estonian lab to the tune of $1,000,000 to create this gorgeous fantasy!
actually, yeah, that would have been pretty f'n awesome. Obviously the A/V stuff would go on the back, the 4 headphone slots are a little much, and the blue LED is nonsense, but the cartridge slots, 4 controller ports, 50/60 switch, memory card slot, etc. would've all been great.Quote:
Originally Posted by playgen
The only thing i would change is to give the genesis better composite video, i like the differences between the snes, pce and the genesis, well, thats because i have all three.
Looks like someone had fun with photoshop.